"AAAAHHH!"
Nick stood up.
'Alright, that's enough! The alarm didn't ring yet, but I'm done with this fucking thing!' Nick thought.
'I don't know how long I've been in here, but it's been long enough!'
"Hey, hey, hey, where are you going? Can't you stay just a bit longer?" the voice of a nervous child spoke.
Nick ignored it and searched for the exit.
Instead, he touched a bunch of slime, which was blocking his way.
"Come on, just stay a bit longer," the sad voice of a big man said.
Nick searched for a way to get past the slime, but the slime just seemed to move with him, keeping him from reaching the entrance.
After around a minute of trying, Nick stopped moving.
He wanted to warn the Annoying One, but that would just provoke an attack.
Ironically, attacking it had a lower chance of provoking an attack than talking to it.
Nick took a deep breath.
Then, he moved his arm towards the slime with a lot of force.
"Hey, watch it! This took hours to get right!" the voice of a disgusted woman shouted.
Nick shoved the slime to the side, and he felt the heavy weight of the Specter shift.
"You fucking asshole!" the Specter shouted from the side. "I'll fucking kill you!"
BANG!
An explosion came from Nick's right, and he felt a strong wind.
However, he just slowly kept walking towards the direction where the exit should be.
In the end, no attack arrived.
Finally, Nick arrived at the exit.
"Fine, you win this time," the voice of a moping child spoke.
Then, Nick opened the door, stepped out, and closed it behind him.
Outside the Containment Unit, Nick took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
The light in the hallway almost blinded him, but he was almost glad to be blinded since that meant that he didn't need to work with the Annoying One anymore.
At least, not today.
'Honestly, I would much rather work with the Talker. Talking for eight hours is way better than sitting in this Containment Unit for an hour!'
Nick took another deep breath in annoyance.
But then, he sighed in helplessness.
'But the Annoying One needs to be worked with constantly to assure that it will become a Late Adult soon, and we only have two people who can work with it.'
'I guess I'm forced to work with it for around 12 hours per day if I want it to advance within the next year.'
'Maybe I'll just make some earplugs and get some kind of vibrating alarm to know when the time is up.'
'Ah fuck, I forgot! The documentation said that if it notices that we can't hear it, it starts putting its slimy appendages down our shirts, and it even starts sexually molesting us!'
Nick groaned.
'This fucking guy!'
'Is this why Anatomy wanted us to have this guy so badly?'
Nick looked at the console and checked the time.
'Two hours and 42 minutes. That's how long I've been in there.'
Then, he looked at the little door leading to the Zephyx container.
'Let's see if it produced a good amount of Zephyx, at least.'
Nick walked over and opened the door.
'About 80 grams,' Nick thought. 'That puts it at about the same level as the Talker.'
Nick sighed again.
'I guess there really is no excuse for not working with this thing except for annoyance.'
Nick closed the door again and looked at the entrance to the Containment Unit.
'At least there's one good thing about this specimen.'
'Its ability!'
The Annoying One had the opposite ability of the Attention Seeker.
Instead of pulling attention toward the user, attention was pulled away from the user.
Someone affected by the ability would find other random things much more interesting than the user.
It was like the user of the ability turned into an unassuming little grey man that didn't elicit any attention.
While the Attention Seeker's ability was perfect for Bruisers, the Annoying One's ability was perfect for Runners and Assassins.
Naturally, after looking at the ability, one would think that this would be perfect for Nick.
And one would be right.
'If I had known this Specter existed, I would have chosen it for my ability advancement when I became a Veteran,' Nick thought.
'But now, it's too late.'
During ability advancement, an Extractor could only choose an ability from a stronger Specter.
An ability from a weaker Specter would not work.
It wasn't important how much stronger the Specter was. It was only important that it was stronger.
Nick could use an Elder, a Fanatic, or even a Demon to advance if he managed to become an Expert in the future.
However, he couldn't use Hatchlings, Adolescents, or Adults.
If he wanted to use the Annoying One for his ability advancement, he would need the Annoying One to become an Elder first.
And that would take at least two decades, and it might even never happen.
Not every Specter could advance to the Elder Stage.
Naturally, Nick wasn't willing to wait for that long.
Julian's fast growth put a lot of pressure on Nick.
'Well, there's nothing I can do about it anymore. Also, I'm not even sure if that ability would have been better.'
'The ability to blind my enemies has already saved my life, and I can even create some light in the darkness.'
'I guess it depends on what I value more, staying hidden for longer or being able to escape after already being detected.'
A moment later, he looked at the western Containment Unit.
'I should get everything prepared for the next 24 hours. I don't want to take any chances.'
Nick left the third floor and went to his office.
For the next couple of hours, he made several plans and put his affairs in order.
He wouldn't be involved in Dark Dream for the next 24 hours.
Then, he went back to the third floor and stopped in front of the last Containment Unit.
'As long as I don't do anything, nothing should happen,' Nick thought.