Perfect-Quality Gene Serum

"White Rhino Blood, White Rhino Horn, Crimson Cloud Grass, Storax..."

After stepping onto the challenge platform, Gu Ding prepared each of the materials he needed.

As they watched him select his ingredients, the observing pharmacists were all somewhat puzzled. Basically every pharmacist knew the materials needed to brew a White Rhino Enhancer. White Rhino Horn was not among them, nor was Storax. Once Gu Ding had laid out all his materials, everyone also noticed that he was missing Frigid Fragrance Flower.

Frigid Fragrance Flower and Storax were medicinal materials with similar properties, both used as catalysts. However, Storax's catalytic strength was more than ten times greater than that of Frigid Fragrance Flower. Generally, the harder a potion was to brew, the less likely Storax would be used. The stronger the catalytic effect, the more uncontrollable the brewing process became.

After comparing the two medicinal ingredients, Gu Ding easily determined that the White Rhino Horn in his formula served as a potion harmonizer.

Sa Ze did not underestimate his opponent, even though the other party looked younger than he was. Seeing the ingredients Gu Ding had chosen, he showed no contempt. Instead, he stared intently at the two extra ingredients, looking as though he were pondering something.

Extracting a Gene Serum was much more troublesome than extracting other potions because it involved the additional process of separating and extracting Gene Chains, which had to be performed under a microscope.

Standing beside the microscope, Gu Ding took some time to get used to it. Seeing his awkward manner as he adjusted the machine, quite a few of the watching pharmacists chuckled. They could tell at a glance that Gu Ding had never used a microscope before. Their guess was correct—this was indeed Gu Ding's first time seeing a real microscope. As a former Combat Department student of the Federal Basic Military Academy, he had studied Combat Department knowledge from the moment he enrolled. He had only entered a pharmacy lab once to brew potions, and had never touched most of the equipment.

After spending a few minutes making adjustments, Gu Ding finally placed a drop of White Rhino Blood onto the microscope slide. Around five minutes passed before he found the Gene Chain that needed to be separated.

This level of efficiency made the watching pharmacists frown. They could more or less guess that this was Gu Ding's first time brewing a White Rhino Enhancer; otherwise, he would not have taken so long. Anyone who had brewed a White Rhino Enhancer even once could easily locate the Gene Chain that needed separating within thirty seconds.

Although Gu Ding was brewing slowly, Sa Ze did not underestimate him. He, too, had judged that this was probably Gu Ding's first time brewing a White Rhino Enhancer. Yet, seeing Gu Ding's utterly calm expression and his slow but steady movements, he instinctively felt that Gu Ding was unlikely to fail. He was also somewhat eager to see the quality of the potion Gu Ding would produce.

Having found the appropriate Gene Chain, Gu Ding began the separation process. He used Gene Stain to color the Gene Chain he needed, then dripped in Gene Separation Fluid. Upon touching the Gene Separation Fluid, the linked Gene Chains detached and separated one after another.

Since the Gene Chain he needed had already been stained, Gu Ding easily found the marked chain. The subsequent extraction was relatively simple. He picked out the Gene Chain and placed it on another slide, then washed it with cleansing solution, thoroughly removing the residue of the separation fluid.

Gu Ding had finally completed the first stage. He had been extremely careful throughout the process, and it had taken a full fifteen minutes. In that amount of time, a skilled gene pharmacist could have completely brewed a White Rhino Enhancer.

Of course, successfully completing the separation on his first use of a microscope also slightly changed the opinions of many observing pharmacists. Operations under a microscope were more than ten times harder than ordinary operations. The vast majority of people failed their first few attempts at brewing under a microscope. Even talented pharmacists needed at least three or four failures before succeeding. Gu Ding's movements had been slow, but success was success. Succeeding on his first attempt at using a microscope was enough to place him among the ranks of geniuses.

Having completed the first stage, Gu Ding finally let out a breath of relief. He truly was unfamiliar with operating a microscope, which was why he had moved so slowly—he had been afraid of making a mistake. But the hardest stage was already over, and he began the subsequent brewing process.

After extracting all the other ingredients accordingly, he took out eleven Distillation Flasks, poured the eleven materials into them separately, and began heating them for distillation.

Everyone who saw this was completely stunned. Even Sa Ze's eyes widened. At most, he could control four Distillation Flasks at once, because many potions had similar distillation rates. If they were distilled simultaneously, it was possible to lose track of them all.

Yet only a minute or two later, Gu Ding removed all eleven Distillation Flasks as they finished distilling one after another. His movements were as smooth as flowing clouds and running water, and the precision of his judgment was terrifying. Sa Ze stood there with his mouth half open, utterly dumbfounded. It was his first time seeing an F-Grade Pharmacist with better control of heat than him—and one who was even younger.

Gu Ding swiftly entered the next stage: proportioning.

Since Gu Ding's ingredients differed from those of the White Rhino Enhancer everyone knew, they all wanted to see exactly how he would proportion them. The differing ingredients meant that the ratios and order in which they were added had become a mystery.

Those who had not had much confidence in Gu Ding began to feel anticipation after witnessing his terrifying performance during the distillation stage. They secretly looked forward to finding out what quality of potion Gu Ding would brew this time.

By then, Gu Ding had no mind to spare for anyone else's thoughts. He had completely entered a selfless state of brewing, with only the medicinal ingredients in his eyes.

His mixing order soon became clear. The first thing he added was powdered White Rhino Horn crystals, after which the sequence and proportions of the other medicinal ingredients were mostly the same as the formula familiar to the pharmacists.

But soon came an addition order that completely overturned everyone's understanding. Before adding the White Rhino Gene Chain, Gu Ding added Storax, the catalyst.

Under normal circumstances, catalysts were only added after all other ingredients had been introduced and had reached a certain degree of stable fusion. Adding the catalyst first would leave the materials added afterward insufficiently stable in their fusion, greatly reducing the chance of success.

What was even more unimaginable was that Gu Ding directly picked up the fusion cup and used a fusion technique to accelerate the potion's fusion.

"Did he forget that the White Rhino Gene Chain hasn't been added yet?" an E-Grade Pharmacist asked a D-Grade Pharmacist beside him, somewhat uncertainly.

"He wouldn't make a mistake like that, would he?" The D-Grade Pharmacist sounded equally unsure.

Sa Ze stared fixedly at the changes in the fusion flask in Gu Ding's hands. He did not know whether Gu Ding had forgotten to add the Gene Chain, but he vaguely felt that Gu Ding had done it deliberately.

Sure enough, thirty seconds later, the color of the potion in the fusion flask began to change. Everyone was dumbstruck. The Gene Chain, the main ingredient, had not even been added, yet the potion had already been successfully brewed?!

Only then did Gu Ding swiftly place the Gene Chain into the fusion flask.

The color inside the fusion flask changed again, turning from pale yellow to milky white...

"It's actually Perfect Quality!" Sa Ze was utterly stunned, and the many pharmacists watching around him were all equally shocked...

(I'm still downtown. I slept until seven-thirty before getting up to write. I'll be seeing my friend off around six this afternoon, so I'll get home a little late. There'll be another update tonight, probably uploaded before nine.)