?Nick leaped over a wide gap and landed on a relatively thin rail of metal.
The rail vibrated a little but didn't break.
Then, he continued running down the rail, dodging a long piece of metal that moved across the rail.
Right now, Nick was running across the rails on the middle layer of the Inner City.
As a Peak John, he had the strength to jump the gaps between the rails easily.
Without needing to use Shweebs, moving across the middle layer of the city was actually very efficient and fast.
After all, he could literally jump to wherever he wanted to be.
In the past, Nick hadn't dared to do something like this.
Back then, he had felt that jumping from rail to rail was too dangerous.
One wrong move, and he would fall for two kilometers or so.
But now, Nick just wasn't as afraid anymore.
It just didn't feel as big of a problem anymore.
Nick kept going upward for a while as he looked around.
After a bit, he finally found his target and ran towards the south of the middle layer.
There, Nick saw a huge building over a hundred meters high and wide.
The building was incorporated into the megastructure and hung from the wall like a wasp nest.
Countless white lines came out of the building, which traveled across the city.
Nick had seen these thin white lines before, and he knew what they were for.
These were special Zephyx lines, and they were delivering artificial light made by a Specter to many different households and even Manufacturers.
Naturally, only one Manufacturer in the city was known for delivering that much light to everyone.
Solace.
After jumping from rail to rail for a while longer, Nick took one last jump and landed on the big entrance platform of Solace.
Surprisingly, there were no guards whatsoever.
Although, Dark Dream also didn't have any guards standing at the front door.
The guards were only inside the building.
Nick walked forward and entered the huge building.
As soon as he entered, he saw a young woman reading something behind a table in the middle of the entrance hall.
The young woman heard the sound of the door opening, calmly put the thing that she was reading away, and looked at Nick with a polite smile.
"Welcome to Solace! How can I help you?" she asked with a bright and friendly voice.
Nick walked forward and nodded in greeting. "Hi, is Hera Marion available? Could you tell her that Nick is here?"
The woman looked at Nick with a raised eyebrow.
She had never seen this person before, but he was asking for the Chief Zephyx Extractor?
"Of course," she said a moment later. "Please wait here while I get my supervisor. I don't have the authority to contact Miss Marion."
Nick just nodded without saying anything and waited.
The next moment, the receptionist walked to the side of the central hall and knocked on one of the doors.
A middle-aged man opened the door, and the two of them talked with hushed voices.
Then, the middle-aged man walked to the reception desk and looked at Nick with a polite tone.
"Might I ask how you know Miss Marion? I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we only want to disturb her if it is necessary. I hope you understand," he said.
Nick wasn't surprised about their reluctance.
Hera probably had a lot to do.
"I'm Nick Nick, and I'm the Chief Zephyx Extractor of Dark Dream. Hera told me that I should call for her if I ever decide to visit," Nick said.
The eyes of the two widened in surprise.
So, this was the Chief Zephyx Extractor of Dark Dream!
Obviously, almost the entire city knew about Dark Dream by now, but while the Outer City saw Nick on almost a daily basis, the Inner City very rarely saw him, which was why he was a bit of a mystery.
Additionally, Chief Zephyx Extractors were usually more involved in business between companies, and they often traveled from Manufacturer to Manufacturer.
Meanwhile, almost all business-related matters for Dark Dream were handled by Wyntor, which was why Nick so rarely visited other Manufacturers.
"You're Dark Dream's Chief Zephyx Extractor?" the supervisor asked with surprise.
Nick just nodded.
"Then, please wait a moment. I will call Miss Marion right away," he said as he walked out of the central hall.
Nick just waited.
Naturally, all the Chief Zephyx Extractors saw each other at least once per year during the yearly meeting.
Because of that, Nick had already built a connection with basically all of them, except for Anatomy.
Even the twins from Gemini had warmed up to Dark Dream and didn't treat them like annoying children anymore.
Only Anatomy still acted like Dark Dream was unworthy of their notice, but that wasn't anything special.
They acted the same way to Solace and Gemini as well.
Only Ghosty's Lab and Kugelblitz could actually talk to Anatomy normally.
Nick had met Hera Marion several times already, and they had even talked a couple of times.
Compared to the Spartans and Gemini, Solace had immediately been friendly to Dark Dream, which made Dark Dream prefer Solace over the other two in business matters.
Ramona Illium, the CEO of Solace, was actually quite a good friend of Wyntor's by now.
They even had a lunch date every two weeks in which they just ate lunch together and talked about all kinds of things.
Nick waited for a couple of minutes in the central hall.
Eventually, one of the doors opened, and two people walked through.
One of them was the supervisor from earlier.
The other one was a beautiful blonde woman who looked to be in her thirties.
She had bright blonde hair, and her disposition put anyone at ease.
She had this certain Aura that made one immediately feel relaxed in her presence.
When she saw Nick, a bright smile appeared on her lips.
"Nick, welcome to Solace!"