Rivers of the Night

Theron walked out of his room. Compared to the mess it had been before, it looked as though someone had spent an especially long time wiping every surface clean.

But Theron hadn't had to put that much effort in. Maybe it was because it was his own blood, but he found it even easier to freeze it over. At that point, shattering it and floating it out of a window was as easy as breathing.

Not only was the room clean now, it didn't look as though it had even been slept in.

Theron couldn't control Ice Mana now, but his Water Mana… it had become frighteningly cold, so much so that its presence could seem to freeze things without the same cold resistance.

This sort of Water Mana was especially dangerous. Ice Mana was strong, but it often had problems transferring its cold. This was why area control abilities were actually quite rare amongst Ice Mancers, as it took too much Mana to use.

In order for Ice Mana to slow someone down, they had to coat them. And because Ice Mana was solid, and not fluid like Water Mana, once it was formed, it couldn't just be easily shifted or changed, so if one wanted to affect a larger area or a different area, it was necessary to slowly build on what was already there.

In addition, the specific heat of Ice Mana and Water Mana were vastly different. Water Mana was incredible at retaining heat. It was why it was a perfect counter to Fire Mana. But Ice Mana was not the same, and therefore not as well known for countering Fire Mana—though it was the superior tier of Mana in general.

In simple terms, Ice Mana increased by more degrees of temperature per the same unit of energy inputted into it than Water Mana did. Water Mana was far better at retaining its current temperature than Ice Mana could ever be.

The irony of that?

Right at this moment, although Theron couldn't yet emit temperatures as low or frosty as a true Ice Mancer, he was actually more effective at spreading his cold than most Ice Mancers already.

His Water Mana was fluid, cold flowed from one area to the next, and could trap someone without having to build layers on top of them. Because one could freely move in and out of water, there was nothing stopping Theron from using \\[Water Prison] to turn someone into his own personal ice statue.

What Theron really wanted to see was just how far he could push it.

Was he really all that far from the cold of a true Ice Mancer?

A part of him wanted to be more reserved because until now, he had only been capable of small temperature changes. This huge, abrupt evolution had somewhat caught him off guard.

As he had expected, his affinity for the cold path was far superior to his affinity for the heated one. The latter couldn't produce an effect nearly this powerful, though it too had a much larger effect now than ever before.

For that… he would probably need an opponent.

However, there was a problem lurking in the back of Theron's mind, one that he felt he would probably have to face quite soon.

He was lacking.

This time, it wasn't his talent, or his cultivation, or his comprehension.

It was his spells.

Honestly, he had been lagging behind on spells for quite a while. These days, he almost used his Bronze Resonance Spells as often as his Silver ones only because he hardly felt much of a difference between the two.

After his modifications, these spells often displayed a great amount of power.

Because Water Mancy didn't have many options when it came to combat, this seemed like the smartest path to take, so Theron had never minded it.

But now… things felt different.

He had a powerful cold Water Mana, and a slightly less powerful hot Water Mana. Both could do quite some damage on their own, but just using them the same way he would normal Water Mana felt like he was losing out on his true potential.

The problem seemed to be solved by going out to get more spells. But the problem with that solution was that… it wasn't a solution.

What good was it to go out and get more spells that would have the same issue? Theron had never heard of Water Mana being capable of doing what his could, and he had interacted with not just one, but two of the Black Clan's best.

Well, Saularon wasn't exactly that, but Elder Kelyne Black certainly was. She hadn't used any spells that caught his attention.

There was no doubt the Black Clan had the largest store of Water Mancy Spells on the continent. If even they didn't have anything that could catch Theron's attention, then what was he supposed to do?

The painful truth of it all, Theron realized, was that there probably were no spells that could do what he needed them to.

But that also made the question of where his bloodline had come from all the more pressing.

'Can I make my own spells?'

Despite the thought, Theron was frowning. He had never been an arrogant person, that wasn't his default. He liked to learn from others and read books because that was where he felt the most comfortable.

Plus, the reason he had chosen the Blue Pufferfish and Immortal Jellyfish, on top of the simplest Water Mancy Cultivation Method in existence, was because he didn't like to make mistakes. He chose all three because they were the oldest, and while they were weak, they certainly had no glaring flaws within them.

Creating his own spells would almost certainly come with exactly the sort of pitfalls he wanted to avoid with all his being.

As Theron was lost in thought, he walked out of the palace, only to find a young man playing a lyre by a water fixture. He didn't seem to be waiting for Theron at all, but the music and his presence caused Theron to look over nonetheless.

Theron gave him a once-over before his gaze looked off into the distance.

"It seems you know they're coming too," the young man chuckled, still playing his lyre. "But now I'm very curious too. Why is it that my uncles sent me to protect you after you crippled my little cousins?"