Eternal Thief

Once Ace took the skull and the sword, the entire Ancient Sky Battlefield quivered before the barrier in the core region began to dissipate.

The sword's disbelieving voice rang at this moment, "What is this space? It's really suppressed the killing intent. Even I am being suppressed here."

Ace looked into the thief's space and smiled in satisfaction since the killing intent coming from the Eight Eye Dark Devil had been really suppressed.

"Now that I proved myself, it's your turn!" Ace calmly stated.

Although he no longer feared the sword since it had already entered the thief's space, he didn't want to use force unless he had to. After all, since the sword has made a promise, it shouldn't go back on it, or he would be very disappointed.

After all, this weapon seemed to be quite righteous since it has been guarding and suppressing this devil for who knows when.

"Don't worry, as a spirit sword, I will always keep my word. It would be my honor to serve someone like you; from this day forth, wherever you point me, I, Violent Ocean Sword, shall cut it down to pave your way.

"Please give me a drop of your blood to complete the Equal Bond Master Acknowledgment Ceremony!" Violent Ocean Sword solemnly stated.

Ace was astounded as he had already heard from the system when he found Moira that the treasure with a spirit would choose their own masters, and depending on their trust level or the person's talent, the treasure spirit would choose to form different types of bonds.

There were two types of bonds, Equal Bond and Life Bond, while the Life Bond was further divided into three types, 'Master for One-Life,' 'Together for Life,' and 'Only Master for Life'!

Lastly, there was a bond that only the Eternal Provenance Treasures can form, the Provenance Life Bond. The Eternal Thief Fate Compass was bonded to him with this bond.

Now he heard that the Violent Ocean Sword wanted to form an Equal Bond with him, he remembered its details.

This bond was of mutual partnership relation where the treasure and user will have equal standing. But its drawback was either party could easily break free from this bond if their own life was in danger and abandon each other at any time.

All in all, this bond was a double-edged sword and the most common bond according to the system.

Ace frowned since he didn't want the Violent Ocean Sword to form an equal bond because there would always be a chance that it might betray him if it sensed its own life in danger.

But he can't blame the Violent Ocean Sword for choosing the equal bond since they only met each other a few moments ago, and it was probably submitting to him to preserve its dignity.

After all, a treasure with a spirit was of a higher grade than grade 9, so it had its own pride, and Ace was still too weak in its eyes.

"Please wait a moment. Can you explain what this Equal Bond is?" Ace asked. He didn't directly declare that he knew about the Equal and Life Bonds. He wanted to see if the Violent Ocean Sword had ulterior motives.

If it dared to lie, then Ace wouldn't hesitate to force a life bond on it, or he wouldn't allow it to leave the thief's space. But if it didn't hide it then he'll consider trusting it.

"Oh, I forgot you don't know about the Master Acknowledgment Ceremony of Ascension Spirit Grade Treasures. I'll give a general explanation since I can't reveal too much, or you'll be infected with karma.

"The Mortal Sky Heaven has Nine Grades, also known as Mortal Grades, ranging from Grade 0 to Grade 9, and each grade is divided into Low, Middle, and High Stages. Similarly, the rank above Mortal Grade is known as Ascension Grade, and it is also graded from Grade 1 to Grade 9, but it only has two stages, Lower and Upper.

"But there are some special materials that can provide spirituality to a treasure, thus Treasure Spirit is born. But the chances of it happening are extremely scarce. These treasures are known as Spirit Treasures, and they are graded in Ascension Spirit Grade. I'm an Upper Grade-5 Ascension Spirit Treasure.

"All the Spirit Treasures have their own will, and we can't be used without acknowledging a worthy master first, and this process is called the Master Acknowledgment Ceremony.

"A spirit treasure has an innate ability to form two types of bonds known as Equal Bond and Life Bond. An equal bond is a mutual bond that can be broken at any time as long as the parties involved are not satisfied with each other.

"I know it sounds cold, but any spirit treasure will choose to form this bond first before moving to form a life bond because if it made a bad decision, it would bond to an incompetent or vile master for a lifetime.

"Consider it a testing phase to understand the worth and its prowess fully. I'm the same. Although you have mysterious means, I can't form a life bond right off the bat.

"But I can give you my word as long as you can complete my requirements and prove yourself worthy. I will explain what life bond is that day, and I'll follow you till the end." Violent Ocean Sword solemnly explained with clear sincerity in its feeble voice.

Ace was astounded, the Violent Ocean Sword really didn't hide anything from it and even sounded sincere as it reveal the higher grades to him without hesitation. Now, he finally knows what lies ahead of grade even before he ascends.

It won't be a lie to say he was a little moved by Violent Ocean Sword's sincerity as he had read that sword cultivators were straightforward people, and their personalities could be reflected by their swords.

The Violent Ocean Sword was straightforward, which could also reflect its previous master's personality. He has nothing but respect for such a person.

"Alright, I hope I'll prove myself to you." Ace solemnly stated before he sent a drop of his blood to the Violent Ocean Sword.

The moment his blood drop fell on the Violent Ocean Sword's ocean blue blade, it vanished before a mysterious crimson rune appeared on the sword hilt. Ace felt a mysterious connection with the Violent Ocean Sword now just like the Eternal Thief Fate Compass.

But unlike the latter, this connection didn't give him full authority over the Violent Ocean Sword, and he can sense that either he or the Violent Ocean Sword can break it at any time.

Furthermore, the moment the connection was formed, the Violent Ocean Sword trembled, and its giant size shrunk before it became a 2-meter-long sword with a slim blade completely perfect for Ace's use.

"I'm a Martial Spirit Sword, so I can stay in your Martial Space, where I'll be nurtured by your Martial Qi. Although you are still an Elemental State Practitioner, I'm already downgraded to mortal grade-9 because of using my spirit essence all these years to keep this vile thing in check.

"So, it will take a long time before I'll recover to my peak, and if you want to hasten my recovery, you can only do so by ascending. Now I need your permission to enter your martial space since we have an equal bond, I can't enter on my own only the life bonded spirit treasures are capable of that.

"But if you don't want to, I can just stay here since letting someone else into your martial space is equivalent to testing your life. In that case, I required some Qi stones of grade-9 or grade-9 ores and metals to recover some of my spirituality." The Violent Ocean Sword stated.

Ace looked at the Violent Ocean Sword's new form with shinning gaze, as he was expecting to use with Qi, he didn't know the Violent Ocean Sword was capable of size manipulation.

After thinking about the Violent Ocean Sword request, he said, "I'll need some time to think about it, but I have recently acquired two large pieces of grade-9 metals. You can use them as you please."

The next moment, two large slabs of metals appeared, they were the doors of the mountains he dismantled from the ruin city.

"I understand. You have my gratitude!" The Violent Ocean Sword didn't seem to mind Ace's lack of trust since they were not at that point yet and directly stabbed into the mind before an ocean blue sheen covered the sword.

Ace's attention then finally fell on the skull, and he finally saw the big devil core hiding ghastly, killing intent.

He ordered, "System, appraise both the Violent Ocean Sword and that skull's core!"