Nick and Simon looked at each other after the Left Arm left.
'Only the night can defeat the Sun,' Nick thought.
'He knows that I have the ability of the Null and the Nightmare. In a way that can truly represent the night.'
Nick sighed.
'It's so much pressure.'
"Let's go," Simon said.
"Sure," Nick said, pushing his thoughts away.
'It's just one more thing I have to deal with. Just don't think about it for now. You're not strong enough anyway.'
Simon led Nick out of the Halls of Remembrance and into the huge Extractor shaft.
The two of them went all the way to the bottom and left through one of the exits.
They walked along the corridor for a while and saw an attendant sitting behind a desk in front of a closed door.
"Welcome, Protector," the attendant spoke respectfully.
"We are here to meet the Technician and to enter the treasury," Simon said.
"The Left Arm has told me of your arrival," the attendant said, pressing a button on the table.
The door slowly opened, its mass heavy beyond comprehension.
Nick could tell that the door was made of some sort of incredibly dense and hard material.
"Please, step through. I presume you already know where to go?" the attendant instructed.
Simon nodded and stepped through the door, followed by Nick.
The door closed behind them, and Nick saw a staircase leading down into the underground.
Simon quickly jumped down the stairs, and Nick ran after him.
The two of them descended the stairs for quite a while, and Nick's eyes widened in surprise.
'These stairs must be kilometers long!'
The stairs winded at a wide angle, creating several gigantic circles.
Eventually, the two of them reached the bottom and found themselves in another corridor.
The light in this part of the building was very different from the light in the other parts of the building.
The Champion of Light's light probably couldn't reach far enough to illuminate this place, too.
"We'll get your manual first," Simon said as he approached a humongous door.
Simon put his hand on a console at the right side of the door and typed in several long strings of letters, numbers, and signs.
A moment later, Simon stopped, and the console read 'waiting for approval'.
"This is the treasury, and it's the most fortified place in the entire world," Simon said. "We are currently five kilometers underground, and the walls and doors are made of material that even a Shield would need a while to break through."
Nick took a deep breath.
That was quite extreme.
SSSSS!
Steam came out of the edges of the door, and it started to open very slowly.
As the door opened, the light in the corridor began to flicker.
Moving such a heavy object took an unreal amount of energy.
The door stopped opening just halfway through, which was still more than enough for Simon and Nick to pass through.
The two of them stepped through, but this time, the door didn't close behind them.
Nick found himself in a big, empty room with almost no features.
Clink!
One of the metal plates on one of the walls slid to the side, revealing the face of an ancient person.
His hair was fully white, and wrinkles covered his face.
"Simon Francium and Nick Dusk?" the old man asked in a neutral voice from behind the opening.
"Yes, Treasurer," Simon said politely.
Nick noticed Simon's conduct and copied his straight posture.
"One rank three Zephyx Manipulation manual, correct?" the man asked.
"Yes, Treasurer," Simon answered.
"Nick Dusk, step forward," the Treasurer ordered.
"Yes, Treasurer," Nick answered as he stepped closer.
"I need your blood for identification and to save in the repository," the Treasurer said, throwing a huge syringe through the opening. "Stab that into your forearm. It will do everything else on its own."
Nick took hold of the syringe and looked at Simon, who nodded.
Nick took a deep breath and rammed it into his forearm.
The gears on the outside of the huge syringe began to move, and Nick felt like something was sucking the life out of him.
This was not an unfamiliar sensation.
Nick had needed to pay the blood tax before.
DING!
The syringe let out a sound, and the needle pulled back on its own volition, the syringe falling to the ground.
Next, the syringe began to float on its own and went through the opening leading to the Treasurer.
"Wait here," the Treasurer said before the opening closed again.
Nick slowly stepped back and waited beside Simon.
"Who's the Treasurer?" he asked.
"An ancient warrior of great renown," Simon said. "He is a Peak Protector that has become too old to fight. If the Maw didn't exist, he would have become a Shield without a doubt."
"He will dedicate the remainder of his life to protecting the treasury of Aegis. That was by his choice."
Nick's respect for the Treasurer grew.
This man had probably fought against the Specters for centuries, and even after he managed to survive for so long and reach old age, he was still willing to dedicate the little life he had left to Aegis.
Nick sighed.
'Sadly, the Maw makes it impossible for him to become a Shield. If eight Shields exist at the same time, the Maw will force them to fight each other. Creating an eighth Shield means killing seven.'
After a while, the metal plate moved to the side again, and two things floated through the opening.
A small chip and a black rectangular object.
"Here is your identification chip, Nick Dusk," the Treasurer said. "You must never lose it. This identification chip is more important than your life."
Nick bowed politely and carefully put the identification chip into the glove on his left hand.
"Rank three manuals are not permitted to leave this room. Read through the entire thing here and memorize the contents. 48 hours should be sufficient time for an Expert," the Treasurer said.
"When you're done, just shout."
BANG!
The metal plate closed again.
Nick took hold of the rectangular object and looked at it in confusion.
This didn't look like a manual.
"It's a virtual manual," Simon said.
"Virtual?" Nick asked in confusion.
Simon took hold of the object and pressed a covert button at the side.
The next moment, Nick saw light coming out of one side of the object.
'Oh, this is like a console! Makes sense!' Nick thought.
Simon handed it back to Nick. "Read. You don't have much time. If you have questions, you can ask me."
"You also have one of these?" Nick asked.
Simon nodded.
"The basic manual, rank one, is for every member of Aegis and contains useful Zephyx Manipulation methods for the first six levels."
"Rank two is for Peak Heroes and includes simple methods for Protectors as well."
"Rank three is for Protectors and includes the entire seventh level."
"Rank four is for Peak Protectors and includes methods of Zephyx Manipulation for Shields."
"I'm not sure if there even is a rank five manual. I only have access to the rank three manual," Simon said.
Nick looked with surprise at the manual.
'So, this is something only Protectors have access to. It's probably very complicated.'
Nick tapped on the manual and began reading.
In no time at all, Nick lost himself in the manual.
It was not easy to understand, but Nick had an advantage over many other people.
Nick had been a Chief Zephyx Extractor for 17 years, and he had learned under Julian for a decade.
As a Chief Zephyx Extractor, Nick needed to know a lot about Specters, Extractors, and Zephyx.
The manual spoke of many different ways Zephyx could be utilized.
Nick knew a couple of them already.
Suppressing noise.
Manipulating weight.
Creating a bit of light, although that needed a lot of Zephyx.
But the majority were things that Nick didn't know.
Flying.
Illusions.
Creating fire.
Creating water.
Transforming Zephyx into a material similar to Recovery Liquid.
Creating mist.
Consuming light.
The more Nick read, the more surprised he became.
"It's almost like I can create abilities with this," Nick muttered.
"That's exactly what it is," Simon said.
Nick looked at Simon with surprise.
"All abilities are just a way to manipulate Zephyx. When humans come into contact with Specters with an unattuned Zephyx Synchronizer, their Zephyx Synchronizer analyzes and inscribes those abilities on it. It is merely copying."
"When it is attuned, it absorbs Zephyx and releases the ability."
"As long as you know how the Zephyx is manipulated, you could theoretically have all the abilities in the world."
"However, that's far easier said than done. Finding out how to manipulate the Zephyx is already difficult enough, but you also need to be able to manually move your Zephyx in a way without the aid of your Zephyx Synchronizer."
"That is like performing an intricate and hour-long dance in your mind. If you have the time, it's possible, but during a stressful battle, it's almost impossible."
"It needs an extreme amount of training, focus, and memorization. The manual only talks about how to achieve simple effects, which is why it is so short. After leaving this room, you just have to remember how these simple effects are achieved and find a way to make them useful to you."