Gu Ding was not bothered at all by Ross Childe's aim. To Gu Ding, Ross Childe had crossed the line when he kidnapped Lilliath.

Even though three of the four black-clothed bodyguards had been taken care of, and Lilliath had expressed that it was needless to pursue the matter, Gu Ding was not about to let it pa.s.s. That was the reason why he had called Ross Childe's number to announce his visit. Ross Childe was the mastermind behind everything while the others had only followed his orders, which was why when Lilliath suggested to let Tricke and the others go, Gu Ding did not object.

Their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p left Probrand early the next morning.

Everyone began to cultivate to prepare for the upcoming battle. No one had any idea what kind of trap Ross Childe had set for them. All they could do was enhance their abilities and take down the schemer with pure brute force.

Gu Ding had not managed to achieve a breakthrough in his gene level. He could only cultivate his Righteous Force and await the restocking of Earth Core Crystals from Monster Paradise.

Neptune brought good news on the third day after the s.h.i.+p had left Probrand; the latest stock of Earth Core Crystals had finally arrived. However, there was also a piece of bad news. Each person was only allowed to purchase one crystal at a time, and they were allowed to make a bulk purchase only once a month. Each bulk purchase was limited to 100 pieces. If one missed the purchase period, they could only wait until the next month to buy them.

Nevertheless, there was no need to worry about missing out on the crystals with Neptune around. The moment it was restocked, Neptune could help Gu Ding place an order and leave an address for where the crystals should be sent to.

“We'll make a stop at Borz in three days. It'll take around three days for them to send the crystals there. It will be morning when we arrive at Borz, so we won't miss out on the delivery nor wait too long for it.” Neptune had deducted the best place to collect the crystals and made the necessary arrangements.

Three days later, the Golden Eagle was seen docking at the harbor of Borz. They had made it to the planet before sunrise, just in time to watch it.

The Earth Core Crystal finally fell into Gu Ding's hands after lunch.

After signing the package, the Golden Eagle left Borz.

When Gu Ding returned to his room, he took out the Earth Core Crystal which was encased in an exquisite box.

The Earth Core Crystal was fiery red. It was the size of a thumb and was shaped like a prism.

Gu Ding held the crystal between his fingers as he carefully examined it. “How do I use this thing? Do I swallow it?”

“Swallowing it would be the simplest way.”

Gu Ding did not hesitate after hearing Neptune's confident reply. He immediately threw the rock into his mouth and gulped it down with force.

When the piece of Earth Core Crystal landed in his stomach, Gu Ding felt a hot current begin to rush from within his abdomen to each and every corner of his body.

Neptune, on the other hand, saw numerous black virus strains appear in every part of Gu Ding's body. They went into a frenzy as they consumed the Earth Core Crystal.

The entire crystal was devoured in less than ten minutes. Under normal circ.u.mstances, a person would need at least three days to absorb an Earth Core Crystal. Those who consumed crystals a little slower sometimes needed up to five days to absorb it.

After the Earth Core Crystal had been absorbed, another gene shackle appeared in Gu Ding's body. It was a shackle that was completely black in color with numerous ciphertext written in gold carved all over it. An unknown power tore at it and a fissure soon appeared on the shackle. The fissure, which could be seen clearly, continued to spread quickly. It was not long before the entire shackle broke apart. The color of the pieces that broke off gradually faded, and they eventually vanished.

At the same time, a minor portion of the third gene chain within Gu Ding experienced some change which took about five minutes for it to stabilize.

During this time, the cells in Gu Ding experienced raging mitosis as they evolved continuously. Gu Ding's original Cell Index of a hundred and thousand points quickly enhanced to eight hundred thousand points.

Gu Ding slowly opened his eyes. He felt the huge change within his body this time. It was clearly the result of a breakthrough from his original gene level.

Neptune a.n.a.lyzed the latest stats of Gu Ding's body and projected it.

'Name: Gu Ding'

'Gender: Male'

'Age: 15'

'Gene Level: Rank 7'

'Cell Index: 800000'

'Spirituality Index: 790000'

'Special Ability 1: Level 3 Rage Ability (Able to Evolve)'

'Special Ability 2: Level 1 High-Speed Regeneration (Able to Evolve)'

'Special Ability 3: Level 3 Damage Stacking (cursing ability) (Able to Evolve)'

'Special Ability 4: Absolute Seal (Level 2 taboo energy) (Able to Evolve)'

'Special Ability 5: Level 2 Advanced Iron Block (Able to Evolve)'

'Special Ability 6: Rank 1 Martial Arts Field (Able to Evolve)'

'Special Ability 7: Level 1 Advanced repulsive effect'

'Ability Description: Able to control items and make them go in any direction in any form of push and pull; the limit of the push and pull force is ten times the effect.'

'Ability Limitation 1: When using the ability, a part of the body must be in physical contact with the item.'

'Ability Limitation 2: Any item can only be controlled by pus.h.i.+ng and pulling. (Controlled items with repulsive effects are not included)'

'Ability Limitation 3: If the ability is used numerous times on the same item, the ability can only be executed once.'

'Ability Limitation 4: If the size of the controlled item is huge, the ability can only be used within a range of 1000 meters.'

Neptune was a little envious of Gu Ding's luck when he saw that Gu Ding had gained a new ability. Advanced abilities were not something easily acquired, and the ability Gu Ding had freshly developed was a rare and powerful ability. It was considered quite the achievement if someone managed to obtain ability that could control gravity. To gain the ability to control an object in any form of push or pull naturally included the ability to control gravity.

Gu Ding was delighted when he saw the ability. He started to think about ways to develop the ability.

Gu Ding did not waste any time as there was still room for him to expand his Cell Index. He started to swallow black crystals, the ones that allowed an individual to add on fifty thousand index points with each one consumed.

Days pa.s.sed and Gu Ding only used two days to enhance his Cell Index to a million points. Unfortunately, there were no more Earth Core Crystals for him to use, and it was impossible for him to achieve a breakthrough to Rank 8.

Gu Ding started cultivating his Righteous Force with the remaining time. He wanted to complete the fourth cycle before arriving at Red s.h.i.+eld. His Righteous Force was now powerful to a terrifying extent, probably even surpa.s.sing Biggie's, the strongest person in his crew.

When Gu Ding's Cell Index hit a million points, he was finally able to use Ultimate Arts Level 12 without causing any stress to his body. He was also no longer restricted to a time frame when using it. Ultimate Arts Level 12 was the last level in Ultimate Arts; enhancing one's combat effectiveness by three hundred and twenty times, it had reached its limit.

Basic combat effectiveness of a million points was also the maximum enhancement effect produced by Bronze Grade Combat Armor. The enhancement effects of Bronze Grade Armor had a limit of a million points, and it could not exceed that limit even if Gu Ding had more than a million points.

The other members of Gu Ding's crew also achieved certain progresses aside from Gu Ding himself. Among them, Lilliath had achieved the most improvement. She had advanced from a Rank 9 Gene Body to a Rank 10. As for her Cell Index, she had gotten it to one million, five hundred, and one thousand points, steadily beating Gu Ding.

Elsa and Biggie already had quite high basic combat effectiveness as they were both Rank 11 Gene Bodies. It was difficult for them to achieve great progress in terms of enhancement. Nevertheless, they managed to improve slightly in terms of ability.

As for what had become of Robert, he had locked himself in his room. On the other hand, as for Tagore who had always been busy stealing food, Gu Ding had no idea what had happened to him at all.

On Red s.h.i.+eld, the Childe family had been extremely busy for the past few days, preparing for combat against Gu Ding.

Ross sat cross-legged on the floor quietly. There was nothing around him, not even a table or chair, which was why he could only sit on the floor.

He was not in his room but in a place used for internal punishment within his tribe called the Repentance Tower.

The body of the tower was made up of bluestone blocks. The bluestone contained material similar to that found in anti-magic chains but had much higher radiation. Anti-magic chains only took effect once a person was chained up. On the other hand, bluestones did not require physical contact to function as an anti-magic medium. As long as the person was within range, their abilities would be sealed.

Any normal person locked within the tower would have their primary power and special ability sealed. All they could do was panic as they looked at the bluestone blocks and prayed to be released each day. Nevertheless, Ross was not anxious at all. He composed himself by closing his eyes, appearing to be asleep.

Surveillance cameras were hidden in every corner of the tower; they were placed with the aim of making sure that the punished repented. Ross had been imprisoned for more than half a month, yet he did not display any sign of anxiousness. He treated the place as his own room, waking up every day to wash up on time. He would go for a morning jog, have breakfast, cultivate, eat lunch, read, eat dinner, read again, and sleep. He kept his daily schedule without fail, and that impressed everyone.

His family had even confiscated his intelligent wrist.w.a.tch in order to punish him, but it did not seem to have any effect on him.

Lucia was the one who had brought him his dinner today.

“Why are you the one here today?” The family's servants were normally the ones who took turns to bring him his meals. Ross thought it was a little strange when he saw Lucia serving him personally.

“I saw a servant bringing your food this way and thought it would be convenient since I have something to say to you.” Lucia crouched down as she placed the tray on the floor.

“Gu Ding and his crew should be here by now, am I right? Even if they aren't, they should be arriving soon.” Ross' lips curved up slightly as if his current environment did not affect him.

“They should arrive in our star sector tomorrow morning, but no one knows if they will make a direct stop at Red s.h.i.+eld. Your rites of pa.s.sage is in another two days, and there is a possibility they will choose to stop at nearby planets in order to avoid a clash,” Lucia guessed.

“Gu Ding will definitely dock at Red s.h.i.+eld immediately.” Ross smiled confidently.