After three hours, Logan was stumbling through the corridors, his muscles sore and his core aching..
’Did she have to push me so hard?’ he thought, complaining internally.
Glancing at his wrist, Logan saw that it was 8 PM already.
’It’s already so late?’ he thought, not realizing how much time had passed.
His stomach growled as he opened the door to his room and stepped inside.
"I need to eat something," Logan muttered as he jumped on his couch.
Turning on his back, Logan lifted his arm to see the hologram on his watch.
"What should I get this time?" Logan mumbled, glancing at the menu. "Some Light Elk meat doesn’t seem like a bad idea at all."
After filling out his order, Logan grabbed a hydration bottle and sat back down on his couch.
’The next few weeks will be rough,’ Logan thought, annoyed. ’The board members are trying to pressure me to confess where the money I’ve been withdrawing is going.’
’’My ’investing-into-talent’ excuse isn’t working that well anymore either,’’ he mumbled, scratching his head. ’’It might be time to take the next step soon.’’
He’d once again received great news from the internal investigation. This time, the investigation had uncovered solid evidence of embezzlement and other criminal activity tied to two more board members.
’Still, it’s best to wait,’
He had no idea how harsh the clawbacks would be if he fired two members this time, especially because of the importance of their roles.
’Especially with Albert Hadzak still here,’ he thought, frowning slightly as he thought about his financial board member. ’He’s covered his tracks extremely well. Aside from some word-of-mouth claims, we’ve got nothing solid.’
Still, Logan couldn’t help but grin. "At least they’ll be worth the trouble," he muttered. "They’ll be amazing paychecks when the time comes."
From what he remembered, one of them had actually embezzled up to one and a half billion, while the other only had around 700 million.
’It’s actually quite impressive how much they embezzled without anyone noticing,’ he thought, shaking his head with a smile.
Hearing a soft alarm go off, Logan’s thoughts were interrupted.
He stood up and retrieved the large metal tray from the floating delivery device, then closed the door behind him.
Sitting down with his food on his couch, Logan took off the lid and closed his eyes.
’It smells so good,’ he thought, enjoying the smell.
Good food was something he would never stop admiring.
Looking at the beautiful straps of meat, he could no longer stop himself.
It didn’t take long before he’d completely devoured the entire plate, leaving not one tiny piece behind.
"I should go cultivate my core now," Logan mumbled, putting the empty plate aside to stand up. "Just a month until I reach Silver Core and get my second affinity."
Walking over to his bed, Logan took out a fire stone from his space ring.
After sitting down on his bed, he closed his eyes and sent a mana thread into the stone. The stone reacted immediately, sending countless fire threads toward his core.
As the fire threads got absorbed by Logan’s core, his body started heating up as silver specks slowly started appearing on the core’s surface.
He cultivated like that for five hours straight before finally opening his eyes to check his watch.
’It’s already 3 AM,’ he thought. ’My first class starts at 8.’
’It’s time to get some sleep.’
After brushing his teeth, Logan laid down in his bed, staring up at the system interface in front of him.
’I have to save up for a big redeem now,’ Logan thought. ’My breakthrough to Silver Core will be in just under a month. If possible, I want to redeem over two billion then.’
Logan wanted to make sure he redeemed a reward during his breakthrough, hoping the system would in some way gift him an SSS-rank affinity if he didn’t awaken one on his own.
’If I don’t get an SSS-rank affinity as my second affinity, I’ll fall behind others once again.’
Logan was determined to prevent that from happening.
Closing his eyes, he slowly fell asleep.
Waking up the next morning, Logan felt refreshed.
’Half an hour until class,’ he thought, brushing his teeth.
After putting on his school uniform and eating something simple, Logan walked out the door and headed for his classroom.
’Only five minutes left,’ Logan thought, glancing at his watch. ’I should just barely be able to make it.’
He didn’t want to be late for this class since Professor Li would be announcing with whom they’d be grouped during the dungeon exercise.
As he walked through the hallways, Logan frowned slightly—once again spotting a group of students he didn’t particularly like loitering near the entrance of his classroom.
’Derek Alvarez and his group,’ Logan thought, sighing. ’They never miss a chance to run their mouths.’
"Look who we have here," Derek Alvarez said, pointing at Logan. "The Mercer orphan."
His group of friends laughed at Derek’s joke, some even joining in with similar remarks.
Rolling his eyes, Logan walked past them.
’He’s the fourth child of the Alvarez family,’ he thought, tired of their nonsense. ’They’re one of my company’s biggest competitors.’
This wasn’t the first time they’d done this. Right after the second week, Derek had gathered a bunch of students and started targeting Logan with insults outside of class.
"Look at that, the orphan is ignoring us," Derek said, laughing. "I guess that’s to be expected of someone who can’t even beat a broke commoner in hand-to-hand combat."
"I’m surprised the Mercer company hasn’t collapsed after someone this incapable took over," he continued, following closely after Logan with his group of friends.
Hearing that, Logan’s lips curved up slightly as he came to a stop.
"Say whatever you want," he said with a faint smirk. "It won’t change the fact that I own a company while you’re still trying to prove your existence to your own family."
Derek’s expression rapidly changed, gritting his teeth as his smile disappeared.
Satisfied, Logan continued walking.
"Keep pretending like you matter, orphan," Derek shouted, anger clearly visible. "Go on—run back to your little group of beggars."
Logan didn’t respond to anything anymore, entering the classroom in peace.
’That’ll shut him up for a little,’ Logan thought with a smirk as he searched through the classroom for Grant and the others.