Rivers of the Night

Theron could have broken the Mandate Mark; however, he decided against it. He realized that for the Mandate Guild to put so much emphasis on Laws, and for Laws to seemingly be the deciding factor between powerful cultivators, the so-called Mandates would be heavily tied to them as well.

The final nail in the coffin was his own experience with the two Paths in his bloodline. Theron didn't actually know what they were called yet, but if he knew that the final form of his Law Path was known as a Mandate, then it would be all the more obvious.

This Mark, whether you could break it or not, was highly dependent on your Laws, it seemed. But there was something even more fundamental that underlined it.

Fearlessness.

If it was all just about having more powerful Laws, there was no way that this would be such a crippling thing. Theron had to guess what made him different from others, and this was the final conclusion he landed on.

With this being the case, what would happen if he seemed close—but not quite close enough?

Obviously, the Mandate Guild would hand him more plaques to use. And just maybe, he could use these slabs to…

Theron's eyes flashed. 'It worked.'

The plaque vanished into his body, and the slab shook.

Theron didn't know exactly why, but ever since the last time he entered the slab, he hadn't been able to access it again. He couldn't even feel it.

Maybe his senses weren't sharp enough, but in this dormant state, even sensing the slab was impossible. So he gambled.

If the slab had swallowed up the last plaque he had, he was hoping that another plaque might wake it up. Once again, his educated guess happened to work out in his benefit. He had hardly looked at the plaque at all, though it did intrigue him somewhat.

That plaque was the first actual showcase of Water Laws he had seen in the outside world, but Theron had promised himself that he would take the easiest path set out before him.

He didn't have the luxury of biding his time and waiting to prune out his own path. And what happened just in these last few days only proved that he was correct.

If he had taken another path, he wouldn't have the strength to even consider what he was thinking of doing right now.

But now…

…

Theron vanished and entered a familiar sea of blood. He looked down to find that his ankles were already submerged, and the pressure he had felt before wasn't nearly as great.

'So it feeds on these plaques. There must be something special about them… I would think that it was whatever mysterious energy of Mandate it is, but it's not interested in the Mandate Badge, so it can't be that. Is it…'

Theron's eyes flashed.

Those Mandate Plaques—they represented a complete Mandate Path, no? They might be weaker than Theron's own—as in the two in his bloodline—but they were Mandate Paths nonetheless.

How peculiar.

'Maybe I've made an incorrect assumption. I assumed that this slab reacted to my bloodline in specific because it seems so tied to the secrets of my family and whatever dark past or history we have. But… what if the slab is more general purpose than that? What if it would be capable of doing this with any bloodline?'

That answer seemed to pivot Theron in a new direction. The slab wasn't here specifically for him, though it was now tied to him. It was designed to elucidate Mandate Paths that resonate the most with you—but for some reason, it also fed on Mandate Paths.

In that case, if he had to guess, this slab was probably capable of taking your work and helping you to refine it. It was a silent teacher. An editor to an author, a trainer to a trainee.

But then…

'Is it a coincidence, then?'

Theron frowned. Maybe not?

When he looked at the nine Laws that made up his Mandate Paths—or rather, the Bronze Law foundation of them—he had noticed that both had the Law of Vibration, the Law of Reflection, and the Law of Density.

Could that be the slab helping him to use the path he was already on to more easily comprehend his bloodline's Mandate Paths? Was he even still truly on the path his bloodline wanted? Or had the slab changed course already?

Confusion colored Theron's eyes until he realized something.

'Wait… but it didn't use the Law of Concentration, the fourth Law I had before all of this. Is that because it couldn't? Or am I overthinking things?'

Theron took a breath and exhaled. He realized that he would have to suppress these thoughts for now. The slab had a timer it functioned on, and last time he wasted three entries. There was no telling if he would get the same number this time.

What Theron would realize quite quickly is that—let alone the same—he got more entries. As for why… it was because the plaque he gained now actually meshed with his bloodline, whereas the last one was designed for Light Mancers.

He didn't get just three entries—he got five of them. And this time, he didn't waste a single one.

…

Theron progressed as though he was riding an ocean's wave. Everything came so easily, so fluidly, fitting into his body as though a glove to his hand.

His chilling path became easier and easier.

The only weakness he seemed to have was that the heated path didn't catch on for him with the same ease.

It wasn't the Laws that were the problem—he understood them just fine enough. But the enlightenment he had had for the chilling path didn't replicate itself in the heated path. It was as though after grasping the first, the second became akin to a fleeting cloud he couldn't clutch in his palm.

Even so, that didn't stop the heated path from becoming stronger as well…