Eternal Thief

"Charles Nightmare, you are enrolled and appointed in the First-Extraordinary-Grade Martial Arts House!"

Charles was startled for a moment. 'I wasn't even managed to enter special grade?' He thought in disbelief. He had always thought he was a core student-level genius, if not a special grade.

He was also at the platinum soul river core realm like Archie, but he still didn't get appointed in the Special Class, which was another blow to his pride.

But he still respectfully bowed and accepted his attire and storage ring without any questions. He then glanced at Archie, who seemed completely at ease, as if he didn't care about anything, nor he was worried about which grade he would get.

'Just what kind of person is he?' He speculated.

Ace looked at Yehuda and waited for him to take out his attire, and he was also curious about what grade they appointed him.

He wanted to be at least in the Special Grade, and with his performance; he was sure they will assign him as a personal student of some high-level instructor.

Even if he didn't manage to become a personal student, he was content as long as he entered the special class and have that level of privilege.

However, Yehuda's next words startled Ace and made him wary.

"Alright, Archie Soul Life stays, and others will leave with Instructor Mylah to sign your Royal Demon Institute Confidential Contract."

This revelation startled those young demons and looked at Archie with envy, admiration, and even malice. Lucas was especially unwilling to accept this situation.

They all thought Archie was going to be appointed into the special class and going to get choices.

Mylah didn't seem too shocked by this and quickly bowed toward Yehuda before she took those four to another room to complete their registration process.

Now, only Yehuda and Archie remained inside the closed room.

A faint smile appeared on Yehuda's expressionless face at this moment while looking at Archie kindly and said, "There's no need to be alarmed. You're different from those four, and they're not qualified to listen to this."

Ace felt relief since it wasn't about some identity issue.

He pretends to be humble and respectfully stated, "Please give your instruction."

Yehuda's smile didn't fade and nodded before he said, "Because of your excellent performance and your sharp mindset, you have successfully earned the goodwill of two Housemasters. Which is an astonishing achievement on its own.

"So, as a result, you'll be a Special Grade Student and given a choice to select between Soul Combatant House and Soul Assassin House. I'll give you a short narrative of both houses as I was told, and then you can choose which house is more suitable for you."

Yehuda conveyed, "The Soul Combatant House is the place for Soul Warriors who walk the path of both Body Refinement and Soul Cultivation simultaneously, and they'll teach you how to fight with a martial cultivate who is also proficient in body refinement on equal grounds.

"There are many more things you will learn, like rune crafting, soul alchemy, runic smiting, and anything a soul cultivates could do, but combat is their main specialty and focus, while other things are auxiliary to strengthen your soul. These things are common in the Soul Assassin House as well.

"The Soul Assassin House's specialty and prime focus are to nurture assassins who were proficient in the art of disguise, poison, trickery, spying, and the art of killing.

"This house is a special house that was created by His Impartial Majesty when he ascended the Demon Throne to improve our information network and train killers.

"Only someone with an assassin-like mind was accepted in this house, and these students are all proficient in the art of killing.

"Just like that Nightmare Demon, Charles, although he was born with a bloodline perfect for assassins, unlike his predecessors, he walked on the path of a warrior, so he wasn't given a choice like other extraordinary grade students.

"Now, choose which disciplinary house you wanted to enter, and this selection is not changeable unless His Imperial Majesty gives his decree." Yehuda chuckled at the end.

Ace didn't reply instantly and thought, 'If I enter the Soul Assassin House, which sounds quite intriguing since it aligns with a thief, I might learn some new tricks. It's also the place where I won't have to fight in the open like in the Soul Combatant House.'

This choice was quite obvious to Ace even if he was given the chance to enter all four houses, the Soul Assassin House suits him the most because he could remain hidden without any worry.

Furthermore, since he was going to steal the entire library of the royal demon institute, it didn't matter where he goes, all that knowledge will be his, eventually.

So, he answered with no hesitation, "I'll choose the Soul Assassin House."

Yehuda didn't ask why or anything else, and he took out a white soul contract from his storage ring, placed it on the table, and said, "This is a confidential soul contract that every student of our institute signs upon admission.

"In this contract, there are rules and regulations of Soul Assassin House which you need to follow, as well as some other important laws of the institute, like you can't kill a fellow student, and you have to create a Soul Mark Disk within the Institute so we'll know when about your condition.

"I know most demons won't create Soul Mark Disk because it's extremely painful, but it is a law, and it's for your own good since we'll be able to investigate and avenge your uncanny death if that ever happened. Take your time reading this soul contract."

Ace's eyes narrowed slightly. 'A Soul Mark Disk and every student had one? Didn't this mean if I killed someone for their faces, I'll be discovered?'

Ace almost forgot about these Qi Mark Disks and Soul Mark Disks, which could alert others of the owner's death.

From Archie's memories, Ace knew Archie never make a Soul Mark Disk because he hated pain, so he never agreed to make one, or it would be far more troublesome if Archie had a Soul Mark Disk in the Runic Soul Clan.

It was a hindrance in his path, but he didn't have a way to break the connection with these mark disks, so he couldn't do anything about it besides being more careful about who he killed from now on.

As for the soul contract, it was his least worry. In others' minds, breaking a soul contract was almost impossible, but he could do it with a simple command.

So, he signed it and then just have to pay a hundred thousand TP to create a fake soul consciousness with the system's help.

Even his house members had this privilege. They can never be slaves of others or bound by anything!

The soul contract was signed.

Yehuda suspected nothing and took out the institute attire and a storage ring.

"These are your attire and all the information and a map of the institute marked with areas you'll have access to and the areas which are forbidden.

"There's also your student badge, which has many functions. Like it will record your Royal Points and other information about your privileges as a Special Grade Student, your living quarters, your class schedule, and any order by the institute will be received by this badge, so don't lose it or you'll be punished!"

Ace picked up the attire and storage ring.

However, the moment he did system's voice sounded.

======

[Mission: Want to Kill Me? Watch me steal!]

-Synopsis: Someone …!

-Mission Type: Chain Mission

---

[Chain Mission: Last Mission]

-Mission: Want to Kill Me? Watch me Steal!

-Condition (1): Infiltrate the Royal Demon Institute.

Status: Complete!

-Condition (2): Rob the Treasury of the Royal Demon Institute!

-Condition (3): Rob the Library of the Royal Demon Institute!

--

-Reward(s):

-Rewards of Completing (Condition 1): [Reward Released!]

1. 500,000 EXP & 500,000 SP

[Claim/Later?]

2. Thief's Vision

[Claim/ Later?]

3. +1 Grade in Heaven's Stealer Dismantler Principles

[Claim/Later?]

--

-Rewards of Completing (Condition 2):

1. 1,000,000 EXP & 1,000,000 SP

2. Soul Stealth Art

3. Fundamentals of Array Crafting (Grade-1 to Grade-3)

-Rewards of Completing (Condition 3):

1. 3,500,000 EXP & 3,500,000 SP

2. Absolute Pick Pocket

3. Three Intermediate Item Upgrade Tokens

--

-Thief House Members: Allow

-Time: 12 Years

-Punishment: The end of the mission!

======

Ace was elated when he saw the rewards of the first condition were released. He was wondering when the system would deem the condition done.

It turned out that the moment he earned and accepted the student badge and attire of the Royal Demon Institute, the system deemed him successfully infiltrating the institute.

Yehuda said, at this moment, "Now, go and change into your institute attire and then join Instructor Mylah. She'll take you to the other side, and then you'll have someone from your district picking you up from there."

"Thank you, elder." Archie bowed before leaving the room as well.

Yehuda sighed ruefully when he saw Archie had left and mumbled, "What were those old whiners thinking?!"