Eternal Thief

Ace deeply looked at the seemingly innocuous and ordinary scroll, and then looked at the old letter. Although the writer didn't leave its name, he left his feeling in this old letter. 

It was another case if these words were true or false, though, since Ace can't sense anything from words. Furthermore, this person wasn't from the demon race because of this foreign language, and it was quite possible this letter was hundreds or probably thousands of years old!

'A treasure that feeds on lifespan and makes a treasure map in return, huh? Besides, this letter was too vague about its functions, and it also didn't clearly describe its drawbacks as well.

'Whoever stumbled upon this scroll has also probably discovered this old letter with it, but I'm sure the finder didn't understand the language, or they probably take this treasure for themselves! With its heaven-defying factors, even with the loss of lifespan, I don't think anyone could resist this temptation. 

'Furthermore, I still didn't understand how can this blank scroll arouse a demon king's attention, or why did the finder even bother to report this discovery to a demon king since this was just a blank scroll with nothing special about it? 

'But it also didn't seem to be held much importance to the demon king since it only send two Nāgas of below Qi Soul Realm, which implies the demon king didn't know about what this blank scroll really is as well. 

'Maybe the only thing that can gain the attention of a demon king is this thing's indestructible nature since those finders probably try to destroy it as well and failed. But is it really indestructible, as the writer said it is?' 

Ace was clearly unconvinced as he looked at the blank scroll, which was supposed to be the Myriad Live Compass Map according to the letter, and this thing was probably in the hand of the demon king right now without his interference last night. 

Suddenly, a dark current poured out from Ace's hands and the dark despair lightning started to engulf the empty scroll. He wanted to see if his heavenly Qi can scratch this map or not. 

Besides, the writer didn't write the method to bond this scroll, which clearly hinted it was either he didn't want to tell or forget, and chances of the latter being true were extremely low. 

Even if the method was written, Ace wouldn't bond it with him after reading the letter. He wasn't desperate or required this scroll, and he was only curious. 

As the dark despair lightning flowed around the golden sheet, it didn't leave any scratch on it, and this made Ace more assure that the writer was telling the truth about its indestructibility. 

Ace stop using his heavenly Qi and the golden sheet remains the same, 'It's just like the black page I gained from that boulder, but the former seemed more mysterious because of the ancient god language words 'Page 09'.' 

"System, can you discriminate what this scroll is? TP didn't matter." Ace finally asked the system. 

He tried the same thing for Page 09, but he got no reply, so he gave up, and this time. He also had little hope, but it still didn't hurt trying. 

"[100,000 Thief Points]"

Ace was astounded when he heard an unexpected answer and when he heard the number of thief points for this appraisal, he knew this was something extraordinary. He had long come to terms with how the system would demand TP for information. 

The higher the level of the information system revealed, the more TP it asked in return and this was the first payment it asked for a piece of information after its upgrade and by the amount, it asked, Ace knew this thing was definitely worth it.

Ace quickly said, "Deal!"

"[Heavenly Fate Live Compass Fragment!]" 

Ace's heart jolted as his eyes glow like the sun the moment he heard the name and mumbled, "Heavenly Fate Live Compass Fragment?" 

Ace's heart galloped suddenly and asked, "System, what do you mean fragment? This thing is not complete and broken?"

"[Yes, it's just the Compass Needle of Heavenly Fate Live Compass. Not complete treasure.]"

"What do you mean Compass Needle? This material is clearly made with some powerful beast hide!" Ace retorted with uncertainty and looked at the golden sheet again. 

"[The 'Treasure Spirit' has made this hoax structure to hide its actual body for survival.]"

"Now what the hell is Treasure Spirit?" Ace became more confused. 

"[When a treasure broke the limit of ninth grade, it'll form a consciousness which is called the treasure spirit.]"

Ace's heart was flattered hearing this new piece of information, which was really out of his scope. 

Yet he remains rational and continues to question, "Since a treasure only formed a consciousness after ninth grade, this meant the treasure spirit would not be this intelligent or powerful to create another body for itself to survive, right? This means this Treasure Spirit is likely far superior to those newly formed treasure spirits. I'm right?"

"[Yes!]"

Ace inhales sharply before calming down. This was too big of a surprise for him. Because if his guess was right, this Heavenly Fate Live Compass was something too high a level for him to even think of. But this caused another question in his mind. 

'Just what kind of existence was capable enough to destroy this treasure? Wait a minute, didn't the writer of this letter writer, this scroll falling from the sky? Could it be this fell from another… heaven?!'

Ace's mind was blown. Just the thought of it gave him the chills. His imagination was running wild now. He clearly knew the name of the first heaven, and this also clarified that there was probably second heaven as well. This make him reach this conclusion, and he felt it was more likely the case. 

But he knew this was not important right now, and he asked with a solemn expression, "System, since you know the name of this treasure, you should also know about its origin, right?" 

"[Yes!]"

"Can you tell me?" 

"[No, host current authority-level is not enough!]"

Ace smiled wryly with an 'as expected' expression on his face, "Forget it, then just tell me this thing is useful for me or not?" 

He was more interested in this point. Now, that system has decided to answer his questions. He knew it would answer anything as long as it was inside his current authority boundary. 

"[Yes, with system help, the host can become this Heavenly Fate Compass Fragment's owner!]"

Ace's heartbeat spiked at hearing this, and his eyes shimmered in excitement! 

"Did I have to spend Lifespan to use it?" this was the most important question he wanted to know. 

"[No, with system help, the host will be its true owner!]"

Ace was elated, but suddenly something came to his mind to pull an amusing expression suddenly and said, "Your help, huh? This is the first! Why do I feel you're encouraging me to become this treasure owner?" 

Ace just felt like this for some reason and couldn't help but ask. It was not like he was doubting the system or anything, since he knew it would not harm him. But he still wanted to question it. 

"[Yes, with this Heavenly Fate Live Compass Needle host can easily find many hidden and desirable treasures, for example… elemental orbs…]" 

"What?!" Ace nearly yells out loud hearing 'elemental orbs' and why shouldn't he? 

Elemental Orbs were probably the only thing that can move him and arouse his deep desire in his world because this was the essence of his martial cultivation!

Ace took a deep breath to calm his wildly pounding heart. Although he didn't know the proper functions of this Heavenly Fate Live Compass, he knew the system would never lie to him. 

So, the only thing left for him to do was, "System, what do I have to d…?" 

Before he could complete his sentence, the system's voice rang again, 

===== 

[A side mission has been issued]

---

[Side Mission]

[Mission: Subdue the Heavenly Fate Live Compass Spirit!]

-Requirement (1): One Million Soul Point 

-Requirement (2): Ten Million Thief Point

[Time: Infinite]

[Reward: Heavenly Fate Compass Needle]

[Punishment: None]

=====

The scroll in Ace's hands instantly vanished the next moment!

"The fuck…?! Are you kidding me?! I can understand Thief Points, but why Soul Points!? And why the hell is the reward is something I gained myself, and you have the audacity to take it away from my hand?!" Ace instantly became furious and start to curse. He felt like he had swallowed a fly, and he can't even cough it out. 

"[System just isolated the Heavenly Fate Live Compass Needle or if the host store it living thief's space, it would've started to wreak havoc there right after it awake. The host didn't know, but the treasure spirit was already started to awake after the host try to probe its hoax shell with heavenly Qi and heavenly Qi is something it loathed the most!]"

"What?!"