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nThis was why the Technician was so invested in this new development.

nThe entire reason why humanity couldn’t properly fight the Specters was because training a Shield was extremely difficult.

nIf the current Shields could become Peak Shields, things would be very different from how they currently were.

nFor one, they wouldn’t need to keep three of them at the same place.

nThey also wouldn’t need to endanger a huge number of people every single time they worked with the one Adversary they had in custody.

nIf the Technician somehow found a way for Nick to keep advancing, all of humanity might transform.

nThey might finally have a way of equally fighting the Specters.

nHowever, all of this was just potential.

nRight now, it was not a certainty.

nAdditionally, it was important that all of this remained secret.

n“But we need to survive until then, first,” the Left Arm spoke. “So, I need you to keep fulfilling your daily duties.”

n“Yes, yes,” the Technician answered dismissively.

nIt was quite obvious that he would once again follow this order for only a limited time.

n“Try to find a way to advance. If you do find one, tell me,” the Left Arm said before frowning. “We might need to wake the Champion again.”

nIt was quite obvious that he would once again follow this order for only a limited time.

n“Try to find a way to advance. If you do find one, tell me,” the Left Arm said before frowning. “We might need to wake the Champion again.”

n“Of course!” the Technician answered with an excited smile. Finally, all this unnecessary stuff was over, and he could go back to experimenting!

n“Come, Nick! Knowledge awaits!” the Technician shouted with excitement.

nNick performed a quick bow in front of the Left Arm and walked after the Technician.

nThe Left Arm watched Nick leave.

nThere was another aspect about this entire thing that the Left Arm noticed but didn’t voice.

nAt least not in front of Nick.

nAnd that was the mental effects of this transformation.

nDue to the way the Zephyx worked inside Nick right now, one could make an argument that he was partially a Specter now.

nHe could be a Half-Specter, in a way.

nThis meant that it was also possible that Nick could join the Specters instead of humanity, and that was an important thing to consider.

nIf they invested everything into one human just for that human to help the Specters in the end, humanity might be doomed.

nCould they create a powerful being, and if they could, would that being help humanity or the Specters?

nThis was an important aspect.

nThis was a real danger.

nAfter all, Nick had told the Technician about the Specter Zephyx inside his body and how it dampened his emotions.

nWhile Nick would definitely remain human in the short term, in the long term, he might change into a Specter, mentally speaking.

nThe Technician and Nick continued experimenting.

nDuring this time, Nick kept learning more about biology, Zephology, and Zephyx Manipulation.

nTime passed.

nAfter a while, the two of them focused solely on how Nick’s Specter Core worked.

nHaving a human with a Specter Core gave one advancement after the next in the field.

nIn just one year, the research into Specter Cores had progressed an equivalent of 50 years without Nick.

nAfter two years of research, the Technician managed to create a prototype that could allow someone to change the manipulation lines of their Specter Core.

nBut that was when the research became dangerous.

nFrom now on, they had to test things.

nAnd since there was only Nick…

nNick’s first task was to map out every possible feeling that the Specter Core gave him.

nNick could not perfectly look at his Specter Core.

nSure, he could “see” the surface, but he couldn’t “see” the lines within the core.

nHe could only “feel” how the Zephyx changed after passing through it.

nThis meant that, as soon as they changed the manipulation lines, Nick wouldn’t know what he would need to change to regain the current form of his Specter Crystal.

nHe could only look at the result by remembering how it felt and trying things out to achieve the same result.

nNick could potentially kill himself by removing or adding an incorrect manipulation line.

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nFor example, what if he somehow isolated the connection between his Zephyx Synchronizer and the Specter Core?

nThat would result in his Zephyx Synchronizer being surrounded by an impenetrable wall.

nIt would be like an insect inside a glass.

nAlternatively, a burst of poisonous Zephyx could cripple or destroy his Zephyx Synchronizer.

nThey had to proceed with utmost care.

nLuckily, Nick had had almost two years to fully remember how his Specter Core felt.

nHe was quite confident in being able to recreate the original.

nFinally, it was time to actually experiment.

nThe first thing they tried was to delete some manipulation lines.

nMaybe they could turn it into a blank slate.

nYet, they realized very quickly that this wouldn’t work.

nAfter they tried around a bit, Nick’s Specter Core stopped producing Zephyx, and Nick’s Zephyx Synchronizer stopped receiving Zephyx in turn.

nThey immediately changed it back.

nIf they didn’t, Nick would essentially “suffocate”.

nThat made it clear.

nThe Specter Core was required to remain a functional Specter Core since it was the only source of energy for the Zephyx Synchronizer.

nTurning it into a blank slate would kill Nick.

nNext, they tried to restore the Specter Core’s old ability.

nAfter all, the Dark Cloud had been a Specter, and just like any other Specter, it had an ability.

nSadly, they had to cut that experiment short after just a couple of days.

nThe core of the Specter Core was distorted and essentially destroyed since Nick’s Zephyx Synchronizer was inside of it now.

nReverse-engineering the ability without changing the manipulation lines on Nick’s Zephyx Synchronizer would take decades, if not centuries, of dedicated research.

nIt was too difficult, and the results couldn’t be applied to any potential new recruit since every ability was unique.

nSo, they tried the next best thing.

nWas it possible to allow Nick’s abilities to be used without the Specter Core interfering with them?

nNo.

nThe Specter Core always interfered with them and distorted them.

nFor example, when Nick tried to blind everyone around him, only a small white cloud would come out of his body that barely illuminated anything and cost over 50% of his Zephyx.

nWhen Nick tried to influence somebody’s mind with illusions, some black mist would leave him and fly over to the target before dispersing harmlessly.

nNaturally, that also cost a huge amount of Zephyx.

nNick didn’t even attempt to turn into mist. If anything went wrong there, one could probably find his body pieces scattered across the entire room.

nNick’s abilities and the Dark Cloud’s abilities interacted with each other, creating a useless mix.

nThis left only one last option.

nThey had to transform the Specter Core so that it changed Nick’s abilities without weakening them.

nAnd while they were already on that, they might as well shoot for an amplification effect.

nSo, they started trying.

nNick’s ability to release a burst of light was the first they focused on since it was the easiest to test and since it was also a comparatively simple ability.

nThey experimented for an entire year, trying different things.

nThe result?

nSurprisingly great!

n“Show me!” the Technician said with a smirk.

nNick narrowed his eyes.

nThe next instant, around a hundred tiny wisps of mist popped out of his body.

nWHOOOOM!

nThe wisps exploded into bright light, which was just as powerful as Nick’s ability would have been without the Specter Core.

nThe wisps also vanished immediately after giving off the light since their Zephyx had been converted into blinding light.

nThis essentially meant that Nick had regained his light ability without making it worse.

n“Alright, use the other variant,” the Technician ordered.

nNext, Nick held out his right hand, and a cloud of mist gathered on top of it.

nA moment later, the cloud of mist started to give off a gentle light.

nThen, the cloud floated higher and stopped above Nick’s head.

nThe next moment, Nick walked around the room, and the cloud followed, still giving off a gentle light.

nWhen the Technician saw that, he couldn’t help smiling victoriously.

nThis was not a new ability.

nThis was simply another way of using Nick’s old ability.

nThey hadn’t been able to decouple the mist ability. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

nSo, they had simply accepted it and included it in the way Nick used his ability.

nAfter experimenting with the ability further, they had also found a way to change the output.

nThis essentially gave Nick an additional ability that allowed him to illuminate his surroundings for a long time without using a lot of Zephyx.

nNaturally, for Nick, himself, this wasn’t very useful, but it would be useful to keep his ability to stay unaffected in the darkness hidden.

nAdditionally, it gave Nick an easy way to escort others through dark areas.

nAfter the two of them had seen the success in this part, they grew excited to experiment with Nick’s other abilities.

nAnd they quickly got more surprising and positive results.

nThis new way of consuming a Specter appeared better and better as time passed.

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