It's been a couple of months since he stayed in the orphanage. He stayed there in order to learn how to read and write. The things he discovered living in Glory City is right down nasty.
"This city is just gross. First, everyone smells like wet dog or worst. The nobles smells like they bathe in perfume that the smell feels like ammonia. Secondly, they have outhouses for commoners in the middle of the 3 to 4 houses. Third and most nastiest of all, they don't have toilet paper and use water to wash their bums. Soap is not available, so they use herbs to take the smell of their hands. Yuck! then they cook and handle food you eat. And people greet with a handshake with those hands. WTF!!!" (Julien/ Kwangsoo)
He also found out that they only take baths once a week. They use purple haze grass around the outhouses to keep flies and insects out from people's waste products. He is the only one who uses soap and grass paper to wipe his a**. A lot of kids already thinks he is a former noble's child before he is orphaned by looking at his clothes which was very clean and looked expensive. Others have clothes with patches on them. Even lower nobles don't have nice clothes as him.
Kids stay away from him, since they think he might get adopted by his former clan. They think if they piss him off that there will be hell to pay. Plus he always carries a sword on his back.
Kwangsoo doesn't stay in the orphanage since he have demon coins which he stole from other noble children's storage rings. He always goes to the market and targets nobles and a**holes that are walking around. He can make their storage ring disappears from their fingers and transfer them in his inventory. He also steals purple haze grasses for future uses. He stays in the inn, since they have baths and private outhouses. Also the food is handled properly. He saw that the cook have soaps in the washing bins. For use in cleaning dishes and hands.
In the orphanage, since that's were the lessons are being conducted. The kids seems to be in malnutrition. He found out that they only ate twice a day. Oatmeal for breakfast and soup/ bread and fruits for dinner. It seems the orphanage matron is keeping a big chunk of the orphanage food budget to herself. The city lord give a good amount of monthly donation to help the orphanage. It was part of the city budget. He also found out that the matron puts a false amount of orphans in the reports for the city lord to increase the amount of donation in demon coins the orphanage receives.
"No wonder, she was excited when I showed up here. I thought the registration was a little fast. She put my name in different records already. Giving me 10 different names. So I count as 10 kids then." (Kwangsoo)
It was the middle of the night, he sneaked in the matron's office and looked at the documents. He was searching for the safe where the matron puts the embezzled demon coins. He's a thief after all. After hours of searching, he found a loose floor board. But when he opened it, he saw a small box. Inside the box is a few storage rings. He took a look at the storage rings and was shocked at the amount of demon coins in it. He also found the insignia of the dark guild in it.
"It looks like the dark guild is using the orphanage money to finance them. I cannot report this right now, since this city is not strong enough to handle the dark guild yet. Gotta wait til Nie Li get stronger." (Kwangsoo)
He then put everything back into place except the storage rings and exited the office via window. The window was locked and impenetrable. The only reason he can sneak in there was due to putting the window into his inventory. And put it back when he exited.
He then made his way back into the inn. It taken a whole week until the matron discovered the robbery and tried hard to look for the culprit. She never suspect Kwangaoo since she thinks he have his inheritance to keep him sustained and not needed money.
The matron was replaced soon by a different person. The matron was not seen again in Glory City. The new matron is also from the dark guild but he made the office to convert into his bedroom to keep the embezzled money and documents near him. He guard them like a hawk.
Kwangsoo didn't even think about robbing them again. It's the rule of the thieves. Never rob a guy twice or you'll get caught.
While walking around the marketplace and robbing nobles, he noticed there are a lot more guards in the area. So he thought that he have to change to a different location soon for his hunting ground for storage rings. He was thinking of going to the upper area marketplace where higher nobles shops.
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(Timeskip 1 year)
They never captured the thief in the market place. They added extra security at the entrance. They padded everyone's body before entering and record how much money they had and what they purchased. Due to Kwangsoo's perfect thievery, people suspect it was done by the dark guild.
Kwangsoo always carry a pouch with some demon coins to avoid suspicions. So when he gets patted down, he always say that he is there to buy food from the vendors. There were guards at every corner and every stall.
"Man, .... The budget for the guards must be astronomical. Ye Zong probably getting more grey hairs by now." (Kwangsoo)
Kwangsoo hit every market place already and robbed nobles. When the nobles found out that they are the only ones targeted. They started to dress like commoners. But the storage rings is the dead give away. Since then, the nobles started to carry pouches with their storage rings inside.
Kwangsoo don't rob people with pouches. It shows they are poor nobles. So he don't target them at all. But he didn't know the nobles was aware of his tactic. That day he stopped robbing people since he don't see storage rings.
"Nah~ I don't care anymore. I have enough demon coins anyway. I already learned to read and write. It's time to go to the library and learn cultivation." (Kwangsoo)
He walked in the public library. It was a little disgusting. If you have ever been to a dumpster, that's the smell you can smell. The library is near the public outhouse too. He saw some cockroaches sprinting on the floor. Rats on the corner. There were purple haze grass on the bookshelf to keep insects away from the books.
"Urgh, is purple haze grass the solution for everything around here. I don't even want to touch these books, so many people that didn't wash their hands touched these things. But knowledge is power. Once i finished getting everything from Glory City, I'm going to another human settlement. There have to be a settlement with indoor plumbing or with clean hygiene. ~ Oh~ I know! If there is none, I'll just build one myself when I get older. Maybe build a house near a river." (Kwangsoo)
He was studying to prepare for the heavenly orchid apprentice school next year. He has to pass the assessment in order to get in. He wants to read the ancient scriptures in the school library that can only be accessed by students.
His next order of business was the alchemy association. Luckily, their library is open to the public for a certain price of demon coins. You cannot take any books home. So you can only read it in their library. The books are for getting ready for taking the alchemy exams. The more advance books are only reserved for members of the alchemy association.
For the whole year, he studied basic alchemy to perfection. Since his knowledge was only basic. He only passed for an alchemist apprentice.
"Well, we all have to start from the bottom anyways. Atleast I'm allowed to go study the more intermediate to advance books now."
He was the youngest alchemists apprentice in Glory City, so his name got out in public. It was still normal to see 1 or 2 kid apprentice. The former youngest was only a year older than him. So people don't mind him. It's only a alchemists apprentice. If he was a master, then that's a different story.
Afterwards, he headed to the assessment for the holy orchard fighter apprentice school. They were surprised that he is already bronze rank 1 star at age 12. Little that they know that he is already 5 star silver rank. He is suppressing it to bronze rank. He didn't. have a good cultivation method, so he put the energies that can make him breakthrough the gold rank toward his inventory. He knows that when he merge with the shadow demon, it will rise his cultivation straight to gold. But without a solid foundation, it will only hinder him in growth or even kill him.
"Maybe I can ask Nie Li a good cultivation for me. But i need to keep low key. I can't handle assassins gunning for me like Nie Li. I won't be able to sleep at night. I want a slow life in this life. But I need to be strong enough to protect myself." (Kwangsoo)