On the journey away from the barren resource well, everything remained calm, with no unexpected incidents.

  Lex led the four students through another teleportation process, returning them safely to the school's base in the safe zone.

  "Once you lift your concealment, before the assessment, make sure to fully absorb the gains from this experience," Lex advised the four before retreating into his divine domain.

  As he stabilized his divine domain, William observed the surrounding domains of his classmates. Despite several years having passed, they remained almost unchanged. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Indeed, only by seizing resources from others can one develop rapidly."

  The surrounding students, seeing William and the others return after years of absence, immediately gathered around to observe their changes.

  "In just a few years, how did William’s divine domain grow so large? It must be close to four million square kilometers now!"

  "How else? He must have invaded other divine domains and taken their resources! Didn’t you see that Samuel’s divine domain has also nearly doubled in size?"

  "But William’s domain has expanded threefold compared to before. Just how many divine domains did he plunder?"

  Amidst the astonished murmurs of his peers, William paid no attention. After exchanging greetings with Samuel and the others, he eagerly returned to his divine domain.

  During the return trip, while organizing his gains, William had come across a particular extraordinary species’ genetic sample that piqued his interest.

  This was a low-level demonic creature known as the Splitting Eyeworm, which had been accidentally brought back by the jump bugs from Bella’s divine domain.

  The Splitting Eyeworm was a species within Bella’s divine domain ecosystem. It had ten eyes, each of which could grow legs independently and detach from its body, allowing for separate reconnaissance.

  However, the detached eyes had no consciousness of their own and were completely controlled by the main body.

  It functioned much like a separated yet fully controlled independent organ, similar to an ant queen’s divided ovary, but superior in that it had no nutrient tubes connecting it to the main body, making it a true separation.

  Most importantly, its genetic chain was remarkably simple.

  Unlike other extraordinary creatures, whose supernatural genes were clustered like tumors throughout their genetic chains, the Splitting Eyeworm had only two distinct supernatural gene tumors, located at either end of its genetic sequence.

  This was the least number of supernatural gene tumors William had ever observed in an extraordinary species, giving him a glimmer of hope for breakthroughs in extraordinary genetics.

  Upon returning to his divine domain, William immediately focused on this new discovery.

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  More than ten days quickly passed. Looking at his results, William’s face was filled with frustration.

  He had fully decoded the ordinary genes within the Splitting Eyeworm’s genetic chain, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not make any progress on the two supernatural gene tumors at the ends.

  Setting his work aside for the moment, William sighed deeply and pulled out his most valuable acquisitions from this expedition—a Soul Crystal and a Bloodline Card.

  For now, he set aside the high-level Bloodline Card, as he had yet to decide how to use it. With only a 70% success rate, he couldn’t risk using it on the Ant Queen.

  He then turned his attention to the Soul Crystal, sealed within a special card, deep in thought.

  As a rare resource that could enhance any individual’s potential without side effects, William intended to use the Soul Crystal on the Ant Queen. However, he was uncertain what the final outcome would be.

  Using it on any other insectoid vassals would be a complete waste, which was why, despite acquiring the Soul Crystal over a month ago, he had yet to use it.

  During this time, he had studied a vast amount of materials and had gained a solid understanding of the Soul Crystal’s effects.

  From all known cases, no recorded user had experienced any negative side effects. The only variation was that the level of enhancement depended on the potential of the species receiving it.

  "Enough hesitation. If this resource is universally effective across all species, there’s no reason for me to be an exception. I have to use it."

  Making up his mind, William turned to the Ant Queen and transmitted his thoughts:

  "I recently obtained something valuable that can enhance your potential. Be prepared—I will use it on you. If you feel any discomfort, you must let me know immediately."

  "Master, I am ready. If anything feels wrong, I will inform you at once," the Ant Queen promptly responded.

  Hearing her reply, William channeled divine energy into the sealed card. The moment it activated, the seal vanished, revealing a radiant Soul Crystal in his hand.

  Without hesitation, William infused the crystal with divine power, causing it to glow with golden light.

  Gradually, it dissolved into golden particles, which he carefully guided into the Ant Queen’s body.

  Throughout the process, William monitored her closely using divine perception.

  In just a few minutes, the Soul Crystal was fully absorbed, vanishing completely into the Ant Queen’s body.

  She soon fell into a deep sleep, her breathing steady. However, her cells became unusually active, as if soaking up nourishment after a long drought, frantically absorbing the energy of the Soul Crystal.

  Two days passed in the blink of an eye before the crystal’s effects finally dissipated.

  During this time, William remained by the Ant Queen’s side, watching her condition carefully.

  Fortunately, the Soul Crystal had lived up to its reputation. William could clearly sense that her life force had significantly increased, with no negative effects.

  As the Ant Queen’s antennae began to move, it signaled that she had fully absorbed the crystal’s power.

  William immediately pulled up the system interface to check her updated attributes.

  Vassal Name: Ant Queen.

  Vassal Level: Extraordinary.

  Vassal Talents: Gene Fusion, Gene Adjustment.

  Faith Level: Fanatic.

  [...]

  Everything else remained the same, except for the new vassal talent: Gene Adjustment.

  William was stunned. His divine trait was also Gene Adjustment, yet now the Ant Queen had developed the same ability as a vassal talent.

  "What exactly does this new talent do? How useful is it? I need to conduct tests to find out."

  Just as he was contemplating this, the Ant Queen woke up.

  William immediately asked, "How do you feel? Do you notice anything unusual?"

  "Master, I feel great! It seems... I can now control the genes stored within my body!" the Ant Queen responded excitedly, describing her newfound ability.