Eternal Thief

King Kale finally understood the reason everyone was going crazy over that thief. This means he has many secrets and just this method of removing Qi marks can cause a war in entire lower lands. 

"Lord Envoy, I'm not good at riddles." King Kale said with a wry smile. 

"He's doing this for fame and name." The envoy said with a cold face. 

King Kale also gets what the envoy means by this and couldn't help but agree with this answer. 

Because every time that thief does thievery, he leaves behind a Fragment Qi Stone with his name and some owl tattoos which were impossible to remove. 

If Ace were here, he would be also shocked seeing this man finding out his reason for doing all this so quickly. 

"But why would he do that? I mean, what could fame bring him?" King Kale couldn't help but ask this question.

"Who knows, maybe he wanted to prove something or show the world that he is invincible. But he's challenging the authorities by robbing Beast Tamers, Alchemist, and Rune Crafter. 

"That's why the Pill Flame Organization send me as their envoy to capture him and make an example out of him, so no one would dare to challenge the authorities again." The envoy's eyes were icy cold as he said with a dignified demeanor. 

King Kale and everyone on the right side gulped. 

Everyone knows just how fearsome these three giants were and if someone dares to question their authority, they will kill them and their entire clan to the last dog. 

"What order do Lord Envoy have for this King? I'll cooperate fully." King Kale said with a grim face.

"Nothing, we'll wait for him to appear and the moment he did it will be the last time anyone would ever hear the name Sky Stealer." The envoy coldly declared.

After this brief conversation, he stood up and leave with that woman towards his staying quarters.

Only the royalties of Regal Palace remained in the room, and everyone had a grave face.

"Royal Father, what do you think, will that thief come just like envoy said?" A young man, seemingly in his late twenties, asked. He resembles King Kale very much because he was the crown prince of the Regal Kingdom and Kale's eldest son, Zavier Regal. 

King Kale's face was very ugly at this moment. "I don't know, but that man had a point and if everything he said is true, then that thief will appear. Don't forget the biggest chance for him to gain even more fame is the upcoming test of Damien Royal Institute!"

"Your Highness, if that thief appeared, then it will be a calamity for our kingdom!" An old man with light white bear spokes gravely.

King Kale smiles bitterly, "What can we do? That man is probably a River Core Cultivator! If he decided to slaughter the entire royal capital to fish that thief out, I'm helpless to stop him!" His face was filled with helplessness.

"We can only pray that he won't appear here again ever." 

--- 

Inside a lavishing building in the Royal Palace.

"Brother, why did you tell them about that thief's ability to open storage ring? What if they disclosed this information to the public?" The beautiful women spoke gravely.

"Everyone in three giants probably knows by now. Do you think it matters anymore?" The man coolly answered. 

"You are right." She wore a wry smile as she speaks, "And what if he didn't appear here again as you said?"

"Than we'll leave after the test." The man impassively said, "But if he did…hehe." 

His sharp laughter was as if some fiendish devil was laughing. 

She felt a chill run down her spine because she knew this brother of hers was the most ruthless man she has ever known!

---

It was a sunny morning when Ace open his closed eyes. 

He changed his robes into a new one and go toward the registration venue. 

Ace found out from the inn's owner that the registration venue was outside the royal district and he headed in that direction, following the map he bought from a nearby bookshop. 

The closer Ace gets to the registration venue, the livelier it becomes. 

Most of the crowd were youngsters and their companions. 

Ace finally spotted a tall building. 

There was a huge wooden sign bore of Damien Royal Institute on it and was packed with youngsters. 

Before Ace thought he was very early, but now he was thinking it was late after seeing the large queue outside the building. 

"Why isn't the line moving?" Ace asked a young man in front of him after standing in the line for fifteen minutes. 

"Those bastards are tending to the nobles first and their companions. It is like this since the first day!" The young man resentfully said while cursing.

Ace smile wryly hearing this, 'It will take forever like this.' 

He left the line and check the situation with heavenly sense. 

Ace saw there were three counters inside the building. Many youngsters in lavishing clothing with arrogant faces registered themselves one by one and no one was paying any attention to this line, where only commoners were. 

'Those idiots had another line on the other side, and it's probably only for the nobles. Sigh…' Ace helplessly sighed before his eyes contracted. 

'This presence!' Ace quickly gets back in the line and acts ignorant like everyone else, as if he sensed nothing.

An average carriage was passing by the venue. 

Inside this carriage was none other than the envoy of Pill Flame Organization!

This man's name was Alvin.

He wasn't an alchemist nor rune crafter; he was a Flame Guard of the pill flame organization. He was a real Qi River Core cultivator with martial sense! 

His mission was very simple, to investigate the thief in the Regal Kingdom, and if he found any trace of him, do anything to capture him ALIVE! 

Alvin was measuring the capital city in a low-key carriage and just happen to be passing by the venue of the registration. He uses his martial sense with a treasure to scan the youngsters' crowd and stop it the next moment because he loses interest after finding nothing special.   

Alvin was a specialist in ascertaining people, and that's why he was sent here. But his careful probing alerted someone he shouldn't have; Ace!

Ace was also using his heavenly sense and the moment he felt a powerful Qi fluctuation, he instantly knew a powerful expert was nearby and hid his presence. 

Ace soul and heavenly sense can detect someone of one larger realm higher than himself and this advantage truly saved him today!

'A Qi river core expert!' Ace grimaced because this was not good news for him. 'What the hell is this kind of expert doing in this Kingdom.'

The moment this thought surfaced, Ace pulls a long face because there is only one reason that someone of this caliber was here and this reason was none other him! 

Now he had to be more careful and refrain from doing any stealing until he was sure that this expert left this city first. 

'My luck is always the worse!' Ace cussed. 

He thinks he could harvest the large amount of TP in this section test. But things have changed. He didn't think those organizations would take him so seriously and so quickly at that. 

Now his only choice was to play by rules for the time being because he knew those organizations only wanted him and they didn't care about collateral damage! 

If a Qi River Core cultivator went on a rampage here, then he might not escape with his life intact. 

Ace was calmly looking at his surrounding to see the expert, but he failed and didn't dare to use his senses to probe because he was afraid of being detected. 

Now Ace was just like other common factions who were waiting for their turn. 

After waiting for two whole hours, the common line finally moves and everyone finally had a massive sigh of relief. 

Now and then a newcomer joins the line and some unruly ones would break the line by taking the spots of weak cultivators since no one was there to stop them. 

But no one troubled Ace since his aura was of the fifth gate cultivator and he moved without caring for what was happening behind him. 

Even if Ace had a problem, he won't interfere since he didn't want any attention to himself at this moment. 

After three more hours of wait, it was finally Ace's turn. 

An average woman was sitting behind a counter in the institute outfit. With a haughty expression, she looked at Ryan and said, "Put your hand on this stone." 

Ace curiously looked at the black stone of human head size. He was observing for some time now and know every time someone put one hand on it, this lady would record something.

He put his hand and the stone blink for a moment before returning to normal. 

"Participant Number 31,333. Go to next counter." The lady coldly said to Ryan.