Eternal Thief

After annexing all the memories, Ace had a gloomy look while he thought about the information he got from this elf named Elliot.

It turned out that the Sixth Continent of Wise Elves, the Elven Continent, was hiding a terrifying secret. It was none other than a secret realm that was actually the first floor of the Regal Fiend Tower.

However, the Elves called it Holy Saint Secret Realm and the tower spirit the Holy Saint. Every three years, a passage will open deep within the Sacred Holy Land of the Elven Kingdom, which leads directly to the tower's first floor.

This space passage appeared over two thousand years ago, and the elves instantly close any related news about it because if other races know, they will go to any length to secure this place, and the elves won't be able to protect it.

The fiery hell realm was the prime example of it.

Like Ace, the tower spirit told everyone about the inheritance after clearing the ten floors when they all entered the first floor and granted them 'Holy Marks,' which were none other than the tower tattoo.

Anyone who was below the age of 500 years and Soul Real Realm could enter and compete for the inheritance.

However, the crux of the matter was the conditions to enter higher floors.

Although the tower spirit told Ace to find the entrance toward the second floor, it didn't tell Ace that whoever tried to cross the entrance of a floor will have to face ten 'Trial Puppets.'

Furthermore, with every higher floor, the Trial Puppets will be a level higher than the challenger's cultivation realm before they were granted the passage toward the higher floor.

For example, the first trial floor's trial puppets will be a level higher than the challenger's cultivation, and the second floor will be two levels higher, all the way up to the tenth floor.

Not only that, but failure meant certain death in these trials!

Moreover, if someone wanted to leave this place, they had to reach at least the 4th floor, or they will remain inside.

Still, these elves sent thousands of participants every three years to this place because the rewards outmatched the fatalities.

Because everyone time a participant crosses a trial floor, they will get a star which could grant them the ability to cultivate faster and strengthen their physique as they collect more stars. Likewise, if someone could collect five stars, they can even forcibly increase the level of their cultivation without any backlash for a small period of time!

And the most astonishing ability 6-star and 7-star tattoo grant is they can freely leave and come back to the tower to challenge the trial anytime, from anywhere. All the age and cultivation restrictions will be gone.

To this day, only three persons have managed to acquire a 7-star tower tattoo, and one of them was the Wise Elven Queen, the ruler of Wise Elves.

Ace also got a grave piece of information; the title 'Contender' was only given to those on the first three floors. From floors four to six, the 'Contestant' was called 'Seed Contender,' and from the seventh floor, they were known as 'Inner Contender.'

As for floors 8th, 9th, and 10th, no one knows about those floors since they were still unexplored and no one had ever reached there. It was just too risky.

Anyhow, this revelation also made it pretty clear that there were far more people in this tower, and many even lived inside because the cultivation environment of the higher floors was extremely heavenly.

There was no danger inside; on the contrary, many rare herbs existed on each floor, and these participants fought over them.

This place was a treasure trove for elves, and they had been secretly strengthening themselves all these years with Regal Fiend Tower while everyone thought they were harmless.

The real danger was actually the contenders themselves, as they could kill others to plunder their resources, and no one would ever know about it.

Furthermore, if someone kills a participant with a tower tattoo, especially a tattoo with a star, they will get a boost in their cultivation.

That's why whoever came into this place was prepared to die, and they will kill anyone as long as they get the chance, even if the other party is noble. As long as they won't expose their identity, they are golden!

Especially with the rule of not being able to leave the tower before reaching the fourth floor. Not all of them had such talent, and only those elves from First-Rate Family or Noble Family could do it.

Lastly, once you leave a floor, there is no coming back, so many choices to live here to strengthen their cultivation for years before they head to higher floors.

The only restriction was the contenders, and seed contenders can only live for 100 years on each floor before they had to take the higher trial test, or leave the tower, or die in case they had not reached the fourth floor.

Ace never expected there would be such an effect from this tower tattoo. If he hadn't known about the true nature of this so-called 'holy mark,' he would've been covetous.

But he knew they were just being used without even knowing how, but it was probably something to do with the tattoo.

Nevertheless, since he got the information, he didn't need these two anymore, and his eyes turned cold. He saved Elliot's face in his mask before using two soul-piercing bullets to instant kill them.

They were both only Golden Qi River Core Cultivators, so Ace's soul attack was not something they could take.

The System's notification rang at this moment which made his eyes narrow,

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[System detects the Dormant Soul Segment within Fake True Soul wanted to absorb Soul Vitality of Two Elves killed by the host!]

[Warning: If the host allowed it to absorb the Soul Vitality, there will be no EXP or SP rewarded!]

[Do you want to let it process or Block it?]

=====

Realization dawned on Ace as he quickly asked, "So, that's the secret of their fast cultivation speed after they killed some. It seemed this tattoo could also turn others into this Soul Vitality, such as SP and EXP like the System.

"But unlike the System, it should only work on the ones with the tattoo, and they thought they were being strong because of it.

"They might be the catalyst to strengthen the soul segment within their consciousness while absorbing another soul segment cultivated by someone else. This way, they could turn into soul vessels faster. Right, System?"

"[Yes.]"

Ace then suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility, "Are you the same System?"

Now that he thought about it, the System was doing the same in a sense. If it was true, then was he also nurtured into someone else's soul vessel for some terrifying being?

Ace felt his heart waver at his moment.

But the System replied with a hint of disdain in its voice.

"[No.]"

It was a plain and straightforward answer, but it made Ace visibly relieved and regain his composure. He will take System's words for it even if they turn out to be lies, but he still believes it.

Because he knew the System was something that even Eternal Provenance Treasures were helpless against if it wanted to subdue it. So, he was too weak even to struggle.

That's why such a thought would only make him waver, and since the System even bothered to say 'no,' he knew he was overthinking things.

So, he didn't dwell on this topic and asked, "Will it alert the existence behind the soul segment if I block its access to the Soul Vitality?"

"[Yes. The Soul Vitality of a Soul Segment Host will completely incorporate, so the moment that Soul Segment vanishes, the practitioner will notice it, or in the case of dormant soul segment, the medium such as a treasure!]"

"Will it affect me in any case if I let it become stronger?" Ace sternly questioned.

"[No.]"

Ace then didn't care about it anymore as he commanded, "Then as long as I had this soul segment, don't block it access to this soul vitality. It's not like giving away 100 or so EXP or SP will put any dent in my current EXP or SP Bar, right?"

Ace sighed as he knew killing a weaker opponent would only grant him this amount of EXP or SP or even less, so he didn't care about this little EXP or SP.

The storage rings, on the other hand, were quite useful since they were filled with grade-1 to grade-3 herbs and these guys killed many contestants to accumulate such wealth, and now it was all Ace.

The moment system stopped blocking the absorbing process, Ace suddenly felt a chillness on the back of his hand right where the tower tattoo was. But it was only momentary before it went dormant.

"Alright, you can burn their bodies."

Ace then allows Cyrus to have fun while getting rid of the evidence of their existence and changing into attire like Elliot and his face.

Cyrus happily complied and burned them into ashes with terrifying ecstasy in its tiny eyes.

Ace then headed south again because he now knew where the entrance toward the next floor was!