"Watch your mouth. Chuchu is your own sister. If you don’t want what happened with your father to become public knowledge, then go with Chuchu and get the test done!" Ning Zhiqing was in her forties. As an ordinary person who had never awakened, she was already a middle-aged woman.

"You two want to latch onto the Bai Family and are deliberately trying to smear my father’s name, and I’m supposed to help you make it official? Didn’t you say your ’Bai Family grandmother’ has already accepted you? And that you have a bloodline verification report? Then go to the Bai Family. Just grab any random man there and have him be your father. Won’t that solve everything? Scram!" Ning Xuan stared at Ning Chuchu, her gaze dripping with scorn.

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll drag Bai Xiwen’s name through the mud!" Ning Zhiqing’s eyebrows shot up as she demanded sharply.

"Afraid? Why should I be? Are you two trying to cozy up to the Bai Family or piss them off? Either way, I’m not about to go groveling to the Bai Family and claim them as kin. Do whatever you want!" With that, Ning Xuan pulled Chen Nan into the house, ignoring the mother and her two daughters outside.

"Contractor, the Bai Family has been established on Star A110 for many years. Their businesses are widespread, and they’re considered second-tier among the noble families on A-level Stars. The current Family Head is Bai Xiurong, an A-level Controller. She’s also one of the seven executive deans at the Federal First Comprehensive Academy, where she oversees the Alchemy Department. If you enter the upcoming Alchemist competition and do well, you’ll undoubtedly catch her eye." Chen Nan relayed everything he knew about the Bai Family to Ning Xuan.

"If I catch her eye, so be it. I’m going to go run my experiments." Though Ning Xuan sounded tough, she was actually extremely frustrated. ’My power is too low right now. If someone really starts targeting me, things are going to get difficult. But if I were strong enough, what would a threat from Ning Chuchu even matter!’

Chen Nan watched Ning Xuan head upstairs, then activated his Light Computer. He had a backlog of missed calls and messages from the past few days. Tapping on one, he connected the call. A cool, detached voice came through. "Ah Nan, how are things on your end? Father has a bad feeling about your situation. He wants me to come get you."

"Brother, I’ve already formed a Contract with Ning Xuan! You have to buy me some time with Father!" Chen Nan was incredibly frustrated. He never expected Ning Xuan to have a connection to the Bai Family.

He’d already felt things were spiraling when he heard Ning Xuan was entering the Alchemist competition. He had been trying to figure out how to change her mind within the month. He never imagined that before he could solve one problem, another would come knocking on his door.

"What? What are you talking about, a Contract? Wasn’t Father arranging for you to form a Contract with the Second Miss of the Bai Family?" Chen Hui asked, stunned.

"Am I supposed to do everything he says? You listened, didn’t you, Brother? Tell me, do you feel like that Contract did you any good at all?" Chen Nan’s retort twisted the knife.

The corner of Chen Hui’s eye twitched. "If you know forming a Contract is a bad idea, why did you do it anyway?" he snapped. "Who is this Ning Xuan? I’ve never heard of a Ning family in Light City. Don’t tell me she’s from some minor family with no real standing."

"She was born on D618 Star. Of course you’ve never heard of her!" Chen Nan rolled his eyes. He had been so careful to maintain the noble etiquette the Chen Family had drilled into him in front of Ning Xuan—every action and word meticulously proper and elegant. He was getting tired of keeping up the act for so long; he was about to break.

"What? Born on a D-level Star? Are you trying to copy the Seventh Young Master Bai and find some low-level woman to be your one true love for all eternity? You can’t be serious. Young Master Bai’s power was weak back then; his spiritual power rampages could be managed with Inhibitors. But you’re Double S-Class in both spiritual power and threshold, with Combat Power S+! Inhibitors alone won’t solve your problem. You’re too young to be looking for an early grave!" Chen Hui lectured, exasperated.

"Cut the crap. Do you have any money or not? Lend me some," Chen Nan said, cutting him off.

"You know I’m in a Contract. The money in my account is..." Chen Hui started to complain, but Chen Nan cut him off. "You think I believe you’d be dumb enough to keep all your money in one account? Just figure out a way to transfer me some. I’ll pay you back when I get back to Light City!"

"What could you possibly need money for on a low-level star? Don’t tell me you’re planning to grab the girl and run for it. Then again, Father’s already suspicious. Even if I can cover for you for a bit, I won’t be able to keep it from him for long." Chen Hui didn’t press the issue. He arranged for a colleague to transfer the money to his brother, added a few words of caution, and then hung up.

’With hundreds of planets in the Federation, it would be easy enough for his brother to take someone and disappear.’ It never occurred to him to wonder whether Chen Nan’s Contractor, Ning Xuan, would even be willing to run and hide.

Ning Xuan’s extreme agitation quickly subsided the moment she handled her lab equipment. When Dean Wang had delivered the materials and books earlier today, he had also given her a Space Button. It was on loan; if she managed to win a prize for the academy, the Space Button would be part of her reward. If not, she’d have to return it.

The Space Button was a standard model with only thirty-two cubic meters of storage, far smaller than the Space Artifact she was used to. Still, it was better than nothing.

A standard Space Button sold for 1.2 million Star Coins on the Star Network. If she could just successfully craft four vials of Bone Healing Potion, she could buy one for herself.

Ning Xuan had already prepared three portions of Blue Flame Grass and ten portions of Bone Healing Wood. Refining the Blue Flame Grass went smoothly. From three portions of the grass, she extracted two vials of medicine. The raw materials cost 90,000 Star Coins in total. The two vials sold for 200,000, and after the consignment shop took its 20,000 cut, Ning Xuan was left with 180,000—a net profit of 90,000.

However, when she prepared to refine the Bone Healing Wood, Ning Xuan hit a snag. She toyed with the piece of wood in her hand, which was as hard as a rock, and fell into deep thought. ’Did the supplier send the wrong thing? How am I supposed to extract a liquid medicine from something that feels like metal?’

But a quick search on the Star Network confirmed that it was, in fact, Bone Healing Wood. It grew in the mining zones on the outskirts of the Mysterious Barrier Land and was a unique plant with metallic properties.

Ning Xuan rummaged through the alchemy references Dean Wang had given her and quickly found the procedure for refining Bone Healing Wood. The process for this ingredient was completely different from that of Blue Flame Grass.

Blue Flame Grass was processed by pressing out its juice, which was then filtered and separated. Bone Healing Wood, on the other hand, had to be placed in an Alchemy Furnace, soaked in water, and simmered for three days and three nights. Once the wood softened, the water was drained, and the wood was fired directly. During the firing, one had to use spiritual power to sort through the special energy within the ingredient. This step could only be accomplished by someone with precise spiritual power control. For anyone with poor control, the Bone Healing Wood wouldn’t change in the slightest.

During this sorting process, one’s spiritual power was seared by the intense flames. Very few people could withstand the ordeal, which was why Bone Healing Potion was so rare.

Ning Xuan persevered for five hours. Her Ghost Vine’s Vine Silk was practically smoking from the heat. After consuming three pieces of Bone Healing Wood, she finally managed to extract a third of a vial of Bone Healing Potion.

Ning Xuan stared at the shimmering, iridescent medicine in the vial. ’I can’t believe the potion extracted from that pitch-black wood is so beautiful!’