Genesis: Starting with Growing Mushrooms

Chapter 9 Aspirations for the Future

early morning.

Liu Jun opened his eyes, a hint of amazement in them.

Thoughts, reading.

He's done it too many times in his life.

This is the daily life of a scholar cultivating himself. Previously, Liu Jun's cloud memory contained various books, including ancient books, modern books, and books about the ocean.
But that night, this book brought him an unprecedented and special reading experience.

"What a unique dream of wealth and glory!"

Liu Jun smiled.

This world overlaps somewhat with the history of the previous life, and there is also a "Pillow Book".

In the story, Lu Sheng met the sage Lü Weng at an inn in Handan and lamented his poverty.

Money is nothing but dirt.

Lu Weng took a celadon pillow and let Lu Sheng sleep on it, covering him with a force field to make him enter into a state of mind. At this time, the shopkeeper was cooking millet rice.

In his dream, Lu Sheng enjoyed all the riches and honors, and achieved great success. When he woke up, the shopkeeper's millet rice was not yet cooked.

Lu Sheng also attained enlightenment overnight and followed the immortal to learn the Dao.

Later generations summarized this story into the idiom "a dream of wealth and glory," which is also the story of a famous Confucian scholar in human history who touched my head and received immortality.

"What a pity! Such a wonderful era of learning, chivalrous scholars, discussing poetry and law—how could it have turned out like this?"

Liu Jun drew back the curtains and opened the window.

Rehe City, known as the "Fog City," is experiencing raindrops falling outside the window as usual today.

Raindrops fall on the flower-patterned window.

The bright red paper-cut window decorations that my parents put up for Chinese New Year when they were still alive have long been rusted beyond recognition by acid rain.

"The Amber Swallowtail of the Low Intelligence Mushroom did not absorb the Light-and-Dust Mushroom; it only brought it back to its swarm. I wonder if it cannot absorb it, or if it requires some other condition?"

"Could it be that only I, as the master of the mushrooms, can withstand multiple mushroom talents?"

Liu Jun was deep in thought.

To be honest, this experiment was very rewarding.

Level three!

It actually transformed into a third-tier AI in one go.

Is this the talent of a born saint?
No, perhaps it also contains some kind of power from the mushroom.

Although he was unaware of the hidden information about the naturally born saints at the higher levels, he instinctively felt that the cultivation speed of naturally born saints was not that fast.

I read through the night, listening to the wind and rain; at sunrise, a thunderclap cuts down a thousand troops.

Achieving enlightenment through three stages in a single night—only one person in ancient history has created such a breathtaking legend.

However, most scholars are idealistic, and it is not impossible for them to achieve enlightenment in Longchang or under the Bodhi tree, with one enlightenment surpassing reading ten thousand books.

In any case, the butterfly's ability to advance to the third level of enlightenment overnight truly startled Liu Jun!

"The value of 'low intelligence' is still rising."

"However, many talents have hidden side effects. Perhaps we can do what we are doing now: first, find a test subject and observe them in the mushroom soup. If they pass the test, then we can extract them."

Through this mental imagery, Liu Jun observed his future path and discovered multiple uses for the Talent Mushroom.

To know.

You can only choose one of three talents once you have fully charged up your energy. This means that you will always have two mushroom talents left in your mushroom soup as backups.

Wouldn't it be a waste to have the mushroom talent that can't be retrieved?
There will likely be more cases like the Amber Swallowtail Butterfly in the future!

What will this structure look like in the future, and will it have any side effects?

Liu Jun was unaware of this.

One by one, divine powers descend from the sky in the world of mushroom soup?

So what role should I play?
Furthermore, in a sense, the swallowtail butterfly is a god who governs wisdom and endows all things with the root of wisdom.
What if the remaining mushrooms also develop intelligence in the future? Wouldn't they become other gods? A god of light? A god of wind? A god of radiation?
They're just a bunch of cute little mushrooms with (へ╬) expressions on their faces!
Liu Jun chuckled softly, closed the window, lay down on the bed, stared blankly at the ceiling, gradually calming his excited thoughts and returning to normal.

"This big pot of mushroom soup has countless uses. If I throw in more sand, water, and clay, could it become a little paradise?"

"Mushroom growers build mushroom houses, using various types of sand, wheat bran, etc. as culture medium, maintaining a certain level of humidity and light, so that mushrooms can grow."

"I use a completely similar method here. How can you bring out the talent in a pot of mushroom soup without adding any ingredients?"

"I could even throw in more ancient beings from human history: giant butterflies from the Jurassic period, apes from the Homo sapiens period, mummies from over 10,000 years ago, and ancient emperors from thousands of years ago." "Unfortunately, I'm too poor, and the management of this world is relatively strict. I also live in a city. Otherwise, I could steal some mud and materials, deduce mushrooms, and cultivate my Nen energy."

"But now, the entire mushroom soup is just water, and there's only one floating mushroom dreaming. The brain in the jar, dreaming about its past life, is rather pathetic."

He kept pondering, thinking far ahead and considering all sorts of possibilities.

After all, what's the difference between a person without dreams and a carbon-crystalized assembly line AI?
This world of scholars is now so competitive that even those with limited knowledge are thinking a hundred steps ahead.

"Although the plan to sell the Amber Swallowtail Smart Brain may fail next."

"However, as long as I break through to the third rank and enter the Thunder Realm, making some money through other channels will definitely not be a problem."

He went online and started searching for all sorts of information, looking for money-making opportunities that suited him.

Two days have passed.

The mushroom soup underwent a dramatic transformation.

The swallowtail butterfly grew larger and larger, eventually reaching the size of a dining table. Its two soft wings enveloped its body, and it fell into a deep sleep, transforming into a butterfly egg that floated and sank in the murky mushroom soup.

Its power is growing stronger every day.

The fluctuations in thought are becoming increasingly intense.

Growing inch by inch, it resembles a magical egg sleeping in chaos.

"Will the swallowtail butterfly be like Lu Sheng in 'The Pillow Book,' who discovers in his dream that his world is fake, and this great butterfly scholar, after a moment of enlightenment, create a new world in this chaotic and undeveloped world?"

Suddenly, Liu Jun had a brilliant idea.

This pot of soup does indeed resemble the time before chaos was created.

Now that he had gradually given up on killing the amber swallowtail butterfly, Liu Jun's mindset naturally shifted to another path.

Open the mushroom soup.

The nebula-shaped butterfly shell trembled slightly with its breath.

It was filled with countless thoughts in its dream, as if the moment it awoke and opened its eyes, it would be able to hold up the heavens and the earth.

The three innate mushrooms of the mushroom soup were also wrapped in butterfly wings and transformed into three treasures, accompanying it into its dream.

Unfortunately.

The other three mushrooms, despite their powerful talents, lack the [Intelligence] talent and have no AI; they are merely clueless mushrooms with limited abilities.

In the dream, the little swallowtail butterfly was still silly and straightforward, only knowing how to eat.

But in reality, it was already the most intelligent creature of that Jurassic era.

After all, in the age of wild beasts, whose mind wasn't focused on eating?

Next, following the instructions left by Liu Jun, it completed another trial and obtained the divine object [God's Wind Ear], which grants it the mysterious ability to control wind energy.

Liu Jun glanced at the outrageous historian.

[Year 35 of the Butterfly Era: The Trial of the Gods. The King endures hardships and finds the Big Ear. It's not tasty, but he hears the location of food and starts eating.]

Liu Jun: "."

Naïve, they're all a bunch of naive and innocent little animals, all foodie diaries.

Create the world?
Maybe I'm overthinking it.

Having successfully completed two major trials, it became a true hero among the simple butterfly population.

A group of simple butterflies lived happily, flying around as diligently as bees, carrying large amounts of seeds and planting them everywhere.

The nation is expanding.

The population is growing.

Liu Jun made them write a chronicle, which turned into a foodie diary. Every time I read their chronicle, I felt inexplicably charmed.

And with the Amber Swallowtail's loud calls, it began attacking the delicious dinosaurs and expanding its territory.

Liu Jun had anticipated this.

It downloaded various ancient biological data from that era using a memory cloud drive, loaded it into its intelligent brain, and helped it refine its worldview and dream better.

I only hope that it will attain enlightenment in its dreams, become wise through worldly experience, cleanse its mind of worldly dust, and break through the legendary fourth level of mind master, the realm of electricity.

This is a legendary realm.

(End of this chapter)