An Unexpected Interstellar Storm

Ma Dike was still the same as ever, speaking loudly to everyone without any restraint. Having not been in contact for nearly three months, Gu Ding was still very happy to hear his voice again. "Teacher, I've been busy with ** these past few days, so I automatically muted my communicator."

"I know you're busy. Seeing your bounty increase every few days, I knew you'd never be idle and probably didn't have much time to practice potion making. But since you haven't been in the news these past few days, I figured you'd probably be quiet for a while, so I wanted to remind you five days in advance. But I dialed your number several times, and no one answered."

"There are still three days left in the competition, but as for this Newcomer Ranking Competition, you can participate if you have time, and it's okay if you don't." Ma Dike didn't seem to care much about the competition.

"No matter what the outcome, I think it's still necessary to participate." Gu Ding has indeed become quite rusty in potion making recently, and he doesn't know if he can pick it up after three days of practice. You know, the other contestants have been busy for the past three months.

"Alright, let's not talk about that. I have some good news for you. Your master was promoted to S-Rank Pharmacist a few days ago and was even designated a national National Treasure by the King. I wanted to inform you two precious disciples immediately, but I couldn't reach you or Pa Ma. I finally got through to you today." Ma Dike then revealed the real reason he dialed Gu Ding's number: to deliver this good news.

"Teacher, congratulations! I knew you would definitely break through." Gu Ding was also happy for Ma Dike. Ma Dike was indeed a genius in potion making, and Gu Ding always felt that it was only a matter of time before he advanced to S-Ranked.

"Stop flattering me. Even if I were designated National Treasure, I wouldn't be as famous as you. A while ago, you single-handedly fought off eight members of the Fei Me Universe Country's Hunter squad; those videos are all over the Long Teng Universe Country now. You've become the idol of every Interstellar Pirate in the Long Teng Universe Country. Because of you, the Rose Tavern is practically a tourist attraction now, with queues stretching outside every day. And, many students from both military and civilian academies are dropping out to become Interstellar Pirate like you..."

"It can't be that exaggerated, can it?" Gu Ding thought Ma Dike was joking with him.

"I'm not kidding. You can search for the video and other news reports in the sky later if you don't believe me," Ma Dike emphasized the truth of the matter.

"What has Senior Sister Pa Ma been busy with lately?" Gu Ding changed the subject.

"She's been researching an antidote for a virus and went to the Gloomy Star Region. I haven't been able to contact her for five days, which is a bit worrying. If I still haven't heard from her in two days, I'll have to ask a friend to help me look for her. But you can't worry about things here. Just take care of yourself; she should be fine..."

Just then, Gu Ding suddenly heard a series of hissing sounds, as if the communication signal was being interfered with.

"What happened? Why do I hear a hissing sound?" Ma Dike heard it too.

"This is a precursor to Interstellar Storm, indicating electromagnetic disturbances," Sea Emperor whispered in Gu Ding's ear.

"It seems we've encountered Interstellar Storm..." Before he could finish speaking, the call was automatically disconnected.

Gu Ding frowned slightly. During an Interstellar Storm, the spaceship couldn't perform space jumps or other maneuvers, only basic flight. Interstellar Storm typically covered a large area and lasted for a considerable time. Judging from the current situation, his plan to participate in the Newcomer Ranking Competition was likely to be ruined, because during the period of Interstellar Storm blocking, he wouldn't be able to connect to Medicine King Valley.

Moreover, spaceships are often subjected to various shocks or impacts during Interstellar Storm, making them unsuitable for practicing potion making.

"We have entered the outermost edge of the Interstellar Storm," Sea Emperor warned.

"Could we first travel horizontally out of the area affected by the Interstellar Storm, and then use space jump to leave?" Gu Ding suggested.

"Going sideways is a good idea. This Interstellar Storm has a wide reach. Going against the flow of the storm would probably take more than half a month to cross the affected area, and the risks of going against the flow are also very high. But now, turning around and going sideways to leave this area will only take five days." Sea Emperor also agreed with Gu Ding's idea.

"Is five days the shortest time? Are there any other better ways?" At this rate, I definitely won't make it into the competition to enter Medicine King Valley.

"No, I've already calculated it. Crossing laterally is the most time-efficient way. In fact, the cosmic storm is like a river, and we have to go against the current to reach our destination. The width of the river is much smaller than its length, so crossing laterally is the fastest way to get out of this river."

"Alright, let's change course then. We'll have to stay on the spaceship to cultivate for the next five days." Gu Ding thought for a moment, realizing he could also use this time to try and build a second energy cycle within his body.

Under Sea Emperor's control, the Golden Eagle quickly changed course. Apart from Gu Ding and Sea Emperor, the other crew members were completely unaware of this.

Gu Ding also quickly entered the next stage of cultivation in his room.

During these five days, everyone's pace of life underwent some minor changes, but quickly returned to its previous state.

On the first day, from breakfast to dinner, Gu Ding and Liliath each ate three meals of fried rice with eggs, and everyone else stayed in their rooms. Only Tagore sneaked a few pieces of meat from the refrigerator in the middle of the night.

The next day, Elsa finally woke up from her slumber, having successfully broken through from the tenth to the Eleventh Order. She also had dinner with Gu Ding and Liliath, enjoying fried rice with eggs, and praised Gu Ding's cooking skills highly. Bigge was still asleep, and Tagore sneaked a few more pieces of meat from the refrigerator that night.

On the third day, early in the morning, Tagore finally woke up, having successfully broken through to the Eleventh Order. The first thing he did upon waking was head straight to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone. Everyone's daily routine finally returned to normal, and Gu Ding and Liliath, who had been eating fried rice for three days in a row, finally breathed a sigh of relief. In the middle of the night, while everyone was fast asleep, Tagore ran to the kitchen again and stole a few pieces of meat from the refrigerator.

On the fourth day, Gu Ding finally completed the construction of the second major energy cycle within his body. His internal energy was noticeably stronger than before, but his Cell Comprehensive Index remained unchanged, and his genetic level remained at the Sixth Order. Gu Ding even tried injecting himself with Cell Enhancer and Gene Enhancer, but to no avail. Robert still hadn't come out of his room. If it weren't for the Sea Emperor saying he was still busy, Gu Ding and the others would have wanted to check on him to see if something had happened. As for the others, they continued working as usual, just not as intensely as before. Especially Bigge and Elsa; at their genetic level, without strong external support, each breakthrough was extremely difficult. Therefore, after breaking through a major level, they chose to consolidate their genetic level.

On the fifth day, the spaceship finally left the area covered by the Interstellar Storm.

Gu Ding immediately called An Dongni, the president of the Tianhe Star Region branch of the Medicine God Alliance, to apologize for breaking his promise and explain why he hadn't appeared at the competition. It turned out that An Dongni had invited him to participate in this rookie competition from the very beginning and had high hopes for it.

An Dongni was somewhat surprised to receive Gu Ding's call, as he already knew from Ma Dike why Gu Ding hadn't shown up. While he didn't want this outcome, there was nothing anyone could do about an uncontrollable event like the Interstellar Storm. Besides, given Gu Ding's current bounty, the small prize money from the competition wouldn't really matter to him. Therefore, upon receiving Gu Ding's call, An Dongni immediately expressed his understanding.

After hanging up with An Dongni, Gu Ding dialed another number, a number with no digits, just a strange string of random characters. This number was left by X.

Sea Emperor immediately attempted to decipher the code in an attempt to locate X, but failed to obtain a position.

After Gu Ding dialed the number, the call was connected after two beeps.

"You encountered Interstellar Storm?" X asked as his first question.

"How did you know?" Gu Ding had originally intended to tell him that he might be five days late, but he didn't expect that he already knew that he had encountered Interstellar Storm.

"Of course I know. Using your ship's previous location and the Golden Eagle's stable speed, I can easily calculate your position, which is right within the range of the Interstellar Storm," X explained casually. "The fact that you can call me now means you should have escaped the Interstellar Storm's reach. The fact that it only took five days indicates you chose lateral travel, meaning you are now farther from Problan Star than you were five days ago. Therefore, the purpose of your call is clear: you want to tell me you will arrive at Problan Star at least five days later than expected."

"That's right!" Gu Ding did not deny the other party's speculation.

"Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you." X paused, seemingly waiting for a response from Gu Ding. "The good news is that the person who prepared the gift for you has had his ship break down and won't be able to arrive on Problan Star on time. The bad news is that we don't know when his ship will be repaired. His ship is a very valuable old model, and it's a limited edition, so some of the materials are very hard to find."

"Then let's go directly to the planet where he repairs his spaceship and find him?" Gu Ding came up with an idea.

"Uh... on this point, I must admit, some members of our organization are a bit difficult to talk to. That guy refused to reveal the location of the planet he was docked on, and also told me that until his precious spaceship was repaired, forget about any gifts or anything like that. So..." X's tone also revealed a hint of helplessness.

"Alright then, let's arrive at Problan Star first and then wait and see. If we really can't wait, then we'll have to leave first." Although Gu Ding was looking forward to the so-called greeting gift, he didn't want to delay everyone's trip because of this.

After hanging up the call, the Golden Eagle, under the control of the Sea Emperor, headed towards Bran... (To be continued).