CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 156 - WINGS OF FIRE BREAKTHROUGH!

Cracks spread through the ground, the air, even the Queen’s face cracked like it was made of glass.

As he stared at the ground, a massive shadow spread in front of him.

That’s when the world around him finally had enough, shattering into thousands of pieces.

Logan shot up in bed, gasping for air.

His heart pounded out of his chest as steam rose from the sweat soaking his skin.

"What the hell is going on?!" he said, running a hand through his hair. "What the fuck is up with all of these dreams?!"

First the phoenix dream, then the Abyssal Raven dream, and now the Queen showed up.

Logan clenched his fist, replaying the dream over and over in his head.

The fearful but excited expression in the Queen’s eyes lingered in his mind, confusing him.

’What was all of this?’ he thought, heart still pounding.

He could accept the previous two dreams, figuring they were somehow linked to the system granting him an affinity.

’But this time...’

This time, the system had nothing to do with it as he hadn’t gained another affinity.

"Ugh," he said, shaking his head slightly.

He exhaled slowly, forcing his heartbeat to slow down. But the longer he sat there, the stranger the situation felt for him.

’Could this have been because of the undead space?’

Logan pressed his hand against his heart, wondering if he’d made the wrong choice in creating the undead space.

He closed his eyes for a moment, scanning his body.

His heart seemed to be fine, but as he went to his elemental masses, he encountered something strange.

A small speck of sickly green energy pulsed inside the black undead mass.

’This color...’ he thought, remembering the light that had shone through his chest inside the dream. ’What is it?’

The first time he’d seen it was after the Abyssal Raven dream, but he’d figured it was just part of the undead element he’d received.

’Is it more than that?’ he thought, narrowing his eyes slightly.

He sat still for a few minutes, trying to come up with an explanation.

But he found none.

Even as he tried to pull the sickly green color out of the mass, it refused to budge.

"Whatever it is... it doesn’t seem like I can do anything about it," he muttered, opening his eyes. "But it doesn’t seem to be anything harmful either."

It had been there for over a month, and nothing had happened to him except for the strange dream.

Logan shook his head slightly, sliding his legs out from under his covers.

’Fine,’ he thought. ’If it wants to stay, it can. I’ll figure out exactly what it is when the time comes.’

His head ached from the little amount of sleep he’d gotten.

Logan picked up his watch and activated the hologram projector.

"It’s only five in the morning," he said, cursing under his breath. "No wonder I feel terrible."

He’d only slept three hours, but going back to bed was impossible with his adrenaline still pumping from the dream.

Holding his head, he got out of bed and grabbed a bottle of hydration water.

"I guess I’ll just go train," he muttered, taking a sip.

Logan knew he wouldn’t have much time to train after today anymore.

’We’ll be heading to Europe tomorrow evening,’ he thought, walking to his training room. ’Should be there a few hours before the ceremony starts.’

It would take well over six hours to fly from Denver all the way to Vatican City.

Stepping into his training room, Logan stretched before letting several dozen robots rise through the floor.

’Let’s start with bone shard training today,’ he thought, smiling as he conjured several bone spikes above his arms.

The robots started moving around the place, some fast while others made weird movements.

Logan narrowed his eyes and fired the shards all at once.

The bones soared through the air, some penetrating their targets while others just barely scraped their sides.

[Accuracy: 82%] a mechanical voice echoed through the room.

Logan nodded slightly, waiting patiently as the damaged robots shifted back into the floor and new sets rose up to replace them.

A few hours flew by as Logan trained his accuracy and the speed at which he could generate the bones.

[Accuracy: 85%] a mechanical voice echoed through the room again after Logan fired eighteen bone shards at once.

"I’m getting there," he muttered, a small smile spreading on his face.

Logan exhaled slowly and sat down on the floor to catch his breath.

"I’ve trained the lotus technique and fire spiral yesterday," he muttered, closing his eyes for a moment. "Then, I’ve trained the ghoul chains and bone shards today already."

All that was left were his Flaming Body and Wings of Fire techniques.

’All I need for the Flaming Body technique is better mana control,’ he thought, going through the technique in his mind. ’Last time I tried it, I managed to cover my entire arm in condensed mana.’

Then, his mind went to the Wings of Fire technique, something he’d been struggling with.

’I’ve managed to create the wings and all,’ he thought, clenching his fist slightly. ’But I still can’t fly with them.’

All he’d managed to do was glide through the air and use it to boost himself further into the air.

But that was nowhere near the full potential of the technique, and Logan knew that.

’It still feels like I’m lacking something whenever I try flying,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’I need to fix that.’

Logan stood up again, determined to keep trying until he got the results he wished for.

Like last time, he channeled the mana to his back, into his shoulder bones.

Familiar flaming wings grew out of his back at rapid speeds, surprising even Logan with how proficient he’d gotten.

"That was the easy part..." he muttered, narrowing his eyes.

Logan concentrated, flapping his wings once.

He lifted off the ground in an instant, almost crashing into the ceiling above him.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on moving around.

But as he flapped his wings, he immediately lost height. He barely managed to avoid crashing onto the ground as he positioned his wings to glide forward again.

"Why is this not working..." he mumbled, graciously landing on the ground.

It didn’t feel like it had anything to do with a lack of control or anything.

’Is it the wings then?’ he thought, glancing at his wings.

Every spot had been closed by fire mana like some sort of bowl, making sure they got plenty of air.

Logan’s eyes narrowed. ’There shouldn’t be a problem? The wings aren’t letting any air through, which is also the reason I can glide.’

He tried again.

And again.

And again.

Each time repeated the same pattern.

Flap his wings, lift off the ground, drop to the ground.

After his seventh attempt, his core ached from the strain.

With a deep sigh, Logan stopped supplying mana to the wings and watched them dissipate in the air.

"Enough," he muttered, annoyed.

As he stepped out of the training room, he heard a soft beep from his watch.

’Lunch,’ he thought, stomach rumbling. ’Needed that.’

Logan accepted the monster meat from Edric, thanking him before locking his door again.

Sitting down on his couch, the scent of the delicious elk meat entered his nose, making him smile again.

As he took a bite, his mind replayed the training. ’It feels like I’m not making any progress, like something is fundamentally wrong.’

Logan chewed slowly, leaning back on his couch. The taste of the elk meat was just as great as the smell, but his thoughts kept going back to the wings.

His mind slowly drifted to the dream of the phoenix he’d had.

Those wings... each feather burned, several layers of those feathers shifted as it soared through the sky.

Logan froze mid-bite.

He stared at the floor, realizing he’d never really thought about the difference between him and an actual phoenix.

’Sure, I’m human,’ he thought, eyes widening. ’But if I want to make wings, why not copy theirs?’

His wings didn’t have a structure or even feathers, they were just a solid sheet of flames.

Logan set down his plate, his appetite gone.

He walked back to his training room and closed his eyes, mind running through every minuscule detail from the dream.

’It’s not about brute force,’ he realized. ’It’s about letting the air flow through and using it to my advantage.’

Despite his aching core, Logan channeled mana through his shoulder bones again.

This time, he pictured the shape differently, slowly generating a skeletal frame completely made from flames.

The first attempt at creating feathers failed instantly, with them immediately dispersing in the air.

He tried again, this time finally conjuring a proper feather.

’Now I need to copy it,’ he thought, generating several dozens more feathers.

A vein throbbed on his forehead as he struggled to split his attention.

Finally, feathers lined the thin skeleton frame.

Logan’s eyes snapped open, immediately glancing at the wings.

"Wow..." he mumbled, eyes widening.

His wings were nearly twice as large as they were before and practically beamed with life with each individual feather burning.

’Now the real test,’ he thought, smiling.

As he flapped his wings once, he shot up into the air.

Logan immediately put his hands above himself, preventing him from crashing against the ceiling.

"They are stronger now!" he laughed, staring at the wings in amazement.

When he flapped them again, instead of dropping like a stone, his body shot forward.

Logan laughed, finally satisfied. "Now we are getting somewhere!"

He kept at it for nearly half an hour, testing short bursts, turns, and rapid ascents until his core throbbed from the overuse.

It wasn’t perfect. He still lacked the effortlessness of a real phoenix. But for the first time, he felt like he’d really accomplished something.

"Good," he said, grinning. ’’I can’t even imagine how much stronger this makes me!’’

Cutting his mana supply to his wings, Logan walked back to his lounge area, exhausted.

He quickly sent Edric a message, asking him for new food since his had grown cold over the hour he had trained.

His watch immediately beeped with a response.

[Edric: I’m on my way.]

Before he could even turn his watch off, a reminder popped up on the screen.

[Flight to Vatican City - 22 hours.]

Logan exhaled slowly, calming himself down. "We’ll finish this after the ceremony."

The Day of Seven Virtues in Vatican City... a gathering of the world’s most powerful figures. And now, he was one of them.