"Uhm, brother, that was the only ring I had."
Mobi spoke this time politely. Having seen the terrifying effect of Raymond's mana, he was thoroughly convinced that he was no match for Raymond.
In this world of cultivation, 'Mana Refinement' held the utmost importance among every other thing. Because each time one's mana is refined its quality increases significantly.
There was only one surefire way known to refine mana, and that was by breaking through the boundary of cultivation and reaching higher realms.
Every time a practitioner reaches a new realm in their cultivation, their mana core gets upgraded which in turn will give them access to more refined mana.
This was also the reason why it was almost impossible for someone in the lower realm of cultivation to defeat someone in the higher realm.
The difference in mana refinement increased exponentially with each new cultivation realm. So it was a pipe dream to go against someone with more refined mana than you.
Just by releasing their mana, you would be crushed by that pressure. Mobi just like everyone understood this fact clearly.
'This brat— no this man here is definitely some expert disguising himself as a weak Martial Minor.'
"Are you sure?"
Raymond raised his eyebrows in suspicion. Surely, an infamous thief like Mobi must have a lot of spatial rings.
Thinking along those lines Raymond glared at him. Mobi shrank his neck in fear and quickly took out another ring.
Previously, he had given Raymond a low-level ring that had a pretty unstable dimension inside. This time he handed a mid-level ring to Raymond.
Raymond took the ring and was about to channel his mana when he saw Mobi quickly backing away from him. Raymond simply ignored his antics and channelled his mana.
-Crack!
"The fuck? What kind of people are you robbing, man? Do they have a thing for using counterfeits?"
Mobi's face darkened after hearing that.
'You are the one who has a thing for breaking rings.'
Mobi retorted in his mind. But outwardly he showed a simpering smile.
"Cough, yeah, you are right, brother. I must have robbed the wrong guys."
"Hmm, this won't do. Do you have another ring?"
"No! Please, I don't. "
Mobi whimpered under Raymond's glare, but Raymond noticed him looking towards the bed placed in the corner. It was so subtle that Raymond wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't paying close attention to Mobi.
Raymond followed his line of sight and saw a chest hidden under the bed.
He quickly went to the bed and flipped it away. The chest was locked and had runes drawn all over it.
Raymond casually broke the lock and opened the lid.
'Nooo!'
Mobi grimaced seeing his chest being opened up. It contained his most valuable things. It was worth more than the money he had piled up.
But he was powerless to do anything, he could only look on as Raymond looted him.
'Is this how the people I robbed felt like.'
It was a strange feeling for Mobi, he felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart.
"Oh, what is this?"
Raymond asked as he took out a necklace from the trunk. For some reason, this necklace emitted the same aura as that of spatial rings. If his hunch was right then this necklace was a spatial artefact.
"T-that is. I don't know, but it needs your blood to activate."
Mobi had stolen it from a travelling merchant. He had no idea what it did, but he believed the item to be cursed. Because it needed his blood to activate.
Not only that but when he tried giving his blood to activate it, the necklace kept sucking his blood without any intention to stop. That day Mobi had lost almost half of the blood in his body before he managed to get away from the necklace.
'Keke, I hope you die with your blood sucked out.'
Mobi cursed with sadistic glee when he saw Raymond biting his finger to draw blood.
"Huh?"
Raymond looked puzzled as the necklace kept sucking his blood from his finger and greedily drank it without stopping.
After drinking his blood for a solid five minutes it finally stopped and started to emit a bright silvery light.
'Damn! How much blood do you have in your body?'
Mobi was dumbfounded by what was happening.
"Haha, nice!"
Raymond exclaimed happily seeing the silver coloured necklace hovering mid-air. It flew towards Raymond's neck before neatly wrapping itself around his neck.
"Ugh, it's tight."
Raymond muttered as he yanked on the necklace. As if listening to his words the necklace shone once again before loosening itself and hanging around his neck.
Raymond nodded happily and channelled his mana into it. Instantly he found himself in a vast white space without any boundaries. The space seemed boundless.
He came back to his senses and was still inside the cave room.
'Yes! This is a spatial artefact.'
Raymond thought excitedly as he placed his hands on the chest lying on the floor and it was sucked inside the necklace within a fraction of a second.
He quickly went to the pile of gold coins ignoring the stupefied look on Mobi's face and sent the coins into his necklace.
Raymond was like a child that had gotten his first toy and started playing with his necklace by constantly taking things out of it and sending it back.
'Hihi, this is fun.'
The room looked bereft of anything by the time Raymond was done with his playing. Only the bed remained by the corner and everything else was inside the necklace.
Mobi had long since passed out on the ground when he could no longer bear the pain of seeing his things disappearing into the necklace.
"Hey! Wake up man, we still got things to do."
Raymond tapped him on the shoulders and tried to wake up Mobi. He groggily opened his eyes and looked around his room.
"Wha-wait! That wasn't a dream?"
Mobi asked in confusion. The things that happened before him were so absurd that he thought he was dreaming.
First, he was beaten by someone disguised as a Martial Minor, then the necklace he thought was cursed turned out to be a spatial artefact.
But what truly made him mad was the fact that all of his possessions were taken away from him. Thinking about the despairing gap between his and Raymond's strength, Mobi dipped his head down in defeat.
"Why are you acting like you have lost your wife? None of these things here belonged to you anyway."
'They don't belong to you either.'
Mobi scowled inwardly. But he nodded his head and put on a strained smile.
He needed to escape from this guy and run far away from the Capital. If he had his life he could always start anew.
"Brother, now that you have taken everything, please spare my life."
Mobi dove towards Raymond's legs and latched onto them tightly as he begged for his life.
"I will quit robbing people, I will turn over a new leaf, please don't kill me."
"What do you mean I have taken everything? Surely, this isn't the only hideout you have, right?"
'You demon!'
Mobi hugged his legs tightly and bawled his eyes out.
"Brother, you have to believe me. This is the only hideout I have. I swear on my magic, this is the only one."
"Tch, fine. I believe you."
Raymond finally relented when he heard the guy make a vow with his magic. Nobody would joke around with their magic on the line. If Mobi lied he would lose his magic as a consequence.
"Hehe, that doesn't mean I am letting you go. You still have a bounty on your head."
Those were the last words Mobi heard before he lost consciousness.
-BOOM!
Raymond carried Mobi in his arms and with his legs bent, he jumped towards the southern part of the capital.
*******
-Crash!
Raymond landed near the walls protecting the Capital city and walked towards the gates where guards were busy guarding the gates.
Just as he came near he saw Sasha walking out of the gates in search of something.
Seeing Raymond walking towards her, Sasha hurriedly went to him, but her footsteps halted as she saw Mobi.
"Hah! Finally, this fucker got caught."
Sasha heaved a sigh of relief. Even though she didn't manage to catch him personally, it was for the better now that he would be locked behind bars.
"Uhm, miss Sasha. Where is Jasmine?"
Raymond asked when he didn't see Jasmine with Sasha. He had left her behind since he was underground and wanted to follow Mobi.
"Ugh, uh, you see…"
Sasha fidgeted as if she had a hard time talking.
"What is it, Miss Sasha?"
"I lost her."
"Huh? What do you mean, you lost her?"
Raymond's lips twitched in anger when he heard that.
"Wasn't she with you when I fell into that crevice?"
"Yeah, she was. But I chased after Mobi when he tried to escape. By the time I realised what happened, she was nowhere to be seen. I looked around every part of the Kindlepot."
"What?"
Raymond felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He quickly handed Mobi to Sasha and bolted towards the capital city.
"Wait! I am coming with you."
Sasha yelled as she handed Mobi to the guards for safekeeping and followed after Raymond.