16. The Alchemist

Chen Nan’s face flushed red, and he lowered his head guiltily, responding with a meek, “Yes!”

Along with his guilt, Chen Nan felt a twinge of confusion. The food quality and taste on a D-level planet were admittedly average, yet his contract holder had lived here since childhood. Why then was she so dismissive of these common foods?

Still, it was indeed the contract holder’s duty to look after the contract holder’s daily meals and life. Now that the contract holder was dissatisfied with his efforts, he had no choice but to find ways to improve.

As for culinary courses, Chen Nan had never taken any. The contract regulations required every contractor to learn cooking skills to better serve their contract holders.

However, Chen Nan hailed from the Guangdu Chen family, a fairly influential clan ranked among the second-tier families on planet A110. Growing up surrounded by numerous servants, although he was just a son, his father’s high status ensured he received ample resources. Even when paired with a contract holder, she would likely come from a prominent family. Moreover, Chen Nan had long witnessed how humble contractors were before their holders and was instinctively resistant to being tied down. His only desire was to improve his combat abilities and break free.

Ning Xuan had switched to the alchemy major and, by right, should have started with the first-year curriculum. However, after glancing at the schedule, she saw the first-year courses were mostly about identifying foreign plants. While foundational, such lessons felt like a waste of time to her. She preferred to take the study materials home for private study, unwilling to slow her progress by sitting in class alongside younger students.

Instead, Ning Xuan chose a third-year alchemy course focused on the common treatment methods and applications of foreign plants.

In her past experience making elixirs, Ning Xuan was accustomed to processing spiritual herbs by washing, drying, and selecting different medicinal parts before applying techniques like fire-processing, frying, steaming, stewing, roasting, soaking in wine, extraction, and refinement. Of course, some special herbs required more complex methods that demanded long-term practice and experimentation.

To her, the processing and application of herbs formed the foundation and core of alchemy—a crucial and challenging aspect worthy of her concentrated effort.

However, after sitting through one class and flipping through the textbook, Ning Xuan felt quite disappointed. The only method taught for handling foreign plants was to wash them clean, crush them for juice, then mix different juices to create various potions—a rather crude and simplistic approach.

For example, the commonly used healing potions were just mixtures of Blue Flame Grass juice with other foreign plant juices.

The forms of medicine were also very limited—mostly bottled liquid potions.

Ning Xuan recalled that most of the elixirs she had made were pills or dan medicines. Only when she failed to refine dan medicines would she resort to other forms like powders, ointments, or liquid medicines. Different forms suited different purposes—for instance, ointments were best for treating external wounds, while powdered medicines stopped bleeding fastest.

If the intermediate alchemy courses were all like this, she saw no need to study them. She could simply memorize the effects of various foreign plants and get more practice.

After class, Ning Xuan stopped a teacher who was about to leave and, showing a picture of an alchemy furnace from the star network, asked about usage precautions and operation. Unexpectedly, the teacher gave her a complex look and said, “Before the Great Cataclysm, plants had not mutated. Most could be processed by quenching, steaming, and other methods. But after mutation, foreign plants placed in alchemy furnaces require a Spirit Controller to channel their energy with their own spiritual power, or the furnace will inevitably explode.”

“To operate an alchemy furnace, you need to be at least a B-level Spirit Controller. For female Spirit Controllers, the requirement is relaxed to a C-level with a spiritual power rating above 500. Ning Xuan, you don’t meet these requirements yet.”

“If you really like it, after completing all intermediate alchemist courses and passing the graduation exam, you can enter the advanced alchemist classes. The requirements for lower grades there are less strict. Though you can’t use the furnace, you can observe and learn.”

Seeing Ning Xuan’s humble inquiries, the teacher patiently explained many details.

Ning Xuan then began researching the intermediate alchemist graduation exam content. She wanted to finish it quickly to see what the advanced classes offered.

After Chen Nan finished teaching the students in the martial arts department, he went to the culinary class as Ning Xuan had requested. His arrival caused quite a stir. On a D-level planet, having a B-level spiritual power was already impressive, but Chen Nan was S-level. At first, the students thought he had come looking for Ning Xuan.

“Instructor Chen! Xuan Xuan has changed departments today. She transferred to the alchemy department. If you’re looking for her, you’ll have to go there!” He Mo blushed as she approached and spoke, though inside she was silently begging him to stay. God, up close, Instructor Chen was even more handsome—his skin like white jade, a high nose bridge, captivating eyes, and long legs. Beneath that black shirt, there were surely firm abs. She really wanted to touch them!

The more He Mo thought, the redder her face became. Hu Tao nudged her with an elbow and whispered, “Control yourself. You’re drooling!”

Chen Nan recognized these two girls seemed friendly with Ning Xuan. He politely nodded, “Thanks for letting me know. I’m here to attend class.” Then he found a relatively empty corner and sat down.

Chen Nan was earnest in class and quickly learned food preparation. Influenced by him, the classroom atmosphere improved remarkably. When class ended, Teacher Qu looked at the prepared ingredients collected—twice as much as usual—and was so pleased she almost grinned from ear to ear.

In the afternoon, during the culinary practical class, each student had a pot and a pile of ingredients. Seeing Chen Nan present, Teacher Qu grew even happier. She had brought the finest ingredients yet, hoping the students could maintain the morning’s momentum and create delicious dishes.

But within five minutes, the pot in Chen Nan’s hands exploded, scattering sticky beast meat debris everywhere. With the help of other students, it took over ten minutes to clean up. Then, a few minutes later, the new pot he switched to exploded again.

Teacher Qu looked at the embarrassed Chen Nan and gently advised, “Instructor Chen, perhaps this course isn’t quite suitable for you. Maybe you should consider other classes? Or focus only on food preparation?”