?714 Summon
Khan and Monica kept a low profile in the following days. They stuck to their routine, even limiting the meetings with Abraham to see whether something changed on the network.
Luckily, the network didn't show traces of Induna's test. People talked about the couple's trip, but everyone considered it a romantic escapade. The couple had skipped the public parties for their second anniversary and Khan's birthday, so celebrating sounded reasonable.
Still, the test had been too eye-catching. Some of Induna's scanners had to have sensed the beam's energy fluctuation. The Solodrey name might have given the couple privacy since the Global Army was scared to invade their intimacy, but things could be different now.
Khan had to make a new prototype, so the issue was irrelevant for now. Yet, Monica would need to test his creations multiple times to arrive at a decent final product, and suitable areas were growing scarcer by the day.
Moreover, acknowledging the ability to build magic items opened a door into thoughts Khan couldn't stop. They were like an itch he couldn't scratch away. Ideas flooded his mind now that he knew what he could do, and there was no halting them.
Khan could draw in the air to achieve certain effects, but a proper item would generate more power. Besides, it wouldn't need time to set up, which battles often lacked.
The levels of potential complexity were also incomparable. Khan knew he would get better at his runes, but a battle offered little room for that. There was a limit to how much he could draw while fighting or on the spot.
Instead, a magic item could be as powerful and complex as Khan desired. He only had to prepare it beforehand, which sounded reasonable in his current situation. Raymond had warned him, and his hunches had never stopped screaming since then. Something big had to be ready to unfold, so amassing countermeasures was the natural thing to do.
Of course, improvement had to come first. The door had merely opened, and Khan had yet to cross its edge. He had much to learn before even thinking about attempting to create proper magic items, and Monica had the priority anyway.
The test on Induna proved two things. First, condensing Monica's eruption into a single, forward attack generated too much power, more than the chaos element. Khan had to make something far more durable to avoid recreating the item after each activation.
Second, an item that covered most of Monica's arm was too eye-catching. Her element wasn't a secret, so seeing her performing proper attacks without erupting would point every finger at the array of wires, exposing Khan's new ability.
Khan needed to change the item's design to preserve that secrecy, and the goal was in line with his initial intentions. He didn't want Monica to wear something so ugly and clunky. Ideally, he would put the entire blueprint into a bracelet.
More time passed in that strange peace. Oddly enough, Neuria's businesses didn't summon Monica, and Khan was the only explanation the couple could find. It almost seemed the Global Army wanted to make his life as enjoyable as possible while he shared his knowledge.
Khan couldn't complain, especially since the Solodrey family remained silent about the issue. Besides, Neuria's businesses didn't necessarily require Monica. Her presence there was mostly a political move meant to elevate her figure, and Khan's achievements more than compensated for her absence.
As the lessons continued, most scientists began to gain a complete understanding of the fundamentals. Many still couldn't perform the alien techniques, but amassing knowledge was their priority. After all, they could always build a machine for those purposes if their skills failed them.
Abraham was at the top of the class, followed closely by Jefferson. The latter displayed incredible concentration in the last period, and his efforts paid off. He learned to speak with the mana just a few days after Abraham.
That learning pace wasn't quick or slow. Khan would describe it as slightly above average when it came to Abraham and Jefferson, which wasn't concerning. Yet, the scientists were gradually getting there, and there was no stopping them anymore. That was the worrying part.
The more the scientists learned, the higher the chances the Global Army could produce countermeasures to Khan's power. He was far ahead in those alien fields, and his lessons also avoided many detailed and advanced aspects, but he remained one man against an entire species. Humankind would eventually devise something annoying to deal with.
Those worries, the existential loneliness, and the urge to explore the magic items' field filled Khan's peaceful and dull days. Due to his overcrowded mind, he often found concentrating on his Ambassador-related studies hard.
That wasn't the end of it. Khan had the Nognes family, the foreboded threats, and his own training to mind. Problems were accumulating, and even the free time of the last period wasn't enough to handle them all. They only put pressure on his mental state.
Nevertheless, a partial solution existed, or rather, a way to temporarily quell all those worries. Booze alone couldn't suffice, and Khan wasn't the type to sit down and relax. Only his fiancée could handle that.
"Tone down the brightness," Monica complained while hiding her face in Khan's bare chest.
Khan didn't reply but complied. He tapped on his office's interactive desk and lowered the holograms' brightness before retrieving his full glass. He lifted his legs, reclining his chair to lay his feet on the table. His mind was finally at ease, allowing him to focus on his many studies.
The scene represented the peak of Khan's day. He was fully relaxed and naked on his chair, with a similarly naked Monica sleeping on him. His mind could finally work properly, and many of his urges had already been appeased.
Of course, Monica didn't have clearance for the office, but no one had dared to stop her. Her visits had also become more frequent after she heard the stories about Khan's mother, and she couldn't find better solutions to his loneliness either. Even if it consumed her, she would appease Khan, and consume her he did.
That trend had started since the first instance of existential loneliness and had gotten worse with each passing day. As barbaric and basic as sex was, it worked in dispersing that annoying feeling, and Monica didn't hesitate to abuse Khan's urges to prolong his mental peace.
Khan couldn't complain. Monica's well-being was his only worry since they had been overdoing it lately. After reaching the fourth level, his stamina seemed endless, and Monica paid the price for that. It was a sweet and pleasant effort, but an effort nonetheless.
Entire books went by while Monica napped on Khan. He relied on his reading technique to skim through the next subject, but the effects of the recent intimacy began to wane after a few hours, distracting him from his duties.
Khan drank and tried to brute-force his way through the subject, but it soon became clear that his mind wouldn't collaborate. He could only sigh and open his private network, reaching for a file he had been working on recently.
One of the holographic screens transformed into a cylindrical blueprint. The new prototype of Monica's magic item was almost ready. Khan was only waiting on the materials to build it. However, he still didn't have a suitable testing ground.
'Should I ask the Solodrey family?' Khan wondered. 'Anastasia won't hesitate to give me an entire planet if I can fix Monica's element, but …'
The Solodrey family was wealthy enough to fix the issue, and Monica's parents would also be personally interested in the matter. However, Khan couldn't make the request because they might use it to deepen his debt. They had already helped him during his isolation, so he would avoid that option if possible.
Yet, Khan also had to consider what was best for Monica, and the idea of indebting himself to help her didn't sound too bad. Sadly, things were quite complicated. Khan didn't feel he could be controlled even with a debt hanging over his head, but Monica's involvement would give the Solodrey family leverage.
'Lucian is out of the question,' Khan thought. 'The tests would just destroy what I helped build on Lauter.'
Khan dived into his memory and scrolled his contacts list to find better solutions. Luke and Rick could help, and the former even owed Khan one after Milia 222, but he preferred to avoid the Cobsend family. Princess Edna was unreachable, so she was out of the picture, too.
'Lord Vegner?' Khan considered. 'No. It's akin to asking him a huge sum of money.'
Truth be told, all those options were viable. Khan simply wanted a perfect one. Ideally, he would ask the Headmistress, but she was too swamped by the families' interests to help. She would probably be forced to sell him if he tried to do anything.
'It's not like I can move anyway,' Khan cursed. 'I could have asked Lord Exr a favor otherwise. George is already handling Wayne, so no. I guess Lucian is the best option.'
The brainstorming didn't convince Khan. He had merely chosen the lesser evil, which was good enough but not ideal. Of course, he had to finish the new prototype first, so he didn't send any messages. He also hoped he would get better ideas in the meantime.
Still, a notification suddenly distracted Khan from his thoughts. He lifted his eyes and frowned seeing that the message had skipped his phone and gone directly to the office's interactive desk. The matter had to be about something official, and opening it confirmed the hunch and more.
"Monica," Khan couldn't help but call, tapping Monica's shoulder to wake her up.
Monica complained but opened her eyes, and noticing Khan's nod made her look at the holograms. Her sleepy brain didn't initially realize the message's contents, but everything became clear after rereading it, and shock invaded her. The Global Army had ordered Khan to join a political envoy on a planet with a recently discovered intelligent species.
