"Every myth is a path to godhood! May the genes be with you!"
"All life returns to genes. Genes are the essence of life for all living beings. Seemingly just macromolecules composed of four deoxynucleotides, they record all information about life—from the major features like facial features and limbs down to the smallest pores and hairs, everything is governed by genes. On humanity's home planet, Earth, in an unimaginably ancient era, a brilliant ancient civilization once flourished. Among these humans, some possessed extraordinary powers and were revered as gods. Their genes are inherited within us. To become an interstellar cultivator, the first step is to awaken the mythical genes within oneself and gain that transcendent power..."
In a classroom brimming with futuristic technology, a group of students in uniforms were attending a class on mythical gene theory.
A holographic projection floated before each person, with the lesson content scrolling down like a waterfall.
The theory class was extremely dull, yet everyone listened with rapt attention.
Knowledge of mythical genes determined whether they could become cultivators, and no one dared to slack off.
On the podium, the stern-faced female teacher cast a sharp gaze around the room. Seeing everyone so focused, she nodded slightly.
"Hmm?" An unusual figure caught her attention.
Unlike the others who were listening intently, that person was slumped over the desk, fast asleep, completely out of sync with the surroundings.
In his dream, he seemed to encounter something terrifying, his brow furrowed, forehead covered in cold sweat, occasionally muttering strange, garbled words.
"Star Calendar 9991... What... era is this?"
"Why do I suddenly have... another person's memories in my head?"
"I'm not... not time-traveling, am I!"
...
His voice was very soft, his words slurred, making it impossible to understand what he was saying.
"So it's him! The bottom student of Class 17, Feng Lin!" The female teacher raised an eyebrow, about to get angry.
But when she recognized the student's identity, her anger dissipated. She shook her head and didn't look again.
Pity for his misfortune, anger at his lack of ambition!
Awakening mythical genes undoubtedly required talent.
Although in the interstellar era, most humans could awaken genes to some extent.
But there were also vast differences between genes.
Some genes were utterly useless, even counterproductive, causing people to grow monkey tails, black fur, a sixth finger... and other bizarre organs after awakening, harming themselves.
Other genes, once awakened, could transform a person, granting control over wind, rain, thunder, lightning... gravity, weight... turning them into supernatural beings wielding mysterious powers—these were mythical genes.
Undoubtedly, genes were a person's greatest talent.
This Feng Lin had only awakened the most common of basic genes—the monkey gene. Recently, it was said that to qualify for the college entrance exam, he had rashly awakened another stone fetus gene, also a low-grade basic gene.
According to current genetic research, no genetic formula could evolve the monkey gene and stone fetus gene into higher-grade genes.
In other words, these two genes were completely useless.
Feng Lin's vitality was only 0.4, not even reaching 1. By the end of his senior year, he wouldn't even qualify for the college entrance exam.
Feng Lin's potential ended here!
His life had no future.
In an instant, the female teacher had already passed a verdict on Feng Lin in her mind, like a sentence.
In the interstellar era, lacking genetic talent was the greatest misfortune for a person.
This Feng Lin was like mud that couldn't be plastered on the wall—he even slept in class, showing no effort at all.
Of course, even if he tried, it wouldn't help.
Talent couldn't be compensated by hard work alone.
Now it seemed this person had given up on himself, completely finished.
The female teacher averted her gaze, not looking at Feng Lin again.
The theory class ended quickly, and everyone left, not sparing a glance at Feng Lin, who was still buried in sleep, nor calling him to wake up.
Soon, the large classroom was empty.
After who knows how long, the sleeping youth slowly lifted his heavy head, staring at the classroom that felt both unfamiliar and vaguely familiar, his eyes glazed over, his face full of confusion.
Who am I? Where am I from? Where am I? ...
Virtual holographic projections, a classroom full of technology, and outside the window, flying cars with glowing flames whizzed by...
Everything felt like a dream, yet it was happening right before his eyes.
Was this a sci-fi movie?
Before he could think further, countless memories surged from the depths of his mind like a tide.
Intense pain coursed through his entire body.
Feng Lin's face twisted, and it took a long time for him to catch his breath, his expression becoming incredibly complex.
So it was now Star Calendar 9991.
He had originally been an ordinary Chinese citizen of the Chinese Republic in 2018 AD. After drinking too much at his college graduation, he never expected to wake up in this interstellar era.
Was this a parallel universe, or the future world of the original Earth?
He had no way of knowing.
And the truth probably didn't matter to Feng Lin—he had time-traveled, and it was highly likely he couldn't go back. Dwelling on it was pointless.
According to interstellar historical records, in 2160 AD, humanity finally left Earth and colonized the solar system.
To commemorate this great moment, humanity changed the calendar, abandoning the Gregorian calendar of the ancient Earth era and using quantum computers to derive a star calendar more suited to cosmic time.
That year became Star Calendar Year 1.
Now, 9991 years had passed.
This meant that, counting from the Gregorian year 2018 before Feng Lin's time-travel, he had crossed at least ten thousand years.
Was it a dream?
For a moment, Feng Lin felt a dazed sense of things changing and people fading away.
Entering the interstellar era, humanity's technological development became even more astonishing.
In Star Calendar 3628, humanity conquered the entire solar system, with bases on every planet.
The barren, dry Mars was transformed into a green, living planet; massive space stations floated on Jupiter; the asteroid belt was filled with mining ships shuttling back and forth; Pluto at the edge of the solar system became a vacation planet... Humanity's footprints covered every corner of the solar system.
But humanity was also trapped.
Human technology had reached its peak, but it also encountered an unbreakable bottleneck.
Beyond the solar system lay the vast, dark vacuum of space, with tens of light-years becoming an insurmountable distance for humanity.
The solar system became humanity's cage. It wasn't until over three thousand years later, after countless generations of scientists worked tirelessly to achieve a major technological breakthrough with the use of wormhole technology, that humanity finally broke out of the solar system.
Infinite space, full of treasures, endless planets and energy...
But humanity's dream hadn't even begun before it was shattered. The real nightmare was just beginning.
People then realized that the solar system wasn't just a cage—it was also humanity's shield.
Monstrous creatures as large as planets, bizarre alien life forms, universe-shattering cosmic disasters...
Humanity was instantly devastated.
And in the struggle against powerful enemies, humanity itself was rapidly evolving.
It was then that humanity dramatically and tragically discovered that, compared to the vast universe, humanity itself was the greatest treasure.
Once, in the Earth era, ancient myths had been dismissed as feudal superstition, but in the interstellar era, humanity was stunned to find that these myths were all real.
They were real!
Those mythical figures were powerful beings from ancient human civilizations. According to scientific research and computer simulations, these individuals were revered as gods because of their unimaginable power.
As civilizations faded, those mythical figures disappeared without a trace, but their genes remained within Earth's humans.
Through cultivation, humans could awaken these genes to gain incredible power, so these genes were called mythical genes.
The human body was like a universe, each gene like a star in the sky, countless in number.
Ancient cultivation was reborn.
Every myth was a path to godhood.
"A path to godhood?" Feng Lin savored the words, clearly feeling the profound meaning within them.
The human he had time-traveled into was also named Feng Lin, a very ordinary student in Class 17 of Earth's high school, sharing the same name as his original self, even with a similar appearance.
Over ten thousand years of human development, through three world wars, two planetary wars, and five interstellar wars, after countless civilization catastrophes, the ancient Earth myths had long been neglected. Most had now been lost, with only a few fragments remaining, scattered and disjointed.
The myths of ancient Earth left vast gaps waiting for interstellar humans to rediscover and fill through excavation of mythical ruins.
Although humanity was aware of the existence of mythical genes, the myths had lost their continuity, making it impossible to decode their own genetic secrets.
The paths to godhood were also forgotten, and humanity reaped the consequences, forced to grope blindly again.
But Feng Lin suddenly realized this had become his greatest advantage.
As a 21st-century modern person arriving in this technologically advanced interstellar era, he was far behind in both knowledge and thought.
He had worried about not being able to survive in this world.
But now it was different!
This interstellar era had developed a theory of mythical genes, yet after ten thousand years of upheaval, most of ancient Earth's mythical knowledge had been lost.
And Feng Lin, coming from the past, was intimately familiar with ancient Earth's myths.
Every myth was a path to godhood.
If that were true, didn't he hold countless paths to godhood?
The Chinese War God Erlang Zhenjun, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong, the Northern Demon-Suppressing True Emperor Xuanwu...
The Western Saint Jesus, the Demon King Satan, the Vampire Ancestor Cain...
The Greek God King Zeus, the Sun God Apollo, the Earth Mother Gaia...
The Norse Odin, the Egyptian Death God Anubis, the Indian Destroyer God Shiva...
These myths were now all but forgotten, none preserved.
Feng Lin took a deep breath. Without a doubt, for him, this was absolutely the best era!