Eternal Thief

The next morning,

Archie left the mansion and headed toward the Assassin House Royal Tower, which was quite close to the special district.

Each territory of the Royal Demon Institute was like a vast city, but unlike a normal city, it was empty and peaceful. The Qi density was also many times higher than the outside because of special Qi-gathering arrays were all over the place.

The Royal Tower wasn’t guarded by another, as there wasn’t any need to. There was a powerful formation barrier surrounding the massive structure, and only those with permits in their badges could cross this barrier.

Furthermore, if anyone tried to sneak in, they would suffer terrible consequences!

Since a special grade instructor invited Archie, he was naturally eligible to enter without spending his free training hours.

When Ace reached the place, he looked at the massive gray tower, which was triangular and looked like a plain pillar. No one could tell if there were floors in this structure or even doors.

From Paul’s memories, he had seen this place from inside as well, but seeing the real thing could not be compared with a memory.

Holding his student badge, he crossed the gray translucent barrier, and the next moment, his badge lit up.

Thereupon, an outline started to emerge in the structure before it turned into massive gates, which made Ace’s eyes narrow in astonishment.

‘This entire tower could’ve been powered on a Grade-6 formation. I wonder what that treasury and library will have in their security. Probably a grade-7 formation!’ Ace grimaced just thinking about it.

When he reached the gates, a static voice rang, “Special Grade Student Archie Soul Life, you were given a permit to enter the 99th floor. Please place your student badge on the formation scanner and you’ll be given the passage to the 99th floor!”

Thereafter, a small white platform started to rise from the ground with a smooth, runic surface.

Ace was calmed as he placed his badge on the platform, and a gray light enveloped it for a few moments.

At this moment, the gates finally started to open, and the platform also seemed to be done with the badge as the barrier vanished, Ace picked it up, and the platform slid back into the ground.

The voice rang again. “Enter!”

Ace glanced at the door for a moment with an ambiguous look in his eyes, but he still took a step forward and entered the tower.

What greeted Ace was a luxurious and spacious lobby, and there was a fiery demon standing in front. Right behind him was a white triangle platform.

There was also a counter with no one to tend to and a corridor that led toward the inner tower.

“Archie Soul Life?” The fiery demon didn’t give Ace the chance to look at the building carefully when he called him impassively. He was clearly here for Archie.

“Yes, I am,” Archie replied politely.

“Let’s go, we shouldn’t tarry. There’s nothing to see here. Everyone is cultivating in their private cultivation rooms.” He impassively said before he stepped onto the triangle platform while beckoning Archie with his eyes to follow suit.

Ace knew what that platform was and how it worked, but he was still looking forward to using this novel thing.

When Archie stood beside him, the fiery demon warned, “Since it’s your first time using the lifting platform, try not to fall or hurled.”

Archie merely nodded without saying anything.

The next moment, a transparent barrier of light descended from above before the triangle platform suddenly lifted from the ground, and the ceiling also opened into a triangle shape space just like the platform.

The platform then suddenly shoots upward like an arrow.

Although this much speed wasn’t enough to affect a cultivator of the river core realm, many felt scared when they experienced the feeling of soaring upward.

However, Ace was completely fine. Only curiosity shone in his eyes as he was looking at the rising platform, which was taking them to higher floors. It was naturally a function of the royal tower, and there weren’t any stairs to go upward or come down.

‘If I hadn’t seen the memories of Paul about it and now experiencing it, I wouldn’t believe a formation could be used like this. The outer provinces are really countryside compared to the royal zone.’ He thought as he felt even more urgency to increase his power before he walked into some trap here.

Although he hatched a plan to avoid this exact situation from happening, it’s still better to be careful than sorry.

“Senior, can you tell me who invites me?” Ace inquired.

Although he knew he wasn’t in danger, he still wanted to know what instructor had taken a liking to Archie, despite knowing he might probably leave the institute in a month’s time.

He didn’t believe for a second that a special grade instructor wouldn’t have any knowledge about the gathering selection.

The fiery demon was somewhat astonished when he saw Archie didn’t react to the lifting platform at all, as if he had been on it before and now even talking.

Nevertheless, he still replied while maintaining his outer appearance, “I’m merely a deacon who is in charge of this lifting platform, so I know nothing about who invites you.”

After he thought for a moment, he spoke again, “All I can say is the 99th floor is occupied by five personal students of the Housemaster, and three of them are special grade instructors. I don’t know anything more.”

Ace already knew about what a 99th floor represented, but he wanted to know who had taken an interest in him from that place.

Paul was a member of Soul Combatant House, so he knew little about the Soul Assassin House.

And after Archie drew the attention of an imperial family member, he was on guard against others.

“Who lives in Special Instructor Quarters No.03?” Ace decided to disclose the information he received from the notice.

The fiery demon’s expression suddenly changed when he heard this and looked at Archie deeply, “Are you sure it’s the Special Instructor Quarters No.03?”

Archie nodded seriously.

Ace instantly noticed the change in expressions and felt something was amiss.

The fiery demon’s expression returned to normal as he merely said, “You’ll know soon. We’re already here.”

The platform suddenly stopped at this moment, and Ace saw they were in a spacious hall, and there were ten corridors leading in separate directions.

The fiery demon pointed toward a corridor. “That is Special Instructor Quarters No.03.”

Ace looked at the corridor and saw there were a nameplate ‘Special Instructor Quarters No.03’ there, and there were other nameplates on four other corridors while the other five were empty.

“Since you have the invitation, you just need to hold your badge and entered the corridor, and someone will receive you afterward. I’ll be waiting here.” The fiery demon impassively stated.

Ace nodded before he moved toward the corridor with his student badge in his hand. The moment he stepped into the corridor, he felt like he had been stepped into quicksand as a ghastly pressure descend all of a sudden.

The next moment, a powerful soul pressure also started to attack his mind.

Before Ace could comprehend what had happened, an icy voice rang. “If you find your way toward me from this Piercing Maze, I’ll meet you.

“But if you didn’t, then you have no qualification to meet me and receive my guidance. You have three days and can use any means.”

Ace was flabbergasted by this voice and thought in indignation, ‘What the fuck? Aren’t you the one who invites me here in the first place?!’

pAn,da nv,e1 Still, he didn’t say it out loud, as he could feel the physical and soul suppression was getting weaker because of his special traits. Although this grade-6 formation really has some effect on him, it wasn’t much.

Ace sneered inwardly as he saw the passage in front of him had turned into a maze. It was clearly an illusion formation, and all Ace needed was to activate the fate map, and the actual path will emerge. No illusion can affect the fate map!

Although he won’t be able to see the traps, it was more than enough to see the way.

Nevertheless, Ace would not do it, or it would be too shocking, so he would pretend to lose and struggle and take his time to cross this maze.

The other party didn’t have any malicious intent, or he could feel this much pressure was only enough for an intermediate soul realm cultivator, while a grade-6 formation could even make a manifestation realm feel despair.

It was simply a test of Archie’s level, nothing else.

—

On the 100th floor of Soul Assassin Royal Tower,

Bodach has a large projection of Archie standing with a pale expression inside the corridor, and he couldn’t help but smile, “If he managed to cross this piercing maze within three days, then his potential is even stronger than that brat Daniel.”

His ghostly smile widened, “Don’t disappoint us, little fellow!”