Eternal Thief



In the middle of a silver sand desert, a hooded figure with dark ethereal wings appeared with a purple flash. Ace instantly looked around, and he saw nothing but silver sand and dunes around him. 

Furthermore, the desert was not hot at all. Instead, it was freezing cold!

"How peculiar, this is the Moon Secret Realm?" Ace muttered with a hint of elation as he wasn't expecting the Moon Secret Realm's first layer to be a desert and cold on top of that. 

The system's next notification just confirmed it!

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[Host has cleared the second requirement of the Heaven's Stealer Mission!]

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[Target site related to the Heaven's Stealer Mission has been infiltrated successfully!]

[Did the host want to scan the target site and create a Treasure Blueprint?] 

-Requirements: 

1. Live Fate Map

2. Thief Point: 1,000,000

3. Time: 30 Minutes

[Proceed/ Cancel]

[NOTE (1): System strongly recommends that Host should make this Treasure Blueprint which will not only have the target entire map and locations of the treasures available on the site and the main target treasure, but the safest and fastest routes to approach it as well!] 

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Ace's lips rose, this was exactly what he was waiting for, and he proceeded without hesitation. 

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[Treasure Blueprint Scanning has been started!]

[Time: 29:59]

[Warning: Please don't leave the target range before the scanning is done!]

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[Thief Point(s): 19,000,100]

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Ace sighed, looking at his thief points, 'I'm running low on thief points. We'll all those purchases were worth it.'

In the time he had spent on the endless sea, Ace wasn't sitting idle and had been using the TP to not only unlock the array combinations but he had also bought the Soul Stealth Art and Absolute Pick Pocket!

The Soul Stealth Art was a stealth art driven on the Heavenly Soul Qi opposite to the Heartless Stealth Art. Furthermore, this stealth has the requirement of [Shadow] law in it. 

It has three states, the Night Shadow Stealth State, which Ace easily comprehends because his [Shadow] law requirement was sufficient, and the thief title [Follower of Darkness]. Furthermore, stealth skills were always been his strongest suit. 

The second state was the Shadowless Soul Stealth State, this state requirement was 49% [Shadow] comprehension. Lastly, the final state, the Soulless Stealth State, with a requirement of 75% [Shadow]! 

Although he was still far away from reaching the second state, just with the first state, only the Law Awareness Realm could detect him. 

As for the Absolute Pick Pocket, it was a very unexpected skill completely different from the original Pick Pocket. Although it followed the same principles as the Pick Pocket Ace has been using since the start of his journey, to learn the Absolute Pick Pocket, Ace is required to comprehend the Law of [Space]! 

Because this Absolute Pick Pocket can't just pick-pocket the objects in front of Ace, but it can pick-pocket from within space itself! 

Although this was very vague information and Ace clearly had no idea what it meant yet, he was very optimistic about this skill because of the last line in the description, 'The stronger the space law, the absolute your pick-pocket will become until nothing can be safe anymore!' 

This subtle line made Ace think of all sorts of possibilities because there was no limiter placed on this skill like his other skills, arts, or even secret skills. 

But despite wanting to comprehend this skill, Ace wasn't even coming closer to scratching its surface despite knowing the concept of Pick Pocket and even reversing it. 

It was infuriating, but he could only give up focus on his other unlearned skills until he had insight into the law of [Space], which was by no means a common law. 

Nevertheless, the TP he spent was all worth it since he gained this mysterious skill. 

'I should rest…' Ace thought as he could finally breathe in relief now, and he knew no one was here who could threaten him.

So, he unsummed the Devil Horn Dark Owl Wings as well as stowed away the formation. Lastly, he made a hand gesture, and nine black pentagon coins separated from his robes. 

The Nine Heavenly Formation Coins were no longer black, but all of them had a dark blue rune symbol etched on them. Those runes were the heavenly array runes that Ace had painstakingly engraved on them. 

The next moment, with Ace's thought, like a puzzle, they started to reassemble, revealing a pitch-black disk, and then suddenly that disk started to shrink before turning into a beautiful black ring with nine dark blue rune symbols. 

Like it has a mind of its own, it swiftly put itself on Ace's right-hand middle finger before vanishing without a trace, like it wasn't there at all.

This function was discovered by Ace after he successfully engraved those coins with the heavenly rune symbols. Just like his Thievish Soul Cord bracelet accessory form, this treasure didn't need to keep in his thief's space all the time, and it can be worn as a ring. With just Ace's single thought, it could react instantly. Ace even preferred it this way!

He mused this sort of function should be common in the grade-9 treasures, but he has yet to hear about a grade-9 treasure, much less 'see' it. 

"Ahh, I finally feel relaxed after constantly using my Qi. The two summoning abilities really took a massive toll. I'm only at 20% of my Qis." 

Ace felt relief, but it didn't mean he was letting his guard down. He flipped his hand, and the next moment, a black chubby chick appeared, seeming to be sleeping peacefully. 

Looking at Cyrus's carefree sleeping posture, he smiled in exasperation and said, "Alright, stop pretending. I know you've been awake for over a month now. You just pretend to be asleep so you don't have to take your lessons!" 

Cyrus fell into slumber after eating the feather. Although his appearance hadn't changed, with Ace's breakthrough, Cyrus also entered a new realm. Now, he was slightly big as his baby feathers had grown and taken the shape of wings, while the crown-like hair on his head seemed to be grown. 

Although it was a small change and no one would notice, Ace was different, he was connected to Cyrus, and he knew Cyrus had undergone some sort of metamorphosis after absorbing the feather, but he wasn't sure what had changed because of his lack of knowledge.

However, the little guy's personality hadn't changed at all. He only wanted to play and hated to study, so despite being awakened over a month ago, he pretended to be asleep as no one bothered him about studying. 

Despite knowing about Cyrus's shenanigans, Ace let it slide since he knew once he entered the Moon Secret Realm, he needed him. Furthermore, with the addition of Alina and her maid Lillian, things might turn very bad for the little guy once Alina finds Cyrus's relationship with Ace and how Eva treats him. 

She has yet to meet with Cyrus and is busy studying all the sword skills and arts Ace had given her since she can't cultivate like Eva because she didn't have a bond with Ace. So, the atmosphere was still harmonized for now, at least. 

But he knew Cyrus was going to get much deserve 'love' once Alina found out about him, and he has no pity for the little dishonest bird. 

At this moment, Cyrus, who seemed to be sleeping, suddenly opened its tiny gem-like eyes filled with vigilance. But when he saw he was not in the thief's space, happiness appeared. He instantly stood up and chirped happily. 

"Big Bro, I just awake, so where are you taking Cyrus to eat?" 

Ace was speechless as he replied with exasperation, "It seems I need to tell your Big Sister Eva to increase your lessons." 

Panicked appeared in the little guy's eyes as it quickly retorted, "N-no! It's not fair. You can't bully me!" 

Ace said with a devious smile, clearly enjoying himself, "I'm going to bully you. What can you do about it?" 

Cyrus was lost for words as it trembled with teary eyes, "I-I won't take to you! You big bully!" 

Ace grinned as he replied, "Haha, good for me, since now I can get all those foods for myself!" 

Cyrus panicked even more hearing about 'food' and quickly changed his statement, "I-I mean, I won't talk to you after I eat my food!"

After hearing Cyrus's feverish reply, Ace laughed before shaking his head, "Dumb guy, that's why you need to study!"