Chaos' Heir

The reinforced room in the luxurious ship was deadly silent. No tremor or sound reached its smooth insides, but empty packs of food and a series of bottles littered its floor.

That litter cluttered the relatively small room, making its floor hard to navigate, but Khan's feet didn't touch it. He was above it, sitting cross-legged in mid-air with his eyes closed, exploring the secrets of his new body.

Levitating had become rather easy after over a week of training. It wasn't instinctive just yet, and Khan still felt conflicted about that newfound but already familiar ability. Still, that moment was bound to arrive as long as he worked out diligently.

Nevertheless, results had arrived. Khan didn't need to spend much mental energy triggering and keeping the ability active. He could focus on something else without risking falling or losing his balance, which was precisely what he was doing now.

As safe as traveling through space had become for Khan, he still wanted to avoid risking blowing up his ship, so he had refrained from engaging in dangerous tests. His training in that period had mainly focused on his ability to fly, but he planned to explore more that day.

Learning in reverse was an annoying and challenging endeavor. Khan had no guidelines nor clear examples to follow, with only his instincts giving faint directions.

The issue was akin to gaining a new, fully grown, and developed limb. Except the limb was invisible and hid its shape and purpose. Khan could move and control it but had to find it before learning about its abilities.

The search was mostly blind, with Khan's attention poking around to see whether something happened. The process had been unfruitful for now, only resulting in random energy surges that didn't lead anywhere. His cells occasionally came to life and activated, but his unclear orders left them confused and powerless to do anything.

'Oh, something is happening,' Khan eventually realized when his blind poking triggered a clearer reaction.

Energy finally moved through Khan's cells, gathering toward his stomach while dragging some mana. He opened his eyes, and their light shone on his naked body to highlight every detail and change. A faint tremor ran through his abdomen, and a strange but familiar sensation rose through his throat.

"Wha-," Khan began to say before a burp interrupted his line. A tinge of purple-red mana accompanied it, escaping his mouth and dispersing inside the reinforced room.

Khan stared at the dispersing mana with wide eyes, not knowing whether to crack a joke or be disappointed. A memory popped up in his brain, making the latter unlikely. After all, Khan did spit out a spell during his rough awakening.

'It's the same thing the Great Old One did,' Khan thought before bringing a hand to his mouth to check his teeth. 'I'm not growing fangs, right?'

Luckily for Khan, his canines were still human, but the event was undeniable. He didn't know whether to consider that as a new ability, but it seemed he could shoot out spells from his mouth now.

Though there were clear differences. Khan only had to review his battle with the ancient creature to find them. The Great Old One's beams were by no means weak but didn't seem to match its gargantuan body's incredible power. Khan wouldn't have survived them otherwise.

'Might and mana,' Khan thought, recalling what the snake said. 'It also did something strange with its blood.'

A sudden worry showed its presence, and Khan stretched his left hand's forefinger before covering it in a bloodthirsty scarlet light. He poked his right forearm with it and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw a drop of red blood coming from the injury.

'It's not blue,' Khan realized, heaving another sigh. He opened his palms, putting them under his glowing eyes. His scarred skin tried to resemble scales, but his flesh was undoubtedly still human.

'Different, different,' Khan pondered. 'Opposite, even. The Great Old One was might and mana, while I am mana and might.'

Khan's scientific expertise hadn't increased by much, but he was an expert at mana and its strange uses, even if he would never admit it. Besides, the Great Old One had disclosed valuable information itself, allowing Khan to draw some conclusions.

The beam was weaker than the gargantuan body, while Khan's lightning bolts were stronger than his flesh. The Great Old One had might at its foundation, only adding mana later, while Khan had started with mana, obtaining might later.

The Great Old One had admitted that its fusion of those two fields was still incomplete. Meanwhile, Khan's flesh and mana were already inseparable. His attunement level was still lacking, but that didn't change the truth of the matter.

The recent burp proved that point. Khan had only tried to use his cell's power, but they had dragged his mana with them. The event could have been random, but it showed what his body could do, which the ancient snake didn't or had been unable to do.

'Mutations,' Khan brainstormed. 'Most flexible species in the universe. Mana-enhanced flesh as the foundation. Only piece the Nak didn't provide the Great Old One with.'

Khan couldn't be sure, but the ancient snake's work seemed finally complete. Khan already had mana, so absorbing the creature's might had directly fused it with his energy, removing the barrier between the two power sources.

'Transcend past might and mana,' Khan voiced in his mind. 'Transcend past mana and might.'

Khan closed his hands, squeezing his fists to experience the immense strength they seemed to contain. His cells came alive, and his mana seamlessly joined them, providing a burst of explosive power.

Pain invaded Khan's mind, and he slowly relaxed his hands, opening them to find four holes in both his palms. His fingers had pierced his skin without requiring any technique or effort or meeting any resistance. Two energy sources had worked together, multiplying their respective power instead of adding it to each other.

'I need to review all my techniques,' Khan concluded, his glowing eyes rising to inspect the reinforced room. 'This thing can't hold me. Nothing can.'

Khan half regretted leaving Coravis now, but a communication suddenly reached the reinforced room, interrupting his thoughts and training.