Rivers of the Night

'Gold Mancy is considered the true awakening of the soul, its birth in earnest. It should allow one to sense Laws with far greater ease than the past and grasp the world around them in vivid color.

'This goes back to an internal sort of control, but it extends out to the Heavens themselves. At this point, you're managing much more…

'And then comes Treading Clouds. The description isn't very in-depth here, as though it already expects me to know most of what needs to be known, but from what I can gather, the Treading Clouds Realm is almost about shedding the pretense of affinity and Mana, to wield a certain level of control over all the Mana around you such that you can even fly through the skies…'

The Treading Cloud Realm also had nine realms, but they were different from the previous Resonance Realms. This was because there were three major sub-divisions, each one representing a qualitative difference in power that might as well have been a completely different realm of strength.

These were the Touching Cloud Realm, the Ascending Cloud Realm, and finally the Treading Cloud Realm in earnest.

While all nine sub-divisions were known as the Treading Cloud Realm as a collective, in practice no one would say this. Instead, they would call you a First Touching Cloud Realm expert if you were in the First Resonance of Treading Clouds. If you were in the Sixth Resonance of Treading Clouds, they would call you a Third Ascending Cloud Realm expert. And, of course, if you were in the Seventh, Eighth, or Ninth, you would be called a First, Second, or Third Treading Cloud Realm expert.

The gap in every change of name was heavy, as heavy as the difference between a Silver Mancer and a Gold Mancer.

With all of this said, reaching Touching Cloud Resonance didn't mean that your affinity didn't matter anymore. If anything, it was the exact opposite.

And it was this description coming here that truly shook Theron to his core.

That was because the reason Touching Cloud Resonance experts could begin to fly was because their control over their own Mana Mancy Path was so powerful that they could begin to exert control over others, forming a sort of quasi control domain that could force even Mana they didn't have affinity for into obedience.

And why was it that that sounded so familiar?

Wasn't this something… Theron was already capable of?

Wasn't he already able to mimic other Mancy Paths with his Water Mana? Wasn't that why he was so good with his sword and dagger? Wasn't that why he had been able to expel a Soul Imprint from his soul? Wasn't that why he had a self-created movement technique that looked like something only a Flux Mancer would be capable of?

And all of that led right back to Mana Control and how thin the barriers between the levels were.

The first time Theron had ever exhibited this level of control, he was still a Bronze Mancer.

Did that mean that his Mana Control had already crossed so many barriers to touching on the level of Touching Clouds back when he was just a Bronze Mancer? Could he fly right now if he just put his mind to it?

Theron didn't just think it, he actually tried it. But it didn't take him more than a few moments to realize that it was impossible.

It was just as the jade had described. There were some things that higher levels of control could be exerted by those of lower control levels, but that wouldn't necessarily give you access to the entire skill tree of control.

This still ultimately left Theron in a very comfortable position.

He had an Arcane Resonance, a Half-step Touching Cloud Third Eye, 18 Bronze Resonance Laws, and Mana Control that faintly touched some of the most important aspects of Touching Clouds Resonance.

With that sort of lineup, his Laws were the weakest, but it still put him at a level he could match this world's Touching Cloud experts with just his ability to wield Mana—though not in quantity or quality, simply in terms of skill.

From his understanding, even with his Laws being so weak compared to everything else, this was actually natural. If having a Soul Cultivation a tier or two beneath your Mana Cultivation made you a genius, having even a single Law at Silver Mancy made you even more of one.

Laws were something only the best of the best learned before their Gold Mancy Tribulations. This laid the foundation for a stronger breakthrough and more benefits from the Tribulation.

However, an average cultivator would only learn Laws after the breakthrough was completed. This was because of the awakening of the soul that one underwent at Gold Mancy that could make things far easier to sense.

The fact Theron had 18 complete Bronze Laws that fed into one another and worked in tandem… he could only be said to be a monster in this regard.

To say that his skill in Mana usage was the equivalent of this world's Touching Cloud experts wasn't an exaggeration in the slightest, and it actually made him more eager to try his hand at learning more Laws.

If in this world, Mana was so much more dense, he bet the Laws were even clearer. His chances to learn the Silver Laws he needed to, and maybe even the Gold Laws before his breakthrough into Gold Mancy weren't zero.

In fact, there were good odds that this unknown cultivator—or Howling Shadow Blade, as he called himself—might have a few Mandate Plaques Theron could use to trade to the slab to get himself more meditation time.

However, before he sank into that state, he still didn't fully understand what was happening here, though he had gained a lot.

According to Howling Shadow Blade, he was looking for a disciple more talented than himself because he had never been able to unlock the full potential of the legacy he was lucky to stumble into.

Howling Shadow Blade was a true powerhouse, a man at the pinnacle of the Treading Clouds Realm, and he might have even been a half-step beyond that, touching the next Realm.

So what was it that he couldn't unearth from this legacy with that sort of power?