Khan didn't dare to close his eyes while part of his attention moved to the distant echoes inside his mind. He didn't let them co closer but approached them himself, planning to retain as much control as possible over the process.
Moreover, Khan didn't go for the loudest and densest echoes. He wanted to familiarize himself with the process first, so he approached those that felt lighter and superficial, allowing tiny wisps of that enormous torrent to affect him before cutting off the connection.
Even a tiny wisp of the lightest echoes turned out to contain an imnse number of condensed mories that flooded Khan's brain as soon as he let it in.
The mories instantly filled Khan's brain and pushed against its limits, invading parts of his subconscious and attempting to affect his sense of self.
A splitting headache surged as intense dizziness made Khan's head spin. Sweat accumulated on his forehead while he wore a deep frown that almost made him close his eyes. Yet, he only squinted them, keeping them fixed on the bright image on the wall.
The bigger replica of Khan's tattoo worked as an anchor for his sense of self. It kept him grounded in reality, reminding him who he was while his brain slowly absorbed those foreign mories.
The process was automatic but painful. The headache didn't leave even after it ended, but the dizziness gradually waned, allowing Khan to relax.
Khan finally lowered his head and closed his eyes, sensing the drops of sweat on his forehead falling to the tal floor. He felt ntally drained, and his mind begged him for so respite. As hateful as they were, Khan was almost inclined to take a few naps, but the headache prevented him from falling asleep.
The forceful awareness caused by the splitting headache let Khan explore his gains. A new set of mories had fused with his brain, which had rearranged them to suit his perception. His organ had basically translated them, revealing their problematic structure.
The Great Old One didn't experience the world like humans did. Its perception worked on various levels of instinctive senses, and things grew vaguer but more profound when it ca to the pale green energy the creature sent through the universe.
Khan had only absorbed a tiny fraction of the lightest echo he could find, but many features instantly beca evident.
The echoes' weight had no connection to the mories' target. What Khan had absorbed was a mixture of different things that stretched from Coravis to the pale green mana flying through the universe.
However, those mories were rather superficial, mainly involving simple aspects like the not-waters' temperature or the pale green mana's density. That information had no real value and didn't require much processing power. It wasn't sothing the snake had thought about but had simply passively absorbed.
Also, many of the mories were instinctive and taken for granted. The Great Old One didn't need to study them to know what they were, but Khan did due to his different set of senses. His perception was inhuman but incompatible with the ancient creature's, forcing him to review what his brain had absorbed and translated to understand its aning.
Finally, the mories' density was scary. Even that tiny piece had pushed Khan's mind past its limits, causing the headache and demanding a recovery period. His organ couldn't endure another absorption until he rested for a while.
Khan lifted his head and straightened his back, wiping the sweat on his forehead with his scarred forearm. The absorption had been dangerous, ntally taxing, and pointless, but also doable. Khan only had to repeat it an uncountable number of tis to complete it.
'The loudest ones should have the snake's thoughts and conclusions,' Khan pondered, massaging his temples in the hope of getting rid of his headache. 'The useful stuff should be there, but getting it is a problem.'
The experience had revealed much, especially that Khan was currently unable to endure most of those echoes. The first attempt had shone so light into their nature, but Khan couldn't do anything with that information until his mind improved.
The only way to do that was to repeat the process until Khan's brain familiarized itself with the absorption. The brain was a muscle, and enduring the echoes functioned as a workout. It would be able to lift the heaviest mories only after getting used to the lightest.
Khan heaved a helpless sigh. If his conclusion were on point, he would have to waste an unknown amount of ti absorbing useless mories to prepare his brain for the useful ones. He trusted his organ to adapt quickly, but the initial period was bound to be beyond exasperating.
Of course, Khan hoped his second transformation would quicken the process, but nothing seed able to save him from that initial hurdle. He would have to torture himself over nothing just to pave the path toward potentially valuable information.
'You could have made it easier for just once,' Khan cursed in his mind. 'Damned universe. With my luck, I'd probably have to go through all the mories before finding what I need.'
That pessimism wasn't accurate, and Khan didn't fully believe in it, either. He knew that the more he learned about the mories, the easier it would be to spot those useful to him. Still, that confidence didn't reassure him much.
'Physical pain is easier,' Khan complained, lying down and letting the cold tal surface cool him down. 'ntal pain sses everything up, and I can't avoid resting.'
The sweat on Khan's back grew colder when it touched the tal floor, and he welcod the sensation. His mind seed to benefit from it, suppressing the headache and making sleep an option. He didn't know a better cure for ntal exhaustion, so he planned to take a short nap.
'A cycle of nightmares and headaches,' Khan sighed ntally. 'I can't wait.'
Khan's eyes began to close but reopened when they fell on the bright symbol on the tal wall. His tattoo and the cold spreading on his back and seeping into his body reminded him of specific mories, but the nightmare eventually replaced them.
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