Khan's thoughts began to scream as soon as he returned to his flat in the Harbor. The sudden political development forced him to consider countless dangerous repercussions, and his best advisor wasn't available.
In the end, Lord Exr had agreed to Khan's terms, which was good news, but also put a countdown above his head. Khan planned to make his move after the wedding, which gave him little longer than two months to prepare.
'I will make new allies at the wedding,' Khan thought, crossing the empty flat to dig through his stash of booze. 'Princess Edna might be there, too. The Solodrey family might also go for the engagement.'
Khan couldn't help but stop at that last thought. His brain also went silent, letting a cozy warmth overwhelm it. Even with all his fears, Khan looked forward to that potential event.
Nevertheless, the stakes were too high to remain still, and Khan quickly snapped out of his smitten state to focus on the issue. Replacing an Ambassador was no easy matter, and Khan wasn't sure he could do that silently.
'Succeeding isn't a problem,' Khan considered, sitting on a couch and connecting his phone to a desk.
The Empire had the upper hand in those political intricacies. Lord Exr only had to say the word, and the Global Army would replace Ambassador Abores with Khan.
However, the event would lead to two inevitable issues. The first involved Ambassador Abores' hatred and the second Khan's partial incompetence.
Khan activated the desk, sending holograms into the air. He initially wanted to search for information about Ambassador Abores, but his fingers stopped before it was too late.
The Global Army had ways to learn about Khan's studies. He would also look for classified information, which was bound to leave tracks. That was akin to warning Ambassador Abores that something was coming.
'He knows this world far better than me,' Khan thought, bringing the bottle to his mouth. 'I have to wait for the marriage.'
Of course, Khan considered more forceful courses of action. His mana and new stance preferred them, but politics weren't something he could defeat with kicks and spells. He would try if he were alone, but other parts of his life would suffer now, and he couldn't allow it.
Truth be told, Khan had already researched Ambassador Abores in the past, but his study wasn't as thorough as he needed. That created some regret, but Khan could only ignore it and focus on what was within his grasp.
Khan's fingers eventually touched the holograms, sending them to the network to retrieve specific information. He couldn't research Ambassador Abores, but the subjects related to that field were another matter altogether. Someone might suspect something, but Khan had never hidden his desire to become an Ambassador anyway.
The Ambassador-related topics were only half of Khan's projects. Even with the Harbor's education, two months weren't enough to become ready for that position. He had to compensate with something else, which had to come in the form of personal power in his situation.
The holograms split into two screens. One showed advanced subjects that explored anything related to the position Lord Exr wanted Khan to seize. Instead, the other focused on the Thilku runes, which was Khan's current main project.
Khan immersed himself in his studies, showing the determination and concentration that had always separated him from the other descendants. The world around him disappeared for many hours, but some restlessness eventually arrived.
Studying on a couch had its limits. Besides, Khan had already stabilized his first personal version of the Thilku runes. He could bring that training to the next level, and his legs moved on their own to pursue that goal.
Khan left the flat, seizing the first cab to reach a district filled with training halls. He obviously chose the best among them, and a series of metal puppets soon formed a line before him.
'I need to succeed,' Khan almost ordered himself. 'I must succeed now.'
The recent training sessions had made guidelines pointless. Khan didn't need a puppet with the [Blood Vortex]'s marks anymore. Those lines had become one with his mind, allowing him to proceed with the experiments without wasting additional time.
Khan approached the process methodically, starting from the leftmost puppet and applying his bright lines to its chest. He created a slightly intricate rune before pressing it on the metal surface to activate its functions.
The symphony shook, and Khan sprinted backward. The rune sent mana into the metal surface until the entire puppet detonated, sending fuming debris everywhere.
The detonation damaged a few nearby puppets, but Khan didn't care. His tab on the Harbor was basically bottomless, so he didn't mind wasting resources. Instead, he focused on the grey smoke left behind by the explosion.
'Fuck,' Khan cursed, crouching on the floor and running his hands through his hair. 'I need to calm down.'
Khan had crossed that phase of the experiments, so he knew what he had done wrong. His impatient mood had made him put too much mana into the rune, causing a fatal flaw that led to the explosion.
"Fuck!" Khan shouted, pointing his hand at the damaged puppets.
The symphony around the damaged puppets churned, creating multiple purple-red spots in the air that expanded before detonating. The training dummies could only crumble under that violent mana, and even the floor threatened to crack.
Khan noticed that last detail and sat down. He couldn't afford to destroy another training hall. Headmistress Holwen would probably forgive him again, but Khan didn't want to deal with that.
Still, the issue remained. Khan needed that experiment to succeed. He didn't only want his new version of the [Blood Vortex] to resume training at a faster pace. He also desired to unlock that field to grow even stronger and famous.
'The more I want it,' Khan sighed, 'The less careful I am.'
Khan took a deep breath, doing his best to calm down. Those experiments required utmost control and a cold, analytical mind. He was creating something new, fusing different alien arts, so he had to think like a scientist.
Silent minutes passed as Khan kept his eyes closed to remain inside his mind. He reviewed the subject, his tests, and his results to spot potential flaws and wrong approaches. Many things popped out, but Khan couldn't pinpoint his failures to anything specific.
'It can be one or all of them,' Khan realized.
To make things worse, Khan couldn't consult anyone. He didn't only want to keep his experiments a secret. The human scientists wouldn't know what to say. That was a completely new field that touched multiple arts. He was probably the sole expert in the universe who could differentiate between right and wrong.
'Humans created spells in the middle of a destroyed planet and without guidelines,' Khan recalled. 'I have endless resources, and my eyes see the mana. How am I even failing?'
Of course, Khan knew humankind paid a hefty price for that achievement. Humans lost limbs and straight-up died during the spells-related experiments. Still, he had destroyed more than enough puppets to match that cost.
The problem didn't have a precise answer. At least, Khan couldn't find it while pondering on the floor. His mind even started wavering, sending his thoughts to the recent meeting.
'[Blue shaman] my ass,' Khan cursed. 'What do they even know about real shamans?'
Admittedly, the Empire had expanded far and wide. They had probably met multiple species with experts that matched that description, but Khan felt pissed anyway. He wasn't anything like those wise figures. He had merely stolen a series of different techniques and meshed them together to create something resembling alien art.
Khan couldn't help but linger on the topic. His mind went back a few years, reminding him of his first encounter with Zalpa. He recalled the smell of blood, the hanging corpses, and the gory rituals. Techniques belonging to the world even rested inside his chest, ready to come out to protect him.
'That's a real shaman,' Khan thought, 'Not someone playing with mana.'
Khan lifted his gaze, and some hatred arrived at the sight of the metal puppets. Neither Niqols nor Nele would deal with the matter like that. They would probably avoid using anything artificial altogether.
'That's it!' Khan exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.
Khan jumped to his feet, sprinting toward the puppets to stop before one of them. He inspected the dummy, running his fingers over its surfaces to experience its coldness. That thing was dead. It had never been alive. It was nothing like his body.
'I'm sorry, Monica,' Khan sighed. 'This is who I am.'
Ideally, Khan wouldn't do anything to make Monica worry. However, harsh and dangerous measures were necessary to achieve the impossible. Lord Exr wanted him to go against an Ambassador, so he had to do what he had always done. He would apologize to Monica later.
Khan retreated, sending the puppets toward the walls to have the entire hall for himself. He closed his eyes while raising his hand, and his fingers began drawing lines on mana that hovered before him.
The previous experiments had focused on metal surfaces, but Khan had something entirely different in mind now. He focused on himself, making the proper adjustments while giving birth to the rune. Then, he slammed it on his chest without showing any hesitation.
