The next day, Nick officially left the squad.
They had spent eight years together, and Nick left just like that.
He didn't even say goodbye to anyone.
Steve and Cynthia felt a bit regretful.
It didn't feel good to lose contact with somebody they had been in contact with for so long, so suddenly.
They had gone through many dangers together, and they had "grown up" together.
Yet, there had always been this wall between them and Nick.
The other three had felt pretty close, but Nick had always been isolated from them.
But that was it.
It was over.
Just like that, Nick was gone from their lives.
Steve's and Cynthia's squad merged with another one that only had two.
Usually, deaths were common among the squads, and there were plenty of trainees searching for new squads.
Cynthia hadn't been certain why so many people died during the missions.
Sure, their squad had been in a couple of dangerous situations, but things had never appeared uncontrollable.
Even during their latest mission against Vandalize, they hadn't been in true danger.
Yet, during their last couple of years as level two trainees, they would see two people of their squad die to unforeseen circumstances.
Additionally, missions, in general, seemed to become much more dangerous.
"Your missions aren't becoming more dangerous," Shirley told Cynthia two years after Nick left the squad. "You're getting the same kind of missions as you have received previously."
Cynthia almost couldn't believe that.
There were many more ambushes and traps.
Additionally, the enemies often were more numerous than expected, and they also often showed abilities that they hadn't expected.
There were far more surprises in these missions, and a surprise during a mission was almost never a good thing.
"The missions are not different," Steve told Cynthia another year later when she mentioned this topic again.
"Can't you see what's happening?" Cynthia asked with annoyance. "We lost Charly yesterday, and we didn't even have a chance of saving him. Such hopeless situations just started occurring three years ago!"
"Yes," Steve answered. "And what happened three years ago? What changed?"
Cynthia was reminded of Mendor and Nick. "Mendor and Nick left."
"There you go," Steve said.
Cynthia furrowed her brows. "Are you saying that our new teammates are that much worse than Nick and Mendor?"
"No," Steve said. "Hamil is even better than Mendor."
"Charly was a very good Scout as well, but…"
"He wasn't Nick," Steve added. "I didn't want to tell you since I thought you would one day realize yourself."
"Cynthia, our new missions are not harder than our old ones. The difference is just that we are finally carrying our own asses."
Cynthia frowned. "Are you seriously suggesting that Nick was carrying us for eight years?"
Steve sighed.
And then, he nodded.
"Took me a long while to accept it, but that's exactly it," Steve said. "Almost every unwelcome surprise in the missions is a result of a lack of information. This sounds obvious, but the only reason why things are unexpected is because they were not expected."
"Charly was a great scout, but sometimes, he was found out, warning the enemy. Sometimes, he couldn't travel deep enough behind enemy lines to witness their true power. Sometimes, he couldn't tell what a Specter could do exactly since he is not an expert in Spectology."
"And most importantly, I couldn't tell Charly to assassinate the most powerful enemy every time."
"Almost every time we were on a mission with Nick, I told him to assassinate the most powerful enemy, and he always delivered."
"Our fights never included the most powerful enemy."
"Now, they do."
Cynthia couldn't answer for a long time, and it took her a while to come to terms with that revelation.
Their new teammates were definitely not bad.
Whenever she looked at any of her three teammates, she didn't look down on anyone.
All of them seemed to be just as outstanding as her, and they could do things that she couldn't do.
And yet, the missions were still extremely dangerous.
Realizing this gave Cynthia's confidence a heavy hit.
She had thought that everyone in their squad had been just as outstanding and that they had all been on the same level.
But that hadn't been the case.
Luckily, their powers had already reached levels that reduced the dangers of the missions a lot.
Without Nick, they might have already died in the first eight years.
When the squad received their new scout, Cynthia talked with them quite a bit about different missions.
"You're exaggerating," the new scout said, a woman with long gray hair. "A Late Expert scout can't sneak up on a Fanatic and watch them without being found out."
Yet, whenever Cynthia mentioned something Nick had done in the past, she got harsh pushback from the new scout, who was saying that Cynthia was exaggerating and telling lies.
And worst of all, Cynthia kind of had to agree with the newest scout.
Right, how was that possible?
How did Nick actually do that?
Cynthia couldn't find an answer.
Four years after Nick left, the squad was dissolved.
Everyone had become Peak Experts, and they had gained enough experience.
For the foreseeable future, they would have to work towards their Consumption and their eventual ascension to becoming Specialists.
Of course, Nick had already been in that process for four years.
Ever since Nick had left the squad, he had stayed in Aegis' headquarters.
He was working with Specters to advance in level, and when he was not doing that, he went to the big central library to learn more about the different cities, economics, history, math, and so on.
Another thing Nick did during these four years was practice Zephyx Manipulation.
The more powerful an Extractor became, the more important Zephyx Manipulation became.
Extractors got access to more Zephyx, which meant that the Refinement process of Zephyx Manipulation no longer required as much time.
Focusing on Zephyx Manipulation would not pay off in the near future since there was so much to learn, but in the long term, it would definitely pay off.
As Nick stayed in Aegis' headquarters, he was barely noticed by anyone.
Sometimes, people noticed him, but no one knew who Nick was.
No one knew his name, and no one knew what he was doing here.
He was just a guy who walked from Containment Units to the library to the training halls and then back to the Containment Units.
All day.
Every day.
Four years passed, and Nick finally became a Peak Expert.
Nick had reached the age of 49, which was incomparably young for a Peak Expert.
Even the most talented trainees from the most elite families became Peak Experts between the ages of 55 and 60.
However, the youngest person who had ever become an Initial Specialist was already 65 years of age, and they had not been very powerful.
The reason was the Consumption.
Technically, the Consumption didn't take a long time.
Theoretically, one could go through it at any time, and it would take a couple of weeks at most.
Yet, nobody attempted the Consumption easily.
After all, one only had a single chance in their entire life, and the level of success in the Consumption would shape someone's entire future.
One could use a Peak Adult for the Consumption, and one would survive with 99% certainty.
Yet, that person would never become a Hero in their life.
The success of the Consumption determined many things.
The speed of an Extractor's Zephyx absorption.
How much they could absorb.
How much Zephyx they could store.
And how talented they were in Zephyx Manipulation.
If one performed the Consumption with a Peak Adult, one would need almost a century to become an Early Specialist from being an Initial Specialist.
With only 300 years of maximum longevity, such a person would never become a Hero.
In general, only older people who had already given up their dreams of reaching for the stars would choose a Peak Adult.
Most people used Initial Elders.
Advancing a level would still take 50 years, but at least they would become Peak Specialists in their lifetimes.
That was the next best thing after becoming a Hero.
However, only around 50% of the people who attempted the Consumption with an Initial Elder survived.
The most talented ones tried Early Elders, and if they succeeded, they would be able to advance within 30 years.
As long as they were not already pretty old when they became Initial Specialists, they would become Peak Specialists before they were 200 years old, giving them an entire century to become Heroes.
However, this was extremely dangerous.
Only the most talented people attempted this, and only 30% managed to survive.
There were also reports of people attempting the Consumption with a Mid Elder, but that almost never happened.
Someone that succeeded in this only existed in one of 50 cities.
People who managed to get through this would be viewed as future Protectors by Aegis.
As for Late Elders…
Someone that managed to get through that only came about once in several decades in the entire world.
Peak Elders?
According to the records, no one had ever succeeded.
Yet, if someone had succeeded, it could have only been the Champion of Light.
And Nick hoped that he could join him.
The Champion had given Nick the last name of Dusk.
If Nick wanted to live up to this name, and if he wanted to redeem himself…
He had to, at least, reach the level of the current sun of humanity, the Champion of Light.