Nick quickly climbed down the stairs in Kugelblitz while he kept thinking about what to do regarding his future.
He had to become powerful.
There was no other way.
For that, he needed stronger Specters, for which he needed more people, for which he needed more money, for which he needed more Zephyx, for which he needed more Specters.
'I have to buy parts of Dark Dream since that will be what I will be relying on to become stronger.'
'The stronger Dark Dream becomes, the stronger I become.'
'And my first priority should be to get an Adolescent Specter that I can work with.'
'I am already a level two Extractor, and I need much more Zephyx to become stronger. Yet, while I'm technically working with three Specters, I am only absorbing Zephyx from one, the Bleeding Lady, and she's not even an Adolescent.'
'I don't have the time to work with the Fog or the Dreamer.'
'I need an Adolescent that produces a lot of Zephyx in a short time.'
By now, Nick had reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the exit of Kugelblitz.
Outside Kugelblitz, Nick looked for one of the people who were responsible for the Shweebs and told them to retrieve his Shweeb.
"Learned something today?"
Nick raised an eyebrow and looked to his right.
Wyntor had just arrived.
Nick furrowed his brows and looked downward.
"I always knew that power was important, but I only realized today how important it is."
"I know what you mean," Wyntor answered. "Everyone in the room could tell what you were thinking when dad asked for the increase in taxes."
"Everyone could tell?" Nick asked.
Wyntor nodded. "It's not difficult. Powerful Zephyx Extractors have terrifying senses, and your gnashing teeth were very audible to them. The only one that didn't notice was dad since he was busy focusing on the governor."
Nick didn't know how to feel about that.
He wanted to keep his feelings a secret from the others, but in the end, they still knew exactly what he was feeling.
Wyntor looked at Nick and could tell what he was thinking about.
"That might not have been a bad thing," Wyntor said.
"Why?" Nick asked.
"I can't be sure, but there might be a possibility that your intense display of emotions has swayed the governor's decision in the matter."
"It's a long shot, and I can't possibly be certain, but I'm certain the governor noticed," Wyntor said.
Nick looked at Wyntor with a shocked expression.
"I repeat, I can't be sure, and I am only making a guess here. It is only a possibility," Wyntor said when he saw Nick's expression. "But as far as I know, he generally doesn't let issues like that hang. Dad had a very solid argument that was based on indisputable facts, but in the end, the governor said that he would make a decision on it next year."
"Maybe he wanted to give a certain someone an opportunity to change things," Wyntor said.
Nick's mind was going wild with possibilities.
Nick was easily earning enough to pay the taxes of every person living in the Dregs, which meant that he had the monetary means to help them.
The issue was the politics and the implications of interfering in this matter.
Nick would probably be costing Kugelblitz tens of millions of credits per month if he went all out.
Chances were high that Nick would "vanish" a couple of days later.
"He's giving me an opportunity?" Nick asked.
"Like I said, I can't be sure," Wyntor answered. "It's only a possibility."
Nick furrowed his brows and kept thinking about how to proceed.
'I can only think about how to solve this issue when I know more about it.'
'For now, I should focus on my power. Every day without a good Adolescent Specter I can work with is a day wasted.'
'But first…'
"I want to buy shares in Dark Dream," Nick said.
"I was waiting for you to say that," Wyntor said with a smile. "It seems like the meeting has helped you a lot."
Nick released a sigh.
He was glad that Wyntor knew him so well and was so agreeable.
"Chief Zephyx Extractors usually own between 10% and 30% of a Manufacturer, and that is actually something that both sides want," Wyntor said.
"Why both sides?" Nick asked.
"Well, the Chief Zephyx Extractor wants some say in the company, and they also know that they will increase the value of the company. Because of that, investing in the company is like just claiming free money."
"On the other side, the company wants the Chief Zephyx Extractor to own a significant portion to bind them to the company's success. If the company fails, the Chief Zephyx Extractor will lose a lot of their wealth since a significant portion of it is tied to the company. Therefore, Chief Zephyx Extractors are incentivized to do their absolute best for the company," Wyntor explained.
Nick looked at Wyntor with interest. "So, you're willing to sell me some shares?"
Wyntor nodded. "For now, I'm willing to sell you 30% of the company, but that might get diluted in the future if we need significant funding for a project. But I can assure you that it will never fall below 20%."
Nick nodded. "That sounds good. What's the price?"
"Naturally, since you are a significant reason for Dark Dream's success, I'm essentially gifting these shares to you."
"You get 30% of the company for 1.5 million credits. You should have that lying around," Wyntor said.
Nick took a deep breath.
1.5 million credits were a huge chunk of his savings.
However, Dark Dream could probably be sold for around 50 million credits currently.
30% of that would be 15 million credits.
Wyntor was essentially selling Dark Dream's shares to Nick at 10% of their actual value.
Nick and Wyntor ironed out the details of the deal before they drove back down to the lower layer.
Some minutes later, they left the Inner City.
After Nick entered his office again, he immediately focused on the next point on his agenda.
He took out a file from one of his drawers and looked at it with narrowed eyes.
On the front of the file were only three words.
The Riker Strikers.