Star Farming, the eldest lady relies on alchemy to counterattack

Chapter 97 Passing the Initial Screening Test
Although there are countless materials that can be used to refine medicine, and the Federal Pharmaceutical Research Institute discovers new medicinal materials every day, the medicinal materials used in this basic competition are still relatively common and conventional. Ning Xuan has thoroughly studied the existing known medicinal materials, so this level is naturally not difficult for her.

However, it is obvious that not every contestant has solid basic skills. As time goes by, more and more contestants who do not have basic knowledge are eliminated. The stage of identifying medicinal materials is just a screening before the blind test begins. About 200 people were screened out at this stage, and 2800 people officially entered the blind test stage.

Ning Xuan looked at the unknown plants in her hand. These were recently discovered and not yet thoroughly studied. She had three plants in her possession: one with mottled skin and spikes, resembling a durian; one with a single, pale blue flower; and a bright red vine covered in scales.

The skin of the thorny plant was thick and hard, and very prickly. Ning Xuan took out the tools in the toolbox and modified some of the available items. She found a crescent-shaped scimitar. She used the newly made tool to pry open the thick shell of the plant, revealing the pure white and smooth flesh inside.

Then she adjusted the multifunctional protective gloves to the component analysis mode, which could analyze biological components as quickly as possible. Her fingertips brushed over the potato-like tuber, transmitting the fire energy to the plant through the gloves. The pure white flesh was quickly roasted soft, and the skin actually oozed out a gelatinous mucus, while also emitting a sweet smell.

This tastes a bit like sweet potato.

A total of 2800 people participated in the initial screening test. These 2800 people were divided into seven groups, and every 400 people received the same transplant.

Ning Xuan's operation did not attract attention at first, until the sweet smell emanated. The examiner who was patrolling on site immediately came over. He was from the Natural Food Research Institute, a department under the Alien Plant Research Institute. This examiner specialized in studying natural food. As soon as he smelled the smell, he was attracted. After coming over, without saying a word, he tore off a piece of the soft flesh and put it in his mouth. "Hey, Team Leader Han, this plant contains nerve-paralyzing toxins. Why did you eat it? Spit it out quickly." One of the invigilators said anxiously.

"Haha, it's non-toxic and a rare delicious food. That's great. The institute has been researching it for more than a month. We've tried everything from freeze-dried powder to crushed juice, low-temperature freezing to high-temperature roasting. The best we can do is just barely remove the toxins. Nothing is as delicious as this method, and it's so fast." Team leader Han was deeply moved.

They really didn't expect that this thing would have such a structure.

Team leader Han excitedly went to check the video of Ning Xuan dealing with the alien plants.

The second plant had a dark blue flower, which was placed in a flowerpot and grown in reddish-brown soil. When Ning Xuan saw this flower, she thought of the Phantom Flower. She touched the calyx with tweezers, and the whole plant suddenly shrank to the size of a fist. Ning Xuan looked at the dark green bud-like thing on the tweezers and threw it into a test tube beside her. With a "hiss", the liquid in the test tube was dyed a dark black. The reaction of the drug was too fast, and Ning Xuan did not have time to seal the test tube. Some black mist leaked out. Fortunately, Ning Xuan brought a gas mask, so she was not affected by the poisonous mist.

After removing the toxins, the subsequent refining went smoothly. The nectar of this flower can calm a raging mental state, making it a rare mental soothing potion. The third plant was the scarlet poison ivy. The venom congealed on its barbs corroded the test tube, and the highly toxic juice splattered on Ning Xuan's protective mask, making a sizzling sound. Ning Xuan activated the high-speed grinder on the table and dropped the entire vine in, leaving two black and red vines inside. The grinder started spinning at high speed. The branches of the ghost vine carried Ning Xuan's fire energy. Under Ning Xuan's control, the churned poison ivy separated into two extracts: a vibrant crimson liquid containing a deadly corrosive toxin, while the pale pink crystals at the bottom were the raw material for a top-tier antidote. This reminded her of Earth's pufferfish, whose most dangerous parts often coexist with the antidote.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard at the operating table next door. A contestant accidentally touched a poison sac while handling a dark blue flower. The entire plant exploded and black mist filled the air, covering the entire area. However, each operating area was blocked by a protective shield, so there was no need to worry about the poison mist seeping out.

Next, various accidents occurred at the operating tables one after another. The invigilators would rescue the candidates who had accidents, but they would also lose the qualification to continue participating in the competition.

This round gave three kinds of exotic plants. The alchemists participating in the competition only needed to extract one safe supplement to pass this stage. This stage was limited to 180 minutes. Ning Xuan finished the assessment in just 25 minutes and left the examination room. She didn't know that 3/4 of the alchemists drawn into the same group as her were eliminated in this stage.

Later, because the questions their group drew were too difficult and too many people were eliminated, the eliminated contestants protested and took a make-up exam.

The next day was the first level of the challenge to refine the purity of the medicinal liquid. Participants needed to purify the randomly received medicinal liquid as required within three hours. The higher the purity, the higher the score. Ning Xuan once again completed the challenge in a very short time.

On the third day, the contestants were required to randomly select three different high-level compound potion formulas to refine within three hours. The success rate of refining had to be above 30%, that is, at least one high-level compound potion had to be refined. In this stage, in order to ensure fairness and avoid the situation in the first stage, everyone had to refine the same potion. Because of the Star Network live broadcast, the performances of the contestants in these days were exposed to the camera. After the first two days of competition, the contestants with strong strength and outstanding performance received more attention, and Ning Xuan was also one of them.

The main reason why Ning Xuan attracted attention was that she was the one who took the shortest time to complete the task among all the contestants. Not far from Ning Xuan, at platform 594, was a handsome young man. He was a top student from the First Comprehensive College of the Federation. In the process of refining medicine, he was accustomed to using strange fire. The flames were colorful, making the whole process very gorgeous and attracting the attention of many people.

Compared with him, Ning Xuan, who processed the alien plants at an incredible speed and completed the operation without people seeing the process or reacting, was inadvertently ignored by the audience of Quanxing.com.

(End of this chapter)