After a successful auction, alchemist Melvin left the auction house in a good mood. He had finally gotten the silver eye grass that he needed to be able to break through to a rank 3 alchemist.
Of course, even with the silvereye grass, he couldn't break through just yet. He still needed to increase his cultivation to the golden core formation realm.
However, he had already reached the peak of the foundation establishment realm so he wasn't too worried about that.
He was planning to enter seclusion immediately in order to break through and increase his cultivation.
After a 30-minute carriage ride, he finally arrived home. He entered into his courtyard that resembled a mansion and didn't find anything amiss.
He had a sumptuous dinner prepared for him and brought out his best wine in order to celebrate the days achievements.
Due to his excitement, he had failed to notice the black shadow that was loitering around him, watching his every movement.
Since he wanted to enter seclusion as soon as possible, he decided to have one last bout of enjoyment.
As he was enjoying his one-man party, an strange aroma slowly spread out into the room.
He didn't notice it due to his intoxication and was soon fast asleep before he could even relapse what was going on.
He fell asleep with his face in his food.
The shadow that was hiding in the corner of the room suddenly appeared next to him and gently removed his storage ring.
This shadow was naturally Adrian. He had been waiting for Melvin in his home all day in order to steal his furnace.
An alchemist's furnace is his greatest treasure and he wouldn't leave it just lying around anywhere.
Adrian wasn't hoping to find the furnace in the house but rather, he wanted to catch Melvin off guard.
He knew that he would be on alert after just attending an auction and would be wary of ambushes or sneak attacks on his way home.
Even though he was at the peak of the foundation establishment realm, his actual strength was much weaker than a normal peak stage foundation establishment realm.
Because he was an alchemist, he didn't have much attacking ability.
Even Adrian, with his current skills and cultivation would be able to beat him with some difficulty.
However, Adrian wasn't willing to take this risk. Not only would he have to expose himself, he wouldn't be able to end the fight quickly and Melvin could even run away.
In short, it was just plain stupid.
Stealing was much easier and safer.
Of course, this was only for Adrian. Any other individual would find it difficult to even enter alchemist Melvin's courtyard, talk less of his room.
Getting the ring off his finger would be even harder. Adrian had to use an incense meant to tranquilize beasts.
The incense he used could knock out a peak rank 3 beasts in an minute.
This was one of the items he had prepared when he was heading into the misty mountains.
It's no wonder Melvin didn't even last 10 seconds before he was out like a light.
Very few people would think about using it in this manner.
As Adrian was praising himself for his ingenuity, he was prepared to make his get away. After all, he had gotten what he came here for.
He didn't bother checking the storage ring.
Every storage ring is branded with the owners spiritual mark and had to be removed before others could check the contents of the ring.
The only way to do this was to either kill the owner or to forcefully erase the spiritual mark.
However forcefully erasing the spiritual mark would alert the owner.
This was why he didn't do so right away.
The erasure could cause Melvin to wake up and right now, that was the last thing he wanted to happen.
As he was making his way out of the room, he heard a commotion outside in the courtyard.
It sounded like the guards were rushing somewhere.
His heart sank as he thought he had been caught.
However, he soon heard the commotion of fighting in the courtyard which perplexed him even more.
When he came outside, the found the guards fighting with a group of black-robed individuals who were wearing masks.