The Insider System

Chapter 90: Making Money Pt.4

Once Lake was outside he really started to think about how much a million was. He had had a good day today with finding the chainmail and all but that was just luck. Most people wore their armor so the odds he would find some just sitting there were pretty low. Lake guessed the owner had to go somewhere it would be inappropriate to wear something like armor.

Lake headed towards the Blacksmiths guild because while he now had a new dagger it wasn't something he could use all the time. It was too nice so he was going to use all the gold he had made today to get the knife Mary had given him upgraded. It was better to spend his gold instead of lugging it around all day, and with 1000 he was sure he could get a pretty good upgrade.

He would still probably break the knife again, but he was sure when that happened he could afford another upgrade, or maybe even do it himself if he had unlocked Blacksmith by then. Reentering the Blacksmith guild store, Lake walked up to the counter and started to talk to the lady who seemed to have completely forgotten him already.

She only remembered him once he pulled out his knife. Lake guessed this made her good and bad at her job at the same time. Lake set up the repair and was told it would be ready at the same time tomorrow. Having spent 840 gold for his knife to be upgraded to Lv. 22 Lake's satchel was much lighter, so he thought he could go back to work now.

With it being around 4 in the afternoon people were starting to go home with their day at work being finished, or at least that was what it seemed like because there were hardly any empty houses anymore. Lake guessed it would be a waste to break into houses if their owners were coming home so he switched targets.

With people heading home after work they should have what they earned at work today in their purses, so Lake saw this as a good time to pickpocket people. Lake didn't waste his time with easy targets anymore, with how fast he was able to move his hands he could go after rich people with guards, and they still couldn't stop him if he timed it right.

There weren't people with guards around, but Lake could see some rich looking people with fat purses. Lake was about to go after one when he realized there was probably something like his ward ring you could wear that would protect you from someone like him.

Lake wasn't really sure how it would work but he thought he had a pretty good chance of evading the anti theft measures with his Trespasser skill. Making sure he switched his job to Pickpocket Lake went after the closest fat purse he could see. Bending the metal clasp open, Lake walked off with the purse, but before he got far he heard a commotion behind him.

Figuring the man he had stolen this off of had noticed the missing weight Lake dashed or picked up just enough speed where he didn't seem like he was running. If he didn't have the skill A Thief's Sense he would have ran to get away, but its effect that told him when people were paying attention to him, let him know the guy didn't know who had stolen from him just that it had happened.

Once Lake was far enough away he got to trying to open the purse. It was enchanted and Lake couldn't just open it the normal way. Lake guessed this was to buy the person time to find whoever had stolen from them before they took what they wanted and dumped the rest. Lake didn't have a lot of time to waste, so he used Decrypt to reveal its enchantments, and whatever other effects it had.

Finding the right formation that opened the bag, Lake saw it had something similar to a keypad on it. But it wasn't one where you had to put a code in, you just needed to put your fingers in three spots at the same time and it unlocked the bag.

Lake grabbed the gold two potions and this weird rock that looked similar to a core but was opaque instead of looking like gemstone. It was a light brown color, and when he touched it he could tell it wasn't magic, or at least not like how cores usually were.

Lake knew you could only feel something was magic if it was currently giving off mana in some way or effecting the mana around it so this weird brown thing might just be too stable for him to feel its effects. This and the bar of metal he had gotten earlier were on his list of things to study tonight once he got to the cart.

They were both interesting but he was more worried about maxing out Pickpocket, so he had no plans to stop what he was doing, and inspect them in great detail right now. Seeing another rich person walk by him, Lake followed them for a few steps before he grabbed their purse and faded into the crowd going the other way.

Like the last time this person actually noticed their purse disappeared after a few seconds, but no one around was able to see Lake's arms when he used Fast Hands, and even if their Perception was high enough, Lake wanted until no one was paying any attention to him to steal anything.

With this combo of skills Lake didn't think there were many people in this city that could stop him from stealing from them. He just wished he could take what they were wearing, because that was the real valuable stuff. Lake guessed he could steal peoples helmets off their heads, but it would be such an obvious thing they would probably chase him.

If anyone got a glimpse of his armor he would have to change it just to be safe because it wasn't really the stealthiest set, there were a few distinct features to the armor he was wearing that made it possible someone might remember it if they got a good look at him while he ran.

It also needed a coat of paint, it was too shiny for Lake's needs, he needed a way to dull the surface so it didn't reflect so much light. Finally finding a good place to go through the purse Lake opened it. It seemed not all rich people used the same form of anti theft, because this bag opened no problem.

This one had less stuff in it and Lake only took the gold and dumped the rest into some trash like he always did. Lake was surprised he hadn't leveled up yet, but Lv.7 only needed 640 Exp, so he had to be getting close. Lake decided to take a break. He had been going nonstop since morning, and he needed to find some water.

There were plenty of wells around, one every few streets, so he just found one with a large amount of people, and sat down for a drink. He figured he might as well listen to what they were talking about while he rested. "Are you planning on getting a new job, so you can stay in the city?"

"Yeah, who would want to go outside with what just happened."

"Do you know what you want to do, because there aren't that many openings with all the people who just showed up in the last few days."

"It's crazy that so many were killed, and you can't even tell. It's like the streets are half the size that they used to be."

Lake wasn't surprised everyone was talking about how the massacre that happened yesterday affected them and how much all the new people who moved to the city for safety annoyed them. It was human nature, and not that interesting.

Finished with his water, Lake stood up and started to head towards the part of town with more stores. It was about the time normal places would start to close, and Lake wanted to see if it was realistic for him to break into one. He was sure places with high value stuff wouldn't just leave it unintended, so he wanted to see if it would be human guards, or magic that would be keeping it safe overnight.

If it was magic Lake could break in no problem of course he wouldn't take his sweet time while inside but with him having Trespasser he wouldn't set off any alarms. What he was worried about were the items themselves setting off an alarm when he moved them.

They could also be marked in some way that would allow them to be tracked, so he needed to use Decrypt on a few things before he started taking stuff, which would increase the amount of time he would be inside the store.