?After a while, Wyntor sighed again.
"It's unbelievable that you managed to enter Zephosis just like that," he said. "It's usually such a brutal and strenuous process that barely a third of Peak level two Extractors can get through it."
Nick just scratched the side of his head. "I guess so?" he answered with a bit of confusion.
In order to enter Zephosis, someone had to undergo a cruel process.
A Peak John who was ready to undergo Zephosis needed to stay awake for three days, and during those three days, they also weren't allowed to eat or drink anything.
No sleep, no water, no food.
Naturally, before they actually entered Zephosis, their bodies still worked relatively normally.
So, three days without sleep, food, or water wasn't much different for them than for normal people.
The only difference was that the Extractor wouldn't enter a critical condition after three days.
Nevertheless, the pain, suffering, and panic were still the same.
Most Extractors cracked during the evening or night of the second day.
The first day wasn't very difficult, but on the second day, things became really painful and bad.
Most people could stay up for over 24 hours, but starting at around 36 hours, the lack of sleep really took its toll on the person.
The period from the evening of the second day to the evening of the third day was the most difficult.
After that, it would become easier, and things would continue to improve after that.
Naturally, not everyone was willing to go through something this horrible just for their job.
A Peak John could already live comfortably in the Inner City.
They already belonged to the top 10%.
Additionally, becoming a Veteran could alienate some people from their loved ones.
After all, the Veteran would no longer have any desire to eat, drink, or sleep.
A Veteran's partner would always go to bed alone, and they would always eat alone.
Additionally, Veterans were often expected to work more since they also didn't need to sleep anymore.
Instead of eight hours a day, most of them worked for twelve hours a day.
As with everything, becoming a Veteran had its advantages and disadvantages, and it depended on a person's priorities in life whether or not to advance.
Assuming they could get through the process of entering Zephosis.
Nick had heard about this from his old teacher, Manela.
Apparently, her relationship was ruined after she became a Veteran.
Reynold, Nick's other teacher, told Nick that having a relationship was difficult, which was why he told Nick that he should only consider becoming a Veteran if he valued his career over a relationship.
Sure, there were cases in which Veterans married each other, but these cases were rare.
Due to conflicts of interest, Veterans were not allowed to marry Extractors from other Manufacturers, which meant that they had to choose from their immediate colleagues.
And very often, there was no one that they clicked with.
Especially since so many Veterans were not even interested in relationships.
In fact, almost 70% of Veterans were single.
Lastly, there was one more reason why Veterans often didn't enter long-term relationships.
Longevity.
The more a body and Zephyx combined, the longer a person could live.
Veterans generally lived up to 130 years, and their bodies and minds didn't start deteriorating until they were around 110.
A 110-year-old Veteran would look like a 50-year-old normal person who lived in the Inner City.
Of course, things would get even crazier later.
Experts could live for around 200 years.
Specialists could live for around 300 years.
Sadly, no one inside Crimson City knew for how long Heroes and stronger could live.
The city hadn't existed for that long yet.
Nevertheless, being able to live for that long was a blessing but also a curse.
Sure, one would live for much longer, which was considered a good thing, but that also meant that one would watch all their friends and family die unless they also were strong Extractors.
One only needed to imagine a picture of a young mother cradling her newborn child and compare it to an image of the same mother holding the hand of a bedridden elderly person, with the mother maybe visibly having aged only ten years or so.
Luckily, or unluckily, depending on the viewpoint, Nick didn't have this issue.
He didn't have a significant other, and while he felt quite close to Wyntor, Nick didn't feel some kind of extremely deep friendship with him.
They had each other's backs, but there was still this distance between them.
Additionally, Nick didn't have a family.
Based on his memories, he never even had one.
He just woke up in the streets one day.
"How come you are already able to enter Zephosis?" Wyntor asked. "I thought you needed to be about 80% of the way to advancing."
Nick shrugged. "I don't know. I think I should only be around 50% of the way to becoming a Veteran. Maybe something happened?"
Wyntor furrowed his brows. "The only way would be if some powerful Specter used a lot of Zephyx around you."
Nick scratched his chin as he thought back.
Sure, the Crimson Sea had released Zephyx while Nick had been working below the city, but that wouldn't have been enough.
None of Dark Dream's Specters could have given Nick that much Zephyx.
He also hadn't been in contact long enough with any of the Spartans' Specters.
So, if there were some kind of powerful Specter that used a lot of Zephyx around Nick, it would have to be a wild one.
At that moment, Nick remembered the nightmares he used to have.
'Didn't the Parasite say that these nightmares came from a Specter?' Nick thought. 'What if it's that Specter?'
Nick furrowed his brows.
"By the way," Wyntor said, "do you know what kind of ability you want next?"
Nick was pulled out of his thoughts and looked at Wyntor.
Then, he nodded.
"I already know what I want."