Conversation

Life inside the training camp was quite boring before the beginning of the lessons, especially for those who didn't have the Credits to spend on recreational activities.

Khan spent most of his time inside his room, while Samuel often decided to leave to avoid the tension that fell whenever the two of them were together.

Khan pretended not to notice that behavior. The most significant interaction with Samuel had been on the first night when he took his food, but the duo didn't speak at all during the following days.

Samuel was too scared to interact with Khan. His mandatory daily visits to the medical bay reminded him that Khan was quite strong, and the memories of the scuffle confirmed that his battle experience didn't match his roommate.

On the other hand, Khan didn't care about his roommate. He spent his time training and visiting the canteen as he waited for the lessons to start. Samuel probably knew more than him when it came to mana, but Khan didn't trust the boy enough to question him.

The week went by quickly, and no other roommates arrived in Khan's room. It seemed that the camp had far more dormitories than needed, and Khan could only feel happy about that extra space.

On the night before the beginning of the lessons, Samuel returned to his room five minutes before the curfew. That was his usual routine. He wanted to limit being with Khan as much as possible, but some curiosity had eventually appeared in his mind.

Samuel left early in the morning and came back late at night, but he always found his roommate in a meditative state. Khan woke up before him to train, and he never went to sleep before him.

Samuel had never seen Khan sleeping in an entire week. That behavior was unnatural for a sixteen years old boy who had just arrived in an environment filled with girls of a similar age. He often held back his curiosity due to the awkwardness of the situation, but that feeling ended up exploding on the night before the beginning of the lessons.

"Why do you work so hard?" Samuel asked when he saw Khan interrupting his meditation and opening his eyes.

Khan's eyes widened at that sudden question. He didn't mind the silent awkwardness that filled the room, so he had respected Samuel's behavior.

Bullying Samuel would have also been easy in that situation, but Khan didn't want to become like the scum that filled the Slums. Moreover, the regulations harshly punished theft and similar activities, so Khan preferred to stay out of trouble.

"Have you finally stopped fearing me?" Khan laughed while bending to pick one of the food cans obtained in the canteen.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Samuel promptly shouted.

"Sure, sure," Khan said while opening the can and slurping the cold soup contained inside it.

"Why do you never heat it?" Samuel asked. "We have a microwave in the laundry area."

Khan simply shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat.

"You are a strange one," Samuel sighed before climbing on the bunk bed on the other side of the room.

Khan finished the can and glanced at the boy. He also had a few doubts about Samuel's behavior, but he hesitated to establish a peaceful relationship with someone who bullied the citizens of the Slums.

'I should probably give him a chance to atone,' Khan thought. 'He is just a kid. He has never experienced my desperation.'

"I have the same question for you," Khan said while crossing his legs and placing his back on the wall. "I'm quite sure that you don't train outside. Your friends don't seem the type to care about that stuff. Do you plan to remain on Earth?"

Samuel raised his head and revealed a confused expression. He straightened his position to sit on the bed and give a plain answer. "My father would kill me if I remained on Earth. I need to become a second-level warrior at least."

"Why don't you train then?" Khan asked. "I bet your family has taught you something before coming here. How can you become a second-level warrior if you spend time bullying lone kids?"

Samuel lowered his eyes in shame at that remark. It was easy to feel proud about bullying others among his friends, but the reality of his behavior became evident in front of his victims.

"Our families are close," Samuel explained. "Hanging out with them is a political necessity. I don't enjoy what we do to kill time."

"I don't care about your excuses," Khan snorted. "Don't pretend to be a victim."

The shame on Samuel's face intensified, and an awkward silence fell on the room. The boy didn't know what to answer, and Khan didn't care enough to continue the conversation on his own.

"You can purchase mana if you have enough Credits," Samuel said when he saw that Khan was about to enter the meditative state again. "Training is useless when you can get infusions."

Khan had heard about mana infusions, but his father had never been able to describe their purpose. He could vaguely understand that having more mana was better, but he didn't believe that Credits could grant power.

"Your training raises the attunement with mana, right?" Samuel asked, and Khan decided to nod even if he weren't sure about that.

"You can obtain similar effects through infusions," Samuel explained. "Injecting mana into specific body parts raises the attunement with that energy."

"My father would never teach me something useless," Khan replied.

"The normal training has benefits," Samuel continued. "The infusions use synthetic mana, which can ruin your potential depending on its quality. The top-tier product can even cost a fortune since you can remove its impurities in a few years."

That explanation left Khan with even more doubts. He suddenly felt curious about the whole topic, but he believed that Samuel didn't know much. Also, his knowledge could be inaccurate.

"Relying only on the mana core provides a slow but flawless improvement," Samuel explained. "Yet, the process can be really slow depending on the quality of the mana core itself. It's also overall boring compared to the simple infusions."

"I bet your family will buy you infusions," Khan commented.

"I already have a few ready," Samuel proudly announced. "I only need to raise my attunement with mana to twenty percent before starting the process. Becoming a second-level warrior should be quite easy for me."

"What about magic?" Khan asked.

"The training to become a mage is far harder," Samuel sighed. "Warriors only need tough bodies and knowledge over a few martial arts. Instead, magic has no shortcuts. Even improving your mana capacity can't help you there."

Khan's doubts increased again. Samuel definitely knew far more than him, but his knowledge seemed too vague to give precise details about those fields.

"So, what do you want to do after becoming a second-level warrior?" Khan asked when he saw Samuel yawning.

"Get to a safe planet and try to climb the ranks there," Samuel explained while lying back on the bed.

"Don't you want to discover new planets and interact with alien species?" Khan asked.

"What's the point?" Samuel laughed. "The war is long since over. The universe only has alien species with a weaker foundation. Humankind will eventually subdue all of them even without my help. I only want to avoid being a disappointment for my family."

Khan didn't ask anything else. It was clear that Samuel was too different from him. Most of the soldiers probably shared the same feelings since they had never experienced any real danger in their life.

'Humans have become lazy,' Khan thought while crossing his legs to enter a meditative state again.

His first lesson would start early in the morning, so he set the alarm to avoid training all night. Some excitement even formed in his mind and tried to stop Khan from calming down.

'I have "history of mana" and "basics of mana cores" tomorrow morning,' Khan read on his phone once his training ended and he prepared himself to sleep.

Both subjects seemed interesting, but Khan couldn't move his eyes from the description of his afternoon lessons. The Global Army would finally teach him how to use mana!