Eternal Thief

Inside the main hall of, Special Instructor Quarters No.03,

A projection of Archie could be seen in an array mirror, and three demons wearing black masks were watching this projection. All of them were wearing Institute Instructor's robes.

One of them spoke at this moment, "So, First Brother, is this the student master found for you? He seemed quite… ordinary." His voice was mild without any emotions in it.

"He's not my student yet, not unless he's a core student before he becomes 100 years of age." The demon sitting in the center of the three replied impassively.

"Oh, now I understand why the master agreed to send him to this upcoming gathering training. If he broke into the soul realm before the participants leave then he will come back as a core student and his experience would also improve." The third demon on the right was a demoness.

The demoness spoke in an icy tone, "But if he failed, then he will go to the gathering as a punishment to disappoint Master and First Brother. I'm afraid he won't even break free from this Piercing Maze in three days. You guys are asking too much from this lad. Not everyone can be a genius like First Brother."

"Although Third Sister is right like always, Master made us observe him for a whole three days. If he passed, we have to teach him one sky grade skill each. Let's see if he could earn this fortune. Don't underestimate Master's intuition." The demon on the left reply impassively.

"Alright, he's about to enter the first level ice soul maze, which will make his soul feel like he's deep within a freezing lake. The Piercing Maze's entire purpose is to train and strengthen our souls in different soul element environments.

"Although only three environments are activated and level were also set to level-1 right now, they're still not something a lad in River Core could cross in three days. But if he really pulled this off, I'll teach him the Shadow Walk." The demoness coldly declared with full of confidence.

"Oh? Third Sister sure is generous. Alright, if he escapes in three days, then there's no need to doubt that he'll be First Brother's student and our first Soul Nephew, so I won't be stingy as well. I'll teach him, Darkles Stealth." The demon chuckled as he was also quite confident that Archie won't be able to cross the maze in three days.

The demon in the center didn't comment or say anything. All his focus was on the projection as if the other two didn't exist.

---

Inside the Piercing Maze,

Ace was walking slowly toward a blue passage which gave him the feeling of cold in his soul, but it wasn't dangerous at all.

He was deliberately suppressing his soul cultivation so he could feel some effect of his surrounding, or the people watching might suspect something. He didn't want to meet with the Housemaster, especially when there was a chance for exposure in his soul sense.

But he also didn't want to miss this chance to meet with a special grade instructor as well as the Housemaster's personal student at that. If he earned his goodwill, he might get some unexpected advantage or information.

So, Ace was planning to cross this maze in two days. His plan was simple, he would not try to break free from this illusion and used the fate map to slowly exit this place after wandering for some time.

It would appear he had passed the maze with difficulty and won't draw any attention. He mused that a special student with core grade potential should be able to pass this maze which was why he was being tested.

The moment Ace stepped into the blue passage, the pressure on his soul suddenly increased, and its nature also turned cold.

'Is this some kind of training ground to strengthen someone's soul?' Ace mused. 'It might be possible since this place is within the royal tower and on the 99th floor. I already heard about the illusion facilities in this tower.

'If that's the case, then I should completely surpass my cultivation and see how I fawn on this illusion training ground. It might be good for my soul as well. It's not like I'm in a hurry.'

After Ace decided, he completely suppressed his martial cultivation and used his soul to resist the cold soul Qi, which gave Ace some pressure and made him feel the cold of winter.

But his soul was filled with heavenly soul Qi and still quite strong so, Ace suppressed his true soul cultivation up to peak Soul Gates realm which finally made Ace feel the true might of this soul illusion.

Now, he could finally feel just how strong and aghast this illusion training facility was.

Nevertheless, Ace didn't restore his cultivation and kept it as it is and start walking. He reckoned that now no one would suspect anything.

---

However, he didn't know he had completely underestimated the Piercing Maze, which was the most precious soul training facility of the two soul houses of the Royal Demon Institute.

This training facility was designed for those geniuses in the soul embryo realm to strengthen their soul in different element environments, even manifestation realm cultivators could train in this facility.

Furthermore, a river core realm cultivator has never crossed three environments in three days. The closest was two environments in three days which were held by none other than the Soul Assassin Housemaster's first student, Clouse Nightmare!

But only a few crucial figures know about it since the Royal Demon Institute never shows off or divulges information about their star students.

Furthermore, it was also done in the order of the imperial domain because they didn't want to reveal this information to enemies like devils.

Nevertheless, Archie was still forced into this impossible test by Bodach because he suspected Archie's abilities from the start.

Archie never showed or could use his true prowess in the entrance test, and someone like Bodach, who was an old, wily demon, could never miss this detail.

So, he decided to test Archie's real soul potential in the Piercing Maze of the 99th floor, which was far more powerful than any floor below, even at the just difficulty of the first level.

If he managed to cross even one environment in one day, then this means he was definitely a core-grade seed and was hiding his true abilities to keep a low profile.

An institute like the Royal Demon Institute would always do a deep background check on every potential student, and Archie was the same.

His personal profile from the past and the current Archie weren't a match at all. It was like he was a completely different person.

But no one ever suspected that it was a whole other person because everyone thought that Archie was hiding his abilities to not get destroyed by his main clan, which was completely reasonable.

Almost all the students in the royal demon institute were from four-grade demon tribes, and everyone understood that the main clan will always try to do everything to remain the main clan.

Grand Demon Duke-level figures would never pay attention to such matters as long as they won't go too far and start killing their own kin.

Bodach thought the same, but he also thought that Archie was being an idiot for not showing his ability in Royal Demon Institute since no one could harm him here and was foolishly holding back and kicking the benefits in the face.

He was even more sure when Clouse told him that Archie said he wasn't interested in being the core grade student. So, his thought of sending him to the gathering training was the right choice to force him to show his true potential.

If he accepts him as a core student, it would benefit no one, so he let Archie face dangerous situations and escape using his abilities.

But Bodach was also wary of Ampersand would play some trick to clear the way for his student Daniel, who was the main descendant of the Soul Life Clan and the most cherished genius.

However, if Archie showed even more potential, then Daniel would be distracted and felt threatened, which would divert his focus from his cultivation.

Bodach had sensed ill intent from Ampersand when he suggested selecting and sending Archie to the gathering training.

Ampersand probably had guessed that Archie would never join the Soul Combatant House since his nature was more like an assassin. It was clearly an attempt to get rid of Archie and clear the path for Daniel.

But Bodach also played along and does as Ampersand suggested, and lets him think that, he was tricked.

Yet, in truth, he was just making sure Ampersand won't suspect anything.

In secret, Bodach arranged a meeting between Clouse and Archie from start and also arranged for him to join the prince's alliance. It could protect him from both instructors and students alike.

Even in the imperial domain, no one would dare to touch Archie as long as some other member of the imperial family interfered.

However, not even Bodach had thought that all these arrangements were going to be a stepping stone in Ace's way!