Rivers of the Night

Theron felt that the atmosphere was a bit weird.

Logically speaking, he was the Chosen, and if there was anyone here who should call a meeting, it was him. Plus, calling this meeting in the Sect itself was another oddity—was this supposed to display the boldness of the Thistles?

They still dared to do this even after Aeryn had gone down?

All three of them were in the high tier of Silver Resonance, but Jodie was only at the Seventh, and of the betrothed, only Dorian was at the Eighth.

Theron wasn't 100% certain, but Ironvale felt like he was already at the Ninth, and he was clearly the superior talent. It just felt silly to have any sort of confidence at all. Even if the three worked together, it would be useless.

But… this only made Theron more wary.

Thessa herself was certainly planning something. But if all the Core Disciples were under the control of the Thistles, what chance did she stand?

By the same token, there was no way that the Nightingales had sent her here to die.

His thoughts couldn't help but drift to Sadie. Who was to say that she only had two identities? What if she had a third shadow? Or a fourth?

He had no idea how many she could have. But what he did know was that if the Nightingales were willing to throw their princess into a dangerous hell-scape like Daggers of the Night, the Sect seemed like a joke by comparison.

Was he overestimating the strength Sadie had at just 12 or 13 years old?

Maybe…

But if he was honest with himself, his one fear was that he wasn't giving her enough credit.

A 12-year-old Silver Mancer was already ridiculous. What if she was even stronger than just the low tier?

All of these thoughts flashed in Theron's mind instantaneously as he stood before the three seated Core Disciples. None of the three seemed to have any intention of offering him a place to sit, but just the same, he stood in place.

These three weren't existences he could take on right now, at least not head-on, certainly not without rain, and especially not all three at once.

His persona when he faced off against the powerhouses like the old man and Dean Thistle only existed so that they could feel he had weaknesses to take advantage of. The gap between them was so large that this was the only small advantage that Theron could find.

But in this case, the minds of youth wouldn't be nearly as meticulous. If Theron was arrogant in front of them, it would just piss them off more and make it more likely for them to stab him in the back or try to kill him.

Were the odds of that high? Unlikely.

But what if they weren't taking direct action but instead sitting on their hands? In a place like the Secret Realm, the odds of such a thing happening were high.

So, Theron, who didn't care much about their disrespect to begin with, most definitely didn't have an outward showing of such a thing either.

"Greetings, senior brothers and sister. Might I ask why you've called me here today?"

The three blinked, seemingly not expecting Theron's response. Usually, those like Theron were exceptionally arrogant, and that was disregarding the fact the persona that Theron had been building up all this time.

Hadn't he been the one who arrogantly challenged anyone beneath Silver Mancy?

That was when they "understood." Since Theron was a pawn of the Thistles, it was only natural that he do things he wouldn't normally do otherwise for the sake of appeasing them.

Theron could see the three of them visibly relax upon reaching this conclusion, and their mannerisms changed.

"Come, come," Vaeiliana said with a bright smile that belied her chiseled shoulders. "Sit next to big sis, we have a lot to discuss."
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Theron blinked, as though confused by the change in reception. It wasn't until Vaeilina hurriedly stood and pulled him over that he ended up sitting down as he was asked.

After suffering some ruffling of his hair, they finally got down to business.

"—The news has come down," Dorian said calmly, his voice deep and resonating, almost magnetic in a way, "the Secret Realm will open in three days' time, but there's been a change. Ironvale went to test the gate, and it seems that he was able to enter. At first, it seemed like he would be the only one, but after he succeeded, the Secret Realm seemed to become far less resistant to Silver Mancers, but only by a small extent."

Theron's head tilted in confusion. "Do you mind clarifying what you mean for me, senior brother?"

"Yes, the gate has allowed Silver Mancers to enter, but all those but Ironvale will have to suffer a suppression. By the calculations, it might be as much as a minor tier."

Theron's brows raised.

A minor tier was a big deal; that was three stages of Resonance. That meant that Dorian would fall to Fifth Resonance once he entered, while Jodie and Vaeilina would fall to Fourth.

By comparison, Ironvale would still be at Ninth Resonance.

'… The Patriarch almost certainly knew of this,' Theron concluded. 'No wonder he doesn't feel the need to gather anyone else. And even then…'

Like Theron had said, Ironvale's influence was too high. Depending on the number cap for entry, it could be an entire army of elites versus just the few of them.

That was practically a death sentence.

"Do we… have an entry limit yet?" Theron asked.

"As far as we've seen, those that can enter under a suppression are limited. We three are the only ones with great certainty. The inner disciples will in all likelihood be limited to maybe the one or two best at every Silver Resonance tier."

"I see… I understand." Theron nodded. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

Dorian slowly shook his head. "We only really called you here to ask you to hand over the Verdant Bloomstone. Your use will be limited in the Secret Realm, and we can't have you losing it to someone else."