Chaos Heir

Chapter 1171 Investigation

Khan didn't linger in the area. He didn't even know whether the tree had ever had any intellect to mourn, so he departed as soon as any trace of that twisted plant vanished from the world.

Nevertheless, the twisted scenery had only begun. Khan followed his senses, flying after the largest gathering of living beings and mana he could perceive, but he couldn't make himself blind to the many environments he crossed.

The unnamed planet was still but unmistakably alive, albeit in a twisted way. The quadrant Khan was crossing had multiple barren areas, but many relatively large patches of vegetation always interrupted them, cursing them with their mutated form of life.

That curse was also abundant. As still as the vegetation was, it flourished in its twisted and mutated way. Khan couldn't go for a few seconds without spotting a new azure patch featuring all kinds of strange details, from tiny grass to eerily shaped trees.

Of course, each plant carried some mutations, with the biggest having the most glaring and abundant ones. That was normal due to the higher amount of mana in their fabric, but Khan still remained surprised. As powerful and fearsome as the Nak were, Khan had never believed they were cruel, but that unnamed planet tried to change his mind.

Khan didn't change his mind, but the scenery was truly too much. He couldn't understand or imagine what could have caused such an extreme reaction from the Nak. Khan couldn't even guess how they had achieved such a result. He only knew the planet was different, but the culprit was unclear.

The area Khan had sensed eventually expanded in his vision. Until now, he had mostly spotted isolated patches of vegetation with plants of various sizes, but his new target featured proper woods.

Woods obviously wasn't the best word to describe the area. There was nothing natural or homogeneous about the scene that expanded in Khan's glowing eyes. Its only pattern was that it didn't have a pattern at all.

Khan stopped at the area's edge, hovering above it. The woods only expanded for a kilometer in every direction, and Khan couldn't find a single similarity among its plants. No tree was equal to another, but they all shared that twisted, mutated nature.

Some trees had crowns made of azure petals instead of leaves. Others had trunks that spun on themselves before rising straight again. Some had branches entirely made of horns, resembling antlers rather than plants.

Many trees had fur growing on their trunks, and a few were entirely covered by it. Yet, that hair didn't come from the same animal. Some plants featured long and smooth strands, while others had short and spiky ones. Others had both versions and more, and things weren't even close to ending.

Khan saw scales, fangs, metal, rocks, and more. There was no limit to what could grow on those trees and the short vegetation around their bases. He even spotted patches of something eerily similar to human flesh, but his mind had run out of astonishment by then.

In some distasteful and horrid sense, the scene was incredible, miraculous even. Nothing in Khan's experience had ever come close to that level of diversity. The small woods resembled a cradle of life where all kinds of lifeforms could be born. Except they were mashed together, creating a patchworked environment that featured every natural aspect of the universe.

If Khan didn't know any better, he would start to believe that the Nak had used that unnamed planet as a test subject for their contagious mana, finetuning their influence to do a better job on their future victims. It was a possibility, but Khan subconsciously disregarded it.

'But if the Nak aren't to blame,' Khan thought, seemingly trying to argue with the ideas implanted in his subconscious, 'This planet's natives are.'

Khan now knew the Nak didn't have the time of their lives during their mission throughout the universe. Every species opposed their assault, and some even had the power to win. The Nak simply always managed to succeed because they didn't need victory to achieve their goals.

Still, the way the Nak achieved that goal could differ. They had fought the Great Old One's species in space to infect them with their mana. Meanwhile, humankind had seen them crash their ships directly on Earth. Khan didn't know about the others but was sure the unnamed planet had seen something different altogether.

Thinking had limits, so Khan gracefully descended toward the woods, letting his body hover among those twisted and mutated trunks without touching the Tainted ground.

The decision had nothing to do with Khan's safety. Some spike-like grass did grow from the ground, and patches of it even resembled proper teeth. Yet, Khan knew his feet would be able to endure them. He simply didn't want to disturb that already cursed environment more than necessary.

The search wasn't completely aimless. Even if Khan didn't know which form it would take, he knew what he was looking for. He needed to find some trace of intelligence or a living being he could connect with. The planet might not have initially had that, but the abundant mutations could have given birth to something similar.

As for how Khan would find such a thing, he would obviously rely on his heightened senses. He could see the mana inside those woods with his bare eyes, so no reaction could escape his inspection.

And a reaction did happen. Unlike the previous tree, the woods had more energy and life, and an almost unnoticeable tremor unfolded upon Khan's arrival. He expected it to originate from one of the plants, but the event ended up happening underground.

Khan was ready to believe his fate was to explore underground areas endlessly. Still, the faint tremor had a precise direction, running over the many roots under the blue surface to converge toward a specific point.

Khan instantly disappeared, surpassing the faint tremor and reaching the destination before it could catch up with him. He stopped when he arrived at a tree no different from the rest of the twisted vegetation. That plant simply had more scales and fur than wood, with proper antlers instead of branches.

Petals also grew from the horns, but something happened when the tremor finally reached the tree's hidden roots. Its mana changed tune, awakening it, and three patches of its azure, thick fur moved, rising to reveal blue eyes arranged in a triangular pattern.

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