Chapter 821 Waste
The foot couldn't measure differences in power from the exchange, but the roar overcame that barrier, conveying the massive gap from Khan. The two weren't even comparable.
Khan's roar didn't carry any specific meaning. He had forwarded his overbearing and unreasonable intensity, declaring who was in charge of the situation, and the foot understood its place.
The energy inside the foot slowly dispersed, abandoning its condensed state and leaking into the hall. Part of it even permeated Khan's skin, but his flesh didn't react. No absorption happened.
The previous tests had forced Khan to consider that eventuality, so the result didn't surprise him. It made sense that his body couldn't absorb anything from the Nak since his transformation was complete. That further reassured him but also killed any hope of obtaining immediate improvements.
The foot released all its energy, returning to its "alive" state. Khan knew it could resume acting on its own, but his grasp kept it dormant.
More deep thoughts invaded Khan's mind as he watched the dormant foot. One hand had destroyed Milia 222's secret dock and part of the city above, but Khan could now restrain it with his fingers.
That was another evidence of Khan's growth. The path to get there had been harsh and long, but he had come out reborn. Many saw him as a monster, but his power was undeniable. Even the Nak's foot had been forced to acknowledge him.
'What now?' Khan wondered.
The realization felt good, but Khan didn't want to leave the lab empty-handed. The tests' results had reassured him, but that wasn't enough. It seemed the Nak couldn't give him power anymore, but Khan wasn't done with them.
The scarlet eyes Khan had witnessed during the mental trip popped into his mind. He had developed hypotheses, but getting proper answers would be ideal. However, mere body parts couldn't speak or communicate since they were nothing more than primitive beasts acting out of basic instincts.
Nevertheless, the lab had something far bigger. Reviving the almost intact Nak's corpse could create the opportunity for an interrogation. Of course, everything could also go south quickly, but Khan was willing to face the risk.
Still, two problems stood between Khan and that idea. The procedure was the first. He had successfully revived a foot, but an entire body would require far more practice and tests. As for the second, Khan held it in his hand.
The Nak's flesh was priceless, and its value only increased after being revived. Khan held something otherworldly, something people had died to create. Raymond wouldn't have risked so much if the result weren't worth it.
Moreover, Rebecca had spent years collecting those samples. It wouldn't feel good to destroy most of her work in a single day.
Khan considered those details while staring at the foot. He ran simulations in his mind, exploring the pros and cons of each iteration. His current ability didn't allow him to do much with the samples, but the future was uncertain. There could come a time when scarcity of Nak's flesh could be a problem.
Yet, Khan put strength into his fingers, which squeezed the foot, piercing its skin. Its flesh soon gave in, and Khan turned the sample's central part into a gory pulp. Meanwhile, its remaining pieces fell lifelessly to the floor.
Khan's senses confirmed that the sample was dead, but he couldn't leave anything behind. His normal mana escaped from his palm, destroying the pieces of gore attached to it. The flesh on the floor immediately suffered from a similar fate, only leaving behind spots of blue blood.
The simulations pointed toward keeping the samples intact, but Khan had seen what they could do. The slightest mistake could cause another Milia 222, and he was too busy to control them personally all the time. Besides, he would open himself up to thefts, and his life already had enough worries.
"Bring in something similar," Khan ordered, pressing on the floor, and a series of tests unfolded.
The samples grew bigger and bigger as Khan gained confidence in the process. He tested different quantities of green substance and more, doing his best to streamline the experiment and add consistency to the results.
The process took a while and cost many samples since none survived the experiments. Khan destroyed them, or they crumbled on their own, leaving nothing useful behind.
No sacrifice was in vain. It took hours, but Khan eventually understood what he needed. He had the scientists attach tubes to the corpse's container before lying it down inside the hall. Khan even placed a specific number of flasks at the bottom of each pipe, which a technician connected to the menus. Once everything was set, the final experiment could start.
Khan made everyone leave the hall and lift the mana shields around the structure's buildings. He didn't know how big a fully-fledged Nak's awakening could be, but chances were he wouldn't have the luxury of holding back. He had to prepare for the worst, and the same went for the crews.
After the scientists and soldiers gave the okay, Khan started the procedure. He tapped on the floor, activating the tubes. The green substance soon filled them before splashing into the transparent container.
Khan had done his best to calculate the splashes to perfection, but even the scientists' help couldn't lead to precise results. Drops of the green substance fell on the Nak's corpse, occasionally hitting the same spots multiple times. That dug holes into its dry skin, but the damage wasn't worrying.
As the first drops began seeping into the corpse, Khan stretched his arms, pointing his hands at the container before releasing mana. The Nak was too big to encapsulate into a stable sphere, so Khan limited himself to emitting harmless energy. The process was more tiring, but Khan could handle it.
The immediate immersion into Khan's mana limited the damage. The corpse began absorbing the foreign energy, using the green liquid's properties to improve its flesh's state. Holes still appeared, but patches of skin regained their original color, and the trend soon spread to the Nak's insides.
Khan had never been so focused in his entire life. His senses captured every detail, keeping track of the flesh's revitalization. The organs required more energy and time than the other tissues, but Khan had already tested that in previous experiments. Everything moved smoothly, but problems eventually arose.
As organs came back to life, they resumed their original functions. The theory said that the Nak only needed mana to live, but Khan wasn't dealing with an entire alien now, not yet, at least. The pieces of alive flesh worked separately, threatening to become different entities.
Cracks appeared everywhere inside and above the Nak's skin. The absorption wasn't homogeneous, so some tissues came to life earlier than others, increasing their suction force and severing the connection with the nearby still-dry flesh. The corpse was ripping itself apart.
Truthfully, Khan didn't know how to deal with the issue. The previous tests couldn't have prepared him for that eventuality since none had featured an entire corpse. He could only increase the energy output and hope the Nak would fix itself.
The destruction continued. The corpse twitched as the pieces of living flesh tried to rise into the air, uncaring of what stood in their way. One organ even pierced the Nak's abdomen, appearing in the open and forcing Khan to destroy it with a swift kick.
Similar problems followed, and Khan dealt with them accordingly. He didn't mind destroying organs as long as the corpse remained somewhat intact. Yet, that didn't happen, either.
In a few minutes, the corpse had turned into a mess of holes and cracks. Its entire torso had more wounds than intact flesh. However, all the unstable pieces had left by then, and what remained of the Nak absorbed Khan's mana as a singular entity.
Khan kept pouring mana, unsure of what the result would be. The damage was serious, but the head and a few organs had survived. Still, that could easily lead to a mere bigger version of his previous samples, which wouldn't be of any use.
The corpse eventually regained its original color. The flesh and remaining organs came to life, absorbing and amassing Khan's energy. No hovering happened, but Khan knew the sample had reached the same level as the previous tests.
Nevertheless, no changes happened, no matter how much energy Khan sent forward. The corpse didn't react at all, and the same went for when Khan cut the mana delivery. The maimed Nak lay still inside the container, and Khan could only sit before it.
'Is it too damaged even to float?' Khan wondered, half-cursing for that result. 'Maybe I should have sacrificed all the superficial skin and muscles by submerging it in a pool of green liquid.'
Khan quickly disregarded that idea. He couldn't control the organs' different absorption rates, so the outcome could have been both better or worse. At that point, it seemed up to chance.
Thinking about potential mistakes also felt pointless since Khan didn't have another corpse. He had wasted his best sample. He had to accept it and move on.
However, the symphony suddenly twitched. The event was minute and faint, but Khan's gaze immediately snapped toward its source. To his surprise, the Nak had opened its three eyes, and they were pointing at him.