Chapter 24: The Angel Race's Battle of Emergence

Liu Jun lowered his head.

After several days of accumulation, a new talent mushroom had finally emerged from this slow-simmering mushroom soup pot.

Three options were available to choose from at any time.

Mushroom Number One:
A plump, round mushroom resembling a longevity peach.
[Longevity and Long-standing Vision]: Reduces the loss of every unit of energy to delay the aging of life; your lifespan will always reach the theoretical limit of your life level.
On that day, when people discover you, one sniff will make them feel refreshed, one lick will prolong their life, and one bite will allow them to retain their youth forever.
They began to anticipate what kind of great miracle would appear after consuming the entirety of you.
...

Mushroom Number Two:
A Z-shaped mushroom resembling a lightning bolt.
[Star-Speed and Electric-Charge]: Your mental energy range expands significantly and can leave your body to travel, no longer relying on your physical form.
They cannot find you, because you are everywhere.
You are the lightning in the high sky, you are the notes in the songs children sing, you are the superman who transcends the speed of sound.
...

Mushroom Number Three:
A contemplative super-mushroom.
[High Intelligence]: Possesses advanced intelligence.
Is there anything in this foolish world worth me thinking about?
...

"Finally, a max-level talent has appeared?" Liu Jun whispered.
The evolution tree of every talent theoretically only had three levels: Low Intelligence, Medium Intelligence, and High Intelligence.
"However, there is no need for me to pay attention to this intelligence series. Let me assess the situation first... The idea of the intelligence series being locked into a specific IQ value feels too absurd."
"Anything that affects intelligence must be handled with caution at all times."
[Star-Speed and Electric-Charge] was practical indeed!
But after much thought, Liu Jun chose not to pick it.
Because this was clearly a talent for running away or wandering around aimlessly.
In fact, it conflicted with his [Low Symptom] evolved talent, [Vanishing Without a Trace].
One survival talent was enough for now.
A talent for hiding one's identity was clearly more comfortable than one for running away.
To be honest, if he took this running-away talent, he would be more likely to expose himself. After all, once he had it, could he resist the urge to run? Could he resist the urge to go wild in Rehe City?
This talent was trying to harm him!

The last talent.
[Longevity and Long-standing Vision] was clearly an advanced version of his [Low Consumption].
It further increased energy utilization efficiency.
This reduction in consumption was comprehensive.
Lifespan utilization, mental energy conversion rates, food absorption rates... everything was utilized efficiently.
Wouldn't that naturally lead to longevity?
But the side effects were not small.
He would become even more "fragrant."
This talent was also trying to harm him.

"The options this time don't seem to be anything good."
After pondering for a while, Liu Jun finally chose [Longevity and Long-standing Vision].
Although the side effects were significant, his [Vanishing Without a Trace] could mask his aura, which could be considered a perfect match.
Furthermore, this talent was extremely practical!
His previous low consumption allowed Liu Jun to eat once a day, save money to go online, gorge on mushroom soup, play "Minecraft," and study and cultivate like crazy!
With this, he could probably eat once a week?
A must-have for an internet-addicted teenager; it was meant for him.
Moreover, saving 40% of mental energy consumption on attacks would help him unleash great power, as he had done previously when battling the 30,000-strong Angel Legion.
In combat, it was practically a cheat code; for saving money, it was heaven-defying; in terms of lifespan, it was invincible...
With a long lifespan, he could even pair it with [Deep Love Does Not Last] to burn his lifespan for power in the future.
It was clear that the utility of this talent was exaggerated.
Furthermore, once he evolved this talent, it would be even more efficient to extend the lives of his clansmen as a god of longevity.
It was a comprehensive upgrade.
To be honest, whether it was the intelligence series or the consumption series, both were super talents with infinite potential.
"If I keep developing like this, the 'big shots' in Rehe City—the men will all be turned into sashimi by me, and the women will all become walking thermal weapons."
After taking a deep breath, Liu Jun made his choice.

Boom!
Countless energy erupted within his body.
His body adjusted its internal structure; various tissues, bones, muscles, and fibers were all updated in the most reasonable way.
Just a few seconds later, an alluring fungal aroma suddenly emanated from the sealed room, making even the ants inside go crazy.
The next moment, it vanished again.
Clearly, it was a perfect match with [Vanishing Without a Trace].

[Name: Liu Jun]
[Race: Fungus]
[Realm: Thunder Realm, Third-Layer Mentalist]
[Talents: Low Consumption, Low Symptom, Vanishing Without a Trace, Longevity and Long-standing Vision.]
[Mushroom Soup: Low Intelligence, Medium Intelligence, High Intelligence, Being One with the Dust, Clear Sun and Breezy Wind, Clear Moon and Shining Spirit, Deep Love Does Not Last, Star-Speed and Electric-Charge]

All the talents on his body were for hiding his aura and reducing consumption.
Very good, the good stuff was all left in the mushroom soup!

...

Elsewhere, in the Angel Grasslands.
Countless angels were already distributed across various regions, monitoring for the possible appearance of the Trial of God.
Just then, a crack suddenly appeared in the sky without warning.
Under the scorching sun, high above.
Three treasures of various shapes fell from the sky, followed by a crack in the sky, and a vast, eternal phantom of life slowly emerged.
This strange sight immediately prompted all the angels who witnessed it to send messages to the Sanctuary.
Then, something even more eerie happened.
It appeared as if a circular opening had appeared in the sky, and the world below was like a giant pot.
Above the pot, a cold face appeared, looking down from the clouds at the three treasures falling below.
Then, it gently picked up a pair of chopsticks, plucked one of the round, peach-shaped treasures, and withdrew.
This...
This was exactly the scene of Liu Jun taking a mushroom from the mushroom soup pot after the three talent mushrooms appeared.
What was He picking up?
And who, exactly, was He?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through the minds of the angels; they remembered the boiling pot on the stove in their own kitchens, lifting the lid, taking the chopsticks...
Are all living beings merely ingredients?
But there was no time to hesitate, no time for fear.
"It's here!"

Unfettered laughter resounded across the sky.
"Epochs are destined to be destroyed one by one, and our world is so pathetic; there must be life that tries to test... what the Creator God really is."
The King of Angels, holding a scepter and wearing a crown, looked up at the sky and charged straight toward the fleeting vision that was about to vanish again.
Behind this aged Angel Emperor, the Royal Angel Legion began to sing an ancient ballad.
The beauty-loving angels used their mental energy to stroke their accordions, playing softly:
"Did you see it when wisdom was awakened? That ancient God of Wisdom navigates for us where the dawn of life rises."
"Did you see it when fearing decay? That great prophet builds towers of time dilation in the city at the sunset of life."
"We must praise them; all angels must praise them from the depths of their hearts!"
"Growing up in such a beautiful garden of flowers, we drink the wind and dew; our hearts become pure and flawless, and we elegantly pursue beauty."
...
Behind them, the Cherub Legion also soared into the sky, countless sharp, holy white sword rains following their flight.
The music-loving angels sang:
"In the beginning, we were ugly worms."
"Breaking the cocoon, we are beautiful butterflies."
"Now, we are moths flying into the flame; come, let the children who follow become even more beautiful."
"The worms weave beautiful lives with knots, only to continue spinning cocoons on the flowers of blood, endlessly turning into butterflies, until they become thousands of beautiful lives in the world."
...
The Wheel Angel Legion.
Each angel behind the multi-armed butterfly had a ring of spikes, forming a brilliant wheel of light rotating slightly behind their heads.
"Breaking the cocoon is merely the starting point of life, the place where all ugliness begins to turn into beauty."
"The ocean of flowers has given birth to new life; the butterfly tribes follow one after another, and angels are merely one of the beautiful children of the Ancestral Butterfly."
...
The Archangel Chong Qiqi, wearing a phoenix crown, soared into the sky.
They sang:
"Ugliness belongs to the past, beauty belongs to the future; one half is the crawling worm pursuing dreams, the other half is the colorful butterfly realizing beauty."
"If we cannot see beauty, we shall create beauty, becoming the eternal light lingering in the divine fire, preserved in the murals of the Sanctuary."
The Four Great Angels, like moths to a flame, pursued beauty.
...
Rumble!
The sky was rapidly covered by endless, overlapping layers of bone clouds.
Below, in the weaving garden of Butterfly Valley, countless little worms busy weaving their shells knelt on the ground, weeping uncontrollably.
The worms were breaking their cocoons to become butterflies, using their lives to explore new forms of woven life, seeking new paths.
Their angels were also breaking their cocoons to become butterflies.
This was the innate courage of their race, the pride written in their bones.
In the sky, countless little worms from Butterfly Valley flew out of tree holes and flower bushes, humming prayers, their butterfly wings like dancing gauze garments.

On the Cangwu Tree.
Liu Jun, acting as the prophet, quietly watched this scene.
Behind him, Die Lüxiang and others wore tense and solemn expressions.
Liu Jun did not speak.
There was no Creator God in this world.
However, since he had to choose one out of three every time, taking one mushroom from the "Mushroom Soup" world and leaving two, he would be discovered sooner or later.
Might as well...
Explain it to them early.
Furthermore, he might as well fulfill the wish of this aging emperor; there was no Creator God in the world, but it wouldn't hurt to play the part for a while.