Eternal Thief

Witnessing the distressing scene inside the tower, Ace winced brows as he scanned the cages. There were 19 cages filled with different prisoners; their expressions were listless, and their clothes were tattered, while multiple scars marked their bodies, and their bodies were almost wilted like dry branches.

However, despite their half-dead appearances, they were all alive, but just barely, and it might be because of those runic chains piercing their limbs and chests.

Furthermore, despite the opening of the door, no one in those cages reacted; their eyes seemed empty as if they had lost the will to live and were waiting for the mercy of death.

Ace walked over to the first cage, and trapped inside was a wilted man with brown skin and a bald head; there were faded tattoos on his skin, and his race was unknown.

“Can you hear me?” Ace tried to communicate with this man as he wanted to know why they were imprisoned there and the reason behind their current situation.

However, the man seemed not to hear anything, as his expression remained listless, and his eyes were empty, like a living corpse.

Ace’s frown deepened as he looked at the next cage, where a wizened, bald woman with the same brown skin and the runic patterns on her skin was caged. Her expression was no different from the bald man’s. She didn’t react to Ace’s voice at all.

But Ace didn’t give up and walked around the cages to see if someone among them could still speak, but the result was the same. They were all like living corpses, incapable of reacting to anything.

Now that Ace knew there was no way to communicate with them, he decided to use an alternative method to gather information.

Moreover, Ace noticed that everyone trapped in those cages belonged to the same race, which was quite strange, and Ace had never seen this race before.

Nonetheless, he first used the Thief Sense to scan their bodies, and he was startled because his Law Thief Sense met with an unexpected hurdle.

Before Ace could figure out what happened, he noticed the runes of the chains on the prisoner’s body suddenly pulse the moment the Thief Sense came in contact with it.

Although the prisoner didn’t react, Ace knew those runic chains were the reason behind the failure of the Thief Sense.

’Those chains can block my Law Thief Sense, which means they are at least Ascension Grade-7. Furthermore, those chains might also be the reason behind their current appearance…’

Ace followed the runic chains and saw they were all connected with the floor of the cages through small holes.

He mused, ’They might be connected to something in this tower…’

Ace then shifted his focus away from the cages and found a closed door at the edge of the top left, right behind the 10th cage. This tower was eight stories tall, and since the first floor was used as a prison, the other floors might not be the same.

Without wasting more time, Ace approached the door and tried to open it, but it was tightly sealed. Ace sneered and used his primordial spirit Qi, and just as he expected, the moment his Qi came in contact with the door, the same runic pattern surfaced on the door before sounds of cogwheels moving were heard.

Since Ace was now the new owner of the master lock, everything connected with it could be opened with his Primordial Spirit Qi.

Thereupon, a stairway leading to the upper floor appeared, and Ace stepped onto it without hesitation, entering the second floor after opening another door.

However, Ace’s expression darkened further when he saw that the second floor was also filled with cages, and the interior design was the same as the first floor.

But in those 19 cages, instead of those bald green-skinned prisoners, there were Spirit Beasts, and all of them belonged to reptile races. Their conditions weren’t any different the prisoners of the first floor, not to mention their bodies were also pierced by those runic chains.

Ace suddenly became suspicious when he noticed the similarity between the first and second-floor design and then the strange choice of prisoners.

But he didn’t reach any conclusion and moved towards the third floor without stopping. Upon reaching the third floor, Ace saw the same interior design, and it was also filled with cages.

However, as Ace suspected, the prisoners in those cages were actually Corrupted Violet Demons, a race of Demons belonging to the Mortal Ascension Heaven.

Ace knew races like Demons, Devils, or Witches were mostly found within the heterodox path sects because of their origin. Someone from these races was rarely seen in orthodox sects because there was a deeply rooted hatred between the two paths.

Some self-righteous sects even actively hunted these races just because their clansman were part of evil sects. But the Evil Sects weren’t different as they killed innocents for sacrifice, cultivation, and even for amusement.

However, the appearance of that Corrupted Violet Demon here means that the Grand Wealth Lord needed to infiltrate the Demonic King Morgue, one of the Three Evils among the top six King Sects, because Corrupted Violet Demons were one of the prominent clans of the Demonic King Morgue.

Furthermore, the Demonic King Morgue was an extremely violent sect, and they would be wiped out even from the slightest argument. It wasn’t easy to kidnap their sect members.

’This matter is far from simple, and all these prisoners might not be just slaves for amusement unless that bastard is extremely sick in the mind and creates this hellhole…’

Ace coldly looked at those demons, and with one look, he knew they were also gone.Suppressing his unease, Ace moved towards the fourth floor, and again, nothing was different except for the prisoners. This time, there were transformed magic beasts from a Canidae family.

On the fifth floor, Ace found hunters. On the sixth floor were elves, and when he entered the seventh floor, the prisoners were barbarian race members.

Ace managed to recognize them because he had seen the Evil Slaying Division, Division Elder Melvin, and the latter had left a deep impression on him because of his threatening physique. Yet the barbarians in the cages weren’t any different from the other prisoners on the lower floors.

Ace was now already numb after witnessing those cages and the living corpses within them as he impassively moved toward the eighth and final floor of this tower prison.

However, Ace suddenly paused in front of the eighth-floor entrance door at the end of the stairway because, different from the doors below, this door was pitch black and covered in glowing gray veins. At that moment, Ace felt a sense of oppression emanating from the door, along with a vague sense of danger.

Ace’s expression changed slightly, ’Could it be the secret of this tower prison is behind this door? Furthermore, it might be dangerous for me… This tower is extremely strange; I can’t use my authority as the owner of the World Space Ring to control it or anything inside it. should I go in or not?’

The reason for Ace’s hesitation was valid because this tower was an anomaly in this World Space Ring, and after seeing its contents, Ace was even more sure something was extremely wrong with this sinister place.

But Ace didn’t want to leave any danger in his backyard, so he wanted to get rid of whatever the Grand Wealth Lord had concocted here, especially after seeing those living corpses.

When Ace was hesitating, something unexpected happened that startled him so much that he vanished from his spot because the door with veins suddenly started to open on its own, making creaking sounds.

Ace appeared a few steps below the door and scrutinized it with vigilance and suspicion. He tried to use the Thief Sense to probe inside the floor, but to his shock, his Thief Sense met with an invisible wall and couldn’t pass through the door.

“Live Fate Map!”

Ace used the Enteral Thief Fate Compass at that moment, and what he saw made his heart palpitate because the entire map was pitch black, without any sliver of a different color. Even the outside of the tower was completely dyed in black.

Ace had never imagined that his own treasure would turn out to be a forbidden zone one day, making him careless. But what he can’t understand is the system also didn’t release any warning at all.

Nevertheless, Ace completely gave up on exploring this damn tower, especially that final floor. He trusts the live fate map’s judgment, and if he still let curiosity get the best of him, wasn’t he seeking his own death?

He had already decided to stay away from this tower and come back when he was stronger to take care of whatever was inside.

Ace slowly retreated without making any sounds, but at this moment, an icy cold aura suddenly enveloped his body, and he froze in his spot as he quickly used stealth to hide any traces of himself.

At this moment, an eerily aged voice rang directly in his mind, “Since you’re already here, come and have a chat with this King!”