Eternal Thief

Chapter 1615: Hunt for Treasures! (10)

Ace was thrilled when the Universal Key was finally triggered, but his eyes narrowed when he saw the true details of the Master Lock, and vague but accurate details of the ’Central Repository’.

’So, this Quasi-Transcendent treasure is called a Half-Independent World Realm. Furthermore, the system has also hinted at the dangers of completely resetting this master lock, which, as Pixy has told me, should be governed by independent rules in this world.

’Moreover, even if I removed the master lock’s influence on this terminal, it would probably cause the independent rules to take action. So, in this situation, the choice is obvious!’

It would only take Ace a second to calculate the risks attached to those choices, and his final decision became obvious, and by the time he commanded the system, the ’Lock Terminal No.23’ had already started to collapse.

Although he didn’t know if the Universal Key would work once the Lock Terminal fully collapsed, and the system hadn’t revealed anything about it, he didn’t want to take the risk, as Dargoth’s merit points were no longer sufficient for another exchange.

The moment Ace paid the cost, the interface instantly changed...

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[Universal Key has been used on Quasi-Transcendent Grade Master Lock (Lock Terminal NO.23)!]

[You have gained Temporary Access to the Quasi-Transcendent Grade Master Lock’s Terminal NO.23 for ten minutes!]

-Temporary Time Remains: 09M:59S

[NOTE (1): The Temporary Access for is only valid for the Master Lock’s Terminal No.23!]

[NOTE (2): Host’s Primordial Spirit Qi is the ’Temporary Key’ to enter the Temporarily Opened Lock Terminal No.23!]

[Warning: The Temporary Key can only give Host access to the Lock Terminal No.23, and once outside the Terminal No.23, the access will be invalid!]

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[Thief Point(s): 16,884,578,600]

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As the Thief Points were deducted without hesitation, a vast amount of invisible energy seemed to have appeared and vanished from within his existence.

At the same instant, something responded as an unseen pressure shot forward from Ace, directly toward the collapsing spatial passage of Lock Terminal No.23.

The next moment, the passage, which had already begun to shrink and fade like before, suddenly froze completely.

The swirling edges of distorted space halted mid-collapse, as if time itself had been forcibly stopped at that exact moment. Even the surrounding runic fluctuations stilled, and for a brief second, everything fell into absolute silence.

But it didn’t last long for the next instant, a change began as the frozen passage trembled faintly before its structure started to shift. The chaotic, spiraling vortex that had previously served as a simple delivery channel began to reorganize itself.

The unstable currents of space flattened and then condensed, and what had once been a narrow, one-way extraction path expanded outward, its edges stabilizing into something far more structured.

Layer by layer, the passage unfolded and no longer resembled a temporary gateway. Instead, it transformed into a fully formed spatial corridor, like a tunnel.

Its interior was no longer chaotic but eerily smooth, lined with faint ripples of translucent Qi that pulsed like a controlled current. The distorted space within it stretched far into the unknown, its end completely invisible.

Before Ace, the fully opened Lock Terminal passage had become stable and accessible, and now stood silently, making his eyes gleam sharply.

Ace no longer hesitated, for he didn’t know how long this temporary access would truly hold. Ten minutes sounded like a long time, but inside an unknown spatial passage like this, even a single second of delay could prove fatal.

Taking a slow breath, he moved immediately, and at that moment, the cold Corpse Qi surrounding Dargoth’s massive body suddenly shifted.

A faint, almost imperceptible pitch-black Qi began to emerge as Ace’s Primordial Spirit Qi surged outward, wrapping around the Abyssal Thunder Demon corpse vessel. After all, the Ace’s Primordial Spirit was the ’key’.

However, the moment the Primordial Qi fully enveloped the body, something went wrong as Ace’s expression changed instantly, and a sharp, corrosive sensation spread through the corpse vessel.

The once stable and powerful Abyssal Lord’s body suddenly began to deteriorate as the flesh blackened, and the corpse-veins twisted violently. But it wasn’t stopped there, as faint cracks spread across the surface, as if something were eating away at it from within.

It was far too fast because even for a peak Abyssal Lord corpse vessel, the reaction was immediate and violent.

Ace was stunned as he could clearly feel what had just happened. It turned out his Primordial Spirit Qi wasn’t just incompatible with the corpse vessel; it seemed corrosive to it, like acid poured onto rotting flesh, or poison meeting something already dead and forcing it into deeper decay.

The suppression his Darkness Force had over Undead Souls was one thing, but this was something far more extreme, as his Primordial Spirit Qi just didn’t seem to suppress; it eroded and devoured as if it rejected or abhorred the very existence of the corpse vessel.

Ace’s mind flickered with realization, ’So that’s how it is. How unexpected!’

A faint, dangerous understanding surfaced as he felt his entire existence was a natural bane to the Undead Race.

But there was no time to explore it further because the corrosion was accelerating. If he delayed even slightly longer, the corpse vessel might truly collapse.

Without hesitation, Ace made a decisive move, and in that moment, the massive Abyssal Thunder Demon corpse vanished instantly, stored back into his Thief’s Space.

What remained was Dargoth Veyr’s Undead Soul as a gray-black silhouette hovered silently in the air, now wrapped in faint strands of Primordial Spirit Qi.

Interestingly, nothing happened; no corrosion or instability as the Undead Soul remained intact, and Ace noticed it immediately.

A thought flickered through his mind, ’So it affects the vessel... but not necessarily the soul... or maybe this Undead Soul is still ’myself’ under a disguise so my Qi didn’t affect me. I should probably check this on a real Undead Soul if I had the chance!’

But Ace didn’t dwell on it, as there would be time to test that later; for right now, he had a far more dangerous path ahead.

Without hesitation, Ace moved as his ’Undead Soul’ form drifted forward and stepped directly into the stabilized passage.

The moment he crossed the threshold, the world changed!