A clipboard and pen was a good idea but even that venerable method wouldn't work here so Seth needed an even better disguise.

The first thing you need to think about when trying to get into a highly restricted room is who is usually allowed inside. Well for the ISES it would be countable on one's hand, John Evergreen was the obvious one, then his son Richard Evergreen but who else?

This was a question Seth needed answering so Seth looked around the floor trying to find some clues and he found one.

Yori Brevens, Manager Of Aesthetics and Appearance was a man that looked faintly similar to Seth. They clearly weren't the same person if the person judging had eyes, but they had the same hair and as long as the face wasn't properly looked at Seth reckoned he could be let in. Add the logical reasoning was because he was the manager of aesthetics.

So, Seth snuck into his empty office and borrowed the man's spare jacket and tie from his desk. Seth tried to find some sort of ID, but he came up short. Seth came to the conclusion that he must have it on his person.

He looked and found him in the previously mentioned conference room discussing the set design for the upcoming play, which Seth decided to overhear.

30 minutes later and after some strange looks by passers-by Seth needed to move. The target wasn't moving, and they still couldn't decide on the cloak the Emperor should use but Seth couldn't stand in the hallway for so long without attracting some unwanted attention.

The logical conclusion was that Seth needed to get the man out of the room, but how would he go about that?

Seth hadn't a clue, but he did have a separate idea. As he was hanging around in the hallway he saw several interns make Bubbeletop (Coffee) runs so he quite easily stole one using his Phantom Hands and went for a Bubbeletop run of his own.

The fresh air was nice, but Seth wanted the sweet smell of victory, so he returned not 10 minutes later with 10 cups of Darter finest Bubbeletop.

He then entered the meeting like it was no one's business and started handing out the drinks. Nobody stopped him, after all, they were all middle-income earners working in an office position it would be strange for them not to be addicted to caffeine.

He got some warm smiles, and nobody cared enough to check who he was, Seth even got the odd idea that this could be good as a method of mass murder: looking at them slurp the burning lava down, he could have poisoned it for all they knew!

Anyway, ignoring his intrusive thoughts, Seth did pick up the manager of something and something else his phantom hands truly were insanely quick and hard to spot.

With ID in hand, Seth put on the Jacket and tie he had previously borrowed and walked up to the ISES.

He acted nonchalant and simply handed his ID to the guards and walked right past them.

"Excuse me, Sir."

`SHT, is this not how they go in. Oh no, right I'm an intern who got lost, I say!`

Just as he was about to spouse obvious lies, "Why did you give us your ID Mr. Brevens. We know it's you from that trim, we could spot that thing a mile away."

As they laughed Seth found himself having incredibly mixed feelings, he was happy he wasn't caught but at the same time, these two idiots were laughing at his haircut.

He snatched the ID back as the guards quietened up and entered his goal.

He was here, and he could see the prize of the heist.

The crown was not sparkly, neither was it particularly beautiful but it did command presence. Something about it made the human eye drawn to it. Circular to a tee and with set measurements down to the nearest micrometre it was a marvel of medieval metallurgy.

Seth was not here to marvel; he was here to prepare.

He checked up on the case the crown was in, and it was in the suspected Box Of Holding created by the Great Security Company. They were international sellers of top-class security designs that Seth was almost guaranteed to steal. They were natural archenemies and Seth was determined to end up on top.

For their first showdown, Seth took down accurate measurements and even made a sketch using a magic pencil that cost far too much. It was like a camera in that it drew whatever eye its mana was linked to and when set off it recorded what that eye had seen on a matching piece of special paper.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

He also saw the robe that the Emperor was going to wear.

After adding a special touch to that, he had one more thing to check so he wiped out a recording instrument that was actually fairly cheap. It was something called a rank detector, and it could be used to accurately guess the rank of an object, this was good for merchants and so was subsidised by the Merchant Union until it was remarkably cheap.

With that in hand, Seth checked the rank of the Box Of Holding and it came to a figure Seth practically laughed at, rank 12. Now that was some real security, if they kept it in there Seth wouldn't have a chance.

Luckily for him, they would so Seth packed up his tools into his many pockets and walked out the door. The two security adventurers momentarily stopped their joking until Seth made it.

down the corridor.

Jokes on them Seth had just finished step number 3.

As Seth walked out the door, something unexpected happened.

It was Richard! So Seth had to take a quick right turn so that his face was not facing in his direction. Luckily the alcoholic wasn't exactly the most observant and so he walked on past the building.

It was this kind of ridiculous, unpredictable, and god-awful timing that could ruin a plan seemingly out of nowhere. Seth hated this unpredictability, especially after his evolution.

`Minimise risk, minimise risk` Seth calmed himself and made his way back home.

He had completed his task today and the play was to occur in 11 days.

With so much time left and nothing else to do for the rest of the day, Seth took a bit of a day off. A relaxing spa day was in call and Seth warned that muscles felt a need of such relief.

Seth's hair was also a bit wild, so he got a haircut down at his original Barbers. Jack was still there, and he even got to chat about what he had been doing.

Seth made up a story that he was making moves in the prostitution industry! That made for great entertainment for both parties, both laughing maybe a bit too much. That resulted in a lower cut than Seth would have preferred but he deemed the laughing worth it.

He then had another 4 hours until 10PM and sadly Seth felt the urge to be productive, so he decided to have a little scope out session. Nothing dangerous just a little walk by.

The target of observation was the Manion in which John and Richard lived. As a knighted family they lived in the noble district.

Seth laughed when he first heard the reason that the Noble district was made, it was because the aura high-level people emitted would hurt the `common folk` and the government funded a new area just for them.

The security for it was meant to be good but the City Sect was lacking in funds due to a slight corruption issue, that why Seth could so easily make a fuss in the casino in step 2.

Maybe he had planned it all along, he didn't but Seth liked to think that one day he would reach such a level of foresight and planning.

Practically strolling through the Noble District, as long as your clothing was up to par nobody would stop you. The guards that were here, as few as there were, wouldn't risk stopping and checking you as long as your clothing was good enough.

So Seth was back into his Casino clothes which was comprised of the classic Darter Noble dresswear. He had a top hat, black tailcoat and black waistcoat, black trousers, and black shoes and to contrast he had a maple cane and a golden chained monocle.

Seth didn't really want to talk about the cost, but he was happy to talk about how damn good he looked. All the clothing was also a minimum of rank 4 which meant they also acted as protective wear.

As Seth walked towards the mansion he found people similarly dressed and the way women dressed was arguably more financially ruined. At least men were traditionally allowed to wear the same clothes, but women had to change their dress every outing.

Seth practically shivered at such a cost, he was happy with his one set and that would be all for him. Walking around Darter Richest he found it to be incredibly quiet, a few carriages could be heard but no bartering could be heard at all.

All the shops didn't try to attract customers with their fancy skills, no they had to attract them through more subtle means.

Seth did find himself walking into a store or two just from some ridiculously overpowered unconscious customer attraction skills, but he feigned disinterest and slight annoyance and before he knew it he was out of the store.

This was a showing of skills Seth hadn't been showing before and these were the people that could actually afford good skill books, and such make far more money.

They were stronger and far weirder acting in ways that made little sense. Seth had seen a few of these in his collection he had been hoarding from his Caravan heist when he got lucky and found a few in a chest.

The weirdest one he could remember was called Seasoning Tongue which seasoned every piece of food the owner ate to perfection.

Ignoring how great the skill was for daily life; it was absolutely pointless in strength and power, so it was likely going to be sold off to a commoner for a high sum. Power and Strength were all the nobility would pay the big bucks for, so they were the most sought-after.

Anyway, Seth arrived at the mansion after his little divergence and his first thought was `Nobody needs a house this big` and that was a mild understatement.

It looked more like a temple made of only stone and the cost of it was stupidity in the purest form. It seemed old money for the Evergreens went as far back as the First Unification and that was 300 years ago.

Seth looked further around and found the security to be airtight, Even as he was looking around an old guard stopped him and even questioned him about his activities. Whilst he was being questioned Seth noticed an emblem on the guard's uniform, it was an acronym DDC. He would have to find out more about that later.

Seth practically ran off after the questioning and as he made his way home he was computing this shocking factor into his plan.

It seemed the security John could mobilise was far above the expectations that Seth had planned for.

Seth went back to the drawing board; he had his work cut out for him.