Thief's skill Scout!

Alchemy Pill Business was maybe the most opulent industry in the entire world.

Because alchemy pills were used for many things, such as healing, rejuvenation, detoxification, and, most importantly of all, cultivation.

Legend has it that some mystical alchemy pills can even resurrect the dead!

Alchemy Pills were divided into different grades; the same goes for the Alchemists who made them.

There are Eight known Grades of Alchemists below royal lands. But in the lands of cities, there were hardly any 'Third Grade' Alchemist. Instead, there was only 'Fist Grade,' also known as 'White Alchemist' and 'Second Grade' or 'Green Alchemist' in low-level lands.

In River-Flower City, there is only one White Alchemist, and he lives like a King in the city's inner region in City Lord Mansion.

Alchemists were treated like rare treasures because only one person in a million had the talent to become a real alchemist. So naturally, they were treated like rare gems, especially in places like Land of Cities, where even a 'White Alchemist' was rare.

River Flower City was only a 2-Star city with a White Alchemist, and this alone gave the city a very high standing even among 1-Star cities.

In the outer region of the city, the Pills were made by Novice Alchemists, and even they were treated with respect. Because of this, they were quite an arrogant bunch.

A novice can easily practice alchemy if they have a pill formula of a low-level or 'Half-White Grade' pill and require medicinal herbs.

Selling those low-level pills to these alchemy pill shops can easily earn enough money to buy more materials. So even their failed pills were sold for quite some money. That's why even a novice alchemist didn't put anyone in its eyes.

---

Ace reached the outer region pill market in haste.

Ace was gloomy as he was thinking about Alina's 'special condition' and, 'How the hell am I supposed to rob that swindler's shop?!?'

Ace loiters around that Fatty Shop while slowly observing him from some distance. He noticed that Fatty treated everyone differently. He didn't see anyone's appearance; he only looked at their clothing and judged whether they were poor or rich.

If he deemed them rich, he would treat them like they were his father. But if someone like him clad in plain clothes arrived, Fatty looked at them with disdain. He didn't even listen to what they needed and gave them 'Black' or 'Trash Pills' just like he did to him.

After noticing this, Ace clenched his fists in anger, and his heart bled by thinking of being cheated by that bastard of 8 Gold Coins!

Finally, he controlled his seething rage and thought of a scheme to test the waters.

He hurriedly looked around and saw a clothes shop nearby. Then, likewise, he strode toward the cloth shop; a young lady was inside the shop. She was fair and beautiful, with a good, slim figure.

"Welcome, Customer." Clair Aaron was an 18-year-old girl. She often came to her dad's clothes shop to help him sometimes.

Today is one of those days. When she turned around to greet a new customer, she saw a young, skinny boy looking around curiously. The boy's face was handsome. If it weren't for his shabby clothes and skinny figure, she would've assumed he was from some wealthy family.

Ace was looking around for clothes when he heard the crisp voice of a young lady. He turned around and saw a beauty looking at him with a hint of curiosity in her eye.

"Do you want to buy or just look around?" Clair asked with a smile. The little boy looked at her embarrassed, and she found it quite amusing.

"I-I want to buy," Ace said tensely.

"What do you prefer?" Clair smiled broadly.

Ace looks around, and he sees black attire. That attire was simple and had only some silver embroidery on it. "I want that Black Attire." Ace pointed his finger as he said.

Clair looked in the direction Ace pointed, "That black attire price is 10 Silver Coins."

"So expensive!" Ace muttered to himself.

Ace took a deep breath and half-heartedly drew a gold coin from his pocket. But, unfortunately, that was the last gold coin left. His heart was bleeding; he never thought that just a single Attire would cost him ten silvers!

When Clair saw the gold coin in Ace's quivering hand, she giggled while receiving his gold coin. "If you want to change it here, there is a changing room on the rear, or do you want me to pack it for you?" 

"I'll change it here." There was an evident pain of losing money in his voice.

"Then you can change first, and I'll get your dues in the meantime."

Ace quickly picked up the attire and went towards the changing room.

After some time, Clair returned with 90 silver coins in a pam-size money pouch. Ace emerges from the changing room in his new Black Attire at this moment.

When Clair looked at Ace in his new clothes, she was stunned for a moment.

'So handsome.' She thought when she saw him now. He didn't look like a beggar anymore.

Even with his skinny constitution, he looks like a second-generation scion, not some young boy who was dirt poor.

When Ace looked at Clair, he thought she looked silly. "Is that for me?" he pointed at the small pouch in her hand.

Ace's voice jolt woke Clair from her stupor, and she quickly replied in a panic with a faint blush, "Y-Yes!" And give him the pouch with silvers.

Ace received the money pouch and hung it around his waist. Now, he looked like some aristocrat's kid. He turned around to leave the clothes shop when he heard Clair's voice from behind.

"W-what is your name, little brother?" There was a deep blush on her cheeks.

Ace looked at her confusingly, 'Why is she so polite now?'

He still answered, "Ace White." And leave the shop in a hurry.

Clair mumbled in a low voice, "Ace, huh? They say, 'clothes make men.' It seems it's true." And her blush intensified.

Ace proceeded toward Fatty's shop with his hands folding behind his back, similar to some arrogant noble kid. He had observed many of them acting this way, so he copied them.

Billy Bill was famous for his astute and shrewd nature in the pill market of the outer region. He was also one of the wealthiest shop owners in the outer region.

But the commoners called him by another name: 'Billy the Swindler.' Because Billy didn't have an ounce of integrity in him, if he deemed you poor, he would cheat you no matter what. He despised those poor commoners who came to his shop and would fool them while thinking he was collecting some interest for dirtying his floor.

Today was like another typical work day for Billy; he was doing business freely. He even conned a miserable woman who came to buy a healing pill.

Billy was about to close his shop to eat lunch when he saw a young boy in black attire walking towards his shop. So, of course, he quickly judges him by his clothes, like he always does.

'Hmm, his clothes look expensive. He seemed like a big fish from the way he walked arrogantly.' He hurriedly stopped as he was going to close his shop and quickly headed personally to greet this 'big fist' with a fawning smile on his fat face.

"Welcome, young master, in this poor fatty's shop."

Rich people called him Fatty Billy, and he didn't mind. As long as the other party has money, he doesn't even mind them calling him a fat dog.

The young man in black was, of course, Ace.

When fatty Billy greeted him with a hideous smile, his anger increased by a few folds because Billy didn't even recognize him, whom he had conned two days ago. He wanted to smash his teeth with a punch but held his anger in his heart.

He acted like a rich kid, so he had to act like them. Furthermore, he snorted, "Fatty, I heard that your shop here sells good quality Pills, so I'm here to check if it is true or false."

Hearing Ace's words, Billy's smile widened as dark lines appeared on his face, almost covering his small eyes, "Young master is too polite, but you didn't hear wrong. My little shop Pills are No.1 in the whole outer region market. I can guarantee it with my life." Billy thumped his chest, and his whole body wobbled.

Ace wanted to murder this shameless bastard after listening to his bullshit. But he inhaled deeply to calm his boiling anger.

"I'm not here to buy at this moment. I only came here on behalf of my family. However, if your shop has good quality pills, we will buy them in bulk." Ace stated as he suppressed his urge to kick Billy in the balls.

Fatty Billy was startled before he became thrilled. 'He couldn't be from the inner region, right?'

Billy assumed, but he didn't dare to ask because if this boy were really from the inner region, he would die if he displeased him, and no one would even know about it.

Billy then decided to test Ace, and he politely said, "Yes, yes, young master, follow me. I'll show you our finest Pill Collection."

He took Ace to the back of the shop, but there was only a wall, nothing else. Ace became confused and was about to say something when he suddenly saw Billy taking out a thin, rectangular crystal card from his pocket.

It was glossy blue, and there were mysterious markings engraved on it.

Then Billy swept this strange thing in front of the empty wall. Ace thought this swindler had gone mad when something miraculous happened. The blank wall disappeared, and a white door appeared out of thin air.

Ace was stunned by this, and his heart turned cold because he was here to scout and collect as much information about the shop as possible. However, Ace didn't even imagine that there was a hidden, mysterious door here.

He gloomily thought of the system's mission and pondered, 'The rewards are based on my performance. If I didn't steal important treasures, I would get only shit!'

Now Ace discovered that he has to open this door that he can't even see with his eyes. How could he not feel despair and anxiety?

At this moment, Ace heard a system voice in his mind,

=====

[Target in range! Did the host want to scan the target?]

{Cost: 2 Thief Points}

{Yes/No}

=====

'What?' Ace doesn't know what this is all about, but when he sees 2 TP, he cruses in indignation, 'She is robbing me again! I didn't even earn a single TP, but I'm forced to spend them. So, just who's the actual thief here?' 

He transmitted his voice in mind with gritted teeth, "Scan the target."

His remaining TP dropped from 14 to 12.

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[Scanning Starts… Complete in 10 Seconds.]

=====

While Ace and the system were talking, only a second passed. Fatty was observing Ace's reaction from the start, and when he saw only a frown appear on his face, and then he became calm the next moment, he became even more sure about his earlier assumption.

Billy didn't dare to delay anymore and quickly opened the secret door with the same rectangular crystal card and gestured to Ace, "Young master, please."

Ace entered the secret room. He saw two tall, bulky men standing there, and both of them were weaponized.

'They are even guards in here.'

Ace looked around.

There were two big shelves on each corner of the hidden room, and on those shelves were rows of shining bottles, and inside them were colorful pills. He had never seen that many pills before. They were also totally different from the black pill this bastard had sold him.

Furthermore, Ace felt refreshed after taking some breaths here, and his mind became clearer.

'So that's what real alchemy pills look like.' He was genuinely amazed.

"Young Master, what do you think of my little collection? They're all Half-White Grade Pills1." Fatty Billy stated with pride.

When Ace heard half-white grade, he was inwardly shocked because he had some idea that any of these pills could be sold at the minimum price of 10 ruby coins2, and there were hundreds of them.

'This bastard is filthy rich!'