The maids kept talking while Vael sat still inside his closet, quiet, listening.
He was currently inside the castle of the lord of Sionia, a city located at the border of Vaelvaran, a middle-sized country located in the southern continent.
As for the princess these maids were talking about, he didn't remember much about her except for the fact that her name was Azora Elyndor, third princess of Vaelvaran and a budding mage who had come to Sionia to train in the Gloamwood.
One of the seven forbidden zones of Taurenth, the Gloamwood was a forest that bordered Sionia and was home to thousands of magical beasts capable of tearing apart even a tier 4 mage.
Given his current newfound powers, such a place was nothing short of absolute heaven for Vael. But the place was dangerous. Dangerous enough that Vael needed to make some preparations not only before he entered the forest, but also for his future plans.
And all these preparations and future plans needed one crucial thing that Vael was sorely lacking.
Money. He needed money.
Thankfully, he was fortunate enough to have spawned in the middle of a castle that, by all logic, should be filled with tons of gold with a ring full of invisibility charms.
Now all he had to do was wait until the maids were done, something he was more than happy to do, considering that last time he had been captured in less than an hour.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long, as the maids soon finished cleaning up the room and exited the door. Yet Vael didn't move, simply waiting.
And just like he had expected, one of the maids returned to grab one of the dusters she had accidentally left behind in the room.
Watching her leave, Vael let out a sigh of relief. That woman had been the reason why he had been captured the last time. In his impatience, he had walked out of the closet the moment after they had left, only to come face to face with a wide-eyed maid in the following second.
Still not taking any chances, Vael took out one of the invisibility charms from his storage ring and used it before finally walking out of the closet.
"Alright, let's get to work."
Stretching his legs, he walked towards the room's door and pushed it open, before quietly slipping out into the dark hallway.
Every invisibility charm had a time limit of ten minutes. Considering he had bought fifteen of them, he had only close to two and a half hours to rob the place dry and escape into the Gloamwood.
If only he hadn't been captured so easily last time, at least he would have had some idea where to go right now.
Sighing to himself, Vael picked one random direction and began rushing through the dimly lit hallways, passing through several mortal soldiers patrolling in steel armour.
It was exactly how he had remembered. Taurenth was only a mid-tier world when compared to Vornak, meaning its mana density was much weaker. What that meant was that those who followed the paths on Vornak were naturally much stronger than those on Taurenth, even on the same tiers.
Take Vael for example he was a mage in the middle stage of Tier 1 and had only recently begun walking the path of a mage, but was already as strong as the middle stage of Tier 2 in Taurenth.
This difference in strength also bled out when it came to the number of awakened, where worlds like Taurenth had a lower awakening rate than Vornak, making the mages in the world a part of the elite social class.
Vael rushed through the castle hallways, avoiding patrols and searching the rooms one after another, only to be disappointed.
"What is this shit?" he cursed, taking down one of the paintings and inspecting it closely. Not even a speck of mana. Wasn't this guy supposed to be a noble?
He was currently standing inside a lavishly decorated office, going through everything that seemed like it was worth stealing.
In the end, he had beaten up one of the castle guards to find out the location of the castle lord's bedroom and his office.
He had already been through the bedroom and found nothing but scraps. He had had some hope of finding the treasury inside the lord's office, but there too, he had found nothing.
Just where the hell does this guy keeps his valuables?
He threw the painting to his side and walked out of the door, simultaneously pulling out another one of his charms.
This was already his sixth invisibility charm. By now, Vael had been running around the castle for almost an hour, and all he had found were mana less garbage that not even the merchants from the dregs in Vornak would buy.
Worse, he still hadn't been able to locate the castle lord's room or his office.
Had he been expecting too much? This was only a border territory of a middle-sized kingdom in a mid-tier plane, after all.
Just when Vael was busy thinking through these thoughts, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He immediately turned to his side, only to lay his eyes upon a girl with long black hair walking down the castle's hallway, surrounded by a group of attendants following close behind her.
Azora Elyndor.
Looking at the passing princess, Vael couldn't help but let out a smile.
Bet she had some interesting things he could borrow.