The research into the Spilling Bottle was finished.
The results were that it worked in reducing the Forest's power.
Sadly, its sludge strengthened the Crimson Sea instead of weakening it, which meant that it couldn't be used to deal with the Crimson Sea.
However, disadvantages often had advantages of their own.
Even though the sludge couldn't be used to weaken the Crimson Sea, it could make it produce a bit of Zephyx, which meant that it was possible to harvest its ability.
The governor could take some of the city's new recruits or advancing Extractors to the sea once every few months or so, spill some of the sludge into the sea, and allow his Extractors to get the Crimson Sea's ability.
The bit of sludge used to achieve this was equivalent to barely half of a gram of Zephyx, which was nothing for a Fanatic like the Crimson Sea.
All in all, the city was very interested in the Spilling Bottle.
Julian negotiated with the city for a couple of days before they finally came to an agreement.
Another couple of weeks passed.
Clank!
Nick landed on top of a big platform on the middle layer of the Inner City, and he looked forward.
A huge building was in front of him.
There were no guards.
Nick cleaned his uniform a bit to make himself presentable and slowly walked into the building.
He found himself in an entrance hall.
"Mr. Nick!"
Nick looked over and saw a beautiful receptionist waiting in front of the stairs.
He walked over and nodded in greeting.
"Is Mr. Nergiar not here with you?" she asked.
"He can't make it," Nick said. "The governor has been informed."
"Oh, what a shame," the receptionist said.
Then, she gestured to the staircase behind her.
"Please, follow me," the receptionist said with a polite bow and friendly smile.
"Thank you," Nick answered.
The two of them walked up the staircase and down a hallway.
"Please, in here," she said before opening a door and gesturing for Nick to enter.
Nick nodded and walked inside.
"Oh, Nick! Welcome!" Hera Marion, the CZE of Solace, shouted as she stood up with a smile.
Nick smiled back and approached her, shaking her hand. "Julian couldn't make it, sorry."
Hera sighed, and Ramona, Solace's CEO, who was sitting at the table, shook her head helplessly.
"Again?" Hera asked. "Well, he did say that he was pretty busy recently."
"I also thought as much," Ramona said from the table. "I talked to him just three days ago. He said he is quite busy with something, and he also gave me a cryptic hint."
Ramona looked at Nick. "He told me that we would find out what he was busy with during the big meeting today."
Nick nodded and approached Ramona, who stood up and greeted Nick with a handshake.
Usually, Nick wouldn't dare approach someone more powerful than him for a handshake, but the relationship between Dark Dream and Solace was very close.
They even had a program to exchange abilities.
Some of Solace's Extractors could get abilities from Dark Dream's Specters and the other way around.
Nick and Julian also met with Hera and Ramona regularly.
Nick exchanged a couple of pleasantries with the two of them before he looked at the big table in the middle of the room.
He met eyes with two women wearing uniforms from Gemini.
Nick nodded, and the two of them wordlessly nodded back.
That was about as close as Dark Dream was to Gemini.
Nick could theoretically walk forward and offer a handshake without committing social suicide due to the fact that Dark Dream had Julian, a Specialist.
However, that could be viewed as a power move and might strain the relationship between the two Manufacturers.
"Is Julian busy again?"
Nick looked over at the other end of the table, at Ghosty.
"I'm sorry, but he's quite busy. The governor already knows about it," Nick answered.
Ghosty chuckled. "If only I had his freedom," he lamented with a joking voice.
Beside him, Herman Reichert, CEO of Ghosty's Lab, just smiled bitterly. "Sorry," he jokingly said to Ghosty.
Nick walked to his seat at the end of the table, right beside the representatives of the common people.
If it wasn't obvious by now, today was the big meeting of the Manufacturers, and this year, it was held inside Solace's building.
This was the first time in which Solace was allowed to host the meeting.
The reason why Solace was allowed to host the meeting was because of their recent accomplishments.
One of their Specters advanced and became an Elder!
After years, Solace finally managed to join the big Manufacturers, and they didn't even need to go through the trouble of capturing an Elder!
Specters grew at different rates, and the advancement of some Specters was very slow and sometimes even impossible.
Additionally, Specters generally needed more time to advance than humans, which meant that relying on advancement was not a good idea for becoming more influential as a Manufacturer.
But Solace lucked out, and one of their Specters actually advanced!
Usually, since Solace now had a new main Specter, they would rebrand themselves.
However, they decided against it.
The reason was the Specter's… peculiarity.
It was called the Perversion, and it was a floating panty.
It was basically a mixture of the Dreamer and the Lover since it put people to sleep and sexually tortured them in their dreams.
Having a floating panty as the main symbol of a Manufacturer was a bit…
Additionally, since Solace mostly focused on their light and heat business, they also had a good argument for branding themselves after the Blinding Light and the Bright Candle.
Funnily enough, the Perversion was one of the biggest reasons for Solace's and Dark Dream's close relationship.
The Dreamer, the Lover, and the Perversion were essentially made for each other in terms of abilities.
Solace was advancing rapidly in the city, and Dark Dream was happy for them.
After all, Solace and Dark Dream were close allies.