Chapter 41: Revolutionary Pill

"Do you finally know what viral means?"

"Yes."

"So, can we finally talk about this!?"

"No, I need to go to the Academy, Ms. Hall Master."

"Gah! I'll bring you there, it'll be faster with my bike, anyway!"

And so, once again, Lucian was riding behind Charlotte, cruising through the streets and road without even a care in the world. It was obvious that Charlotte was extremely excited as she even forgot to stop at a red light.

"So, apparently some influencer bought the pill," Charlotte said through the comms.

"An influencer?"

"...Someone who makes videos about—it doesn't matter," Charlotte started shaking her head, "I'll just show you the video later tonight. Anyway, long story short, our online sales are just going through the roof!"

"Online? Pills could be sold online now, Ms. Hall Master?"

"Basically this guy's content is testing new pills out in the market," Charlotte completely ignored Lucian with how excited she was and just continued on rambling, "And get this… one of the pills she tested on her video last night was our pill! Your pill!"

"I see."

"No, no, you don't!" Charlotte pulled the throttle even deeper as soon as she got onto the freeway, just weaving through cars and causing them to almost bounce in the air — her motorcycle, after all, can only be issued to cultivators like her, packing a displacement of 6,800cc,

"Basically, this guy shat on our pills at the start."

"She defecated on the pill?" Lucian sounded upset.

"What? No!" Charlotte shook her head and groaned in frustration, "I meant that she badmouthed it and insulted the pill — telling everyone that if we were going to market the pill, at least make it believable… and then she tested it and the only thing she could do was shut her mouth for the rest of the video. And… and just clips of it started scattering and it just went viral. We've…

…we've sold over a thousand in a single night, Dr. Lucian, and that's only because we ran out of stock and now we have over a hundred thousand wishlist orders. I… I thought we priced the pill too high, but I'm thinking of just doubling its price."

"Okay."

"Okay!? That's it…?" Charlotte scoffed.

"I always knew my pill would sell, Ms. Hall Master," Lucian just shrugged, "If it did not, then that means the problem was with the distribution — which your sect is responsible for."

"That—" Charlotte was not really ready for that underhanded, but true comment as she accidentally slightly tapped the rear brake; causing Lucian to just sway closer to her and instinctively grabbing tighter around her waist and even slightly touching the bottom of her breasts. Charlotte didn't really know what to react, but Lucian just casually tightened his grip on her — it was only then that it came to Charlotte's mind that her idol was actually hugging her from behind this entire time, even yesterday,

"That's… true."

And so, after that, the rest of the ride just remained quiet — even after Charlotte dropped Lucian in the parking lot, the only thing she could really say to him was,

"We'll… talk about this more tonight. Dad also wants to talk to you, he's been meaning to but he's just so busy."

"Okay," Lucian just nodded before walking away, "I will see you tonight, Ms. Hall Master."

And with them bidding farewell, Lucian just once again made his way through the halls of the Academy, still very much confused as to where to go as the campus was exaggeratingly vast. Fortunately, he was not late this time at all and was able to find his way.

"Laboratory 4B," Lucian whispered as he looked at the label of the door. He was about to enter when a woman patted her on the shoulder. Lucian, however, did not bother looking back at all.

"Mr. Lucian!"

At least, not until his name was called. Lucian looked back, only to see Emilia standing there with a wide smile on her face.

"Ms. Emilia."

"...Don't tell me you also have this class?" Emilia excitedly asked.

"..." Lucian did not say anything at all and just showed the schedule in his hand.

"Ah! I knew it! We're classmates again!" Emilia lightly clapped her hands before just entering the class, "You really are only taking the major classes with the most credits — I'm guessing you're just attending for the credits and won't be here next year?"

"Yes," Lucian answered as he followed behind Emilia, "I am only here because it is mandatory, Ms. Emilia."

The laboratory was filled with a lot of workbenches, probably more than a dozen. The Academy laboratory also had several machines and apparatus — but not at the level of the Lotus Pharma sect.

"Huh… Do you know how to make pills, Mr. Lucian?" Emilia then let out a small but very deep sigh as she gestured to Lucian to just join her on the workbench, pushing away the person already sitting there — she did the same thing during the Combat Class, but of course, Lucian was not really one to notice these kinds of behavior.

"I suppose I know a little about it, Ms. Emilia," Lucian nodded, "But I can not claim to be an expert since there are a lot of things I need to know and learn."

"Ack, I'm bad at it — would it be fine if we become like lab partners?" Emilia let out a small groan as she somewhat pleaded to Lucian, even placing her palms together and slightly pouting.

"What the…" And her classmates, who were watching all of this unfold, could not help but just turn their eyes wide, "...Is that… is that really Emilia? Why… why is she smiling?"

It wasn't only this class, even back in the Combat Class, everyone was weirded out with how Emilia was acting… since she was known for her extremely cold demeanor — not even letting anyone close.

So, why exactly was she catering to this old man that they hadn't seen before?

"Could it be… her fiance? I heard rich families like to—"

"Settle down!" And before the rumors could start, the instructor finally arrived — his eyes, quickly searching the room before just landing at Lucian, "I heard we have a new student, you don't need to introduce yourself — but welcome, Sir. My name is Ken Abernathy."

"Lucian Zhang," Lucian just bowed his head at the instructor, and Instructor Ken also just bowed since… Lucian was obviously older than him.

"Now, I said last time we met that we will have a written exam…" Instructor Ken then placed all of his teaching materials on his own workbench, causing all the students to whisper nervously due to what he was saying,

"...But we are going to postpone that for next week since something amazing just came up."

"Alright!" Some of the students who were dismaying their fate all cheered as soon as they heard that.

"And so, instead…" Instructor Ken then pulled out something from his bag, and from how it was wrapped — it would seem it was extremely precious, 

"...We are going to talk about this pill."

"Oh…?" Lucian could not help but blink as he recognized the pill as soon as the instructor unwrapped it.

"It is a pill made by the Lotus Pharma sect, and believe me when I say this…

…this little pill is about to change and revolutionize our way of thinking about pill refining."