Eternal Thief

Ace and Thomas followed Peter and the silent old man toward the west gate of the blade's domain.

Peter said at this moment, "Since you decided to follow me, let me tell you we aim to hunt ten early grade-4 demonic beasts, not like the others. Furthermore, this is a special training program for those who have at least a 70% chance of passing the demon gate trail. You two are not the only ones with such goals, but here are one thousand such individuals, including me and my tribesmen. It's just that we didn't make it public to not cause any confusion."

Ace found it quite reasonable because it would be too easy for talents like Thomas to pass this test, which completely lost the meaning of training, and they could also take advantage of this and gain all the resources easily.

But hunting ten early grade-4 demonic beasts was also not a joke because demonic beasts didn't have any cultivation techniques, every demonic beast would be akin to a cultivator who had formed an ordinary river core, and they have powerful bodies like demons as well.

This simply means they have to hunt silver river core demons. Despite being at the peak of the Qi river realm, this was an accurate test for geniuses.

Thomas couldn't help but ask, "Did more tribes of nature also included in these thousand individuals?"

Peter looked at Thomas and only nodded without giving away any further information, which made Thomas frown.

Although Ace had some idea why Thomas was here despite Thomas still hiding his real identity, he could still feel Thomas was quite worried after getting confirmation from Peter.

But he didn't force Thomas to tell him and patiently wait for him to reveal his motives on his own.

Thomas was a great friend. He just didn't want to drag Ace into his mess after becoming friends with him, so he just kept his mouth shut about his identity and motives, despite Milly nagging him about it.

They finally reached and crossed the west gate and moved toward the outskirts of the blade domain.

Now, both Ace and Thomas had already got all the information they needed to know from the storage rings given to them by Peter.

There were also golden wristbands on their wrists now, which they got from the storage rings.

These silver wristbands were their special identity tags with some special functions.

The first function was to record the kill count of the demonic beasts they killed. As for how they worked, Ace had no idea, but he still found them quite interested.

Furthermore, these wristbands will only count the demonic beasts which meet their kill requirement criteria. Simply put, if they kill a grade-three or low-grade-four demonic beast, this wristband won't count them only if they kill the early grade 4 demonic beasts or higher, will this wristband count them in succession!

The second function was the ranking system, these wristbands can be used to manage their ranking accurately with kill points they will get after killing their targeted demonic beasts or higher.

The late grade-3 demonic beast was equal to 10 Kill Points.

The early grade-4 demonic beast was equal to 100 Kill Points.

The intermediate grade-4 demonic beast was equal to 1000 Kill Points.

The late grade-4 demonic beast was equal to 10,000 Kill Points.

The early grade-5 demonic beast was equal to 100,000 Kill Points.

This kill point system gave talented demons an absolute advantage and make ranking authentic.

Although, as long as they can complete their allocated quota by either killing or plundering, they can continue with the training program.

But the reward points they will get minimum and those in the training ranking will get most of the reward points which can be further exchanged with cultivation resources, skills, techniques, and weapons from the training guild in the inner domain.

Since Ace and Thomas were in a special category, they were given a free hundred, reward points.

If one wanted to measure a value of one reward point, it was equal to a peak grade-3 Qi stone, which was the highest-grade Qi stone present in the outer provinces!

This will give these demons even more motivation to strive for higher ranking and hunt for stronger demonic beasts.

But there was also another function of these wristbands which was if any participant killed another participant they will get 10% of their accumulated points from their wristband.

This also clarified that killing was not forbidden at all, and they were even giving reason to the participants to kill each other.

Ace felt this competition was extremely brutal, but when he thought about how these demons killed each other without batty an eye, there wasn't anything startling about it.

The demon population was extremely huge, and they can reproduce like humans, so killing the weak with such methods was quite normal for the demon race. Only the strong may remain alive here!

They quickly reached the peripheries and saw mountains surrounded by dense, gloomy forests. This was the west entrance of the shadow mountain range.

The old man behind Peter spoke at this moment while looking at Peter with a solemn expression, "I can't accompany you anymore your highness, since you chose to participate in this training program you have to follow the rules as well and no one will come to your aid even if you face life-threatening danger. So, I asked you again, do you want to continue?"

Peter chuckled, "Butler Jerome, I know you meant well, but I don't need anyone's protection. You can protect me now, but you can't protect me in the demon gate trial, so I have to follow this path alone."

Butler Jerome sighed, "I have watched you grow up to such a fine young man, your highness, and I'm proud to say you have finally reached the qualification to seek your sword path, and you don't need my instruction anymore."

Peter's eyes shimmered with a complicated glint as he bowed slightly and said sincerely, "I'll remember your teaching… Teacher!"

Butler Jerome smile in gratification and looked toward both Thomas and Ace, who were silently observing from the side.

Truth be told, they didn't know why Peter had approached them in the first place and why they were following him.

Butler Jerome said sternly, "You two are probably the only ones who can become his highness allies in the upcoming demon gate trial. I don't know if you know or not, but let me tell you if you want to enter the royal zone, you need powerful allies or others will eat you alive.

"Although you are extremely strong, you two are far from enough to overcome all those forming teams of the other provinces and if you're alone, they will eliminate you first. Remember, not everyone can enter the royal zone and the seats are limited, so if you're a thorn in others' way, they will cut you the moment they got the chance.

"So, allies are extremely important, and this training program was made to form teamwork among the most powerful youths of this province. I want you three, you overcome your arrogance and help each other in this trial while watching each other's back."

Peter frowned because he wasn't here for this. He was here to compete with Feng, not getting his help.

Thomas and Ace also frowned. They can help each other, but leaving their backs on Peter was something they weren't comfortable with since they did not know him.

Butler Jerome sense the three of them discomfort and only said, "Sometimes pride is nothing in the face of survival, so I just hope you all can conquer your pride. Please forgive my rudeness, your highness, I'll be taking my leave now, Good Luck."

He bowed before vanishing from the sight.

Peter said at this moment, "Don't take Butler's words to heart. I'm not looking for allies or anything. I just wanted to challenge you guys. Let's see who can get a higher ranking than the other. What do you think?"

Thomas nodded with a provocative smile, "Hehe, I also wanted to see his highness's prowess. I agree."

Ace merely chuckled, "I would make my move first, then."

Without waiting for the other's replies, he vanished into the dense forest. He also didn't want to work with anyone else since it would only expose him, and he also had other things to do, so moving alone was the best option.

"Brother Feng, you're being audacious again." Thomas cursed and also use a movement technique to enter the mountain range.

Peter was slightly dumbfounded by those two guys and couldn't help but smile as fighting intent flashed past his crimson eyes.

"Interesting!" He also used his sword steps to enter the forest.

At this moment, Butler Jerome appeared again with two more demons. One was an old demon with some of Thomas's features while the other was a middle-aged demon who resembled Peter or Peter who resembled him!