Rivers of the Night

Chapter 746: Twinkling Stars

Theron felt a push of light and dark, good and evil, Angel and Demon pulling deep within himself. A flame of white, a flame of black...

But somehow it felt so very foreign, almost illusory, like he was seeing the vision of something that could be rather than something that was very real now.

It was the most peculiar feeling, and because fire was quite literally the opposite of everything he was, he found it all the stranger.

But then the vision of the flames vanished, and for the first time he saw the Angel and Demon Doctrines for what they were in earnest.

It was a complex network of runes, sigils, and glyphs. If one zoomed out, a scene that could only be deemed as spectacular opened up before their eyes.

However, Theron had a hard time deciding whether it was a scene that was beautiful in nature, or one that was sinister beyond compare.

It looked like twinkling stars arranged in various densities, almost like an artist had painstakingly drawn one dot after another, meticulously spacing them to give the illusion of lines and shadows. Except in this case, the dots were stars far vaster than worlds, and the lines and shadows came together to paint a picture that was even vaster than that.

A pair of wings.

No, it wasn’t a single pair of wings—it was six pairs of them, each no less resplendent than the last.

They were separated by just enough for the proportions to make sense, and yet there was no figure—humanoid or otherwise—at the core of it. Instead, there was little more than blank, empty space, darkness as far as the eye could see.

However, just above it, right center to the pairs, was a halo. It was the densest concentration of stars there was, but there was something particularly sinister about this halo... that was because a pair of horns hovered just above it.

And just below it, there were those eyes.

They bled crimson, a combination of exploding nebula and supernova. It felt like one was staring into the very incarnation of chaos and the end of all things itself.

The two found a remote balance, and Theron found that he couldn’t take his eyes off of them. It practically suffocated him just how much he was drawn into it.

It was like he was staring at the secrets of the world itself—all that had been, all that was, and all that ever would be.

Beautiful or sinister... gorgeous and malevolent... he truly couldn’t tell.

But maybe that was the purpose. Maybe it was always designed to be both.

The Angel Doctrine—it was a path that was all things, to create all things, to birth all things from any one starting point. It embodied the concept of one begetting two, two begetting three, and three begetting all there was.

Others spoke of how complex it was, how difficult it was to master and grasp, when the truth of the matter was that the very purpose of the Angel Doctrine was to take the complex and simplify it. It was designed to be able to accomplish everything no matter what your starting point was, no matter what your Mana affinity was.

What Doctrine could possibly be simpler than that?

And then there was the Demon Doctrine—the embodiment of destruction.

If one begat two, then two could be crushed to one. If two could beget three, then three could be sundered to two. If three could beget all things, then from the simplest starting position, there was nothing you couldn’t control.

One was a path of Formation Mastery.

The other was a path of Seal Mastery.

The realization came to Theron as easy as breathing. Stuck in that loop of comprehension and the timing of his soul strength progressing and increasing, his mind worked faster than the world around him could even keep up.

To use Water Mana to form anything.To use Water Mana to destroy anything.

They were that simple to him.

Theron slowly came out from his state of enlightenment, his body feeling as though it was floating on air and then like it was slowly coming back to reality.

In that moment, he realized that it wasn’t an illusion. He had truly had an out-of-body experience just now. His soul had left his body, entering an astral space that allowed him to see reality from a vantage point that extended beyond reason... beyond anything even a King Mancer should be able to see, let alone a Gold Mancer like himself.

Theron looked toward his own body and realized something else...

He was no longer just any Gold Mancer.

He was now a Quasi Cloud Mancer.

His body thrummed with strength and power, and though his soul was still very much at the pinnacle of the Cloud Realm, it somehow felt like it was easily twice as powerful as it had been before.

However, what he gained here wasn’t a simple factor of power. It wasn’t just about his might—it was about these two Doctrines and their power.

That scene with the dotted stars was incredibly beautiful, but it was precisely because they were stars that he truly understood the scope of it all.

He had said quite a few thoughts about three begetting all things. It sounded simple enough. But when you looked at it in totality, it was no wonder so many felt that this path was much too complicated.

Those stars encompassed countless galaxies and solar systems, each one interconnected with a variety of new runes, sigils, and glyphs. From afar, they painted a clear picture, but if one zoomed in and got into the weeds...

Where did you even start? What path should you choose? How did you learn?

Was there a simpler portion to start from?

’Meridians...’

The realization came to Theron as easily as flowing water. It was like he had touched upon an entirely new plane of comprehension.

What had the Nightingale Ancestor Bird said back then? It had said that the Angel Race was incredibly unique because they had Meridian channels that allowed them to use all Mana.

What made Theron special was that every time he progressed in his Resonance, his Meridians acted in kind.

When he reached Manaborn, 5% of his Meridians became inclined toward Water Mana. When he reached Runebound, it became 7%. At Arcane, it was 10%.

When he reached Celestial, it was supposed to jump all the way up to 20%, and for Primal, it should have been 40%, with Titan already being at 60%.

However, things unfortunately changed for him. He had had a Dark Mana Core forced onto him.

On the one hand, this seemed to have mellowed his sharp edge and made him a Dual Resonance Mancer. But on the other hand, it had stopped his Water Mancy from being as powerful as it could be.

Granted, most of the Water Mana Spells he came across now only used the original 2 to 3% of channels his Water Mana originally made up.

Not everyone had such a peculiar bloodline. Even in this world, most born as Primal or even Titan Resonance Mancers had only very small portions of their Meridians designated for their highest Mana affinity.

Theron was a complete anomaly. It was just that he didn’t know how much of an anomaly he was.

If others knew he was like this, it would cause a huge commotion. That was because only special Races had such abilities, and only a rare few Human Clans might have such an ability. And all such Human Clans were of the Elder Titan talent level at worst—a level only beneath that of Voidwroughts in terms of talent.

And yet, even they wouldn’t be able to have their Meridian affinity take up 60% of their Meridian channels.

The harsh truth for most Mancers was that their bodies were mostly formed of wasteful Meridians they would never use. Though, the best and most talented Mancers managed to find workarounds and dangerous techniques that actually used these dormant channels.

This aside, rather than having 60% of his channels formed of Water Mana, only 30% of them were. As for his Dark Mana, it only took up a small portion at the very same 2 or 3%. But because of the location they were in, they still ended up affecting his Water Mancy greatly.

Why was all of this important now?

It was because Theron realized the link to it all.

What if what he was looking at right now were the Meridian Channels of the Angel Race laid out before him?

And if that was the case, if he needed a starting point...

Shouldn’t he look for the Water Mana section and then branch out from there?

In fact, even if he didn’t become a great Formation Master...

Maybe this Angel and Demon Doctrine just might teach him how to unlock the potential of the Meridian Channels he had never been able to use.