The next day, Logan stood before a crowd of reporters inside a large meeting room, cameras clicking as silence fell across the room.
He took a breath, then began.
"First of all, let me begin by offering my sincere condolences to the families and communities affected by the recent tragedy."
He bowed his head briefly, letting silence fall inside the meeting room.
"This attack took lives, and it shattered many families. I will not stand here today and pretend that any of my words can undo that."
He looked up.
"What I can promise is action. Every medical expense for the injured will be fully covered. For those who suffered permanent injuries, long-term care and specialized support will be arranged."
He paused, letting the next words come slowly.
"And for every family who lost someone in this horrifying terrorist attack, we will provide a compensation package of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
Adjusting the mic slightly, Logan intentionally created a pause.
"It is not meant to replace what was taken, because that would be impossible. But it is meant to support them financially, with the respect they deserve."
His gaze swept across the room.
"We are also cooperating fully with the Mana Enforcement Bureau’s investigation to figure out why this happened and to ensure this never happens again."
"I want to make it absolutely clear," Logan said, his voice louder. "This company will never forget what happened here."
A murmur spread through the press as he closed.
"To the survivors, the broken families, and the town that suffered this loss. You are not alone. We stand with you."
He gave a final nod and stepped back from the podium.
Cheers and questions rang out behind him as he left the stage, Silas following closely.
’That was hard,’ Logan thought, shaking his head.
"You did great," Silas said, patting Logan’s back a few times. "I know this is tough."
"Hell, even Edric and I still struggle with things like this, even after countless years on the job," he continued. "It’s a weight we live with every single day of our lives."
"Thanks," Logan remarked, forcing a smile.
Silas smiled too, though it never reached his eyes.
"Your university assessment is coming up in a week," Silas continued on a different topic. "Are you excited?"
"Ah, I completely forgot about that," Logan said, turning to Silas. "Surprisingly, I’m actually looking forward to it."
"Good, good," Silas nodded, grinning.
"I imagine being trained by an SSS-rank teacher will be really good for my growth," Logan continued, smiling.
"It will be," Silas gave a small nod. "Just remember to be polite. I have no idea how his temperament will be."
Reaching their rooms, Silas and Logan parted ways.
Once inside, Logan pulled up the system interface.
"I’ve held off from doing this yesterday," he muttered, sitting down on his couch. "But now it’s time to spend some money again."
Logan transferred 100 million to the private account Edric had set up for him without any issues.
"System," Logan called out. "Redeem 100 million dollars."
[Redeeming 100 million US Dollars...]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You have successfully received the Sanctum′s Pulse manual.]
A pure white manual in pristine condition appeared in Logan’s hand out of thin air.
’Another manual?’ Logan thought, surprised.
[Cooldown 04:23:59:59]
Logan closed the system interface to look at the manual.
Opening the manual, Logan quickly found out that this technique could only be learned by people with the healing affinity.
"Its entry-level skill is off the Gold Core, where it can mend flesh from a distance," Logan read.
"Eventually, the technique can grow to Diamond Core level where it can regenerate entire limbs and organs from a distance without much difficulty."
’’Damn,’’ Logan muttured, amazed. ’’I’ve struck gold.’’
The Healing affinity is already rare, and Diamond Core techniques for it are even rarer.
’I can auction this off for a lot more money than what I purchased it for,’ Logan thought, smiling.
Just as he was about to proceed, a thought crossed his mind.
’I should make one copy,’ he thought. ’In case I awaken a healing affinity in the future.’
Logan used a hologram to carefully scan each page, creating a digital version of the manual. He carefully locked the digital version away under a protected account only he had access to.
’Now that that’s done,’
There were no Diamond Core healers in his company, so keeping the manual made little sense. Even if there were, he had the digital copy stored.
After verifying the manual, Logan received the option to schedule the item for tomorrow’s auction because of its extremely rare nature.
’That’s nice,’ Logan thought, nodding. ’It gives buyers time to prepare extra money to bid, which will make the bids go higher.’
Logan didn’t hesitate to schedule the bid for the next day.
Closing the hologram, Logan sat down on his bed with his eyes closed.
’The cultivation of my core has slowed down significantly,’ Logan thought, slowly guiding mana threads to his core.
’I think I can break through to Silver Core in around nine more months,’ he thought, smiling. ’If I purchase some external resources, I should be able to speed it up a month or two.’
Having already done his physical training in the morning, Logan continued cultivating until deep into the night.
Opening his eyes, Logan exhaled sharply as he turned to look at the time.
’It’s 2 AM,’ he thought, opening the hologram on his watch. ’Let’s see how the auction is performing.’
Opening the Meridian Guild’s website, Logan immediately saw several private messages from anonymous users.
’I’ll read all of those later,’ Logan thought. ’Let’s first check the current bid.’
Tapping on his auction items, Logan was shocked when he found that the bid was only at 150 million.
’I guess all of them are waiting for tomorrow,’ Logan thought, calming down. ’They want to scope out their competition first, naturally.’