Refining Whale Glue | Mercenary Guild in the East of Nuoding City

In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.

Outside the window, the sky had turned completely dark, and every household had lit their candles.

During this time, the other diners had left one after another, leaving only Lin Jing behind.

Yet, no one came to urge him to leave; they all waited quietly on the first floor.

Because of Lin Jing's clothes, which were worth five Gold Soul Coins, and his appearance, which did not resemble that of a village child, everyone was firmly convinced of his noble status.

Lin Jing no longer felt the heartache he had experienced when leaving the clothing store; these five Gold Soul Coins were worth every penny.

The Whale Glue on the grill had melted, no longer resembling the flowing gold it had been before.

It had turned into a pitch-black mass, looking somewhat like a large, black glob of mucus.

Moreover, it emitted a foul, fishy stench.

Lin Jing felt it was about time. He picked up the mass of Whale Glue with tongs and held it to his nose to sniff.

"So stinky."

Lin Jing was so overwhelmed by the smell that he covered his nose.

"What if this stuff just smells bad but tastes good?"

He deceived himself and placed the Whale Glue directly into the System Space.

He then looked at the untouched food on the table, took a few skewers, and placed them on the grill.

He stored the rest in the System Space.

The Whale Glue and the skewers would not cross-contaminate because time was frozen inside.

The Whale Glue would not have the chance to emit its stench.

After finishing his food in a few quick bites, he walked out of the small room.

When he reached the first floor, only the waiter who had originally brought Lin Jing in remained.

Lin Jing greeted him, paid the bill, and headed toward the nearest hotel.

Because it was located near the city gate in a remote area, the prices were very cheap.

Lin Jing rented a room for three days straight, told the innkeeper not to let anyone disturb him, and went upstairs to room 201.

Since he did not know how long it would take to refine the Whale Glue, he rented it for a few extra days, fearing he might run out of time.

Three days should be enough.

After all, this was only a five-hundred-year-old piece of Whale Glue.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he took the melted Whale Glue out of the System Space.

It was still radiating heat, and mixed with the fishy odor, it instantly swept through the entire room.

After negotiating with himself for a while, he steeled his heart and shoved it directly into his mouth.

Before the stench, a sensation of heat arrived.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot!"

Lin Jing opened his mouth and kept fanning it with his hand.

Then, the fishy, foul, and slimy texture hit him, making him want to retch.

He endured the nausea and, without even chewing, swallowed it whole.

Once the Whale Glue entered his stomach, a violent burning sensation surged through Lin Jing's body.

Sweat poured from every pore. Fortunately, he had taken off those five-Gold-Soul-Coin clothes beforehand, or it would have been a massive loss.

After feeling the scorching heat, he immediately circulated his Spirit Power and began to refine it.

Time ticked away, and the burning sensation within Lin Jing fluctuated from weak to strong, then back to weak.

By now, only a warm sensation remained.

During this process, other than being unable to bear the heat, there were no other anomalies.

He was currently only a six-year-old child.

Even if people on the Douluo Continent matured early, they could not mature to this extent.

This meant the medicinal power of the Whale Glue had nowhere to be utilized.

In the end, it could only be expelled from the body along with his sweat.

After a while, Lin Jing's eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly woke up.

The first thing he did was check the sky outside.

It was still dark, just as it had been before he started the refinement.

This gave Lin Jing the illusion that he had just closed his eyes and immediately woken up.

"System, how many days did I spend absorbing it?"

Lin Jing asked the system directly. He had no reference point himself, and if he didn't ask the system, he would have to ask the front desk downstairs.

[Ding! Host has been absorbing for two days.]

"Two days? That's within expectations."

Lin Jing felt the strength of his body; it was definitely much stronger than before he had consumed the Whale Glue.

He felt that absorbing a Spirit Ring of seven hundred to eight hundred years should be about right.

Just then, a "rumbling" sound came from his stomach.

It was his stomach protesting, but Lin Jing ignored it.

After stretching his somewhat stiff body, he collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep in a second.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, because Lin Jing had not covered the window, he was awakened by the glare of the sun.

After sulking for a while, his stomach protested again.

This forced him to get up. The hotel provided free breakfast, and he figured he might as well eat it, so he walked straight to the dining area.

The hotel breakfast was not lavish, but it had the advantage of being free.

After filling his stomach, he headed toward the Mercenary Guild in the east of the city.

The mercenaries at the Mercenary Guild were more formal than those at the entrance of the Soul Hunting Forest.

At least there were no such things as murder for goods or forced buying and selling.

Because they were regulated by the Mercenary Association established by the royal family, anyone who violated the rules would be wanted nationwide by the Heaven Dou Empire.

This was established to allow more Spirit Master talents to emerge in the Heaven Dou Empire.

Lin Jing walked straight into the Mercenary Guild.

The Mercenary Guild building was a tall structure with only three floors.

The first floor was where clients looked for mercenaries and where mercenaries accepted soul-hunting missions.

The second floor was for registering as a mercenary and for mercenaries to rest.

The third floor was where high-level missions were issued, such as capturing a powerful fugitive Spirit Master.

Lin Jing gained a rough understanding of the situation here. There were two ways to hire mercenaries.

The first was the luxurious private hire; the price was expensive, but the mercenary group served you exclusively and could find the most suitable Spirit Beast.

The second was group hiring; the price was more affordable, but a mercenary group would generally take three clients who needed to obtain Spirit Rings, which carried higher risks.

Because they had to protect three people at once, and that was only for the more responsible mercenary groups.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Jing walked toward a mercenary group with some trepidation.

There was no one at their stall, which meant they could accept a single-client group.

This team consisted of five people: two women and three men. The two female Spirit Masters looked very young.

As for the remaining three male Spirit Masters, they were middle-aged or older.

"Hello, if I hire your group exclusively, how much will it cost?"

Lin Jing asked with a cute and innocent expression.

He knew the charm of his A-tier handsome face and had deliberately chosen a team with two women.

This would maximize the effect of his appearance.

The leader of this team was one of the two female Spirit Masters.

Her voice was very sweet, which did not match her burly appearance.

"Our team of five are all Great Soul Masters, with two above level twenty-five. Your safety is absolutely guaranteed, and we have a permit from the Spirit Hall."

"The cost for one person is thirty Gold Soul Coins."

Seeing that Lin Jing was young, the female leader assumed he was looking to hunt a Spirit Beast under four hundred years old, so she quoted that price.

"Big sister, I am looking to hunt a plant-type Spirit Beast between six hundred and fifty and eight hundred years old. Is it the same price?"

Lin Jing looked up at the female leader and blinked innocently.

"Six hundred and fifty to eight hundred years!"

Six hundred and fifty years was the minimum age Lin Jing could accept; if possible, he wanted a Spirit Ring of around seven hundred and fifty years.

This should be the limit of what he could currently withstand.