Chapter 572: Mirror
Theron’s eyes flashed open and he returned to his body completely covered in sweat. He felt like the world was practically pulsing around him, visions of Mana and reality blending into one another and then separating with even more speed than they had come together.
It took him a long while before he regained all of his senses, but even then he just fell asleep once again.
...
Theron awoke maybe a half day later and the first thing he did was go and eat a large amount of food. Then, he went to the bathhouse of his Immortal Cave, sinking into a bath and cleaning himself well.
Once he was done, he found himself staring into a mirror. It fogged, but he simply blew at it lightly and the condensation vanished, revealing the youthful face beneath.
’Hm?’
Theron blinked for a moment, not recognizing his own face for a short while. It had been a very long while since he looked at it.
It was still a bit delicate, not yet having the defined edges of a man, but instead having the gentle slopes of an immature youth. However, there were hints of stubble coming in on his chin, sparse hairs gathering together and beginning to grow.
They were a bit subtle, but Theron didn’t like it very much.
He took out a blade and gently slid it around his face, cleanly shaving it all in a few sweeps. Memories of his father doing the same flashed in his mind, and he followed along with the lesson as though he had done it a million times before.
Soon, his face was bare and perfectly polished. He splashed it with water, running a hand through his hair as he looked at himself once more.
Maybe his appearance was a bit too delicate now that he thought about it. If in the future he could grow a real beard, he should consider keeping it.
It seemed that his mother had given him a bit too much of her looks and his father’s masculinity had taken a bit of a back seat. Maybe that made him attractive, but it wasn’t the sort of look he found himself wanting.
When he had the thought... Theron couldn’t help but find it odd.
He had never been a vain person, and such trivial thoughts weren’t things he cared to spend much time on. The fact he even had an appearance he preferred more than another was a bit surprising to him.
But he found that it was less about wanting a particular look and more about wanting to reflect the man his father had been... more of the man his mother had been so proud of.
Theron ran another hand through his hair. Its moistness caused it to stick against his skin, latching onto his back so far it nearly reached the small of his back.
His eyes reflected a steely blue marked with just the faintest edges of violet. It was as though the closer to the ring of black you approached, the deeper hue his irises reflected until they faded into a maroon-turned-black color.
This was the effect of the [Entangling Blood Vein Pupils], and Theron didn’t mind it too much. But even this felt like more and more of the cultivation world fundamentally changing who he was.
He took a breath and exhaled. Clenching his fists, his entire body flexed and a large number of crackles and pops exuded from him.
The moment his body relaxed into his new strength, Theron felt as though he had grown a full half inch, reaching about 5’8" or so.
It seemed that at this pace, he wasn’t destined to be very tall.
With a swipe of his hand across the air, all of the water on Theron was whisked off, his hair rising for a moment before gently falling across his shoulder with a refreshing scent.
’More.’ he thought simply.
...
With that thought, Theron returned to his training. With his Dark Mana Control having reached Gold Mancy, the bottlenecks he faced with [Shadow Step], [Shadow Extend], and [Shadow Flash] all were knocked down one after another.
Without fail, he pushed them all to Consummate Control.
Before Theron did this, he really thought about spending more time on techniques. But honestly, after reaching Consummate, he didn’t feel it was necessary.
When he originally started with [Shadow Step], the afterimages he left behind were a bug, not a feature. The closer to Adept he got, the fewer afterimages he left and the further he could jump.
Now, Theron could jump a full 10 meters, whereas his first jump had been a mere half meter.
That said, the distance was minor. What Theron had done to reach Consummate was make the afterimages a feature instead of the bug it had once been.
He could control his afterimages to appear elsewhere, maybe even in directions completely opposite to where he was going, to catch enemies off guard.
The only catch was that he had to flicker through the regions he left afterimages behind. And the 10-meter limit was still in effect. Meaning, if he left an afterimage five meters away from an opponent, he could only appear an additional five meters away from the location of the afterimage.
The complexity of using a technique in this way spoke for itself, but Theron was on a level all his own when one spoke of battle IQ.
[Shadow Extend] followed the same formula. Usually, those who used [Shadow Extend] for the first time faced issues with the material of the blade or fist they were extending not being solid enough. This was because they weren’t good at re-solidifying the material after the extension.
Theron once again took this bug and made it a feature in his Consummate Mastery. He could now split a single blade to attack multiple opponents at the same time at the cost of lower durability of the attack.
But... if he was wielding an Arcane Grade Peak Cloud Resonance spear... who cared about lower durability?