The green light appeared about 30 minutes later.
Checking for abnormalities in a camera feed was extremely easy for Experts.
As long as an Expert paid just a tiny bit of attention, nothing would go wrong.
Nick walked out of the Containment Unit and approached the first level of discipline.
Once more, the people in the queue groaned in annoyance when they saw the green light.
This time, Nick had to wait for almost an entire hour.
Eventually, the Containment Unit became free, and Nick entered.
As soon as he entered, he saw the Specter.
It was a two-meter-tall tree.
It looked just like a normal tree, except for one difference.
Valuables were hanging from it.
Gold, fruits made of Zephyx, Barriers, and some weapons.
Nick just looked at the tree and waited.
That was all he had to do.
He just needed to stay in the same room as the tree for one hour to pass the test.
Naturally, he was not allowed to take any of the valuables, even though the rules said that he was allowed to keep them if he picked them.
Of course, he wouldn't be allowed to work with the Money Tree again in the future if he did so.
Nevertheless, the allures of the Money Tree were not very difficult to resist, and Nick left an hour later without taking anything.
'Three done, 17 to go,' Nick thought.
Although, Nick wasn't sure if he could complete all of them.
Sure, he knew that he was extraordinary when it came to working with Specters, but he wasn't good at everything.
Nick walked over to the last queue and registered.
The people didn't even groan in annoyance since they had already seen Nick registering at the other queues.
After some minutes, Nick entered the Containment Unit for danger level one.
As soon as he entered, he saw the Specter.
It was a dirty man who seemed quite nervous.
"Wait! Who are you?!" the man shouted nervously.
"I'm Nick. I'm a trainee," Nick answered calmly.
"Are you?! You're not with them, are you?!" the man shouted in a panicked voice.
Nick just kept answering calmly.
This Specter was called the Insane One.
The Insane One was extremely unstable and often attacked without any warnings.
Naturally, the trainees would need to deal with the danger if it occurred.
It was important to note that dealing with danger did not necessarily mean neutralizing the threat.
Running out of the Containment Unit was also ok.
In order to pass the first level of danger, the trainee only needed to talk to the Insane One for 20 minutes or get attacked by it and deal with the danger.
Nick and the Insane One talked for 20 minutes, but nothing noteworthy happened.
Nick was very good at talking with Specters.
After all, he had worked with the Talker for years.
Working with the Insane One was nothing in comparison.
Nick left the Containment Unit and approached pain level two.
This time, there was no queue, and Nick could immediately enter.
'Gotta remove my shirt again, huh?' Nick thought as he saw the illustrated instructions in the locker room.
Nick did just that and entered the Containment Unit.
Inside the Containment Unit, Nick saw a huge red rock with several holes.
Except for its red color, it didn't seem strange.
Nick approached the red rock without any hesitation and put his entire arm deep into one of the holes.
Then, he waited.
A couple of seconds later, Nick felt several stabs in his arm and grimaced a bit.
He didn't see what happened, but he didn't need to see to know what happened, thanks to the manual.
This Specter was called the Needler, and it consumed blood, just like the Vampire Bat.
The only real differences were that it consumed more blood and that it was far less nice about it.
The pain one felt while working with the Needler was like being stabbed in the arm by a knife.
Even more, one needed to keep one's arm inside for a full two minutes.
If someone felt the pain and pulled their arm out, they wouldn't get the points.
Most trainees didn't want to work with the Needler, but some of them still needed to.
After all, getting points wasn't easy.
Some minutes later, Nick walked out of the Containment Unit and approached focus level two.
The Specter in focus level two was a weird statue that didn't move.
Nick's job was to look at the statue for half an hour without blinking.
The physical power of this statue was off the charts, but it only attacked people who didn't see it.
It was a bit like Nick in a way.
This Specter was called the Unmoving One, and making a mistake while working with it could even result in the death of the trainee.
Not many people worked with the Unmoving One because of that.
Luckily, keeping one's eyes open as an Expert wasn't difficult. The dust particles that irritated the eyes of normal people barely had any effect.
It just required focus.
Nick completed this level, left, and entered discipline level two.
The Specter inside discipline level two was a man wearing a black coat.
"Hey, you wanna feel something? You wanna feel like a kid again?" the man asked with a smirk before taking out some purple dust.
Nick felt the desire to try the dust, but he resisted.
This was the Drug Dealer, and it sold the most amazing drugs in existence.
One could relive their happiest memories or achieve their wildest dreams.
Of course, none of that would be real, and one would lose a bit of their Zephyx.
Sadly, if anyone gave in and tried the drugs, they would never be allowed to work with the Drug Dealer again.
The reason was that nobody had ever managed to resist the Drug Dealer after giving in once.
Nick just stayed inside the Containment Unit for a couple of minutes until the green light appeared.
It wasn't very difficult to resist, and he left the Containment Unit again.
'Seven done,' Nick thought as he approached danger level two.
This time, Nick waited a short moment before entering.
He slowly opened the door.
BANG!
Nick unleashed a kick, throwing the Specter at the back of the room.
The Specter immediately got up and ran at Nick as he entered the Containment Unit.
Nick had worked with these kinds of Specters many times in his life.
It was one of the Blood Specters originating from the Blood Ancestor.
Dark Dream had owned a couple of them, and apparently, one of the Blood Specters ended up here.
It was called the Blood Ape, and it looked like a tall ape without any skin.
The trainees only needed to beat up the Blood Ape a couple of times to pass.
For a Blood Specter, the Blood Ape was of average quality.
It wasn't a pushover like the Blood Fish, but it also wasn't as scary as the Blood Horse.
Relatively speaking, of course.
Nick kicked the Blood Ape around a bit and left again.
'That was number eight,' Nick thought. 'No issues so far. I already earned 20 points in this category.'
For a moment, Nick stopped in the hallway and looked at the queues again.
'I would expect all of my Extractors to work with these Specters. Maybe they wouldn't need to work every day with the Needler, and maybe I wouldn't send everyone to the Drug Dealer, but I would expect them to have the ability to work with the other Specters.'
Nick looked at the people.
'How is it so difficult to earn enough points to stay here? Aren't these the elite of all the cities?'
'I wouldn't even hire most of them.'
A bit later, Nick turned around and walked towards the third level of pain.
A couple of people saw him walking towards it, and their eyes widened.
The third level of pain was no joke!
Only the most desperate of them would go there, and most of them failed.
Even more, from those few that went there, almost nobody went there a second time.
There were probably fewer than 30 trainees who regularly worked with the third level of pain.
And Nick agreed.
Starting at the third level, things got serious.
Those were Specters that Nick wouldn't expect all of his employees to work with.
These were Specters that required specialized personnel, people who were specifically hired to deal with them.
The best example of such a kind of Specter was the Lover.
Nick entered the locker room for the third level of pain and took a deep breath.
He could deal with pain, but this still wouldn't be easy.
Yes, he had been under the Nightmare's influence many times, but the things he was experiencing there were not real.
The things he would be experiencing here would be very real.
Before entering, Nick looked at the illustrations.
He saw the picture of someone taking their shirt off.
'Of course.'