Eternal Thief

Ace was still oblivious of the consequence of unknowingly destroying the gray boulder or former Ghost Sword Monolith. 

He was busy fuming because the system refused to release his hard-earned reward of level-1 authority and keep telling him to complete his mission first.

In the end, Ace was helpless when the system negated the answer, and he bitterly accepted the 'verdict'. 

Now that he was done with breaking through and system matter, he finally pays attention to his surroundings and was astonished because once the emerald liquid filled the bottom of the volcano was now crystal clear like ordinary water. Only the remains of the orb guardian were floating around, which also somehow turned into white stones. 

He knew this was the system's doing since it has absorbed all the element essence through the earthen altar, which was now on the verge of breaking. The volcano's throat was also filled with charred cracks, and he knew it was time to leave this place. 

The heavenly punishment just caused too much commotion, and he knew it won't be long before curious people come searching for answers. 

But before leaving, Ace saw his condition and immediately dived in the 'water pool'. His old skin and all the impurities that came after refinement of his body come off and new pale-white skin surface. 

After clearing up, Ace looked more handsome and elegant than before, with a 1.9-meter height and tone refined body filled with explosive muscles. He gave a mysterious vibe after entering Heavenly Dark Sea realm. 

Ace put black tight robes which vaguely showed his carved packs and his thief trainee's hood on top of it. He put the hundred-face deception mask and changed into Ryan's face. 

"Status." He wanted to check how much EXP he needed to enter the next Heavenly Sea realm because it wasn't like the Qi river realm, and it had different stages, he just doesn't know how many. 

The system only says he would know once he upgrades the system. 

=====

[Status Panel]

[Host: Ace White]

[Race: Human {No Bloodline}]

[Heaven: 1st Mortal Sky Heaven]

[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Dark Sea {Stage-1}]

[EXP: Unknown] {UPGRADE REQUIRED}

[Soul Cultivation: Orange Wind Soul Core]

{SP: 51,030/100,000}

---

[Skills: 7]

Heartless Stealth (Art): 

{Breathless Stealth: Perfection 

Pulseless Stealth: NONE

Heartless Stealth: NONE} 

Misperception Sky Steps (Art): 

[Camouflage Steps: Low

Lightning Steps: Low 

Misperception Steps: Low

Sky Steps: NONE}

Soul Shattering Eyes: {Low}

Soul Piercing Bullets: {Low}

Soul Guardian Barrier (Art): 

{Soul Barrier: Low

Soul Guardian: NONE}

Pick Pocket: {Perfection}

Treasure Opening Hands [Art]: {5th Form}

[Cultivation Technique: 3]

{Heaven Stealer Technique: Volume 1

Dual Shadow Swords: 1st Realm (Sword as Limb)

Heavenly Rune Crafter: 0-Tier}

---

[Thief Point(s): 2,773,400]

---

[Mission(s): 1]

[Opportunity Makes a Thief] 

[Mission: Steal everything from Three Giants' ten main branches in Top Ten Kingdoms of Middle-Level Lands.]

{Progress:0/30}

[Rewards based on Host Performance]

{Three Hidden Rewards}

{Time Left: 9 Years & 3 Months}

{Mission Failure Punishment: System shop closing for 200 Years!}

======

"Unknown?" Ace frowned when he saw the notice beside the EXP column, 'It seemed I needed to upgrade this black-hearted system.' 

He didn't know what would happen after he upgrade the system since it was the first time hearing about the system was upgradeable, but he was looking forward to it since it was only beneficial to him. 

He closed the status panel after glancing at reaming time for the mission. Likewise, he still had nine years and now that he entered an unknown territory of power, he's going to make sure he completes this mission flawlessly and quickly. 

The next moment a two-square-meter thin black slate appeared in Ace's hand, this was the same black slate that appeared after the gray boulder was destroyed, and it even absorbed the remains of soul thunder without any scratch. 

Before he didn't have time to examine it because he was about to breakthrough, but now he can't wait to see what this miraculous treasure was. 

Ace brushed the black slate with his hand, it feels like he was touching smooth silk. He turned it over and was shocked when his eyes landed on the golden-gray wording right at the bottom-center of the slate. 

It flabbergasted him because this writing was in the ancient god language of the system, which naturally came as stupefaction. 

Ace carefully read what was written, it was a word and a number. 

"[PAGE-09]"

"Page nine of what?" Ace read the letters again, and it was indeed 'page number nine', "So, this unbendable and indestructible material was a mere page? Then this also implies it was a seal or trap inside that boulder, but how?" 

This raised many questions in Ace's heart, like which book this page belong to, and where were the rest of the writing? 

Furthermore, this page was made of heaven-defying materials since it can block and absorbed the heavenly thunder. Just that boulder in which this page was sealed was almost indestructible. 

Ace even guess, without heavenly thunder, it might be impossible to break that boulder, and he was right about that, though! 

Ace pupils turned completely white at this moment, he was using the soul-shattering eyes, and this time he doesn't feel any pain or backlash, he was using it to its full potential now. 

However, to his massive disappointment, the black page remained the same without any kind of change. He could guess, either this page was blank to being with or his eye skill was too low to probe its secret, and Ace was surer about the latter. 

"Well, it will be my 'Page Shield' from now on. Since it can block heavenly thunder, it might block normal attacks as well." Ace grinned as he thought of different ways to utilize this black page. 

Ace stored the black page back to his thief space, he still didn't know this page can't be stored inside a normal storage treasure though, which also indicates it was considered as a living being!

He didn't pay any attention to the black page anymore and focused on leaving the volcano. 

Inside, the thief's space everything was quiet, there were pills of different treasures, and in the center of all this was a black cocoon covered in a mysterious red rune. 

A black page suddenly appeared a few meters away from this cocoon. It flickered in a mysterious gray light; it took a little-eye shape for the slightest moment, before returning to its stationary state!