Eternal Thief

The next morning,

Ronan, with Black Demon, left the demonic seal castle in a carriage.

Their destination was the Emperor Palace Throne Hall, where the Demon Emperor summoned Ronan for an audience.

It was what was written in the Golden Scroll he received from Puppet Servant NO.8,430.

NO.8,430 looked at the departing carriage with a peculiar glint in his eyes. He didn’t return inside the Demonic Seal Castle but headed to the herb garden at the west.

Some numberless puppet servant saw NO.8,430 doing something out of his routine and found it strange because as long as they could remember, NO.8,430 never broke his regular pattern.

However, they didn’t think much about it since it might be Ronan’s orders, so they minded their own business.

Yet, the truth was this NO.8,430 wasn’t the real NO.8,430 but Ace impersonating NO.8,430!

Ace had already decided to switch his identity again when he saw the imperial decree to Ronan. The most suitable target was NO.8,430, to whom no one paid attention except these numberless puppet servants.

Furthermore, NO.8,430 was perfect for Ace’s needs since he could move between places of Imperial Domain in the sham of Ronan’s order.

So, he released the real Ronan after he captured NO.8,430, and now Ronan was following Freya’s orders to act naturally and pretend as if nothing happened.

If the Demon Emperor asked the reason for his return, he could simply make any excuses, and no one would even suspect anything.

Ace had NO.8,430 complete memories, which were quite plain and repeated.

This guy was really like a puppet and did what he was supposed to every day without missing a single one, and he didn’t have any desires except for his ridiculous loyalty toward the crown.

The slave mask on NO.8,430 face was vicious because the moment he found himself captured, he instantly tried to commit suicide, but Ace was ready since Ronan had already warned them about the nature of Puppet Servants and had Cyrus restrained him.

Because even these Puppet Servants had Qi Mark Disks, and in case of their uncanny death, the entire Emperor Place will be locked down until the reason for their death becomes apparent.

These Mark Disks were giving Ace a massive headache lately, and he didn’t dare to go for the kill anymore unless he was absolutely sure it was safe.

Anyhow, since Ronan’s problem was solved, he was going to start with his search for the Lightning Orb and wanted to find it as soon as possible so he could leave with Ronan in three months.

As for his job mission, he didn’t dare to even think about it because he knew the moment demons discovered him, it would be impossible to escape the imperial domain, especially with grade-7 formations guarding the entire place.

Lastly, it wasn’t simple to learn how he could acquire that lightning orb since it could be in anyone’s hand and any in the imperial domain. But he had a daring plan as long as someone in person carried it.

After Ace saw no one around the herb garden, his expression turned serious, “System revealed the lightning orb’s position again!”

======

[1 Million Thief Points have been deducted!]

[Host only has ten seconds before the Host is required to pay 1 million thief points again for another ten seconds!]

—

[Thief Point(s): 115,970,100]

======

The fate map activated on its own, and Ace gawked at it without blinking. He couldn’t just keep wasting one million thief points all the time, so he was determined to mark its location this time.

As the map started to zoom out, the area around the demonic seal castle became smaller and smaller, and the Emperor Palace’s area started to enter.

However, Ace’s expression started to change when the zooming out started to slow down as a peculiar area started to appear. It was the center of the Imperial Domain, the Emperor Palace!

His expression became ashen when he saw the map finally stop, and an indicator appeared on a peculiar structure.

The moment that indicator stopped, Ace knew he was screwed!

Ace looked into the central area with an appalled expression as his eyes locked on the large pillar on the horizon!

‘The lightning orb is in the demon temple!’ He just couldn’t believe that of all the places. It was in the most secure building of the entire demon continent!

Even if it was in the Emperor’s Palace, he still would accept it and might have a chance to search for it, but its location was static which meant it was always there!

That building was forbidden for anyone except the demon emperor, and unless he could impersonate Demon Emperor, he could forget about approaching that area.

=====

[Did the Host want to activate the location again?]

=====

The fate map returned to its previous state with this notification.

“Are you sure it’s in that building?” Ace questioned sternly as he looked at the demon temple with a gloomy look.

“[Yes, the Lightning Orb hadn’t move from this location!]”

‘Shit!’ Ace cursed in indignation, ‘I prefer facing an orb guarding more now!’

‘What if I try to fly there? No, unless my stealth could fool the senses of Law-Awareness Realm and grade-7 formations, I would be discovered!’ Ace thought gravely.

‘But what if someone took that lightning orb out of the demon temple?’ Ace’s mind raced as he thought about every possibility.

However, all those possibilities were hazardous.

Ace’s eyes suddenly brightened when he thought of something and quickly confronted that System about it, “System, will the Random Pick Pocket Talisman work on a building?”

This was Ace’s trump card to steal the lightning orb if someone carried it in person!

This heavenly talisman can pick pocket any random treasure of grade-8, but if the target didn’t have a grade-8 treasure, it would go for the second best.

Ace from the System found that the elemental orb minimum grade was grade-6, which goes as high as grade-9!

So, when he asked about the lightning orb’s grade, he knew that it should be around grade-7 or even grade-8 because the lighting element was quite rare.

That was why he was confident in acquiring the orb even from the demon palace, but it wasn’t in the place at all, and instead, it was in the freaking Demon Temple!

However, now that he thinks about it more carefully, the Random Pick Pocket Heavenly Talisman would work on any target, not just space rings, as long as the target was within its limitation.

So, if the demon temple could be considered a target, Ace won’t even need to take such a risk to enter the temple, and he could directly use the heavenly talisman, which was a grade-8 heavenly talisman!

But he still didn’t know if this thinking was correct, so he needed the System’s confirmation.

“[The Random Pick Pocket Heavenly Talisman can be used on a single target, or it can pick pocket any random treasure of Grade-8 within 10 Mile Radius Target Area once used. But if there are no grade-8 treasures available in a 10-mile radius area, then it would go for the second-best treasure.]”

Ace nearly jumped with joy when he heard this, and all the gloom in his heart vanished as he looked at the Demon Temple with thievish eyes.

‘So, all I need to do is to be in a ten-mile radius area of the demon temple now. This means I just have to be in the Demon Palace and get as close as possible to the demon temple.’

But a frown appeared on his face, ‘But what if the talisman didn’t pick pocket the orb but some other treasure? The demon temple might have a grade-8 treasure. The orb wasn’t on the same rank.

‘Furthermore, the moment I stole a grade-8 treasure, the thief symbol was bound to appear, which would instantly trigger the job mission in succession, and it won’t be late before they noticed the thief symbol of that enormous building.

‘In both cases, I need to make an escape, but if I don’t get the elemental orb, then it would be even more impossible to acquire it in the future since they would move it from the building.’

Ace was in a huge dilemma even after he had a slight chance of acquiring the elemental orb from the demon temple. However, it was a huge risk that would divulged his whereabouts, and escaping would be impossible.

Many high-ranking demons resided in this place, and then there was the Demon Temple, the most mysterious place of all the imperial domain.

There might be a terrifying existence residing inside, and the moment Ace theft, there is a high chance that he will be found.

‘Did I have to use Instant Flash Heavenly Talisman as well?’ Ace frowned since he only had three heavenly talismans.

The most precious of the three was also the Instant Flash which could let him teleport within 10,000 miles randomly.

Ace suddenly remembered something as his eyes glowed in hope, ‘Why don’t I craft that heavenly talisman? It should work!’