Rivers of the Night

Chapter 725: No Doubt

Theron’s gaze flashed, and he took a strong step back. The ground quaked beneath his step. He had been forced to move so quickly, even he didn’t have the time to perfectly control his power.

It also made him remember that his body had grown substantially stronger with every improvement to his Water Resonance. His Dark Mana Resonance didn’t seem to have an effect on his bodily strength, but it didn’t seem to matter at all.

Right now, he had the body of a Primal Beast. The only reason it wasn’t so obvious was because his bodily strength was tied to his cultivation just like a beast’s would be, so he was still "just" a Gold Primal Beast.

But as his cultivation continued to improve, the exaggeration of the gap between himself and his opponents would only become more obvious. Unless, of course, he was doomed to spend a life continuously fighting above his cultivation level.

And as things stood now, this was probably the real reason he was able to fight so far above his cultivation level.

A pillar of crimson shot into the skies.

Theron’s eyes narrowed. ’Two.’

Although the Alpha hadn’t tapped into the other techniques yet, it wasn’t because they couldn’t, necessarily. Actually, they had picked three on purpose. That said, the others were more complex and required greater talent.

In truth, the techniques themselves were strongest when used in tandem, so Theron had allowed the pace of the Alpha’s talent improvement to dictate how many of them they learned.

But since then, the Alpha had shown little to no improvement at all.

The trouble with that, though, was that it had only been a bit under four months since then. There were very few that could vastly improve in such short periods of time. Theron was an anomaly.

However, while Theron was vaguely aware of this, he wasn’t in a position where he could afford to be soft-hearted. If the Alpha ceased being useful to him, even if he wouldn’t be so cruel as to kill the creature, Theron didn’t see a reason to carry it around if it didn’t keep up. At the very least, he couldn’t continue to pour resources into it.

He had killed quite a number of powerhouses until now, all of them vastly more powerful than the Gold Beast. Yet, the improvements on the Resonance front were minimal.

But it seemed that Theron’s patience was finally paying off.

And seeing how it wasn’t just one crimson pillar, but two intertwining with one another, he could see why immediately.

[Entangling Clones].

It seemed that the Alpha also realized it was falling behind too quickly. If it continued to take the opponents Theron could beat to improve itself, of course it would be vastly more powerful than it was now, but it could only make it so far.

If it was only eating opponents Theron had already killed, then it would logically always lag behind Theron. It also knew Theron well after following him for so long. If it was constantly reliant on him to improve, then the novelty of his bloodline would only last for so long before Theron grew tired of the experiment.

That only left one path forward.

A gamble.

[Entangling Clone], as far as Theron could tell, was a method of creating a perfect clone of oneself. Because Theron didn’t take the main inheritance, he couldn’t use it personally. He might be able to copy it in the future, but it would require him to raise his ability to control his own Life Mana more than he could now.

Regardless, the method exchanged a great deal of powerful blood in return for creating a perfectly entangled clone with oneself.

This clone would not only be perfectly equivalent in strength, it would essentially allow for twice the results with half the effort. At least, that was the saying.

In reality, it was the same amount of effort for double the results. So long as both clones worked hard, when they combined, their individual results would likewise combine.

This wasn’t an easy process, though. The resources were only one thing, but they shouldn’t be glossed over either.

In order to prep, one needed to accumulate enough resources to essentially return to one’s current cultivation level. In layman’s terms, it was like beginning to cultivate from the very beginning once again.

This was just to get a foot in the door, though. The next part of the process was splitting the soul, an excruciating event that could more than easily end in death.

However, while that excruciating process was taking place, one needed to complete the complex process of not only circulating the [Entangling Clone] technique, but also structuring one’s body with one’s Resonance and Mandates.

Until now, you only set the foundation for your cultivation itself, but not the intricacies of it all.

Not only would this take a great amount of willpower, but it required almost excessive amounts of talent. One would inevitably make mistakes if one was in such horrible pain. It was just a matter of whether one’s skill could supersede it all.

This was something that Theron felt he could do if he was given the opportunity. But the Alpha...

Theron’s gaze flickered, a bit surprised by his own personal assessment.

He had no doubt in his heart at all. The Alpha would succeed.

How had they met? It was under a Tribulation the Alpha had triggered because it refused to live the life of a mediocre Manaborn Beast. Everything it did then, and even up until now, was all in the pursuit of power.

Its determination... ironically enough, among all the people Theron had met in his lifetime, it was second only to himself.

If it was truly second at all.

Who was Theron to decide such a ranking?

’It will.’

Theron’s thoughts solidified at the very same moment the pillars did.

WHOOSH.

They fused into one and then shrank instantly, all of that power shrinking in on itself until all that was left was a single creature.