Chapter 6: The Distant Past, Mural of the Jurassic Ancient Butterfly

The next morning, Liu Jun woke up and checked the progress bar.

【91%】

Excellent!

After only a few days of leave, a third talent would soon be available for extraction. The price he paid, however, was taking out a loan from Rehe Dian Dian Dai to buy a potion, along with a heap of resources to provide evolutionary energy for the bacterial soup.

He was drowning in debt.

He was going all-in on his life right now!

His plan was simple: he intended to wait until it reached 100% to add the 【Low Intelligence】 trait, allowing this unconscious cloned sage brain to finally develop true intellect. Then, he would have this brain cultivate within the bacterial soup.

A Tier 2 brain was worth tens to millions of thought-blades.
A Tier 3 brain was worth tens of millions of thought-blades.
Moreover, this was an unprecedented Tier 3 prototype, making its value truly immeasurable!

*Hoo.*

Taking a deep breath, Liu Jun opened the bacterial soup to observe the brain.

But to his utter astonishment, something unexpected happened. He discovered that only three talent mushrooms were floating in the soup:

【Dust with Light】
【Clear Sun and Breeze】
【Clear Moon and Bright Spirit】

"Wait, why are there only three left? Where is my 【Low Intelligence】 mushroom?"

The inexplicable disappearance of a talent mushroom left Liu Jun extremely uneasy. This was definitely not a good sign. It might mean that if he didn't redeem the talent mushrooms in the bacterial soup after a certain amount of time, they would simply dissipate on their own.

Furthermore, 【Low Intelligence】 was a crucial core of his plan! Without it, how could he make the brain regain consciousness?

Wait.

His gaze suddenly fell upon the brain itself. He noticed that this butterfly had undergone a unique transformation; it seemed to have quietly consumed the 【Low Intelligence】 talent mushroom that had been floating in the soup.

At this moment, the brain bobbed up and down in the soup, and it was beginning to show signs of shallow conscious activity. The brain's exclusive book world was being reborn. In its mental world, it had transformed into a butterfly living in a warm Jurassic era, with bright weather and high oxygen levels.

This butterfly, originally an insect at the bottom of the food chain, spent its days in a dull, repetitive cycle—perching on flowers to drink nectar and clinging to trees to absorb sap.

"Is it exhibiting a reaction of thought?"

Liu Jun revealed a hint of surprise; brainwaves appearing in a dream-like state were a sign that the brain was coming back to life. Although the dream of being a butterfly was quite dull and repetitive, a thought suddenly crossed his mind:

The talent wasn't redeemed, but it was absorbed by the brain instead. Did he just get a talent for free?

No.

Those talent mushrooms were already there to begin with. Now, the butterfly had become a new 【Low Intelligence】 talent mushroom, taking its place; in essence, there was no difference.

Furthermore, Liu Jun discovered that because it had turned into a talent mushroom, he couldn't just take the brain out as he pleased! He would have to wait for the next 100% charge to select this brain-shaped talent mushroom and extract it.

This new discovery surprised Liu Jun greatly. This pot of bacterial soup seemed just a bit too interesting.

"Since a book has been formed, I might as well go in and take a look."

Liu Jun looked thoughtful. However, for this Tier 1 book, experiencing the other's life journey no longer held any cultivation value for him. But he could enter this mental world to guide the cultivation of this butterfly, which now possessed the 【Low Intelligence】 talent, helping it ascend to Tier 2 and Tier 3.

He didn't hesitate any longer. His thought-energy surged, and he began to enter the brain that was constantly beginning to think.

...

Jurassic.

On a warm, humid conifer tree, Liu Jun opened his eyes, feeling the moisture in the air and the faint chirping of insects. He slowly flapped his wings, adapting to this butterfly body.

"It feels like returning to that time in middle school."

"Transforming into a butterfly and flying." Liu Jun opened his eyes, skillfully flapping his wings as he looked at the familiar primitive jungle from hundreds of millions of years ago.

Reading a book, in essence, is reading the life memories of another life form. As the saying goes, one dream knows no years; there is no concept of time in a dream. Theoretically, one could possess infinite lifetimes through reading books.

However, the average person's tolerance isn't that high. Reading frequently can easily lead to schizophrenia or cyber-psychosis.

As for the book he was currently reading, "Amber Swallowtail," Liu Jun had already experienced it many times personally; after all, his cultivation during his time as a Tier 1 Thought-Master mostly relied on this.

"But, I'm not the protagonist? I've become another Amber Swallowtail?"

He was surprised in his heart, guessing that because the brain had gained its own life, he could only become a supporting character in its dream.

*Flutter!*

He skillfully flapped his wings, dancing in the air, and set off to find the owner of the dream. He flew around for a while and soon saw the protagonist of the memory—a greedy butterfly clinging to a tree trunk, eating frantically.

"Who?"

A soft, cute thought-wave came through: "You... you smell so good."

To an Amber Swallowtail, Liu Jun had a special aura that felt very intimate. After all, the other party was essentially a 【Low Intelligence】 little mushroom that "dreamed it was a butterfly," so of course, there was a sense of kinship.

Liu Jun didn't intend to wake the other party from their dream, because the bacterial soup in reality was too small—it was just a pot of water. He currently lacked the resources and connections to collect various sands and stones to expand his mushroom farm.

"I am your friend," Liu Jun said.

"Friend... very strong. I can't eat you."

The Amber Swallowtail's voice was timid, carrying a trace of childlike innocence and cruelty. Its body patterns shimmered like a rainbow under the sunlight, bearing the colors of a beautiful sunset.

"I'll take you to eat something good," Liu Jun said, amused.

"Good, good."

The other party spoke intermittently, with some difficulty, strangely resembling a pathetic little puppy as it kept sending messages: "Hungry, hungry, hungry."

Liu Jun looked up. A violent, earth-shaking roar came from above the forest as a creature shaped like a pterosaur flew past at high speed.

"Follow me." Liu Jun flapped his wings, taking the little butterfly with him, and as a veteran player, he began the life he had repeated countless times.

In a sense, he knew better than the other party how to survive. He knew the surrounding habitats, the daily routines of dangerous creatures, and where predators might be lying in ambush.

This place could be considered a children's primer. When he was young, he and his two friends, Li Feng and Zou Anmeng, had often come to read this fairy tale book.

Yes. In his past life, the story of the "Amber Swallowtail" held a status similar to "Grimm's Fairy Tales," a children's classic and a bedtime primer. It was widely popular among children. Even today, there were all kinds of Amber Swallowtail dolls and merchandise, as well as versions reimagined as Amber Fairies; it had been made into theme parks, with a status comparable to Snow White.

For Liu Jun to choose the version that accompanied his childhood as his advanced brain, it would be impossible to say there wasn't a touch of nostalgia involved.

The book "Amber Swallowtail" already had countless mature strategy guides, and some experts had even developed many flashy tricks. Some followed a solo assassin-hunting path, developing a system of Swallowtail thought-energy tactics. Others practiced farming, leading the Swallowtails to develop a civilization, survive the winter, and even research primitive weapons.

With all sorts of wild maneuvers, how could it not be considered a "power fantasy"? He was just gathering the strengths of many. He also knew better than anyone else that this world was merely a world of memories, a tool for exercising the mind.

First year.

Wilderness survival. "To get rich, first cut down trees." With the tree-hole shelter built, Liu Jun began his prehistoric jungle survival. Exploring the terrain and marking paths—the grand, fulfilling adventure began.

Fortunately, they were omnivores during this period and could even eat some carrion; their diet was quite broad, so Liu Jun decisively stockpiled food.

"Wuwuwu, why not bring them along to survive the winter?"

"Can't save them."

Before Liu Jun sealed the cave, he watched silently as the heavy snow buried the entrance. The butterfly companions who had followed him outside also exuded confused, ignorant wills, collapsing onto the frozen earth as they began to lose their life force.

The Jurassic world here was only similar to the one in his past life, but the climate was vastly different. The winters were bitingly cold, and butterflies couldn't survive them. The lifespan of the butterfly colony only lasted until winter; before dying, they would bury their pupae underground, waiting for spring to arrive so the next batch of new butterflies could break through the soil, achieving a new succession of the race.

Spring birth and winter death was their short life. Liu Jun only qualified to survive the harsh winter because he had hoarded a large amount of food in the cave since he started his wilderness survival.

"Save... save..." The eyes of those Swallowtails hid longing and painful pleas for help.

Liu Jun sealed the cave, shutting the pleas for help outside. His followers had died. Two butterflies huddled together for warmth, beginning to change the laws of nature and creating an artificial hibernation period.

Inside the cave, days passed one by one.

"I really want to eat more."

"You can't eat more; there isn't enough to survive the winter."

"Eat, eat, eat."

"You can't eat."

"Eat, eat, eat!"

"If you want to eat, you can. I will teach you thought, so that when you become stronger, you can eat more things, understand the principles of the world, investigate things to extend knowledge, and lead other butterflies to survive."

"Knowledge can also lift a life out of the ranks of beasts and restrain desire."

"First, I'll teach you biology."

"Biology?"

"This is the way of the world's life structure. First, study these 37,210,000 words of problems. You are not brain-damaged; you are a born sage, possessing a photographic memory, naturally divine..."

"Don't eat, don't eat, don't eat!"

"Next, study physics."

"Physics?"

"This is the way of the world's order structure. Now, do these 49,300,000 words of test papers..."

"I am brain-damaged, I am brain-damaged, I am brain-damaged!"

Liu Jun was very gratified. Knowledge was indeed power; it allowed the butterfly to overcome its bestial desire to eat. In the pitch-black cave, two butterflies whispered to each other, while outside, the world was filled with white snow.

"Thank you for saving me."

Listening to the Amber Swallowtail, whose speech was gradually becoming fluent, Liu Jun felt an inexplicable sense of accomplishment. As a primitive, ignorant insect, although its thought-energy was innate, its initial intelligence was too low, making it very prone to dying young.

This Swallowtail, sealed in amber, had a very short life trajectory in history. As a thought-energy creature, it had shivered through the first winter and died in the second, frozen in an instant by amber sliding down from a giant tree.

Second year.

Farming period.

This winter, the Amber Swallowtail wanted to take other companions through the winter. As a butterfly that had developed self-awareness, it also developed feelings of loneliness. Outside the emerald tree hole, the Amber Swallowtail looked confused:

"Prophet, what should I do if the other butterflies don't listen? If they don't, we can't accumulate more food and can't bring them through the winter."

"If they listen, give them food. If they don't, tie their wings up, hook a willow thread, and hang them under the tree to spin like a butterfly top."

"Fun, fun."

"Seeds are planted like this—with sunlight and water."

"Right, let's clip the wings of our companions like this. They will revert to just being a worm, so they won't fly around and will properly loosen the soil in the fields, farm, and dig ponds. This way, we can tame some three-leaf bony fish."

Liu Jun spoke of the unique methods discovered by the strategy experts. Although bizarre, they were effective.

"Herding is a stable channel for the population to obtain resources."

"Prophet, can we do it without clipping their wings?"

"No. Wait until you can lead them in cultivation; once they become smart, you won't need to clip them, and they'll fly faster to farm."

When Liu Jun finished speaking, he found the Amber Swallowtail already lying on the ground, gnawing frantically, looking mindless: "The wings we clipped off don't taste good."

Liu Jun was silent.

"Can't waste food." The Amber Swallowtail still spoke with a trace of childlike cruelty and innocence, inhaling like a storm: "Eat, eat, eat."

Third year.

Tribal period.

"There's a bird egg here; move quickly."

"Don't throw away the empty eggshells; bring them home to make bowls."

"So heavy, so heavy, I can't pull it with my thought-energy."

Controlling the string of eggshells beneath it, the little Swallowtail carefully wove through the bushes, while Liu Jun rode on its back, directing the way, passing through flowers and avoiding vines. When they were tired after flying for a stretch, they would switch, and the other butterfly would pull the eggshells.

"By the way, I didn't save the other butterflies last year, but I can save them this winter."

"Really?"

Winter arrived again, and heavy snow covered the mountains and forests. Inside the cave, the new generation of butterflies also exuded confused, ignorant wills, radiating a sense of joy and happiness. They were originally destined to die. Before Liu Jun arrived, no butterfly had ever seen winter. But Liu Jun had saved their population, and he was the prophet they worshipped.

"Stop messing around, everyone, hang yourselves on the wall," Liu Jun's thought-energy spread.

The space was very small. He had them hang themselves on the walls to save space, and thus, a beautiful butterfly mural was born. On the mural, a group of lifelike, colorful butterflies followed a giant butterfly.

"You don't have to," Liu Jun called out to the Amber Swallowtail, that big fool. As the leader, they naturally had to have privileges.