Rivers of the Night

Chapter 788: Return

Theron looked around and didn’t sense Ayame, but that much he already expected. But the old man also wasn’t here.

This shouldn’t have been odd, but it already had Theron raising an eyebrow.

He hadn’t known these two for long at all. He had known Ayame the longest, and it was still just a few weeks of interaction between them. As for the old man, it was only a matter of a few minutes at best. He didn’t know either enough to know their habits, let alone make conclusions about whether or not they should be home.

Even people who had known others their whole lives shouldn’t be able to predict whether or not they’d be home—at least not after nearly a year and a half out of their lives. How could you know how their schedules would change after such a long time?

Yet, Theron was sure.

The hut’s door was swung open, there was a blade mark on a tree to the side, and there were more leaves on the ground than there should be.

The blade mark was probably the worst oddity. Why would it be there?

If the tree was used for training, it would certainly have more than one of those blade marks. But it was the only one around.

Also, it had to be remembered just how shockingly sturdy this world was. But that blade mark didn’t denote any sort of effort. It was so casual it almost looked like someone falling asleep with an inked quill in their hands. They accidentally scribbled along the page almost as though drunk with fatigue.

This wasn’t an attack made with a great deal of effort.

Theron sniffed at the air, and then his eyes narrowed. His eyes flashed with hints of violet, and what was once hidden before him suddenly opened up.

Runes and sigils danced in the air.

Of all his improvements, his comprehension of formations and the like had probably improved the most. Even so, it wasn’t his formation drawing and things of the like that had been the greatest boon from this. It was his ability to casually observe the world and pick up clues and details from it.

’Poison.’

Theron nodded to himself.

It was a very specific poison, one that didn’t kill but instead lulled to sleep. It also weakened one’s control over one’s mana.

There hadn’t been much struggle here at all. But it seemed like only one person had been captured, that being the old man.

’Interesting. Why would they catch him?’

From what Theron knew, the old man was decently high up in the rankings. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to oversee a talent like Ayame.

Or, maybe, the two weren’t as related as Theron thought. It was also possible the old man simply had some earlier connections with Ayame that were more sentimental than anything else.

’Mm...’

Theron nodded to himself once more. With a slight leap, he easily landed on Alpha’s back again.

"Alright. I guess we have a new adventure already. No rest for the wicked, off we go," Theron said with a light chuckle.

—

Theron had never been to the city. In fact, it was only mentioned to him in passing by the old man when he was told that because of how they had done things, he wouldn’t be able to go forth as he originally expected.

But finding it wasn’t all too difficult.

Theron just used the Karmic Needle and Thread and followed the direction toward where the most strings lay. That would be where civilization was.

Honestly, with how powerful his Third Eye was now, he could probably just sweep it out and find it that way. But who knew what that would alert?

At this point, Theron had learned how to be conservative. Almost a year and a half in the wilderness was enough to humble a person. If he did something as foolish as use his Third Eye to progress in the wilderness, he’d have Saints and Transcendents hunting him down from every which direction.

’Ah, there it is.’

Theron reached a mountain peak and looked down at a sprawling city below.

’How peculiar. They put a city right in the middle of a range of mountains like this one. Aren’t they afraid of the defensive disadvantage?’

Anyone attacking this place would have high ground, and if you wanted to choke the city into obedience, you could use the mountains as natural barriers.

It was either the city was very confident in their scouting, or they were arrogant beyond belief. Maybe both—and even a third thing that Theron wasn’t aware of quite yet.

Alpha leapt forward and his speed increased into that of a red blur. In an instant of time, Theron had made it to the city gates, a long line of people—if they could be called that—standing at the entrance.

Oddly enough, many of these "people" also had the weird quirk of horns hovering above their heads.

They looked toward Theron and then shrank back when their eyes landed on Alpha.

Theron shook his head. These people were born in this powerful world, why were they so cowardly? He’d be leagues more powerful if he were born here.

But maybe that was just a product of talent.

The trouble was that, at a glance, he didn’t feel that these people were poor in talent. Just poor in effort or willingness to stick their necks out.

Theron chose to ignore the line entirely. Was that the right thing to do? He had no idea, but at this point, he felt his life had been a little too peaceful for a little too long.

It was time for a bit of fun.

The gate had a pair of things guarding it that Theron had never seen before. Those "things" were four-meter-tall human men wearing black armor from head to toe.

Theron held up a finger and his Water Mana bloomed, reconstructing a perfect profile of the old man.

"Hey. Have you seen this old man?" Theron asked.

The guards had been completely ignoring Theron and seemed to only now turn to him, their eyes glowing with madness.