Ninth class citizen

Chapter 354 Giving the Green Light
Sleipnir, top floor of the Federation Gene Optimizers Association, Chairman's Office.

Chairman Greg, sitting behind his large desk, looked up. His short, gray hair was plastered tightly to his scalp, and his bright eyes shone through two round glasses, staring directly at the woman opposite him.

The woman wore the silver robes of a high-level gene optimizer, with two unmistakable badges pinned to her lapel:
The yellow jade badge representing second-class citizens, and the silver badge engraved with three gold crystal injections—the latter being the exclusive mark of a seventh-tier evolution fluid concoction expert.

The woman placed her hands on the desk, leaned forward, and stared directly into the chairman's eyes without any politeness.

“Patricia.” Chairman Greg looked away first, his tone somewhat helpless: “I have approved your application and granted you the special additional test. But there has never been a precedent for such an additional test that is higher than the third rank.”

"Don't give me that official talk." Patricia slammed her hand on the table. "We're not talking about the same thing at all—I applied for a simple additional test, not some fake certification arranged for those slackers!"

"You mean, have that Ms. Nan take the certification exam at standard difficulty?" Greg blinked his small eyes, a smile playing on his lips.
"There's no need to go through all that trouble. Just wait a little longer—there are less than three months until the next federal unified certification."

“You’re always like this.” Patricia straightened up, a hint of mockery in her eyes:
"Even though I knew her identity and understood why I was in such a hurry, I pretended not to know."

"What should I understand?" The chairman spread his hands, looking innocent, and asked, "Oh, just because that Ms. Nan was fortunate enough to gain His Majesty the President's favor, we're going to give her the green light?"

“That’s not what I meant,” Patricia said calmly.

"But that's exactly what you did." The chairman leaned back in his chair and said coldly:
“Patricia, we are scientists, not politicians, and we must stand firm. Lower-level certifications are one thing, but for mid- to high-level certifications, rigor and impartiality are the bare minimum.”

“I agree with you,” Patricia said, frowning. “But she can’t wait until then—the Advanced Gene Optimizer certification starts next month!”

"Advanced certification?" The chairman repeated, raising his hand to rub his temples. "A triennial advanced gene optimizer certification that only gene optimizers of level five or above are qualified to participate in—if I remember correctly, that Ms. Nan was only a level two materials expert, right?"

As he said this, a hint of weariness appeared in his eyes: "I admit that she did leave a deep impression on me with that perfect score in the second-tier certification. But no matter how talented she is, and with the full support of your Campbell family, no one can jump from the second tier to the sixth tier or above in just a few months—that's not scientific, it's just an impossible myth."

“Mythology?” Patricia sneered. “There are always some legendary figures in the universe who are exceptionally talented. For example, Your Majesty the President, who rose from a cripple to a ninth-level spacetime controller in less than half a year. According to your theory, none of that is true?”

“Extreme cases will always exist, but they don’t represent everyone.” Chairman Greg sighed. “Patricia, your mind is in turmoil. I also deeply regret what happened to Melissa, but that doesn’t give me the right to unjustifiably favor her students.”

Patricia gave Greg a deep look, then silently took out two vials of gold crystal potion and pushed them in front of him.

“She’s very low-key, so I didn’t really want to take these medicines out,” Patricia said.
"But now I think that some old-fashioned people with rigid thinking really need to broaden their horizons and get to know this new world full of talents again."

As a fellow expert in concocting seventh-tier evolution fluids, Greg had seen countless gold crystal injections in his life. No matter how eloquently Patricia described it, he still only looked at the facts.

Place the two gold crystal injections in your palm, with the side with the writing facing up, and read them carefully.

When Greg finished reading it the first time, his expression remained unchanged. It wasn't until it was repeated several times that he slowly raised his head, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Then, he revealed his wrist-mounted AI and activated the detection module directly connected to the central AI.

It can perfectly detect the true quality of all materials and pharmaceuticals, and can produce the most authoritative test results in the entire Federation.

Shortly after the white light flashed, rows of green text appeared on the void screen.

“四阶A级基因优化剂与一阶A级基因进化液各一支，制作者为联邦认证二阶材料专家南容。以上药剂均已在联邦中央智脑备案，批号分别为DSS89900361421027Y4A00001与DSSS9900361421027J1S00001。”

Greg stared blankly at the words, slowly sliding back into his chair, remaining silent for a long time.

When he first saw the words on the gold crystal injection, he almost sneered.

It's a fake, it's definitely a fake, it can't possibly be real.

Hesitation for even a second is disrespectful to the serious and noble profession of gene optimization specialist.

Normally, only fourth-order stock extract experts are qualified and capable of attempting to synthesize first-order gene optimizers.

But that only applies to the average majority. For a genius like Greg himself, he was already able to independently synthesize second-tier gene optimizers when he reached the third tier.

However, this does not mean that when he advances to the fifth tier, he will be able to attempt to challenge the fourth-tier gene optimizer.

Advancing as a gene optimizer is difficult, but there's always room for improvement in the level of potions of the same tier.

When he became a fifth-level original solution blender, he produced his first first-level A-grade gene optimization solution.

Meanwhile, the quality of the third-order gene optimizer synthesized at the same time could never exceed grade D.

Even now, he has been stuck at the level of a seventh-order evolution fluid concoction expert for over two hundred years. His physical functions have begun to decline, and there is no longer any possibility of advancing to the next level.

At the peak of Gregor's abilities, the highest-grade potion he could synthesize was only a fourth-tier C-level gene optimizer.

As far as he knew, the only person in the interstellar space with the qualifications and strength to synthesize a fourth-order A-grade gene optimizer was the current head of the Campbell family.

This is why he is hailed as a future master of eighth-order gene optimization.

So the moment Greg saw the potion, he thought he had figured out the trickery involved, and he secretly marveled at how far the Campbell family had gone in order to win over Ms. Nan.