<h4>Chapter 10: Act of Theft</h4>


    As soon as the situation was resolved, most of the prisoners chose to exit the cafeteria.


    Those that left included Gand and some of the notable ten people that weren''t intimidated by him at the slightest.


    Despite being humiliated, Bones King Gand didn''t seem to mind, which Elias noted in his mind.


    The originally crowded room was now left with only a few people. That didn''t bother him, in fact he preferred that so he could think without noise.


    [Sleight of Hand - To execute the act of theft a thousand times.]


    As he sat on his seat, Elias thought of the skill that he needed to obtain.


    The requirement was to execute the act of theft a thousand times.


    That was simple enough, but requirements like these were not only the most annoying for him, but also the most troublesome.


    One reason why anyone rarely obtains a passive skill granted by the world will was because of the requirements needed to be specific and urate.


    Therefore—he thought for a moment, what would the act of theft mean?


    Theft, by definition, refers to stealing objects.


    But there were two definitions of theft; both robbery and stealing.


    While they might be simr, the former used threats to rob, while the other uses stealth to steal.


    Both were acts of theft, but specifically which would satisfy the requirement for the skill?


    If he were to tantly rob others in front of their face, forcing them to give him the object against their wishes, would it still be considered an act of theft?


    However, what if the requirement was more specific and thieving like—such as to stealthily steal something, behind others back?


    To be specific, Elias'' main question was; should the act of theft be known (robbery) by the others or unknown to them (stealing)?


    If it was the former, then it would be considerably easier. If it was thetter, it might be harder.


    After thinking for a moment, he came to a decision.


    He figured that the context behind the passive skill was important as well. Sleight of Hand refers to stealing objects niftily, thus thetter seems to be more suited.


    ''Between the two, thetter seems to be more right…'' Elias thought for a moment before deciding to do thetter.


    A thousand times was a lot, he needed to make sure that he''s doing the right thing or else every work he''s going to do would be for nothing.


    Nheless, he couldn''t help but feel slightly disappointed.


    Back then when he thought of the skill requirements, he originally nned to ask one of his subordinates to stand still while he steals something from them.


    Or maybe even use his authority to tantly rob low level prisoners during cafeteria hours.


    But those options seemed to be more like robbing than thievery.


    Of course, there was a chance he was just overthinking things and robbery could also be counted, but being paranoid was always his nature.


    While he was thinking, a voice suddenly disrupted his daze.


    "Young master, are you still visiting Old Swainter?"


    To his left, Donato suddenly asked, snapping him out.


    "...That''s right. I''ll try to arrange a meeting after I finish eating."


    Elias nodded, remembering the matter. Meeting his father''s right hand man, Swain, was one of his important goals.


    After asking that question, Donato fell silent.


    There weren''t really much of anything to talk about, and from Elias'' bodynguage, the five subordinates thought their young master was thinking of something and thus chose to be silent.


    Elias also fell silent, contemting the matter of the Sleight of Hand skill again.


    He already had a rough outline on how he should go about aplishing the requirements.


    If he remembered correctly, there were many facilities in this prison, one of them is the library and this cafeteria…


    His n was rather simple.


    The gist of his n was to continuously steal objects in the prison.


    In different days, he would visit different facilities and steal different things. That way, it wouldn''t incur suspicion easily.


    He would alternate between any facilities in each day, broadening his area to steal in.


    After thinking about it, Elias looked at his food and suddenly stood up.


    "Wait for me. I''ll go get more."


    The five seemed to be wanting to volunteer, but he quickly escaped to prevent it.


    After a few seconds, Elias arrived at a long table where there were countless spoons and forks.


    The prison was rather generous, they allowed refills for food.


    Elias didn''t take any longer to take a te and choose a serving of food. Most of the food was unappetizing vegetables and fruits,cking any meat or fish.


    As he finished getting a serving, he quietly took a spoon and fork. And slightly moving his body to block a nearby camera, he took ten more pairs.


    Afterwards, he quickly hid it inside his clothes. Then he returned to his own table, without anyone noticing his actions.


    Luckily, the cafeteria didn''t have many people around. And also the security was ratherx, even the cameras could easily be avoided.


    ''One, two, three… twelve.''


    Elias counted the spoon and fork he stole in his mind. It was only twelve, he needed a minimum of thirty five and maximum of fifty.


    There was still a lot of time for the day. More importantly, he finally started a step of his escape.


    ***


    After finishing eating in the cafeteria, he bid farewell first to his subordinates and went directly to the library.


    Surprisingly, stealing in the library was much easier. There were very few people and cameras.


    There were also a lot of objects to steal freely without incurring suspicion. He stole bookmarks, misceneous stuff and more.


    At the end of it, he executed the act of theft thirty five and more times, aplishing his objective for the day.


    ***


    Thump! Thump!


    "Swain… hmm.."


    As Elias made his way to the third floor, he recalled the man named Swain in his memories.


    He had just finished doing the requirement for the day and this used the time to might as well meet his father''s right hand man.


    Swain was the right hand man of his father, Andolinio Casteni. He was considered as the sword and shield of the godfather.


    Andolinio Casteno discovered him as a beggar during the underworld war, he took him in and let him join his gang.


    Not long after, Swain was discovered to have immense talent in the sword and improved leaps and bounds through every fight.


    In the present, Swain "the Right-hand man of the Godfather" was a genuine B-Rank powerhouse.