As soon as William heard the Queen Ant’s words, he hurriedly activated divine possession and sent his divine sense into her body.

  Through his divine sense, he instantly noticed something different about the Queen Ant.

  Normally, when the Queen Ant perceived the genes within her body, she could only see a single continuous genetic chain. But now, as she consumed faith power, she could see the internal structure of the genes just like William.

  At that moment, William was observing the genes he had been working hard to analyze—the genes of the Splitting Eye Worm.

  The two extraordinary genetic tumors that had remained impenetrable to him were gradually becoming clearer under the Queen Ant’s genetic adjustment talent.

  This discovery made William immediately increase his consumption of faith power. As he had suspected, the Queen Ant’s genetic adjustment talent could indeed analyze and modify extraordinary genes.

  Suppressing his overwhelming excitement, William tested other extraordinary genes, only to find the results were the same—every single extraordinary gene could be analyzed by the Queen Ant.

  “Hahaha…” Uncontrollable laughter burst out from William’s mouth. The problem that had troubled him for so long had finally been overcome today.

  After laughing, William possessed the Queen Ant’s body once again and used this newfound genetic adjustment talent to analyze extraordinary genes with full force.

  Ten days flew by in a frenzy of work. William’s consciousness detached from the Queen Ant’s body and returned to the sky above his divine realm.

  His eyes were slightly closed as he rubbed the deep frown on his forehead, his face looking grim.

  Through these past few days of analysis, William had confirmed that the Queen Ant’s genetic adjustment talent could indeed work on extraordinary genes.

  But the results were far from what he had hoped for.

  Looking helplessly at his ten days of effort, he realized that the analysis progress for just one of the Splitting Eye Worm’s extraordinary genes was less than one percent.

  This was the outcome of ten days of relentless work without rest. At this rate, fully analyzing a single extraordinary gene would take at least five years.

  Even the simplest Splitting Eye Worm, which only had two extraordinary genes, would take him a decade to fully analyze.

  Not to mention other extraordinary creatures—especially those powerful species with long chains of genetic tumors. The time required for those would start at a century. It felt like an endless life of overtime.

  “No matter what, at least we’re no longer completely helpless against extraordinary genes. This is a good start, and the future will surely be brighter.” After calming himself down, William started self-encouragement.

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  “It’s just extraordinary genes, just overtime—what’s there to be afraid of? I, William, have never backed down from a challenge.”

  After hyping himself up, he recalled how, in the past, he had driven others to work relentlessly, leaving them with pained expressions. Perhaps this was karma catching up to him.

  Regardless, William had no choice but to silently possess the Queen Ant once more and continue his never-ending overtime.

  Five years later

  Today was the school’s assessment day.

  Lex looked around at all the students in the class, noting that everyone had arrived—except for William. Turning to Richard, he asked, “Richard, have you seen William?”

  “Haven’t seen him. His divine realm has been stationary ever since we returned five years ago. He went inside and never came out.” Richard immediately responded.

  “Huh… He never came out? What’s going on with him?” Lex, who had spent the last ten days in the real world, was unaware of what had been happening in the divine realm.

  “No idea.”

  Seeing everyone around him shake their heads in confusion, Lex, full of doubt, took out a communication card and sent William a message, instructing him to come out for the assessment.

  Inside his divine realm, William was deeply engrossed in analyzing extraordinary genes when he suddenly received the message from his class instructor, calling him to gather for the school’s assessment.

  “Has it already been five years?”

  William immediately put down his work. His semi-divine spirit instantly appeared outside the divine realm.

  The moment William’s semi-divine spirit emerged, everyone present was startled.

  His expression was dull, his eyes lifeless, and his spiritual body was faintly translucent—he looked completely drained of energy.

  “Kid, what the hell have you been up to? You look like you’ve been completely drained.” Lex was visibly shocked.

  Hearing Lex’s question, William snapped back to reality, shook his head vigorously, and quickly replied, “Nothing much, just dealing with some matters in my divine realm.”

  “Kid, as someone with experience, you need to listen to my advice. I know you’re still young and full of energy, but you have to learn moderation.” Lex put on a serious tone, though his face bore a playful smirk.

  One look at Lex’s expression, and William immediately knew that this unserious instructor had misunderstood him.

  But he didn’t bother explaining. Instead, he simply smiled faintly and looked at Lex, waiting for him to continue.

  However, seeing William’s calm demeanor, Lex suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

  William didn’t react with embarrassment like a typical young man—he just stood there smiling.

  This, in turn, made Lex feel awkward. He instantly lost interest in teasing William any further.

  “Ahem… Alright, since everyone is here, I will now announce the rules of the assessment.” Clearing his throat, Lex scanned the students before continuing,

  “In a moment, a senior field officer will arrive to conduct the assessment. After invading his divine realm, each of you can send in a maximum of ten thousand followers.”

  “The field officer will have his followers attack you. Surviving the first wave of attacks counts as passing. The more waves you endure, the more resources you’ll receive each month. You can surrender at any time.”

  “Any questions?” Lex asked as he looked at his students.

  “Lex, why is the assessment structured this way? This test doesn’t allow me to fully utilize my followers’ advantages.” William immediately raised a question upon hearing the rules.

  Lex, knowing what William was thinking, promptly explained,

  “This assessment isn’t about measuring your current strength but about evaluating the long-term potential of your followers. So, the focus is mainly on the quality of your followers.”

  “Of course, if you want to represent the school in the citywide intercollegiate tournament, then raw strength is the most important factor. The school will take a comprehensive look at your performance, not just this assessment’s results.”

  “The selection of tournament representatives will be decided by the class instructors. Each class will nominate one or more candidates, and the school administration will make the final decision.”

  After finishing his explanation, Lex looked at William, signaling that he could ask more questions if he had any.