"How did this happen again?" Headmistress Holwen cursed, struggling to believe the scene stretching from her position.
"Training halls hate me, ma'am," Khan shook his head, standing beside the Headmistress while also inspecting the scene.
The training hall was mostly fine, but a good chunk of the floor needed to be replaced. The metal surface had gained many holes and spikes. It had bent in multiple spots, and cracks plagued the place. The Headmistress struggled to find a single area retaining its original smoothness.
"Fourth-level warriors would find it hard to cause this damage," Headmistress Holwen complained, glaring at Khan. "What were you even doing?"
"I was trying something new," Khan revealed. "I don't know whether to consider this a success."
"I consider it a pain," Headmistress Holwen snorted, raising her voice. "This is a state-of-the-art training hall! Do you know how expensive the reparations will be?"
"I have no idea, ma'am," Khan admitted, responding to the glare with a shameless smile. "Though I'm glad I won't have to pay for them."
"Do you think this is a joke, Captain?" Headmistress Holwen unleashed her scolding tone, which spread her cold pressure in her surroundings.
"I don't, ma'am," Khan replied. "However, I feel I'm not to blame. I did the appropriate research before choosing this training hall."
"How do you explain this, then?" Headmistress Holwen shouted, pointing at the broken patch of floor.
"The training hall wasn't advertised properly?" Khan guessed.
"You!" Headmistress Holwen scoffed. "Should I ban you from the training halls, Captain? Is that what you want?"
"But, ma'am," Khan voiced, "I took the necessary precautions this time. You ban me from the training halls, and I'm forced to train elsewhere."
Headmistress Holwen couldn't believe she was having that discussion again. She also hated the fact that Khan was right. He had chosen the best training hall in the Harbor, but the place had betrayed him.
The damage inflicted by Khan was actually surprising. The Headmistress could only blame the chaos element for that outcome, and even that was pushing it. Still, she knew an entire block would crumble if Khan pulled off something similar outside a training hall.
"Just," Headmistress Holwen sighed, retracting her glare, "Just be more careful. I can't spend the Harbor's yearly budget repairing training halls."
"This shouldn't happen again, ma'am," Khan promised. "Not too soon, at least."
The glare returned, but the Headmistress soon dropped it again and moved toward the entrance. Khan followed, remaining at her side to leave the building. He had already dressed up, so staying behind was pointless.
"I heard you accepted Mister Cirvags' offer," Headmistress Holwen changed the topic as the two headed for the building's exit.
"It was a good offer, ma'am," Khan remained vague but still tried to hint at something, "For many reasons."
"I can see the appeal," Headmistress Holwen exclaimed. "Maybe leaving Ambassador Abores' team is for the best."
"I had the same idea," Khan agreed.
The two fell silent, even if both had more to say. The Headmistress was privy to Cegnore's classified information and knew Khan. Meanwhile, Khan had already mentioned the topic to the Headmistress but wouldn't ask again since he was aware of her stance.
"Are you going to make a mess, Captain?" Headmistress Holwen eventually asked.
"I'll just do my job, ma'am," Khan reassured. "Whatever it might entail."
"Somehow, I doubt it," Headmistress Holwen scoffed.
"Then, stop me," Khan said, glancing at the Headmistress. "Stop me if you think I won't do a good job or for other reasons."
Headmistress Holwen also looked at Khan, and the two remained in that stalemate while continuing walking. They both understood the hidden meanings behind their statements, but tackling them wasn't an option. It was better not to mention those troublesome topics.
"You won't have clearance for the scientific teams' findings," Headmistress Holwen revealed, breaking the stalemate to look ahead. "The human ones, at least."
Khan's eyes tried to light up, but he hid that reaction by also looking ahead. He didn't miss Headmistress Holwen's silent advice and obviously planned to apply it once he landed on Cegnore.
"Headmistress, ma'am," Khan called since the mood felt right. "Can I trust Mister Cirvags?"
"Are you working for the Global Army, Captain?" Headmistress Holwen asked.
"Of course, ma'am," Khan confirmed.
"Then, you can trust him," Headmistress Holwen stated, uncaring of whether Khan had spoken the truth.
The conversation ended as soon as the two left the building, but neither moved at that point. The Headmistress had to handle Khan's mess, and he needed to call a cab to get to his next destination.
"You can use my car, Captain," The Headmistress announced, nodding toward the vehicle waiting by the sidewalk. "It will bring you to the second district."
"I'm not going to the second district, ma'am," Khan revealed. "I'm meeting Miss Bevet at the greenhouse."
"Are you planning to destroy that too?" Headmistress Holwen said, her words sounding like a warning.
"I won't do anything dangerous, ma'am," Khan promised. "Miss Bevet wouldn't trust me otherwise."
"The underground district is full of expensive equipment," Headmistress Holwen continued.
"I understand," Khan sighed, trying to appear defeated. "The plants won't notice me at all."
"The plants will be the last of your problems otherwise," Headmistress Holwen pressed on. "Move along now, Captain."
Khan retracted his shameless smile and performed a military salute before heading for the car. Conveying his destination to the driver started the set-off, and his face grew cold as he inspected the Headmistress' disappearing figure.
'The Thilku scientists,' Khan thought as his target grew clearer. He had yet to go through Mister Cirvags' complicated report, but a plan was slowly taking form, and clues were also piling on.
Khan didn't know why the Headmistress had decided to disclose that information. He wasn't even sure about the clearance level required to learn about the Nak. He had convinced himself about the existence of a conspiracy, but that opportunity was making him think.
Humankind had buried something about the First Impact. Khan was almost sure of that. However, he didn't know if the hindrances toward finding the truth came solely from a lack of clearance. His unique situation could have something to do with that.
Thinking about that topic had never brought answers, and Khan had no luck now either. He could only wait for the mission on Cegnore to start to find more clues and, hopefully, results.
'At least I know I can use the Niqols spells,' Khan moved to happier thoughts. 'Still, can I really cause more damage than fourth-level warriors?'
Khan had seen fourth-level warriors in action and knew how destructive his element was. Yet, Headmistress Holwen's surprise had been genuine. The test had probably involved something deeper than raw power.
Moreover, Khan had been thorough. He had even seen how the hall handled his other spells. His experiment had given birth to something stronger than his average techniques, and studying it might unlock the next level of his skills.
'The Niqols' spells aren't inherently stronger,' Khan thought. 'Arguably, all my spells use their theories. The test was simply different.'
Khan reviewed the steps of his experiment. In his opinion, he didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He had only filled his surroundings with the chaos element's iconic nature before triggering it.
Confusion arrived, and Khan's eyes began to wander. Still, when they fell on the seats' fabric, they focused again. The foundation of an idea had appeared, and he crouched down to explore it.
Khan knelt, half-sitting before the seats and running his hands over their fabric. That material wasn't mana-enhanced, but the synthetic energy in the area occasionally seeped into it.
'Maybe,' Khan thought before gazing at the car's ceiling and standing up. His hands ran over that surface, but his senses failed to find any flaw that could allow the passage of synthetic mana.
'Are my senses not enough for this?' Khan wondered, looking at the seats again. 'Theoretically, no surface is perfect.'
Khan couldn't help but think about the chaos claws. The technique could spread destruction even before entering a certain material. He had connected that effect to the chaos element, but maybe there was more to it.
'Maybe I didn't only affect my surroundings,' Khan considered. 'Maybe I also affected the mana seeping into the floor. That might explain the damage.'
Khan returned to his seat, scratching his head as he reviewed that possibility. The chaos element had innate destabilizing properties, and all the synthetic mana affected by Khan echoed those effects. In the right conditions, his mana seemed unstoppable.
'This thing is powerful,' Khan concluded, looking at his hands. 'Dangerous, but powerful.'
The issue remained. Khan didn't know how to fuse Nele and Niqols arts. Yet, he had unlocked a new path that showed insane potential. Exploring it was the only problem.
'I can't test this in the Harbor,' Khan thought. 'I need to be on a planet to see how far I can push it and whether I can control it. I guess I'll be busy on Cegnore.'
Khan spent the rest of the flight immersed in his thoughts, and his attention rarely wandered even after the landing. He had grown so used to diving into the underground district that he barely realized when he arrived before the appointed greenhouse.
Miss Bevet wasn't there. Khan had lied about that part, even if only partially. Miss Bevet had already cleared him for the greenhouse. Her presence wasn't necessary for Khan to get in.
Entering the greenhouse made Khan want to give Andrew a raise. The soldier had handled all the requirements for the [Blood Vortex] while Khan was away, leaving a suitable bucket and blood in the area. Khan could start immediately, and that was exactly what he did.
'I wonder if I can create a rune for this,' Khan thought while pouring blood into the bucket to prepare it for the alien technique. 'I'd need to adapt it to each environment, but that's doable.'
Now that the Thilku runes were an option, ideas flooded Khan's mind. The virtually endless applications could shorten many of his tasks or training session. That was the purpose of technology, and Khan had just gained access to it.
Molding the blood to serve Khan's purposes took a while, but the wait didn't weigh on his mind. He had gotten used to that practice, and fond memories always arrived while he lost himself in it.
Once the blood was ready, Khan undressed to paint the marks on his body. That was another practice he had long since committed to memory, so the process barely took a few minutes.
However, before Khan could lie on the floor and draw the last mark, he lost himself in one of the greenhouse's mirror-like surfaces. His brain couldn't stay silent in front of his reflection. He couldn't help but connect his bloody tattoos to the Thilku runes.
'What bucket,' Khan thought, tracing the marks' edges while his eyes remained on his reflection. 'I might turn the entire technique into a rune.'
