Rivers of the Night

Another current slammed into Theron, rattling his bones and nearly fracturing them.

It wasn't that Water Mana couldn't be wild and hard to predict—they could be… for anyone other than Theron.

Fluid dynamics was amongst the most complicated of the physical sciences, but it came so naturally to Theron that those were the books he blazed through the fastest. He could tell the difference between Water Mana acting as it should and Water Mana that was outside of his purview.

When he deduced to this point, he was certain that the river was peculiar, but this wasn't enough to deduce that something was being hidden here.

In truth, the moment Theron saw the Dark Mana river, he found it peculiar.

Mana wasn't very uniform and separated in nature. While looking at a tree often meant you were looking at Wood Mana, you were also looking at Earth and Water Mana, and Light Mana, and depending on the sort of tree, it might have any number of other Manas wrapped into it as well. Those were just the obvious sort.

However, this river was distinctly separate, the Dark Mana layering on top as though a blanket to hide the real river beneath.

This was peculiar, but at least in this world, it was easy for Theron to dismiss as a phenomenon that he just didn't understand quite yet…

Until he got this deep.

Right now, he could sense the changes in the river. This phenomenon was more in line with nature, a mixture of Water Mana and Dark Mana combined into one.

This made sense. Water Mana was a great solvent of many things. Things dissolving into it was a matter of nature, whether that was the thick Earth Mana in the salted oceans, or now, the dense Dark Mana caused by the saturation of the Mana type in this particular world.

But given the concentration of Dark Mana above him, the saturation of Dark Mana in the real water beneath it was actually far too low. It was like…

'They're being kept artificially separated.'

It wasn't just this Theron noticed, but in the twice—

"Oof…" Theron groaned once again.

—thrice, now, that he had been slammed into by buffeting currents, he had grown more and more certain that he was actually wrong.

It wasn't the Water Mana beneath the Dark Mana layer that was influencing the latter, but instead it was the opposite.

Someone had set up a hidden Dark Mana formation above in order to turn the river beneath into a natural protective barrier.

The various currents, the harsh thrashing and slamming—it was here to stop someone who entered from going in deeper.

The question then was…

'Why?'

Theron's eyes narrowed and he looked up.

This formation… it was far too large for him to analyze on his own. And the power it took to manipulate nature to this degree was likewise absolutely ridiculous.

However, Theron was certain of one thing.

Opportunity.

From the maps he had read, this river was marked as a huge danger zone. All of the disciples avoided it like it was the plague.

From the moment he stepped in, the reason why was obvious. There was no swimming against that Dark Mana current above unless you were in that mysterious realm beyond Gold Mancy.

And even if by some miracle you could control yourself to that extent and made it all the way down here, well…

Theron looked at the countless sets of eyes still warily staring at him.

This concentration of beasts was absolutely ridiculous, and setting aside their already ridiculous cultivations, each one was Manaborn at the very worst.

Theron would have gotten himself killed if he didn't have this odd deterrence on them.

'I'm making too many mistakes by being too eager.'

He should be focused on escaping and protecting his life, but he had come to this river because he thought it was the perfect ground to kill and counterattack.

His bloodlust was too great. Wanting revenge was fine. But if he got himself killed first, there would be no revenge to be had.

Theron's eyes sharpened.

Either way, since he had gotten lucky this time, he would ride that momentum to the end. There was no going back the way he came—he wasn't strong enough.

So instead, he would do the only logical thing.

These waves were clearly designed to keep him away from something. So…

He would just go in the direction opposite of what they wanted him to do.

The problem was that this was too difficult. As he had said, he might be a Water Mancer, but the momentum of these waves was too strong, almost like they were being controlled by a Water Mancer far superior to himself.

Going against them would drain him of all his Mana long before he made it to his target destination.

He needed a different way, or at least a more clever way of doing this exact thing.

Theron's mind fell into thought. He was continuously slammed around by the currents, but even though the pain rattled his bones, he didn't seem to notice as he continued to calculate.

Slowly, his eyes became brighter and brighter as his intent sharpened to the very limits.

Going against the currents was impossible, but these sudden bursts…

Theron's gaze sharpened as he felt another burst coming.

He tilted his body, slamming his palms out and shifting the current he was in just the slightest bit as a new current slammed into its side.

At that moment, Theron was sent going down diagonally back, bursting out of the current stream he was in to one below.

The maw of a beast nearby was tempted to open, but it only took the slightest glance from Theron for it to back off, fear coloring its eyes.

'Yes… just like this…'

Rather than going against the current completely, he would use this roundabout method. The sudden bursts of new currents were designed to send him into a current that sent him further away from the target destination in a not-so-subtle way.

But, if he used its momentum against it—sensing the oncoming current and shifting the one he was already in just enough to deviate the path—while he wouldn't be able to go in the opposite direction it wanted, he could throw the timing of it all off.

Now, he just had to slowly study these currents until he knew how best to counter it all.

He was determined to find out what was at the bottom of this ocean.