Eternal Thief

Chapter 685 My Stepping Stone!

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The Sun and Moon Sword Union was like an empire that was divided into five large regions of the one colossal golden mountain. The five cloud rings marked these five areas and also separated them from each other. 

The common union grounds were in the outer sun domain and also the first area which was at the foot of the golden mountain. 

This place was the starting point for all the union students who were not from Union Elder Lineage. However, there are no cities in this place, but lands were divided into three sectors, the Living sector, Cultivation Sector, and the Union Enforcer Sector.

Although this sounds small, each sector contained at least over 300 miles of land rich with Qi. 

Ace wasn't too optimistic after learning all this since he now had a sword hanging over his head by a hair, and the name of this sword of Damocles was the Heaven's Stealer Mission. 

He was now even regretting stepping into this place, but he knew sooner or later he had to go through this since it was a matter of his life and death. At that time, he might not even know about what Heaven's Secret was or that it was important for his survival. He was led here by the fate map, which means it was important to him.

Whatever he had to survive against, but the system was serious this time. If he didn't activate this mission, he might not even know why he died unjustly. At least now, he knew there was some kind of danger that would take his life. He needs to get this Heaven's Secret to prevail over it.

Ace even remembered how Moira had warned him about some impending calamity when he met Livia. But he still didn't know if this calamity was what the system was indicating or something else. 

At least he knew when Livia's fate point turned glittering golden again. It meant he was going to need her. But right now, she was still in his thief's space, serving Eva, and Cyrus like a good maid, so he had no way of knowing if her fate point had changed color again without taking her out. 

But he didn't dare to take her out even if he had the chance because he was in the union, and this place was still dyed black. He could be under constant surveillance for all he knows after his entry. 

So, he won't take such risks. At least not until he was absolutely sure of not being watched or if he would trigger something if some unregistered person appeared in this place. 

"Look, newbie, since you weren't taken by the Elders, then this means you have no Elder Lineage backing you in the inner sun domain. Furthermore, you are from the Human race, and your kind could be considered a second-rate power in the outer sun domain.

"So, I would suggest trying joining a Union Company of Big Threes, which are Devil, Demon, and Hunter Races. We called them the big three here. However, joining a company of the big three is not easy. You have to be at least ranked 10,000,000 in the cultivation tower ranking. 

"Only then do those companies of the big three show some interest in you." The demon who was leading Ace toward the living sector advised after he explained about the partitions of the sun domain, which was also in the map Ace was given upon passing the entrance, to begin with. 

He was just doing his duty as a guide to a new student, which was actually a low-ranking mission that appeared out of nowhere a few moments ago, and he quickly accepted it since it was like gaining free Union Merits. 

But Ace had already annexed all the demon's memories since he was only a peak Qi river realm cultivator. So, he knew what Companies were and about the big three as much as this demon. 

The company was like a hunting team that was formed by the outer sun dominion members to complete missions and collect various resources or even control a rich area in the cultivation sector. 

This place wasn't peaceful at all because fierce fights were fought over resources available in the cultivation sector, and large groups of individuals controlled those resources. 

Most of these companies were controlled by Union Scholars or those Union Instructors who failed to pass the entrance test to enter the inner sun domain. 

Some of the Union Instructors deliberately stay in the outer domain and hoard numerous cultivation resources for themselves and take full advantage of their superior power. Because they knew the inner domain power level was too high for them, and they won't be able to compete with those Union Elder Lineages or Union High Elder Lineages at all. 

They were too used to living like Mountain Kings, so they won't leave the outer domain indefinitely and gain more power and subordinates so they could hoard more resources and control more areas in the cultivation sectors. 

The big three shine here as well, especially devils, because, for some reason, the devils have full access to their blood heritage, unlike in the mortal domain, where they didn't even know about the true power of their bloodline. 

With all this information, Ace ignored the demon, which made the other guy even happier since his lack of questions meant he just needed to send him to the living sector and didn't have to waste his time by answering his random questions since it was also part of his mission. 

If he knew Ace even knew about where he had hidden his treasures which he was sneakily stealing from his mid-size company, he wouldn't be celebrating at all. 

Nevertheless, those treasures were simply trash for Ace now. 

While in truth, Ace was contacting someone who could be useful in his current predicament while walking heading toward the living sector. 

Ace's voice rang in a particular space of his thief's house at this moment, "Freya, are you free for a chat?" 

At this moment, Freya was surrounded by a strange, ominous aura while she was sitting in a lotus position; she was the embodiment of an Evil Witch. 

Furthermore, in front of her were hovering two books, one had dark gray pages with black symbols, and it was giving off an extremely sinister aura, while the other book was pitch black and filled with mysterious crimson runes. 

These two books were connected by a black translucent Qi thread in the center, and the other sides of the two books have two more Qi threads which were directly connected to a black spot shining over Freya's glabella. Creating a triangle. 

Furthermore, the runes on the dark gray pages were vanishing along with the fragments of that dark gray page, and thereby, new mysterious crimson runes appeared on the black page. 

However, the process stopped when Freya opened her eyes, and a black current passed through them, and that pair of bewitching eyes appeared extremely evil.

Her alluring lips curled up in a charming smile as she spoke, "How may I help you, Leader? I thought you forgot about me." 

After she got her confidence crushed by Ace's heaven-defying cultivation method, it was the first time they talked again. 

"Can I look in your cultivation space?" Ace's voice rang again. 

He didn't like to sneak around in the private space of his thief's house members, especially since they were all women. He didn't want to appear as a creep as Winter made him be. 

He was now even more careful because Eva was awake and would soon enter the thief's house. 

Freya's smile widened, "Aren't you a gentleman? You can look any time you want. You have my permission." She said in a lubricious tone.

Ace then finally looked into her private space when he saw Freya. She seemed quite different from her usual self. As for how he didn't know, he could sense she was no longer arrogant like before, and she seemed more like a humble person. 

If not for that strange, ominous aura emitting from her and her enthralling beauty, she would appear like a fairy. 

Ace also noticed the two books hovering in front of her and also noticed the half-vanished page from the dark gray book and the half-filled page of the black book. 

p?nd?---no??1,?o? "Can Dark Grimoire really absorb your Ancestral Grimoire? And are you ok with it?" Ace asked in surprise. 

He knew those books quite well, especially the dark gray one because it was the same Ancestral Grimoire of Witch Race he stole from the life demon auction, and after studying it for a while, he gave it back to Freya since it was useless to him. 

Freya answered without having any intention of hiding it from Ace, "The Dark Grimoire is one of its kind, and it has the ability to devour the other grimoires and all the spells in that grimoire, turning them into its own spells, not to mention more powerful than the original."

Her lips curled into a cold smile at this moment, "Besides, the Dark Grimoire can only be used by me, and it's now like my heart. The stronger it is, the stronger my magic is. Most importantly, my cultivation seemed to be rising as well with the absorption of the Ancestral Grimoire. 

"So, yeah, I'm ok with turning this grimoire into my stepping stone!"