Theron returned to his home, pulling out a pouch.
Unlike with Merchant Greycoat, Theron had no choice but to take the risk and snatch everything of value from Yonowai's body. While it was a risk, it was more worthwhile.
First, he had someone to blame it on. Second, the items were much lesser, so he could actually store them all.
Of course, it also helped that Yonowai had had a spatial pouch on him.
Theron wasn't in a hurry to unseal the pouch. He was well-read enough to know that anyone wealthy enough to have such a pouch would also protect it well. It was also possible that it had several tracking methods on it, set to trigger when the wrong person tried to open it.
If Yonowai was a Soul Mancer, Theron wouldn't even try this. But since he was a Wood Mancer, Theron was quite confident.
Wood Mancers were rare variants, falling outside the usual common Elemental Mancies of Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. They fell between Water and Earth, and because of that, Wood Mana could be partially controlled by Theron.
He wasn't very good at it, but he didn't need to be. He needed just enough to nudge the pouch in the right direction.
There was no way he would use this pouch after today, so all he needed to do was open it.
After analyzing the pouch for a while, Theron confirmed his speculations and closed his eyes. Taking a seat in meditation, he exhaled a slow breath and began to pull on the strands of Mana protecting the pouch.
For as long as Theron could remember, he had a fascination with increasing his Mana control. He had never been enamored with combat, but doing menial tasks with his Water Mancy had been his childhood guilty pleasure.
At some unknown point, he had become so good at it that even without being at the First Resonance, his control was better than even most Silver Mancers that had already awakened their Third Eye.
Being able to control a branching Mana like this was a telltale sign of excellent control.
Lightning, for example, was known to be close to Fire and Wind. Though, more so to Fire. It was rare, but possible, for Fire Mancers to gain secondary Lightning Mancy abilities as they grew into Gold Mancy and beyond.
However, doing something like this in Bronze Mancy, especially at the mere Fourth Resonance, was unheard of.
Granted, Theron was only controlling already existing Wood Mana and not manifesting it. But it would be enough to draw countless breaths of shock nonetheless.
There was a shift in the pouch and Theron's eyes snapped open. He flipped the pouch over and poured out its contents quickly before allowing it to naturally snap shut as though a rubber band.
He knew that he didn't have much time, and he didn't want to force the pouch to stay open. So the best he could hope for was that there wasn't anything too fragile inside.
Out tumbled three pill bottles, a booklet, and what looked like a wooden tablet.
Without a Third Eye, Theron couldn't confirm if there was anything else in the pouch. But even if he had had Third Eye, he wouldn't dare take the risk.
He had made use of residual Wood Mana Yonowai had left behind, but it had been mostly used up now. Trying again would be playing with fire.
'High-tier Bronze Resonance Pills, a Silver Resonance Breakthrough Pill, and…'
Theron paused on the third bottle, not recognizing it immediately. The first two were about what he would expect. Despite the sheer value of the pills, he was quite calm when coming across them.
But this last one…
'I see… this should be an Echo Pill, though I'm not sure of the quality. It shouldn't be too bad considering Yonowai's standing.'
An Echo. It was the dream of many, and yet Theron's reaction was still quite muted.
Upon reaching Silver Mancy, one's Core would not only become more refined, but it would likewise gain new abilities. At this point, some geniuses would be able to gain an Echo.
Echoes came from beasts above the feral stage, true Mancer Beasts. Of course, there were many stages of Mancy Beasts as well, and depending on the grade of the creature, the Echo Pill necessary to integrate it would likewise be more substantial.
Theron had once read an ancient script that told of cultivators of an ancient past that were capable of integrating Echoes through special techniques or their sheer talent. But these days, scholars believed that these methods were primitive and came with too high a risk.
Unfortunately, Theron didn't have the experience to guess at what level of integration Yonowai was aiming for. And unlike the other pills here, the fact there was an Echo Pill was more odd than not.
This was because more would only dare to attempt to integrate an Echo when their foundation was stable. The most common choice was the Third Silver Resonance.
It was either Yonowai was overconfident, his family had too much money to waste, or he was more of a genius than Theron had given him credit for.
'There is a fourth possibility…'
Theron looked at the pill bottle. It was a lot different from the others, it definitely came from a different source.
'The material… this jade pattern hasn't been common in several hundred years.'
There was a flicker in Theron's eyes as he grabbed at the wooden tablet that had clanked to the ground.
The back was smooth and unblemished, but on the other side, there were engravings he could feel with his fingers but not see with his eyes.
Theron raised the piece of wood up to his nose and sniffed. Then, he turned to the jade bottle and sniffed once more.
'Indeed, they come from the same source. Yonowai likely picked this Echo Pill up from an unexpected source.'
Theron spun the tablet on his finger. While it looked very much like wood, there was a reason he said it came from the same source.
Suddenly, he flicked out his finger and the tablet shattered to pieces. Shards flew in all directions, but Theron hardly spared them a glance as he snatched out at the carnage.
Slowly, he opened his palm, a familiar looking piece of jade reflecting back up at him.