Eternal Thief

At night, under the gentle light of two full moons and countless stars, a large ship flew through the air, enveloped in an invisible barrier. Furthermore, the flying ship was branded with the symbol of a coin, precisely the Prime Heavenly Bank emblem.

At this moment, a young man with inky black hair was sitting in the open, gazing at the starry sky with dark blue eyes in a daze, making him look like a curious philosopher.

At this moment, a handsome middle-aged man with long gray hair suddenly appeared behind the young man like a ghost.

The young man instantly sensed the middle-aged man’s presence, but he didn’t seem to bother. With a faint smile while still gazing at the twinkling stars, he asked, “Lord Deputy Guardian, do you need something from me?”

This handsome middle-aged man was indeed Deputy Guardian Norman, but he wasn’t wearing his mask at that time. A hint of surprise flashed past his eyes when Ace noticed his presence despite him clearly hiding it.

But he didn’t say anything. Instead, he chuckled as he took out another chair and sat beside Ace. Then, with wave of his hand, a jade table with pristine wine bottles and cups appeared.

With a thought, the wine bottle moved on its own, and pale golden wine started to pour into the cups while Norman spoke, “I’ve told you; you should call me Elder Norman now. Deputy Guardian is only a title that we used outside the sect. Since you’ll be soon joining the sect, you’re no longer an outsider.”

Norman’s tone was far more amiable when he talked with Ace, unlike before. After all, he had already reported Ace’s matter to the higher-ups, and just as he thought, they were extremely thrilled and even agitated to have Ace, especially the members of the human race, in the Prime Heavenly Wealth King Sect!

Norman would also receive an appropriate reward for finding and recruiting Ace, so he was also in a good mood. As for Sky Stealer, it fell into another Deputy Guardian’s hands, and Norman’s task changed to safely bring Ace back to the sect without any incident.

“Alright, Elder Norman.” Ace chuckled as he nodded, but his eyes were on the pale golden wine. The intoxicating aroma filled the air, and he couldn’t help but take a deep whiff and ask curiously, “Is this wine from Ambrosia Wine Sanctuary, the Everlasting Ambrosia?”

Norman was again slightly surprised as he nodded before he gestured towards the wine cup, a sign for Ace to take it.

“It is a Grade-5 Everlasting Ambrosia Win from the Ambrosia Wine Sanctuary. I don’t think you can tell so quickly. Have you been in the Ambrosia Wine Sanctuary before?” He asked while he picked up his own wine cup. He took a small sip, and his eyes instantly lit up.

Ace won’t deny a good wine. He picked it up and had a quick taste. His eyes also shimmered as he relished the otherworldly sweet yet bitter taste filled with both burning and cold aftertaste, not to mention the dense Spirit Qi in it.

“What a powerful wine. It’s far more different than the first-grade one I drank once.” Ace praised, “I’ve been in the Ambrosia Wine Sanctuary when I came to the Spirit Inferno Domain, and their reputation surely precedes them.

“As for how I can tell, it’s Everlasting Ambrosia; it’s the wine scent. Although this wine is high-grade, one of the main ingredients should be the same, which should also be the source of this scent.

“Furthermore, isn’t this wine supposed to be the flagship product of the Ambrosia Wine Sanctuary? So, I think this scent is left out deliberately to make people recognize it.”

Norman was astounded as he deeply looked at Ace, who was sipping the Everlasting Ambrosia, before meaningfully saying, “Don’t tell me you’re also good at alchemy?”

“No. But since some materials used in rune crafting are similar to alchemy, it’s not a big deal to tell the scent of a spirit herb or two.” Ace replied, and he was telling the truth since he had never touched anything related to alchemy, nor had he any intention to since his hands were full with Rune Crafting and Forging already.

Although he wanted to know if alchemy would help him in cultivation like the rune crafting and forging, he knew he had to be at least a 1-Star Spirit Alchemist to find out..

Norman shook his head as he said, “You don’t understand; the knowledge of herbs has nothing to do with it. It’s all about talent. See, countless people taste the Everlasting Ambrosia, but they won’t be able to tell the similarities between a grade-1 and grade-5 wine even if they have tried it their entire life. After all, this wine required a Spirit Alchemist of at least 6-Star to create, and this level of alchemist would make sure the ingredients used in it were completely blended together so no one could decipher the formula.

“If you can identify the smell of even one of the ingredients, you have a terrifying talent in alchemy because 50% of alchemy is about identifying the ingredients and their properties, which requires the senses of taste, smell, and vision, while the last one is not as important as the former two,

“I eh, if I didn’t know better, I might’ve thought you’re one of the disciples of the Runic King Crown Palace who’s come out of the sect to experience the world.” Norman chuckled as he sipped the wine with great relish.

However, Ace’s movement suddenly halted when he heard the ‘Runic King Crown Palace’ name from Norman’s mouth, and his eyes narrowed slightly since, apparently, this Runic King Crown Palace was also the reason for Eleanor going after the Forger Abyss!

Ace subtly asked, “Elder Norman, is this Runic King Crown Palace some kind of haven for alchemists?”

Norman didn’t find Ace’s question strange since Ace shouldn’t have any knowledge about the Runic King Crown Palace; he was only curious after he mentioned it.

He nodded and replied in a somewhat solemn tone, “Not just for alchemists, actually. The Runic King Crown Palace is a haven for every life profession practitioner in Mortal Ascension Heaven.

“The Runic King Crown Palace power is equivalent to our Prime Heavenly Wealth King Sect. Suppose the Prime Heavenly Wealth King Sect controls the wealth of the Mortal Ascension Heaven. In that case, the Runic King Crown Palace controls the most powerful Rune Crafters, Forgers, and Alchemists, and I hate to admit it, but when it comes to life profession legacies, our bank might lose to them as well. “Now that I mentioned the Runic King Crown Palace, I also have to mention the Sky Sword King Tower because they have the strongest cultivation heritage.

“The Prime Heavenly Wealth King Sect, Runic King Crown Palace, and Sky Sword King Tower are known as the Three Righteous of the Mortal Ascension Heaven’s Orthodox

Path or simply Righteous Path.

“While the Demonic King Morgue, Nether Blood Fiend King Cult, and Abyss Faith King Temple are the Three Evils of the Mortal Ascension Heaven’s Heterodox Path or Evil Path!

“These six king sects control almost all the inhabitants and rich territories of the Mortal Ascension Heaven, which are known as the Six Great Domains, which contain hundreds of medium-sized and small-sized domains.

“The Spirit Inferno Domain is a small domain under the rule of the Sun and Moon King Valley’s domain, which is a middle-sized domain under the Runic King Crown Palace Great Domain, the Crown Domain. As for why, despite being a third-grade sect, they only had a middle-sized domain compared to ours; you’ll know soon enough. “Anyway, now that you get the idea of the power dynamics of the Mortal Ascension Heaven, then you need to be careful of the Three Evils because both sides are always at war with each other, and killing the genius of each side is nothing new!” Norman gravely warned as a hint of killing intent flashed past his eyes as if he remembered something unpleasant!

Nonetheless, Ace was fascinated but not afraid at all because this information brought great surprises to him. He finally got a good idea of what kind of place the Mortal Ascension Heaven was, and he was about to join the central stage!