?Hera's brows furrowed when she heard Nick.
Naturally, every Manufacturer gathered information on every other Manufacturer, and Manufacturers often knew about Specters that other Manufacturers didn't want to be known.
Nevertheless, spying on others was still seen as sneaky, and highlighting something that the other party obviously wanted to be kept a secret was quite rude.
Highlighting something like that was like going through someone's personal belongings behind their backs and then asking them about something they found.
"And which one would that be?" she asked.
"The Blinding Light," Nick said.
Hera's brows lifted in surprise, and her annoyance vanished.
She had thought that Nick was about to ask for one of their more secretive Specters.
Instead, Nick asked about a Specter that was actually quite high profile.
The Blinding Light used to belong to Kugelblitz, and it was also the Specter that gave Wyntor his ability.
About six months ago, Solace bought the Blinding Light from Kugelblitz for a hefty sum.
Since Solace was in the business of selling artificial light, they wanted to see if they could expand it with the help of the Blinding Light.
Solace's biggest moneymaker was the Possession Specter, the Bright Candle.
The Bright Candle was a Late Adult, and it looked just like a normal candle.
When someone approached the Bright Candle, its light became brighter, but the body of the approaching person would start to catch fire.
However, the fire was very different from normal fire.
The burning person actually didn't feel any pain during the process, and they actually didn't receive any noticeable injuries.
At least, that's how it was for Extractors.
Normal people would just vanish within two seconds.
The reason for the difference was that the Bright Candle consumed Zephyx.
An Extractor that touched the candle would have their Zephyx burned away in exchange for warm and calming light.
Of course, if they actually ran out of Zephyx, they would still die.
Five Veterans and 25 Johns were dedicated to working exclusively with the Bright Candle.
People were constantly stationed around the Bright Candle, and the light it produced was sent across the entire city.
This was how Solace earned most of its money.
Some years ago, Solace got an idea for an upgrade.
They already had built all these expensive lines for light to travel to, and they found a way to expand that network with only a little bit of investment.
Like this, they could not only send light to people but also heat.
People could warm their houses with the heat, and they could also use it to cook food.
Making a fire was difficult and expensive due to the lack of burnable materials.
Most food was cooked by putting it below huge lenses that gathered the light.
Naturally, there were many drawbacks to such a method.
With Solace's new service, people could just open a valve and have fire come out.
That would give people the possibility to cook their own food, which would improve the lives of many people…
And also make Solace a shitload of credits.
The most fitting Specter to produce the heat was the Blinding Light.
Naturally, Kugelblitz knew that and asked for a brutal price.
Three billion credits.
For an Adult.
That was ridiculous.
But not really as ridiculous if one knew about the Shadow Shrouds.
Without the Blinding Light, it would be much more difficult to create the Shadow Shrouds.
In the end, Solace bit the bullet and paid the money.
And now, they owned the Blinding Light.
Because of the huge waves the acquisition made, everyone knew about the Blinding Light.
"You want the Blinding Light's ability?" Hera asked with surprise.
Nick nodded.
Hera looked at Nick with confusion and skepticism.
The Blinding Light's ability was not something that Extractors generally wanted.
The Blinding Light's basic ability allowed Extractors to create a burning domain, which had different effects based on where the enemy looked.
If the enemy looked at the person using the ability, their eyes would become blind very quickly due to the insane brightness.
But if the enemy looked away, their body would start to burn, which would result in the accumulation of injuries.
However, the burning effect wasn't strong enough to be viable for combat.
Because of that, the Blinding Light's ability was only given to Extractors that only wanted to run away.
When it came to fleeing, the Blinding Light's ability was incredibly useful.
Right now, Hera was confused as to why Nick would want such an ability.
Sure, when advancing, a Specter's ability would integrate into the Extractor's main ability, which would create different effects, but even with all of that, the Blinding Light couldn't be considered to be a fit for most Extractors.
Nick seemed to be very experienced in combat, which meant that he most likely wasn't someone who immediately ran from a confrontation.
So, why did he want to have the Blinding Light's ability?
Hera had no idea.
"Well," Hera said after a bit, "usually, we don't just allow anyone to get any of our abilities."
Nick just looked at Hera.
"But since I know you, I'm willing to help you. Even if it's against the rules I established," she said with a smile before walking to the door.
Nick looked at Hera as she was leaving. "Thank you, Hera. This really means a lot to me."
"How much is it?" he asked.
Hera just waved dismissively. "Forget it. You're getting it free of charge. View it as a favor from Solace."
Nick's eyes shone.
While this seemed to be a nice gesture, it was actually a higher price than a couple of million credits.
Trust was imperative in business relationships.
Because of that, if Solace asked for a favor in the future, Dark Dream would need to reciprocate.
Otherwise, they would be viewed as disrespectful, sneaky, thankless, and untrustworthy.
However, Nick and Wyntor had expected as much.
After all, Nick was a Chief Zephyx Extractor, and Manufacturers were willing to fork over huge piles of money for their Chief Zephyx Extractors.
"Then, thank you," Nick said, accepting the offer.
It was a high price, but it was worth it.
Nick's ability was just too important.
A moment later, the two of them left Hera's office and walked to the Blinding Light's Containment Unit.