The Highest Bounty

“Are you OK?” For the first time, Neptune’s voice sounded concerned.

 “I’m fine. Did I faint just now, or did I fall asleep?” Gu Ding’s face was sullen.

 “Neither. You were in some sort of amazing trance and the rate of absorption of the medicine increased by more than tenfold. You have already fully absorbed that vial of medicine, and your Cell Index is now raised to 18. That’s 1 more point than was predicted.”

 1

“Oh.” Gu Ding’s reaction was plain.

 It was Neptune’s first time encountering a situation like this, and he did not know how to react. “Your Cell Index of 18 is enough for you to practice the complete Ultimate Arts.

 “Hm.” Gu Ding’s reaction was still plain. He opened the book of Ultimate Arts in his mind and started to read it.

 The complete Ultimate Arts is divided into three major sections: attack, defense, and movement, each with twelve levels of difficulty. The main attack techniques are Steel Fist, Phantom Kick, Lightning Elbow and Flaming Knee. The defensive stance was named Righteous Body, and the movement technique was named Silent Step.

 2The attack techniques had six stances in each level. The same goes for Silent Step, which also has six stances in each level, and every six stances returned you to the original position. Righteous Body has the least stances, which is only one every level.

 Gu Ding remembered all the stances to heart, then started practicing them. He sped through the first level of stances. His high cognition allowed him to fully master the first level stances with two or three repetitions. He practices Ultimate Arts for the whole afternoon before he felt his muscles becoming sore.

 “These stances are very strenuous to the body. Once you feel uncomfortable, you should immediately stop. Otherwise, it will cause irreparable damage,” Neptune reminded, ‘How about we stop here for today? You can brew some Cell Restorers tomorrow. You can only drink those medicines one per week. Otherwise, there’ll be side effects.”

 2“Is there any way to continue practicing without burdening the body too much?” Gu Ding asked. He was not ready to call it a day yet.

 “How about the Virtual Arena? Don’t tell me you’ve never been there before?” Neptune asked.

 1“I have not. It costs 1000 Star Credits to register an account there. I don’t have that much money lying around.” Gu Ding smiled drily. “I’ve heard of the Virtual Arena before, and I’ve seen videos of fights there. Just that I’ve never been there myself.”

 “Good time to register an account then. I’ve assessed the program and I think it’s a good place for you to practice battle techniques. You’ll just need to expend some Spirit.” Neptune encouraged him.

 Neptune immediately loaded the login interface to the Virtual Arena. After paying the requisite fees, he received a message containing an invite code. After entering the invite code, he was brought to the character creation screen. Rather than ‘character creation’, it was more of a text field to enter one’s alias while in the Arena. The avatar in the Arena was based on one’s actual real-life stats, though there was an allowance of 20% that one could adjust. Gu Ding did not bother with the minor adjustments.

 2As for his alias, he entered ‘LukewarmAssassin’.

 6[Creating character ‘LukewarmAssassin’. Confirm?]

 1“Confirm!”

 [Character creation complete. Enter the Arena?]

 “Yes!” Gu Ding was wondering in his heart. ‘If I’m not going in, why would I pay the 1000 Star Credits then?’

 [Assessing Psychic levels. Neural connection complete. Teleporting to the Arena…]

 Gu Ding’s vision turned dark. When he came to his senses again, he was already standing at the outer wall of the bustling Arena. He walked toward the reception desk as he heard the cheers of crowds from the inside.

 “Good day to you, sir. Are you here to spectate, participate in a fight, or place a bet?” The young lady at the reception counter smiled sweetly.

 “I’ll spectate first,” Gu Ding answered after hesitating for a short while. He thought he ought to gauge the level of challenge he might face.

 “Please wait for a moment.” The receptionist handed a card to Gu Ding. “Your seat is reserved in Spectator Room Number 1324. The two fighters in the ring are CallMeQueen and It’sAPlane.”

 3‘Looks like my name isn’t that bombastic after all…’ he mumbled in his heart.

 “Please swipe the card at Gate Number 13, and you will be teleported there immediately. After entering the Arena, if you need any further assistance, you may tap any of the three buttons on the card for different services.”

 Gu Ding did what he was told and he was teleported to a spectator room. He saw two people in an intense battle in the ring.

 The character named CallMeQueen was indeed a woman. Her sexy body was dressed in a black skin-tight suit. In her hand was a black leather whip which she used to attack the opponent.

 4It’sAPlane was a young male. He looked like he was at a disadvantage.

 “You can use weapons too?’ Gu Ding’s interest was piqued. The woman in the ring attacked with her whip like waves crashing on the shore. She looked quite powerful.

 The young male did not have a chance to get close to his opponent. Gu Ding could not assess his battle prowess. Even though he had been on the defensive all this while, the whip did not touch him. His movements were rather agile.

 “Who do you think will win?” Neptune suddenly asked.

 “I think the woman will be defeated soon. She has been attacking with all her might and soon will be tired. Once her whipping slows down or pauses, the male will take the opportunity to attack her in close range.” Just as Gu Ding finished speaking, the whipping speed of the woman slowed down. The male dashed between each stroke of the whip and suffered two hits. As he closed in, he lifted a fist and slammed it into the woman’s skull. The woman’s avatar shattered and faded away.

 Below the ring, pieces of the woman merged. She did not seem to suffer any real injuries other than her hurt feelings.

 “Looks like you can go all out in the ring.” Gu Ding was eager to try out. He had reservations that his newly increased power might accidentally injure someone. It looked like his worries were unfounded.

 4After that, Gu Ding spectated another twenty matches. The most intense match he saw was between two people ranked at number 111,8043 and 111,2117 respectively. He noticed that these two people had many flaws. From the matches he saw, he figured that his ranking should be a little past a million. He should be able to climb the ranks with his proficiency in Ultimate Arts.

 6After the match ended, the commentator’s voice was heard on the speakers all around the Arena. “Our rank number 111,8043 player, HerMomHatesMe, is still standing in the ring. He is looking for another challenger! Would anyone want to volunteer themselves?”

 2Gu Ding smirked as he saw the two-and-a-half-meter bald man with a long scar on his face. “You look so scary. It would be a miracle if her mom likes you.”

 “Don’t you want to give it a try?” Neptune suddenly asked. “I think he makes a fine opponent.”

 “I was planning to step into the ring after he steps down. Since he’s not coming down, I’ll have to go up then.” Go Ding tapped the Challenge button on his card.

 Gu Ding’s avatar rematerialized on the stage. His challenge stats were displayed on the ring for all to see.

 Alias: LukewarmAssassin

 Gender: Male

 Age: 15

 3Times fought: 0

 Wins: 0

 Losses: 0

 Draws: 0