Theron continued to meditate in complete silence, his thoughts arranging themselves.
He had experimented quite a lot in this last month before coming up with this method. He knew well that there was an enormous hole in his story, so how could he casually allow it to be exploited?
What he wasn’t sure of was whether Burne would be able to sense his curse mark in its diluted state or not, but he had made a bet that the Thistles didn’t have a complete understanding of the methods of Daggers of the Night.
After Rouge shattered his robes, he already knew that he had won.
If they had the methods of Daggers of the Night, Rouge would be able to sense the curse mark without having to use such a crude method.
As for Burne’s Soul Imprint, he already knew how to dull it after observing the changes to the Daggers Curse Mark for so long. In fact, because Burne had imprinted it without being aware that there was already another Soul Imprint in Theron’s soul, it already wouldn’t work as he expected it to.
Of course, Theron would dull it nonetheless. There was no need to take unnecessary risks.
This was all to say that he hadn’t gotten rid of the Soul Imprints at all. All he had done was burn away the marks on his chest so that Rouge and Burne wouldn’t be able to recognize what had still been there.
They had already read his file. They knew the sort of traumatic experience he had been through already. They wouldn’t even second-guess him carrying around such a ghastly scar.
…
As dusk settled in, Theron opened his eyes. He moved to the side of his room, finding the hidden compartment, and unearthing the items he had hidden.
He double-checked the smell to ensure he recalled everything perfectly. He was confident in his memory already, but there was no need to fail to be thorough.
He put it away once again and made sure everything was securely hidden once again.
For this, he really had to thank Daggers of the Night. Without their methods, how could he so easily slip in and out of the Imperial Academy, hide such important items, or dodge the senses of Gold Mancers?
’Let’s perform well on this little mission of theirs. I bet very soon they’ll be giving me the information on herbs that I need to decipher the jade.’
Taking up a normal short sword to replace his father’s, Theron left the academy as the dead of night fell, his Mana brimming with life in his body.
**
“Dean… should we do things like this?” Burne asked softly.
It was very rare that he questioned Rouge. It wasn’t in his psyche to do so… but while he didn’t find what they were looking for in Theron’s soul, he had found many oddities that left him feeling very uncomfortable… things he couldn’t even begin to explain. ṝἈŊǒᛒĘṥ
They weren’t tangible, so he didn’t want to voice them. But at the end of the day, it boiled down to one fact.
Theron recovered too fast.
He rebounded and bounced back up from the probe of a Gold Mancer with too much speed.
“What did you see?”
Dean Thistle sat with a glass of wine in his hand. They had long left his office and were now in the living room of his living quarters.
Lavish red velvet and embroidered gold adorned the surroundings. But most beautiful of all, there were intricate patterns of wood that wove through the tables, wall fixtures, and even ceilings that reduced the gaudiness and gave the entire place an earthy, comforting feel.
“I cannot explain it, Dean. I just don’t have a good feeling about this child. I haven’t liked him since the moment I saw him.”
“I see. Your intuition is strong as a Spirit Mancer. There is no need to worry. We will kill him long before he reaches Gold Mancy, then.”
Burne blinked in surprise. If they killed Theron before Gold Mancy, then he wouldn’t be of much use to their plans at all.
The fact that the Dean said long before Gold Mancy likely meant he wouldn’t even allow him to close in on the target at all.
There was a brimming up of pride and overwhelming joy in Burne’s heart. It had nothing to do with Theron. Instead, it was because he knew that his Patriarch had made this choice because he trusted him.
Spirit Mancers were the most mysterious of the four Paths, but because of this, the techniques, lineages, and methods they could follow were just as rare.
Those of this affinity that ended up like Burne were common.
At the start of his life, Burne was ignored by the Thistle family and he grew to his late twenties before Rouge took him in and chose to invest in him.
The growth of a Spirit Mancer was expensive—especially when there was no cultivation method to follow. Raw resources had to be pooled into mountains before any progress could be made.
Rouge hadn’t invested so much to ignore the words of his most trusted aid.
If Burne said Theron was a danger, even if he couldn’t explain why, Rouge would listen.
“Then how should we best utilize him before then, Dean?”
“Let’s see how he performs on the mission first. I would also like to see what happens at the banquet. Sigil has already invited him, if I understand correctly. He won’t necessarily be useless as a battering ram at Silver Mancy for a while. After all… what better to deal with children than children?
“We wouldn’t want rumors of our Thistle Clan being bullies spreading, now would we? It wouldn’t bode well for the ambiance of our crowning.”
Burne smiled, a fierce light in his eyes. “Of course, Dean.”