The Sovereign Veil Chapter 18: Chapter 18: The Apothecary's Wrath

Read chapter 18 of The Sovereign Veil by GodEmperor on NovelPedia.

"No." Lucian said calmly, his expression entirely neutral. "As you know, I am a student of flawless character and academic standing. How could I possibly smoke on academy grounds?" The invisible telepathic pressure Director Li was projecting washed over Lucian without leaving a scratch. Flawless character and academic standing? The students of Class 5 cursed Lucian internally for his sheer shamelessness. How could a candidate who scored a 385 on the cultural baseline claim to have academic standing? "Oh?" Director Li exclaimed softly, genuinely surprised. The skeletal disciplinarian sized Lucian up, his psionic senses humming. "Your baseline mental resistance is remarkably dense, young man." Director Li narrowed his eyes approvingly. "In your current state, if you underwent rigorous psychological conditioning for a year or two, you might actually Awaken as a Psion." Hearing the dreaded Director Li casually offer such a high evaluation, the surrounding students and teachers were stunned. Quinn's eyes sparkled with sudden hope. Instructor Xu looked thrilled and quickly stepped forward to urge Lucian to consider deferring a year. "If you are willing to commit to the discipline, I can personally sponsor your application to a Psionic institute." Director Li offered a monumental guarantee from a high tier Psion. "Thank you for the kind offer, Director. But I am already an Awakened." Lucian declined politely but firmly. Director Li did not insist. He nodded curtly and marched back down the corridor, dragging the groaning Vincent Thorne by the collar to stand in the punishment corner. "Lucian Croft, you absolute idiot!" Quinn stomped her foot in sheer frustration. "Is your fragile male ego so important to you that you would throw away a guaranteed sponsorship from a Psion?! You just threw away a lifeline!" Tears of genuine frustration welled up in her eyes as she turned and stormed back into the classroom to sulk. Instructor Xu sighed heavily and walked away, clearly believing Lucian was a lost cause. Vincent Thorne stood facing the concrete wall in the punishment corner, practically vibrating with aggrieved jealousy. Quinn's outburst proved she still cared deeply for Lucian, even shedding tears over his stubbornness. What was infinitely more infuriating was that Lucian had clearly been smoking with him, yet had somehow completely evaded punishment while looking like a saint. "Lucian." Vincent hissed over his shoulder, completely disregarding his punishment. "If you do not sever ties with Quinn immediately, your mother will not have a single credit to her name in this sector." Everyone in the corridor and inside the classroom heard the threat clearly. "Heh." Lucian drawled playfully. "Even the Apothecary Sovereign would not dare threaten me to my face." He genuinely did not care about Vincent's extortion attempt. His mother was already preparing to launch her own logistics firm, and with the Apothecary Sovereign Black Card backing her, Thorne Bio would be reduced to a minor inconvenience before the end of the fiscal quarter. Crushing them would be no different from stepping on an ant. "Fine! Have it your way!" Vincent snapped, reaching for his comm link. He was going to call the Thorne Bio board of directors and demand they immediately liquidate Vanguard Pharmaceuticals. Just as his finger hovered over the dial button, his comm link shrieked with an emergency override priority call. Vincent answered. The voice on the other end was his father, the Thorne Patriarch, and he was hyperventilating with panic. "This... how is this possible?!" Vincent suddenly shrieked, his face draining of all color. The surrounding students frowned, not understanding the context. But they watched in real time as Vincent Thorne, the arrogant corporate heir, turned ashen white, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. Suddenly, a student in the hall checked his smart comm and yelled. "Look at the planetary feeds!" Everyone immediately synced their datap