Khan glanced toward Lieutenant Dyester while stopping the recording, and the latter showed a confused expression.
"How does he know about my Tainted status?" Khan asked.
Khan knew that Tainted humans could inherit the chaos element, but he believed that some would have it without the Nak's influence.
"The chaos element isn't natural for humans," Lieutenant Dyester explained. "The only ones who can have it without the influence of the Nak's are sons and daughters of Tainted men and women. I thought you knew that."
Khan shook his head, but he let go of the matter and played the recording.
"Mages usually require specific emotions and thoughts to turn the mana inside their brain into spells," The mechanical voice continued. "Elements have different features, so our minds need to enhance them to summon the magic properties of our energy."
Lieutenant Dyester nodded and added a few lines to that explanation. "The fire element needs thoughts like heat, fire, and other similar ideas. The emotions can be anger, jealousy, and those that share the same recklessness."
"The chaos element doesn't have any of that," The man in the hologram suddenly said. "This power is something that originally belonged to creatures made of mana. The Nak don't have to think or feel about deploying their power. They only have to desire it, and the mana autonomously takes the intended shape."
The explanation made sense. Both Khan and Dyester remained silent as they did their best to learn as much as possible from the training program.
"The chaos element is also unstable," The mechanical voice continued. "It will try to oppose your commands, and it will use every slip-up to escape your control. Only the steadiest minds can learn how to turn this energy into spells without risking their lives."
Khan scratched his head, and Lieutenant Dyester revealed a helpless expression. The latter knew that controlling the chaos element was hard, but he didn't believe it to be far harsher than the other elements. After all, they didn't try to fight their user.
"I can't teach you much," The man in the hologram explained. "I dare to say that no other chaos wielder can do that. Every mage with this element has to find a personal path, which mostly requires years of training."
"Don't tell me that he won't teach me anything at all," Khan scoffed.
"That shouldn't be the case," Lieutenant Dyester replied, and the training program soon proved him right.
"However," The hologram continued, "There are a few key points that those with the chaos element must pursue. This training program will teach you many exercises to improve your sensitivity to mana and control over that energy. Also, it will have a simple spell at the end. I suggest you don't try it until you have completed all the previous steps."
Khan's mood improved after hearing those words, and Lieutenant Dyester even patted his shoulder to reassure him. Then, the duo exchanged a meaningful glance before Khan scrolled through the lessons and selected the last one.
"I see that you have mastered all the exercises," The man in the program exclaimed. "You have reached the level of sensitivity and control required to learn your first spell. Pay attention now."
The vague figure of the man gained a few details, and stats even appeared around him. Khan and Lieutenant Dyester could read the amount of mana required for the spell and a few examples of thoughts that have worked to activate it.
The man raised his palm, and a sizzling noise came out of the phone. The hologram showed waves of energy coming out of the soldier's hand, but Khan couldn't understand much without the usual training dummy placed as an example.
The hologram seemed to hear his thoughts, and a training dummy quickly appeared in front of the man. The soldier placed his palm on the puppet before activating the spell again, and the images suddenly became vague for an instant.
The images stabilized after a second, and Khan could see that the dummy was in pieces. Only the small stick that supported its metal figure had remained in its place. Everything else had crumbled during the spell.
"The chaos element always causes problems with the recording devices," The man revealed after straightening his position. "Only top-tier gear can get a proper footage of chaos spells, but a few frames end up disappearing anyway."
Khan quickly tinkered with the recording to reveal all the stats recorded during the spell, and Lieutenant Dyester studied them to give a professional opinion.
"The sheer destructive power is great considering the small amount of mana required to activate the spell," The Lieutenant announced. "I can't say the same about the other requirements."
Khan didn't take much to understand what Lieutenant Dyester meant. The notes next to the spell were quite vague. They indicated a few thoughts and different movements of the mana that could lead to the same effect.
The program seemed to be sure only about one stat. Khan could read that the spell required the complete absence of emotions during the casting.
"It won't be easy to achieve that level of control," Lieutenant Dyester commented when he read that detail. "Can you even think without feeling? It will take you a while to master that part."
Khan reactivated the lesson to ignore the feelings that were surging in his mind.
"This spell is called Wave," The man resumed his explanation. "It can virtually pierce any material, be it metal, human flesh, or alien skin. Chaos has the best destructive potential among the elements, but it often ends up hurting the user. Your previous exercises were necessary to avoid that outcome."
The recording ended at that point, and Khan scrolled the program back to the initial lessons to count them. He could see twelve exercises meant to enhance his control and sensitivity to mana, and their difficulty increased as they neared the spell.
"You can drop my mental exercises to focus on this training," Lieutenant Dyester announced while sitting on the steps of the staircase. "They mostly have the same purpose. These even seem more advanced than mine, which only proves how hard it is to control the chaos element."
"Everyone will have fireballs and other cool stuff while I'll remain stuck at mental exercises," Khan sighed before turning off the hologram and activating the Lightning-demon style's training program.
"The other kids will also have it hard," Lieutenant Dyester replied while lighting another cigarette. "They'll probably learn to cast spells before you, but that's the very reason behind your martial art."
Khan revealed a confused expression, and the Lieutenant exploded into a laugh.
"Why do you think I've contacted the higher-ups?" Lieutenant Dyester laughed. "You needed something good to compensate for your element. The Lightning-demon style even focuses on speed, so you'll be able to reach most of your peers before they finish preparing their spells."
Khan remained speechless for a second. Lieutenant Dyester had already considered everything. His experience had allowed him to understand Khan's flaws and find solutions before even starting the training.
"I don't know what to say," Khan honestly whispered.
"I don't want words," Lieutenant Dyester snorted. "Pay me back in blood and sweat. Come on! You have been an entire week on the basic footwork without showing any result. I want at least fifty perfect executions before your ankles start to give up!"
.
.
.
Time inside the training camp moved quickly. The lessons and the many projects filled everyone's routines and left them with virtually no free time. Only those who slacked on their training had the chance to enjoy the beauty of their youth.
The end of the third week signaled the arrival of new lessons. The Global Army couldn't teach only subjects related to mana since it had to give a complete education to its recruits, so a few unrelated courses began to appear.
Khan had to attend lessons featuring general science, anatomy, chemistry, engineering, and other subjects that could lead the recruits toward specific courses once the second semester started.
Most of the advanced courses required a mixture of those subjects, so the recruits needed to gain a clear idea before choosing what to do in the second semester. They would still be in time to change their lessons later on, but it was wise to get them right the first time.
It was rare for unusual events to happen inside the training camp. The Global Army wanted everything to be perfect for the recruits, and that required a stable routine.
The recruits didn't need stress or other external influences since they had to focus on their training. The first semester wouldn't even feature tests for that very reason. Everything had to exist for the sole purpose of creating good soldiers.
The attunement with mana of some of the recruits from the special class inevitably reached twenty percent as the days passed. Those kids could finally start the real part of their education, and Khan's social life vanished at that point.
Khan continued to see Martha, Luke, and the others during the morning lessons, but all of them gained full schedules after their attunement reached the intended level. Masters from Ylaco even arrived in the training camp and began to follow their respective disciples to teach martial arts and spells.
Khan went through solitary days that consisted of many hours of training and Lieutenant Dyester's shouts. He didn't mind that routine, but his mood inevitably suffered from the endless pile of exercises he had to repeat every day. Only his steady improvements allowed him to remain sane.
The lessons seemed to follow a cycle. The Global Army alternated one month of subjects connected to mana with one month of general knowledge.
The cycle then restarted, featuring the same lessons that went over more specific subjects. For example, "history of mana" would analyze the many families that had stood out during specific periods after the First Impact.
Khan often decided to download some lessons on his phone, and his device eventually became a pile of information that he could review whenever he had doubts about certain subjects.
Memorizing everything in mere weeks was impossible, especially since the army wanted the recruits to focus on their training with mana. Their instruction was secondary, and only those interested in pursuing a career in some subjects would divide their time into both parts.
Some recruits still decided to use part of their days to hang out with friends or flirt around. They inevitably sacrificed their growth to enjoy their youth, but most of them ignored that aspect of their training since they aimed for eventual infusions of synthetic mana.
A few recruits had fallen behind their peers in the special class, leading them to go back to the normal courses. Distress and anger inevitably built inside those boys and girls, and their desire to work harder ended up vanishing due to their failures.
That mood led some of them to make bad decisions to vent their anger and regain some form of superiority inside the training camp. It was hard for some of the wealthiest kids to be considered inferior to poorer recruits, so they felt the need to re-establish the chain of command.
"Are you sure that we won't suffer any repercussions for this?" Bloke Seylor asked while Samuel and the other two bullies stood behind him.
A girl was sitting in front of them on the steps that led to a dormitory. Two girls were behind her, and the three of them were watching the video of Khan kicking the four bullies on the groin.
"How could you let this go for almost three months?" Alison Blackdell asked.
"He rarely is alone," Bloke replied. "We have followed him at night from time to time, but he always returns home late. We would risk breaking the curfew to attack him."
"Lieutenant Dyester is also his Master," One of the bullies added. "He will never let us go if we did something to his disciple."
"I don't care how you do it," Alison Blackdell snorted. "I can't allow a boy from the Slums to remain in the special class when I'm not there. I couldn't do anything when the Cobsend kid was around him, but everything should be easier now that everyone is busy training."
"I think we should ignore Khan," Samuel eventually said. "I didn't think you could develop muscles so quickly. He honestly scares me."
"You four are still struggling to reach twenty percent attunement!" Alison snorted. "You also have grudges with the kid who dared to compare me to a hooker. You can choose to gain synthetic mana and my protection or see this video going viral. The choice is yours."