The amount of suffering Nick collected by killing the Maw was immense.
While no Zephyx was released into the atmosphere since the Specter Core was turned into Star Energy, Aegis still suffered a lot.
Aegis didn't blame the Maw for their dead Shields.
He made their sacrifices almost worthless.
Sadly, there was nothing they could do.
Of course, the Champion watched the entire world like a hawk for any sign of Nick, but that didn't do a lot.
When it came to staying hidden, Nick was the second-best in the world.
The only one who was even better was the Null.
For the next couple of years, Nick focused on learning more about Zephyx Manipulation.
It was important that he learned as much about that as possible.
The knowledge of Zephyx Manipulation would allow him to create many powerful abilities.
Within five years, Nick learned an extremely useful and powerful ability.
Five years was barely enough time to even conceptualize such a powerful ability, and that was the easiest part.
However, this ability was easy to create for some simple reason.
Nurse Alice already had this ability, and she just wrote down the entire diagram.
Nick essentially just needed to copy it.
He did just that, and after five years, he successfully copied one of Nurse Alice's abilities.
Nick opened his eyes and looked at Samar, who was already quite old.
She would probably die within the next 50 years.
As Nick looked at her, he saw her Zephyx moving around her.
In Nick's vision, her Zephyx moved in patterns.
These patterns formed Manipulation Lines.
The lines were incredibly complex, but Nick could see them.
'I need to get more familiar with Zephyx Manipulation,' Nick thought as he saw the patterns of Samar's Zephyx.
'When Nurse Alice used this on me, she immediately knew what all my abilities could do.'
'Technically, I can also see how Samar manipulates her Zephyx, but most of the Manipulation Lines still don't make any sense.'
Nick focused on one set of Manipulation Lines and looked at them for months.
'It's a shockwave,' Nick thought. 'She can gather her Zephyx and unleash it with her weapon, creating a shockwave of Zephyx that can be remotely detonated.'
It had taken Nick months to understand a relatively easy ability from a Protector.
Meanwhile, Nurse Alice had understood all of Nick's abilities within seconds.
'I just need more practice. Manipulation Lines are like a foreign language, and I still need to manually translate their meaning.'
Nick wanted to learn this ability first since it would help him gain even more abilities by looking at humans and Specters.
After Nick tried out this ability, he went to the next step of his plan.
'I need to make the most of the last centuries the Nightmen have. If I let them advance on their own, they won't make it far. Any advancement they make now won't have to be made during the next era.'
Nick went to an isolated location inside the city and sat down.
The next moment, his body changed.
All the Zephyx from his body vanished as it retreated into his Specter Core.
His body started to turn into black dust, and some seconds later, only a lone Specter Core remained.
That was when the Pure Energy generator in front of Nick activated, filling the room with a burst of Pure Energy.
Most of the Pure Energy was siphoned towards the Specter Core.
And yet, the Pure Energy never truly touched the Specter Core.
Instead, it gathered in front of Nick.
Flesh grew out of the Specter Core.
A chest and head formed.
Then, legs and arms formed.
Several seconds later, a human sat in the middle of the room.
He looked just like Nick.
That was when Nick took a deep breath.
"Breathing," Nick spoke. "I have to breathe again. If I don't breathe, this body will die."
Nick had used his advanced disguise ability to create a body of Pure Energy.
At this moment, his Zephyx was completely isolated in his Specter Core.
There was a tiny opening on the back of his neck that allowed Nick to release and gather Zephyx, but he couldn't use a lot.
Usually, Extractors and Specters drew Prephyx into their bodies before moving it to their Zephyx Synchronizers or Specter Cores.
Meanwhile, Nick only had a tiny opening.
This meant he could use almost no Zephyx.
If he gathered too much, a pulse of his Zephyx would break the body apart, returning him to his Specter form.
'Now, I need to grow this body,' Nick thought.
Nick had created an almost identical copy of the body of a Nightman.
As of this moment, Nick's body was only in the Initial First Realm, which was the equivalent of an Initial Newbie.
Sadly, he couldn't create a powerful body since he needed a lot of Pure Energy to achieve that.
With the Pure Energy generator, he could make a body in the Third Realm, but that was the limit.
But Nick wanted to start at the First Realm to find a way to advance for himself.
He let his body grow very slowly, and while his body was growing, Nick was experimenting with the Pure Energy inside his Human Core.
He cross-referenced the Techniques the Nightmen had created and tried to imitate them.
Thanks to Nick's high intelligence, level, and experience, he only needed a couple of minutes to perfect all of the Techniques the Nightmen had created.
These Techniques were exceedingly simple when compared to Specter abilities.
Nick lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers.
A tiny flame rose from his fingers.
Then, he snapped his fingers again, and the flame froze.
Another snap and a ball of lightning appeared above his fingers.
'Manipulating Pure Energy is so easy,' Nick thought.
'However, it also needs different things.'
'I hadn't expected this, but the different elements relate to one's mindset.'
'Creating ice is much easier when you have a cold and distant personality.'
'Creating fire is easier when you are angry and full of energy.'
'Depending on your personality, you would have a natural affinity for at least one of the elements.'
'Using Specter abilities is easy and straightforward. It's like math.'
'However, manipulating Pure Energy needs more than just math.'
'It also needs feeling.'
'There's a lot I can learn.'
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The author's . If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.