CH 1

Before the opening time at 9 o'clock in the morning, there was already a long queue forming outside Tom's supermarket.

This supermarket, located in the eastern district, was the only one that supplied vegetables. On the first day of every month, fresh vegetables would be delivered, and today happened to be that day. Even before dawn, many customers had arrived to line up.

Inside the supermarket, the manager and the employees unloaded two large baskets of vegetables from the delivery robot and arranged them by type. When it was time to open, the manager instructed the robot to open the doors.

"Ning, I'm leaving this to you," the manager nodded towards the young boy beside him, who was responsible for the cash register and stood vigilantly at the exit, preventing anyone from secretly taking vegetables out.

Jian Ning nodded, surveyed the surroundings, and saw that although it was called the vegetable section, there were only a few scattered types of vegetables. Moreover, they weren't fresh; the leaves look wilted, the skin was wrinkled, and they were still covered in soil, lacking vitality.

However, the prices were not cheap. Vegetables resembling Chinese cabbage cost 100 stars each, while those resembling potatoes cost 80 stars each. In the adjacent fresh meat section, a kilogram of high-quality Gru meat was only 50 stars.

As the supermarket doors opened, the customers who had been waiting eagerly rushed in, heading straight to the vegetable section. In no time, all the vegetables were swept away. Some customers fought over the same type of vegetables, refusing to yield to each other, baring their teeth and turning into beast-like creatures, engaging in fierce battles.

Jian Ning wasn't surprised and instructed a few robots by his side to separate the customers.

When the customers left, only a few scattered vegetable leaves remained. Jian Ning bundled them into small bunches and marked them with a price of 30 stars.

The customers who missed out quickly swarmed over, and the vegetable leaves were soon gone as well.

In this supermarket, apart from Jian Ning, there were only robots. The manager only came by when the vegetables were delivered each month, greeted everyone when the vegetables were sold out, and then left.

At the end of the workday, Jian Ning went to the rest area to change out of his work uniform and carried the purchased Gru meat as he headed home.

He lived in a residential area in the western district, a small house with a garden. Upon opening the door, he first went to the room on the right, where several potted vegetables were thriving, lush and vibrant.

Jian Ning watered them satisfactorily, plucked a fat and radish-like vegetable, as well as a handful of fresh and verdant leafy greens. He packed them in a paper bag and went next door.

Next door lived Professor Lin Yang, who had moved in a little over two months ago. At that time, before he had given birth to Tuan Tuan, Jian Ning wanted to greet the new neighbor but found Professor Lin Yang alone, collapsed in the bedroom, running a high fever and unconscious. The doctor said that if they hadn't discovered it in time, it would have been too late to save him. Jian Ning took care of Professor Lin Yang for almost half a month until he recovered, and they gradually became acquainted.

Later, when Tuan Tuan was born, Professor Lin Yang saw that Jian Ning was struggling to work and take care of Tuan Tuan, so he took the initiative to help look after the child. Both of them lived alone, so Jian Ning often cooked and ate together with Professor Lin Yang.

He knocked on the door next door, and soon the robot butler came to open it.

Jian Ning handed the vegetables and meat in his hands to the robot and stepped inside. A gray furry ball wobbled over, wagging its tail.

He bent down and picked up the furry ball, rubbing the little creature's ears before heading towards the study.

In the study, beside the bright window, a gentle-looking young man leaned on a recliner with a blanket over his legs, reading a book spread open on his knee.

"Professor," Jian Ning called as he entered.

Lin Yang raised his head, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth. "You're back."

Jian Ning stroked the little paws of the furry ball in his arms, then bent down and placed it on Lin Yang's lap. He said, "Professor, could you help take care of Tuan Tuan again? I'll go cook."

He turned around and went to the kitchen. The furry ball also climbed up from Lin Yang's lap, intending to follow. Lin Yang reached out and held the little creature by the back of its neck. "Dad is going to cook. Don't cause trouble."

Jian Ning busied himself in the kitchen, cutting the Gru meat into pieces and stewing it together with the radish-like vegetables. He also stir-fried some leafy greens, and soon the meal was ready.

He asked the robot butler to serve the food on the outdoor table, prepared a bottle of milk for Tuan Tuan, and went to call Lin Yang and Tuan Tuan for dinner.

After finishing his meal, Lin Yang wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and asked Jian Ning, "In half a month, the St. S College will start classes. Don't you really want to become a cultivator?"

Jian Ning paused his movements with the chopsticks. Cultivators were a highly popular profession in this world. He wasn't from here; he came from the apocalypse. One day, two suns suddenly appeared in the sky, and all the people on Earth either turned into monsters that bit others or gained supernatural abilities. Jian Ning developed the ability to manipulate plants and cultivated vegetables in the base for half a year until he was bitten and killed by monsters that suddenly invaded. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on this unfamiliar planet.

Now it was the year 726 in the Universal Calendar, and this was the most barren planet in the Austis Empire, called Blue Star. He had been here for almost a year and had learned a lot about the empire.

In this empire, there are two types of individuals. The first type is male, possessing spiritual power and beast souls within their bodies, allowing them to switch between human and animal forms. They have strong combat abilities and high physical strength. However, as adults, their spiritual power becomes unstable for several days every month, leading to agitation and disorder. If they are not appeased for an extended period, their spiritual power will collapse, and they will permanently remain in their animal form, becoming completely irrational creatures.

The second type is female, lacking beast souls but possessing spiritual power. They can become pregnant and give birth. Their spiritual power differs from that of males and has a soothing effect, which can effectively calm the restless beast souls.

Due to the scarcity of females compared to males, the empire has long enforced compulsory marriages between the two types, and there have even been instances where one female had to marry multiple males. This has led to numerous conflicts and wars over the centuries. However, four hundred years ago, the Academy of Science made a discovery. Females with spiritual power ranked C or above can stimulate the growth of plant seeds, and the resulting plants contain spiritual power. When males consume these plants, they also experience the calming effect.

This discovery brought great excitement to the entire Austis Empire, especially among the females. The empire abolished the rule of compulsory marriages and established the Saint Academy on the imperial star to specialize in teaching cultivation. Females with spiritual power ranked C or above can enter the Saint Academy to become cultivators.

Spiritual power is divided into five levels, with S being the highest and D being the lowest. S-level spiritual power is extremely rare throughout the empire, and the majority of the population possesses D-level spiritual power. The spiritual power of males can be measured at birth, while females must wait until adulthood. Due to the scarcity of females in the Austis Empire, the profession of cultivator is both rare and highly sought after.

Any cultivator who successfully graduates from the Saint Academy will either be invited by nobles to work in private cultivation or be assigned by the government to various planetary cultivation facilities. In any case, they will have promising career prospects.

The body Jian Ning was reincarnated into belongs to Fang Ning, who is the same age as him but much more beautiful. The original host's mother passed away early, but his father remarried within six months and had a younger brother. Both the original host and his brother are females, but the brother possesses C-level spiritual power while the original host only has D-level. The tuition fees for the Saint Academy was not affordable for the original host's family, and his father and stepmother were determined to send the brother to the academy, leaving the original host as a burden. 

A year ago, he was kicked out of the house and had to make a living by himself.

With no money, the original host could only afford to live in a dangerous slum area. One night, a thief broke into his house, and during the struggle, he was stabbed multiple times. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a different body.

When Jian Ning was reincarnated, he discovered that his plant-based abilities had also been transferred. Learning about the cultivator profession, he felt that it suited him perfectly. Although the original host's spiritual power was only at the D level, with his plant-based abilities, entering the academy would be a piece of cake.

However, entering the Saint Academy was not an easy task as it required expensive tuition fees. Jian Ning looked at his empty bank account and decided to find work the next day. However, before he could earn enough money for tuition, he picked up a man outside.

That man ate his food and slept with him but left with a promise to return after three months, and he never came back.

Nestled in Jian Ning's lap, clutching a milk bottle, the round and chubby baby drank the milk and licked its tiny paws before snuggling into Jian Ning's embrace. Jian Ning gently touched the baby's round belly and pursed his lips, saying, "Just wait a little longer."

Lin Yang looked at the adorable Tuan tuan. From the moment this little one was born, he noticed something extraordinary—it was actually a pure white wolf cub. In the empire, the spiritual strength of male individuals is directly related to their animal form and fur color. The higher the spiritual strength, the more powerful the animal form and the purer the fur color. 

While there were many male individuals with the wolf form in the entire empire, it was rare to find such a pure white color. The most famous examples were the Zong family, consisting of Imperial Marshal Zong Ye and his younger brother Zong Ming, who served in the Saint Academy. Both brothers had the form of white wolves and possessed the rare S-class spiritual strength.

If it weren't for the knowledge that the Zong brothers had been on the Imperial Star all this time and that the gentle and considerate man mentioned by Jian Ning didn't match either of the two brothers, Lin Yang would have almost thought that Tuan Tuan's father was one of the Zong brothers.

Regardless of who Tuan Tuan's father was, a snow-white wolf cub like him stood out too much on this barren and remote planet. Those profit-driven smugglers loved to capture such young cubs with high spiritual strength but weak combat abilities and unclear backgrounds, and sell them to interstellar pirates for money.

And on this planet, smugglers were particularly abundant.

Therefore, to ensure Tuan Tuan's safety, Lin Yang administered a potion to him that could change his fur color and form, transforming the snow-white wolf cub into a gray little dog. The potion was harmless to the body and was made into sweet candies. Eating one could maintain the transformed form for three days.

Seeing Jian Ning hesitating, Lin Yang sighed. He knew that Jian Ning was still waiting for Tuan Tuan's father, but it had been three months already, and that man not only hadn't returned but also hadn't given any news. Based on his experience, it was highly likely that Jian Ning and Tuan Tuan had been abandoned by a scumbag.

However, Jian Ning didn't see it that way. He believed that something unavoidable must have happened, causing Tuan tuan's father to be absent all this time.

Lin Yang said, "Think carefully. Saint Academy only admits students once a year. If you miss this opportunity, you'll have to wait another year."

Although Jian Ning's spiritual strength was only D-class, Lin Yang had seen the crops Jian Ning grew, and his spiritual strength couldn't possibly be that low. He leaned towards the possibility of an error during the testing process, a testing mistake. It wasn't unheard of in the past. 

All students of Saint's Academy had to undergo a retest of their spiritual strength before admission, and he believed Jian Ning's spiritual strength was highly likely to be B-class or even reach A-class.