It took Theron about an hour to fully recover. He wasn't too surprised by this, as this was the first time he had gone so far.

Once he was back in good spirits, he stood to his feet and headed out.

Right about now, he wasn't too interested in cultivating. He had already reached the pinnacle of Quasi Gold Mancy and the only thing that was left was his tribulation.

But trying his tribulation now would just mean death. The entire continent, despite being the creation of a Goddess, quite literally didn't have enough energy to allow him to reach Gold Mancy. Whatever was waiting for him now—especially since he had two Cores—was not going to be pretty.

Stepping out of his Immortal Cave, he raised an eyebrow when he found Lyra sitting there still waiting for him.

"Hm?" Theron smiled. "What a surprise. Did senior sister wait here for me?"

Lyra looked up, a bit startled, as though she had spent much of the last hour in a daze and was only now waking up from a dream.

She hurried to stand.

"You said you wanted help understanding Dark Mana? Were you just saying that, or were you serious?"

Theron blinked. "Water Mancy always came more naturally to me. I think I have more talent with it. So no, I was very serious."

Lyra's eyes brightened. "Okay, I'll help you, then."

"Oh?" Theron smiled meaningfully.

"Don't look at me like that. You have the audacity to flirt with your senior sister so much, but now you want to back out? Absolutely not. You'll be taking responsibility!"

Theron was speechless, not even quite knowing how to respond.

Lyra smiled sweetly and then came over to grab his arm.

"Good. Now be obedient, we're going shopping! And by shopping, I mean going to raid what's left of the treasure store. You're our Sect's final hope of getting out of this mess, so I'm going to take care of you."

Hearing these words, Theron understood why Lyra was doing this. It seemed that she was the far smarter of the two between herself and Kaelen.

"Why are you here?"

Blackmaul's voice was steeped in disinterest and cold arrogance. His tone was enough to leave Kaelen shaken.

Kaelen knew that Blackmaul had fought the Demon Chosen, but he didn't expect such a change.

Blackmaul had always been cheery and didn't take much of anything seriously. Although it couldn't be said that the two of them had a particularly close relationship, they were at least cordial. Between the two, it could be said that Kaelen had always been the cold one.

Whatever Blackmaul had experienced, it was clear that it had changed him. Was the Demon Chosen truly so fearsome?

What Kaelen didn't understand was that in his whole life, Blackmaul couldn't be said to have suffered any huge setbacks. He had always been the best.

It wasn't that he wasn't aware that there were talents superior to himself—he definitely knew. But he always thought that the difference was the result of their starting positions, feeling like the gap was something that could be made up with time.

But…

To lose the way he had to a Silver Mancer, a Silver Mancer that didn't even use his Echo either… Blackmaul had never felt so humiliated in his life.

There was no one in the Hall of Ice and Heart at this level, Blackmaul was certain.

It wasn't that there was someone stronger than him, it was the gap that truly made him feel so infuriated.

The moment he got back he had focused himself entirely on cultivation, not speaking to anyone. He was actually quite pissed off by being interrupted, but of all the disciples, Lyra and Kaelen were probably the only two capable of this.

Kaelen took a breath to compose himself and then explained everything. Or, rather… he tried.

What he didn't expect was to make it only as far as saying Theron's cultivation before Blackmaul stood up violently, his aura radiating out in a wave so powerful Kaelen was thrown off his feet and smashed into a wall.

Kaelen's eyes opened wide with fear, his heart shaken.

"You… You… Quasi Cloud Resonance?"

Blackmaul had broken through.

As far as Kaelen knew, though, Blackmaul was still a far-off distance from the Quasi Cloud Realm. How had he broken through so soon?

Kaelen himself wasn't even in the Ninth Gold Resonance. He didn't expect the gap between himself and Blackmaul to increase so substantially once again.

"Answer my question!" Blackmaul's voice boomed. "He's in the Quasi Gold Realm?!"

"Yes—yes!"

Kaelen hadn't been there, so how could he know that this was the exact same cultivation realm of the Demon Chosen?

Blackmaul's expression became malevolent. Could there really be such a coincidence in the world? A second Quasi Silver capable of defeating a Core Disciple? Blackmaul took a step and almost shattered his own doors, impatient for the formations to open them up on their own.

"This here is our weapons pavilion. I would have taken you to the technique pavilion first since that's where you should probably start if you want to learn about Dark Mancy, but you don't have a weapon…" Lyra gave him a look.

"What? You won't let me borrow your saber again?" Theron asked.

"Absolutely not! Do you not know how valuable that sword is?!"

Though Lyra replied jokingly, Theron could hear an undertone of seriousness in her voice, and it didn't actually seem related to the topic at hand.

Theron only casually took note of it.

"What am I allowed to take here, then?"

"Technically, you're allowed an offensive and defensive treasure from the first floor when you're admitted as an Outer Disciple, the same from the second when you become an Inner Disciple, and the same from the third when you become a Core Disciple.

"Since you've directly become a Core Disciple, I guess you can go directly to the third. But you're also a Silver Mancer, so there might be things on the first and second floor that are more suitable for you. It's really up to you.

"Spears are pretty common weapons, so there are quite a few to choose from here."

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