The Highest Bounty

Chapter 206: Modican’s Call

When Gu Ding returned to the spaceship with his will and found the main cabin empty, he knew that Lilliath and the rest had gone back to their own cabins to cultivate.

The purple energy crystals he had obtained from Elizabeth were of high quality. The reason why they needed the Energy Crystals were that they were the main raw material required to the Dark Sectors’ black crystals. After some composition analysis, Neptune managed to come up with a method to make the black crystals along with some added improvements. For some of the easily procured materials, he had already asked Biggie and the others to help him get them. As for the other materials that were not easily procured, he managed to acquire them from Elizabeth. Therefore, as soon as he got the materials, Neptune contacted Robert and asked him to help him make it.

While Gu Ding and the others rested at night, the one hundred thousand energy purple crystals were all made into black crystals by Robert in one night. Early the next morning, before breakfast, he handed out the crystals to the crew.

Gu Ding, too, went back to his room. He closed the door and sat down on the floor. He took out a black crystal, swallowed it, and began to quickly work on his Sun Sutra to absorb it.

The thirty-seven circulations in his body began to run rapidly. It took Gu Ding five hours to absorb the black crystal. The circulation in his body changed from thirty-seven points to forty-seven points, and his Cell Index increased by five thousand points. Apparently, the black crystals that Robert had made using Neptune’s method were much better than Dark Sectors’ ones.

Gu Ding looked at the time and swallowed a second black crystal. Five more hours passed and the circulation in his body increased to fifty-seven points. Additionally, his Cell Index increased by five thousand points.

Within ten hours, Gu Ding was able to raise his Cell Index from eighty thousand to ninety thousand.

It was almost dinner time and Gu Ding was also beginning to feel hungry. He had only eaten breakfast and ten hours had passed since then. It was normal that he was feeling hungry.

When Gu Ding entered the dining room, Biggie was not there. Gu Ding felt that it was a little strange for a moment. Ever since Biggie became a part of his crew, the former took care of everyone’s meals. There was usually something to eat as soon as one arrived in the dining room.

“Biggie and Elsa are trying to achieve a breakthrough to Rank-11, so it’s unlikely they’ll be around these days,” Neptune explained.

“Where are the others?”

“Lili has just been promoted to Rank-8 and should be out for dinner soon. Robert is working on his body and still lacks a few materials, so he has to do it one step at a time. As for Tagore, he’s lying in the bathtub in his room, swimming and eating Rank-12 Energy Crystals.” Neptune was still not sure how strong Tagore really was.

“How many did he eat in ten hours?” Gu Ding frowned a little. Since there were no genebeasts, Elizabeth had them replaced with five hundred Rank-12 Energy Crystals.

“Ten, one for each hour.” Neptune, too, had been watching Tagore’s movements. “The intervals are regular. It doesn’t seem like he’s eating them at random. The energy crystals should have been absorbed, otherwise, the intervals would not have been so regular.”

Shaking his head, Gu Ding stepped into the kitchen, steamed some rice, and started making egg fried rice.

Soon after, Lilliath finally came out of her room. When Lilliath saw Gu Ding in the kitchen, she was obviously shocked. “Why are you here? Where’s Biggie?”

“He and Elsa are trying to breakthrough to Rank-11l.” Gu Ding was busy making the egg fried rice.

“Are we having egg fried rice today?” Lilliath looked at the food in the wok and felt a little relieved. If Gu Ding had decided to make anything else, she would not have eaten it.

“Not today, but for the next few days,” Gu Ding emphasized. “Biggie and the rest will probably take at least two or three days.”

“Well…” Lilliath lowered her head somewhat feebly and then suddenly changed the subject to something she was more interested in. “By the way, how was the Monster Concentration Camp?”

“Not bad.”

“What do you mean not bad? Tell me, was there anything interesting?” Lilliath urged.

Only then did Gu DIng tell her about how Neptune answered questions to earn points.

“One point is equivalent to a million Universe Credits and you earned more than fifty thousand points in half an hour?! That’s more than fifty billion Universe Credits, which is almost enough to buy five Ultra Fire Sparks or three to four demigod items. It would be more if you switch to other resources as well.” Lilliath immediately calculated the currency in comparison to Universe Credits.

“Nearly 80% of what Elizabeth gave us yesterday.” Gu Ding nodded. After some small talk, the egg fried rice was finally done.

They arrived in the dining room with their plates; it felt just like several months ago before they met Biggie.

While tucking a spoonful of rice in her mouth, Lilliath mumbled, “Your egg fried rice is actually pretty good if we eat it every once in a while.”

“That’s not what someone told me when they were clamoring to stop at Derisis.” Gu Ding chuckled.

“Of course it’s different if you eat it a few days in a row. Having egg fried rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, no one would be able to stand it,” Lilliath retorted, curling her lip.

“I heard Neptune say that you’ve managed to achieve a breakthrough to Rank-8?”

“Yeah, the black crystals worked really well. I only needed two pieces to hit Rank-8. However, five thousand Cell Index points per piece is too little for Elsa and Biggie.” Lilliath thought that the black crystals would be of little use to Elsa and Biggie.

“The ones they have are different. Theirs carry fifty thousand Cell Index points per piece,” Neptune spoke up and explained, “The ones refined for you that add five thousand Cell Index points are made from residual waste. It may be waste, but don’t think too much about it. The difference is like fresh bread and bread that has been reheated in an oven once. You two have low Cell Index points so they’re adequate. Biggie and Elsa have Cell Index points over a million, so it would have little effect on them.”

“Alright…” With Neptune’s bread metaphor in mind, Lilliath reluctantly accepted the explanation. “My Cell Index is now thirteen thousand points. At this rate, I’m sure that once we reach Probrand, I’ll be a Rank-9 Gene Body. How about you, Gu Ding?”

“I’m still a Rank-6 Gene Body with a Cell Index of ninety thousand points. I don’t know if I can break through to Rank-7,” Gu Ding said as he quickly finished the egg fried rice in front of him and rubbed his tummy in satisfaction.

After dinner, they each returned to their rooms and continued cultivating.

Over the next two days, Gu Ding ate three black crystals in a row. As a result, his Cell Index finally reached one hundred thousand points. The energy circulation in his body also reached the limit of eighty-one points.

Looking at the eighty-one convoluted circulations, some new information suddenly popped up in his head–they were transmitted by Neptune.

“Connect the eighty-one small circulations to form one big circulation as described in the Sun Sutra. Then, the primary power in your body will automatically change into Righteous Force,” Neptune whispered in Gu Ding’s ear.

Gu Ding constructed it step by step according to the picture in his mind. He treated the original small circulations as energy points and then connected them to other energy points one by one. The process took him a whole day. The original unrelated points became a three-dimensional picture under the connection. If one looked at it from afar, they would see that it looked exactly like a starry sky.

Once the big circulation was complete, the primary power in Gu Ding’s body began to change and convert rapidly. A few hours later, his primary power had fully transformed into Righteous Force. Only then did Gu Ding open his eyes and put out a finger–a flow of golden Righteous Force came from between his fingers. He felt like it was an extension of his fingers, and it felt like an object.

“The Sun Sutra is the top primary power cultivation method. The big circulation is formed through eighty-one small circulations. Normal methods mostly utilize below thirty-six small circulations and forty-nine small circulations at most. There are nine small levels in cultivating Righteous Force. You have to make nine big circulations to reach your Righteous Force’s limit and generate Star Fire’s spark in your body. Your Righteous Force already has the nature of burning and smelting, so you’re the one restraining most of the Righteous Force.” Neptune was rather pleased of himself for having chosen the Sun Sutra for Gu Ding.

“I still haven’t broken through to Rank-7…” Gu Ding checked his health status and seemed disappointed.

“Each time you’re about to get to the next level, you’ll be stopped by your gene locks. You need a lot of energy impact to break through those gene locks. The black crystals are mainly to improve your true primary power and Righteous Force’s strength. The increase in your Cell Index is through the conversion of your Sun Sutra. Moreover, black crystals don’t work on gene chains and cannot help you break through your current Gene Level,” Neptune explained. “Aside from that, while you were breaking through, Modican called your number several times. Since you were cultivating, I blocked the calls.”

“Damn, it’s probably about the Pharmacologists Newcomer’s Ranking Competition… I’ve been so busy running for my life these few months that I forgot all about it. How many days are there left?” Gu Ding asked hurriedly.

“Three more days,” Neptune answered quickly. He answered almost as soon as Gu Ding asked the question.

“Three days… I’ll practice my medicine refining skills as much as I can these few days.” Throughout the last few months, Gu Ding’s medicine refining skills had been put on hold. He had not used it ever since the time he encountered space-time backtracking. “Neptune, dial Modican’s number.”

Neptune dialed Moidcan’s number immediately, and before the waiting sound was heard, someone picked up the call.

“Gu Ding, what’s wrong with you? You didn’t answer my calls the past few days. Is it because you’re popular now, so you don’t recognize me–your master?” Modican’s loud voice came from the communicator and made Gu Ding feel slightly nostalgic.