More time passed, and finally, after around 18 more months, Nick managed to become a Mid Veteran.
Nick had been an Extractor for nine years by now, and he was already a Mid Veteran.
One had to know that becoming a Mid Veteran this quickly was crazy.
If anyone managed to become a Mid Veteran, that mostly happened in their late 30s or their 40s.
Meanwhile, Nick was already one at 25 years of age.
On the other hand, not much had happened within the last 18 months.
Dark Dream hadn't caught an additional Specter.
This felt quite stagnant. Especially since Nick hadn't done much except work for the past 18 months.
Yet, it was important to note that there were no shortcuts when it came to becoming stronger.
The fact that Nick was a Mid Veteran at 25 years of age was already unprecedented in Crimson City.
He was over five years younger than the previous record holder had been.
Sadly, Nick still had to invest years into every level, and things would only get worse.
The time it took to advance was already bordering on suspicious, and even if Nick somehow managed to advance even faster, the only thing that would accomplish was that the city would thoroughly investigate all of Dark Dream, which might uncover Julian's secret.
There were no natural nor artificial treasures or herbs or potions or whatever that could increase someone's level rapidly.
The fastest way was to work with Specters and consume even more Zephyx by inhaling or eating it.
However, the second part had only little effect and was very expensive.
So, while Dark Dream seemed slow and stale from the viewpoint of inexperienced people, the experienced Manufacturers could tell that Dark Dream was rapidly becoming more powerful.
Especially their employees were growing stronger rapidly.
Dark Dream now had two Peak Johns with Taren also becoming one.
Sadly, Jenny was still too early to try going into Zephosis.
She needed to absorb more Zephyx.
Aside from that, Dark Dream now had seven Late Johns, which was far more than they had previously.
There were also four Mid Johns and six Initial Johns.
In total, Dark Dream now had 19 Johns, which was over double of what they had before the Crimson Sea broke out.
Even more, the power of their Johns was also much higher.
On top of that, Dark Dream also had 17 Newbies of different levels, making them about equal to the number of Newbies Solace had.
Having a great number of Newbies represented having a healthy supply of weak Specters, which ensured the supply of new employees.
For a Manufacturer, it was always preferable to gain new Extractors by raising them.
Getting Extractors from other companies was always associated with risk.
What if those Extractors were spies?
Additionally, they would need to pay a fee to the company where the Extractor was currently employed.
As for Extractors without a job, it was best to avoid them.
Every Manufacturer put tons of money and resources into raising every Extractor, and if a Manufacturer was willing to essentially burn all that investment and fire them, there had to be serious issues with that Extractor.
It was extremely rare for an unemployed Extractor to get hired.
The only real recourse for the Extractor was to join the city and work as some form of contractor.
They would not receive all the fancy treatment that real guards enjoyed but still had to work quite a bit.
Even more, the money this job paid was horrendous.
However, it was better than every other job.
Even though the pay was horrendous, that was only true when seen from the viewpoint of the average Extractor.
Someone working for the city as a contractor still earned easily enough to live in the lower layer of the Inner City.
So, with all of this considered, it was important for a Manufacturer to have many Hatchlings and Adolescents since those produced fresh new recruits.
However, the employees were not the only things that grew quickly in Dark Dream.
The Specters also grew rather rapidly.
For example, the Talker had become a Mid Adult already, but that wasn't really because of Nick.
The Talker had already been close to advancing when Dark Dream had gotten it, and its next advancement would take years.
Dark Dream also gained two more Peak Adolescents in the Fog and the Abductor.
The Bleeding Lady, Dung Heap, and Money Sink were Late Adolescents, and the remainder of the Adolescents were Mid Adolescents.
Dark Dream did not have any normal Early and Initial Adolescents.
After all, Dark Dream hadn't caught many new Specters.
Luckily, the Puppy and the Fog were easy to work with, giving the Initial and Early Johns some work.
With all of this said, one thing was clear.
Dark Dream needed time.
Everything and everyone was advancing, but they still needed more time to produce more powerful Extractors and Specters.
With time, several of their Adolescents would advance to becoming Adults, and several of their Johns would become Veterans.
However, Nick didn't have that time.
At least, he didn't want to have it.
Dark Dream needed more Adolescents.
Right now, Dark Dream had just the right ratio between Adolescents and Johns.
However, the number of Adolescents would decrease in the future since some of them would become Adults, while more and more Newbies would become Johns.
Additionally, Nick needed another powerful Adult.
Right now, he and the Talker were at the same level, but as soon as Nick became a Late Veteran, things would change.
The Talker would still be nowhere close to becoming a Late Adult, making it very difficult for Nick to advance again.
If Nick had two additional Mid Veterans, the Talker might only grow a little slower than Nick, but that wasn't the case.
As things stood now, the Talker would probably need around a decade to become a Late Adult.
Nick didn't want to wait that long to advance.
Mainly due to Julian.
Julian was also advancing.
He had not advanced a level yet, but he was about to.
In just five years, Julian would have managed to become an Early Fanatic.
If Nick didn't catch up, he might not survive.
After all, would Julian keep Nick alive when he had gained control over the entire city?
Of course not.
Because of that, Nick decided to go all-in when it came to helping Dark Dream grow.
Nick needed Dark Dream to become more powerful rapidly if he wanted to keep his current rate of advancement.
So, Nick decided to do something drastic.
He would go on an excursion again.
But this time, he wouldn't go with Dark Dream.
No, he would go on an excursion with Solace.