Under the pitch-black sky of Faloro, on a vast wasteland, the evening wind was bleak, blowing the low grass and trees to sway gently. Dark clouds were gathering in the dark sky, obscuring the bright moon that was gradually setting in the west.
Under the hazy moonlight, a tall, ancient castle stood isolated on the wasteland, which had almost no other settlements. The castle, with its city walls, arrow towers, main building, and tall tower, was a typical example of the late Bourbons style of Faloro and was remarkably well-preserved. The sense of history it contained made it look like a giant artifact displayed in solitude.
In this late hour of the night, the ancient castle was brightly lit. Fires from various sources illuminated the entire castle, as if the people inside hadn't rested all night. On the roofs of the main building and the towers, numerous sculptures were decorated. These sculptures were not the heroic warriors or plump women usually seen on buildings, but rather monsters with bared fangs and claws, ferocious faces, and outstretched wings.
Inside the main building of this large castle, there was a grand and enormous audience hall adorned with luxurious decorations. Various silks were used to decorate the edges of the hall. Three huge chandeliers with countless crystals hung from the ceiling. Various exquisite and ancient furnishings decorated the corners, lifelike portraits hung high on the walls, and solemn armor was placed along the walls, silently guarding with weapons in hand. Just like the black monster statues outside the hall, Stone Gargoyles were also decorated along the ceiling edges of the hall, crouching on top of the stone pillars, silently gazing at the scene in the hall below.
At the rear of the hall, a high throne with steps was placed there. On the high-backed throne, a slightly aged figure was seated at this moment.
He was an old man who looked to be in his fifties. He was wearing a gray-brown robe in the style of ancient Faloro nobility, decorated with the intricate gold thread embroidery unique to the late Bourbons period. He had a white cravat at his collar and a flat noble's cap on his head. His beard and hair were white but meticulously groomed, with each curl of white hair resembling a judge's wig. On his face, which didn't have too many wrinkles, a pair of slightly narrowed eyes stared ahead.
Where the old man's gaze was focused, three figures were kneeling on the floor of the hall. They were the three Chalk cadres of the Dark Gold Society in Faloro: Angri, Dok, and Kleven. Having completed their mission, they were respectfully kneeling before their Lord, reporting the results of their task.
"Mr. Frederico, we have obtained the item. Although it is regrettable that we did not catch the thief, we still managed to get the target."
Kneeling on the ground, Angri respectfully spoke to the old man named Frederico before him. As he spoke, he took an object from his clothes and held it out, which was an irregular Golden object.
Frederico, sitting on the throne, silently gazed at the Golden object in Angri's hand for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the three kneeling figures, and slowly spoke in a slightly serious tone.
"The three of you combined... couldn't catch him alone?"
"We are very sorry, Mr.. The abilities of that Thief K are very strange and elusive. We have never seen anything like it before. The three of us tried very hard to control his movements, but we did not succeed. Fortunately, we finally used some extreme methods and buried him directly."
Beside Angri, Dok continued to respond to Frederico. After hearing his subordinate's words, Frederico pondered for a while and then spoke again.
"Strange abilities... As expected, that Thief K has many secrets. You will report the details of his abilities to me later. Now, give me that thing."
"Yes." Responding to Frederico's words, Angri, who had been kneeling on the ground, immediately stood up and walked forward, presenting the irregular Golden object he was holding. After Frederico took the Golden base from Angri's hand, Angri slowly retreated to his original position and continued to kneel on the ground, while Frederico began to seriously examine the Golden base in his hand.
"Excellent craftsmanship... using the casting method, it is clearly the work of a top craftsman from the First Dynasty, and just like the crystals of Maria's Light, this thing looks like Golden... but in fact, it is a special metal extremely similar to Golden... The First Dynasty was able to create such a thing, perhaps with the help of the power of the'Shi' (Stone) of that era."
While examining the Golden base in his hand, Frederico murmured softly. As a high-ranking member of the Dark Gold Society, a Scarlet Tier Extraordinary of "Stone", he clearly possessed strong appraisal abilities. At this moment, he was using all his knowledge to identify the authenticity of this Golden base. After looking at it for five or six minutes, he found no flaws in the Golden base.
This Golden base was genuine. Angri and the others had indeed found Thief K's base, eliminated him, and successfully brought back the target trophy.
After confirming this point, Frederico couldn't help but nod slightly. Then he raised his head again and gazed at the three subordinates who were still kneeling before him.
"Move aside."
Upon hearing Frederico's command, Angri and the other two stood up one after another and then moved to the sides of the hall. Then Frederico waved his hand again, and under a strange power fluctuation, the entire hall suddenly began to vibrate slightly, and a rumbling sound echoed in the space.
In this slight vibration, the floor of the hall began to split open under the drive of some mechanism, revealing the hidden space beneath. Then, dazzling halos shone out from within, illuminating various locations in the hall.
These halos came from the contents stored within that hidden space, which were piles and piles of gold coins, silver coins, various jewels and exquisite vessels, almost filling an entire room with precious metals and gems piled together, reflecting the surrounding Light and emitting sparkling points of brilliance, increasing the nobility of the entire space by several degrees. This hidden space was a Baoku (Treasure House), a Baoku (Treasure House) filled with all kinds of treasures!
After opening his underground Baoku (Treasure House), Frederico waved his hand again, and then a small bronze box inlaid with a large gem in that Baoku (Treasure House) automatically flew up and flew towards Frederico. Frederico immediately opened the small bronze box after receiving it. Inside, there were four large, sparkling prismatic crystals.
Frederico took out the crystals from the small bronze box and then began to try to combine them with the Golden base. After a while, Frederico had installed all the crystals. Frederico began to study the entire Golden base inlaid with crystals, and after only a short study, his expression couldn't help but change.
"No... this is..."
As soon as Frederico's words were spoken, a sudden change occurred on the scene. For some unknown reason, all the window panes in the hall burst simultaneously, making a loud sound. Two small stick-like objects were suddenly thrown in from the windows somewhere, and then these two objects suddenly exploded, and what burst out from them was an extremely dazzling and blinding strong Light.
The strong Light instantly filled the entire space of the hall, making it difficult for those inside to see normally for a while. In this blinding strong Light, a ghostly Shadow entered the hall from the broken window and flew directly towards Frederico at high speed without touching the ground.
Although his vision was obscured by the strong Light and he didn't sense any vibration, Frederico immediately realized that a dangerous action targeting him was unfolding. At this critical moment, Frederico quickly manipulated the elemental power within his body and released a strong gust of wind that spread outwards with himself as the center. After this gust of wind surged outwards, the strong flash on the scene had dimmed and gradually disappeared. Then, after Angri and the other two regained their vision, what they saw was a figure that was sent flying, rolled twice in the air, adjusted its posture, and landed safely, standing steadily on the ground.
Top hat and mask, cloak and formal attire, that figure was familiar to the Angri trio. Upon seeing him, they all stood up and exclaimed.
"Thief K?!"
"How is that possible? You're not dead yet?!"
"How did you... find your way here!"
Amidst the astonished gazes of the Dark Gold Society trio, the Thief, who had just landed steadily, slowly stood up. He faced the Dark Gold Society trio before him and Frederico, who was still seated in the main chair. He adjusted his top hat and smiled as he spoke.
"It is my mistake as a performer to disappoint the three guests, but there is nothing I can do about it. As a magician, I still need to bring performances to more audiences and cannot just die somewhere casually."
The Thief spoke very politely. Listening to his words, Frederico, who was sitting in his seat, narrowed his eyes slightly, then spoke in a tone that betrayed no emotion.
"You are... the so-called Thief K?"
"Precisely, Mr. Frederico, as a junior, I offer you my sincere greetings here." The Thief said this to Frederico, even bowing slightly as he spoke. Upon hearing the Thief's words, Frederico sneered.
"Heh, junior? Whose junior are you?"
"Naturally, a junior in the thieving business. In a sense, aren't we all in the business of being thieves? It's just that I usually steal from museums and collectors, while you can steal an entire country. You are on a much higher level than me, wouldn't you say? The last Prime Minister of the Bourbons..."
The Thief continued to speak to Frederico with a smile, and upon hearing the Thief's words, a hint of seriousness flashed across Frederico's expression. He then coldly ordered.
"Slick-tongued... take him down."
As soon as Frederico's words fell, the impatient Dark Gold Society trio immediately donned their gray-black hard outer shells, spread their wings, drew their weapons, and charged towards Thief K at high speed. Just like that, after a period of ceasefire, the four of them were once again engaged in a chaotic battle.
This chaotic battle was almost exactly the same as the last time. The three of them attacked the Thief directly in various ways, but she easily resolved and dodged them. The Thief still moved freely through countless dangers, without being harmed in the slightest.
Knowing that normal attacks would not work, the Dark Gold Society trio began to cooperate in battle after a while. Seizing the opportunity when the Thief leaped and dodged, Kleven took out a rune and slapped it on the ground. Immediately, the ground in front began to soften, becoming like a swamp. The Thief landed on the ground and then the whole person sank directly into it, with almost half of her body submerged in the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, the other two Stone Gargoyles flying in mid-air immediately launched their attacks. They both sprayed a stream of fire towards the Thief who was trapped by the ground, completely engulfing her in a blazing fire snake.
Looking at the battle situation in front of him, Frederico felt for a moment that the outcome was decided. And just as the thought that the so-called Thief K was nothing more than a thief with quick and good skills arose in his mind, he suddenly felt an abnormality behind him.
An afterimage, an afterimage almost invisible to the naked eye, shot out from behind Frederico, rapidly attacking the object he held in his hand. Seeing this situation, Frederico's pupils widened slightly, and then he unleashed another impact storm, a repulsive gust of wind that rushed outwards. The force of this storm was even stronger than before, blowing away the objects around Frederico while also completely destroying the throne he was sitting on.
Under this powerful impact, a figure was sent flying from behind Frederico. The Thief's light figure spun a few times in the air before landing back on the ground. Seeing the Thief about to land, Frederico, who had lost his chair and was now standing, threw a fireball at her with a flick of his hand. The Thief Magician, who had just regained her balance, saw the fireball approaching her, directly waved her cloak, transforming it into a burst of flowers that scattered. Immediately, countless flame-colored petals slowly drifted down in the air of the hall, landing on the ground.
Looking at the scattered petals and the Thief Magician in the rain of flowers, as well as Frederico who had stood up with a serious expression, he now understood why his subordinates said that the person before him had strange abilities. He had just been suddenly approached from behind without his knowledge and hadn't noticed it immediately, which was simply unbelievable.
However, although this Thief's ability was strange and her movements were fast, she still hadn't succeeded in stealing anything from him, so her strength should still be relatively limited. As long as he was careful, dealing with her shouldn't be too difficult... This was Frederico's current thought, and just as this thought flashed through his mind, the Thief in the distance spoke again.
"Oh my... you reacted quite quickly, as expected of a senior. Your adaptability is indeed strong. If it were someone else, I estimate I would have completely succeeded."
In the rain of flowers, the Thief Magician murmured as she slowly spread out one of her hands. On her white glove, a large, crystal-clear crystal was quietly lying.
After seeing the crystal, Frederico's eyes widened slightly, and then he looked at his hand. He found that on the fake golden base in his hand, there was indeed one less crystal. Only three of the original four crystals remained.
She still succeeded!
Seeing this scene, Frederico's heart grew heavy. Although the other party did not steal everything, this also proved that if he only maintained this state, let alone catching the other party, he might not even be able to keep the things on him. Thief K's performance just now made Frederico realize that he probably couldn't rely solely on his subordinates to deal with the Thief before him.
"Despicable little thief... you won't steal anything from me again..."
Frederico murmured this, and then he removed the remaining three crystals from the fake golden base, while also turning the skin on his body black and gray.
This change was synchronized with Frederico's rapidly expanding body. As his body gradually grew larger, his face began to become ferocious and terrifying, and sharp claws, pointed horns, and wings broke through his thick skin and stretched out.
"Here... everything belongs to me! Look at these... they are all my wealth, you won't take a single cent tonight!"
Amidst Frederico's loud declaration, the Baoku (Treasure House) beneath the hall floor began to stir. Countless gold and silver coins and jewels seemed to be pulled by some invisible force, floating up with continuous rustling sounds, and then rapidly flying towards the expanding Frederico, pouring into his mouth in a rush. The other three remaining crystals in Frederico's hand also flew into his open mouth along with the other jewels, and were sucked into his body.
As these countless treasures were gradually swallowed by Frederico, his body also began to undergo various changes. On the originally gray-black, heavy skin, which was like a stone sculpture, a golden or silver metallic luster began to appear. On his wings and other large areas of exposed skin, various gems "grew" out of this solid stone skin.