Chapter 167: Chapter 167 - Receiving Items
Logan woke up early the next day, feeling completely refreshed from the intense day he’d had.
"Ugh," he groaned, pushing himself up.
He scratched his head before pushing himself off his bed.
After refreshing himself and getting dressed, he sent Edric a message that he was awake.
’They needed me for something today,’ he thought, remembering his conversation with them from yesterday.
It didn’t take long before Edric knocked on his door, carrying a steaming plate of meat with him.
"Good morning," he said, stepping through the door as Logan held it open.
Logan smiled slightly. "Morning," he said, locking the door behind him again.
Edric placed the plate on his table before taking a seat on his couch.
Logan rubbed his stomach, which rumbled from hunger.
He dug into the food without hesitation, the smell of roasted meat hitting him harder than he expected.
Edric chuckled softly, watching him eat.
"Take as much time as you need," he said. "Silas will start gathering the board after you are finished."
"The board?" Logan asked, looking up while chewing.
Edric nodded softly. "Yeah, everyone is waiting to hear from you after yesterday’s results."
"Ah," Logan said, taking another bite. "I remember now, yeah."
Not long after Logan finished his food, the two of them left the room and went to a large meeting room on one of the top floors.
The second Logan walked through the large wooden doors, he was met with many smiles, warm greetings, and pure excitement.
He greeted each board member one by one, getting congratulated by each of them with pure sincerity.
Time flew by as they discussed the current profit streams, projections for the next few days, and more.
Finally, after hours of talking and listening, Logan let out a sigh of relief as he stepped through the doors with Silas and Edric by his side.
Silas stretched his arms as they walked down the hallway. "Good work in there. You handled yourself well."
Logan gave a faint smile, though his shoulders felt heavy. "It was mostly numbers and projections. You and Edric carried it as usual."
Edric shook his head. "Doesn’t matter. Just showing up the way you did was more than enough. The board fully trusts you."
Logan fell silent for a moment, slowly nodding. "I’ll need to continue training in my room for now though."
"That’s fine," both of them nodded as they walked through the corridors.
As Logan stood in front of his room again, he turned around to look at them for a second.
"Send me a message if something happens," he said, nodding politely to both of them.
Silas raised his thumb up while Edric smiled warmly.
The door to Logan’s room slowly slid closed behind him, automatically locking to make sure no one could try any funny business.
Logan let out a deep breath, eyes wandering across his room.
"Right," he muttered. "Training."
There was still more than an entire day before the last resources from the Meridian Guild would be delivered to him. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, he found it better to make use of the time to train.
’I should train some more undead techniques in the time I have,’ he thought, nodding slowly. ’Just so I can maintain my precise control over the element.’
Creating his first Dark Knight had him quite worried, thus he wanted to keep his condition in a perfect state.
He couldn’t even begin to worry about the consequences if he failed or if the knight ran out of control.
’It might be smart to have Silas there when I create it,’ Logan thought, walking to his training room. ’Just in case something happened.’
As he stepped into his training room, Logan shook his head, getting rid of the negative thoughts in his mind.
Before he wanted to train his undead techniques, he decided to take a look at his core first.
’It’s been a while since I actually calculated how much time it’ll take before the next rank,’ he thought, sitting down cross-legged on the ground. ’And I have yet to see how much my core has improved exactly after that Church blessing.’
Logan closed his eyes, concentrating inside his body.
It didn’t take long before he stood in front of his silver core with countless golden specks on it.
"Damn," he mumbled, eyes widening slightly. "It’s improved significantly."
Before the Church blessing, about twenty percent of his core had been covered in golden specks. Now that number sat around thirty-five percent.
"Only a couple months until I can break through," he muttered, nodding approvingly. "That’s also the benefit of having two SSS-rank affinities, I guess."
As he glanced at his core for a second longer, his eyes drifted to the two elemental masses inside his body.
The orange color from the phoenix fire mass swirled around chaotically as per usual. The dark undead mass also swirled around as usual, but Logan’s eyes locked onto the sickly green color that occasionally appeared within it.
"I wonder what the hell that color is," he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
He had tried to pull the sickly green mana out several times, but nothing had worked.
’Only time will tell,’ he thought, shaking his head while opening his eyes.
Logan activated his hologram projector and immediately pulled up the undead techniques Allen had sent him a while back.
"Now I can get started," he said, standing up.
Two days flew by while Logan trained, before he finally got the message he’d been waiting for.
’The delivery,’ he thought, sweat still evaporating from his skin as he stared at the blue hologram in front of him.
His face lit up as he stood from the ground.
The reason for his excitement was simple. The Meridian Guild had delayed the delivery once to avoid making several trips with different items each time.
But now? Now it was finally time.
’Everything for my first Dark Knight will be here in half an hour.’
Logan quickly threw on a fresh shirt and jacket, his heart pounding from excitement.
By the time he stepped into the corridor, Silas was already waiting for him. "What did you even order this time?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.
"You’ll see," Logan answered, still straightening his clothes as he closed his door behind him.
Silas’s eyebrow raised slightly more as he stared at Logan.
Seeing him walk further away, he shook his head before following after him.
After stepping inside the elevator, Logan glanced at Silas.
"Do you have time to help me with something else later?" he asked as the elevator hummed to life under him.
Silas glanced over and gave a nod. "Anytime."
"Thanks," Logan said, smiling slightly.
As the elevator doors slid open, Logan and Silas stepped out side by side.
Silas immediately made sure no one else was on top of the roof, while Logan stared far into the distance.
A few minutes flew by before a large air shuttle with the Meridian Guild’s logo pierced through the clouds.
"They’re here," Logan said, while Silas’s eyes had long locked onto the shuttle.
As the shuttle descended onto the platform, both of them walked forward.
The Meridian Guild’s shuttle slowly touched down on the ground, its engines growing softer until all sound vanished.
A large ramp slid out from under the shuttle’s hatch, before the doors finally slid open.
Logan’s eyes widened as a familiar woman walked out on the ramp, a small smile on her face as she observed him quietly.
"You have quite the interest in Soul Fragments," the SSS-rank co-leader of the Meridian Guild, Samira al-Najir, said. "Might you be interested in sharing why?"
Logan recovered quickly, chuckling slightly as he took a step forward. "Just need some items for research," he said, shaking her hand.
Samira politely nodded at Silas before turning her attention back to Logan.
"Research, huh," she said, pulling out a black briefcase filled to the brim with mana engravings.
Logan accepted the briefcase and watched her flick her fingers.
Immediately, several attendants from the Meridian Guild stepped forward, each carrying special cases or even carts filled with resources and massive bones.
"You made quite the impact," Samira said as the attendants started unloading the items. "Much to even our leader’s surprise."
Logan smiled. "I did my best," he answered. "I never expected to be able to play such a prestigious role either."
"Interesting," Samira said, nodding. "Our leader has taken notice of you, Mercer. He’s expressed his interest in meeting you in person one day."
Logan gave a polite nod, keeping his expression calm even as his mind turned over the implications. A personal summons from the leader of the Meridian Guild wasn’t something to take lightly.
Samira didn’t press further. After a few more formalities, she turned away, her attendants already packing up the emptied containers. Within minutes, the shuttle’s engines hummed back to life.
Logan and Silas stood on the platform as the vessel lifted into the sky, leaving behind crates of resources stacked neatly at their feet.
Logan exhaled slowly, his gaze lingering on the items that would soon decide his future.
"Now... it begins."