It had been one month since the incident of the Black Ghost Thief.
Billy couldn't find the despicable thief and, in the end, lost his mind. He killed almost a hundred innocent people.
Ultimately, citizens couldn't take it anymore and gathered outside the outer city guard post to protest against Billy.
The city's guard post maintained law and order throughout the outer region, so they had no choice but to act; they couldn't ignore such behavior. If Billy had killed in secret, there would have been no problem, but he was killing people in broad daylight!
The victims' families were infuriated, their eyes bloodshot as they protested outside the city guard post. At last, the commander of the guard post gave in and arrested Billy.
This is how one of the wealthiest people in the outer region, Billy Bill, met his doom. He was once known as an astute businessman, but even he lost his mind and became a madman after losing his wealth. Such a tragedy!
---
Slum area of River-Flower City,
Ace had changed a lot in a single month. He'd grown taller, and his skinny figure was somewhat gone, replaced by a little muscle. He looked even more handsome, and a little more mature.
Over the month, Ace practiced his Heaven Stealer Technique in the morning and practiced his other skills and the Dual Shadow Swords Technique at night in the rundown park.
Ace still couldn't master the first realm of the Dual Shadow Swords Technique because he didn't understand what was meant by 'Sword as Limb' and had gained only a little mastery over it. Now he finally understood just how complex this technique was. But he didn't get disheartened and continued to practice.
On the other hand, his five basic skills had improved significantly.
Today was just like any other day. Ace closed his eyes and recited the Heaven Stealer Technique's 'Black Wind Soul Scripture.'
'Soul is the core of every being. It contains their consciousness and everlasting will. Heaven makes the soul the weakest part of every being, because the soul is the key to reaching Heaven's secrets! It didn't want anyone to glimpse into its secrets. Nonetheless, I shall make my soul like the wind of emptiness and drift for eternity, until I uncover Heaven's secrets...'
In one month, Ace hadn't managed to form the Formless Soul Core of the 'Heavenly Black Wind Soul Technique,' as he had instantly with the 'Heavenly Crystal Body Technique' on his first try.
One could imagine how hard it was to cultivate the soul, from just that.
But today, Ace felt different; he was in a deep meditative state when he grasped something, and suddenly, a tremor ran through his mind. First, he felt the space between his eyebrows trembling and growing hot. The very next moment, he felt something forming out of nowhere between his eyebrows.
Ace felt a sharp pain, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. Inside his head, a space was forming between his eyebrows, filled with dark, formless mist.
This was the Heavenly Soul Qi!
The forming took only a minute, and once complete, it was ten cubic meters large and completely black.
After the space stabilized, something even more fascinating happened. Inside the empty dark space, at its center, a little globe of white, transparent mist began to form. The globe of mist was colorless and only the size of a fist.
Once that globe of mist stabilized, it began to rotate clockwise at the center of his newly formed black space. It was like a peaceful moon in a dark sky.
The moment the globe started to rotate, Ace's whole body jolted, and despite his eyes being closed, he could 'see' and feel everything within ten meters of him clearly, because he had finally formed the Formless Soul Core, or 'Soul Core.'
The Formless Soul Core had granted him two abilities: 'Heavenly Sense' and 'Soul Sense.'
With Heavenly Sense, Ace could even see through walls and detect any hidden enemy within a range of ten meters. Nothing could hide inside the field of his Heavenly Sense. The more powerful his soul cultivation became, the more his 'Heavenly Sense' would grow.
That's why practitioners chose to cultivate the soul — it could grant far more supernatural ability than martial cultivation. However, one couldn't cultivate the body if one cultivated the soul, because this was the law set by Heaven.
It was the law of Heaven that if you want something, you have to give up something else. That's why, if you want to cultivate the soul, you can't cultivate the body, and the same rule applies to Martial Cultivators — they can't cultivate their souls either.
However, this law didn't apply to the Heaven Stealer Technique, because it could cultivate both the Body and Soul simultaneously. If Ace found out about it, he would be over the moon.
At this moment, Ace was using his Heavenly Sense unknowingly when suddenly, the newly formed space between his eyebrows trembled, and he vomited a mouthful of blood as his eyes sprang open. His face turned pale as a ghost's.
"System, what happened?" Ace questioned weakly.
=====
[Congratulations, Host, for forming the Formless Wind Soul Core!]
[Host's soul cultivation level has been updated!]
=====
The System gave him an update.
"That's not what I'm asking! I'm asking why I got shocked!" Ace was speechless at this, because even he had already known about the formation of the Soul Core.
"[Just like Martial Qi in the body, the soul also has Soul Qi for the soul. Just now, the Host overdrew his Soul Qi while using Heavenly Sense.]"
'It's like when I overdrew my Martial Qi using True and False Eyes, huh? The soul also has Soul Qi, and my Soul Qi is Heavenly Soul Qi, no less. I can now see anything within a ten-meter area around me. It's like my own personal space.' Ace mulled over it and grew excited.
"Status!"
=====
[Eternal Thief System]
[Main Panel]
[Host: Ace White]
[Race: Human {No Bloodline}]
[1st Heaven: Mortal Sky Heaven]
[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Gates {1st Heavenly Gate}]
{EXP: 50/1000}
[Soul Cultivation: Formless Wind Soul Core]
{SP: 30/100}
--
[Skills: 5]
-Stealth Basic: {Middle-Level}
-Silent Steps Basic {Middle-Level}
-True & False Eyes Basic {Low-Level}
-Treasure Opening Hands [Basic Art] {3rd Form}
-Pick Pocket {Low-Level}
--
[Cultivation Technique: 2]
-Heaven Stealer Technique {Volume 1}
-Dual Shadow Swords Technique
--
[Thief Points (TP): 40]
--
[Current Mission: 0]
=====
Seeing his progress over the month, Ace nodded in satisfaction. His hard work hadn't been in vain.
'Without EXP and SP, my progress won't halt, but it'll be quite slow, so I need a mission or some other way to earn EXP and SP.' Ace mused, since he'd learned from practicing the Heaven Stealer Technique that he could progress without EXP and SP, but it would take him a long time to achieve a breakthrough.
EXP and SP were like elixirs or pills to him. The more he had, the faster he progressed.
'I can't do a mission here anymore. Enough innocent people have already been killed. I should sneak into the inner region and try robbing those rich bastards.'
Ace began preparing, having decided to head into the inner region. He was now confident about stealing from anyone in the outer region.
But he wouldn't do that, since he had watched Billy for the entire month and seen innocent people getting killed each day.
He'd been planning to kill Billy after forming his soul core, but alas, he was too late — Billy had already been arrested. He couldn't get revenge for all those innocent people.
Now Ace would be stealing from the nobles of the inner region instead, and they couldn't blame the outer region's commoners for it. That's why he was going to sneak into the inner region that night.
If he wanted, he could show his status as a cultivator and enter the inner region without any problem.
But he didn't want to, because doing so would mean registering himself at the city lord's mansion. By doing so, his records would be open to anyone to see, since he was a resident of this city, and anyone could learn about him with a little research.
If someone investigated him, they'd discover that he was just a poor little kid without any guardians, who'd worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant for five years.
Then how would he explain suddenly becoming a cultivator? And most importantly, where would he claim to have obtained his cultivation technique?
He could always say his parents had left one for him, since they'd been cultivators. But he wasn't going to do that, because Ace didn't want anyone to know he was in the inner city at all.
Also, this way, Ace could rob anyone without anyone ever knowing where the robber came from. If he was going there to steal, why not go as a thief, too?
Ace collected his bag full of pill bottles, Ruby Coins, and the 'Black Ghost' outfit from the hidden hole.
Afterward, he changed into the 'Black Ghost' outfit and slung his bag over his back.
His Raptor pair of swords were tied at his waist with a belt. He was entirely black, head to toe — only his eyes were visible through the holes in his mask.
'Outer region, my home. I'll see you again next time. Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma — I'll come in the future to pay my respects, once I've become strong, and make you all proud in the afterlife.' Ace bid his farewells at his parents' and grandparents' graves and headed toward the inner region of River-Flower City.
This was the beginning of a legendary thief's adventures!