Genesis: Starting with Growing Mushrooms

Chapter 4 Three Calamity Abilities
Liu Jun didn't find it boring these past few days of staying home.

On the contrary, I feel more hopeful than ever before in my life. Nothing gives me more confidence than becoming stronger step by step.

Perhaps it's because transmigrators are born with a fear of insufficient firepower, or perhaps he's lived in fear for the past ten years or so, but in any case, he's fallen in love with this secluded life.

Don't go out.

I just don't want to go out.

I hid in my room playing with mushroom soup and had my two dear roommates bring me food.

Open the mushroom soup pot and look at the bottom; new talent mushrooms are floating there.

Because no evolutionary raw materials were put in, the "low consumption" approach gave rise to the three original branches in the game.

Mushroom number one.

It resembles a round, umbrella-shaped mushroom with a faint glow, like a firefly.

【Living with the Light】: They absorb light energy slightly and feed on light. At first, people only noticed that the brightness of the entire city had decreased, until this disaster became closely related to every human being.

Perhaps one day in the future, when you open your eyes, you will find yourself in the darkness of night.

Mushroom number two.

It resembled a withered, rotten mushroom on an old man's left ear.

【Clear Sun and Gentle Breeze】: It absorbs wind energy slightly, feeds on the wind, and the world is silent because of you, and all things are silenced because of you.

Perhaps one day, you will be scattered all over the earth, the world will be silent, and this planet will be like a vacuum in the universe.

Mushroom No. 3

A kind of velvety fungal carpet that looks like a lump of soft, mushy mud.

【Qingyue Yaoling】: Slightly absorbs radiation, feeds on rays, mutates, gets irradiated, and goes berserk.

The number of cancer patients in the hospital increased, and tiny, mushroom-like pustules appeared. No one knew what was happening until the first mutant beast was born, but by then people had already lost control of the disaster.

This filled Liu Jun with a mixture of surprise, joy, and a hint of fear.

These three talents are simply monstrous, and they truly lived up to his expectations.

Currently, these three are perhaps evenly matched in terms of strength.

But what really excited Liu Jun at this moment was feeding on radiation.

The city experiences continuous rainfall, which is perfect for absorbing more radiation, making them high-quality talents for environmental purification in Rehe City.

You can become stronger while lying down.

But these talents can only be postponed for now.

[Low symptoms]

He silently leveled up his previous basic talent.

For now, focusing on the Mushroom talent that conceals one's aura is the best approach.

This mushroom-like talent for absorbing the three major energy sources—light, wind, and radiation—will have to be activated sooner or later.

After all, once they evolve, the individual talent mushrooms won't disappear, but will remain floating in the mushroom soup, and you can choose them later.

Wow!
With a thought, a clump of low-symptom mushrooms emerged from the mushroom soup and merged into Liu Jun's body. Then, it quickly subsided and disappeared without a trace, as if it possessed some unique ability to conceal itself.

His form changed again.

After liquefying and shedding its skeleton, it was reassembled and found itself transformed into a soft mushroom, 1.4 meters tall.

It looks like a dreamlike scene from a fairy tale, plump, juicy, tender, and bouncy – you can tell at a glance it's a rare and precious ingredient.

Name: Liu Jun

[Race: Fungus]

[Realm: Eighth-Tier Mind Master of the Rain Realm]

[Talent: Low resource cost, low symptom severity]

[Mushroom Soup: Low intelligence, blending with the world, like a clear sun and gentle breeze, a bright and radiant moon]

In that pot of mushroom soup, the four talent mushrooms that Liu Jun hadn't chosen to exchange for floated and sank, their vibrant colors inexplicably giving off a delicious and appetizing feeling. "It's gone up two more levels!" Liu Jun exclaimed, both surprised and delighted.

"Breaking through seven realms in two days? How am I supposed to go to school? Then I definitely can't go to school!" He found an excuse and stayed home with a clear conscience.

However, Teacher Si Anhe is too responsible, or rather, too demanding of her students. After all, she has performance evaluations, and if she stays at home completely, she will probably be visited in a few days.

But this isn't a big problem.

After verbally delaying for a few days, the third talent will be revealed, and I will definitely break into the third tier. Even my teacher will have to deal with my mental shielding, so they won't be able to discover my problems.

Each evolution of life realm enhances spiritual power.

bottleneck?

It's perfectly reasonable that there are no bottlenecks!
It's normal for people to have a limited lifespan and need to overcome various obstacles.

The acquisition of talents elevates the entire level of a being, so how can one encounter a cultivation bottleneck? It's like a young god in mythology, naturally growing to that level.

"However, based on the original evolution of the game's mushroom soup, even more terrifying virus-type and infection-type talent branches may appear next!"

"There's no need to invest in this kind of talent. Investing in it is just asking for trouble. Experienced players know to invest in Stealth first, to survive and develop, and not to invest in Pathogenicity."

"Life is only once, and I want to be a harmless bacterial strain."

"The fairy tale style is pretty good, and the rare and precious herbs route is also acceptable? Being a thousand-year-old ginseng is better than infecting and killing people everywhere."

"Therefore, I need to start changing my approach, adding ingredients to the mushroom soup, and evolving the corresponding talent."

Liu Jun continued to explore the path to the future.

He resolved to be a good mushroom that doesn't break the law or violate regulations, to work hard to earn money, and to work honestly.

Mushrooms love talent, but they acquire it through proper means.

He felt the power within his body, and three more days passed quietly.

He slept during the day and got up at dusk, eating dinner brought back by his two roommates. He relied on low-energy consumption, eating only one meal a day, and poured all his nutritional supplements into that pot of mushroom soup.

Pay up and make me stronger!
10%
Rush!
40%
Rush!
70%
Silently leaving the game running, waiting for the next talent, every day is fulfilling.

But he discovered a problem.

87%
It can't be pushed forward anymore.

Before the third talent is ready, I have to leave immediately.

Because he's almost out of savings.

"What a pity. My original plan was to unleash my third talent, break into the third tier, directly break through the class barrier, and then go out and make some more money."

He has also come to realize the meaning of "once you start evolving, you can't stop."

It can only evolve!
This means he cannot stop absorbing energy, and if he doesn't spend a huge amount of money to maintain this path, he will be drained dry.

But before going out.

Another tax payment text message abruptly pulled him back to reality.

[Dear Liu Jun, your failure to post content on social media within 48 hours is considered a "refusal to participate in building social consensus." You will be required to pay a "silence tax" of 500 nitrograms and receive one warning. More than three warnings will be considered a personal injury incident, and local security personnel will visit you to confirm your safety.]

Oh no, I forgot to comment! I still have to pay the "silence tax"!

Liu Jun casually posted a few words on the school's platform: "Unity and friendship, hard work for the college entrance examination, and building Rehe City."

The words are filled with humility, flattery, and ingratiation.

I stretched, opened the window, and looked out at the misty, towering city buildings. A slight smile appeared on my lips.

"There are three things you can't escape in this world: taxes, tycoons, and death."

Although his words were cold, he suddenly felt for the first time how wonderful the world was.

The weak me of the past is dead; the one standing before you now is an even weaker me.

However, the previous weakness was due to powerlessness, while the current weakness is a preparation for a future of invincibility.

(End of this chapter)