'It was organic A-tier then,' Khan thought while reading the stats, but he didn't forget to question Doctor Ian about his previous exclamation.
"Is something wrong, sir?" Khan asked while turning his gaze toward the Doctor.
Ian wore a confused expression when he read the stats. He checked the electric thermometer and tinkered with it for a while before repeating the test. However, the holoscreen ended up showing the same results.
Khan began to worry. He trusted his father too much to believe that he had messed up with the transplant, but Doctor Ian's expressions made him feel that something was wrong.
"Is my mana core ok, sir?" Khan asked.
The stats didn't seem to have anything wrong, except for the mana capacity. Still, Khan had already visualized and moved that energy, so he knew that he had no problem in that field.
"Nothing is wrong," Doctor Ian eventually announced before turning Khan and inspecting his features.
Doctor Ian paid a great deal of attention to his eyes and hair. He seemed very interested in the few azure strands on his head, and his gaze soon fell on the rest of Khan's body.
"I'm starting to worry," Khan said while taking a step back to leave Doctor Ian's grasp.
"Don't get the wrong idea," Doctor Ian replied before switching the topic. "Are you a Tainted?"
The question took Khan by surprise, but he felt no reason to hide that feature from the army doctor. He grabbed the collar of his sweaty uniform and lowered it to reveal part of the azure scar on his chest.
"I'm one of the survivors of the Second Impact," Khan explained. "Did the infection affect my mana?"
Even Bret had failed to notice that a few mutations had escaped his attention. Khan only needed to inspect Doctor Ian's expressions to understand that the infection had affected other parts of his body.
"It's impossible to remain completely unaffected by the Nak's infection," Doctor Ian explained. "Even the great Bret can't do miracles."
"Do you know my father?" Khan asked as his eyes widened in surprise.
"It's hard to find soldiers who didn't hear about him," Doctor Ian gave voice to a faint laugh. "Good man. What happened to him was a tragedy. I still think that the Global Army has been too hard on him."
Khan didn't know the specifics behind his father's retirement. He was completely unaware of how the higher-ups of the Global Army worked, and Bret had never had the chance nor the ability to describe them.
"Did the Nak's mana threaten my chances of becoming a mage?" Khan asked as his worries intensified.
"Not at all," Doctor Ian quickly reassured him. "It has simply affected your nature. Your status as a Tainted explains these stats."
"Care to explain them to me?" Khan asked, and Doctor Ian shot a cold glance toward him that made him recall the word "sir".
"The issue is in the element," Doctor Ian explained when he saw that Khan lowered his head. "The chaos element is almost impossible to find in humans, but it's very common among Nak. Your Tainted status also explains why your normal body has been able to fuse with an organic A-tier core without any special training."
Khan suddenly recalled Luke's words about the compatibility of organic mana cores, and a cold idea formed in his mind.
His mana core belonged to a Nak, but his body didn't oppose the transplant. His father didn't argue about the procedure either. The reason behind those details seemed obvious now, but Khan didn't want to understand it.
'It can't be,' Khan thought as the images of his reoccurring nightmare flashed in his eyes.
"I would need to perform more tests to confirm anything," Doctor Ian continued, "But the Nak's mana may have given you some aspects of that alien species. My machine can only test the human capacity, so it can't give an accurate stat for you."
"Are you implying that I'm a Nak, sir?" Khan asked as a hint of coldness seeped into his voice.
Doctor Ian failed to notice the change in his tone and continued the explanation. "You are a fully-fledged human. You only have certain mutations that make my tools not work since you have developed similarities to that species."
Khan didn't answer. Doctor Ian's explanation didn't satisfy him. The Nak had been his curse for eleven years, but he had discovered that he carried similarities with that species now. His mood had never been worse.
Khan turned to leave. He wanted to remain alone for a while. That discovery had turned his world upside-down, but Doctor Ian stopped him before he could reach the door.
"I have yet to explain the attunement," Doctor Ian announced, and Khan decided to suppress the awful feelings that had filled his mind for the time being to hear those teachings.
"Mana fills the entirety of the Nak's bodies," Doctor Ian explained. "That's an attunement level that goes beyond one hundred percent. You must aim to do the same, but I'm sure that you'll learn about all of this soon."
"Can I go now, sir?" Khan asked.
Doctor Ian could see that something was wrong with Khan, and he didn't take much to understand the nature behind his foul mood.
Khan had survived the Second Impact. It was normal for his feelings toward the Nak to be unpleasant, and learning about the similarities with that species wasn't ideal.
Of course, Doctor Ian didn't know about Khan's nightmares, so he underestimated the intensity of those feelings. He didn't do anything to cheer Khan up, and his hand soon pointed toward the door.
"One last thing," Doctor Ian said before Khan could leave the room. "You aren't the first human with the chaos element. The army won't mistreat you, but I can't say the same for the other soldiers."
'Even better,' Khan exclaimed in his mind before ignoring that issue.
Khan knew that he couldn't do anything about his situation, but he couldn't decide how to feel about it. He had to be alone and slowly accept that discovery.
Doctor Ian didn't stop Khan from leaving the room. The latter walked out of the medical bay without bothering to look at his surroundings. He continued to march until he found a bench laid at the side of a street.
'I'm not exactly a Nak,' Khan told himself while sitting on the bench. 'I'm only similar to that species in some aspects. My element and my mana core are only tools. I bet that I will use spells meant for humans.'
Khan was trying to lift his morale. He resented the Nak deeply, so he had to find a way out of that reasoning to avoid hating himself.
'Who knows?' Khan thought. 'These mutations might even benefit me. My attunement is already at ten percent. That can't be a bad starting point.'
A few kids gathered around Khan while he remained immersed in his thoughts. Four boys between sixteen and seventeen years old noticed his clothes and decided to surround his bench.
"Hey, you!" The boy in front of Khan suddenly shouted. "We have a bet in place. My friends think that you are from the Slums, but I want to believe that you simply don't like to clean yourself."
Khan glanced at the four boys, but he soon lowered his head again. He had gone through similar situations in the Slums, and he had no intention to fuel them during his first day in the Global Army.
"Look at his hair," One of the boys behind Khan said. "He has a few azure strands. It can't be simple dye."
"Did we find a Tainted at our first try?" Another boy asked. "He must be from the Slums then. Pay up!"
"He has yet to confirm that!" The first boy complained.
"Come on," The fourth boy laughed. "There hasn't been an infection in Ylaco in centuries. Only the Slums don't have the equipment to deal with it."
"The Second Impact has also happened in the Slums," The boy behind Khan added.
"Hey, you!" The first boy shouted again while crouching toward Khan. "I'm talking to you! Are you from the Slums or Ylaco?"
Khan continued to ignore them, but the first boy eventually grabbed his hair and forced him to raise his head.
"You really don't know how to leave people alone," Khan whispered.
"I want an answer-," The first boy shouted, but Khan stabbed his fingers in his eyes before he could finish his line.
"What are you doing?!" The boy behind the bench asked and tried to grab him, but Khan promptly stood up and kicked the blinded guy to the ground.
The boy near Khan tried to approach him from the side, but he pushed a hand forward to block his vision.
The boy tilted his head to see what was happening behind the hand, but a sharp pain suddenly filled his entire body. His companions covered their mouths when they saw that scene. Khan had used that chance to kick him in the groin.