Khan ended up revealing a few aspects of his life to Martha. She learnt about his tainted status and his role in the Second Impact. Khan also disclosed that he had a good organic mana core, but he didn’t say anything about its quality.

Martha could understand part of Khan’s story by herself. She knew that he had lied to the nurse, so his mana core had to be quite good. She felt sure that her organ was inferior, but she never gave voice to those thoughts to maintain some secrecy.

Martha didn’t speak anymore after those revelations, and the curfew arrived before the duo could chat some more. Still, Khan could understand that her previous annoyance toward his unclear behavior had disappeared.

‘I hope she doesn’t change,’ Khan sighed while entering inside his flat and preparing himself for a training session. ‘I don’t want her to treat me as a victim.’

Samuel was already sleeping. It seemed that the harsh physical training had disrupted his usual routine. Khan had also learnt that it was hard to wake him up. He basically had the room for himself all the time.

‘Fifteen percent,’ Khan thought as excitement built in his mind.

Khan was so excited about his attunement with mana that he didn’t bother to change his dirty clothes before sitting on his bed and entering a meditative state.

He couldn’t wait to reach the point when he could deploy mana. That would mark his transition from a normal human to an actual mage and warrior. Khan didn’t expect that moment to come so soon, but he gladly accepted that surprise.

‘I wonder if I reached sixteen percent already,’ Khan thought when he exited the meditative state.

The clock on his phone signaled two am. His meditation had lasted longer than usual since his excitement didn’t allow him to stop training.

Khan noticed his dirty bed at that point, but he ignored it and lay down to sleep. He had been in far worse places during his life. Those small patches of ground on his sheets wouldn’t disturb him at all.

His phone rang as soon as his head hit the pillow. Khan picked the device and saw that Martha had sent him a message.

‘I forgive your lies,’ Khan read on his phone. ‘That girl sure knows how to hold a grudge. Don’t tell me that she has been awake until now thinking about my story.’

Another message from Martha suddenly arrived on the phone. The text read “I didn’t stay awake because of you”, and Khan couldn’t help but smirk when he read it.

‘She sure is something,’ Khan thought before sending a simple “goodnight” and wearing a helpless expression. It was time to sleep. His nightmare was about to begin.

.

.

.

Khan happily noticed that Martha didn’t change her behavior toward him the following day. The duo met before Professor Conche’s lessons and spent an hour meditating before walking together toward the class.

Luke and Bruce were already inside, but Khan and Martha quickly noticed that something was off. Their two friends weren’t alone. A boy and a girl from the special class were sitting next to them.

“Meet April and Jacob,” Luke explained when Martha and Khan climbed the steps to reach the back lines. “They are from the Rotston family.”

“You sure didn’t waste time,” Martha commented. “I knew you wanted to know more recruits from the special class, but I didn’t expect you to be so fast.”

“Having good social skills is mandatory for me,” Luke laughed. “I actually had a few professors about this subject in Ylaco.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Martha whispered before glancing at Khan.

Khan understood the meaning behind her gesture and sat next to Bruce, allowing Martha to have her left side on the stairs that led to the back lines. Yet, he didn’t fail to inspect the unfamiliar recruits in the process.

April and Jacob both had red hair and green eyes. Their facial features were quite soft and shared many similarities. Khan could quickly understand that they were brother and sister or cousins.

Jacob was slightly chubby. He wasn’t fat, but he didn’t have a slim physique either. April was the same, but she seemed to care about that feature more than her brother since she buttoned the belt of her uniform quite tight.

‘How can she even breathe?’ Khan wondered before ignoring the matter and drawing the headphones from the desk.

“Is he for real?” Jacob asked when he saw Khan’s action.

“Meet Martha Weesso and Khan,” Luke explained. “They are the most workaholic soldiers in the entire camp. I’m surprised they didn’t kill each other during Professor Norwell’s lessons.”

Luke, Bruce, Jacob, and April continued to talk while Martha and Khan paid attention to the lesson.

Professor Conche didn’t talk about anything interesting. His first lesson covered the financial evolution of human society after the creation of the ten noble families. Even Khan struggled to remain focused on those topics.

The second lesson ended up being worse than the first. Khan didn’t believe that the mana cores could become a boring topic, but Professor Conche left him speechless.

Professor Conche threw countless numbers toward his class. He talked about many data gathered throughout the years. His explanation involved risks and benefits of the cores, differences among their qualities, and data concerning injured soldiers.

The lesson would have been interesting if it weren’t a mere pile of graphs. Khan did his best to study them, but it was hard to commit so many numbers to memory. He limited himself to save them on his phone to read them whenever he needed something.

“How can he even spend two hours like that?” Luke complained once the lesson ended and the group hit the canteen. “No one cares that the new synthetic cores have gained half of a point of attunement speed. They are still inferior to the organic.”

“He has to fill those two hours with something,” Bruce commented. “Endure for this week. The next lessons should become more interesting.”

The group quickly moved toward the basement after they finished their lunch. Professor Norwell’s lesson proceeded as usual, and Khan and Martha ended up revisiting the medical bay once it ended.

The schedule for the first week never changed. Khan soon became used to that routine, and every day began to resemble the previous one.

The only differences in his days were the different topics in Professor Conche’s lessons and his conversations with Martha. Luke and Bruce managed to bring new friends from the special class from time to time, but Khan didn’t care much about socializing during that week.

Even some of Professor Conche’s interesting topics couldn’t distract Khan from his excitement. He would probably gain access to mana after the end of that week, and his mind didn’t manage to think about anything else.

Sunday eventually arrived. The camp wouldn’t have any lesson that day, but the medical bay would function as usual. Khan had even questioned the nurses beforehand, so he knew that Doctor Parket would be in the building during the morning.

Martha decided to accompany Khan to the medical bay that day, but she remained outside of Doctor Parket’s office. Khan could be alone with him, and the latter didn’t hesitate to express his confusion.

“I don’t understand why you asked for a visit,” Doctor Parket announced. “I visited you two weeks ago. You didn’t learn enough about mana to worry about specific issues connected to your status.”

“It’s about my attunement with mana, sir,” Khan politely replied. “I think it’s better if you check it.”

“Any nurse can do that job,” Doctor Parket complained.

“But I don’t know if the nurses respect my father enough to take care of his son, sir,” Khan explained, and Doctor Parket remained speechless for a second.

Doctor Parket scratched his beard and adjusted his small glasses before heaving a helpless sigh and standing up from his chair. He grabbed a scanner from a desk in the corner of his room and proceeded to scan Khan’s attunement.

A faint gasp resounded behind Khan. He turned to see Doctor Parket staring at the scanner with wide eyes. He didn’t seem able to believe the number displayed on the item.

“Did it reach twenty percent?” Khan asked, and a second wave of surprise engulfed Doctor Parket.

“Were you aware of your development?” Doctor Parket asked.

“I found out about that only recently,” Khan explained. “I figured that you could tell me how to handle my situation.”

Doctor Parket inspected Khan’s fake innocent face before heaving a deep sigh. He sat back on his desk while placing the scanner in Khan’s direction. The latter could clearly read that his attunement with mana had reached twenty percent.

“A Tainted boy with an A-tier organic core that belonged to a Nak,” Doctor Parket sighed. “I shouldn’t even feel surprised about this. You are also a survivor of the Second Impact. I bet that you meditated like a madman in these weeks.”

Khan didn’t answer. The Doctor wasn’t really asking him anything.

“Your improvements will slow down from now on,” Doctor Parket explained. “Your body has finally accepted mana as part of yourself, but the process will be harsher now. The mana has to become predominant, and that can lead to painful training sessions.”

“I don’t fear pain,” Khan replied in a steady tone.

“I bet you don’t,” Doctor Parket said. “Still, your body will try to fight the mana. It will consider it like cancer taking over your flesh.”

“Can I use the same training method as before?” Khan asked.

“Yes, but the effects will be different,” Doctor Parket explained. “You probably have yet to learn about this, but your attunement has to reach fifty percent to become a first-level warrior. The process won’t be easy, and I don’t think you should rely on synthetic mana either.”

“Why is that?” Khan asked, putting in the back of his mind all the other information disclosed by the Doctor. “I heard that it has no negative effects at its best quality.”

“It would be a waste in your case,” Doctor Parket explained. “Your body has the chance to hold the purest mana among the army. You might end up rejecting the synthetic mana since it doesn’t match your standards.”

Khan didn’t know what to do with those explanations for now. They definitely broadened his understanding of mana, but they didn’t tell him much about his current situation.

“What should I do now, in your opinion?” Khan asked, hoping that Doctor Parket’s respect for Bret would force him to recommend something.

“The Global Army will give you a martial art if you prove that your attunement has reached the intended level,” Doctor Parket explained, “But I think you should avoid that for now. I’m not asking you to put your training on hold either.”

“So?” Khan continued.

“Do you know of a man named Carl Dyester?” Doctor Parket asked. “He handles the prison of the camp.”