Genesis: Starting with Growing Mushrooms

Chapter 3: The Wonderful Uses of Mushroom Soup, The Birth of a Second Talent

Bang!
Just then, the sound of the living room door opening came from inside.

The house has three bedrooms and one living room. The room on the left is Li Feng's, and the room on the right is Zou Anmeng's.

The two walked into the living room, looked at each other, and then glanced at the refrigerator, clearly intending to find something to eat there.

"It smells so good," Zou Anmeng said. "I wonder which of the guests next door is cooking mushrooms. That's so inconsiderate; it's made me hungry."

Li Feng opened the window and smelled the aroma: "It seems to be three families of nine people upstairs, including my parents. It feels so good; at least they bring us delicious food every now and then."

"It reminds me of the premium matsutake mushrooms in restaurants."

Zou Anmeng swallowed hard, a look of longing on her face.
"Fragrant, sweet, tender, and smooth! Do you remember those high-end matsutake mushrooms your parents would bring home from a restaurant when you were little? The three of us will never forget them."

"It's alright, things will get better for us in the future," Li Feng murmured. "I'll treat you to a good meal someday! We'll live in a big house every day, become academic elites, and read good books together!"

Liu Jun didn't pay attention to the voices of the two hungry ghosts outside. Instead, after weighing the pros and cons, he made a phone call.

"Teacher Si? It's me, Liu Jun. I need to ask for ten days of leave. Yes, I'm not feeling well."

Si Anhe's gentle voice came from the other end.

"Be careful. As the college entrance exam approaches, the school won't care whether you go to school or not."

"But your grades are your own, your lives are your own. After the college entrance exam, it will be very difficult to find such a good training ground again, and you will no longer be able to enjoy the 20% discount on books for students."

"Keep up the good work!"

"Don't worry, you'll all be assigned jobs after graduating high school. Your teacher will assign you a good company, and I'll encourage you to strive to reach level three before you turn thirty."

Liu Jun talked to his teacher for ten minutes before hanging up the phone.

I always feel that teachers are like bosses in the workplace, very skilled at making empty promises. I wonder if they say that to every student?

To be honest, most of the senior high school students here are second-tier Rain Realm Nen Masters.

In other cities, they would be considered elite office workers.

But this city is different.

There is no value in training second-tier Nen Masters here.

Because they die in their thirties, their flowering period is only about ten years.

Therefore, after graduating from high school, they do not go to university, but instead work for the development of the city.

While earning cultivation resources to break through to the third tier, they also repay the city for its free acid rain benefits.

This perfectly achieves a win-win situation for both the city and the students.

This unique economic model has enabled Rehe City to take off.

Thoughts turn.

"Afterwards, I need to use the [Low Symptom] talent to hide the abnormality." Liu Jun pushed open the window and looked at the brightly lit city.

Once this oddball is discovered, it will be difficult for him to die.

Those mechanically superpowered conglomerates and large corporations, as well as mad scientists, would certainly be very interested in this kind of alien creature.

time flies.

After taking leave, a few days passed, and Liu Jun was quite comfortable.

He gave them a brief evasive answer and used his enhanced psychic power to shield them from his senses.

After that, they didn't notice any delicious mushroom aroma. They rushed off to school every day, returning home exhausted at dusk, and bringing back free food from school for him in the evening.

These past few days, Liu Jun has been focusing his attention on this pot of mushroom soup, which is his livelihood!
Idle placement flow rate x2
Mushrooms can accelerate their evolutionary talents in the [Mushroom Soup].

Furthermore, Liu Jun poured in household waste, tissues, fruit peels, and books, and this large pot of soup was slowly digested.

It's a cheap trash can, though.

However, the multiplier for AFK (away from keyboard) is too low, which is a bit of a shame.

After several tests, Liu Jun guessed that a higher level of energy would be needed to make a soup with fuel, which would catalyze a higher AFK (away from keyboard) multiplier.

And the second finding is:

The upper limit of the volume of mushroom soup is quite unique.

Yes, this is another big surprise!

He threw away a lot of things, including the bed, table, and chairs, but the mushroom soup pot would eventually expand to the size of the room!

This pot of soup can be as small as a bowl or as large as a room. I wonder how big it can expand. Maybe this pot of soup can even contain the sun and the moon? It's truly a super treasure.

It seems that anything, no matter how big, can be boiled into soup, used to evolve, and to bring out one's talent!
Perhaps we could consider opening a landfill?

Making money by cleaning up waste and garbage? And even developing a talent for making soup from trash?
After all, as a heavy industrial city, this city produces a lot of waste.

However, despite his excitement, what left him speechless was that after completing the test experiment on the area of ​​the mushroom soup, the bed and chairs that were taken out of the "mushroom soup" were all wet and had turned into wood chips that had been corroded by mushrooms.

Liu Jun remained indoors after that, and nothing happened except for receiving a text message.

Ding!
[Rehe Cloud Security Guardian reminds you: Dear Liu Jun, your cloud memory service has expired as of March 20, 7791. Unnecessary memories (such as your first love or anti-corporate protest experiences) will be deleted if payment is not made by the due date.]

But he didn't really care; he planned not to pay for the cloud service. It was the third night of his leave.

As always, the two of them came home from school and inquired about Liu Jun's health, then chatted about gossip.

"Let me tell you, Xu Changsheng is having a really tough time. He was..."

"Li Chengshan is a real scoundrel."

Clearly, Xu Changsheng had also fallen seriously ill and returned home to rest.

Liu Jun was faking his illness, while the other party was genuinely sick.

And according to the chubby boy who visited him, this person's personality has changed drastically, and he seems to have been driven to develop cyberpsychosis, turning from cowardly and timid to calm and collected.

"I heard they even made some really weird and sinister expressions." Li Feng made a (°°) expression, so lifelike, as if he were there.

But no one laughed; instead, there was a bitter feeling of shared sorrow, like the fox mourning the death of its kin, and they spoke with great sympathy.

Liu Jun listened silently, though he felt that Xu Changsheng's personality had changed drastically and was somewhat unusual.

Hmm, that needs further investigation.

Great, now I feel even less likely to go to school.

"By the way, have you heard? A woman in District 12 gave birth to a natural-born saint. The baby was able to float away using his telekinesis as soon as he was born. The entire neighborhood was immediately secured by the Rehe Heavy Industry army, who escorted him the whole way. It was terrifying!"

Ah! We were born at our final destination.

"I'm so envious."

"I envy his mother! Having such a son has brought her and her entire family to great heights. She's now the young mistress of a new academic elite family."

"I wonder when the new AI model based on this baby will be produced?"

Liu Jun was eating his rice when he heard the news and was slightly surprised.

Has a natural-born saint emerged from Rehe City?
In this world, very few people are born with the talent to cultivate mental abilities.

Born naturally, one in a hundred billion.

In ancient times, such people were even called the reincarnation of the God of Literature, and their birth was accompanied by auspicious purple clouds from the east, carrying an extremely strong sense of mystery.

Historically, they have been extremely rare.

One person could fight against thousands of troops, fly through the sky and escape into the earth, and command ten thousand swords, gradually forming a legend of a god.

As times progressed, ancient humans learned to divide their power and adopted their methods of reading to cultivate their minds, leading to the emergence of Confucian scholars and disciples, and the era of Confucian and Taoist sainthood where people killed each other out of passion.

Up to now.

Humans went a step further in acquiring their power, developing artificial intelligence and ushering in an era of universal cultivation.

In this era, geniuses with innate genius-level brains are taken away at birth to become the core members of powerful forces and receive intensive training. Furthermore, corresponding AI models are developed based on their brains.

It can be said that behind every AI model currently in use is a psionic genius hailed as a born saint, who served as the original machine.

Yes.

We all use genius-level replica brain modules to cultivate telekinesis.

They created "intelligent brain" products by mass-cloning brains and then performing a series of operations such as crystallizing and carbonizing circuits.

In conclusion, Xu Changsheng, who has now become a person with intellectual disabilities, is unable to cultivate his mental abilities without the assistance of a smart brain, and his studies will be stalled.

"Why don't you say something?" Li Feng looked at Liu Jun.

"I don't seem to have any energy," Liu Jun said, shoveling rice into his mouth with his head down.

"Then you should get some rest," Zou Anmeng said.

“Yeah, yeah,” the easygoing Li Feng quickly chimed in.

Both of them were somewhat worried about Liu Jun, but they were also afraid that saying too much would cause him mental stress.

We've all grown up together in this rented room, and now we can't do without any of us.

Even setting aside emotions and focusing on interests, finding a reliable AI roommate in this city is far too risky.

The trio of Xu Changsheng, the school beauty, and the chubby boy is a case in point; once a chain of suspicion is established, the team is bound to collapse.

However, forming alliances is not without its benefits.

Just as Li Feng said, if any of the three successfully breaks through the class and enters the third tier, he will inevitably support the other two as his own team.

after all.

Who could be more suitable as a trusted confidant than two people who grew up together?

Sticking together for warmth and mutual support, and the idea that "when one person achieves success, even their relatives and friends benefit" are effective ways for these children from impoverished backgrounds to increase their chances of breaking through social barriers!
After a moment, Zou Anmeng sighed, "Sigh, if only I could have such a child, I could be a rich young mistress and never have to work hard again."

night.

After eating the meals the two brought back from the school cafeteria for several days in a row and listening to them chat about school gossip, Liu Jun finally waited for the next stage.

The boiling mushroom soup simmered for a moment, reaching 100% on the progress bar for the second time.

A second talent is born!
(End of this chapter)