The Highest Bounty

When Gu Ding stepped out of the room, he realized that the room they had been in was merely a tent, and everyone else lived in tents of different sizes.

Gu Ding was a little curious as to why the old man wanted him to refine purification medicine. Nevertheless, his question was soon answered when he saw everyone of the Witch Tribe in a strange state. Each one of them looked like they were in pain.

“My name is Oldman, and I’m the high priest of this tribe. For some reason, our tribe has been cursed and everyone is now suffering from pain. The curse has also greatly shortened the longevity of our ethnic group. Level 1 Gene Bodies have had their lifespans shortened to one-tenth of their original lifespans, while Level 2 to 5 Gene Bodies have had their lifespans shortened to one-fifth of their original lifespans. The curse has caused a lot of the young people in my tribe to die… Since you’re able to refine D-grade medicines, Level 7 Gene bodies and below can be saved. As for those who are level 8 and above, you don’t have to worry about them,” the old man explained slowly as he walked with his cane.

“Are you sure purification medicine is of use to treat this kind of curse?” It was the first time Gu Ding was hearing about a curse that shortened the lifespan of humans. The curse sounded powerful and purification medicine might not be enough to cure them.

“Yes, although the curse sounds powerful, it was unleashed in a specific area. Hence, its power is relatively weak after being spread out to everyone. Therefore, it’s something that can be purified by purification medicine.” Oldman nodded.

He brought Gu Ding to a tall, thin man. Oldman introduced the man, “This is Lawton. He’ll take you to a medicine refinement room where you won’t be disturbed in. If you need any materials, you can just look for him. Lawton, this is our guest pharmacologist, please assist him with everything he needs.”

Lawton was tall, thin, had dark skin, and looked like he was in his early twenties. He looked at Gu Ding. “But, Your Reverence Priest, he looks…”

“Lawton, Mr. Gu Ding is a genius pharmacologist.” Oldman interrupted Lawton before the latter could finish his sentence. “Take him to the refining room!”

While following Lawton, Gu Ding felt that something weird going on. They were in a place from 14.6 billion years ago, and their wanted orders could not have been shown to anyone there. Moreover, none of them had told anyone in the ethnic group what their names were. The question was, how did Oldman know Gu Ding’s name?

After a while, the two arrived at the medicine refinement room. It was a single separated tent that was quiet but had all the equipment needed. With the help of Neptune, Gu Ding hand wrote a list of materials and handed it to Lawton. Since the words used by the tribe at that time were completely different from the ones Gu Ding knew, Gu Ding wrote down words according to what Neptune showed him despite not understanding anything.

Lawton took a look at the list and did not raise a question. He turned around and left the tent.

“Neptune, how credible were the people of the Witch Tribe during the Middle Ages?” Gu Ding wandered around the room and found no guards.

“You finally asked,” Neptune smiled upon hearing Gu Ding’s question. “Do you think a race that slaughters humans whenever they want, uses humans as sacrifices, or comes up with various ways to eat human flesh, would actually negotiate with humans? In other words, would humans negotiate with hog beasts?”

“But doesn’t the Witch Tribe belong to part of the human branch?” Gu Ding could not wrap his head around it.

“There are many human branches, but there are many human branches that do not consider themselves humans anymore. Some examples are the Witch Tribe, the Giant Tribe, and the Murloc Tribe…” Neptune said bluntly, “To be honest, humans have never been a likable kind.”

“Let’s put the topic aside for now. I already promised those guys to refine purification medicines for them. I need to get it done by tomorrow night… You should’ve stopped me from promising them such a thing.”

“If I had stopped you from making a promise with them, the three of you would be nailed to the cliff and fed to the raptors tomorrow morning. With Liliath’s body size, she’d probably die within an hour. For Biggie? Maybe three hours or more. And you? Without your High-Speed Regeneration, you’d probably last one and a half hours before your internal organs get torn out by those birds of prey as they enjoy their delicious meal.” Although Neptune’s description was gory, he spoke the truth. “The only way you guys could’ve bought more time to live longer was by negotiating with them!

“Take your time refining. Once the space-time backtracking ends, all of this will be over,” Neptune said, “It’s the only way. I doubt you can escape with a Level 12 Gene Body around. The only thing you can do now is wait for the space-time backtracking to end.”

“Is there really no other way?” Gu Ding asked unwillingly because Neptune’s suggestion was too passive.

“From what I see now, there isn’t!” Neptune said.

Not long after their discussion ended, Lawton walked in with a boy that looked to be around nine years old. The boy was holding a pile of medicinal materials.

“This is only a portion of the materials. Arthas and I will go and get the rest of the materials in a few more rounds. In the meantime, you can start refining now.” Lawton did not take Gu Ding too seriously.

“Big brother Lawton, can I stay to watch him refine?” The kid seemed interested in medicine refinement.

“Your name is Arthas?” Gu Ding was startled when he heard his name.

“I just made a comparison with the data records. He matches the description of Arthas, the first Witch Tribe god in the Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation both in time and space,” Neptune whispered in Gu Ding’s ear.

“That’s right, I’m called Arthas!” the blond kid answered confidently.

“Arthas, don’t try to slack off!” Lawton reprimanded.

Arthas reluctantly followed Lawton out of the tent.

“Is it a coincidence that we’re here?” Gu Ding frowned slightly. “Arthas looks like he’s almost ten years old. Presently, he’s only a Level 1 Gene Body. If he’s cursed, he won’t live past ten years old. Why is it that we space-time backtracked to this very moment… right here…”

“Do you think that space-time backtracking was created by humans?” Neptune voiced Gu Ding’s thoughts out loud. “Although it makes sense, as far as I know, even gods aren’t able of doing such things.”

“Whether it’s a coincidence or not, if we cure this Witch Tribe community, history will definitely repeat itself. Arthas will become a god, command the entire universe, enslave humanity, and extract abilities from human powerhouses for his own sake… It would mean that I played a part in the dark part of history…” Gu Ding found such a thing difficult to accept.

“It’s history, it already happened, you can’t change it!”

“What if I kill Arthas? Then the whole thing won’t happen, right?” Gu Ding asked.

“History that has taken place is irreversible. If you kill this Arthas, there will be another Arthas that will do the same thing. Even if this ethnic group goes extinct because of the curse, there will be another ethnic group with a young man named Arthas that will make the entire thing repeat itself.” Neptune’s explanation was able to calm Gu Ding down a little.

“Alright! Since I can’t refuse to treat them, the only thing I can do now is to make them pay enough for this treatment!” Gu Ding narrowed his eyes slightly.