Chapter 1 The King's Worries

The night was deep. In the royal capital, Jinbao, in the King's bedroom.

Becky Tarn sat up in bed, took out a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat left over from exercise, put on a thin nightgown, went to the table to pour herself a glass of wine, took a sip, and walked to the balcony, overlooking the royal city under the night.

"Your Majesty... are you troubled?"

On the soft, large bed, the aging queen, naked, pulled the quilt to cover her chest, her doe-like eyes looking at Becky's back with curiosity.

After many years as husband and wife, she understood each other's habits deeply. When they were exercising just now, she clearly noticed that Becky was distracted and didn't perform well... but she didn't dare to say it outright.

Becky shook the wine glass and suddenly said, "Do you still remember when the Empire was first established?"

"It's been forty years. I wasn't even born then, how would I know?" the queen shook her head.

"I remember it very clearly." Becky's tone was reminiscent. "I still remember the enthusiasm when the various tribes united. At that time, everyone had beautiful visions, hoping to stop infighting and friction, gather the strength of all ethnic groups, completely solve the threat of exotic beasts, and let everyone live in a safer world... I followed my father to participate in the tribal union conference on the eve of the Empire's establishment, witnessed the Tarn clan finally becoming the royal family recommended by the various tribes, and witnessed my father's coronation ceremony."

The queen said softly, "It is these experiences that have created your wisdom. The Empire is becoming more and more prosperous under your rule. This proves that the Tarn family is a natural royal bloodline."

Becky shook his head. "These words are just for outsiders. The Tarns are no different from other tribes. It is only the glory and deeds of our ancestor, Raven Tarn, that have laid the foundation for the respected status of our tribe and blood relatives. In fact, there is no such thing as a royal bloodline."

"Did something happen?" the queen asked worriedly. Becky usually wouldn't tell her these things.

Becky's tone was low. "I heard some voices questioning the legitimacy of the Tarns."

The queen was shocked. "Who is so bold?"

"Some unwilling people are making more and more frequent small moves, but I haven't found the source yet."

Becky didn't turn around, and said in a deep voice:

"The Empire has only been built for forty short years, and people's hearts have changed. The initial enthusiasm and original intention of uniting to build the country is like embers, leaving only a small flame that can be extinguished at any time. Everything was very stable during my father's rule, but when the throne was passed on to me, the situation changed. My father foresaw this.

He told me that the bond of tribal union was not strong. The throne was the source of chaos. When everyone felt that the throne could be taken in turns, chaos would be born. Therefore, it was the best choice for Tarn members to continue to inherit the throne, which could avoid disputes and prevent the hard-won Empire from returning to the tribal era... But the various tribes deliberately ignored one point when they elected the Tarns as the royal family, that is, they did not recognize that we Tarns could hold the throne forever. Some people think that the throne will rotate, and sooner or later they will become the royal family."

The queen opened her mouth. "Someone wants to take Your Majesty's throne?!"

"Maybe... Even if there isn't now, there will be in the future. I was born before the establishment of the Empire, and I can barely be recognized for continuing to hold the throne, but what about the next generation? The stronger the Empire, the more feedback the royal family gets from it, and the more unwilling some tribes will be. Sooner or later, someone who thinks they are qualified will covet the throne and compete for the Tarn's legitimacy."

Becky tapped the terrace railing lightly, and said in a sonorous and forceful tone: "Forty years is still too short. Only a longer rule can lay the foundation for the Tarn's legitimacy! Therefore, in order to consolidate the rule, we must suppress the development of the tribes and weaken those who have ulterior motives, putting their tribes before the country, until they lose the ability to split the Empire... I can tolerate tribal co-governance, provided that they further recognize the Tarn's legitimacy and support the Empire. A country can only have one voice, and there can only be one bloodline qualified to occupy the throne.

Only by erasing the traces of the tribal era can we truly enter a new era of a unified empire... The Tarns are not natural kings, so we will use the time of several generations to make the world believe that the Tarns are the royal bloodline! What I have to do is to lay the foundation for generations to continue!"

Ambition burned in Becky's eyes.

The queen said admiringly, "I believe Your Majesty will be able to do it."

Becky shook his head and suddenly sighed, "It's difficult... The royal family can gather the resources of the whole country and widen the gap with other tribes. But those tribes will not sit idly by. I want to ensure the advantages of the royal family, and it is impossible to share too much with them, so they will not be satisfied. In order to protect the interests of their respective tribes, they will inevitably steal the resources of the Empire in places I can't see, and slowly hollow out the Empire..."

Speaking of this, Becky paused and muttered to himself:

"So I need more special resources, resources that cannot be easily copied, completely controlled by the royal family, which can widen the gap with the tribes..."

Just then, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, followed by a knock.

"Your Majesty, urgent report!" The voice of a trusted guard came.

The queen hurriedly put on her clothes.

Becky returned to the room, put down his wine glass casually, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."

The door opened, and the trusted guard hurriedly walked in, saluted, and said, "Your Majesty, news from the Imperial Workshop, the new Exotic Blood Potion has been successfully made!"

Becky's expression suddenly changed, and he was overjoyed.

The development was really successful?!

He didn't bother to sleep, put on his nightgown and hurried out of the house, urging, "Go, go to the workshop now!"

...

Imperial Secret Workshop.

Late at night, King Becky rushed over and immediately summoned the heads of the workshop to report.

Everyone quickly gathered together.

"Your Majesty, these are the two new Exotic Blood Potions."

The person in charge of the workshop was full of joy, holding two boxes, placing them on the table and opening them, revealing the two potions inside.

"What are the specific effects?" Becky maintained a steady tone, but in reality, his heart was as itchy as if a cat was scratching him.

"These two new Exotic Blood Potions were made by Master Bill. Let him explain their functions to His Majesty."

The person in charge of the workshop spoke with respect.

The crowd made way for Bill, and the workshop executives present looked at Bill with respect and admiration.

The research and development of the new Exotic Blood Potion actually started before the founding of the country. At that time, each tribe was doing independent research. A few years after the establishment of the Terra Empire, through some exchanges of interests and means, the research progress of various tribes was gathered and developed on this basis. However, for forty years, they had been unable to overcome the technical difficulties and had made almost no progress.

But since Bill joined the research and development, the stuck research progress was finally promoted, and it only took a few months to complete the project that had plagued them for decades. All the artisans in the secret workshop had long regarded Bill as a god.

Although Bill's "title" was still an expert-level pharmacist, all the artisans had already spontaneously given him the title of "Master" and respected him immensely.

Of course, Zhou Jing himself knew that most of the credit actually belonged to the "item analysis function". Bill's pharmacy skills had not yet reached such a high level. Without this auxiliary function, he would be just like other artisans, at a loss.

Zhou Jing was now personally descending on Bill, stepping forward and explaining with a smile:

"These two new potions, I temporarily named Exotic Blood Potion Type Two and Type Three. Type Two potion greatly improves the success rate of strengthening. Even if it fails, it will not lead to sudden death, and the damage is reduced. Type Three potion can give exotic beasts special abilities and is more powerful than the original Exotic Blood Potion."

Hearing this, Becky almost couldn't hold back his expression and was extremely excited.

At this time, Zhou Jing added: "But both potions have flaws. Although Type Two potion is much safer than the original potion, the effect of each strengthening is reduced a lot, and it only has a high success rate in the first three uses. Continuing to strengthen after that will cause the failure rate to skyrocket, and it may even be inferior to the probability of the original potion...

On the contrary, Type Three potion enhances the strengthening effect, but the failure rate also increases. Moreover, only one special ability can exist. For example, if you obtain the flame ability of an exotic beast, you can only strengthen the flame in the future, but you can no longer use other special abilities of Type Three potion, otherwise conflicts will occur, and you will inevitably die from strengthening failure."

Through the item analysis function, even without a large number of test samples, he had basically figured out the specific effects of the two new Exotic Blood Potions.

Becky suppressed the joy in his heart, his mind racing, thinking about the changes the two potions would bring.

Although the strengthening effect of Type Two potion was not as good as the original, it was safer and gentler. If it was promoted and popularized, future hunters should mainly use Type Two potion, forming a group of "new era hunters" to replace the original hunters and become the mainstream.

Type Three potion would strengthen rare "special hunters", who were stronger than the original and became a new source of top combat power.

The original hunters were somewhere in between.

In an instant, Becky made a decision.

——These two new potions must be controlled by the royal family!

Type Two potion could only be used in the Imperial Hunters, the Imperial Army, and the Royal Guard, and must never be popularized on a large scale, especially not to let the tribes master this technology... because this potion had the possibility of mass-producing Exotic Blood Warrior armies!

Needless to say, Type Three potion could only be used to cultivate experts worthy of the royal family's trust!

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Becky looked at Bill, his eyes flashing with inexplicable emotions, mixed with surprise, possessiveness, and jealousy.

It only took a few months to overcome the problems that the Empire had not solved for decades... This Bill was definitely a talent of the century!

He must not be allowed to leave the royal capital even half a step. He must be firmly controlled, and he must not even be given too much freedom... Becky took a deep breath, his mood fluctuating.

Originally, no artisan would be treated like this, even if they were amazingly talented – but Bill's work results could almost subvert the hunter ecosystem and create a new model, which was already at the level of a pioneer.

If Bill had taken a few years or more than ten years to complete the research on the new Exotic Blood Potion, Becky would not have had the idea of controlling his freedom... but Bill's performance had exceeded Becky's common sense, and he didn't even feel like a human being.

With Bill's age and creativity, he would probably develop more and more powerful formulas in the future... If there were no other tribes, Becky would also choose to use methods such as benefits, emotions, and honor to win him over normally.

But once the tribes realized Bill's amazing value, they would inevitably compete for this person, and Becky did not want other tribes to come into contact with Bill.

Moreover, winning him over was secondary. The most feared thing was that some tribes would use radical means, either to kidnap Bill, or to destroy him if they couldn't get him, so as not to leave him to the royal family.

For a time, Becky thought of many things, both happy and worried, and was anxious about gains and losses.

"Your Majesty, what do you think?"

Finding Becky silent, Zhou Jing asked.

Becky came back to his senses and nodded heavily: "Very good! Master Bill, your creation will rewrite history! The world will surely praise your great achievements!"

"These are all easy to say... I'm more concerned about how many rewards there are." Zhou Jing smiled and rubbed his fingers, firmly grasping the apostle's personality.

"Don't worry, the royal family will never treat you badly!"

Becky said with a serious face.

"Hehe, then I'll look forward to it slowly." Zhou Jing grinned.

Becky cheered up and continued to ask about the research and development process before leaving.

Before he left, he asked the guards to guard the workshop and not allow anyone to leave, saying that he wanted to block the news.

Everyone was used to it and had no objections.

Zhou Jing could only continue to stay in the secret workshop for the time being.

After dealing with colleagues who came to congratulate him, Zhou Jing returned to his room alone and opened the panel.

After making the new Exotic Blood Potion, the panel refreshed a lot of information.

[Trigger achievement [Improved Exotic Blood Potion]!]

[Obtain 2000 Star Realm Points! 50 Information State Particles! [Aptitude Improvement - Pharmacy (Medium)] x1!]

[Trigger achievement [Potion Master]!]

[Obtain 1500 Star Realm Points! [Aptitude Improvement - Pharmacy (Small)] x1]

[You have obtained a career achievement - [New Exotic Blood Potion Creator]!]

[Rating: National Level]

[Current Legend Degree Bonus: +3]

Zhou Jing's eyes flickered, and he was excited.

"The new Exotic Blood Potion will greatly change the Exotic Blood Warrior system in the future. As the potion is promoted and the impact gradually expands, Information State Particles will be generated in the daily income... Maybe this time I don't need to achieve any life goals to stably gather enough conditions to transform into an Eternal Apostle!"

After being happy for a while, Zhou Jing calmed down and considered his own situation.

His pharmacy talent, so obvious and outstanding, will definitely be further valued by the royal family.

Putting himself in his shoes, if he was a high-level person, he would not allow such a talent to run around, and would probably keep him under control.

"In order to make me willing to continue to develop potions with my heart, they won't take too bad coercive measures, but more likely will be showing goodwill and winning me over... I don't know to what extent the royal family will go." Zhou Jing secretly pondered.

...

On the other side, somewhere in Jinbao.

"You said the king set off in the middle of the night and went to the secret workshop urgently?"

In the bedroom, Roman was reading late into the night when he suddenly received a message from his confidant, and his expression changed slightly.

Could it be that the research and development of the new Exotic Blood Potion had made a breakthrough?

This kind of research often takes years as a unit, but this time it's only been a few months... is it that fast?

Roman closed the book, his eyes flashing, and instructed his confidant:

"Find out the news for me. I want to know what happened there."