Arriving back in his room, Logan said goodbye to Edric and sat down on top of his bed.
'I would say the meeting went great,' he thought, smiling.
'I made sure I wasn't overly aggressive and clearly warned them about the internal inspection.'
Before the meeting, he'd meticulously planned his approach.
'My knowledge of the embezzlement and factions was the only thing I had to be really careful about.'
'Right now, they only see me as a slight threat but are focused on burying their tracks,' Logan thought. 'If I'd mentioned their embezzlement or factions, they would put all their efforts into ending my life instead of covering their tracks.'
Logan started going over the next part of his plan—the entire reason he needed the investigation team.
'I need to gather proof of their actions,' he thought. 'Only then can I ensure the fired board members can't sue for wrongful termination, damage the company's public image.'
'Gathering proof also means I can put them in prison, removing the risk of desperate revenge attacks.'
'The investigation team needs to be one of the world's best, with a couple S-rank and A-rank individuals,' Logan thought, making a mental note.
'Then, I need to make sure I pay them a crazy amount of money so the other board members can't bribe them.'
Logan thought of some more requirements and other plans he could implement before coming to a stop.
"This should be enough for today," he said.
Looking out the window at the setting sun, Logan decided to move on to a different matter.
Sitting down cross-legged on his bed, he closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.
Hours flew by while Logan spent his time letting the energy from his affinity strengthen his core.
Snapping out of his meditation, Logan felt refreshed. His core had developed greatly, now showing bronze patches that had grown in size compared to the day before.
Tapping on his nightstand, a blue hologram showing the time popped up.
"It's already 3 A.M.?" Logan muttered, not having realized how much time had passed. "I've been meditating for the past 8 hours?"
At the top of the blue hologram, Logan saw a red number show up, telling him he had some unseen messages.
'They are from Silas and Edric,' Logan thought, seeing their names.
"And what is this?" he muttered, seeing another unfamiliar name on the list showing unread messages.
"Evelyn Grant," he muttered, tapping on the message chat.
'If I remember correctly, this is one of the elderly women that is part of the board. She should be the director of external relations,' Logan thought, while waiting for the hologram to load.
Finally loaded, Logan started reading.
Sent: 20:47
Mr. Mercer,
An... eventful meeting today.
While not everyone appreciates an abrupt change in direction, decisive leadership is needed sometimes, especially in times of instability.
Should you require assistance in managing public perception once your return becomes public, do feel free to reach out. My department is well-equipped to handle your messaging.
E. Grant
Having read through the message, Logan leaned back in his chair.
"She's careful with her words," Logan noted.
From what Logan remembered, Evelyn had not spoken a single time during the meeting.
'It feels like she's trying to position herself early just in case I manage to pull this off,' he thought, trying to figure out her intentions.
He quickly typed out a short reply, then sent it to her.
After closing the chat with Evelyn, Logan opened Silas's message and was pleasantly surprised.
'He moved into the room next to mine,' Logan thought, thankful.
Quickly thanking him, Logan tapped on Edric's message. The messages that Edric had sent all contained files on corporate intelligence and cybersecurity firms.
He'd even done some basic research and rated them based on the requirements Logan had sent him earlier that day.
Sending another thanks and telling him he'll look at it in the morning, Logan turned off the hologram device.
"It's about time to go to bed," he muttured, tired but satisfied.
"I've made a lot of great progress today.''
This time while sleeping, he didn't have another strange dream like he'd had the day before.
Waking up in the middle of the next day, Logan got out of bed and washed up.
"Alright, let's see what I can do today," Logan muttured, sitting down at his fancy desk.
''I need to ask Edric about my spell training and review the corporate firms so he can start setting up contact.''
Letting out a short sigh, Logan decided to ask for some food first. Using his hologram, he quickly asked for some coffee, omelets, and special herbs.
'I used to never know what real food was,' Logan thought, comparing the meals he'd had his entire life to the meals he'd been eating the past few days.
'Nearly everything they give here was obtained from high-ranking creatures within dungeons.'
'For example, the omelets I just ordered are from a relatively rare C-rank Velhare.'
'The Velhare is a lot smaller than normal monsters, which increases the difficulty in following it to its nest immensely. This makes it food that only rich or talented people can eat.'
Thinking about dungeons, he couldn't help but wonder when he could go to one himself. Dungeons had always seemed interesting to him from a young age, since there were so many questions around them.
'Everyone still wonders where all these creatures actually come from.' Logan thought.
To the people, it seemed like those creatures infinitely appeared out of deep caves anywhere on Earth. This is also why most deep caves are guarded and controlled by companies, governments, or hunter guilds.
Hearing a knock on his door, Logan took his mind off the topic.
'There's no point thinking about it right now anyway,' Logan thought, shaking his head. 'I can barely even fight right now and it'll take quite some time to learn proper techniques.'
Opening his door, Logan accepted the food from a young maid.
'She looks a few years older than me,' Logan thought, taking the plate. 'And quite pretty too.'
Still lost in thoughts, he turned his back on the maid to close the door, when Logan suddenly had a very bad feeling.
Before he could respond, he heard a loud thump as he went flying through the air.
His body folded from a kick to his side, lifting him off the ground like a ragdoll. He was sent flying through the air, slamming into the wall with a loud thud.