Eternal Thief

Time flies.

Ace opened his eyes today, and the next moment, a mighty wind burst from his body. His figure turned into dark winds before materializing again. He has taken another leap in Apparition Wind Walk by reaching level 5. 

Furthermore, as he was comprehending this movement art and Wind law, he also started to grasp the Wind of Darkness vaguely. However, his biggest harvest was he was very close to achieving the Sky Step, the final stage of Misperception Sky Steps Art!

As Ace was getting more and more proficient in these system-related skills, he started to discover that they were all connected to each other. One skill was a foundation for another, like a stairstep, which can't be skipped. He 

Furthermore, the more he understood these high-grade skills, the more he found they were all related to profound laws. He also discovered a strange thing, which was more of a hypothesis.

This hypothesis was based on the profound knowledge he now holds, especially the knowledge of the entire Sun Secret Realm. Ace found that worldly skill, art, and secret skill all seemed to be restricted and limited by 'something.' Because of that exact 'something,' he can't learn those skills like the other people. 

Similarly, the others can't learn the skills that were provided by the system.

Of course, Ace knew it had to be related to the heaven stealer and his heavenly Qi. He has known this for a long time now. 

But for some reason, as he was getting stronger and his understanding of heavenly laws like the [Despair Lightning] [Heavenly Wind], and especially since the [Heavenly Thunder] has appeared in his law status, those invisible restrictions were becoming clearer to him. 

Ace knew he was on to something big, but he wasn't sure what it was, and he still needed more time and a deeper understanding of his own powers before he could reach the conclusion. 

Nonetheless, his comprehension abilities have improved quite a lot after this strange understanding started to reveal itself. All he needed now was time to research further and absorb his gains. 

But to earn that time, he needed to end this deadly mission, and only a single layer was left before he could complete the first stage of the Heaven's Stealer Mission!

Looking at the purple swirl in front of him, Ace then looked at the live fate map and smiled sneakily, 'What a damnable lineup. Well, I guess they should be sufficient for my practical training. I want to see how far I can go without the little brat's help and how much I have improved…' 

Having such plans in mind, Ace moved toward the swirl after 128 days of comprehensive cultivation. Although he took more days than he had planned, he was now fully confident in his strength, and it wasn't like he was unaware of what the God Envoy was hatching in these past four months. 

As Ace stepped out of the swirl, a heavily icy aura instantly weighed down on him, and an unusual cold wanted to infiltrate his very mind. But with all the treasures he was wearing, except for a slight cold, he wasn't affected by the terrible environment.

Ace then looked around and saw he was surrounded by purple walls and couldn't help but smile, 'As expected, maze, just like the sun secret realm…' 

However, right at this moment, not even a few seconds pass, a massive stampede consisting of demonic beasts, insects, worms, aerial beasts, and every type of beast he had attacked before on the previous eight layers was present in that hoard. 

Furthermore, those beasts were not weak at all. Instead, the weakest among them was at the peak of the platinum soul realm, while the strongest was in the mid-stage of the soul manifestation realm. 

"What a greeting." Ace smiled coldly as he was expecting this much. 

The next moment, Ace's body turned into ethereal dark winds, and he drifted right into the beast stampede without any care about getting injured because, like winds, he passed through them. No matter what they tried, they couldn't contain the winds. 

All those beasts controlled by the God Envoy madly attacked him with all sorts of skills and bombarded him with Qis, but nothing worked. Instead, those beasts ended up injuring each other. 

Ace wasn't worried, for he knew this was going to happen. Because to break the Apparition Wind Walk, someone needs to attack him with another law skill and at a higher comprehension than his own Wind law, no less!

Ace knew only a quasi-law awareness realm could match his wind law comprehension because the four stages of the Soul Manifestation Realm mirror a cultivator's law comprehension, which is also called the Element Law Proficiency. 

From the soul manifestation realm, a cultivator has to increase their elemental law proficiency in its innate element, and only then can they increase stages and cross into a new realm. 

The Element Law Proficiency was divided into four realms: Minor (0.00% to 9.99%), Initial (10.00% to 49.99%), Intermediate (50.00% to 89.99%), and Advanced (90.00% to 99.99%). 

The Minor and Initial Realms mirrored the four stages of the Soul Manifestation Realm, and when someone crosses the threshold of the initial realm of element law proficiency and reaches the 50.00% mark, they are called the Quasi Law Awareness Realm. 

Because in this realm, the element would manifest its half-element law intent like a sword intent. However, a half-element law intent is far stronger than a complete sword intent because a weapon intent isn't as complicated as a complex element law intent, and that's why a weapon law intent could be manifest at the completion of a minor realm. 

Only an element sword intent could rival it, which is even harder to comprehend because a cultivator has to learn how to combine a weapon and element law together so accurately that the element law would become a tool for killing. 

Anyhow, once a cultivator fully develops their element law intent from half element law intent, they will reach the proficiency of 50.01%, and this is the realm of Law Awareness!

The Law Awareness Realm had three stages, Early, Intermediate, and Late, which mirror the Element Law Proficiency from 50.01% to 89.99%, meaning the entire intermediate realm is the foundation of the Law Awareness Realm. 

Once a cultivator crossed this threshold and stepped into the domain of Advanced Realm 90.00%, they were known as the Quasi Law Comprehension Realm. But to step into the fabled Law Comprehension Realm, one needs to have element law proficiency of 99.99%! 

But reaching this threshold is as difficult as ascending heaven, and some people are stuck on the 99.98% in their entire lives and can't comprehend that final sliver no matter what they try. 

That's why a complete cultivation technique of the Law Comprehension Realm could cause bloody wars, especially between old monsters who were stuck at this level for their entire life and at the end of their lifespan. Who wants to die after coming so far and standing at the peak of the world? 

That's why Ace was fully confident that these mid-stage soul manifestation realms couldn't do anything to him, as his law compression was far above them despite his lack of cultivation realm. 

Furthermore, his sword law was his biggest trump card, and he won't show it unless necessary. He was planning to raise his wind and despair lightning to the peak of the intermediate realm, and he might be able to break the sword law, which seemed to have been stuck, and no matter what he does, he won't enter the 50.00%.

But he has a feeling if he could raise an element up to the same standard as his sword law, he might be able to break that barrier, especially the shadow law, since his sword intent was born from the shadow element, after all. 

"How peculiar!" A sneering yet charming voice broke Ace's focus, and his heart lunged, and he instantly sidestepped. 

Just the moment after, a golden arrow filled with sharpness and a powerful intent brushed past his hood! 

'Arrow stained with faint law intent!' Ace instantly looked into the sky and didn't see the attacker. 

"Interesting, try dodging these!" The same voice rang again with clear surprise, and at this moment, the clear sky suddenly started filled with golden arrows filled with sharp intent. 

Ace's eyes narrowed before his brows relaxed as he smiled with interest and inspiration as he looked at those ghastly arrows, 'How interesting. I should also try to imitate those intent arrows…'