Eternal Thief

“If you thought I want your face to use a disguise, then you’re right. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to target someone from a Grand Demon Duke’s direct bloodline.” Ace told meaningfully.

Archie’s eyes went bloodshot with anger and trepidation. He knew even if Ace spared his life after using his appearance; he had to suffer the backlash of whatever Ace had done with his face afterward.

‘If I had just listened to the Old Man…’

Regret shone in his eyes as the caring faces of his parents appeared in his mind, who he always took for granted. He always sneered or scoffed whenever his father or mother scolded him.

But now that he knew his fate was sealed, he understands they always wanted what was best for him.

Ace could feel Archie’s emotions. He knew everything was set. Archie’s mind was now a complete mess, and there won’t be any resistance. He knew he had only one shot at this. If he failed, then this job mission was as good as gone.

Ace coldly said, “As for my other reason, it was to find someone who could enter the Royal Demon Institute!

“According to my understanding, only someone with a pure Seventh Grade Demonic Bloodline was eligible to enter that place. Furthermore, this was just the minimum condition.

“The Royal Demon Institute is the sacred ground for geniuses of the Demon Race. They only recruit elites, and despite having the lowest number of students among the three institutes, they are the strongest because of their unmatched legacy.

“Just to take their test, one needs to be below 100 Years and has to be at least a Diamond River Core Cultivator. But that’s none of my concern.” Ace said with a chuckled, “You see, I could’ve easily stolen a genuine student face without going through any cumbersome tests or finding someone like you and taking enormous risks.”

Ace sighed sadly, “But this won’t do because I know almost everything about the Royal Demon Institute because of Paul. Since he’s a member or was, I don’t know if he was expelled after what I did.

“Anyhow, this put me in a peculiar situation where simple information no longer makes the cut. So, there was only one kind of information left which was really useful for me.”

A flash of dark lightning flashed past Ace’s cold eyes, “Do you have the qualification to enter the Royal Demon Institute?”

Archie didn’t know what Ace meant by those subtle words, but he does understand why Ace was targeting him.

Although he can’t speak, after listening to Ace, he couldn’t help but think about the Royal Demon Institute because he was supposed to go there for the entrance test after breaking through the Diamond Soul River Core Realm.

But he was delaying his breakthrough for this exact reason. He didn’t want to go there; he considered that place a cage for his freedom. He was planning to delay until he turned over 100 years in five years, and then he won’t be eligible for their entry test.

Although he couldn’t escape the fate of going to the other three Demon Institutes. Because it was compulsory for any and every demon in the Royal Demon Nation to go to the three institutes after reaching the 100-year age.

But the other three demon institutes were much laxer with their students than the Royal Demon Institute.

Archie didn’t like to be bound by anything, nor he was ambitious, so he didn’t want to go to the Royal Demon Institute.

He could’ve also just failed the entrance test, but he thought it was a drag and wanted to enjoy himself as much as he could before going to one of the three demon institutes.

His parents also didn’t pursue him since the Royal Demon Institute wasn’t like the other three, and with no grit, Archie would be expelled, which would be a huge disgrace for the Soul Life Demon Clan.

It would also spell Archie’s exile!

But who would’ve thought his decision would become the exact reason for his downfall instead of free, luxurious life?

Like Ace said, annexing Paul’s memories has become his biggest impediment in completing his Job Mission.

At that time, he thought little about it since he wasn’t ready to complete the Job Mission.

But after he did, he found out that annexing Paul’s memories wasn’t a good move because he was required to steal a memory that was useful to him.

Finding these kinds of memories could be an enormous problem when you almost know everything about things that were useful to you.

Not only did Ace know about the Royal Demon Institute layout and library location because Paul was a senior student there, but he also knew about many secrets and famous treasures of the Royal Demon Nation.

It means, besides the location of an elemental orb except for the Lightning Orb, or some truly alluring treasure to Ace, or the location of a Grand Demon Duke Clan’s treasury, or something related to his mission, nothing else could help Ace complete this job mission!

After mulling over it for a long time, he concluded that this type of memory would be useful for him and easiest to acquire. Because any aforementioned memories have to be in someone with a status like Paul’s hand.

If he decided to go after them, it might be difficult to find one because these kinds of demons were in the Royal Demon Institute or were very powerful for Ace to handle.

Paul was the special case. That guy was unprepared and caught off guard by Ace, or using soul probing on him won’t be that easy without injuring him.

Lastly, Ace didn’t have time to look for such a target!

That’s why he bet everyone on this memory and was going to find a demon like Archie since this memory would only exist in someone like him.

panda (nov)el​ These demons were easy targets, and Ace could easily ambush them, making quick work without arousing any suspicion.

If Archie turned out to be a dead end, it was still a win situation for Ace because with Archie’s face he can infiltrate the dominant clan of Life Demon Tribe, where he could easily find someone with more precious memories.

That was why Ace talked first, to make sure Archie would think about the same thing.

The moment Ace posed the question, ‘Soul Probe!’

This time, an extremely thin orange thread shot from Ace’s glabella like a gust of wind and entered Archie’s glabella. But unlike a normal instant soul probe, it didn’t shatter.

But the orange soul thread suddenly trembled before it pulled back from Archie’s glabella, but there was a white wisp on the tip of this orange soul thread!

The moment this white wisp entered Ace’s glabella,

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[Host has stolen a memory permanently.]

[Analyzing the memory fragment…]

======

Ace was extremely thrilled when he saw this notification.

After he analyzed the Psyche Invasion and comprehended the [Psyche] law, a new door of possibilities was opened when it comes to Psyche and the Knowledge Sea.

Although he didn’t have a complete understanding of the Knowledge Sea, after studying the Psyche Invasion, he had enough understanding of how memories were stored in the Knowledge Sea and the kinds of memories.

He completely got the true purpose of that hint he got from the system years ago. ‘Memories are like fish in this Knowledge Sea, and if one wanted to fish, they need a Fishing Rod!’

It greatly helped him develop this unique soul line, which works like a fishing line that can pull out memories from the knowledge sea!

However, this ability wasn’t fully developed since he was required to make others think about the memory he wanted to steal and they must think clearly, or this won’t work.

He mused that as long as he could grasp a deeper understanding of [Psyche] law, he could search deep within the knowledge and steal Permanent Memories like a Name!

Right at this moment, the system’s voice sounded again.

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[Analyzing complete!]

-Result: 

-Requirement (1): Learn a way to steal an essential memory with an instant soul probe! (Complete)

-Requirement (2): The host cannot use the soul probe continuously to search for an important memory or to steal a memory. (Complete)

-Requirement (3): Target has to be stronger than the Host. (Complete)

-Requirement (4): The host can only try three instant soul probes on one target before the system will deem that target unqualified for the Job Mission. (Complete)

-Requirement (5): The Target must completely forget about the memory the host stole. (Complete)

-Requirement (6): The stolen memory had to be something important to the host, or the stolen memory will not count! (Complete)

–

-Final Assessment: Satisfactory!

—

[Job Mission has been completed!]

[Continue/Later]

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Ace could also see the memory. It was Archie’s memory when he was told about the qualification of entering the Royal Demon Institute, and he was eligible.

Ace was ecstatic when he saw the notification. The impossible job mission was finally over. Then his eyes turned cold as he looked at listless Archie, who lost his will after accepting his impending fate.

He coldly uttered, “I’m grateful for your help. Goodbye!”