Chapter 34
Past midnight.
Advanced Cultivation Room.
Beneath the lamp shining through the cracks of the door...
Theron sat cross-legged without moving.
Cultivating until dawn.
A routine repeated every night since his private meeting with Berton.
To anyone watching from outside...
Tonight looked exactly like every other night.
One at the entrance.
Theron's eyes remained closed.
One on the opposite roof.
Two watchers again.
The Advanced Cultivation Room was located on the third floor of the main building.
It had only one window.
That window faced the cliff behind the building...
Outside both observers' direct sight.
They believed guarding the entrance was enough.
Naturally...
A third-floor window overlooking a steep slope did not look like an escape route.
However...
Slide.
Theron silently opened the window.
Cold night wind shook the lamp.
But the flame remained lit.
It had to.
That light itself was proof that...
"Theron is cultivating."
I need to hurry.
If he remained away too long...
An unexpected variable could appear.
Theron climbed through the window and melted into the darkness.
He placed his body on his exhaled breath.
Then slid between the rocks like wind.
Wandering Wind.
He tightened his mana pathways to erase his presence.
Using only the minimum mana necessary...
He powered the footwork and descended the cliff.
Once below...
Theron immediately moved away and resumed searching.
It was already the fourth night.
What he sought...
Was Red Flame Herb.
The palm-sized red plant had blood-colored veins running through its leaves.
Among trainees...
It was known by another name.
The plant that burns your insides until you die.
Every generation...
At least one ignorant trainee chewed it and spent the entire day rolling around as though they had swallowed fire.
So children on Hell Island avoided red leaves on sight.
But Theron knew the truth.
The heat inside Red Flame Herb...
Was the only flame capable of burning away the Death Sigil.
Consume it.
Use mana to trap its heat.
Then move that heat toward the Death Sigil around the heart.
Two-Star was the minimum realm needed to control the process.
Anyone below Two-Star could not properly control the herb's heat.
They would only suffer.
The Sigil would remain.
The real problem...
Was quantity.
A few plants could be found around the island.
But Theron needed enough for nearly four hundred people.
Did that much even exist here?
That was why he had spent night after night searching while avoiding surveillance.
Northern forest. Failure.
Eastern coast. Failure.
The northern forest had only scattered plants.
Despite the large test area...
The shaded, cool soil was apparently poor for Red Flame Herb.
The eastern rocky coast was worse.
There was barely any soil at all.
On the third night...
Theron found several decent clusters in the western hills.
Enough for perhaps a few dozen trainees.
Nowhere close to four hundred.
Warm ground.
Still...
Each failed night narrowed the answer.
Every cluster had something in common.
A slope exposed to sunlight for long hours.
Soil warmer than its surroundings.
A plant carrying heat...
Grew in land that carried heat.
Then where was the hottest land on the island?
Only one place remained.
The southwest.
A region trainees never visited.
At the same time.
Top floor of the main building.
"What is Theron doing?"
Berton suddenly asked while reviewing documents.
The Executioner standing near the door answered immediately.
"Practicing his Mana Method in the Advanced Cultivation Room."
"...Persistent little bastard."
