The Containment Unit shone in a green light.
Nick pulled his blade out of the metal tiger's carapace and stepped back.
The metal tiger quickly stood up but didn't dare to attack Nick again.
It wasn't the smartest Specter, but it was smart enough to know that Nick could kill it if he so chose to.
Nick slowly walked out of the Containment Unit and entered the hallway again.
When everyone saw Nick, they got excited.
They weren't happy that Nick had survived, but that one of them could finally see what level five of focus Specter was!
Nobody had ever seen that Specter before!
Nick looked at the red-haired man and the black-haired girl. "What about the level five danger Specter?" he asked.
The girl frowned, while the man just shrugged.
The girl glanced at the man, and when she saw his shrug, she turned to Nick. "We don't know. I tried the level four of danger once but immediately ran away. I wasn't strong enough to get to the level five of danger Specter."
"You're not going to even attempt it," a new voice suddenly said.
Everyone turned to look at the new person who had just talked.
It was a smaller man with a serious expression and green hair. Two thin rapiers hung from his belt, and he carried himself in a way that made him seem extremely powerful.
Just looking at him made one think that this man was extremely strong in combat.
"The danger level five Specter is like the pain level five Specter," the man said. "Attempting to work with it is not worth it."
The red-haired man and the black-haired girl looked with basic respect at the smaller man, which was different from how they looked at most trainees.
They weren't directly looking at the trainees with arrogant eyes, but they were definitely looking at them like they were not exactly their equals.
It was like a professional sportsman looking at an amateur sportsman. There was still a lot of respect between them, but they couldn't really talk on the same level about their sport.
Nick could tell that these three were probably part of the top ten trainees.
They probably even had the talent to actually become Agents in the future.
"You got through the danger level four Specter?" Nick asked evenly.
The green-haired man nodded. "I'm quite good in a battle. Publicly, I have the highest score in the battle portion."
"Publicly?" Nick asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Right, you're new," the green-haired man said neutrally. "There is no official leaderboard, but most trainees still talk about their points publicly. There are ways to somewhat verify if they are speaking the truth or not, but we can only test for an approximation, not the exact number."
Nick looked at the man with interest and gestured for him to continue explaining. He was interested in that part.
"You can buy access to Specters for training," the girl said from the side. "You can't go beneath the 50 points you need to stay here while purchasing access to the Specter. If you have enough points to enter, your Barrier will turn green in front of the door, but the points will not be deducted, unless you enter. That's how we can somewhat verify the truth."
"It's possible that there are stronger people, who are in hiding," the red-haired man said casually as he leaned back. "But we don't know for sure. Publicly, he's the strongest Extractor we have and one of only three people that got through danger level four."
Then, the red-haired man grinned and pointed at himself. "But I'm the only one that got through focus level four! So, that's a way bigger accomplishment."
The green-haired man didn't look at him. "And yet, you have to beg for people to teach you Zephology to get the minimum total points," he commented dryly.
The red-haired man whistled innocently and looked away, not answering.
Nick could see that the three of them were outstanding in some categories.
The girl could deal with a lot of pain.
The red-haired guy had an insane amount of willpower and focus.
And the green-haired was extremely powerful in battle.
"What about discipline?" Nick asked. "How many people get through that category?"
"Most people," the girl answered. "While the discipline Specters are not named in the manual, most people get through them, and everyone basically knows about them."
"We suspect the discipline Specters act as a participation reward and as baseline points," the red-haired man commented. "You can earn points from them every month. It's easy to resist their temptation when the option still exists the next time."
"Most people use their rewards when they are about to advance or leave the camp. Until then, they just use the discipline Specters as ten free points."
"Ten?" Nick asked with a raised brow.
"You only get to visit level four and five once in your stay," the green-haired man said. "If you accept their trade, you won't be able to earn anything from the discipline category anymore. If you don't accept, you will earn 35 points every month for your stay."
That surprised Nick a bit.
"I can see what you're thinking," the girl said, looking at Nick. "Yes, the reward is THAT good."
"Check for yourself," she added, gesturing to discipline level four. "There is a manual that tells you what they offer. Your chance won't get wasted as long as you don't enter the Containment Unit."
Nick looked at her for a moment before he followed her advice and entered the locker room leading to the level four of discipline Specter.
As soon as he entered, Nick saw the manual.
'That's unexpected but very valuable,' Nick thought. 'If the level five Specter isn't even more amazing, I will most likely accept this trade. I have enough points.'
Nick left the locker room again and went back to the group of three. "What about the level five of discipline Specter?" he asked.
"Check for yourself," the red-haired man said casually. "You can enter without going past level four."
Nick nodded and went to the level five of discipline Specter.
When Nick entered, he saw the manual.
As he read, his eyes widened in shock.
This was…!
Too good to be true!
And sure enough, as he kept reading, his eyes narrowed.
'I see,' Nick thought. 'This is an amazing trade for 95% of Extractors here, but it's not an amazing trade for me.'
Nick walked into the Containment Unit without stopping and saw a machine with writing on it.
This machine was the Specter.
The Elevated Limiter.
"Welcome. Are you interested in a trade?" the display in front of the machine asked.
"I can make you a Late Expert today," the display added. "In exchange, you will be consumed if you ever become an Initial Protector."
Yes, this Specter could immediately increase Nick's level by two.
It could turn him into a Late Expert.
But in exchange, being a Peak Hero would be the limit of his life.
This trade was actually insanely good.
It was like offering a person ten million credits in exchange for making it impossible for them to become billionaires.
How many people would accept that?
Billionaire? Dude, I didn't expect I could be a millionaire, and now I'm getting ten million? Sign me up!
Protectors were so far away from Experts that reaching their level seemed unachievable.
There were probably not even a hundred Protectors in the entire world.
It was crazy.
Naturally, most people would accept the trade.
"Not interested," Nick said before leaving the room.
But not Nick.
Nick had to become a Protector if he wanted an opportunity to repay the people he had wronged.
To him, accepting the trade was akin to committing suicide.
After leaving the Containment Unit, Nick walked over to the level four of discipline Specter.
This trade was much more to his liking.
Nick entered the Containment Unit of the discipline level four Specter and saw a book in the middle of the room.
Nick approached and saw a menu written on it.
They were the categories of the academic points.
Biology, economy, psychology, mathematics, physics, history, Spectology, Zephology, warfare, and leadership.
In exchange for one year of Zephyx, the Specter would give the trainee enough knowledge about a topic that they would always get 100 points in the relevant level one test.
Sure, this seemed like an easy way to earn some points, but Nick was much more interested in the knowledge itself.
Nick would gain knowledge equating to months of studying in an instant!
Even more, getting access to some of the topics wasn't easy.
The Zephyx wasn't much of a cost.
He would become a Specialist one year later. So what?
What was the difference between a 60- and 61-year-old?
A Specialist could live for 300 years.
Nick wanted to choose something useful.
He didn't need to learn the basics of economy, psychology, physics, Spectology, warfare, or leadership. He had very good scores in those already.
Math could easily be learned.
Biology wouldn't be very useful to Nick.
Zephology would be nice, but it would only become really useful with even more knowledge in the topic, but Nick wasn't planning on becoming an engineer.
So, Nick chose the last category.
History.
Nick knew a lot about past civilizations, but he knew almost nothing about the big picture of the current era.
He knew about some cities and Aegis, but he didn't know about Aegis' past and which cities were important.
Additionally, knowing more about the past would help Nick make better decisions in the present.
He would be a Liaison again in the future, and knowledge of history would be of utmost importance.
Nick pressed on the history category.