Ace was calmly sitting cross-legged and mulling over the new chain mission, which seemed like a disaster.
Even though he had managed to theft a duke-level tribe and a demon duke; this new mission was on a whole new level.
Because firstly, he had Noa’s intellect to help him exceedingly in the last thievery, while this time he had to rely on himself.
Secondly, he managed to easily fool Livy and got his storage ring to help him with the last thievery, but this time he literally didn’t know who might hold those keys.
Most importantly, this was the Life Demon Association which had almost the same status as the royal council and this was the organization had multiple high-grade rune crafters which simply mean their security measures might be even more solid than the royal council and Ace simply didn’t have skills to see through or bypass their security.
This naturally put him in a tough spot. Although this mission punishment was something Ace would appreciate at any other time, however, the rewards were extremely alluring for him to just give up on. Especially the reward of Hint about Mind Stealing, which might help him complete his job mission as well.
That was why Ace was completely unwilling to give up without even trying.
‘I still have over 495 days to figure it out. I have to raise my thievery skills, especially the lock eraser king. I can’t take the risk of pick-pocketing the storage ring of the branch manager, or I might get multiple soul realm or even embryo realm experts on my tail. And after what happened to the ocean demon tribe, Demon King will involve if he knew I’m causing trouble in his domain.’ Ace sighed deeply in frustration.
The higher he goes, the more powerful enemies he’ll face, but the reward of every success was also just as bountiful.
‘Well, I think about it after entering the inner domain, since the Life Demon Treasure Pagoda is located in the inner domain. The number one spot for buying and selling treasures in the entire Blade Domain or any other king domain. Heh, if I pull this off…’ Ace smiled thievishly with great anticipation.
Life Demon Association has three different branches all over the demon continent: the first was, Life Demon Guild, where all the life professions can register and practice. Second, Life Wine Pavilion, only for alcohol alchemy.
Third and last, the Life Demon Treasure Pagoda, was where the Life Demon Association sell their premium products and traded with traders. This branch can be said the most important branch of the association because all their wealth was there and many astonishing treasures that even demon kings desired.
That’s why Ace was greatly alarmed when he got the chain mission and could only smile wryly. Although he got the mission to theft an entire treasure trove, he knew many hidden snakes were protecting this treasure trove as well.
Nevertheless, Ace was still hopeful.
“System released the EXP and SP rewards and also convert 754,575 worth of Soul Pills and Marital Pills in SP and EXP,” Ace commanded with a tranquil expression on his face.
Ace was holding his breakthrough because he was still moving with two experts, and also because he wanted to first enter the blade domain to safely raise his strength.
Furthermore, he didn’t use the other one million SP because he was saving them for his side mission. He still has to find a secluded place first, and it wasn’t feasible right at this moment since he had to leave the outer domain.
Although he was confident in leaving the outer domain without being detected by those knights, he won’t be doing it because someone might be monitoring him. Even though no one investigated them, he still didn’t take out the possibility of being secretly watched by some overly prudent fellows, so he had to remain where he was.
Lastly, he didn’t use all those soul materials because he wanted Noa to practice with them and convert them into soul pills, which will give him more SP than converting them raw.
Moreover, there might be some materials that Noa required to practice her body refinement technique as well, so he won’t be using them until it was extremely necessary!
[50,000 EXP and 50,000 SP rewards have been released!]
[754,575 EXP and 754,575 SP worth of pills have been converted!]
[Total of 804,575 EXP and 804,575 SP have been released!]
Just like always, a huge torrent of Heavenly Soul Qi and Heavenly Marital Qi started to enter his true soul and marital space.
His Qi Sea started to fill with dark liquid Qi, while his soul core was releasing a deeper color of orange soul Qi.
After ten minutes, the system’s voice sounded.
[Congratulation, host, on achieving the fifth stage of Heavenly Sea Realm and fifth stage of Orange Soul Form!]
[Host status has been updated]
[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Dark Sea [Stage-5]]
[EXP: 250,000/250,000]
[Soul Cultivation: Orange Wind Soul Core [Stage-5]]
[SP: 250,000/250,000]
This time, however, Ace’s soul sense didn’t increase, which left him somewhat disappointed, but he remained expressionless.
Half an hour passed and the system’s voice rang again.
[Congratulation, host, on achieving the sixth stage of Heavenly Sea Realm and sixth stage of Orange Soul Form!]
[Host status has been updated]
[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Dark Sea [Stage-6]]
[EXP: 500,000/500,000]
[Soul Cultivation: Orange Wind Soul Core [Stage-6]]
[SP: 500,000/500,000]
Abruptly, Ace finally felt his soul core tremble slightly and revolved at an astonishing speed, creating a vortex of orange soul Qi around it.
The very next moment, Ace’s soul sense again made a breakthrough as it expanded!
400M… 450M… and it reached an astonishing 500M, it finally stopped and settled down.
Furthermore, his Qi Sea was also half full at this moment, shimmering with a dark luster as the dark void hover right in its center like a black hole.
The system’s crisp voice rang again,
[Congratulation, host, on achieving the seventh stage of Heavenly Sea Realm and seventh stage of Orange Soul Form!]
[Host status has been updated]
[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Dark Sea [Stage-7]]
[EXP: 36,845/1,000,000]
[Soul Cultivation: Orange Wind Soul Core [Stage-7]]
[SP: 24,575/1,000,000]
Ace’s breakthrough finally ended as he opened his eyes, and a dark current flashed past them.
He smiled in elation and murmured, “I never thought my soul sense would become equivalent to a Platinum Soul Realm (Platinum Embryo Realm) cultivator after I passed the sixth stage threshold. It means after every three stages I can get some benefits.”
Now, Ace was even more assured about his upcoming thievery. As long as he didn’t encounter anyone with a stronger soul sense or marital sense, he can easily detect them and counter them.
Besides, the surge in his power was also substantial as well. Although he wasn’t sure, he could probably fight with a Platinum River Core Realm expert and even kill them as long as he can surprise them with his half shadow sword intent!
As for diamond soul realm experts, he wasn’t sure since he never fought with one, but he had experienced Livy’s pressure, and he was sure he could fight on equal footing with him with his sword intent, but he still wasn’t Maddux or Aura Duke’s match right now.
Nonetheless, Ace was content with this progress, and now he turned his focus toward the second reward of his last mission.
“System, I want to use my second reward, instant Level-up my Heartless Stealth Art!”
Ace had long chosen his stealth art because he was going to need it the most this time, and he had already mastered the pulseless stealth. With this instant level up, he will enter the last stage of this art, the Heartless Stealth, which granted him Invisible in Martial Sense of Qi Soul Cultivators or Soul Sense of Soul Embryo Cultivators.
He would then only have to look out for the manifestation realm eccentrics only.
The system instantly answered in affirmation, and Ace suddenly felt a cold sensation gripping his brain before he entered a trance-like state.
At this moment, nothing but Heartless Stealth Art was in his mind as he got the essential of the last level of heartless stealth.
Abruptly, Ace’s heartbeat started to decrease little by little until it reached the point of almost stopping.
But Ace was still breathing steadily.
After eight hours, Ace’s sitting figure suddenly started to fade before he completely vanished. It was as if there weren’t anyone in the room, and it was empty.
Not even soul realm cultivators could find Ace’s presence at this moment.
Thereupon, Ace’s sitting figure again appeared before he finally snapped out of his trace.
System’s voice rang at this moment.
[Host has successfully achieved the low-level mastery in the Heartless Stealth stage of Heartless Stealth Art.]
[Host status has been updated]
Ace’s lips curled upward after he heard the system’s testimony. He looked outside the window, and it was already dusk, so he decided to rest.
However, what he didn’t know was not too far away from the inn where he was staying, a tiny bird was gazing toward the Inn with its tiny intelligent eyes!