Lieutenant Dyester stood up and neared the cell. One of the metal bars had clearly caved in. He couldn't find any excuse to reprimand Khan about his technique.
"You might actually have some talent for this," Lieutenant Dyester announced while turning toward the boy crouching under him.
Khan gasped for breath. He felt exhausted, and his whole body was in pain. His palms had also started bleeding due to the repeated clashes with the metal bar.
Khan wore a satisfied smile, but conflicting thoughts occupied his mind. On one side, he felt ecstatic about his recent success. On the other, he knew that his last execution of the palm force wasn't ready for a real battle.
'It's still too slow,' Khan thought while replaying the scenes of his last attack in his mind. 'The mana has compensated for the lack of speed and strength, but the technique is far from complete. I even committed countless mistakes during the last hours. Only one out of four executions ended up being decent.'
Khan had to perform a slower version of the palm force to move the mana alongside his body. His last attack had generated enough power to bend the metal bar, but a proper execution would have released far more energy.
'I'm better off throwing punches at my current level,' Khan concluded. 'I still can't deploy this technique in a fight.'
"There are four levels of proficiency to each martial art," Lieutenant Dyester suddenly began to explain. "You are a novice now, the lowest level. You must become able to perform a technique without ever committing mistakes to reach the competent level. Of course, you have to do it with mana."
'So much only to become competent with one martial art,' Khan sighed in his mind.
The process felt hellish. Khan believed that moving mana would become easier in the future, but learning the various moves required by each martial art would remain hard.
'I bet a soldier won't commit more than three martial arts to memory,' Khan thought. 'There simply isn't enough time to master more techniques.'
"Hey, Rat," Lieutenant Dyester called. "What's your element?"
Khan arched his eyebrow when he noticed that the Lieutenant had already changed his name. He steadied his breath and coughed a few times before giving a short answer. "Chaos."
Lieutenant Dyester whistled while expressing evident surprise with his face. Khan inspected that reaction and confirmed that Doctor Parket had been honest with him. The chaos element wasn't common among humans.
"I can't teach you magic then," Lieutenant Dyester explained. "Different elements require different thoughts to activate their power. My knowledge can't help you there."
"What's your element?" Khan asked slowly.
"Fire," Lieutenant Dyester laughed before drawing the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Why do you think I smoke these? Most fire masters force new mages to light them up as their first exercise. You'll find many fire mages with this addiction."
'Who would force kids to smoke?' Khan scoffed in his mind before putting that matter aside.
"So, can you teach me anything about magic?" Khan asked. "I like martial arts and everything, but spells are cooler."
"I'll teach you a few mental exercises tomorrow," Lieutenant Dyester said while lighting up a cigarette. "I'll also think about a suitable martial art. You are strong but not too tall. I'll see what I can find."
Khan's eyes lit up at those words. He had been afraid that Lieutenant Dyester wouldn't have taken the training seriously, but he felt glad to discover that the soldier wasn't holding back on his connections.
"Come here once your daily lessons are over," Lieutenant Dyester continued. "I'll make sure to check on you and correct your moves. Hopefully you can start earning something after the first missions if you get strong enough."
A wave of gratefulness filled Khan. Lieutenant Dyester was perfect, and he had Martha to thank for that chance.
"Go now," Lieutenant Dyester ordered. "Try to end up here only by choice."
Khan nodded and quickly straightened his position. He felt tired, but he had to hurry to avoid breaking the curfew. He immediately moved toward the staircase and left the basement to begin the run for his dormitory.
'The chaos element for humans,' Lieutenant Dyester thought while resuming his position on the table. 'He needs an excellent martial art to compensate for this weakness. I wonder if the higher-ups still remember their debt.'
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Khan returned to his dormitory in a hurry. He had managed to avoid breaking the curfew by mere minutes, and sweat filled his face by the time he entered his flat.
Samuel was sleeping as usual. Khan had the room for himself, but he felt drained beyond reason. His body begged him to hit the bed, but Khan wanted to try one last thing before going back to his nightmares.
Khan didn't bother changing nor taking a shower. He didn't even take out his shoes before sitting on the bed and entering a meditative state.
Azure lights shone inside his body. He still had mana available, so he could perform his usual training and try to increase his attunement.
The mana flowing out of his nape accelerated and spread toward his mind and body, but a sharp pain suddenly appeared and forced Khan out of his meditative state.
His back had started to scream in pain as soon as the mana had tried to expand there. His flesh had rejected that energy and had pushed it back into the nape.
'That's more painful than I expected,' Khan commented while standing up and stretching his sore spot. 'No wonder soldiers prefer to use synthetic mana. I would also try to avoid this process.'
Khan gave voice to a helpless laugh when he thought that. Doctor Parket had been clear. The synthetic mana could be toxic for his body since he had extremely high standards.
'I guess I can't get benefits without accepting drawbacks,' Khan thought. 'I'm lucky enough to have reached this level and have found a master so soon. I shouldn't complain.'
Thinking about Lieutenant Dyester reminded Khan about Martha. He quickly took his phone and sent her a simple message. He thanked her again and confirmed that the soldier had been good to him.
"I'm glad," Martha immediately replied through a message. "See you tomorrow."
Khan set the alarm and put the phone back in his pocket before lying on the bed. His body couldn't resist anymore. He had to sleep and recover enough for tomorrow's training.
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The next morning, Khan tried to meditate again, but the same pain spread from his back when the mana expanded in that spot. However, he gritted his teeth and continued to force the energy to flow.
The pain forced Khan to go in and out of his meditative state. His training was far harsher than before, but he believed that he would eventually learn how to handle those hindrances.
The new issues with his meditations made him decide to reach the canteen later than usual. He didn't want to train outside of his room and have sudden pains while surrounded by recruits.
Khan found Martha, Luke, and Bruce in the canteen. A few recruits from the special class were with them, but Khan didn't bother to learn their names.
The second week would feature new lessons. The Global Army used the first semester to show all the available courses so that the recruits could consider which ones to pursue during the second part of the year.
Khan had already decided to ignore "history of mana", and he had yet to make up his mind about "basics of mana cores". His main issue with those courses was Professor Conche since the soldier was incredibly dull to follow.
The second week had interesting courses taught by a different professor. Her name was Carol Thogett, and she was a first-level warrior and mage.
Professor Thogett had the appearance of a middle-aged woman with long brown hair and dark eyes. She was short but slender, and she wore a pair of large glasses that featured thick lenses.
Her subjects were "technology and mana" and "xenolinguistics", but they didn't manage to appeal to Khan's interest since his mind could only think about Lieutenant Dyester.
Khan still tried to pay attention to those lessons, but the first one seemed quite pointless in a world of mages and warriors. Even Professor Thogett repeated multiple times that technology could only support the soldiers but never replace them.
Instead, the second lesson was quite intriguing. Professor Thogett knew many alien languages, including the Nak's.
"The Nak don't have real words in their language," Professor Thogett explained. "Even their voice is mana, so they don't need grammar and other rules. They limit themselves to fuse their thoughts with any random sound that comes out of their mouths."
Professor Thogett opened her mouth, and an azure light flowed from her head to her throat. She then gave voice to a simple sound that the mana intensified and spread through the room.
"Who can guess what I've said?" Professor Thogett asked.
'It felt trivial,' Khan thought. 'Maybe "pay attention" or something along the line.'
"No one?" Professor Thogett asked before chuckling. "You don't have to think in terms of words. The Nak's language is mostly related to emotions. I have thought about you paying attention and used mana to transmit it."