Everything was dark. Waves of black smoke surged and filled every corner of Khan's vision, but he could still see. Of course, he wasn't inspecting the scene with his eyes. He actually kept them closed as he let his mind experience the mana around him.
The smoke wasn't natural. A series of explosions might have caused such a vast and dense discharge of gas, but the mana told Khan a different truth.
The mana didn't simply hover in the area. That energy was part of the smoke and forced it to shoot upward. The pattern reminded Khan of a spell, but it had an artificial taste that he didn't overlook.
'Someone wants the smoke to keep flowing in these directions,' Khan thought as his light steps kept him above the surface.
Khan was performing small jumps on the dense currents of mana around him. He couldn't put too much strength since those footholds wouldn't be able to endure it, but that didn't change his situation. He was basically flying among the smoke.
The artificial taste in the smoke reassured Khan and confirmed that the event didn't have a mage behind it. The gas probably came from machines meant to cause those reactions. He compared it to a cloaking spell that had the purpose of buying time for those inside the area.
Still, the Global Army didn't want hypothesis, and Khan didn't throw himself into a possibly dangerous situation to have fun. He needed actual clues and answers, so he slowly descended when he felt to have reached the center of the wall of smoke.
The currents became more violent as Khan drew closer to their source. He felt pushed back, but his weight allowed him to continue the descent. However, the situation slowly worsened and forced him to change his approach.
Khan was only a newbie when it came to using the mana as a foothold. The habits developed in almost eighteen years of life also went against that new ability. Every human had to learn how to stand and walk, but things were different for Khan now.
The footholds around Khan had multiplied. They were under him, at his sides, and above him. He could step on most of the currents of smoke that were enveloping his figure, which allowed different types of sprints.
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Khan could kick the smoke above him to descend. He could be upside-down but still, walk. His ability to step on mana had broken the bidimensional limits and had paved the way for tridimensional movements.
Khan experienced a tinge of fear as he let his head replace his feet before performing his light steps again. His balance felt off, and his movements lacked the previous confidence, but he took it slow and easy.
As Khan gained some confidence in that new type of movement, his descent quickened and transformed into more than a mere fall. He was jumping toward the surface and piercing the smoke that wanted to push him back up.
The smoke eventually became strong enough to push Khan out of his intended trajectory, but that wasn't an issue. Khan could easily kick the currents at his sides to adjust his position. He only had to spin and rotate on himself according to his needs.
The new type of movement wasn't much different from swimming. Khan wasn't good at that either, and his experience with water was almost nonexistent. Yet, he could find some similarities, and a smile inevitably appeared on his face when he thought about the differences.
'I might be able to do this with mere air one day,' Khan thought as he continued to dive.
Khan had loved his time on Nitis, and Snow had been one of the big reasons behind that. Flying was terrific, and Khan now had the chance to develop something similar with his own feet. Needless to say, that idea made him excited beyond reason.
The excitement didn't distract Khan from the mission. He continued to jump downward until he felt the presence of a firm wall that forced him to spin on himself. His feet violently touched the surface, and he straightened his back only to discover that he had landed at the bottom of the area.
Khan sensed less smoke in his surroundings, so he tried to open his eyes. Still, the area was too dark, and tears immediately started to form due to the pollution.
Khan had to close his eyes immediately and fight the instinct to rub them. He had to advance blindly, but the situation wasn't too bad. The area had less smoke, so less mana, but he could still inspect the various waves in his surroundings.
The floor felt metallic when Khan tapped on it. That alone confirmed the involvement of powerful forces from the Global Army, but it wasn't enough of a clue.
Smoke shot upward from different spots around Khan. Its intensity and the amount of mana in its insides prevented him from inspecting distant areas, but a few details quickly became evident.
Khan had to inspect the environment through the mana. The largest gathering of energy acted as lights that illuminated their surrounding areas, but their radiance wasn't immediate.
The lights were waves that expanded and interacted with the environment. Every surface rejected the mana and pushed it back, which allowed Khan to get an idea of the various items and general layout.
The area had a series of cubical structures that contained a lot of synthetic mana. That energy flowed in items right next to those containers, which gave birth to the dense smoke that Khan had just crossed.
Khan took a few steps toward the nearest container. He used his free hand to feel its smooth surface. It didn't feel like metal, but it was definitely firm and sturdy.
Instead, the machine next to the container was hard to define with only hands and mana. It had gears in its insides that made its surfaces tremble. Khan even felt levers and buttons, but he didn't touch them out of fear of causing a mess.
Technology was one of Khan's weakest fields, but he could understand basic things. Machines needed fuel to work, so he covered his knife with the sharp membrane and pierced the container.
The container had surfaces resistant to mana, but they couldn't oppose the Divine Reaper. The synthetic mana in its insides began to fill the area as soon as Khan withdrew the knife, and the machine stopped working after a few seconds.
'Maybe I can clear the area,' Khan thought, but an odd sound suddenly caught his attention.
The area was quite noisy. The multiple pillars of smoke filled Khan's ears with whooshing sounds that managed to cover anything released by the gears inside the machines. However, after Khan broke the container, a low growl pierced all of that.
A vast shape eventually took form in Khan's senses. He could feel something walking through the dense waves of mana and approaching his position. The smoke had prevented him from noticing that creature sooner, but it was impossible to miss now.
'A monster,' Khan concluded as he prepared for the imminent fight.
Khan bent his legs and raised his knife. His senses were powerful, but he failed to gain a clear idea of the monster's edges. The mana inside its body told him that it was as strong as a first-level warrior, but he had to wait for the waves in the environment to fall on its form to understand its shape.
The easier approach would be to launch a powerful spell at the creature. Yet, Khan wanted to preserve the environment as much as possible, so he waited for the monster to move.
The creature took timid steps forward, but it stopped when it reached the wave of mana released by the container. It didn't seem to have any interest in Khan. It only wanted to breathe the synthetic energy spreading in the area.
Khan remained still for a few seconds before deciding to turn his back on the monster. That wasn't the time to fight. The smoke alone wasn't enough to destroy clues, so there had to be something else at work there, and he had yet to find it.
Khan shed away his insecurities and began to move swiftly. It felt strange to walk and run without relying on his eyes, but the mana welcomed him with open arms.
His senses grew sharper as he relied more and more on the mana. Khan had learnt to lose himself in those symphonies, but he had never limited his perception to them. Yet, he had the chance to test that new approach now, and the results were incredible.
According to Khan's senses, the mana had the shape of a series of white currents in a black world. Its different natures gave birth to various densities and forms, and they even triggered multiple feelings when Khan perceived it.
Nevertheless, the currents of mana began to gain different colors as Khan devolved the entirety of his perception to them. Most of them turned azure, but some gained clearer shades when employed by the smoke.
Eventually, a reddish figure appeared in that azure, white, and black world. Khan sensed another monster next to the second container. The creature was slamming its limbs on the structure, but its attacks couldn't break it.
Khan bent forward and sprinted toward the opposite side of the container, but something cut short his movements. He slammed on an item that shot in the distance after the impact. The event didn't cause any pain, but it pissed him that he had failed to sense that hindrance.
Khan let a few seconds pass to wait for the waves of mana to reach the item. A few edges slowly became clear until he recognized its nature. He had slammed on a chair.
'Calm down and focus,' Khan scolded himself. 'Run through the bright areas and walk in the dark ones. I can do this.'
Khan followed his own directives. The bright areas contained a lot of mana, which made it easy for him to find eventual items or furniture. Instead, the dark ones required him to walk carefully and wait for waves of energy to reach them.
As Khan's confidence increased, his exploration became faster. He successfully reached the other side of the container with the monster and pierced it with his knife. The event attracted the creature, but the mana released by the structure allowed Khan to retreat silently.
Only a few monsters occupied that area. Khan counted four of them as he proceeded to break every container. The smoke finally stopped, but the area remained too polluted for Khan's eyes.
'What now?' Khan wondered as he tried his best to push his senses even further.
Khan didn't find anything special during his exploration. The machines might reveal something during a proper investigation, but he believed that they wouldn't lead anywhere.
It would be too stupid for a secret organization to leave clues in their hideouts. Still, the smoke was meant to buy time, so there was a chance.
The issue was that Khan couldn't inspect the area properly. His senses were incredible, but he needed to see to recognize eventual clues, especially if they didn't contain mana. He couldn't even find closed doors or similar passages in that state.
'Fuck this,' Khan thought as he pushed his mana toward his skin and made it shoot outward.
Khan opened his eyes and saw the wave of red-purple mana expanding from his figure. The cloud of smoke above the area kept everything dark, but the light released by his energy added some brightness to the environment.
The properties of his element also removed part of the pollution, but his eyes became teary anyway. Yet, the situation was almost bearable now and allowed Khan to see a few details.
Khan could finally gain a clear view of the machines and containers, but he quickly disregarded them. More lights appeared in his vision due to the synthetic mana expanding in the area, and the monsters next to them also became clear.
The release of mana moved the monsters' attention on Khan, but he ignored them for now. His priority was to find something that could connect the area to a family or an organization, and interesting items eventually appeared in his vision.
Rectangular structures stood above each container. They had a series of square broken items on their insides, and the smoke had only worsened their condition.
It seemed that someone had hit those items repeatedly with a bat. They were squashed, broken in half, or directly in pieces. Khan could see wires and gears coming out of the cracks on their surfaces, but the smoke had consumed their edges and covered them with dirt.
Their position was clearly intentional. Someone had broken the items before placing them in the line of fire of the machines, and Khan knew why.. Those structures resembled the servers seen on Ecoruta.
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