The Highest Bounty

A black and white Golden Eagle could be seen traveling at a high speed in s.p.a.ce.

A group of people was discussing something in a circle within the cabin of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.

In the middle of those people was a projection made by Neptune. The projection was a woman in a purple dress. She looked to be around twenty-years-old. Aside from the light shade of translucent lip gloss that was on her lips, there were no signs of makeup on her face. It was a picture of her without makeup, and she was so beautiful that everyone could not help but look at her in a daze. Only Robert was unfazed.

Even Liliath and Elsa could not help but burst out at the same time, “This big sister is so pretty…”

“Neptune, who is she? Why are you showing us her picture all of a sudden?” Gu Ding asked.

Neptune finally answered after projecting a few more pictures of her, “She"s Elizabeth who"s 170-years-old this year. She"s the Lord of Faye Cosmic Nation. Today, at midnight, she managed to achieve G.o.d level. Now, the entire Faye Cosmic Nation is talking about her. It"s rumored that her breakthrough made her combat effectiveness shoot up to 4-stars, and the Federal Government has openly evaluated her as a brilliant genius.”

“Does she have anything to do with us?” Gu Ding still did not understand what the matter had to do with him.

“Of course it does. Elizabeth was able to achieve her breakthrough to G.o.d level because she was enlightened on Jerr. Even though it was the deity"s will projection that helped with her enlightenment, if you hadn"t gone to Jerr, none of it would have happened and she would"ve never been able to achieve her breakthrough to attain G.o.d level,” Neptune explained.

“And then what? What are you trying to say?” Gu Ding had no idea what Neptune was trying to say since he was going around in circles.

“After that, this beautiful woman sent you a video to say thank you…” When Neptune said this, his tone sounded a little coy. He proceeded to project the video at the same time.

It was a video that was self-taken with an intelligent ring.

“h.e.l.lo, Gu Ding. I"m Elizabeth,” Elizabeth waved and greeted him in the video. Her next few words surprised Gu Ding.

“You may not know this, but we"re actually old acquaintances. Do you remember the Dark Iron Grade Combat Armor I gifted you?”

Now, Elizabeth called someone to come over from the other side, “Midea, come over and say hi.”

Right then, a tall, slender woman walked over and winked at Gu Ding. “Do you still remember that kiss I gave you two months ago at the Virtual Arena?”

Gu Ding would never forget that terribly powerful woman from the Virtual Arena. Nevertheless, he had never expected her to be from Faye Cosmic Nation.

“She"s a good friend of mine. We went to the compet.i.tion at the Virtual Arena in Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation because we were bored at the time. We had not expected to b.u.mp into you. Nevertheless, she was looking for a fight, so she joined the compet.i.tion,” Elizabeth explained.

“Of course, this video I"m recording today is not to reminisce about the old days but to express my grat.i.tude and negotiate a trade with you.”

“I believe you"ve already heard the news about me ascending to become a deity. The one I"m most grateful to is the deity whose will projection descended. On the other hand, the second would be the deceased Thorso. Lastly, it would be you. I"ve investigated the incident. If you hadn"t shown up, the G.o.d item in Thorso"s hands would not have awakened and the deity would not have descended with his will projection. In that case, I would"ve never been able to attain G.o.d level.

“Needless to say, I still have to denounce you for the huge destruction you caused. If it weren"t for you, Thorso would not have died, and the prison"s employees would not have lost their lives. Even though most of the eighty thousand prisoners were bad people, they should not have died either. Additionally, it is an unspeakable crime for you to have wounded our Hunter squad so seriously. That"s why I will allow the marshal to organize a meeting to raise your bounty because of what you"ve done.

“I won"t go into more detail regarding what happened on Jerr. Now, let us discuss about this deal. I hope you will be able to pa.s.s us the complete version of Ultimate Arts. In exchange, I will give you an Ultra Fire Spark from an Ultra Fire. Please give me a reply as soon as possible if you think the trade is acceptable. Then, we will proceed to decide a time and place for the trade.”

The projection slowly faded off as the other party stopped recording.

“The trade can"t really be worth considering. A set of abilities in exchange for an Ultra Fire Spark. Am I the only one who thinks that Elizabeth is interested in Gu Ding, or do all of you think the same?” Liliath scoffed.

“I think so too!” Elsa raised her hand high in the sky to express her agreement.

“Captain, I think if the person who taught you your abilities did not limit them to you, it would be a good trade to exchange them for an Ultra Fire Spark. If those abilities are not allowed to be taught to outsiders, then there"s nothing we can do,” Biggie gave his input this time.

“You all look pretty happy talking about this, but I have no idea what an Ultra Fire Spark is.” Gu Ding looked helplessly at everyone. He had cultivated his abilities based on a few sets of skills Neptune had thrown at him; Gu Ding had found his own way of cultivating. Hence, there were many basic bits of knowledge regarding cultivation he was not aware of. As for his time in the military academy, Gu Ding was only taught the simplest combat techniques, combat effectiveness, and bodybuilding, which did not make much of a difference. As for his basic knowledge of martial arts, the academy only taught him up till Level 6. As for how to achieve G.o.d level, there was no information about it on Skynet. The information was considered cla.s.sified and limited to only people of certain ranks.

When Gu Ding blurted out that he had no idea what an Ultra Fire Spark was, everyone looked at him as if he was an idiot, including Robert and Tagore.

“Fine, allow me to explain. An Ultra Fire Spark is a necessary item one has to use to convert their human physical body into the body of a deity. Without the help of an Ultra Fire Spark, one would not be able to transform fully. Upon complete transformation, the Ultra Fire Spark would be used to acclimatize the body and increase the strength of the now divine body. Each Ultra Fire flame could be split into ten Ultra Fire Sparks,” Neptune gave a simple explanation.

“Is it very difficult to obtain an Ultra Fire Spark?” Gu Ding was beginning to consider going through with the trade. If it was something difficult to get his hands on, it would be an essential trade.

“Very difficult. There are only three ways one can get it under normal circ.u.mstances. First, is to extract it from a deity who has just fallen. However, this can only be done by another deity. Not to mention, once a deity falls, its Ultra Fire quickly extinguishes under normal circ.u.mstances. Once the Ultra Fire is extinguished, getting an Ultra Fire Spark is out of the question. Second, is when the deity is willing to separate the Ultra Fire Sparks from the Ultra Fire within its body. This would cause the deity"s abilities to decrease, which is why it"s a very rare method people choose to use. Third, is to cultivate a special kind of ability to acc.u.mulate Ultra Fire on your own,” Neptune explained in detail this time. Nevertheless, it was clear that Gu Ding did not know any deities who would be able to help him through the first two methods.

“Neptune, can I pa.s.s those abilities you taught me to outsiders?” Gu Ding was somewhat tempted by the deal.

Neptune replied graciously, “There"s nothing I"m opposed to about it. The conditions for cultivating them are extremely harsh, not many would be able to succeed. Those Hunters who have already begun cultivating the incomplete version of Ultimate Arts won"t be able to cultivate this complete version anymore. If they are looking to nurture newcomers, it would be impossible for them to train someone in such a short time. By the time they are able to train new recruits with it, you"d be long gone from Faye Cosmic Nation.”

“Does that mean I should accept the trade?” This was the conclusion Gu Ding came to.

“The Ultimate Fire Spark is useless to you. Cultivating the Sun Sutra to a certain level will enable you to acc.u.mulate Ultimate Fire, which is the reason why I got you to train the ability. Ultra Fire Sparks from the Star Fire acc.u.mulated through the Sun Sutra is considered to be one of the top Ultra Fire Sparks out there,” Neptune shared the good news with him.

“If I won"t be able to use it, some of the others might be able to use it, right?” Gu Ding looked at Liliath and the others.

“Don"t look at me. I don"t need it. I am fully capable of condensing an Ultra Fire Spark from Purgatorial Flames.” Liliath shook her head.

Elsa waved "no" with her hands. “I don"t need it either. I"ve already got an Ultra Fire Spark in my body, given to me by my dad.”

Biggie shook his head too. “Darkness" inheritance has given me a method to condense Ultra Fire Sparks. I don"t need another type of Fire Spark.”

Robert shook his head too. “The Mechanical Tribe"s way of ascending to become a deity is to complete the transformation within our body.”

“I"m not a human being. I don"t need that sort of thing,” Tagore"s reply was also right to the point.

“Okay. Since no one needs it, we"ll reject the trade. Neptune, call her number. She wanted us to give her a reply as soon as possible. Let"s just give her a reply now,” Gu Ding thought there was no need to go on with the trade since no one needed the Ultra Fire Spark.

“Wait, since we don"t need the Ultra Fire Spark from the Ultra Fire, why don"t we make the trade for something else? For example, enhancing materials that Robert may need or some cultivating resources we need for ourselves. Some of those things can"t be bought with money, after all. Since Elizabeth is the Lord of a Cosmic Nation, she should have the most resources in the Faye Cosmic Nation,” Neptune suggested.

Gu Ding"s eyes brightened. “That"s a good plan! Okay, everyone, let"s gather and write down all the materials we need. Don"t bother writing anything that can be easily bought. Jot down stuff that"s rare and difficult to obtain. Also, list down whatever cultivating resources you want and pa.s.s it to me. Neptune will put everyone"s list together.”

Everyone started to make their own lists excitedly after hearing Gu Ding"s words. Even Tagore was hard at work scratching something out with his cat claws.

After about half an hour later, everyone pa.s.sed their list to Gu Ding.

Neptune combined the lists and the total came up to more than one hundred and thirty items. Most of the items came from Robert who had listed more than seventy items alone. Neptune refined the list and removed those that could be bought. Tagore"s list of more than twenty genebeasts was cut down to five types by Neptune. In the end, the list was thinned out to ninety-seven items.

“I should write her an email instead…” Gu Ding was too embarra.s.sed to inform Elizabeth about the list face-to-face when he saw how long it was. Hence, he chose to write her a well-worded email.

Next was to patiently wait for her reply.