Focusing on his affinity, Logan started forcing out mana threads.
However, instead of immediately guiding them to the core, as was normal during cultivation, Logan let them float freely inside it.
After releasing a few threads, he started to feel a burning feeling within his core, followed by a sharp sting.
'I need more,' Logan thought, as the stinging got worse.
More and more threads started flowing out of his affinity, floating around within his core.
The stinging feeling he'd felt at the start was no longer there, replaced by a slowly increasing amount of pain.
'It burns,' Logan thought, clenching his teeth.
His body temperature was rapidly rising, sending alerts from his electric watch to Silas and Edric, who looked worried as the breakthrough continued.
Despite the pain, Logan kept forcing out thread after thread.
Minutes passed as his core gradually filled with countless mana threads.
Any sweat running down his face evaporated, even his skin turned into a light red color.
'That's it,' Logan thought, feeling as if he'd fully filled up his core.
Logan stopped forcing out mana threads from his core. The stinging pain stopped growing worse, but that wasn't the case for the burning sensation he felt.
'This heat!' Logan thought, gritting his teeth as he looked at the metal boxes.
'Concentrate,' he reminded himself, reaching for the Orchid.
As he grabbed the Orchid, his hand started to burn from the insane temperature that it released.
Without hesitation, he stuffed the small flower in his mouth.
Logan quickly reached for the Lotus, stuffing it in his mouth at the same time.
His mouth felt like it was melting away from the temperature, making Logan want to scream out from the pain.
Quickly swallowing the flowers, Logan closed his eyes.
Pain surged through him as his body fought to absorb the mana inside the flowers. Logan clenched his fists so tightly that his nails pierced his skin, causing blood to flow out and evaporate within seconds after leaving his body.
Continuing to the next step, Logan tried to ignore the pain and focused.
Concentrating on his core, he forced the mana threads within his core to push against the walls of his core on all sides.
Slowly, cracks started appearing on his core.
The mana threads within his core disappeared into the cracks, mending them as the core expanded.
At the same time, the mana from the flowers surged towards the cracks in his core from outside its walls.
Logan's core slowly grew larger as the mana threads from his core disappeared.
After a minute of expanding his core, Logan felt his core become unstable as it reached twice the size it had been before.
Pushing his limits a little furthur, Logan felt like his core couldn't expand any more and quickly stopped.
Looking at the sea of mana still floating around his core from the flowers, Logan quickly forced the mana inside the cracks on his core.
Unlike his own mana threads, which healed the cracks, this mana seeped deep into the core's walls. Slowly, the core changed in color, going from a grayish color to a deep bronze.
As time passed, the mana couldn't reinforce the core walls any further.
Looking at all the excess mana still floating outside his core, Logan made sure to dispose of it quickly, sending it straight inside his affinity.
Opening his eyes, Logan looked around himself in surprise.
"I did it," he muttered, feeling the presence of the bronze-grade core within him.
Closing and opening his fist a few times, Logan was even more surprised.
'Did my physique get stronger as well?' he thought, feeling new strength.
"Congratulations," Edric said, approaching Logan.
"It's a good thing we went to your training room," Silas said, laughing. "I don't think the other room would've survived."
"Huh?" Logan said, finally taking a good look around himself.
In a large circle around him, a thin layer of the special floor had completely melted away.
Looking down at himself, Logan also finally realized he no longer had any clothes on.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Your body temperature skyrocketed," Edric remarked, observing Logan's body. "Then, your clothes and the floor around you started to melt away."
"Enough about all of that," Silas said, cutting off Edric. "Tell me, how much did your core increase in size?"
Stunned by his directness, Logan stood still for a second before responding.
"It's grown just over twice its original size," Logan answered, smiling. "It's about 4 and a quarter inches in diameter."
Now it was Silas's turn to be stunned. "Damn," he muttered.
"Is that good or not?" Logan asked, glancing at Silas's expression.
"Very good." Edric nodded, smiling. "Everyone starts with a core that's two inches in diameter, and going to bronze rank most people only manage to get it to 3 inches."
"Even mine only increased to 3 and a half my first breakthrough," Silas said, amazed. "And that was using around the same amount of resources."
'There's such a large difference?' Logan thought, surprised.
"You should put on some clothes now though," Edric said, handing Logan a spare set of clothes.
Logan nodded and started putting his clothes on.
Edric handed Logan another electric watch, since his old one had melted during the breakthrough. But as he put on the watch, an alarm went off.
"What?" Edric said, looking at the notification on his own watch.
WARNING: user body temperature 248 Fahrenheit.
Both Silas and Edric looked at Logan in surprise.
"My body temperature increased again?" Logan said aloud, looking at the watch.
Thanks to the bodysuit he wore now, his clothes and watch were protected from melting away.
'This isn't good, though,' Logan thought, frowning. 'I can't have any human contact without my bodysuit on.'
Edric and Silas had also come to the same conclusion, both wearing serious but amazed expressions.
"Your affinity seems to have strengthened your body and also made it very resistant to heat," Silas said, amazed.
"For now, don't worry too much about it," Edric said, frowning slightly. "The bodysuit will regulate the heat so it doesn't hurt anyone."
"But you will have to replace quite a lot of bodysuits since you are constantly using up its energy."