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 getaway. 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 owner's 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, he found the guards fighting with a group of black-robed individuals who were wearing masks.
There were at least four individuals who were besieging the group of guards. They struck fast and hard, leaving the guards wary of fighting them.
It was a break in went wrong. This group of black robed individuals had tried to break into Alchemist Melvin's courtyard. However, a simple mistake from one of them led to them being discovered by the guards.
Apparently, Adrian wasn't the only one who was thinking about robbing alchemist Melvin. It seems someone was determined to obtain the silvereye grass by any means necessary, even sending assassins to deal with alchemist Melvin.
This was a risky adventure because if this operation wasn't conducted successfully, there was a high chance that Melvin was going to seek revenge. After all, he was still a peak-stage Foundation Establishment realm alchemist. In Gellock City, his strength was top-notch.
Even if his personal strength wasn't enough, with his reputation as an alchemist, he could get some powerful experts to help him quite easily. A rogue alchemist like him still had a few powerful connections.
Adrian naturally didn't know what happened at the auction. He could only speculate whether Melvin had gained something huge that could attract the envy of others, or whether it was simply his enemies that wanted to get rid of him.
'Damn it! What bad luck.' Adrian was lamenting internally.
Adrian was now caught in a dilemma. With all the commotion outside, Melvin was bound to wake up soon. If he decided to escape, he could be ganged up on by both the guards and the assassins.
While thinking about what to do, some of the assassins had already broken into the house. The crew outside was just meant to delay the guards while the actual assassins went to deal with Melvin.
Melvin wasn't stupid. He knew that the high-profile manner in which he bid for the Gold rank herb was bound to cause some discontent among certain individuals, which was why even after reaching home, he instructed the guards to be on alert.
His words of warning were the only reason why they were able to respond quickly to the attack. Three individuals were rushing towards Melvin's room.
From their auras, Adrian could tell that they had reached the late stages of the foundation establishment realm. As they were about to burst through the room, Adrian decided to take a gamble. He retreated towards the dark corner he was hiding in previously.
A large shelf was in the corner, which Adrian hid behind, while concealing his breath. With a small flick of the wrist, he tossed a small dagger towards the still asleep Melvin.
The dagger stabbed his arm and forced him awake just as the assassins burst into the room.
Melvin, who had just woken up and was still groggy, was surprised to find 3 individuals in his room.
The assassins were also a bit surprised. They had expected a fully armed and prepared Melvin, not someone who was still drunk and had grains of rice falling from his face.
Since their plan to sneak in was unsuccessful due to the guards, they expected Melvin to already be armed and ready to fight.
Their surprise soon turned to happiness as they realized that they had caught their prey off guard. Melvin, seeing the three people with their weapons out, immediately sobered up and realized that they were here for him. He tried to bring out a saber from his storage ring but was shocked as he discovered that his finger was empty.
His eyes widened as he stared at all ten of his fingers as if trying to confirm that his ring was truly gone. He couldn't imagine how he could have lost it. He knew that he wasn't careless enough to lose it as he never took off his storage ring.
His shock turned into anger as he stared at the 3 individuals in front of him. His body started to exude killing intent as he was sure that his missing ring was definitely with one of these individuals.
He charged at them furiously while roaring, "Return my storage ring, you bastards!"
The 3 were slightly taken aback as they were wondering what he was talking about.
It was true that they were here to kill him and take his storage ring. But they clearly hadn't even started yet, and he was already accusing them of stealing his storage ring yet.
They even felt slightly aggrieved for being called thieves when they hadn't even stolen anything.....yet.
One of them even responded to him in a muffled voice. "How dare you call us thieves. We're assassins. Get it right."
Adrian, who was hiding behind the shelf, had to hold himself back from bursting out into laughter. 'These assassins don't seem very professional.'
They took out their daggers and dashed towards Melvin at full speed.
Since he wasn't armed, they believed that with the three of them, they could completely take care of him. If it were a fully armed and prepared Melvin, they might have some misgivings facing him directly, but since he clearly wasn't prepared, they were completely confident in their victory.