The Highest Bounty

After checking in with his fake identity, Gu Ding called Dockett’s number.

“I’m done checking in. We’re staying next to their room. Where are you right now?”

“I’m at a tavern on the same street. You’ll be able to see it after turning right from the hotel and walking another two hundred meters. The tavern is called Lover’s Tears, I’ll head back after this drink.” Dockett had not expected Gu Ding to be able to find a way to book the room right next to Elizabeth’s.

“Our room number is 002014 on the twentieth floor. I’ve informed the front desk of your wristwatch serial number and they’ve already registered you. All you need to do is scan your wristwatch to get in. There’s no need to go through the front desk,” Gu Ding provided instructions to Dockett. He was worried Dockett would reveal too much if he said anything.

“Okay, got it!”

Dockett knocked on the bar table after hanging up. “Get me another glass!”

Dockett arrived at the hotel room after more than ten minutes.

“Were there any regularities with Elizabeth’s schedule previously?” Gu Ding asked Neptune.

“Elizabeth has stayed in a total of fifteen hotels on this planet. She has stayed more than twice in eight of them. Currently, the Queen Empress Hotel is the one she has stayed at the most frequently because it is very near a division of the Hermean Alliance. She is a pharmacologist master who is able to refine demigod medicine and she loves teaching children who dream of being pharmacologists in the art of medicine refining. Many newbie pharmacologists from Faye Cosmic Nation attend her lectures here every year.”

“Medicine refining…” Gu Ding’s eyes brightened. He knew how to get close to Elizabeth.

“That reminds me, you’re a pharmacologist too. Do you have any confidence in getting her attention?” Dockett had never seen Gu Ding refine medicine before and was not sure of his medicine refining standard.

“I should be ok even though I haven’t been practicing for quite a while and am quite rusty.” Gu Ding was quite confident with himself.

“There’s a free zone for public practice at every Hermean Alliance division. You can practice your medicine refining skills there for the next few days. Elizabeth will definitely see you if she visits the Hermean Alliance. There’s no doubt she will approach you with appreciation if she sees the quality of your medicine,” Neptune said with conviction.

“I’ll stand by in the hotel to keep watch over her.” Dockett knew his mission was important as well.

“Get in touch with us the moment you find out anything,” Gu Ding said as he left the hotel and headed toward the Hermean Alliance.

The Hermean Alliance division was not that far from the hotel. Gu Ding arrived after turning three corners, and it took him less than fifteen minutes to reach the place after leaving the hotel.

Gu Ding scanned his wristwatch at the entrance of the Hermean Alliance and walked in.

The fake identity Neptune had created for him was that of a D-grade pharmacologist.

“Let’s get some ingredients from the ingredient hall and collect a year’s worth of free ingredients,” Neptune whispered in Gu Ding’s ear.

“You’re trying to convince me into doing bad again…” Gu Ding said with exasperation.

“If you are willing to pay for them, there’s nothing I can say. D-grade medical ingredients are not worth much. A portion of D-grade ingredients for a gene enhancer costs less than a hundred thousand Dragon Soar Star Credits. It’s just a little more than ten thousand Universe Credits after conversion. If you wouldn’t be bothered by ten thousand Universe Credits, what more a vastly rich organization like the Hermean Alliance.” Neptune felt that since Gu Ding’s fake identity had been created, it would not be too much to take advantage of a rich organization like the Hermean Alliance. The pill business the Hermean Alliance was involved in easily earned them ten times the profit, after all. It was considered a highly profitable industry.

“Practicing a hundred times with those ingredients would allow me to refine leftover mainstream D-grade medicine twice. When that time comes, I can start refining C-grade medicine.” Gu Ding followed Neptune’s suggestion in the end and headed to the ingredient hall.

“Hello, I’d like to request for a year’s worth of free ingredients,” Gu Ding said to an employee.

“Requesting for a year’s worth in one go?” The employee was an elderly man. He raised an eye to look clearly at Gu Ding.

“Yes.” Gu Ding nodded as he reached out with his wristwatch for it to be scanned in front of the machine.

‘Name: Jack’

‘Age: 17″

‘Pharmacologist Grade: D’

‘Mentor: None’

‘Record of Free Ingredient Requests for the Year: 0 Times’

The old man nodded after comparing the picture in the system with Gu Ding’s face. “You can collect one hundred portions of D-grade medical ingredients. You can make your choice on which medical ingredients you need from the system. After that, just click ‘send’ and you can immediately collect the ingredients from the warehouse.”

There were only a few types of medicine that Gu Ding frequently used, and he had already practiced refining them all. Nevertheless, Gu Ding aimed to refine all types of medicine in the same grade before moving on to the next level. There was a huge variety of D-grade medicine; its total was more than one hundred and twenty of them. Gu Ding had only refined more than thirty previously and had close to ninety medicines to refine. However, there was a limit to the quota of free ingredients, which was why Gu Ding got Neptune to pick fifty types of medicine that were more difficult to refine. After requesting two portions of each type of medicine and confirming his selection, Gu Ding clicked the ‘send’ button.

Gu Ding’s list was not only viewable by the people in the warehouse but also the elderly man. His face turned grim immediately when he saw the list, and he lifted his head to berate Gu Ding. “Young man, these medicines are very rarely used on a daily basis. If you truly want to become better at refining medicine, I would suggest you refine more common medicines for practice. Don’t be overambitious.”

Gu Ding could only give him an awkward smile. The old man was not just lecturing him. In fact, it was a very helpful suggestion if pointed at other pharmacologists. However, for Gu Ding, the old man’s suggestion did not mean much to him. There were less than ten types of D-grade medicine. Under normal circumstances, Gu Ding was capable of refining more than thirty types of medicine perfectly. All those medicines included commonly used medicines.

The elderly man lost his temper over another reason as well. The workload of the warehouse employees was quite high. One bottle of D-grade medicine required ten to fifteen types of ingredients. It meant that fifty portions of various types of medicine would require more than five hundred medical ingredients. In other words, the employees would suffer a very heavy workload. If only everyone was as free as Gu Ding who could take the time to refine some new and exciting medicine for fun. Then, the employees at the warehouse would not have to work themselves to death.

When the warehouse employees received the list of ingredients, they immediately began to curse about it. There were fifty types of medicine listed on it and each medicine required two portions of ingredients. An employee even began to wonder if he had offended anyone recently as he later mumbled quietly to himself, “Is this the doing of Coleman who lost money to me yesterday while playing cards? That b*stard is out to get me today, isn’t he? That’s not right, only a real pharmacologist would be able to collect ingredients. It can’t be Coleman…”

Nevertheless, no matter how much the employee complained about it, he did not dare slow down his work. It was his job to compile ingredients for pharmacologists and the job paid him well. He was not willing to lose it.

It took more than half an hour. With the help of ten smart robots, the warehouse employee finally managed to put together all the ingredients and itemize them in separate packages before sending them out.

The elderly man passed the ingredients one by one to Gu Ding with an unhappy look on his face.

“Thanks, old man!” Gu Ding thanked him awkwardly after keeping everything in his inventory. Before the elderly man could lecture him again, Gu Ding made his escape.

“Sigh, young people nowadays…” The elderly man looked at Gu Ding’s disappearing figure with an angry expression on his face.

Gu Ding headed to the public practice hall after obtaining the free ingredients.

The tools for medicine refining in the public practice hall were all E-grade. Nevertheless, they were better than the F-grade ones in Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation. They could not be compared, after all, Faye Cosmic Nation was a 5-Star Cosmic Nation, unlike Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation which was a 2-Star Cosmic Nation. In fact, most people who practiced in public practice halls were those who had only started to learn medicine refining. The medicine they refined was mostly F-grade or E-grade. By the time someone was a D-grade pharmacologist, they would have enough savings to afford their own equipment for medicine refining and there would be no need to visit the place. They could also rent private refining rooms to practice. Gu Ding was there with a mission. Hence, it was necessary for him to use the public practice hall for refining. Otherwise, there would be no way for him to get in touch with Elizabeth.

The Hermean Alliance on Forget-Me-Not seemed to have gotten a lot of help from Elizabeth. The public practice hall was quite vast, filled with more than eight hundred refining stations. The atmosphere there was very pleasant as well. More than half of the eight hundred over refining stations were occupied. Only more than three hundred of them were empty.

Gu Ding found a refining station without many people around it and took out a portion of D-grade medicinal ingredients.

The medicine he was planning to refine was called a manic agent. The difficulty for refining it was higher than gene enhancing medicine of the same grade, which was why low-grade pharmacologists often chose not to challenge this type of medicine. A quality assured D-grade manic agent would be able to increase one’s combat effectiveness by 50% after injection, but its effect would not be obvious. D-grade medicine was suitable for those with three gene chains. Additionally, even if a Rank 7 Gene Body possessed three gene chains, their maximum combat effectiveness would only be ten thousand points. After an enhancement of 50%, they would only have fifteen thousand points in combat effectiveness. They would end up losing very badly when up against an opponent who was a Rank 8 Gene Body.

The higher one’s combat effectiveness was, the better this type of medicine would perform. If it was of A-grade and the user was a Rank 10 Gene body, a maximum of ten million points combat effectiveness would be enhanced to fifteen million points. Powerhouses of such levels would be willing to pay to enhance their abilities. It was not difficult for those who were Rank 6 or 7 Gene Bodies to enhance their gene levels. If they had extra money to purchase such medicine, it would be better for them to spend their money on Energy Crystal Rocks to upgrade their gene levels instead.

Gu Ding’s appearance did not attract the attention of others. He looked like an ordinary young man who was a little good-looking. There were middle-aged men and women who were about thirty to forty years old in the public practice hall. No one looked at them, much less the normal-looking Gu Ding.

However, the lack of attention was temporary. After Gu Ding had prepared all his ingredients and started practicing his refining, he quickly attracted the gaze of several pharmacologists not far from him…