Rivers of the Night
Chapter 444 - 444: The Difference

Theron was looking for extremely powerful Skills, and at this point, even Gold Mancy ones weren't off the table. Specifically, he wanted to see what divided Silver and Gold, how their runes differed, what underlying mechanisms might be different.

Was it that Gold Mancy Spells allowed more seamless Law integration?

Theron had found that it was actually quite difficult to use his Spells and Laws in conjunction. For example, when he used [Pressure Burst] to kill Ancestor Nightingale, he only applied the chilling path after the fact.

He felt that he could force the issue, but it was easier to do it that way. What he wanted to know was if that was because of his own lack of control, or if there was a dividing barrier between Silver and Gold he didn't know.

There was also something else nagging at Theron in the back of his mind.

He really wanted to create his own Spells if possible. He felt that there shouldn't be an issue in doing so. But… this was a situation where his overly analytical side was having a hard time calming down and taking what was in front of him.

Runes made up everything there was as far as he could tell. They were the foundation that lay in the creation of Magic Circles. However, there was a problem.

That was the Black Limbo Tortoise Shell.

Well, it wasn't the shell or the beast in particular, but instead the fact its Laws—the Law of Density in this case—were also drawn by runes.

What was the difference?

'The Meridians…?'

Theron's palm shattered a glass casing, taking a Spell out. He began to go over it, his eyes darting across the pages before he put it back down.

There was a contemplative look in his eyes.

'Is it really just my own lack of control?'

He was quite proud of his Mana Control. But for it to be a limiting factor for him… this was quite unique.

From what he could tell, the Gold Mancy Spells were more complicated, but there was nothing particularly unique about them that would make them better adapted to being used with Laws.

The conclusion seemed decisive, especially after Theron checked another, and then another. He even went to see if other Mancy Paths would be the same.

The scope of comprehension the Secret Realm Library had given him was shocking. It wasn't like it taught him any spells, but his overall comprehensive comprehension of the world itself had deepened. It was like his foundational knowledge had taken a huge leap forward.

And because of that, though he couldn't cast any of the Spells of other Mancy Paths, he found himself actually…

Being able to understand them.

'There's another possibility, though…' Theron thought.

He wasn't quite yet ready to give up on the fact that you might be able to change runes to be more accommodating toward Laws. The reason he felt so strongly about this was that the requirement for control was just… too high otherwise.

This sounded very arrogant to say, but Theron knew it to be the truth. If even he, with Arcane Resonance, couldn't easily apply Laws to his spells directly without a lot of focus, then quite literally no one on this continent could.

That was something else that he was certain about.

The library hadn't spelled out the cap of this world for him. But after reading all of those books, he understood how the world around him was limited.

From his understanding, the Divine Realm was, indeed, the peak. Not only that, but Runebound Resonance was a soft cap, as was Gold Mancy. It was part of the reason it was so difficult to progress.

That was to say that unless this world just couldn't do what he was hoping, there had to be another way that he was missing.

'Maybe…'

Theron flickered, leaving the Alpha's back and landing in the midst of the largest section in the Pavilion. The Dark Mancer section.

It wasn't any surprise that this had the largest selection. And if he looked more deeply…

He went through one after another, still not finding what he was looking for even up until the very last.

Theron frowned as he went through the last of the Dark Mancy Spells.

'Is there really—'

Suddenly Theron's eyes sharpened. He went back to the beginning of the Spell.

This Spell was known as [Death Walk]. It allowed a Dark Mancer to not only cheat death, but to also parlay it into a teleportation. It was essentially a powerful healing, dodging, and movement spell all in one.

It was the most expensive spell here by far and Theron was actually surprised that it was on sale at all. This was the sort of spell that the Imperial Clan would hoard and never let see the light of day.

The money you could get back wouldn't even be worth it.

But then Theron saw something.

The description of the spell on the docket here only spoke about the "teleportation" aspects. It didn't seem to understand the healing or death escape function at all. It was like they were lacking in the understanding.

So, Theron went back to the start, looking through the runes that were related to the teleportation, and then setting them aside from the others before he finally spotted the difference he was looking for.

"I was right. There is a way… how complex…"

Once again, Theron's theory played out right before him in reality in very real time.

It was the Meridians. They were the key to all of this.

One needed to circulate their Mana through their Meridians before they could cast any spell. But humans weren't the Heavens—they didn't have Laws baked into their Meridians. At best, most Spells and the like could only tap into rudimentary forms of control left for the mundane.

But, Theron was different. His body…

'I've felt like a Mana Beast for a very long time… is that why…?'

He had never thought to check because nothing felt different. But…

Had his Meridian Pathways changed? Were there Laws inscribed into his body now that hadn't been there before?

Was this the real reason he was able to integrate the Immortal Jellyfish into his flesh and blood?