Nick threw another glance at the Dreamer, which was still looking at him with its emotionless eyes.
Nick had no idea what the Dreamer was feeling or thinking about.
It was like a blank canvas.
Then, Nick left the Containment Unit and followed Albert to the console.
Albert pointed at a small monitor to the side of the console and slapped Nick's shoulders quite roughly. "You seein this?" he shouted with excitement.
Nick looked at the small monitor and saw the gauge of a tank.
This was the Zephyx tank of the Dreamer's Containment Unit.
The gauge had a maximum volume of 50, and right now, it was at a bit over five.
"You managed to get five grams of Zephyx on your first time! That's amazing!" Albert shouted with a laugh.
Nick just looked at the gauge with confusion since he didn't know how much five grams of Zephyx was, but Albert's enthusiasm also made him a bit excited.
"How much is five grams of Zephyx?" Nick asked.
"About 5,000 credits," Albert said with a smirk.
Nick's eyes widened.
How much?!
5,000 credits?!
"But the full-body Healing Bath only cost 4,800 credits," Nick said in a dumbfounded manner.
Nick hadn't had issues with coming up with the taxes each month, but he had never owned more than 500 credits at a time.
500 credits had essentially counted as his life savings.
And now, he had made 5,000 just by sleeping a bit?
If he just kept sleeping in there every single day, wouldn't he make over 100,000 credits per month?
"How much of that will I get?" Nick asked.
"Depends on Wyntor," Albert said. "You have to remember that these 5,000 credits represent an entire day of operations for your company. 5,000 credits are quite a bit, but it's not that much if you want to run a small company."
"For example, just keeping the lights on in the Containment Unit for that long cost you around 650 credits."
Nick's eyes widened. "650 credits for the lights? That's over 10%!"
Albert nodded. "That's why this Containment Unit is so cheap. Almost all other Containment Units use shafts of mirrors to get natural light in them. Over a long period of time, the more expensive Containment Units are more cost-effective."
"Of course, after paying for the lights, you also have to pay the rent of the warehouse."
"Wait, rent?" Nick asked in shock. "I thought this warehouse belonged to us!"
Albert just laughed. "Nick, do you have any idea how expensive such a big house is outside the Dregs? If you want to buy the warehouse, you probably need more than 300,000 credits."
Nick took a deep breath.
"Lighten up," Albert said. "Compared to the light, the rent shouldn't be that bad."
"Based on the location and size, I would guess that Wyntor pays somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 credits per month."
'That's less than a hundred credits per day. It really isn't that bad,' Nick thought.
"Then, you have to pay Pator. After all, he's an employee. Based on his profile, he probably also earns about 2,000 to 3,000 credits per month."
'That's also a bit less than 100 credits per day.'
"After that, we need to consider expansion costs," Albert said. "When you run a company, you keep the company's assets and finances separate from your personal ones. And since you guys want to expand at some point, you will probably save about 50% of the profit."
"The remainder will probably be split between the two of you."
"All in all, I expect that you get around 1,000 credits per day of work for yourself," Albert explained.
Nick slowly nodded.
1,000 credits per day wasn't as much as 5,000 credits per day, but it was still an insane amount to Nick.
"A thousand credits per day," Nick repeated with a distracted voice.
Then, Nick remembered something. "What about the Dreamer? Can it actually produce Zephyx once a day?"
Albert snorted. "Nick, the Dreamer is a Specter that feeds on mentality. Compared to a Specter that feeds on something physical, it doesn't need to digest its food."
"On top of that, Specters don't need to sleep, breathe, or eat."
"The Dreamer can probably go forever."
Then, Albert pointed at Nick. "But you can't."
Nick furrowed his brows. "Why not? I just slept for eight hours, but I feel like I can continue sleeping. You shouldn't underestimate my ability to sleep. If I really want to, I can sleep a looooong time."
Albert slowly shook his head. "That's the issue. You just slept for eight hours, but you feel like you can immediately continue sleeping. That doesn't sound very rested to me."
"Are you tired right now? Do you feel like you've had a good night's sleep?"
Nick looked at the ground with a thoughtful expression.
His mind felt strained. It was almost like he had been awake for over 24 hours.
Even more, Nick still felt like it was the same day he had entered the sewers, which felt strange.
"It's strange," Nick said. "I feel like I haven't slept."
Albert nodded. "That's what I thought."
"Nick, sleeping is a natural process where the body cleans and organizes the mind while your body enters a resting state."
"The Dreamer is changing that process by giving you nightmares. So, instead of your mind reorganizing, it has to experience more things and store more memories. This means that your mind is not essentially sleeping."
Nick furrowed his brows with a frown. "So, I have to sleep again?" he asked as he scratched the back of his head.
Albert nodded. "Yep. You have to actually go to sleep. Working with the Dreamer is just that, work. It is not rest nor sleep."
Nick could only sigh and nod.
He could tell that Albert was right, and he accepted his explanation.
At that moment, the door of the warehouse suddenly opened, and Nick looked over.
The next moment, he saw Wyntor standing beside Pator.
"Oh yeah," Albert said, like he just remembered something. "I sent Pator to get Wyntor about an hour ago or something like that. I thought he would want to know how things went."
The distant Wyntor turned to Pator, nodded, and told him something.
Pator performed a short and polite bow and walked away from the warehouse.
The next moment, Wyntor walked into the warehouse, and the door ominously closed behind him.
Wyntor walked over and stopped in front of Albert and Nick.
"You're not wearing your uniform?" Wyntor asked Nick.