Rivers of the Night-Chapter 232: Mazes

Mazes of the Mind…

Theron looked down at the small booklet in his hand.

When he got to the section that the young Teran was talking about, Theron immediately sensed something odd. The book there was a facade.

At first, he thought that he had actually been tricked and was about to admit his defeat. But when he touched the actual book, things changed.

The current Theron was incredibly sensitive to Water Mana, but that control itself had begun to bleed over into neutral Mana as well. When he touched the book, it felt like he was fighting against two competing streams of influence, the first very obvious, and the second so subtle it was hardly detectable.

When Theron cross-referenced with the cipher, he realized that there was another layer of code hidden within it as well that matched up with what was happening across from him. But it, too, was very subtle.

Theron didn’t really know why this would be. Weren’t there better places to hide things than a public library?

Granted, the section that Mazes of the Mind was hidden within was limited-access.

The library was separated into seven tiers of access. The first four were divided by years, the fifth required 66 credits, the sixth required 90, while the seventh and final didn’t rely on credits or years, but instead a unique combination of Dean or Teacher approval and perfect S-Grades in certain prerequisites.

To make it to the section that Theron had gone to, not only did you need Dean approval, but you needed an S Grade in the Fourth Year Methods of Third Eye Class.

Just being allowed to take that class alone required a string of prerequisites, let alone the process of getting a perfect grade in such a difficult class.

Theron didn’t know if the young woman had cleared those requirements or not, but she was likely an exception regardless due to her acting role as librarian. As for Theron, he had blanket approval from Dean Pennel that helped him avoid all the annoyances.

Mazes of the Mind, at least according to the surface level of the cipher, was a book about layering one’s Third Eye, making it harder to detect and easier to use covertly. It also helped you to hide your cultivation from the probing of others.

This wasn’t a skill or spell, per se, but rather a taught philosophy of Third Eye usage and helped you to better develop your control and insight into your own soul.

Honestly, it was something that Theron would be interested in anyway, regardless of anything else. If he wasn’t so enamored with finding out about his family, that is.

But this… this wasn’t just a book on philosophy, it was an actual technique.

The book in Theron’s palm now was substantially smaller than the behemoth of a tome that had been on the bookshelf. It was small, slender, and as solid as a thin slab of marble. But because of that, it felt like if he dropped it, it would shatter on impact.

Theron flipped it in his hand, trying to find how to open it.

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Even after several seconds, he couldn’t. The only reason he knew for a fact that this was a technique of some sort was because he could feel the fluctuations on it. This was a slab of some precious metal that someone had used their Third Eye to carve something into.

The only way that would happen was if someone was leaving behind a technique to be consumed by others. It was definitely the unique fluctuation of a spell or technique of some sort, though it could possibly be a cultivation method.

’For Third Eye?’

As far as Theron understood, only Gold Mancers had the strength of soul necessary to cast spells with their Third Eye. And usually, it was only Spirit and Soul Mancers that could do so.

Flux and Elemental Mancers had a few superficial methods, but they were forgettable. Even with the refinement of the soul a Tribulation could give, it wasn’t enough.

Theron probed the slab with his Third Eye and immediately felt a heavy drain. He frowned immediately and stopped.

’I don’t like that…’

The slab had begun to pull on him all on its own. If he let it continue, he’d probably end up passed out. That wasn’t something he could afford while he was stuck in enemy territory.

Right now, he was far more interested in figuring out why someone would hide something like this in the library rather than finding out about the technique itself.

If it really was as Theron speculated, there was little need for Mazes of the Mind, not when the necklace around his neck seemed to have the unique ability of aiding his Third Eye to improve by leaps and bounds on its own.

He wasn’t in pressing need of another method to do so.

Theron never did anything by half measures. He wouldn’t just put himself at risk because of unknown potential. The only reason he had allowed himself to lose consciousness in Dean Pennel’s office was because he had some assurance in Teacher Fern’s character, it was an opportunity to break through a major bottleneck he couldn’t miss, and he was certain in his ability to wake up quickly.

This, however… was a complete wild card.

Theron calmly put the slab away. Something was telling him that very soon, he’d find out just what this was.

The capital was stirring up with a great deal of chaos. Now, with General Pennel being forced to return, things were being kicked into another gear.

Theron was right on the money with his guesses.

The following day, he was called in by the General once again, only to find himself standing in the midst of several youths, one of which was a familiar young librarian.

There were seven in total. Two from each year other than First Year itself… where Theron took the position of both military and academic stream.

"I wanted to give you all more time to get to know me and my style of doing things, but there’s no more time. We’ll hop right into field training."