Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

"Sister Ning, you actually succeeded! Have you studied Artifact Refining before?" Huangfu Xinyue, who had given up back at the material processing stage, was thrilled to see Ning Xuan’s success.

"No, the teacher just explained it very carefully." Ning Xuan looked at her creation, inwardly satisfied.

Although this Tang Blade was just an ordinary piece of Artifact Refining with no special functions besides its acceptable sharpness, succeeding on her very first try was already quite impressive.

Most of those who succeeded were second or third-year students who had been studying for two or three years. Teacher Fan found them all familiar, so the only unfamiliar face, Ning Xuan, naturally drew his attention. However, class time was limited, and they still had to select the top three works. Although Mr. Fan was curious about Ning Xuan, he didn’t go over to ask her anything.

The students’ creations were all ordinary; this was a basic course, after all, and no one could yet forge a Spiritual Artifact that produced star patterns. The evaluation was mainly based on the balance between the work’s sharpness and resilience. While this was a fundamental criterion, it was also an area prone to fatal flaws. For instance, errors in the blade’s edge angle or an unreasonable design could easily lead to poor stability or reduced sharpness. The second criterion was its energy resonance. Even without additional functions, could the blade’s body handle an infusion of energy? If it could, that indicated the work had superior energy conductivity.

The third criterion was the purity of the refined material. Although difficult to discern with the naked eye, the residue of metal impurities could be detected with instruments.

The Tang Blade Ning Xuan had forged was merely average in other aspects, but its energy resonance was quite high. It ultimately placed third, and she won the prize of choosing any piece of ore from the classroom.

When Ning Xuan received her prize, Huangfu Xinyue was even more excited than Ning Xuan herself, jumping around and giving her suggestions. Seeing many inquisitive gazes fixed on her, Ning Xuan, who didn’t want to attract too much attention, hastily chose a piece of ore, took her Tang Blade, and left the classroom.

When Mr. Fan turned around to look for her, she was already gone.

Ning Xuan attended the Artifact Refining Department in the morning and returned to the Alchemy Department in the afternoon to concoct medicine. Recently, she had been researching how to refine Elixir Pills. Unlike liquid medicine, round Elixir Pills were the mainstream in her original world.

However, perhaps due to the change in environment, the raw materials were also vastly different from her previous world. She had managed to refine the round Elixir Pills, but their effects were much weaker compared to the liquid medicine.

Of course, refining Elixir Pills had one clear advantage: it saved materials.

The amount of liquid medicine that could be extracted from the same quantity of raw materials was only one-tenth of the amount for Elixir Pills.

Just as Ning Xuan was getting ready to go home after class, Teacher Fang came to find her, bringing a new student with him.

"Miss Ning Xuan, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Ji Wuchen. He’s also a student in our Alchemy Department’s advanced research class. You two should have seen each other before; he also participated in the unlimited division of the Alchemist competition a few days ago," Teacher Fang introduced him to Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan looked at the Mystic Iron Rings worn on all ten of the man’s fingers. Yan Fuzhen had told her that these were the exclusive weapons of the Extraordinary Influence, Myriad Phenomena Star River.

’People from Extraordinary Influences are typically arrogant and aloof. Most of them cultivate in seclusion on their own territory and rarely appear within the Federation. Why would this person be at the Central Star Military Academy?’

"Miss Ning, a pleasure to meet you." Ji Wuchen extended a hand toward Ning Xuan.

When this person was performing alchemy in the Alchemist Association’s plaza, he had worn a black cloak that blocked and isolated him from outside observation. At the time, Ning Xuan couldn’t see his face and had curiously tried to probe him with her spiritual power. However, her spiritual power failed to penetrate the cloak’s barrier, so she never managed to get a clear look at his face from start to finish.

"A pleasure." Ning Xuan glanced at the long, slender-knuckled hand and shook it.

He wasn’t wearing the black cloak today. Instead, he had a face covering embroidered with the tracks of star trails, revealing only a pair of bright eyes and slender eyebrows.

"Teacher Fang, Mr. Ji, class is over for me, so I’ll be leaving now." Ning Xuan said her goodbyes to Teacher Fang and quickly slipped away with Chen Nan.

In the open area outside the school where private Flying Cars were parked, Lin Mo was waiting. He immediately came forward when he saw Ning Xuan approaching.

Chen Nan discreetly sat in the front cabin. The Flying Car was in autopilot mode, but for safety, someone still needed to monitor the cockpit in case of any special circumstances.

"Lin Mo, you’re far too well-known at school. You should stop coming here from now on, lest you bewitch some other underclassman," Ning Xuan said to Lin Mo.

His face bright red, Lin Mo was lying across Ning Xuan’s lap, enduring her cruel teasing. Hearing her words, he struggled to pull himself up and knelt on the floor. "Contractor, I don’t know those young ladies at all. I’ve never had any interaction with them."

The silver Flying Car’s dome suddenly switched to fully transparent mode, bathing the cabin’s interior in the amber glow of the evening sunset. Ning Xuan tapped her smart bracelet, and a holographic projection screen unfolded on the car’s dome. A series of pictures appeared on the screen, each showing Lin Mo from a different angle—surrounded by underclassmen handing him things in the hallway, his freshly served meal being taken away by an upperclassman in the cafeteria, and even a secretly taken photo of him changing in his dorm room.

"Look. All of these have circulated on the school’s official website. Do you remember?" Ning Xuan pinched his side viciously, as if to scold him for attracting so much attention.

Lin Mo’s Adam’s apple bobbed. The Collar around his neck suddenly tightened, its dark red warning light flashing on and off against his skin. A tingling, itchy pain spread rapidly through his nerve endings. This was the Contractor Collar, issued along with the Contractor uniform—a masterpiece from the Controller Protection Association.

He pressed his forehead against Ning Xuan’s knee. The tightening of the Collar made his breathing ragged. "Contractor, that’s all in the past. I was photographed without my knowledge. Please don’t be angry about this, okay?" Lin Mo quickly begged for mercy.

Ning Xuan probably didn’t know that the Collar was designed not just as a tool for punishment; it also contained aphrodisiacs.

"In the past?" Ning Xuan’s nails dug into the back of his neck. "What about today? For your sake, Xiao Yu and the others were willing to twist right and wrong, weren’t they?" Ning Xuan stared at Lin Mo, displeased.

Just then, the Flying Car suddenly jolted violently. Lin Mo shot to his feet, pulling Ning Xuan into his arms to protect her. He vigilantly released his spiritual power to investigate the situation outside. Fortunately, the Flying Car quickly stabilized.

"Contractor, the Flying Car just accidentally hit a bird that appeared out of nowhere. Everything is fine now," Chen Nan explained to Ning Xuan, opening the connecting window between the cabins.