On the bustling roads of Lunar City, people from all different walks of life mingled, well except for the clear division between those wearing tattered clothes and those in gold and silver.
Amongst them was a strange group, not belonging to either. Four figures, two in black robes, hoods covering their faces, their height a bit taller than average, roughly 6 feet.
Walking beside them was another figure in black, albeit much shorter, about 5'7. Lastly, a little clothed figure titled behind them, his cloak a forest green.
"Why are we dressing like criminals if we want to be covert? Shouldn't we try to blend in with the nobles or commoners?" The figure in the green cloak questioned, a childish voice seeking answers escaping its hood.
"Obviously, but that would help us do some petty robbing, nothing more. We're here to make bigger plays." The black-cloaked figure replied.
Naturally, the group of misfits was Alex and his unreliable gang. As for the 4th figure similar to Alex in height, it was naturally his new and improved Adaptive Clone.
"What's the plan?" The third black figure asked, a woman's voice echoing out.
"Simple, my clone goes up to one of those fancy carriages, makes a scene, hopefully drawing out the noble or nobles inside and going for a suicide theft strategy. Preferably, I'd like to kill one or two nobles; it'll help later on. But we don't have the firepower for it." Alex explained, his mind still trying to think of the best possible way to go about this.
From his perspective when he went to sow some karma, he noticed the stark contrast between the nobles and commoners. Strictly speaking, he wasn't either. But he still leaned towards the common folk.
This wasn't due to his righteousness or the thought that he was once like them on Earth; it arose from the fact that he really hated the smug expression on those nobles' faces as they looked outside at the world of peasants from their luxurious carriage.
Add on the fact that the easiest way to strike it rich was stealing from the rich, well it seemed like the stars were aligning against those wealthy few.
His plan was a three-step scheme to ensure they had made a minimum of 100 silver. It didn't sound like much, but it was enough to get them all a basic technique to have some combat strength.
Phase 1, petty theft.
Amidst the moving crowd; a heavy carriage was pulled forward by two white horses, two men in uniform sitting on top of them. The carriage itself was lavish, its windows were made from cyan glass, while its walls were wooden with symbols of a snake engraved on them.
The gold and silver lining throughout the carriage tempted even him to scrape some off for some quick change, yet no one did, as if it was a taboo.
At this moment, in front of this carriage, a black figure stepped forward, holding an enchanting look base in hand.
The carriage abruptly stopped, the stewards at the front feeling their expressions grow stiff.
"Out of the way, commoner, who you cannot afford to offend, you must avoid." The steward advised, surprisingly not as cruel and mocking as Alex expected.
"I would humbly like to offer this box of silver to the noble; I wonder if that,, to,o, is a sin?" The black-robed figure replied, his voice quaking like a child who had been betrayed.
"The noble has no need for such action-" the steward spoke up, yet he was interrupted by a voice from inside the carriage.
"Let him through, I'm finally getting to meet some grateful commoners, delightful." A haughty voice spoke, seemingly belonging to a young man on the cusp of maturity.
The steward darted his eyes back and forth between the black-robed figure and the carriage behind him, debating for a second before announcing, "Very well, you may proceed."
With that, the black figure moved past the steward, heading for the door of the carriage.
"Woosh," with a blast of wind, the door was pushed open; sitting inside was a calm young man; he was dressed in some leather pants and a long coat. His looks were unremarkable, only standing out because of the annoying expression on his face. That, and the bulging pouch at his waist.
"I offer this to the noble." The figure moved forward, standing just outside the carriage, allowing the noble to step forward and receive the gift on his own.
"Very well" the young man moved forward, his hand grasping the box as he tried to pull it out of the robed figures hands.
The figure, looked up and into the eyes of the noble, nothing but his green eyes visible.
"Gotcha" he said, pushing himself half way into the carriage just enough to grip onto the nobles pouch, anticipating retaliation. Soon, with a push he flew back dramatically now holding onto the box aswell as a pouch.
While he fell back he spotted a similarly dressed figure in the crowd, a smile bursting on his face as he threw the items in his hand behind himself, performing an agile flip to rise to his feet and run into the a nearby alley.
Suddenly, chaos broke out. The stewards of the nobles running behind the cloaked figure while their young master barked orders. On the other side the commoners broke loose from their inhibitions, scrambling to get the 'loot'
Alex smiled, looking at the small but full pouch in his hand.
"Let's go." He said quietly, the three of them blending into the chaotic tide and walking away.
This was Phase 1 complete, partially. His goal was to do this atleast two more times. Once was possible, two could be coincidental but three was definitely scripted robbery.
The only reason he didn't go for more was that it would be too wide spread, someone was stealing from nobles, they'd put up their guard. The only reason this worked was because of how lax the nobles and their guards had become after all these years of peace.
Finally entering a somewhat calm market, Alex opened up the pouch to reveal numerous silver coins.
He counted twenty-three, add on the forgotten duplication feature and it was a beautiful forty-six silver pieces. This was only Phase one of three, he had underestimated how deep these nobles pockets were.
"Onto the next one!" An excited voice said, this time coming from Liam.
Was this why those mom's in middle school told kids not to hang around with him? Because he was a bad influence? Oh well, morals were second in a world were strength mattered most.
Two more coordinated thefts later, he had an additional pouch to show for it. He raided two more carriages, one that had a bird emblem plastered all over and another with a Tinkerbell type fairy. The bird one housed a middle aged man, from what Liam said he was actually at the Peak of the Path Genesis Realm. Luckily he still pulled it off because the man was even more relaxed.
Lastly, for the fairy one. It was a girl, blonde and arrogant as all girls in novels. Sadly, her pouch was a bit lower than expected hanging around her hips. Needless to say, Alex did not snatch it out of shame.
Either way, he had made a pretty buck, the middle aged man added a handful of thirty silver pieces, meaning overall he had made around a hundred pieces already.
As for Phase two? That would have to wait a few days, he needed to give the prey time to let fear soak in aswell as the hunters needing time to recognize their king.
For now, it was time to get some techniques. Well he could only afford one copy after the clone duplication, but no matter.
So the band of theives headed towards an unfamiliar structure in the distance, a majestic blue tower that reached into the clouds, words conjured up through Path Qi Infront of it spelling out "Guilded Stars"
Upon arriving at it's doorstep, the trio went in, Alex recalling how he had learned about this tower from the talkative old man who he helped during his Karmic pursuit.
"Good Evening Guests! How would you like me to serve you today?" A short woman asked, her brown eyes sparkling with the thought of commissions.
"We would like to look at your Profound Grade Spells, the price should inch around a hundred silver pieces." Alex said confidently, his mind still praying that the information about spell prices Liam gathered wasn't wrong. Maybe he should have checked beforehand.
"Right away Sir!" The girl said, efficiently sliding over to a rack towards the right and tapping on 5 books before bringing them over.
"These are the spells that we currently have available Sir, they're all priced at exactly ninety-five silver pieces." She said, displaying the 5 books Infront of her.
"Could you summarize their advantages and disadvantages?" Alex said from under the hood, cluelessly forgetting that he had a all knowing library standing beside him.
"Of course!" She continued
"This here, is the most bought Spell, it's a conjuring spell. You can conjure up your Qi into different objects or phenomena, the strength depending on how much Qi is put into it. It's also what was used by the manager to write Guilded Stars on the tower."
"This, is a bit less sold primarily because of it's specific requirements. It's purpose is to allow the user to team up with others, merging their Path Qi to shoot out a white dragon, it's strength once again depending on the amount of Qi input but to use it you also need to have the conjuring spell. It's a team formation, suitable for you three."
"Next, this is a movement technique, it aims to enhance the legs temporarily with Qi allowing them to burst forward with more speed, at full mystery one can gain a increase of 3 times in speed."
"This is a defense technique, it once again requires the conjuring spell as a foundation to use. But it is very sturdy and the mastery version of it can even talk a hit from peak Path Genesis Realm expert."
As she turned to the last book, her expression changed a bit and she said nervously "This is a Body Refining Technique. It's priced the same as others but is actually a High Profound Grade spell. It's priced so low because of the heavy requirements on resources to cultivate it. I wouldn't recommend it to you unless you're the heir of a very rich Clan or Sect."
The trio took in all the information, huddling up behind the counter.
"I want the conjuring spell" Liam stated.
"I do aswell" Rose joined in
"I want the Body Refining Technique" Alex ruined the chain.
Feeling the gazes filled with contempt locking onto him he quickly explained "My clones, I'll be able to duplicate treasures I can just buy one, duplicate, sell and buy a different one I need. The conjuring technique isn't too good for me since my advantage will only show when I have more Paths going."
"Fair." The two replied
The trio turned towards the smiling girl, Alex taking charge. "We'll take one conjuring spell."
Silence seemed to creep into the room, the girl adopting a saddened expression as if cursing life for playing tricks on her.