The Highest Bounty

Leoben Prison was the prison with the highest security in the entire Faye Cosmic Nation. All the walls of the prison were built with carbide alloy and it would not leave a scratch even when under attack by a powerhouse at the peak of Rank 13.

The entire prison was managed almost in automation. There were twenty-eight hours a day and the timing was strictly regulated, down to the very second, when it came to the activity of prisoners, which was strictly upheld. This included bathroom breaks and bath times. If these activities were delayed even by a second, the prisoner will immediately be kicked out of the toilet or shower room.

The reason for creating this prison was quite simple. It was to train criminals who did not obey the law to learn and obey the rules.

There were more than eighty thousand prisoners locked up there, all of them vicious and unrestrained. Every one of them were highly dangerous characters who were sentenced to more than 300 years of prison time and each of them had killed at least twenty people.

Gu Ding did not accept Camilia"s suggestion because this prison, which was known as the complete penitentiary, was located right at the Border River exit on Jerr. It was the planet mentioned by Camilia that was had the most human traffic among the six administrative planets. Jerr had become a tourism planet because of this prison, and the reason for Gu Ding"s insistence on heading there was because of someone incarcerated in the prison.

“I hung out at Rose Tavern with dad since I was young and within those ten years, Perret"s name was the one that was mentioned the most often. During those times, he was the most famous Interstellar Pirate in Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation. There were hundreds of stories about him, and the Interstellar Pirates at the tavern enjoyed telling them thousands of times. No matter what the tale was, he had always been the fearless hero in the stories.”

“I was really small and skinny then, and constantly getting bullied at school. I had always wished that I could become someone like Perret one day, someone who was fearless and would never give in to difficulties. It was at that time that I had made the decision to become an Interstellar Pirate when I grew up.”

“When I was ten, I heard about his arrest, which resulted in him being imprisoned in Leoben, located on Jerr within the Faye Cosmic Nation. From the day I heard the news, I knew that I would make a trip to Leoben Prison one day to visit him and learn for myself what kind of person Perret truly is.”

“Now, I"m only one step away from Jerr… If I miss this, it might be many years before I"m able to come back here.”

Everyone went silent over Gu Ding"s words. They had not expected this to be the reason for Gu Ding to take the risk.

“I grew up listening to stories about Viking warriors. I heard about them burning, killing, and pillaging, and have always imagined having a life like that. That was the reason why I had immediately accepted your offer to become an Interstellar Pirate, and also, food was provided,” Elsa interrupted from the side.

“Gu Ding, if these were normal times, we would never attempt to discourage you from visiting Jerr, but right now, our entire crew, except for Neptune, has high bounties on our heads. Faye Cosmic Nation has sent troops to stand guard at all six administrative planets. They will immediately take action the moment Golden Eagle anchors at the harbor,” Liliath frowned. She understood Gu Ding wanted to have closure for his past. This looked like a good thing in the long run as it would mean that Gu Ding would have a greater aim for the future, but this was not the right time.

“I know the Golden Eagle stands out like a sore thumb. Besides, Biggie and Robert will get recognized easily. That is why I"ve decided to do this alone,” Gu Ding made an even more ambitious decision.

“Are you crazy? It might mean a trip of no return for a whole crew, much less you making the journey alone. You"re placing yourself in extreme danger,” Liliath has always been blunt with Gu Ding. She felt Gu Ding"s decision was unsound.

“I"ve made plans for it. Robert can make me a few masks for disguise, and I"ll change my clothes. No one will recognize me. All you need to do is to drop me off at an administrative planet near the exit of Border River. I"ll take a tourist s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p over to Jerr. You can hide in an uninhabited planet nearby Jerr and wait for me to be done with my prison visit. I"ll get Neptune to contact you when I return to the harbor. All you need to do is to descend at the harbor and the first thing I"ll do is get on the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. We"ll leave immediately after that. The whole process would take less than ten seconds and those troops from the Army won"t even realize what had happened,” Gu Ding had given the whole process serious thought and it sounded quite doable.

“Shouldn"t you at least bring along a voice modulator? It would be a disaster if someone from the prison recognized Gu Ding"s voice,” Liliath was being extra careful with this plan.

Neptune objected. “We can"t bring a voice modulator. Leoben Prison has a system that recognizes any voice change. The moment you bring a voice modulator and speak with it, it will trigger an alarm. However, I can hoodwink them by creating a disruption between Gu Ding"s voice in the prison and the electronic wave conversion, which will disguise Gu Ding"s original voice. It won"t work if the person facing him recognizes his voice, but the probability of that happening is not high. Only someone awfully familiar with him would be able to identify him and we don"t know anyone in Faye Cosmic Nation.”

“Neptune, you need to alter every single detail if you want to go ahead with this plan and you can"t miss out anything. You"ll need to pick the plan with the highest success rate,” Liliath did not agree with this, but Gu Ding had made his decision. Besides that, he had a valid reason for this, and the only thing left for Liliath was to support his choice.

Everyone kept themselves occupied for the next few days.

After learning of Gu Ding"s plans, Biggie, Elsa, and Liliath secluded themselves in cultivating and training.

Robert was busy as usual, building whatever he was working on.

Tagore was the only one who was bored and spent his days sleeping.

As for Gu Ding, he kept himself busy by training his proficiency at using his primary power. When he was cultivating Sun Sutra on Jiew.a.n.g, he had managed to get his Cell Index to increase fifty-five points by using primary power to transform his physique. His Cell Index was now at three thousand two hundred and eighty points. However, there was no sunlight in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, which made it impossible for him to cultivate the Sun Sutra, so he could only make do with practicing being proficient in it.

It had been three days since they left Jiew.a.n.g and Neptune suddenly came to him with good news.

“Gu Ding, you can make use of those black crystals found in the inventory of the Poison Master and Tower. It has a minimal side effect of addiction, but it should not be a big problem with just a few of them. Moreover, I"ve a.n.a.lyzed the components of these crystals and have improved the molecular structures to a certain degree. I was able to clone similar energy crystals that do not contain the addictive side effects. As long as we have sufficient materials, we can produce a huge batch of them with Robert"s help. When that time comes, the primary power of all our crew members will be significantly enhanced.”

“How do we use it?” Gu Ding had a question about it.

“You can crush it and chew or swallow it whole. You can also choose to crush it and take it via other solvents as mediums by injecting it into your bloodstream or even plant it on yourself the same way you do Energy Crystals,” Neptune explained how this crystal type could be absorbed and consumed in so many different ways.

“Taking it orally sounds the simplest,” Gu Ding said as he picked the smallest one. The black crystal was the size of a little thumb. He casually threw it into his mouth and swallowed it.

Neptune was constantly monitoring Gu Ding"s physical condition and found that the peculiar virus immediately appeared when the black crystal got into his stomach. It had disintegrated the black crystal speedily, but this time, the energy did not have a reaction on his DNA chain, but it created a reaction on Gu Ding"s cells instead.

The cells all over Gu Ding divided speedily. At the same time, a surge of a high tolerance unknown primary power started appearing within the primary power circulation within Gu Ding"s body.

Gu Ding immediately started activating the Sun Sutra within him over and over when he felt the additional unknown primary power within him. However, he quickly realized that the first circulation of the Sun Sutra was unable to completely absorb the unknown primary power that had appeared out of nowhere. He started following the guidance within the secret manual to build up the second round of circulation within his body.

After more than ten days of trial and error, he finally managed to build the circulation within him as he activated both circulations. Gu Ding immediately felt that he possessed two times the strength of his previous primary power. However, the unknown primary power appearing out of thin air within did not decrease at all.

Gu Ding tried to build the third round of circulation within him, which took more than ten attempts before he finally succeeded. The unknown primary power merged quickly into the circulation process.

It took less than a few minutes before Gu Ding felt himself becoming stronger.

The surge of this unknown primary power continued for more than three hours. Gu Ding managed to stabilize all three circulation rounds within his body in those three hours.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Neptune already projecting his Cell Index, which was at three thousand nine hundred and ten; an enhancement of six hundred and thirty points. It had increased by two hundred points each hour. This enhancement at frightening speed was something completely beyond Gu Ding"s expectations.

Gu Ding took a deep breath and could not help asking, “Neptune, can this thing be used continuously?”

“Judging by the situation of your cell division, you can only use this type of enhancement for ten hours at a time. The cells in your body require ample rest during the downtime. Otherwise, it would cause huge damage to your body,” Neptune had been closely monitoring Gu Ding"s physical condition. He had been worried about any side effects previously, but by the looks of Gu Ding"s cell reaction, there should not any major problems as long he did not use it for more than ten hours.

“The effect of this thing is truly amazing; it"s no wonder people get addicted to it. If I had more of these crystals, I"d have them every day. Only ten hours of enhancement a day and I can increase my Cell Index by two thousand points,” Gu Ding said as he took out another crystal the size of a small thumb and tossed it into his mouth.

This time, he did not waste a second as he quickly activated the Sun Sutra at the exact moment he swallowed the crystal.

With the help of the unknown primary power, Gu Ding quickly built up the fourth circulation within his body and next, fifth circulation…