Konoha's Mission Master

They did not stop their experiment when they saw the two people come in.

In the center of the laboratory, a plant brain about ten meters in diameter is immersed in a light blue nutrient solution. The brain is formed by various plant fibers, and even has several blue flowers growing on its surface.

Bubbles rose from the giant vat, as if the brain were breathing.

Yakumo is currently unaware of the brain's function, but it senses a sense of familiarity with this behemoth, as well as fluctuations in Zhang Mingyao's cellular energy.

Zhang Mingyao led Yakumo to his private study.

The first thing that catches the eye is several huge bookshelves, filled with thick, ancient books, exuding a strong sense of history.

On the virtual network of the Free Federation, 99% of knowledge can be found, but only the 1% carried in books is the most valuable asset of the entire Free Federation.

"Your clearance has been upgraded to Special Researcher. You can move freely within Area S, but you are not allowed to record classified information in any form."

Looking at Yakumo's face, Zhang Minghui instructed, "Although the awakening of the Holy Favor is one in ten thousand, talent alone cannot make one a true powerhouse. Wang Ming still needs to hone his character."

"Thank you, Ninth Speaker."

Yakumo answered sincerely.

Although he was still unclear about the value of the imperial favor, Zhang Mingyao's reaction made it easy to determine that the imperial favor... seemed to be very valuable.

"From now on, you can call me Master..."

"Learn the knowledge in this book within five days."

Zhang Mingyao stared at Wang Ming, nodded after a few seconds, and took out a book with about two hundred pages from the drawer of his desk.

"Yes, Master."

"You can use the lab next door freely. If you need anything, you can contact the virtual assistant. You have two million points."

Yakumo bowed deeply... to express his gratitude.

Such a grand gesture… I love the feeling of clinging to someone's coattails.

Zhang Mingyao didn't speak again, but instead lowered his head and began to flip through the books beside him, leaving only the rustling sound of pages turning in the study.

Yakumo understood, gently turned around, pushed open the study door, and went to the laboratory next door.

"This is a test."

Although imperial favor is precious, he still needs to prove his worth.

Yakumo first opened the game system.

Task 1: Promote to Level 2 Researcher.

Task Status: Ready to Submit

With just a simple sentence from Zhang Mingyao, Yakumo completed the first task in Wang Ming's last wish.

That's a good start.

Senior Researcher, ranked above Level 4 Researcher, is the true core of the Ninth Research Institute. Qualification as a Senior Researcher often requires numerous achievements in gene fusion.

This also proves the preciousness of imperial favor.

If divine favor is so precious, then what about divine grace?

"submit."

Heat was generated from deep within his body, rushing towards his brain, muscles, blood, and even bones, and Wang Ming's fragile body was quickly strengthened by this heat.

Outwardly, there are not many noticeable changes.

However, something earth-shattering is happening inside.

Half an hour later, my body returned to calm.

Yakumo clenched his fist slightly, feeling the surging power within his body. In this world, he still had some ability to protect himself.

[Personal Interface]

Name: Jing Bayun (Wang Ming)

Age: 76

Constitution: 39.3 (Endurance, Resistance, Recovery)

Strength: 31.0 (Weight, Attack, etc.)

Agility: 33.3 (Neural reaction, running speed)

Intelligence: 42.3 (learning ability, mental resilience)

This data differed slightly from that of the eight-cloud computing system. After racking his brains, he could only conclude that it was due to the discrepancy between the two universes.

Yakumo turned his attention to the other notifications.

Congratulations to the player for obtaining 50 strands of World Power.

[Note: The World Power Exchange Shop is open early.]

Upon successfully becoming Zhang Mingyao's apprentice, the game system instantly detected 50 strands of world power.

Perhaps... this is what they mean by "it's good to have a big tree to lean on."

The World Power Exchange Shop opened ahead of schedule, revealing to Yakumo the game system's urgency for World Power. It... needs World Power, which is why it made an unprecedented change to the rules and opened the exchange shop ahead of schedule.

Yakumo opened the shop and browsed it briefly. He discovered that in addition to various basic items, World Power could be directly exchanged for gold coins, with 1 strand of World Power equal to 100 gold coins.

The apprenticeship event brought Yakumo a gain of 5000 gold coins.

However, in order to attract Zhang Mingyao's attention, he spent 12000 gold coins. Putting aside the benefits that followed, this was a huge loss.

Among them, the price of free attribute points is 250 strands of world power. In addition, there are several magical items that Yakumo covets, but the amount of world power required is enormous.

Yakumo placed the books he had obtained from Zhang Mingyao on his workbench and pressed the port for connecting to the virtual network against his temple. This port was shaped like a silver button about the size of a thumb.

The scene before them immediately changed.

A virtual assistant, a forest sprite, appeared in the empty space.

This pure white space is Wang Ming's virtual residence. He can spend star coins to expand it and fill it with furniture. The reason it is so empty is because the original owner... lived a very frugal life.

The virtual elf character that Wang Ming originally designed was a wrinkled old tree man. What kind of aesthetic is that? Isn't a green-haired, long-eared female elf cute?

Yakumo was filled with complaints, but he didn't reset his appearance.

"Ahem, congratulations, Master, your privileges at the Ninth Research Institute have been upgraded to Special Level, and you have been granted a two million points."

The wrinkled tree-man was the first to offer his blessings.

"Spend 100,000 points, exchange them for star coins, and transfer them to my father's virtual account. Explain the source of the money in advance so that my father won't worry."

"As ordered."

The old man bowed respectfully.

In Wang Ming's memory, his parents spent all their money to enable him to undergo a second genetic modification... simply because he was a top student at the University of Life and Engineering.

Wealth and honor without returning home is like wearing fine clothes at night.

Yakumo cannot always play the role of a dutiful son to Wang Ming, but he can do his best to secure benefits for Wang Ming's parents within the limited time he has.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but after he finished doing all this, his spirit and his body seemed to become more in sync, and the initial sense of unfamiliarity gradually faded away.

"Use my privileges... to inquire about imperial favor."

"Ding, directory 598 found."

"Selected based on the highest readership, according to the official explanation."

Suddenly, text bearing the words "Top Secret" appeared before Yakumo's eyes.

Awakening of Holy Favor: Born with the Holy Spirit, it requires great stimulation to awaken. Before reaching the Holy Spirit stage, there is no possibility of failure when fusing cells. There are no bottlenecks before reaching the Holy Spirit stage. According to currently known information, the fastest record for a Holy Favor to break through to the Holy Spirit stage is 150 years.

Note: Those favored by the Holy Ones possess unique and special talents. Currently, there are 127 known individuals with Holy Favors within the Free Federation.

Yakumo suddenly realized that Zhang Mingyao was somewhat understanding and showed excitement. He was a chosen one, one of the miracles in the Free Federation where only 127 people were born out of 24 trillion, and he had integrated the basic gene into Giant Wood No. 9.

This is equivalent to being firmly bound to Zhang Mingyao.

"Turn off the virtual network."

Yakumo disconnected the link and picked up the book. Once he clearly understood the importance of the Holy One, he believed that Zhang Mingyao must be observing him from the shadows. Therefore, Yakumo needed to act as seriously as possible about the importance he attached to Zhang Mingyao's orders.

Although he was holding books in both hands, his attention was on the game system interface, and he had a thoughtful expression on his face.

initiative:

Giant Tree Gene Fusion Method Lv.11 (Breaking Limits, Holy Favor, Divine Grace)

Breakthrough: Gene activation speed increases dramatically.

"Divine Favor - Infinite: Infinite fusion of plant genes."

"Divine Grace - Assimilation: Allows for rapid integration of genes within the body."

Yakumo carefully sensed... He felt that his talent was ridiculously strong. He already knew the source of the Holy Favor, but he had no idea about the origin of the Divine Grace.

He didn't even dare to search for information about Divine Grace in the Ninth Research Institute, because that would expose his dual talents of Holy Favor and Divine Grace!

It is known that the Giant Tree Gene Fusion Method has a maximum level of only nine.

Yakumo broke the upper limit twice in a row.

After a brief moment of thought, Yakumo focused his attention on the book in his hand and discovered that it was a secret technique that could increase the speed of gene activation.

"Mysterious Forest Origin Code."

This technique has three layers, the main idea of ​​which is to stimulate the flow of cellular energy in the body, generating wonderful fluctuations and promoting the activation speed of basic genes.

This thing has some overlap with the effects of Divine Grace, and along with the unlocking of physical strength, the amount of cellular energy has increased several times.

At this moment, Yakumo was exploring the source energy of his motor cells... He could clearly sense that some hidden energy within his body was gradually awakening, and this awakening would feed back into an increase in physical strength and a greater amount of cellular source energy.

Naturally, the activation speed of Giant Tree No. 9 became even faster.

This was thanks to Yakumo's already quite strong physical attributes.

That's not fast enough...

Yakumo clicked the call button on the workbench.

"Dududu..."