Gracie snorted as she rolled her eyes at Head Butler, "Humph! We'll see about that after I try. Since you brought him here already, I'll forgive you for being late. Now go and don't disturb me; I've learned some new skills that I want to practice." she entered her house after giving Kylan an unfriendly glance.
Kylan pretended not to see anything and quickly warned Ace, "You must follow Young Miss's every order if you want to live. Don't displease her in any way. Now go."
Ace ignored Kylan's warning and followed Gracie with his head down. However, they both didn't notice a brilliant glint flash past his eyes, 'I didn't think this Gracie would deliver herself to me this early and so easily.' He thought gloatingly.
Gracie saw Ace following her attentively and couldn't help but nod in satisfaction after seeing this 'respectful' lad. Most wastelandians would stare at her with hatred and resentment when they first came here.
"Mhmm, A slave should behave just like this." She mutters loudly to aggravate Ace, but he only grins coldly.
She opened a door, and Ace saw a vast open space in the back of her house. Sharp sword marks were on the ground, and rows of weapons were arranged on the side. It was clearly her personal training ground.
Gracie said indifferently, "Quickly, don't waste my time. Pick any weapon and attack me with everything you have."
Ace didn't move and meekly said, "May I speak a few words with the Third Lady first?"
Gracie frowned as she knitted her brows after hearing Ace's request but didn't attack him immediately. She only smiled darkly and said, "Speak, but if I don't like what you said, I will cut your tongue so you can't speak anymore."
Ace pretended as if he didn't see her dark smile and said respectfully, "Young Miss, here's a thing; ever since I was little, I can use a special skill."
When Gracie heard Ace's words, her eyebrow raised a little. She didn't think this barbarian of wastelands could use a particular skill. Moreover, she didn't feel any strong Qi in Ace's body. He was clearly a mortal, so how could he use a skill?
Gracie can't feel Ace's cultivation base because of Heavenly Qi. Only someone with two major cultivation realms higher than Ace can feel his actual cultivation base. Others would only think of him as an ordinary mortal.
That was also the reason why Ace was not worried about others finding out about his status as a cultivator. Because someone with two whole realms higher than Ace can't be founded in 2-Star City or even in 1-Start City easily.
Of course, he found out about this fact after paying Thief Points to the system while gritting his teeth.
Furthermore, it's not like mortals can't learn or use the skills. It's just that these kinds of characters were scarce, and all of them were geniuses among geniuses.
'Could it be this barbarian is a genius?' Gracie promptly shook her head, 'How could someone from the wasteland be a genius? Maybe he was just lucky.' This was the only explanation.
However, Gracie was still hooked and said playfully, "Mmm, A 'special skill,' you say? Fine, show me, and if it isn't something special, you know what will befall you."
Ace hurriedly shook his head as if he was panicking, "Young Miss, I didn't dare to use it on you and only need some other person to show it to you."
Ace was showing fear towards Gracie and probing her character to see if he could really move forward in the next step of his plan with her.
Gracie lost her patience and rebuked angrily, "Now use it already. It doesn't matter if it's me or someone else because if I don't like what I see, you are dead!"
Ace quivered a little, acting like he was afraid, and hurriedly closed his eyes and began to use 'Pick Pocket.' The moment the skill is active, a formless thread shoots from his finger straight toward Gracie's waist like an arrow.
Gracie didn't seem to notice that formless thread and stood still in her place, waiting for Ace to use his skill. When the formless thread touched her waist, it suddenly disappeared, and in Ace's hand appeared a small yellow pouch.
Ace knew this would happen, so he wasn't shocked by this, but what happened next thoroughly shocked him when he heard a sweet voice in his mind that he hadn't heard for quite some time,
=====
[Pick Pocket has been successful!]
[Host stole two trash-grade pills and 100 ruby coins.]
{Rewards: 0 Thief Points}
=====
Ace was flabbergasted by this unexpected system announcement, "You're telling me if I can pick someone's pocket, I get TP as a reward?!" He shouted in his mind dumbfoundedly because he didn't know he could earn TP with this skill.
Ace was acting according to his plan and didn't know that pick-pocket had this kind of use. This skill was his weakest because he didn't practice it much.
However, recently, he found out that this skill was not ordinary at all because it can be used with the 'Soul Qi' as well.
Actually, it works more perfectly with Heavenly Soul Qi than Heavenly Qi because he doesn't have to be close to the target and can use this skill from afar.
Just like now, he had activated pick-pocket with his Soul Qi, and the moment his Soul Qi touched the target, it instantly took the target's most essential belongings and sent them to Ace's hand directly. The most astonishing thing was the target couldn't notice it at all.
Ace found this peculiar side of this skill when he was getting used to his Heavenly Sense. He discovered that he could use the pick-pocket within his Heavenly Sense Range by using Soul Qi. He was delighted back then but hadn't imagined this skill could help him collect TP.
Ace calmed his excited heart because he was in front of Gracie and didn't want her to find something was wrong with his acting.
When Gracie saw the little yellow pouch appear in Ace's hand, her eyes went wide and nearly popped out of her eye sockets with shock. Subconsciously, she touched her waist and was bewildered because she didn't find her yellow money pouch. Because it was already in Ace's hand.
Before she could recover from her shock, Ace quickly spoke first, "My lady, this one apologized for his offense, but the Young Lady was the one who gave her command, so this lowly one can't disobey her. I hope Young Miss can show some grace and forgive this small person's offense."
Ace bowed lightly and politely gave her yellow pouch back to her. He was shivering a little as if he feared she would kill him, so he was begging for mercy first.
Gracie finally snapped out of her trance, quickly took her yellow pouch from Ace's hand, and stared angrily at him, "YOU! You... dare to steal from me.... and now you dare to beg for forgiveness? T-tell me how you do it... and teach me that skill, then I'll think about not punishing you!" She wasn't angry at all. On the contrary, she was very excited.
'If I learn this kind of skill, with it, I can steal from others without them knowing anything.' These were her actual thoughts.
Ace was expecting this, so he quickly answered with a panicked face, "Y-young Lady, it is not that I don't want to teach you. It's just that I can't teach you or anyone at that. This is a skill that I learned unknowingly. I don't know how I can do it. This skill came to me when I was five years old."
Gracie's face fell, and anger surfaced on it after she heard Ace reply, "Then why did you show it to me if you can't teach it to me?? Do you want to steal from me?!" She gripped her sword's hilt more strongly. If Ace didn't tell her a reasonable answer, she would attack him without holding back.
Ace told her his 'original motive' with a horrified-sicken face, "Young miss, I didn't want to steal from you! I showed it to you because I'm not good at fighting, and after I came here, I saw all those other 'brothers from wasteland' conditions. I was afraid of death, so I thought that if I showed enough value, I could be spared from this fighting and live an easy life from all those 'brothers' in that building." He shook his head vigorously as he explained his real 'purpose.'
As expected, Gracie seemed to calm down a bit after she heard Ace's explanation because it was highly reasonable; if he wants to live, then he has to show his worth,
Gracie also didn't suspect any lies in Ace's answer either. Because she, herself, has already killed more than ten wastelandians.
Gracie finally calmed down and said in a deep voice, "Then what you mean is you can steal from others and give those things to me. In return, you want better treatment from those other slaves? Do you think you are in a position to negotiate with me?!"
"Who said I give my stolen thing to Young Miss? If I got caught, no one would know where their stolen things were, right? And no one knows I can speak, did they, young miss?" He respectfully smiled at Gracie after he said those meaningful yet meaningless words.
Gracie was astounded by Ace's cunningness. 'Is he saying he will be mute in other people's eyes and give all those stolen things to me, and no one knows? But if he betrays me and spills the beans, I will be in huge trouble. So how can I trust him?' She mused.
Ace quickly spoke as if he had read her mind, "Young Miss, you can plant one of those slave marks on me!"
Once again, Gracie was startled by Ace's decisiveness!