Eternal Thief

After that day, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

As days passed, the students who were still undergoing their annual assessments started to return to their districts as the day of the yearly assembly drew near, marking the start of a new year.

Archie (Winter) continued to train in the royal tower, and Ronan (Ace) returned to his quarters in the Soul Assassin Royal Tower and remained there without drawing any attention.

Bodach also got the full report about Archie's encounter with Ronan from Clouse and found something wrong.

But according to Archie, the prince just made him take an oath of never betraying the alliance, which was a regular thing, so they couldn't find fault with Ronan and could only let it go.

Furthermore, after coming back, Archie (Winter) showed even more terrifying comprehension abilities and learned everything they taught at a tremendous pace.

As for how Winter, who was a martial cultivator, could learn soul skills and release soul attacks, it was all thanks to her Second Innate Ability, Faceless Reality!

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2. Faceless Reality

[Description: According to Faceless Thief's will, the Qi and Aura (Like Soul Qi, or Elements, and Racial Aura and such) could change into any reality!]

[Limitation: The observer would sense and see an illusion-like reality as long as their cultivation is not two realms above Faceless Thief!]

…

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That was why Ace wanted her to take the role of Archie because her disguising skills were too exceptional, and he was the most envious of Winter's abilities!

As for Ace himself, he didn't dare to move around too carelessly until he got all the essential information from Ronan.

Albeit, Ronan was now Freya's evil seed, and they could just use the real person like a puppet, but the problem was Ace couldn't enter the living thief's space, or he would be the first one to agree with this choice.

Furthermore, even he disguised himself as Ronan's henchman and then pulled the real Ronan's strings and had Ronan take him to the Imperial Domain.

The problem was that no one could enter there without permission from the domains except for Imperials!

Even the servants or supporters weren't allowed no matter who they were, and they had to register and then make a permit, and only then could they enter the Imperial Domain!

Ronan himself had to send a message if he wanted to return, and someone would come here to pick him up. He couldn't go alone as he wished.

Even then, he had to give a good reason for his return since he was a student of the Royal Demon Institute so others won't suspect anything.

Ace knew even with all this, he would have a small window to stay before he had to leave or someone might suspect him, and being suspect in the Imperial Domain would not bode well for Ace.

So, while he was collecting information from Ronan about the Imperial Domain, he planned accordingly, and Freya was his advisor. Oh, and don't forget Cyrus's straightforward advice to burn everything down.

Ace also inquired about the elemental orb, but sadly Ronan had no idea what an elemental orb was, nor did he know what it looks which made Ace somewhat depressed.

Only two days left before the yearly assembly started, and the announcement for the gathering would also be made on that day.

Today, Ronan finally appeared and headed toward the lifting platform of the 73rd floor, where third-core-grade students live.

Ronan reached the lifting platform without encountering anyone, nor he wanted to and pressed his hand on an array panel on the wall.

Thereupon, the Deacon with the lifting platform rose from the lower floor.

When the Deacon saw Ronan, he was startled for a moment since Ronan would never go anywhere without Nathanael and Byron, so it was quite an unusual sight.

Nevertheless, the Deacon knew better than to ask, so he respectfully bowed in greeting, "Your Highness, where to?" He inquired.

"100th Floor!" Ronan revealed impassively.

The Deacon's eyes widened slightly as he asked earnestly, "But I wasn't…."

"I wasn't invited, but I'm sure Tower Master won't reject me. Just contact him, and you'll see." Ronan coldly uttered.

Everyone knew to enter the 90th floor and above, one needed permission or invitation not to talk about the 100th floor where Bodach lived.

100th floor was forbidden to anyone as long as they were not Bodach personal students or had the same status as him. Except for these few exceptions, everyone required Bodach's permission, even an imperial demon prince.

As for how to get permission, the easiest way was through this Deacon!

However, to make the Deacon seek permission was a whole other story. Not just anyone could make him, and Ronan was such a person.

So, when the Deacon heard this response, he had no choice but to contact the 100th floor and seek Bodach's opinion on this.

As for if he agreed to meet Ronan was completely dependent on his mood, his status was higher than Ronan's in Royal Imperial Institute as a Housemaster!

"Let me up." Bodach's ghostly voice rang in affirmation in the communication cube when he heard Ronan wanted to meet him.

After getting the confirmation, the Deacon didn't say anything and took Ronan to the 100th floor!

It was Ace's first-time meeting Bodach, and it won't be a lie to say he wasn't nervous because this person was most likely a Quasi-Law-Awareness Realm Expert, and he had a glimpse of such power in the fox mountain.

If not, because it was absolutely necessary, he didn't want even to go close to such an expert, much less confront one on his own accord.

Nevertheless, his appearance was hidden behind the illusion mask, which was actually a Low-Grade-7 concealment treasure called the Imperial Demon Mask!

From Ronan, Ace discorded that the Imperial Demon Mask was the first treasure any imperial would ever get, and they wore it their entire life since they were not allowed to show their faces except their spouses or parents.

Even siblings weren't allowed to reveal their faces to each other, which was a strange custom.

As for that pendant, it was a soul-limit talisman that could block three attacks from a Law-Awareness Realm and release a Qi signal that would alert the imperial domain about the attack on an imperial family member locate their location.

The arm guards were a high-grade-6 soul treasure called Chains of Lightning which was related to the cultivation technique of the Imperial Demon Family.

Their tribe was called the Black Lightning Demon, and all of their skills and techniques were related to soul lightning, which fascinated Ace, and he remembered every one of them for his own use!

As for Ronan's storage ring, he got many rare soul treasures with over a hundred thousand TP middle-level thievery!

Thereby, they soon reached the top floor of the Royal Tower.

The 100th floor was completely different from the lower floors; the soul Qi here was ten times denser than any floor below, and there weren't any corridors.

There was a grand space with four rooms on every side and in the center of this space was a long table with hundreds of chairs.

When Ace was the ghostly appearance demon sitting at the end of this table, his heart raced just by staring at those empty eye sockets as it was his first time seeing such a demon which looked more like an actual demon than any demon he had ever seen.

"Please." The Deacon singled him to step off so he could leave them alone.

Ace calmed down and walked on the white floor toward Bodach.

Bodach coolly said when Ronan was a few meters away, "Please sit, Your Highness."

Ace took a seat a few meters away from Bodach, which was giving him a feeling of aghast the closer he moved to him, and Bodach clearly wasn't releasing any aura at all.

"So, what brings Your Highness to my door?" Bodach didn't beat around the bush. He only agreed to meet Ronan because of his secret deal with him, and Archie was really worth it.

So, he didn't want to make Ronan unhappy for no good reason, so he gave him a face by letting him enter.

Furthermore, he was still wary of this cunning demon prince, every member of their family was not to be underestimated!

Ronna calmly stated at this moment, "Nothing much. I just want Tower Master to arrange for me to return to the Imperial Domain tomorrow!"

Bodach's expression remained the same as he inquired, "May I know why? You should know the new year is about to start, and an imperial prince living before it is not a small thing."

Ace knew this old guy wouldn't give in just like that, and he was too hard to read with his ghostly face. So, Ace didn't know what he was thinking!

This was quite frustrating since he was used to reading people and then reacting accordingly, but this old monster was on a different level than him!