?After walking through what seemed to be a forest, Nick reached Albert's house.
Nick had seen a couple of houses on his way to Albert's house.
All the houses he had seen were made out of wood or mossy stone.
Only when Nick saw Albert's house did he realize that he hadn't seen a single piece of metal until now.
Albert's house, compared to all the other houses, was made of black metal.
It was the same kind of metal that the entrance to the upper layer was made out of.
Albert's house was the only thing made of metal that Nick had seen in the upper layer.
It was strange.
In the Dregs and in the Outer City, everyone was surrounded by nothing but metal.
The ground was metal.
The houses were metal.
Everything was metal.
But here, nothing was made of metal.
When Nick saw the house, his heart rate spiked again.
This was it.
This was the moment.
As long as Nick went to the house, knocked, and saw Albert, he would doom him.
He could still leave.
Albert was not yet dead.
Nick could still turn around.
Nick took a deep breath.
He clenched his fists and did his best to focus on the house in front of him.
Then, he walked forward.
Nick felt like the world was compressing his head as he moved his arm towards the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
He had done it.
He had knocked.
Nick felt like the surroundings had darkened.
That was it.
There was no way back now.
Some seconds later, the door opened, and Nick came face to face with Albert.
He looked just like the first day Nick had met him, except for the different clothing.
Just like back then, Albert had mostly black hair with a couple of grey streaks going through it.
All in all, he looked to be in his fifties.
However, that wouldn't be accurate for him since he was an Expert.
Albert was probably already over a hundred years old.
Nick still remembered how Albert had helped him analyze his abilities and trained him for a couple of months.
Albert furrowed his brows as he looked at Nick.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Naturally, while Albert hadn't changed, Nick had changed quite a bit.
The last time Albert saw Nick was when he captured the Dreamer.
Back then, Albert had shown Nick how Chief Zephyx Extractors found ways to work with Specters.
The last time they had met, Nick was still a 16-year-old with above-average fitness.
Now, Nick was 21.
He had grown quite a bit, and his muscle mass had more than doubled.
But the most noticeable change was Nick's aura and demeanor.
Back then, Nick had still seemed innocent, na?ve, and insecure.
Now, Nick appeared solemn, serious, and intense.
The wonder of seeing new things had been replaced with disgust at these things' moral and economic implications.
The world that had once been colorful was now covered in a grey, black, and red film.
And just like the world had lost most of its colors, Nick also seemed far less colorful.
When Nick saw Albert's face, he felt like the black hole in his chest had reopened again.
He knew that he was looking at a dead man.
It had been done.
Albert had lost his bet, which meant that Julian could consume him anytime.
Julian became stronger by making bets and winning them.
When he won his bet, his powers while fighting the person who had lost would multiply, making him almost invincible.
Julian was also an entire level above Albert.
At this moment, it would be enough for Julian to send one of his many mouths to Albert.
Albert wouldn't be able to see or defend himself from the mouth, and the mouth would consume him whole.
In essence, Albert would vanish.
One day, while he was just sitting in his home, a mouth might appear below him and kill him.
No one would notice.
Nick had doomed Albert to this fate.
"It's me," Nick said, trying to keep his voice from quivering.
"Nick."
Albert's eyebrows rose in surprise, and he looked Nick up and down.
"Wow," Albert said after a bit. "You look completely different 02:50
from back then."
Then, Albert laughed.
"To think that you would still remember this old man!" he shouted with joy.
"Come in!" Albert said as he made space for Nick.
Nick nodded and walked past Albert.
Inside the house, Nick saw a room filled with books.
On one of the walls was a hole with a fire burning inside.
Nick hadn't seen a fire in years.
Creating fire was extremely difficult since there was nothing one could burn.
Wood didn't exist.
Paper was rare and made of materials that didn't really catch fire.
Clothing was mostly made of thin strands of bendy metal.
Food was mostly cooked in big areas with clean metal plates that focused the light.
And yet, Albert had a fire burning in his house.
The fire gave the room a cozy and warm feeling, but every second it burned represented several credits.
Nick looked at the room with a complex expression.
Under normal circumstances, he would grow angry at the waste of credits happening right here, but he just couldn't get angry at Albert.
After all, he would soon be dead.
"Nice place," Nick commented.
"It's nothing special," Albert said as he walked over to a nice chair.
"Come, sit down," Albert added as he pointed to another chair.
Nick walked over and silently sat down.
"You want something to drink? I have coffee," Albert said.
Nick felt a desire for coffee.
Sadly, that desire was quickly overwhelmed by a stinging feeling of guilt and hypocrisy.
Coffee?
He didn't even need to drink anything to stay alive.
He was a Veteran.
Why would he need to drink anything?
After also adding the ridiculous price of coffee…
"No, thanks," Nick said.
How could he possibly accept drinking coffee after solidifying his goal?
Coffee would be a thing of the past for him.