"First off, how much progress have you made with your core?" Edric asked, crossing his arms infront of him.
"I'm a few days off my core evolution to bronze-grade," Logan answered, serious.
"Good." Nodding, Edric put on a thoughtful expression. "No problems or sudden changes in your affinity?"
Logan shook his head.
"Thank God," Edric said, relief washing over him.
"I assu you've barely had any physical training?" he guessed.
"At the ti, they didn't teach F-rank students," Logan answered, giving a nod.
"Alright, what about mana control exercises?" Edric asked, nodding.
"I've done control exercises for an hour a day for the past two years," Logan answered, rembering the countless tis he'd barely been able to light a fire on his fingertips.
"That's a good start," Edric said, approving. "I figure it isn't as easy with your new affinity as it used to be?"
Logan nodded, sowhat surprised by Edric's guess. "It's actually a lot harder to control now."
"Let's get started on that then," Edric said, raising five fingers.
A moderately sized blue fla appeared on each of his fingertips.
"This will be our first goal today," Edric said, smiling.
"You have a fire affinity?" Logan asked, surprised.
'Co to think of it, I've never actually asked Edric what kind of affinities he has.'
"Yes, although it isn't my primary affinity," Edric answered. "My primary affinity is a normal B-rank Earth affinity, whereas the affinity I unlocked after evolving to a Silver core is a B-rank blue fla."
"Although the blue fla sounds cool, it's just a minor mutation of the normal fire affinity and burns only a bit hotter," Edric continued, still smiling.
Logan gave a nod, slightly embarrassed he hadn't asked about it before.
The fla on Edric's fingertips slowly disappeared. He then put his fingers together, making a completely flat hand. On top of his hand, a blue fireball the size of a football appeared.
Edric aid at a distant dummy and launched the fireball. It burned straight through before dissipating in the air.
"That will be the first combat spell I'll be teaching you," Edric said. "It's a very basic and low-cost spell that is great in a lot of situations and very versatile, depending on how much mana you put into it."
Looking at the damage the fireball left behind, Logan nodded while smiling, quite eager to finally get the chance to learn an actual combat spell.
"Now, you should get started on the control exercise," Edric said, showing the flas on his fingertips once again.
"Yes," Logan said, concentrating on pulling the mana strands from his affinity to flow through his arm all the way to his fingertips.
His new affinity was aggressive while he tried to control it, struggling wildly as Logan let it flow through his body.
Slowly, a pure bright fla appeared on one of Logan's fingers. The fla was pure and bright in color, like the sun.
Spreading his attention, Logan managed to spread the fla to two more fingertips.
But while trying to spread it to his fourth fingertip, Logan's concentration slipped.
The fla flashed brightly before jumping off his hand, landing on the ground in front of him.
"That was good," Edric said, walking up to the burning ground.
"Your fla seems to be very destructive," he continued. "And it doesn't seem like it'll burn out anyti soon."
Using his earth affinity, Edric summoned a thick layer of dirt over the fire.
"Do that a few more tis," Edric said, turning to Logan. "But this ti, try to be slower, softer. Guide it, don't try to force it where to go."
Giving a nod, Logan tried again.
Closing his eyes, he focused on carefully guiding the mana to his fingertips.
The first three fingers each had a fla on them, and slowly a tiny fourth fla appeared before they all dissipated.
"That's progress," Edric said, gesturing for Logan to try again.
After 2 more hours of the sa training, Logan felt his core reaching its limits.
"That's enough for today," Edric said. "Tomorrow, we'll start with the fireball spell I showed you earlier."
"You've made a lot of great progress," he continued, patting Logan's shoulder.
Towards the end of the two hours, Logan had finally figured out how to guide his mana properly and managed to light a fla on all five fingertips.
"I'll be making a short-term physical training plan for you tonight," Edric then said.
Logan took a sip from his water bottle. "Alright, should we get started on the internal investigation team now?"
"Sure..." Edric said, still slightly hesitant at the topic.
Walking to Logan's living room, they both sat down.
Leaning forward, Edric pulled up a large hologram from the table in front of him.
Logging into his account, he pulled up three files and displayed them side by side.
"These three firms were the ones with the best reputations I could find," Edric said, gesturing to the files' nas.
"Virrelin Audit Consortium, Ironveil Bureau, and Rester Services," Logan read aloud.
"According to our situation, Virrelin Audit suits us the best," Edric said, putting the other two files away temporarily while enlarging Virrelin's file.
"It has a flawless reputation, and depending on how much money is spent, they can send up to three retired S-rank hunters," he added.
"How much do their teams cost?" Logan asked, reading through the file himself.
"The team with three S-rank hunters costs around 184 million dollars," Edric answered calmly. "That team also includes 15 A-rank hunters and several top-notch cybersecurity specialists."
"Mmm." Logan contemplated.
"Send them 200 million now and tell them there'll be an additional 100 million bonus if the results are satisfying," Logan finally said.
"I will get into contact with them imdiately," Edric said, closing the rest of the files.
Logan nodded, quite satisfied with the arrangent.
'Now let's see how the board reacts to this.'
"I guess I'll have to let you bring my food from now on," Logan joked, smiling.
"I think that's a good decision," Edric said, laughing despite being worried on the inside.
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