The walk to the building was eerily silent in the stillness of the moon. The streets were scarcely filled and very few people lingered upon the midnight roads. It felt like danger was in the air and it showed as a few people were getting mugged as they walked past.
It was a strange feeling walking by people who were getting mugged.
'Am I supposed to be a hero?' Rick thought to himself.
Lucas patted him on the shoulder after seeing his troubled gaze.
"It's not our problem. People get mugged everyday and we can't stop each one so why stop them at all? It's the guards responsibilities and they obviously aren't doing their job. So why should we have to?"
"I guess that makes sense. It just feels wrong."
Lucas nodded. "It always will. Save them if you wish but I'm sure it will get old after the tenth time or so. It just happens too often for us to bother. Now if they murder someone is when I step in. You can't let someone die on your watch. But robbery under the moon is harmless to us. It's bad to have thieves names smeared in the ground by those who kill."
Silence followed as Rick pondered over the thought. It was a lot to take in... too much to take in. The walk was brisk yet long, so on the way Rick decided to take a look at the new stealth skill he had received.
---
Lesser Stealth is the precursor ability to the legendary Stealth Skill. This skill allows one to delve and hide their body in shadows and by doing so they have a higher likely hood to unlock the following skills,
---
'This skill is insane. Perhaps it's not too powerful right now but the capabilities of unlocking new skills was amazing.'
'But I have to be careful with it as I only have 4 stamina at maximum. That means 20 seconds of stealth.'
'Not much for now but if I up my endurance.... it should increase by a large amount!'
---
The walk was finished as they approached the silent market. It was filled with very few stall owners who were just packing up their stalls after a long night of trading. They approached the familiar looking stall that housed Grants potions and elixirs.
It was empty and the lights indoors were off. It was incredibly silent.
"When we move inside you must be careful when you activate shadow shroud. It is heavily taxing on the mind and if your mind is not sufficient then you will crack and go insane. Be careful."
"But I didn't get an ability called Shadow Shroud." Rick protested.
"Then what ability did you get?" Lucas raised an eye brow.
"Lesser Stealth."
"Hmm... an advanced thief skill. You shouldn't get that until you become an actual thief. It's much better than Shadow Shroud, just a little... hard to control. It requires you to manipulate your body to blend in with it's surroundings. Similar to a chameleon but more advanced."
"It's more taxing on the body though and requires skill to activate it properly. Good luck on this mission nonetheless and remember... don't kill the target your stealing from. No matter what. It leaves a bad taste in the rich's mouth and if that happens they will start sending people after the orphanage and that can't be happening. "
"I understand though I don't agree with it I will try my damndest not to kill anyone. Even though that may be a little hard to stop myself when all I have is my bare hands." Rick said sarcastically.
"Ah... On that note here is your starting gear." Lucas said before reaching into his backpack and pulling out simple leather armor and a set of thieves tools.
"There is a manual in there on lock picking. give it a read sometime. It will help you a lot in the future. This first one will be free."
Lucas proceeded to walk up to the door give it a light knock and before Rick knew it the door was open and darkness awaited him inside. He then faded into a cloak of darkness without another word.
It seems like this time Rick would be on his own.
Rick slowly walked forward trying out
'20 seconds on the clock. Let's get this done.'
Rick swiftly moved into the main room, his sounds being muffled by the strange state he was in. Inside this room was a simple counter and a few stools. Behind the counter though was an entire different question. It was racks and racks of custom made potions.
On that rack alone was probably close to 2000 gold pieces just laying there. And that's only if each potion was 50 gold a piece.
He quickly rushed over and started to put all of them into the bag he brought with him. He managed to snag at least 12 healing potions before a noise came from upstairs. It was the creaking of a floor board.
'Was that someone moving around?!' Rick thought to himself as he went completely still.
The sound continued as a small amount of light was released as the incredibly tired Grant with alert eyes made his way down the stairway.
"W-Who goes there?!"
'F*ck!'