Theron still didn't understand the full story. He didn't know exactly what Sadie was trying to get at. He didn't even know the significance of his own last name.
But the moment Sadie said those words, he knew exactly what she had to be referring to. And at the same time, he was even more confused.
It had nothing to do with wind? Then why was Merchant Greycoat a Wind Mancer, then? What was he missing, exactly?
Why had she mentioned the Thistle Ancestor earlier and his ability to restrain fire? That seemed to have even less to do with his lineage and the name behind it.
The more things he learned about what his father had left behind, the more he realized that his last name had to carry some sort of real significance to it. But he also had no one to talk to or understand about all of this.
Just when he was hoping Sadie would have all the answers he wanted, she just shrugged.
"Merchant Greycoat was indeed a Wind Mancer, and your last name really is Galethunder, so I was convinced that I could figure something out through Wind Mancy. But after trying for so long, I'm convinced that at some point along the way, there was a mutation in the bloodline that triggered these changes."
"Are you trying to say that Merchant Greycoat is family to me?"
"Maybe. In a distant cousin, more than a few times removed sort of way."
If Merchant Greycoat got such protections because he was a little related to his family, then why was it that—?
Theron's pupils trembled.
Sure, the merchant was protected. But didn't he end up on a kill list as well? Could it be that his family wasn't just a random casualty of a cruel cultivator, but instead a product of a targeted assassination that just so happened to benefit a genius?
After all, if his family had a lineage that interested even a genius on the level of Sadie, then if this Spirit Mancer genius was aiming to gather Karma and Bad Karma for their path of cultivation…
Who better to target?
"What are you trying to tell me?" Theron asked directly.
"I'm telling you that there are a lot of people scared of the Galethunder name. There are just as many people who want to see them all dead. But I'm also telling you that there are profound secrets and variables involved that are too complicated to describe—mostly because I don't understand them all either."
"… I am not a Wind Mancer. I have no affinity for it. I also don't have any affinity for Lightning."
"Thunder and Lightning are not the same thing. Plus, I already told you…"
"… It has nothing to do with Wind Mancy?" Theron shook his head. If it had nothing to do with Wind Mancy, then why was Merchant Greycoat a Wind Mancer? It didn't make any sense.
"It was you that night, wasn't it?" Sadie suddenly asked another question.
"That night?" Theron's eyes sharpened.
"Don't look at me like that. You already tried to kill me once, don't tell me that you're going to try and do it again?"
Theron knew exactly what night Sadie was talking about. The night he felt the moon.
"Is the Luminescent Moon Sect related?" Theron asked.
Sadie shook her head. "No. They are younger than whatever you descend from. But still old enough that they might have some answers you're looking for. I'm only speculating, but I have a guess you know where that place might be."
Theron knew immediately, just like Sadie said.
Were there answers about his family in there? And what exactly had happened to them?
He didn't know how he should take this, honestly. He had been so close to it, but he hadn't had the time to go through a library so large. Even now, there was simply no way for him to just go back.
While he had a few ideas on how he could protect his life if he should return, the troublesome part of all of this was that he had probably revealed too many trump cards—the most important of them being his ability to deal with soul brands.
The old man would know with certainty now that the brand the Daggers of the Night left on him was worthless, and that would make him all the more cautious around Theron, if he didn't outright try to kill him first.
A part of Theron wanted to blame Sadie for not bringing up these matters to him earlier. But then the far more logical part crushed those thoughts beneath a heel.
What did Sadie owe him? Nothing at all.
All she had done was exactly what he usually did… she waited until the person she wanted to manipulate was at their most pivotal point before she took action to push him toward the direction she wanted.
It was a masterful move, and after almost dying to him the first time, there was no way she would easily let herself slip up this time.
"What do the Firewings have to do with this?" Theron asked.
Since he was here, he might as well get as deep of an understanding as he could.
"I will just tell you what it is I've come to understand. The Galethunder Bloodline was once one whole, but it has long deviated from that. One half of it formed a powerful Wind Mancy Bloodline—they called themselves the Gale Clan."
"Yes. They are no more. Or, more accurately, their roots seemed to have inexplicably vanished, leaving behind stragglers of various branch Clans, of which the merchant was one. Many of these stragglers have managed to survive and thrive in one way or another, but mostly because many are scared to even try to target them due to the looming threat the Gales once posed.
"But there are other factions that want to target them to find out what secrets there might be.
"And then… there's the other half…"