"Did you bring money?"

That question threw Asura off. He had forgotten one important thing. Money!

"E-eh..." Asura stuttered, trying to think of something. Remembering the bronze rectangular token, he quickly took it out and show it to the receptionist. "Can I use this?"

When she saw the bronze token, her face ashened and she immediately stood up. "Follow me, young master. I'll bring you to Appraiser Dior." Appalled at the receptionist's attitude that had taken a 180 degree turn, the onlookers watched with raised eyebrows as the receptionist politely bowed to the shabbily dressed boy.

Upon reaching the third floor, Asura could smell the strong odor of tobacco in the air.

"Appraiser Dior" The receptionist called out to a skinny grey haired man, who was sitting at a stone table, holding a pipe and was leisurely reading a wooden scroll.

"Oh? Is it a customer?" Appraiser Dior put down his pipe before standing up to greet the 'customer' before realising it was just a young boy. Looking at the receptionist with questioning eyes, he looked back at the shabbily dressed boy, as if to confirm what he was seeing.

Seeing his confusion, the receptionist quickly walked towards Appraiser Dior, whispering some words to him.

"Eh?!" Appraiser Dior turned his head back towards the receptionist in surprise. Nodding, the receptionist added, "Young master, can you let Appraiser Dior take a lot at the jade ring?"

"Of course," Asura handed the jade ring to Appraiser Dior who had already calmed down by now.

Raising his right hand, Dior put the tips of his thumb and middle finger of his right hand together, forming a circle, before raising squinting at the jade ring through strange gesture in his right hand.

Asura had activated 'Mana Sense' to find out what Appraiser Dior was doing. As the ring was the only clue as to why Doerba had attacked him, naturally he placed a lot of value onto the ring.

Seeing that Appraiser Dior and the receptionist did not react in any way, Asura judged that the 'Mana Sense' skill could not be sensed by anyone other than himself.

"Oh?" Asura sensed a cloud of mana swirling around the strange gesture of Appraiser Dior's right hand. "It seems to be some sort of a special mana technique that allows Appraiser Dior to determine the properties of the ring."

Asura was not wrong. The mana technique that Appraiser Dior was using, is a technique used by most jewel appraisers and merchants, allowing them to determine the properties of the object they're looking at through the 'gesture', down to the tiniest detail, such as small cracks and impurities.

"How strange... I've never seen a jade as strange as this before..." Appraiser Dior mumbled, raising the jade ring even closer to the 'gesture'.

"The impurities inside the jail stone are constantly moving, as if there's something breathing inside!" Appraiser Dior deduced, his voice filled with excitement. "If you asked me, I'd say a ring as unique as this is worth a thousand gold coins! Hold on, there's something-" Appraiser Dior suddenly frowned, noticing a strange phenomenon occurring in the ring.

The ring had only now started to glow blue, getting brighter with each second, surprising everyone in the room. Appraiser Dior, dropped the jade ring, backing away from the eerie light that emitting. The receptionist was about to turn tail and run when suddenly...

Asura cried out in shock, as a sphere of black light erupted from the jade stone, expanding rapidly and had soon covered the entire room in pitch black darkness, not leaving even a trace of sunlight.

Chapter 21: The Black Shadow