Chapter 878 Mastery

878 Mastery

The lab was empty at night, but soldiers still patrolled the area. The cloud's explosion had created a ruckus, forcing them to intervene and contact more personnel.

The soldiers' response was immediate. Less than a minute after the explosion, they barged into the lab, granting them an unfiltered view of the mess. Dark-grey smoke tried to hide the scene, but everything remained visible enough for them to study the area.

Sizzling wires and tubes flashed inside the fumes flowing out of the many charred holes in the lab's equipment. Those black spots weren't limited to the machines. The walls, floor, and ceiling also had some, indicating extensive damage.

The smoke accumulated on the ceiling but seemed to avoid a specific spot. The soldiers noticed a bright-eyed figure floating in that clear location, and his overwhelming presence almost made them miss the young man hanging from his hand.

"Prince Khan!" The soldiers shouted almost simultaneously, but Khan ignored them, slowly descending and dropping the descendant to the floor.

"I'm sorry!" Roger said as soon as he regained stable footing. "I'm sorry, Prince Khan! I didn't mean to!"

The soldiers took that statement as an admission of guilt. They exchanged a glance before focusing on Roger, ready to seize him. However, Khan lifted a hand, preventing the action.

"It's fine," Khan reassured. "I lost count of how many training halls I destroyed."

Khan had already studied the lab from the ceiling, and his second inspection revealed nothing new. The scarlet sparks' power was as destructive as he had predicted. Their area of effect was a bit lackluster, but their piercing properties more than compensated for that.

The reassuring words couldn't do much against Roger's panic. His brain had just reawakened, updating him on his interaction with his element. Adding the lab's damage to the equation was too much for his mind to handle, worsening his distress.

"I-I'll pay for everything!" Roger exclaimed. "I'll work and-."

"Shut up," Khan interrupted, flicking Roger's head. "I told you it's fine."

Roger groaned in pain but calmed down. Still, that only reminded him of his injured status. The wounds under the bandages hurt, and some red spots even appeared on his torso.

"Get him medical attention," Khan ordered to the soldiers before looking at Roger. "And you, think about what happened tonight while you heal. We'll talk again once you are better."

Khan didn't wait for a reply as he headed for the lab's exit. No one stopped him, either, but whooshing noises welcomed his arrival outside. Ships had flown toward the area, bringing more soldiers and specialized figures.

Abraham was obviously among the scientists, but Khan also saw Monica descending one of the ships' metal ramps. She had noticed Khan's lateness and immediately connected the dots when she heard about the incident.

"Patch him up again," Khan ordered before Abraham could ask any question. "I'll update you later."

Abraham shouted a simple "Yes, my Prince" before hurrying inside the lab. Instead, Monica calmly took Khan's hand, peeking past his figure to catch a glimpse of the mess.

"I tried something," Khan explained shortly. "His element went rogue."

The flight brought Khan into a forest at the quadrant's edge. Due to its relatively contained width, the place didn't have much fauna, and ruining it wouldn't cause real damage to Baoway's environment. He never used that spot for private times with Monica, either, effectively making it disposable.

Khan stood on short grass, surrounded by thick and tall trees. His bright eyes reflected the symphony, and closing them sharpened his other senses, allowing him to feel the mana flow inside the flora and under the ground.

That diverse ensemble of colors radiated various meanings that matched their purpose. Still, Khan's senses went deeper, identifying the frailty of the materials that mana occupied. His mind almost resonated with that intrinsic desire to fall apart, but he failed to affect most of it.

'Entropy,' Khan thought. He had studied that scientific concept since it matched one of his spells, but knowing it didn't bring any enlightenment.

A wave of invisible mana suddenly shot from Khan, expanding spherically in his surroundings. The environment barely noticed that attack, but reactions eventually unfolded.

The trees and grass remained unaffected, but cracks opened on the ground. The most barren spots featured bigger fissures, which expanded in an attempt to make everything crumble. Still, the surface held strong, only unleashing faint tremors.

'I still can't do it on living beings,' Khan realized after a quick inspection of his surroundings. 'I can shatter metal, but some grass can survive it.'

Khan was only thinking about the spell created after the mental trip, the same attack the Nak's hand used. That ability seemed to embody the chaos element's destructive nature, but its limits were evident.

'Yet,' Khan thought, opening his eyes to look at his palm. 'I can influence the mana, even that inside other living beings.'

Khan reviewed his actions with Roger, summoning the sensations he had felt when altering the descendant's mana flow. That wasn't his first time doing something similar, but he had never accomplished the same on such a vast scale. Khan had basically hypnotized Roger, vouching for his influence's power.

'How can I not apply it to something everything in the universe wants to do?' Khan wondered. 'Is the Nak spell too soft? Do I need a better channel?'

Khan considered his options, but his hunches provided an answer before his rational side could get to it. He straightened his fingers, turning his hand into a blade before swinging it forward.

The hand conveyed a specific meaning that the symphony echoed. The mana in the air gained a deadly sharpness, flew forward, and slammed on a trunk.

A shallow cut opened on the trunk. The tree didn't suffer much damage, but Khan didn't use any mana, either. That was the Divine Reaper at its weakest, albeit fueled by Khan's advanced proficiency level.

The negligible execution tingled Khan's hunches, giving birth to ideas he had yet to translate into words. He didn't even try to clarify them and let his instincts guide him. Khan knew his body knew the path even if his mind had yet to realize it.

A purple-red membrane enveloped Khan's hand before he swung it again. The symphony almost transformed in its entirety, becoming a sharp force that stretched Khan's attack, allowing him to reach the tree without losing energy.

No bright slashes flew, but a new cut appeared on the tree. The second was far deeper than the first, almost spanning half of the trunk. In terms of width, that was more than four adult Scalqa, but Khan barely focused on that superficial result.

The attack didn't end at the cut. Energy still lingered in the fissure, invading the trunk's fabric while retaining its sharp features. Soon, a spiderweb of cracks opened above and below the horizontal cut, and chunks of wood fell.

'Finally,' Khan exclaimed in his mind, opening and closing his hand to disperse the numbness in his fingers. 'Full mastery over the Divine Reaper.'