Theron didn’t take long to find Burne’s corpse. He slipped a spatial device off of his finger, but he didn’t even get the chance to go through it before it vanished from his hands.
He didn’t even have to look up to know that it was the old man. It seemed that he wouldn’t be getting any freebies today. But that much was fine by him.
Theron had known that after taunting Burne, the man wouldn’t be able to help himself. A good dog would always be eager to please his master, and even more eager to make up for any mistakes he had made.
To Burne, the only way to fix things was by proving that Theron was every bit the danger he assumed him to be. So this time, Theron wasn’t as cautious as he usually was. He just pretended to be and then slipped out of the academy.
Honestly, though… that was the easy part.
Theron walked back to the old man.
"How did you find this place?" he asked coldly. Clearly, the old man was still upset.
"You’re the one who told me you had a rare Manaborn Echo from a Sound Mancy beast. After that, it was easy."
"You managed to remember the route in such detail?"
"I think that’s the least impressive thing I did, actually. I deciphered the distortions and built out the true route from the illusion. Then I knew you would sense me enter your domain and make your way here to help me deal with this little problem."
"You realize that—."
"That you weakened the distortions so that I could actually follow you? Yes, I know that. That’s why I was confident in finding this place."
The old man found himself feeling slightly… annoyed.
Theron spoke about these things as though it was easy, but he wasn’t just remembering a path down a road; he was remembering the specific Mana fluctuations in the air and then deciphering them after the fact.
He reoriented his inner ear through a memory alone, adjusting what his mind had once thought were rights to lefts, and vice versa. It was like going back through a fever dream.
While it was true the old man had weakened his abilities so that Theron could actually keep up and follow him, this was still not just a small shock to him.
Somehow… he had still underestimated this young man.
"Tell you what, if you’re still upset, you can always give me another impossible mission."
The old man rolled the spatial ring through his fingers, not replying immediately as though he was ruminating over something.
"I hear that you’ve gotten yourself into quite some trouble?"
"How is getting married trouble?" Theron asked as though he was well and truly perplexed.
"You’re playing a very dangerous game, child. Weaving the line you want isn’t so easy. You’ll end up crushed."
"In two weeks, I’ll be marrying the love of my life." Theron said simply.
"You are fourteen years old, you don’t know what love is."
"Saying this while sending me off to kill for you is a bit amusing, don’t you think?"
"You’re also too cheeky for your own good. If you want to use your little facade, do it on someone who doesn’t know the tenets like the back of their hand." ŖÂŊỘᛒËṦ
"My real personality isn’t nearly as fun," Theron said as though he didn’t hear the implication in the words.
"… Are you aware how powerful Bronze Resonance geniuses of the province can bee? Thralix is an ant. So what if he reached the Silver Resonance of his Bloodline when the Ironharts only have a Silver Resonance cap to begin with? There are those of the Bronze Resonance that not only have Gold Resonance caps, there are those that have even stronger bloodlines than that.
"And some of them have already awoken their bloodlines to Gold Resonance, while their Bronze Resonance bloodlines alone would already be stronger than Thralix’s Silver Resonance Ironhart Bloodline."
"But you actually sent an open invitation to them all? Have you lost your mind?"
Theron smiled. "They think I only know how to beat up women."
"You’re a fool."
Theron chuckled. "You tell me, old man. If a no-name marrying into a mere Earl Clan because he has no noble lineage of his own sends out such an open invitation, how many of those arrogant geniuses you just mentioned would care to accept it?"
The old man stopped twirling the ring through his fingers, looking up at Theron.
"So you’re betting on the luck of the draw."
"No. I don’t care who es, I’m undefeatable beneath Silver Resonance. I’m just trying to help you calm down. Your investment won’t vanish overnight. How could I miss my wedding night?"
The old man gave Theron a deep look. After a long while, he threw a jade out.
Theron caught it and looked through it.
"A Sect Disciple?"
"The number one Outer Disciple of the Luminescent Moon Sect. It seems that he is about to be poached by the Obsidian Eclipse Sect and their elders don’t want to see that."
"Better than Yonowai?"
"So you are the one that killed him."
"What can I say? The Thistles pissed me off."
"But you didn’t hand in the mission."
"I don’t have a death wish."
"So you’re not going to hand in this one either?" the old man sneered.
"Would you look at that? You suddenly have so much faith in me. What happened to there being geniuses I couldn’t handle? You’re already talking as though I’ve succeeded."
"Has anyone ever told you that you’re quite annoying?"
"I thought you only saw it as a ’little facade’?"
The old man waved a hand. "Go. And don’t e back unless I call you myself."
"Will do. Unless I’m in trouble again. In which case, I’ll be returning."
The old man shook his head as he picked up his cup of tea.
Theron had vanished into the woods again before he stopped sipping.
Shaking his head again, the old man sighed. "He actually left this corpse here for me to clean up. Ridiculous."
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