Grant sat on the ground, drenched in sweat, his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath.Logan dropped beside him, his glaive resting lazily on his shoulder. Aside from a few deep exhales, he looked almost untouched. His skin was dry, his breathing steady.
"Seriously... how the hell is your stamina so good?" Grant asked, wiping his forehead. "You’re not even sweating."
Logan just smirked. "I’ve trained a lot," he said, silently thanking his affinity for evaporating his sweat.
In truth, he was just as tired as Grant, maybe even more, but his body couldn’t show it unless he literally collapsed.
Grant shook his head, still panting. "I’ve been hauling mana steel with my old man since I could walk. I work day and night, and you’re telling you’ve got more stamina than ?"
Logan shrugged, not wanting to say more.
Even so, he knew Grant’s raw physical strength was a lot better than his.
’I need to train my body more,’ Logan thought, shaking his head slightly. ’If I can strengthen it a lot in the upcoming months, the benefits I get during my next breakthrough will be far better.’
Hearing a click, the door opened behind them.
In walked Thomas, Robert, and Layla.
"Great spar, guys," Thomas said, fist-bumping Grant.
At the sa ti, Robert walked up to Logan.
"Would you mind sparring with tomorrow?’’ he asked, the excitent sparkling in his eyes.
"Sure," Logan smiled. Sparring was actually a daily exercise he preferred.
’Brute strength is nice,’ Logan thought. ’But without experience and control, there’s no way I can win fights.’
Rembering how skillfully the Lucas guy had maintained his mana and stamina throughout the duel, Logan beca determined to be able to do the sa.
Glancing at his watch, Logan read the ti and stood up.
"I’ll head to my room now," he said to his friends, smiling.
"Wait," Robert said, smiling. "There’s still sothing I forgot to tell you."
Turning around, Logan glanced at Robert.
"Tonight is an upperclassn’s party and we were all invited," Robert continued. "There’ll be plenty of alcohol and girls."
"Are you coming with us?" he asked.
Logan’s expression turned slightly sour. "No thank you," he answered, shaking his head. "I have so other stuff I have to do."
"You’ll miss out on a lot of the fun though," Thomas joined in, grinning.
"I really can’t," Logan said, shaking his head. "Maybe next ti."
"Alright then," Robert said, visibly disappointed.
’I’m sorry, Robert, but I have an urgent report to look at,’ Logan thought. He’d seen a ssage from the Mana Enforcent Bureau when he checked the ti on his watch.
He knew what this report was.
’The assassination attempt.’
Logan thought back to the first people he’d actually killed, shaking his head.
Walking out of the training area, Logan said goodbye to his friends before splitting up and heading back to his room.
Glancing at the ssage Edric had sent him about urgency, Logan got the gist of what was going on.
’The Mana Enforcent Bureau is trying to pin the assassination attempt on Harold,’ he thought, frowning. ’According to Edric, that doesn’t check out.’
Pressing the ssage away, Logan continued walking, deciding to continue looking once he was back in his room.
Walking through empty corridors late at night, Logan finally pushed open the door to his room.
Sitting down behind his desk, Logan opened up the report on a larger hologram.
Skimming through it, Logan understood why Edric said it didn’t check out.
"The Mana Enforcent Bureau traced the latest paynt to the rcenary team and found the exact tistamp," Logan muttered. "The paynt was made from one of Harold’s offshore accounts at exactly 4:23 PM."
Glancing back at what Edric had sent him, he compared the two.
"Harold was in a eting with his lawyer and two enforcent officers at the exact ti of the transfer," Logan mumbled, scribbling sothing down on a piece of paper.
Putting his pencil down, he leaned back while lost in thought.
’It’s certainly possible that it was Harold that set up the transfer on automatic timing,’ Logan thought. ’But it doesn’t make sense.’
’I an, why would he do that when he’s already in trouble and with a bank account that had been flagged by the investigation team already?’
He could see Harold plotting a revenge assassination, but he found it hard to believe.
’People that managed to get a board position aren’t stupid enough to act that recklessly,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’It’s way more likely for others to use him as a scapegoat.’
Closing the reports, Logan glanced at the ti.
"There’s no point in going to that party now," he muttered, kind of glad. "I’ll cultivate my core a little more before heading to bed."
Sitting down on his bed, Logan exhaled slowly, concentrating on his bronze core.
Slowly, he could see tiny silver specks appear on his bronze core.
’Only 7 more months,’ he thought, after cultivating for an hour. ’I should also get so external resources delivered over here.’
’If I can consistently cultivate with external resources, I should be able to make the breakthrough in 6 months.’
It might not seem like much now, but when breakthroughs start taking years, shaving off even a few months can an everything.
’After reaching your pri, cultivation always slows down,’ he thought. ’From that point on, growing stronger becos nearly impossible.’
Logan stared at the ceiling for a mont, lost in thought.
Snapping out of it, he brushed his teeth and laid down under his bed’s blankets.
At the sa ti sowhere else, Grant, Layla, Thomas, and Robert had enough of the party and decided to head back to their rooms.
Robert stumbled a little, clearly never having drunk so much before.
"Are you alright?" Thomas asked him, holding one of his arms.
"Yeahhh..." Robert slurred, almost tripping once again.
"God, you have low tolerance," Grant laughed, lifting Robert by his other arm.
After walking through the corridors for a while, Thomas let go of Robert’s arm.
"I have to go into this hallway now," he said, gesturing towards his right. "I’ll see you all tomorrow."
Waving once, the group split up.
Thomas walked through the quiet corridors, taking a final turn before getting surprised by a group of people.
"Hey Thomas," a man said, waving at him around the corner. "Did you enjoy the party?"
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