While Nick was resting inside the Fog's domain, Trevor activated the Repelling Cell.
WHOOOOOM!
Immediately, the hum of the Repelling Cell became many times louder, and some of the Extractors even held their ears.
The wires and tubes turned an iridescent white, and the cell seemingly turned white.
Inside the cell, the white light pushed the Fog towards the center.
At that moment, the Fog realized that something was going on, and it tried to flee.
It moved in a random direction, but it could only move for about ten centimeters before it couldn't proceed anymore.
Naturally, it tried all the other directions, but the same thing happened.
It was almost like it was surrounded by thick and durable wool.
It could push into the wool, but at some point, the resistance of the wool was greater than the force the Fog could use.
This effect was produced by the Zephyx running through the cell.
Just like how the Fog had suppressed the locator with its own Zephyx, the Fog was now suppressed by the Repelling Cell with its own Zephyx.
Just like the locator, the Fog tried to expand outward but couldn't force its way through the overwhelmingly powerful and dense Zephyx around it.
The walls, ceiling, and floor of the Repelling Cell couldn't be touched by the Fog at all.
In the end, the Fog turned into a smaller cube inside the bigger cube.
At this moment, Nick's feet were outside the Fog since it couldn't touch the floor at all.
Luckily, humans were immune to the effect of the Repelling Cage.
In fact, almost all Physical and Possession Specters were also immune to the effect.
The thing was that the Zephyx of the cell was simply denser than the Fog's body, but its density couldn't possibly compare to a human body.
For Nick, walking through the Zephyx was marginally more difficult than walking through air but not nearly as difficult as walking through water.
When Nick felt his feet coming into contact with dry instead of moist air, he knew that the Repelling Cell was working.
On the outside, the people saw the white light of the Repelling Cell becoming stronger and weaker in different places.
This showed that something inside the cell was trying to escape.
But that was to be expected.
"Get it back to Dark Dream!" Wyntor commanded.
The Zephyx Extractors nodded and jumped onto the platform.
The platform shook a bit, but it still held.
"3, 2, 1," Jenny counted down.
Then, four people lifted the cell on each corner.
Trevor quickly ran under the cell and pushed upward from the middle.
The cell was lifted, and after a bit of solving logistical issues, they managed to push it out of the big hole.
As soon as they did, they almost collapsed in exhaustion.
They were all Peak Newbies by now, but that fucking thing was still so fucking heavy.
Even more, Jenny and Trevor were Initial Johns already, but this thing was still so heavy.
Jenny and Trevor were both assigned to the Dreamer, and the Dreamer had turned into an Adolescent about three months ago.
This meant that their advancement had also sped up.
Nick was still working with the Bleeding Lady, but he wasn't producing as much Zephyx as Jenny or Trevor, which was why it took him longer to advance.
Yet, despite having two Johns helping them, it was still not easy to move the Repelling Cell.
"Come on, Boss is still in there," Trevor said through heavy breathing. "Let's get this thing back to Dark Dream."
The other Extractors nodded and lifted the Repelling Cell again.
Some minutes later, the Extractors were moving through the Outer City while carrying the Repelling Cell.
Naturally, that created a lot of buzz, and the people were watching with interest.
Obviously, almost all the other Manufacturers also noticed what was going on, and they sent their people to watch Dark Dream.
All the Manufacturers knew what a Repelling Cell was, and they knew what it meant when several Extractors carried one through the streets.
Especially when it was active.
Most of the Manufacturers were impressed.
Some of them had heard of Cycle and Dark Dream, but they hadn't really paid any attention to them.
They barely had any Specters or Extractors.
However, the capture of a Force Specter acted as a kind of milestone for Manufacturers.
Capturing a Force Specter was one of the most difficult things to do.
It needed a ton of money, intense planning, and many powerful Extractors.
That made Force Specters very valuable.
While a Force Specter didn't produce more Zephyx than any other kind of Specter, just the investment needed to capture them made them worth a lot.
Some Manufacturers would probably even pay ten million credits.
Since Dark Dream had managed to capture a Force Specter, it meant that they had become an actual Manufacturer in the eyes of the other Manufacturers.
The Spartans, the Manufacturer just one place above Dark Dream, only had a single Force Specter.
One had to remember that the Spartans had four Veterans, over 20 Johns, and over 40 Newbies.
They had over ten Specters, and one of their Specters was about to become an Adult.
Yet, they only had a single Force Specter, which was also their main Specter.
So, even though the size and power difference between Dark Dream and the Spartans was massive, the other Manufacturers now often put them together when talking about other Manufacturers.
A Manufacturer that could capture a Force Specter was a good Manufacturer.
Naturally, the other Manufacturers now paid more attention to Dark Dream.
Dark Dream was actually becoming interesting to them.
Before the cell reached Dark Dream's building, the other Manufacturers had already found out what kind of Specter was in the Repelling Cell.
Everyone knew about the Fog, and everyone had seen where the Extractors from Dark Dream had come from.
It was pretty obvious that the Fog was in there.
The Manufacturers didn't really care.
No one really wanted to invest the money to capture the Fog anyway.
They didn't care that Dark Dream caught it.