Rivers of the Night

Chapter 780: Alright

Theron wasn’t entirely sure what he expected when he came out the other side. But a small hut with a roof of hay and mud, built on land that had certainly seen better days, was definitely not on his bingo card.

Though this was just the starting point for Ayame, and she had goals and aspirations to reach much higher in the ranks of Demons, this was still the level of Duke.

Over time, Theron had begun to pick out secrets and tiny understandings of the Demon Corps through word of mouth and various sources. So, he knew that a Demon Duke was a shocking existence.

Much like Ayame had said, even at this level, they could reverse time to make certain that she had done her mission as was necessary. How could both things be true?

While surprised, Theron’s reaction wasn’t the usual. He didn’t feel like he had been tricked. Instead, only one thought was consuming his mind right now...

Why?

There had to be a reason, and the more he looked around, the more he realized what was going on. But he was so distracted that he didn’t notice that Ayame and a particular old man with floating horns above his head were looking at him weirdly.

Theron looked over. "What?"

The old man blinked. "You’re... fine?"

Theron’s eyes narrowed and he looked back toward the hut, and then sent his senses into his library to take a peek, only to be floored by the result.

His library had grown by factors that could only be measured in the thousands. For context, if he had had a thousand books in there before—a number that was certainly only a small fraction of the true, actual number—he now had millions.

Now, considering he had had much more than a mere thousand books, even Theron felt overwhelmed.

Was it even possible to finish reading this many books in a lifetime?

But now he was certain.

That hut, it looked simple, like a single strong storm could have blown it over. But that was far from the case. Theron bet that even his full-force attack couldn’t dent a wall.

As for why these two were asking him if he was fine, it was probably because the gravity in this place was thousands of times more powerful than where they had just come from. The air was so heavy and humid that it was hard to even breathe. And to top it off, the sun’s rays coming from above... it seemed so volatile and full of energy that it could probably be classified as radiation on a far weaker world.

Yet, here, it was just normal sunlight.

This world... it was easily the most powerful world that Theron had ever been on. Whatever the cultivation cap here was, if Theron had to guess, it was probably two levels beyond King.

And that was just his own personal guess—it might very well be three or more. He had no real idea.

He had never been on a world even close enough to compare.

But he was just fine here. His body wasn’t that of a normal Mancer. He had the body of a Titan Resonance Beast.

In fact, when he breathed, the ambient Mana was flooding his muscles, making him realize that he still hadn’t unlocked the full potential of his body just yet.

Hidden strength he didn’t even know he had was being quickly tapped into. He hadn’t even improved his cultivation yet, and yet he still felt like his power had increased by 5% already in just the last few breaths of time.

"This is an interesting world," Theron finally said.

His reaction, though... made the old man very suspicious. There was simply no way that someone who had never been on such a world before could react so nonchalantly. Unless...

The old man’s pupils constricted into pinholes.

"Alright. What do I do now?" Theron asked.

Ayame looked from Theron to the old man, and then back. Then the old man looked at Ayame, and then to Theron, and then back.

Theron couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. What weren’t they telling him?

"If we had known you would adapt so quickly, we probably wouldn’t have brought you here. But now things are more complicated."

"Why’s that?"

"If we had brought you directly to the city, then you would have been labeled a Chosen Recruit, invited personally by a Demon Noble. But unfortunately, since you’re here, it means you are just a normal recruit, and have to go through a test."

Theron could only shake his head at that, but he couldn’t be too angry. Obviously, they had done it for his sake. Their assumption was that he’d face-plant.

"This is... probably a bigger problem than I’ve described. Because technically, if you’re a normal recruit, you can’t directly challenge for a position under a Demon Duke. You’d need to prove yourself to a Demon Lord first, and then a Baron... and then a Viscount."

Theron frowned.

This was a huge problem. He didn’t have the time or patience to go through such long, winding missions. Even if they would be easy for him, the travel and headache would take him several months at least.

The only reason Ayame’s mission had ended so early was because she had gotten lucky. Otherwise, how long would it have taken for her to find the inheritance that Theron had stumbled onto by luck? She wasn’t even close when he originally found her.

Who knew how many missions there were like that?

"Is there a shortcut?" Theron asked with a frown. He came here to improve quickly, not to do missions for people who wouldn’t blink an eye if he died.

"Uh... no," the old man said a bit sheepishly.

Theron looked to Ayame.

"... There is," she said.

"Don’t be ridiculous," the old man interjected.

Ayame shrugged. "If you want a shortcut, you just need to either kill a Demon Noble or one of their Chosen."

"Why didn’t you just say so?" Theron asked after relaxing.

The old man rolled his eyes. "The weakest Demon Lord is a King. Not just any King, but at least a Middle King. A Demon Duke is a Transcendent. If you want to jump right to being the underling of a Demon Duke, their weakest Chosen are beyond the King Realm. What good would it be to tell you any of that?"

Theron raised an eyebrow and looked at Ayame.

She shook her head, understanding his inquisitive look. "Even after I hand in this mission, I won’t be a Chosen. I’ll just be an underling in the Demon Duke Army. I can use that as a branching point to challenge more missions until I have enough to challenge for a Demon Prince underling position, but I’d be far from Chosen. The only way to become a Chosen is to kill another Chosen."

Theron shook his head and then chuckled. "Transcendent, you say? What cultivation realm is that?"

The old man’s pupils constricted again. How could Theron say that word without the slightest reaction? Something was definitely wrong with this child.

"... Transcendent is the cultivation realm beyond Saint, which is the realm beyond King."

"Alright," Theron said with a slow nod. "I’ll be back."