CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 153 - UNDEAD SPACE AND NEW TECHNIQUES

Logan opened the manual to the right page, revealing several intricate magic circles.

He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, completely focusing himself at the task at hand.

’Okay, remember, first create the space, then inscribe the patterns and finish off by pouring mana into it,’ he thought, heart pounding.

Over the days, he’d grown even more aware of the risks that could come from creating the undead space inside his heart. Yet, he didn’t want to give up.

’I don’t know if I can even heal my heart with my phoenix affinity if anything goes wrong,’ he thought, clenching his fist slightly. ’The undead element could mix with it and then my heart will evaporate no matter what.’

One chance. That’s all he gave himself.

No relying on the off chance that a miracle happens.

Logan calmed himself down completely, steadying his heartbeat.

’Alright,’ he thought. ’I’m ready.’

With that, he slowly began guiding undead mana towards the left ventricle, the strongest chamber inside the heart.

A cold chill ran through his body as he forced the mana to stop inside the chamber, while his heart started thumping quickly.

’Now.’

Logan slowly started drawing the first magic circle on the chamber’s walls using the undead mana.

The moment the undead mana touched the chamber walls, a sharp, freezing pain tore through his chest.

It wasn’t the burning agony he was used to from his phoenix flames—this was the opposite. It felt like ice water flooding his veins, biting deeper every time his heart beat.

His focus faded for a moment, but he pushed on, slowly carving each intricate line inside the chamber’s walls.

The cold kept spreading, seeping into his ribs and spine, making it harder to breathe.

’Stay... steady...’ he thought, ignoring the feeling.

If he etched the circle even an inch too deep, it would tear his heart apart.

After what felt like hours, Logan finally carved the first complete circle.

Immediately, undead mana was sucked towards the circle at scary rates.

’I need to do one more circle,’ he thought, gritting his teeth.

As his mana flooded away, he started on the final magic circle.

The numbness had spread through his entire body, making him feel like he’d lost his sense of touch entirely.

’I can do this,’ he gritted his teeth, carving line by line.

Finally, he finished up the second magic circle.

Before he could relax, massive amounts of undead mana poured out of his core, flooding the magic circles.

He could feel the left ventricle change, growing darker in color, but becoming far stronger than it had been before.

His heartbeat became irregular, making him gag for a moment.

Then, as the final bits of mana entered the circles, something strange happened.

Logan felt the space inside the chamber grow larger as it started sucking in mana from everything around him, despite feeling his heart remain the same size.

’It’s as if the space itself is growing larger...’ he thought.

As it stopped sucking in mana from the surroundings, Logan felt another wave of coldness run through his body, making him shiver.

Logan exhaled deeply as everything around him went quiet.

’’That... was it?’’ he mumbled, still breathing heavily.

It felt extremely strange, it was as if the space was there, but in reality it wasn’t.

The coldness inside his heart also hadn’t completely left, making him slightly worried.

’’It was a success... I think.’’

He fell back on his couch, eyes locked on the ceiling above.

Logan pressed his hand to his chest, feeling the beat of his heart continue almost completely as normal.

’’Amazing.’’

He closed his eyes for a moment, relief washing over him.

Feeling his watch vibrate, Logan’s eyes snapped open again.

’The Meridian Guild,’ he thought, hologram opening above his watch.

A notification had come regarding the delivery of the extremely valuable and sensitive soul fragment he’d bought.

Logan frowned slightly, reading through the message.

’They’ll deliver it to me tomorrow,’ he thought, nodding slowly. ’And it will be brought here under the supervision of their SSS-rank.’

Seemed reasonable enough and befitting of their reputation.

’It will protect the items from rogue mercenary groups at least.’

Logan shut his hologram off after sending a confirmation message and leaned back into the couch.

’Tomorrow...’ he thought. ’That’s sooner than expected.’

He preferred it that way though. Especially with the Day of Seven Virtues coming up in just three days.

Logan took a slow breath, just thinking about it. ’’I still don’t know what to expect.’’

Silas and Edric had given him a folder detailing everything they knew about the event. But neither of them had been there before, and they had never heard of the Church making it a publicly broadcasted ceremony either.

’’Something special must be going on this year,’’ he muttered, glancing at the ceiling. ’’I wonder if it’s got something to do with the Holy Cross guild.’’

After a few moments of silence, he smiled slightly.

’’Whatever, I’ll figure all of that out when I get there,’’ he said. ’’At least I get to see Livia there again.’’

Logan felt happy as he thought about her, it had been a long time since he’d last seen her after all.

’I wonder how the others are doing now,’ he thought, shaking his head slightly.

If he remembered correctly, Grant and the others were on a mission in Europe, protecting smaller towns and cities from several dozens of water creatures.

’Hope they are doing alright,’ he thought, jumping off his couch.

Shaking his head slightly, he pulled up his hologram again, this time heading to the chats with his SSS-rank teacher, Allen.

Logan slowly walked to his new training room, selecting a new technique Allen had sent to him.

’I’ve already learned the first stage of the Flaming Lotus technique,’ he thought, nodding slowly. ’I’ll train it a little further and move on to the next one, the fire spiral technique.’

As he stopped in the center of his training room, Logan flicked his fingers.

A bundle of fire mana formed above his palms, slowly growing to the size of a normal football.

Without hesitation, Logan threw the lotus against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

A loud explosion rang out.

Flames spread outwards, swallowing everything ten feet around it as it exploded.

’’Nice,’’ he said, smiling slightly. ’’Now, the real test.’’

Logan walked to a panel in the wall, activating the hologram projector on it.

As the hologram popped up, he quickly tapped a few buttons and made it disappear again.

The floor behind him clicked open as several robot dummies were lifted up.

After walking back to the same spot he’d been standing earlier, Logan let out a breath and focused.

He spread his arms out slightly, his eyes locked on the air in front of him.

’The real difficult part,’ he thought, vein popping on his forehead.

Slowly, several flaming dots appeared in the middle of the air far away from him.

They slowly grew in size, until they finally stopped as they reached the same football size he’d held in his hand earlier.

’Now,’ he thought.

Bringing his arms down, the lotuses rained down on the training floor below it.

Loud explosions rang through the room as several concentrated flames spread outwards, swallowing everything in their paths.

Logan nodded approvingly.

’’That’ll solve my lack of AOE skills,’’ he muttered. ’’I just need to master it further so I can create several dozens and spread them out in a wider range around me.’’

As the flames settled, black scorch marks covered the floors.

Several of the weaker robots had completely melted, only the ones with the gold tier reinforcements still standing in the back.

Logan opened his hologram again and began quietly reading through the manual on the next technique he was interested in.

’’The Flaming Spiral Technique,’’ he mumbled.

Having seen it inside the Willowshade dungeon, he found it a remarkably easy and reliable technique.

’Generating flaming pillars from specific spots on the ground far away is a really good way to trap people and creatures,’ he thought, reading through the manual. ’Also, it can really catch people off guard too.’

For these reasons, he had specifically requested Allen for the technique.

’’I can already imagine flying through the air while generating several dozens of flaming pillars beneath me,’’ Logan said, chuckling slightly. ’’If I release Flaming Lotuses at the same time, the enemies won’t have anywhere to go.’’

Hours flew by as Logan learned the spell and experimented with it. Eventually, even reaching the point where he could generate the flaming pillars several feet away from him.

’’This is enough for today,’’ Logan finally said, breathing heavily.

All around him, scorched marks covered the floor and ceiling.

Even though he would’ve loved continuing, tomorrow was going to be an extremely important day, one that he had to prepare well for.

’’I can’t tell anyone outside Silas and Edric that I won the auction,’’ Logan said, shaking his head bitterly.

He already had a massive bounty on his head. He couldn’t imagine how much worse it would get if people figured out he carried an item worth ten billion dollars around with him.

’Everything has to go perfect tomorrow.’