Eternal Thief

?After Ace’s vague interaction with Riana, he leaves everything to Eva, especially interrogating Antonio, but he doesn’t have much hope since he knows the restriction placed on the imperial family’s knowledge sea was most likely to originate from the Heavenly Mortal Emperor.

But he does have Antonio’s space ring and the imperial family’s secret treasury now, so he carefully skimps through them to find something useful or any clue about how the Imperial Family was in contact with the Heavenly Mortal Emperor.

After an hour of carefully analyzing the treasures, he had to admit that the Imperial Family really knew how to hide their wealth. There was a huge amount of grade-9 Qi stones and Soul Crystals, as well as some grade-9 treasures carefully stored in a precious jade box.

Now, Ace had enough sources of EXP and SP to reach the peak of stage 9. Other than that, there were many treasures from which he kept the swords aside and put the rest away.

Lastly, Ace found something that he can’t accurately judge. First, it was palm-size triangular ancient golden jade carved with tiny exquisite ruins. Upon carefully analyzing those ancient runes, Ace was shocked because they all originated from Grade-10 Forbidden Runes!

After carefully studying them, Ace became very proficient in forbidden runes. Although they were somewhat different from the 100 Forbidden Runes the system gave him, they were all crafted using those 100 forbidden runes.

This jade was within Antonio’s ring, so Ace didn’t dare disregard it. Another thing that caught Ace’s attention was a runic bronze key stowed within the space treasury. Surprisingly, this bronze key was engraved with grade-9 runes.

Ace knew the Sky Heart Plains couldn’t use the grade-9 runes; they weren’t even aware of it. Only the imperial family had come in contact with them, but they were never able to decipher them.

Ace also found a peculiar star-shaped pendant that seemed to be broken. What caught his attention were multicolor gems engraved on its eight-star points. In the center, a cracked black eye-like gem engraving was also present.

Ace sensed a powerful hidden fluctuation from this pendant, and he felt a strange sense of resonance with it, as if it had some kind of affinity with him. This pendant was also stowed within the space treasury and probably forgotten.

Lastly, Ace found a thick book, and his eyes shimmered with elation because it seemed to be the annals of the previous Mortal Emperors. Antonio had carefully placed it within a formation box like a very precious treasure. Ace had to use the dismantling principles to crack open this well-protected box to get it.

After making sure there wasn’t anything unusual, he commanded the system to appraise the triangular jade, the bronze key, and the broken pendant. He was especially concerned about the result of the jade with forbidden runes.

This time, the system asked for 100 million TP for appraisal, and Ace didn’t bat an eye and confirmed the transition.

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[Token of Passage]

-Description: This token is made with forbidden runes and hidden within the Heavenly Mortal Emperor’s aura. The Token Holder can enter the Heavenly Will Domain without incurring its wrath!

-Restriction: [Heavenly Seal] Only a Member of a special bloodline can use this token!

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[Ascension Altar Key]

-Grade: Grade-9

-Description: This is made by the part of Ascension Altar to change its nature!

-Usage: The Alter Ascension Altar will not activate without this Key!

—

[Talisman of Heaven’s Approval (Limit Talisman)]

-Grade: Grade-10 (Forbidden Grade)

-Limit Talisman Description: This Talisman Pendant can be used to enter the Mortal Ascension Temple Portal. The holder of this Pendant will have the right to use the Ascension Temple to Ascend with the help of Mortal Heavenly Will!

-Limit Talisman Usage: 1/3

-Restriction: [Heavenly Seal] Only a Member of a special bloodline can use this token!

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Ace’s eyes shimmered with ecstasy when he saw the description of the Token of Passage and the Ascension Altar Key. But when he saw the details of the Talisman of Heaven’s Approval, his heart raced widely.

He never expected that this pendant was a limited talisman that could grant entry into the portal!

‘If this Talisman of Heaven’s Approval has such use, then why was it stowed within the space treasury and not kept by the Mortal Emperor?’ Ace mused, thinking this was very strange.

After all, this talisman could be used within the ascension temple, and even Heavenly Will must help the holder of this talisman ascend. Nonetheless, the Heavenly Seal was placed on it so only the members of the Imperial Family could use it.

‘Could it be that even the Mortal Emperors were unaware of this limited talisman’s usage? Furthermore, it had already been used two times, so it wasn’t like the previous owners didn’t know what this talisman was used for.

‘Moreover, there seems to be some kind of difference between ascending through the ascension altar and the ascension temple. How peculiar…’ Ace mused with a grave expression, ‘Nonetheless, this talisman is extremely valuable to me, but this heavenly seal is quite bothersome. I have to make sure I won’t draw the attention of the heavenly will once I use it. As for the token, I can also help if it got noticed within the forbidden rune formations. I need to adjust my plans if I want to use these two items…’

Although the usage of these treasures can make a world of difference in this mission, Ace was sure that if he wasn’t careful, there was a big chance that the Heavenly Will would notice him.

Nonetheless, Ace can make a solid plan with these things in his hand, and he will have more options to infiltrate the Ascension Temple.

‘It seemed I had to play the mortal emperor for some time if I wanted to use these items to my advantage. I still have to comprehend those last ten damn forbidden runes; my time limit is two years. Within this time, my avatar will also be available.’

After calculating his course of action, Ace impersonated Antonio and then left the space treasury passage and headed back to the Imperial Palace!

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