I picked them up and studied them before placing them into the inventory rune.
Heartstiller pills.
That’s what I called them.
They induced death via cardiac arrest, and they did not leave behind a single trace.
Next, I pulled out another set of ingredients from the Inventory.
I used [Quickmix Technique] perk to do simple alchemy without runes or chants.
Five smokebombs, two flashbangs, and two Dreamroot Mist pills took shape quickly.
One of the Dreamroot pills was weaker.
It could only put someone to sleep for about an hour and the person could wake up with the slightest of the disturbance.
The other was the normal dosage.
I stored everything back into the Inventory rune and stood up.
"I’ll need to restock soon. I’m burning through my alchemy supplies way too fast."
This time, I entered the mansion.
I remained in the shadows.
No alarms went off. None of the guards sensed me.
Only a Rank 3 or higher supernatural might have caught a whiff of my shadow presence, and none of them were around.
I slid through the hallways like mist, moving from shadow to shadow.
It didn’t take long to realize that some of the servants walking around were actually hidden Rank 1 guards in disguise.
But what was strange was the lack of stronger guards.
There were too many Rank 1s, but no Rank 2s besides Asterios.
That was suspicious.
Where were they being kept?
I drifted through the eastern and northern wings, checking every hallway and side room I could find.
I expected the gold vault to be here somewhere.
But I found nothing.
’He might be hiding the gold off-site. The Rank 2 guards should be there.’
The elders of Dusk Hand were openly Rank 1, and all of them were asleep in lavish rooms filled with velvet curtains, thick rugs, and old wine.
Eventually, I found Asterios’ room.
There was a single Rank 1 supernatural guard standing outside.
I silently slipped through the shadows and passed right by him.
Inside, Asterios was fast asleep on a king-sized bed, snoring faintly.
His black hair was a mess, and his face looked calm.
I stared at him for a few seconds.
I could kill him right now.
But that would come later, after I had found his gold vault.
’There is an easy way to find his gold vault.’
I began looking for the mansion’s control room.
I had seen CCTVs in the hallways already, and there must be control room somewhere hidden.
Most hidden clans didn’t like cameras, but Asterios was paranoid. He wouldn’t pass up surveillance if he could help it.
It took me almost two hours of silent scouting to find it.
A section of the ground floor had a fake hallway. There was a dead end where the layout didn’t match from outside.
I remained near the dead end, and I was able to sense shadows behind the wall.
’If there is shadow inside the wall, then that means....’
I phased through.
Hidden behind the wall was the control room.
Two guards sat in front of a wall of monitors, watching the estate through hundreds of feeds.
Most of the interior of the mansion was covered by the cameras, including the common areas, outer halls, and guard posts.
Interestingly, the elders’ and Asterios’ bedrooms had no cameras. Either by design or request.
’I need to hack into the system. If I can get access to all the CCTVs, I’ll be able to monitor Asterios directly. When he accesses the vault, I can trace the route.’
It was almost certain that the vault was connected to this mansion.
Whether there was a hidden tunnel, a false wall, or some teleportation circle, I didn’t know yet.
But if I could track him closely, I would find out.
I just needed the right moment.
I didn’t act immediately.
I stayed hidden in the shadows along the upper corner of the room, watching the guards from above.
They were chatting casually, eating sunflower seeds, sometimes pointing out something weird on the screen like one of the guards falling asleep on his shift, or a cat sneaking through the perimeter fences.
Putting them both to sleep at once would’ve been convenient, but also suspicious.
So I waited.
Patience was one of the most valuable skills an assassin could have.
I remained motionless, focusing on every moment of the guards. During that time, I made sure the control room did not have a CCTV camera.
Eventually, the moment came.
The guard on the right—a short, bored-looking guy with thinning hair—stood up and stretched his arms.
"Bathroom break," he mumbled, scratching his stomach.
He walked toward a part of the wall that looked completely solid, tapped it with his thumb, and stepped through the temporary doorway that opened.
The other guy, now alone, leaned back in his chair.
He didn’t look particularly alert.
His posture was relaxed, and his hand resting lazily on a half-open packet of chips.
I was holding the weaker Dreamroot Mist pill.
I flicked it out of the shadows.
It came of the shadow beneath the guard’s boot, and cracked open when he tapped the ground.
The mist released was invisible, colorless, and odorless.
It was designed specifically to avoid detection. I had improved it after the fiasco with Seris.
The mist spread slowly, curling around the chair legs and creeping up toward the seated guard.
At first, there was no reaction.
He blinked a few times, rubbed at his nose absently, then yawned.
And another yawn.
Then his head started to dip.
Within the next two minutes, he was asleep.
I slipped out of the shadows and moved carefully, keeping my steps completely silent as I crossed the room.
I stood behind the guard and double-checked his state.
He was out cold.
’I need to hack into the system, and I need to do it quickly.’
I stretched my fingers before I began to draw runes on the ground.
The task took only a few seconds with my superhuman speed.
I was building a rune array capable of computational ability like a CPU.