Eternal Thief

After two days, Ace's tightly shut eyes finally opened. His complexion was still pale, and his eyes were hazy. 

'These soul damages are truly cumbersome to heal!' Ace smile bitterly. 'It would still take me a week or two before my soul fully recovered.' 

Even after two days, the backlash on his true soul from using the soul-shattering eyes still didn't mend completely, but his body was fully healed. 

But there was an even bigger problem in front of him at this moment and that was this formation between low and middle lands, where he was currently trapped, well, kind of.

With his excellent night vision, Ace examined the surroundings but found nothing, except old dirt. Nothing was there, no life or skeletons that he imagine there would be. 

Because before him, many adventurous fellows try to cross it, but Ace knew they all died a horrible death, and that's why he was expecting a graveyard full of bones inside the formation.  Yet, there was nothing. 

However, Ace didn't dare to move from his place because before his eye skill was stopped, he saw a vast web of strange symbols scatters throughout this old ground. 

If he unknowingly steps on those symbols, he would be disintegrated at the very moment, just like the illusion barrier behind him. He could only enter because of treasure opening hands fifth form. 

'If I knew the rune crafting, I might be able to understand something here.' Ace sighed weakly when he thought about rune crafting. 

But the very next moment, his dull eyes shimmer as he quickly opens the notification panel to check something with a face full of eagerness and expectation. 

"Yes, it is there!" Ace utters ecstatically.

He finally remembered that he pick-pocket that old geezer's storage ring!

At that time, he didn't have time to pay any heed to the system voice. Now he had all the time in the world to check what he gets from that old man. 

That means he will get TP for it and since that old man was from a kingdom and a River Source Expert, his wealth can easily rival Dulce's or perhaps even exceed her! 

As for how he's going to open that ring, that wasn't his concern because he needed just enough TP for buying that manual in the system's shop! 

A transparent black panel appeared at this moment, 

=======

[Notification Panel]

[{Unseen Notification}]

[Pick Pocket success] 

{Host steal}

{1: Low-Level, Middle-Grade Storage Space Treasure} (5th Mortal Level-Runes)

{14: High-Level, Low-Grade Storage Space Treasure} (4th Mortal Level-Runes)

{87: Middle-Level, Low-Grade Storage Space Treasure} (3rd Mortal Level-Runes)

{105: Low-Grade Storage Space Treasure} (2nd Mortal Level-Runes)

{251,766: Low-Grade Pills} (Green-Ranked pills)

{55,283: Middle-level, Low-Grade Pills} (Blue-Ranked pills)

{20,334: High-level, Low-Grade Pills} (Azure-Ranked pills)

{65: Low-Level, Middle-Grade Pills} (Purple-Ranked pills)

{14: Low-Level, Middle-Grade Weapon} (5-Stars)

{288: High-level, Low-Grade Weapon} (4-Stars)

{Techniques and skills Low-Grade (Warrior-Grade): 43 Techniques, 153 Skills},

{Techniques and skills Mid Low-Grade  (Master-Grade): 3 Technique, 13 Skills},

{Qi-Stones Trash-Grade (Low-Level): 203 Million},

{Qi-Stones Lowest-Grade (Middle-Level): 43 Million},

{Qi-Stones Low-Grade (High-Level): 2.1 Million},

{Qi-Stones Mid-Level, Low-Grade (Peak-Level): 22}

{Formation Barrier Plate Middle Grade, (5th Mortal Ranked Runes): 2}

{Slave Contracts: 2,672}

{Medicine Herbs and Metal Ores: 1,1 Million Herbs, 13,546 Metal Ores}

{Rewards: 32,000 Thief Points}

[Thief Point(s): 36,240]

---

[Host has stolen treasures worth 32,000 TP]

[One Low-Level Thievery has added to Thievery Count] 

[Low-Level Thievery: 4]

=======

Ace could help but inhale deeply. 'This old man's wealth is truly not trivial! Just who was he?' He wonders.

Because this was the biggest TP reward he ever got from the system and that old man has to be someone of a prominent position in the golden hammered kingdom. 

But the next moment he throws that thought to the back of his head and simply didn't care anymore. 

Since that old man was someone from the golden hammered and also the one who sent that bitch here, he deserved to be robbed by him. 

However, if he knows that the old man is an Azure Alchemist from the Pill Flame Organization and this storage ring was not his actual wealth, Ace would take that old goat more seriously. 

But Ace didn't even know about the organization, much less what the actual wealth of an Azure Alchemist means. If Ace knew, he might make alchemists the prime target of his thieveries from now, no.

That's also why Vance didn't care about this storage ring that much because this was only his ten percent wealth, and his actual wealth was in the organization!

One can imagine by this just how wealthy an alchemist can be! 

Ace felt it was a pity since he can't open this ring or else just the EXP of these pills and medicinal herbs inside were enough to help him cross at least two small stages! 

Nevertheless, he was thrilled about this big tally of TP that he received and was about to open the system shop when the system's voice buzz in his mind, 

=====

"[System has detected storage ring stolen by the host.]"

[Since it is counted as low-level thievery in Thief Panel, it can be opened with 100TP]

[Do you want to open with 100TP?]

[Yes/No]

=====   

Ace was stunned, he didn't dare to believe what he just heard and quickly saw the transparent black panel in front of him. 

When he read for three-time, he finally believed that he can now open the storage rings without killing the owner! 

"System, is this also a function of the thief panel?" He had to confirm it.

"[Yes]"

"Hahaha, not bad, not bad." Ace praised the system for the first time in a while. "Open it and transfer everything in my thief's space. Sort it neatly, according to the sections for unique treasures I created!"

======

"[100TP deducted]

[The Storage Ring is now opened]

[The system has also sorted everything in the Thief's Space according to Host command.]"

======

Ace quickly scan the thief's space and saw glittering treasures systematically arranged inside. 

The most eyes catching on them all were that big treasury of luminous city and a mountain of dazzling Qi Stones! 

He didn't even step in the Land of Kingdoms, yet his wealth alone rivals any 2nd-Grade Kingdom! 

Ace's eyes were twinkling brightly as he saw the small mountain of glittering pills as well as the medical herbs! 

He wanted to quickly convert them into EXP, but first, he does what he was going to before the system's sudden interference. 

"System, I want to buy [Heavenly Rune Crafter: Foundational Manual] and one [Random Teleportation Life Coin]." Ace transmitted thoughtfully. 

He wanted the Rune Crafter Manual because he was hoping to find something useful that can help him escape this place.

He didn't want to use soul-shattering eyes like before unless he wanted a critical injury to his true soul. If that happened, Ace didn't know how long would it take to heal it since didn't have any method to heal soul injuries quickly at this moment. 

As for the life coin, he simply decided to buy it because there was a word LIFE in it, and it has no limitation, just like the invisible beads. Since he was in this dangerous place, it might save his life at some critical point. 

Besides, he can't buy anything else besides these two with his TP at this moment. 

Speaking of which, he didn't use the invisible bead here because its effects only remain for a minute, and he didn't know just how large this formation truly is. Besides, he won't use it unless it was a life and death situation since it was also his last bead. 

=====

[35,000TP deducted successfully]"

[Thief Point(s): 1,140]

---

[The information of the Heavenly Rune Crafter: Foundational Manual is now starting to transfer into the host's brain.]

---

[Random Teleportation Life Coin is now activated.]

[Life Coin: 1]

[Description: It will be used automatically when the system detects any life-ending danger to the host's life.] 

======

A huge torrent of information enters Ace's brain, but this time it was painful, just like the first time when he received the information from the system. It was because his soul was still not fully recovered. 

Ace gritted his teeth as he endured the intense pain.

The pain finally faded after an entire minute. The information of this single manual was quite large, and it takes Ace an entire hour to process and arrange every last bit of it. 

His eyes finally open, there was a hint of excitement in them as well as shock. 

'This heavenly rune crafting is truly heaven-defying!' Ace thought ecstatically.

As for the life coin, since it was in the hands of the system to activate it, he was assured of his safety and completely forget about it. 

His entire focus was on the rune crafting at this moment because he finally found a way to leave this damn place without injuring his soul.

But Ace knew it would not going to be that easy!