"What can you teach me?" Nick asked.
He knew that there were several knowledge repositories across the world.
All of them were Specters who knew about different aspects of humanity and technology.
However, Nick didn't know where they were or what they knew.
Did all of them know the same thing, or did different repositories know different things?
"Well, first of all, I can tell you where the others are. All of us know about Star Energy and Pure Energy, but otherwise, we are specialized," the Jolly Cannibal answered.
'That means I need to get to all of the repositories,' Nick thought.
"What do you specialize in?" Nick asked.
"Engineering," the Jolly Cannibal answered. "Weapon making. Material making. Energy generation. Stuff like that."
"There are four repositories in total. I am responsible for engineering."
"The second one knows everything about biology."
"The third one knows the details of Energies. As in, Prephyx, Zephyx, Star Energy, and Pure Energy."
"The fourth one knows about Energy Manipulation."
Nick furrowed his brows.
"There are two for Energies?" Nick asked.
"Safety measure," the Jolly Cannibal answered with a jolly chuckle. "One knows the basics but can't do anything with it. The other one knows what to do but lacks the basics."
"One has the materials. One has the blueprint."
"If you give a Specter both, they might be able to find a way to get out of their Containment Units, and that would be bad."
'Makes sense,' Nick thought. 'One of them probably knows how to turn specific Energies into something useful, while the other one knows how to turn the useful Energy into abilities.'
To Nick, all four of the knowledge repositories were essential.
He needed engineering knowledge to create the machines necessary to make use of the knowledge of the other repositories.
He needed the knowledge of biology to change humanity's genome and to find an alternative path for Extractors.
However, if he actually wanted to create a human who could naturally absorb and manipulate Star Energy and Pure Energy, he needed the Energy knowledge of the third repository.
And the last repository was for creating abilities.
Zephyx Manipulation was a gigantic field.
Just looking at the diagrams the Sun had burned into Nick's Specter Core was overwhelming.
If there were someone who could explain how all of that worked, Nick could essentially create whatever ability he wanted.
'Engineering is our priority. It is the base for everything.'
"You are the sole generator of Zephyx for this base," Nick said.
This seemed like a random comment, but there was a point to it.
Essentially, Nick had just said that the Jolly Cannibal needed to be fed to keep the base operational.
"I know what you mean," the Jolly Cannibal said with a chuckle.
"I am going to stay with you until I know everything you have to teach," Nick said. "After that, I will regularly get more food for you. Then, you just have to wait for humanity."
"That is not a problem," the Jolly Cannibal answered. "So, where do you want to start?"
"Material composition and generation," Nick said.
The Jolly Cannibal started to teach Nick everything about engineering.
There was a lot to transmit, but they could now communicate via voice transmission, which was the most efficient way of communication that existed except for transmission between two machines.
Within just one year, Nick learned more than he had learned in his entire life.
And yet, the well of engineering seemed almost endless.
From time to time, Nick left the Containment Unit to procure more bodies.
Since he wanted to make sure that he didn't accidentally kill innocent people, he went to different cities and used his mind-reading ability to make sure that they were guilty.
It took longer, but not much longer.
The system gave him suspects, but Nick was the one who confirmed their guilt.
Nick listened to the Jolly Cannibal for 15 entire years.
But it had been worth it.
The accumulation of knowledge had been difficult in the past, but by gaining access to the Jolly Cannibal, it had become trivially easy.
The entire knowledge of the Enlightened Ones was within Nick's grasp.
In just 15 short years, Nick had completely emptied the Jolly Cannibal of knowledge.
There was nothing the Jolly Cannibal knew that Nick didn't.
This was a fundamental transformation.
At this very moment, Nick's knowledge of engineering was literally millennia ahead of the Technician's knowledge.
It had been an arduous path to gaining access to the Jolly Cannibal, but it had all been worth it.
Lastly, Nick asked about the locations of the other repositories, and the Jolly Cannibal told them.
Finally, Nick grabbed a big pile of criminals from cities all around the world and handed them to the Jolly Cannibal.
"Put Rising Star Base on standby. Keep it operational, but save as much energy as possible," Nick said.
"Affirmative," Assistant said.
Nick threw a glance at Assistant.
He knew how it worked.
He knew how it was programmed.
He knew what it could do and what it couldn't do.
Then, he looked at his arm.
The crude and primitive Star Energy generator was still sticking out from his arm.
If Nick had access to the necessary machines, he could create his own Seed.
Every single bit of technology created by Aegis and the underground base looked so insanely primitive in his eyes.
The next moment, Nick conjured a couple of materials.
Next, his arm morphed, and the Seed moved to his palm.
Finally, Nick created a ring and put it on.
Several tiny tubes and wires entered Nick's body, connecting the ring with the Seed.
Then, he destroyed the old Star Energy generator.
Technically, the Seed had its own Star Energy generator,which meant that it didn't need another one.
However, Nick outsourced the Star Energy generation to the new Star Energy generator on his ring.
This would be more secure.
After all, he was a Specter, not a human.
Then, Nick created a second ring and connected it to the Seed and the other ring.
This was a Pure Energy generator.
It absorbed the surplus Star Energy of the external generator and used Nick's own Specter Zephyx to generate Pure Energy.
Nick pointed his ring forward, and a small blue stream came out of it before vanishing.
Generating Pure Energy was so incredibly easy.
As long as he had access to Zephyx, he could create however much Pure Energy he wanted.
The limiting factor was no longer Star Energy since he could just make more and more generators if necessary.
The limiting factor was Zephyx.
And Nick had a lot of Zephyx.
After all, he was a natural Zephyx generator.
The author's . If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.