Soul Theft.

A Legendary-grade skill.

It was affected by actual stealing ability, and depending on probability, it could fail or succeed.

Of course, the absurd power called Soul Theft could not be spammed.

All stats -1.

That was Soul Theft’s extreme penalty.

Raon had as many as eight stats, which meant he would lose a full eight stat points.

And while it was affected by skill, probabilistic failure happened often, and the amount stolen from the dead was not normally that overwhelming.

So Raon had attached conditions to it.

The targets had to be at least on his level, or stronger.

A significant number of such targets had to have died, and so on.

And the candidates satisfied every single one of those conditions, numbering around one hundred in total.

As Raon walked among them, he attempted Soul Theft with a single thought in mind.

I want Lord Hyunsoo to acknowledge me.

Considering he had not been with Hyunsoo for very long, it was a surprising thought.

But Hyunsoo had shown Raon many things.

The fighting spirit that let him stand his ground among a hundred candidates.

The generosity to return the Grand Thief’s Mask without hesitation.

And damage output that transcended common sense.

His backing also played a part.

He really was someone fit to become king.

And around him were capable figures like Luxiu, Bella, Akao, and Borne, all bound to him as vassals.

Even the standing of his guild members was extraordinary.

But what was he?

Slave No. 1.

Just one of the self-declared slaves who had offered himself up to avoid the kill order.

Raon wanted to become someone special to Hyunsoo.

If I stay with him, maybe I can achieve limitless growth too and trample down adversity.

Even right now, it was Hyunsoo who had defined a “great cause” worth stealing for his Class Quest: Grand Thief.

If I succeed in this mission alone—

there was no telling how far he could grow.

Maybe,

he might even become someone who could stand beside the man Raon admired most—

Kabel.

SHA, SHASHASHAK, SHASHASHASHAK—

In any case, that was why Raon had triggered Soul Theft, and because he wanted to be acknowledged by Hyunsoo, he brought out a higher level of concentration than ever before.

[The Grand Thief’s Mental Strength activates.]

[Due to your heightened concentration, you plunder more than usual!!]

[The Grand Thief’s Breath activates.]

[Because of your desire to steal even more, the amount of gold plundered increases by 50%!!]

[The effect of Najals’s Gloves activates!!]

[The amount of gold stolen increases by 15%!!]

[The effect of Anges’s Boots activates!!]

[The duration of Soul Theft increases by 20 seconds!!]

As befitted a thief, Raon possessed a variety of artifacts and skills that produced all kinds of effects.

Sweating profusely and operating at the limit of his concentration, Raon did not even realize how much he had stolen by now.

A user?

Only after stealing from the man named Bao at the very end did Raon, who had been so deeply focused, snap back to awareness and meet the notification.

[For a brief moment, you have surpassed Grand Thief Dakuan!!]

[You gain 100 Dexterity.]

[You gain 50 Fame.]

Ding!

[You have obtained the title One Who Robs Even Souls.]

Ding!

[The effect of the title One Who Robs Even Souls is applied immediately for one time only!!]

[The total amount of gold obtained increases by 50%.]

[The total amount of consumables obtained increases by 50%.]

One Who Robs Even Souls was an SS-grade title.

It was one of the best titles he had ever obtained, and it had a 20% chance to activate, increasing total gold by 50% and total consumables obtained by 50%.

Holy shit...

He cursed inwardly.

First, because the synergy brought about by his desire to become a slave acknowledged by Hyunsoo made him wonder whether this was truly his path after all.

Second, because the amount had become so absurd that the notification saying he had briefly surpassed Grand Thief Dakuan no longer sounded impossible.

And third—

That absurd amount got increased by another 50%?

—because something tremendous had happened through the combination of all those synergies.

Raon did not hesitate.

The corners of his lips twitched as he slung the now-heavy bundle onto his back, and with the meaning that he wanted to remain by Hyunsoo’s side even after the six-month contract period ended, he said,

“Slave among slaves. Grand Slave, Slave King Raon offers this to Lord Hyunsoo.”

He said it to show loyalty and respect, and Hyunsoo’s eyes widened.

[Raon offers this to you.]

[You gain 1,413,290 gold.]

[You obtain Heavenly Realm Blessed Enhancement Stone (9).]

[You obtain the Transcendent-grade Martial God’s Cloak.]

[You obtain the Unique-grade Fidonia’s Trousers.]

[You obtain the Rare-grade Rowing’s Boots.]

[You obtain Heavenly Realm Resistance Stone (5).]

After annihilating one hundred candidates, Hyunsoo had clearly reaped enormous profits.

Because of the drops?

Not at all.

To be honest, Hyunsoo had been disappointed. The things the candidates dropped were less impressive than he had expected.

Especially—

User Bao.

Hyunsoo had clearly seen that user named Bao mixed in among the candidates.

A user’s drop rate was generally higher than an NPC’s.

The reason was simple: in most cases, users wore and relied on far more artifacts than NPCs did.

But what had that user Bao dropped?

Geren’s Fang? Give me a break.

He had dropped a worthless junk item of the kind that piled up in inventories until people stopped even looking at it.

And the enormous profit Hyunsoo had piled up came from EXP and the Adamantium he would extract from the Ares series.

At that moment, an unexpected blessing descended.

That blessing came from Raon before him.

[Your Affinity with the user Raon is very high.]

[It is exceedingly rare for one user to hold such great respect for another and offer up what they possess.]

Ares could read a user’s brainwaves, which meant it could also read the user’s current emotional state.

The value of what he had offered—gold alone came to 1.4 billion won.

And beyond all that—

(Martial God’s Cloak)

Grade: Transcendent

Durability: Infinite

Defense: 467

Restriction: Level 450 or higher

Special Abilities:

· Active Skill: Cloak Unfurling

Description: This is the cloak of the Martial God who once ruled the world. Through the Martial God’s Cloak, he crossed the line of death many times.

It was a crimson cloak.

Martial God?

Since Hyunsoo did not know that the examiner named Ren had been the Martial God, he could only be puzzled.

Information on a new powerhouse?

Hidden powerhouses were everywhere, and supposedly not even one-tenth of Ares’s setting had been revealed yet.

As a blacksmith, Hyunsoo doubted at a glance why this was even Transcendent.

At a rough glance, it looks Legendary.

But if he examined it closely, the truth became clear.

First of all—

It bears the name Martial God, but there’s no class restriction.

Of course, it had the level requirement of 450 or above, but that was practically the same as having none.

This is insane...

A mage, an assassin, a swordsman, a cook, a sculptor, even a blacksmith—

every class could equip it. That alone was an incredible privilege.

And one more effect proved why this was Transcendent.

(Cloak Unfurling)

Active Skill

Grade: Transcendent

Level: None

Mana Cost: 7,000

Penalty: None

Effect:

· You spread the cloak wide and raise it to a height of 10 meters.

· All attack skills that come into contact with the unfurled cloak are nullified.

· It is not restricted by the opponent’s strength or level.

Ghk...

Absolute nullification.

Even if the opponent were literally a god, it would nullify the attack no matter what.

Even if five dragons all fired their Breath at once, it would nullify it.

Or—

an archdemon’s ultimate skill.

Hyeji’s Massacre Bow.

Like that, it could nullify even the ultimate skill of a Great Archdemon, or the ultimate attack unleashed through Hyeji’s Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.

In Ares, an ultimate skill referred not only to the most outstanding power, but also to something manifested by colliding with one’s own limits.

Even a demon had to gather its mana to the utmost in order to use an ultimate skill.

And if this Martial God’s Cloak were unfurled at that exact moment?

The demon would be left hollowed out, staring only at its sharply depleted mana and sinking into dejection.

Can a grade really be decided this high from a single effect alone? Then maybe it’s not bad to strip away useless effects and pour everything into one overwhelming thing.

It even gave Hyunsoo a new realization.

The artifacts Hyunsoo made generally had three or four Active or Passive Skills.

But among those, the ones he actually used were limited.

Instead, this made him think that going forward, in battles against true powerhouses, it might be more useful to maximize one single effect to the utmost and equip that.

In Hyunsoo’s own judgment,

5 billion.

Its rarity was extraordinary.

No matter what other Transcendent-grade artifact one brought, it would be hard to get something like this.

The description is exactly right.

It said that the Martial God had crossed the line of death many times through this cloak.

Just like that, this cloak was an absolutely necessary artifact that would divide life and death for Hyunsoo many times in the future.

And Hyunsoo said to Raon as Raon straightened up,

“Good work. Get some rest. Let’s meet again in two hours.”

Hyunsoo logged out first, and Raon followed him out.

*****

Kumar.

Does he really think of me as nothing but a slave?

Honestly, he was disappointed.

What Kumar had been hoping for was something like, Thank you, Raon. You really matter to me, Raon.

As an orphan, Kumar had offered it all up while hoping it would draw him closer to Hyunsoo.

But with nothing more than a casual “Good work,” Hyunsoo had swallowed up over 6 billion won in value.

Of course, Kumar had offered it in the sense of repaying the Grand Thief’s Mask, but the value of what Kumar had given was far greater.

Then again, someone like him would probably be ashamed to call a thief and an orphan bastard like me his companion.

Kumar looked back on himself.

Their first meeting had been as thief and king.

He had become a slave out of fear of the kill order, and maybe Hyunsoo thought of this as just a connection that would be cut off in six months.

A relationship built on being used thoroughly.

Thinking that, Kumar stepped out of his house.

He was fairly wealthy by Indian standards, but he still lived in the slums.

He lived frugally for the sake of his dream of building an orphanage, and at the very least, among the children around him, there were no longer any pickpockets.

Forget it. I was the one who got carried away all by myself.

That was what he concluded—just define it as a contractual relationship with Hyunsoo, nothing more.

It was then—

“...?”

Kumar froze.

His dream was to become a man like Kabel.

And that very Kabel was standing there among the children running through the slums.

Kumar was stunned.

Seeing his idol right in front of him, he could only stare in confusion.

Soon, Kabel held out something of unknown origin.

On the paper were the names of hundreds of artifacts, along with the names of nobles or other well-known figures.

“It’s information on the corrupt nobles of Ares and the artifacts they possess. If you steal based on this information, you should be able to build your orphanage much faster.” 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“...!!!?”

“I was in India on business when Hyunsoo contacted me. He purchased all of this information with his own private money. He paid around 2 billion won for it, but its real value would be at least 10 billion. Don’t forget that I’m a man employed by him today. It seems he was probably too embarrassed to say it directly to your face.”

Raon received the paper with the information from Kabel and was moved.

Grand Thief Raon’s greatest weakness had always been a lack of information.

If he did not know where an artifact was, he could not steal it.

And the phrase “corrupt nobles” told him something else as well.

“Hyunsoo asked me to pass this along. You are never to lay a hand on the artifacts of the innocent again.”

Raon nodded vigorously, then listened to the rest of Hyunsoo’s message as relayed by Kabel.

“Even if that was the way you protected yourself, it won’t be permitted from now on. When it is permitted, it must only be when it poses a danger to you, to him, or to the nation of Hyun. Also, as of today, the six-month slave contract has been torn up.”

Raon stared in shock, listening to every word.

“However, he will not accept you into his guild.”

“......!”

Raon could not understand that at all.

He was tearing up the slave contract, yet at the same time refusing to let him join the guild?

So in the end, he just doesn’t want a thief like me in his guild...?

Raon realized something as he looked at Kabel’s expression.

“You need to build your own home base.”

Kabel understood Hyunsoo’s intentions.

If Grand Thief Raon entered the nation of Hyun, he would remain no more than a guild member.

But if he succeeded in this “great cause,” he too would become the lord of countless people.

In other words, Hyunsoo did not want him bound by pointless loyalty or words about becoming a slave.

But from Raon’s perspective, he wanted to grow closer to Hyunsoo.

That was why he had forced himself to bring him tens of billions of won in loot.

And when he started thinking that, at this rate, he and Hyunsoo were ultimately destined to drift apart—

“He also told me to say this: ‘Unless you’d rather be my friend.’”

“.......”

Raon had lived his whole life without a single friend.

Kabel turned away.

“Oh, one last thing.”

As Kabel disappeared into the crowd, he passed along the final message.

“Thank you, Raon.”