章 16: Trade

Everyone in the world knew the meaning of those stars. The Global Army was so important that even the citizens of the Slums could evaluate a soldier from that feature.

The Lieutenant had three stars on each shoulder. He was a third-level warrior and a third-level mage. He had the shape of a human, but he hid enough power to earn the label of a monster.

Bloke didn't dare to speak anymore. His surprise slowly vanished to make room to regret. The boy knew how the ranks in the Global Army worked, so he had never expected that a mere Lieutenant could wield so much power.

"You must be pretty strong," Khan commented while feigning naivety.

"I won't buy your act," The man snorted. "Remember that I've watched your fight."

Khan smiled, but he didn't add anything. The man could see right through him. Pretenses were useless in that situation.

"How can you be a simple Lieutenant?" Bloke eventually asked. "You can become a Major at your level. I can't understand how you can even accept to be a mere guard in the prisons of the camp."

"You are too young to understand the intricacies of the politics," The man sighed. "I'm a simple soldier. Fighting is what I do best."

"Wait a moment," Another boy said while nearing the metal bars. "I think I've heard about you. You are Carl Dyester, the butcher of Istrone."

Khan limited himself to listen to that conversation. He had heard about Istrone from Martha, but he was completely unaware of the events that involved that place.

"That's impossible," Bloke replied. "I've also heard those stories. The crisis on Istrone happened forty years ago, and Carl Dyester had already become a Major by then. Look at him. He is too young!"

The man was tall and burly. Khan didn't manage to inspect his skin because the light of the electric torches was too dim. Still, he wouldn't give the Lieutenant more than forty years from his facial features.

"Mana can keep you young if used correctly," The man sighed. "I didn't think kids these days could still learn stories about that mess."

"How could we not?" The second boy asked. "You have singlehandedly suppressed a revolt. The Global Army would have lost the planet if it weren't for you."

Carl suddenly punched the door of an empty cell. A clanging noise resounded through the basement as the metal bars bent and shattered under the might carried by his arm.

Everyone fell silent at that scene, but Carl soon understood that he had gone too far. He scratched the corner of his eyes before explaining his reasons. "Stories rarely are accurate. I had my entire platoon on Istrone. I wouldn't have been the only survivor of the crisis if it weren't for my troops."

Silence spread through the basement, but a beeping noise quickly broke it. Carl took his phone and browsed through the notifications before nearing the screen to Khan's cell.

"You can go," Carl explained as the cell unlocked. "The others must remain here a bit longer."

Khan left the cell, but he didn't immediately leave the basement. A soldier who had been on other planets was right in front of him, and he couldn't waste that chance to satisfy his curiosity.

"Did you ever see a Nak?" Khan asked without bothering to add the annoying "sir".

The sudden question took Carl by surprise, but he still shook his head to answer.

"Do you think that they are still out there?" Khan continued to question him.

"They must be," Carl replied while moving back to his table. "We have learnt a lot from those aliens, but there are immense blank spots in their history."

"What do you mean?" Khan asked.

The entirety of the human race had studied those aliens for more than five hundred years. The Global Army had also developed methods to deploy their power and surpass their peaks. It was impossible to know everything about them, but Khan still believed that there couldn't be many doubts left.

"The Second Impact has shown us that some of them still live," Carl explained while picking a pack of cigarettes from the pocket on his chest.

"You didn't mean this with your previous words," Khan replied, and Carl inspected him for a few seconds before placing a finger on the cigarette to light it up.

"Do you promise to go away if I give you my honest opinion?" Carl asked while taking a drag off the cigarette, and Khan promptly nodded.

"How did we defeat the Nak during the First Impact?" Carl asked. "We had rifles, bombs, and planes, but no mana. How did we win the war against those aliens?"

The images of the mines in the Slums ran through Khan's vision. He had seen what a single Nak could do against weapons that didn't use on mana.

The First Impact had theoretically involved the main force of those aliens. The entire planet Earth had suffered from the invasion, but humankind had won the war anyway.

'How did they win without mana?' Khan wondered. 'How did I never consider this part of the story?'

It was hard to be accurate about something that had happened more than five hundred years in the past, but Khan felt stupid anyway. That aspect of the war featured a massive flaw that no one in the Slums had ever questioned.

"My take on the matter is that the Nak were a suicidal bunch," Carl laughed while stretching his legs on the table and tilting his chair. "Only the higher-ups know the real story, but they never reveal proper details. You might gain access to those reports if you make it to Colonel."

Khan respected the promise and left the basement. The sunlight still illuminated the camp, but it was clear that the day was about to end.

'Suicidal?' Khan asked himself while reviewing everything that he had learnt about those aliens. 'The greatest enemy of humanity is a suicidal bunch? That can't be.'

Khan agreed with Carl, but he didn't share the same opinions. The Global Army was definitely hiding a secret, but he knew too little to formulate conclusions.

'Colonel is too far away for now,' Khan thought while moving his reasoning on another topic. 'I don't even know how to become a first-level warrior. I can only stick to Dad's training until the lessons start.'

Khan could easily find his way back to the dormitory with his phone. The machine seemed unable to exhaust its battery, so it accompanied him through the entire day.

It took Khan one hour to return to his room. The other beds were still empty, so he had the entire flat to himself.

Khan decided to take a shower and change. He even studied the instructions for the laundry and tested his first cleaning. Everything went well since most of the functions were automatic.

It was too late to visit the canteen, but Khan didn't mind skipping a meal. Becoming aware of Carl's power had given birth to a tingling sensation in the back of his head. He wanted to become stronger quickly to enter that seemingly immense world featuring aliens, mages, and other planets.

'I could order something directly from my room if I weren't broke,' Khan sighed in his mind before sitting on his bed and trying to enter a meditative state.

The mana appeared in his vision. That azure energy flowed from his nape and expanded through his entire body. Yet, a sudden noise resounded in the room and pulled Khan out of his meditative state.

Khan opened his eyes and turned toward the source of that noise. His mouth broke into a smile when he saw the boy standing in front of the entrance of the room. A dense cream covered the left side of Samuel's face and tried to hide his surprised expression.

Samuel's face had turned pale when he recognized Khan, but the latter didn't focus too much on him. The boy had dropped his backpack, and Khan had clearly heard food cans among that noise.

"Do you happen to have food there?" Khan asked without dropping his smile.

Samuel seemed frozen in fear, but he still managed to perform a faint nod.

"Let's make a trade then!" Khan exclaimed. "I'll give you the top bunk for your food."

Samuel looked around the room. Both top bunks were empty, but Khan was still using them to take his food. However, something told him that he had to accept that trade.

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章 17: Conversation

Life inside the training camp was quite boring before the beginning of the lessons, especially for those who didn't have the Credits to spend on recreational activities.

Khan spent most of his time inside his room, while Samuel often decided to leave to avoid the tension that fell whenever the two of them were together.

Khan pretended not to notice that behavior. The most significant interaction with Samuel had been on the first night when he took his food, but the duo didn't speak at all during the following days.

Samuel was too scared to interact with Khan. His mandatory daily visits to the medical bay reminded him that Khan was quite strong, and the memories of the scuffle confirmed that his battle experience didn't match his roommate.

On the other hand, Khan didn't care about his roommate. He spent his time training and visiting the canteen as he waited for the lessons to start. Samuel probably knew more than him when it came to mana, but Khan didn't trust the boy enough to question him.

The week went by quickly, and no other roommates arrived in Khan's room. It seemed that the camp had far more dormitories than needed, and Khan could only feel happy about that extra space.

On the night before the beginning of the lessons, Samuel returned to his room five minutes before the curfew. That was his usual routine. He wanted to limit being with Khan as much as possible, but some curiosity had eventually appeared in his mind.

Samuel left early in the morning and came back late at night, but he always found his roommate in a meditative state. Khan woke up before him to train, and he never went to sleep before him.

Samuel had never seen Khan sleeping in an entire week. That behavior was unnatural for a sixteen years old boy who had just arrived in an environment filled with girls of a similar age. He often held back his curiosity due to the awkwardness of the situation, but that feeling ended up exploding on the night before the beginning of the lessons.

"Why do you work so hard?" Samuel asked when he saw Khan interrupting his meditation and opening his eyes.

Khan's eyes widened at that sudden question. He didn't mind the silent awkwardness that filled the room, so he had respected Samuel's behavior.

Bullying Samuel would have also been easy in that situation, but Khan didn't want to become like the scum that filled the Slums. Moreover, the regulations harshly punished theft and similar activities, so Khan preferred to stay out of trouble.

"Have you finally stopped fearing me?" Khan laughed while bending to pick one of the food cans obtained in the canteen.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Samuel promptly shouted.

"Sure, sure," Khan said while opening the can and slurping the cold soup contained inside it.

"Why do you never heat it?" Samuel asked. "We have a microwave in the laundry area."

Khan simply shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat.

"You are a strange one," Samuel sighed before climbing on the bunk bed on the other side of the room.

Khan finished the can and glanced at the boy. He also had a few doubts about Samuel's behavior, but he hesitated to establish a peaceful relationship with someone who bullied the citizens of the Slums.

'I should probably give him a chance to atone,' Khan thought. 'He is just a kid. He has never experienced my desperation.'

"I have the same question for you," Khan said while crossing his legs and placing his back on the wall. "I'm quite sure that you don't train outside. Your friends don't seem the type to care about that stuff. Do you plan to remain on Earth?"

Samuel raised his head and revealed a confused expression. He straightened his position to sit on the bed and give a plain answer. "My father would kill me if I remained on Earth. I need to become a second-level warrior at least."

"Why don't you train then?" Khan asked. "I bet your family has taught you something before coming here. How can you become a second-level warrior if you spend time bullying lone kids?"

Samuel lowered his eyes in shame at that remark. It was easy to feel proud about bullying others among his friends, but the reality of his behavior became evident in front of his victims.

"Our families are close," Samuel explained. "Hanging out with them is a political necessity. I don't enjoy what we do to kill time."

"I don't care about your excuses," Khan snorted. "Don't pretend to be a victim."

The shame on Samuel's face intensified, and an awkward silence fell on the room. The boy didn't know what to answer, and Khan didn't care enough to continue the conversation on his own.

"You can purchase mana if you have enough Credits," Samuel said when he saw that Khan was about to enter the meditative state again. "Training is useless when you can get infusions."

Khan had heard about mana infusions, but his father had never been able to describe their purpose. He could vaguely understand that having more mana was better, but he didn't believe that Credits could grant power.

"Your training raises the attunement with mana, right?" Samuel asked, and Khan decided to nod even if he weren't sure about that.

"You can obtain similar effects through infusions," Samuel explained. "Injecting mana into specific body parts raises the attunement with that energy."

"My father would never teach me something useless," Khan replied.

"The normal training has benefits," Samuel continued. "The infusions use synthetic mana, which can ruin your potential depending on its quality. The top-tier product can even cost a fortune since you can remove its impurities in a few years."

That explanation left Khan with even more doubts. He suddenly felt curious about the whole topic, but he believed that Samuel didn't know much. Also, his knowledge could be inaccurate.

"Relying only on the mana core provides a slow but flawless improvement," Samuel explained. "Yet, the process can be really slow depending on the quality of the mana core itself. It's also overall boring compared to the simple infusions."

"I bet your family will buy you infusions," Khan commented.

"I already have a few ready," Samuel proudly announced. "I only need to raise my attunement with mana to twenty percent before starting the process. Becoming a second-level warrior should be quite easy for me."

"What about magic?" Khan asked.

"The training to become a mage is far harder," Samuel sighed. "Warriors only need tough bodies and knowledge over a few martial arts. Instead, magic has no shortcuts. Even improving your mana capacity can't help you there."

Khan's doubts increased again. Samuel definitely knew far more than him, but his knowledge seemed too vague to give precise details about those fields.

"So, what do you want to do after becoming a second-level warrior?" Khan asked when he saw Samuel yawning.

"Get to a safe planet and try to climb the ranks there," Samuel explained while lying back on the bed.

"Don't you want to discover new planets and interact with alien species?" Khan asked.

"What's the point?" Samuel laughed. "The war is long since over. The universe only has alien species with a weaker foundation. Humankind will eventually subdue all of them even without my help. I only want to avoid being a disappointment for my family."

Khan didn't ask anything else. It was clear that Samuel was too different from him. Most of the soldiers probably shared the same feelings since they had never experienced any real danger in their life.

'Humans have become lazy,' Khan thought while crossing his legs to enter a meditative state again.

His first lesson would start early in the morning, so he set the alarm to avoid training all night. Some excitement even formed in his mind and tried to stop Khan from calming down.

'I have "history of mana" and "basics of mana cores" tomorrow morning,' Khan read on his phone once his training ended and he prepared himself to sleep.

Both subjects seemed interesting, but Khan couldn't move his eyes from the description of his afternoon lessons. The Global Army would finally teach him how to use mana!

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