Eternal Thief

"What if we kill someone before he/she could even speak, I mean, with a single hit or sneak attack?

"Please don't take me wrong, but if we declared our presence beforehand, it would alert the other party, and they would, of course, fight, then hand over their badges peacefully.

"Furthermore, if the other party is powerful, then sneak attacks will be the most obvious method and practical method. Then, if someone died because of that sneak attack or someone is quite weak to not even take a single attack, they will die at that time as well.

"Besides, since the loser can still join the fray and eliminate me by joining with other losers, I won't hesitate to kill them the moment I get the chance without giving them a chance to cry surrender.

"It's a far better option than leaving behind such a danger, right everyone?"

Archie looked at everyone with a smile as he asked the obvious.

But everyone didn't have his smile. They were all looking at Archie with unfriendly, distant gazes. This guy was simply stating that he killed them the moment he had the chance and won't give them a chance for survival.

"Your son sure is bold Runic Duke, but I like his style." The Dark Fire Duke said with a smile.

"He just stated the facts. We might do the same in such a scenario. Killing those hidden dangers is more effective than sparing them and then waiting for them to get back for revenge. But he's also putting a target on himself." Archie's boldness also impressed Ash Duke.

"Hmph, it might be his scheme. It would be far easier if others come to him than finding them in the misty swamp. Or he was simply scaring everyone, so they avoid any conflict with him or hand over their badges for fear of dying. But it's difficult to intimidate everyone with few words." A Poison Wood Demon scoffed.

Harvey didn't retort and merely stated, "But the person who said this is someone who just broke a record, so it might have some effect."

The violet skin demon looked at Archie with a somewhat strange gaze as he said, "I already said my piece. As long as you kill someone who wanted to surrender, you will violate the first rule.

"But if someone surrendered and wanted to have his/her revenge on you, then it's still debatable to look at it in another way.

"I hope this will answer the question regarding killing. Anyone else has any questions?"

Bobby suddenly asked, "You said the moment we took off our badges, we will be eliminated. What if no one eliminates us but we took off our badges and throw them away or hide them somewhere, or even destroyed them?

"Will it consider a normal elimination and that hidden badge count as a point as well or in case we destroyed it will still affect the total points pool?"

The violet skin demon smiled, "Interesting question. If you take off your badge on your own accord, then hide it somewhere. You will still consider a normal elimination without violating any rules.

"But if a contestant with an intact badge found that badge, it will still give them a point.

"As for destroying it, it will naturally reduce from hunter badge total number and no one can get it afterward."

Everyone looked at each other with different thoughts, and some frowned.

According to this demon, if they all destroy their badges, then no one could pass this year's test. While if they destroy their badges after getting beaten by someone and before they took them from them and then surrendered, it would also mean they would decrease the chances of others passing the test.

However, when these thoughts came to their minds, they all looked at Archie, who was smiling even more deeply at this moment.

They all felt chills suddenly because now everyone will go after each other's lives since they won't take a chance to let others destroy their badges.

Did he predict all this?

They all couldn't help but think about it.

But one thing was sure, now this test was far more dangerous, and escaping with their life would be even more difficult if they made a mistake or didn't surrender in time.

Yet, no one was willing to back off after coming this far.

Afterward, no more questions were asked, but everyone was more vigilant of the others. Especially the demons from grand demon clans who passed the test first.

"Alright, since no one has any more questions, let's start the Hunter Mania. This test will last for ten days.

"Now, I'll hand over the hunter badges to everyone, and afterward you may enter the demonic gate behind me, and you'll all appear in the misty swamp.

"To make it fair and interesting, after you get your badge, you'll give a one-hour grace period. In this one hour, no one can attack you or snatch your badges." The dark bronze skin demon declared.

The next moment, he waved his sleeve, and many streaks shot toward the contestants' chests.

Thereupon, a black triangle badge with a glowing golden ruin appeared on everyone's robes. It was the hunter's badge.

But no one tried to take it off yet.

"The demonic gate is open!" An imposing voice reverberated through the vicinity at this moment.

The thick mist surrounding the demonic gate suddenly turned green at this moment.

"Go, now the one hour has started!" The violet skin demon solemnly declared.

No one hesitated anymore, and they quickly headed toward the demonic gates of the Royal Demon Institute.

Ace didn't try to show off anymore and also entered the green mist, which didn't give him any more alarming feeling. He could sense this mist was some kind of location-changing formation, and these demonic gates might be more extraordinary than he thought.

After passing the green mist, he suddenly stepped into a liquid and when he saw around, he was in the middle of a vast swamp with everyone else. A light green mist also filled the air.

This mist was also poisonous, but it wasn't enough to affect river core cultivators like the participants.

Everyone first activated a treasure before they all ran in a different direction without stopping. They all wanted to hide and found different locations before the hunting began.

No one wanted to stay close to anyone since everyone was an enemy.

Ace smiled, seeing everyone scattering in different directions. He also took out a grade-four concealing cloak and does as everyone else did. He didn't want to use his heartless stealth, if not necessarily here, or it might draw some unwanted attention.

Although he could simply say he awakened this stealth ability with his high-level grade body, as a soul life demon, he knew it was impossible to awake a stealth-type ability.

The life demon tribe's innate elements were all related to life and nature, and very few life demons had other elements than these categories.

Archie's element was soul wood, and Ace was using his soul earth element to put up an appearance of soul wood element because their colors were the same.

As long as someone didn't pay attention to his Qi structure, no one would know its real element. Even Harvey suspected nothing.

But if someone questions him, he could always say he had two elements that were rare but not impossible. That's why he wasn't too worried about this matter.

Lastly, he can't show his half-sword intent, or it would be too different from the real Archie.

No matter how much of a genius he was comprehending a weapon, the intent wasn't something anyone could learn unless they were peerless geniuses which Ace didn't want to become.

Furthermore, Archie practiced Runic Archery, which was an Upper-Sky Rank Art of the Runic Family, which used the Bow and Qi Arrow.

Most of the soul cultivators practice archery since they do not have powerful bodies.

This art's first level, Qi Arrow, was easy to replicate since its function was like his soul bullet. While the reaming three parts were complicated, Ace could replicate them with some time.

However, he didn't have time to replicate them here, so he was going to use his thievish soul cord as well.

No one could connect this treasure Sky Stealer and there were many kinds of treasures like the thievish soul cord so that it won't draw any attention.

Despite it being grade-6, it was a treasure from the system and used heavenly Qi as a medium, so those formations won't be able to detect its actual rank at all.

---

The four demons were also looking at the pool projection, which now had different views of different demons.

Old Imp looked at the young demons, who were moving in different directions, and said with a frown, "I don't think over two or three will pass this test."

Ampersand looked at Archie's projection and smiled, "Whoever can pass the Hunter Mania have a very high chance of having Grade-7 talent, and this year's batch is rather interesting. So, it might surprise us this year!"