While Ace's prime law phantom was within the Thief's Space, his real body had long left Zaria's shop and was now heading towards a safe location, which would also be the entry point of the teleportation when he entered the Abyss with his House Members.
After all, Ace will be teleported back to where he left off once the Abyss Mission Series is over.
'Should I thieve since I'm already going to get a free 'escape' route?'
A whim suddenly occurred in Ace's mind as he couldn't help but think about how he would be going to the Abyss, and he could use all the extra Thief Points he could get.
Furthermore, since the system was going to teleport him out of the Mortal Ascension Heaven anyway, he didn't even need to escape far away. Ace was now very strong, and as long as he didn't encounter a peak Ascension Lord, no one would be able to detect him.
Besides, he had already been investigating Runic Forge City for some time now, especially because he wanted to determine the Nightfall Ravenhood's intentions.
'I should probably target individuals and focus on increasing my Thief Rank. I haven't made any progress for a while now, and if I target a high difficulty target like the bank or a clan, it'll waste time, and I might be discovered since there has to be an Ascension Lord or even an Ascension Grand Lord guarding those places.
'Targeting individuals is the way to go this time, and because of the incident in the Valley, there are many powerful people coming into the city. I might be able to increase the Wizard Thief Rank if I target places with a large crowd. Not to mention, in the Runic Forge City, only the rich can enter. I might not even find low-level thieveries…' Ace smiled thievishly for it was the first time he had such a happy dilemma.
Nonetheless, now that Ace had decided to go with a hubbub, he didn't want to miss this chance to increase his thief rank while taking advantage of the situation. He instantly changed his route and headed towards a 'crowded place' of the Inner Region.
The first crowded place Ace selected was the 'Golden Glass Inn', a luxurious inn just like the one Eleanor had taken him to meet with the Nightfall Ravenhood when they first entered this city.
Since this was the inner region of the Runic Forge City, it needed to be luxurious and high-end. Those who could enter here had to at least belong to a third-grade sect or a prominent clan with a Quasi-Grand Lord.
Furthermore, because of the events of the Vindictive Ridged Valley, all the inns in Runic Forge City were almost filled with all kinds of groups, and the Golden Glass Inn was no different.
Ace didn't choose to go to the market because that place usually had the highest level of security. The shops there would have personal guards, at least in the Ascension Guardian cultivation realm.
Since he was taking this risk, he might as well rob these rich people staying in this inn, who probably wouldn't even think that someone would dare to rob them in this city. They also had their guard down because the inn should have had a powerful formation protecting it.
But after Ace became an Ascension Master, he was rewarded with a Taboo Spell called the Night Collapse Travesty. As the name suggests, a Taboo Spell was even more complex and profound than a Forbidden Spell.
Most Forbidden Spells require a certain 'price' or conditions to activate, some require resources, some require complex rituals, and some of the Forbidden Spells of the heterodox path even demand the caster's lifespan or vitality.
Even the Prime Law Phantom that Ace acquired from the system has a strict requirement of 'Darkness Order' to activate it, which might be the highest and most impossible requirement to meet for anyone else, even if they get this spell, which made it an exclusive spell for Ace.
However, a taboo spell was even demanding and challenging to handle, even if someone masters it, because a mistake with a taboo spell means only two things: either the destruction of 'Law Foundation' or Death!
Moreover, if someone knows how to disrupt a Taboo Spell, then Death is the only outcome because of the backlash. This is the consequence of learning and using a Taboo Spell.
That's why Taboo Spells were kept an absolute secret. Only King Sects should have them, and even then, not just anyone was allowed to learn them. There were many precautions before learning a Taboo Spell.
The Night Collapse Travesty simulates the concept of oblivion—collapsing perception, sound, space, and even presence into a singularity of nothingness.
When activated to its full capacity, it enshrouds a localized zone in a false event horizon—a conceptual field where time, light, and laws lose cohesion.
To all outside observers, anything that happens in this zone becomes unnoticeable, and the higher Ace's cultivation base, the more effective the spell will be.
Those within the spell's false event horizon will find themselves trapped in a collapse loop illusion, experiencing fragmented senses and warped memory. Reality appeared to be fractured.
Movements become sluggish, instincts dull, and law senses blind. Even the most vigilant cultivators suffer a delay in reacting to intrusions—or in recognizing they're being robbed at all.
Ace, as the caster, is the only one immune to this distortion. Within this veil of collapse, he can move freely, and even traces of his actions are devoured by the pseudo-singularity's edge.
Simply put, except for his Thief Symbol, the victim would have nothing else to show for the theft even happening!
Moreover, a Taboo Spell has different levels before someone can fully master it, like a Secret Art. The Night Collapse Travesty has three levels, each with different requirements.
The first level was the Flicker of Collapse, and the minimum requirement to use it was an Ascension Master, 9 Units Darkness Force, and 25% mastery over Rule of Darkness 'Desolation, with a minimum effective range of a 10-mile radius and 10-minute duration.
The second level Shroud of Null Reality, and the minimum Requirement are an Ascension Guardian, 27 Units of Darkness Force, and 50% mastery over Rule of Darkness 'Desolation, with the minimum effective range of a 50-mile radius and a 20-minute duration.
Lastly, the Grand Travesty of Nightfall and this level's minimum requirements are an Ascension Grad Lord, 45 units of Darkness Force, and 75% mastery over Rule of Darkness 'Desolation' and 'Despair', with the minimum effective range of a 100-mile radius and a 30-minute duration!