Nick's mind became chaotic.
He thought about many different things without any kind of logical connection.
It was like he was inside a fever dream.
Colors moved back and forth and transformed into completely different concepts.
Was he dying?
Was he still alive?
Was he dead?
Everything became surreal to Nick.
How fast was time passing?
Was it even passing?
From time to time, concepts and realizations entered Nick's mind.
While his focus might have been completely scattered, his mind was still generating thoughts.
His mind was trying to make sense of Nick's new reality.
The Dark Cloud.
Why had it suddenly given up?
Some part of Nick's mind realized that it actually made sense.
Everything returned to the first two possibilities.
100% chance at 100% death or 100% chance at 99% death.
But this time, these chances and numbers were actually accurate.
The Dark Cloud had seen that Nick would have killed it.
It had seen Nick's undying will to kill himself together with it.
He would have done so.
There was no doubt about it.
So, the Specter had chosen the other option.
When Nick thought about that, the Specter's last words shot through his mind.
Part of it would forever continue to live on inside of him.
Yet, how long was forever in this case?
Nick's Shell was destroyed, and he should be losing a lot of Zephyx rapidly.
There was no way for him to recover enough Zephyx to keep his Zephosis going.
The next moment, an image of Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer shot through his mind.
Nick saw how it was embedded inside the bigger Specter Core.
The two of them had aligned with each other, and when the Zephyx Synchronizer spun, the Zephyx Core around it spun as well.
Both of them had the same shape.
Both of them were rhombuses.
In a way, a Specter Core and a Zephyx Synchronizer were almost identical.
A Zephyx Synchronizer gave humans the power to control Zephyx and use it in many different ways.
Wasn't a Specter Core the same thing?
Well, in a way.
A Zephyx Synchronizer was to a Specter Core what a heart was to a body.
A body included a heart, but there was much more.
A Specter Core could do what a Zephyx Synchronizer could, but it also contained all of a Specter's soul, mind, and Zephyx.
In short, it was much more advanced than a mere Zephyx Synchronizer.
There was also a fundamental difference between Specters and humans regarding their abilities.
When an Extractor became more powerful, they attained new abilities that built upon their base ability.
When a Specter became more powerful, it didn't necessarily gain new abilities.
Most of the time, the one ability it had just grew more powerful or attained new facets.
The Nightmare didn't have many different abilities. It could only create illusions. That was its only ability.
For an unknown period of time, Nick looked at the two rotating rhombuses.
They both belonged to him now.
And yet, this was not how things were supposed to be.
Usually, the Specter Core would lose all of its lines on its surface, which symbolized the Specter's abilities and personality, and it would orbit the Zephyx Synchronizer.
Normally, that orbit happened inside the Shell.
After a Specter was eliminated during the Consumption, their Specter Core would pass through the Barrier and start orbiting the Zephyx Synchronizer inside the Shell.
The Shell would pull in the Zephyx, which would then flow into the Zephyx Synchronizer.
The Zephyx Synchronizer would say what would happen to the Zephyx and would send it to the Specter Core.
The Specter Core would do the actual work of transforming the Zephyx and send the result out of the Barrier so that it could be used by the Extractor.
The Specter Core could also use the Zephyx to create the abilities that the Zephyx Synchronizer had since the Specter Core would copy the Zephyx Synchronizer's lines.
It would essentially become a more powerful copy of the Zephyx Synchronizer.
But this was not what would happen to Nick.
First of all, his Barrier was broken.
Second, his Zephyx Synchronizer was inside the Specter Core.
Third, the lines on the Specter Core were still there.
This Specter Core was not a clean slate, which was how it was supposed to be.
Nick had no idea how things would continue from here on out.
Assuming he managed to somehow survive the lack of Zephyx.
Absentmindedly, Nick kept looking at the picture of the Specter Core surrounding his Zephyx Synchronizer.
He looked at it for a long time.
Slowly, the Specter Core was repairing itself, and it was encompassing Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer more and more.
Nick watched as the hole closed.
The smaller the hole became, the colder Nick started to feel.
And one day, the hole closed fully.
Now, Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer was no longer showing at all.
As soon as the last bit of his Zephyx Synchronizer vanished, Nick felt like he had been thrown into a pool of ice water.
Everything around him started to feel cold.
That was such an alien feeling.
Nick hadn't felt cold for decades.
But now, he felt like he was freezing.
Was this the feeling of running out of Zephyx?
People felt cold when they were starving, right?
Was this something similar?
He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And yet, he didn't die, and the coldness didn't seem to expand or grow more extreme.
In fact, Nick's mind became clearer as time passed, and he seemed to regain some of his wits.
He just kept watching the Specter Core.
He knew a lot about Spectology, and he had also learned quite a bit about Zephology.
So, he could somewhat tell what was happening.
But when he actually tried to think about how this fusion was supposed to work, he drew a blank.
'I am definitely still alive, and I won't die to this. That much is certain,' Nick thought as he looked at the image.
'The Specter Core is absorbing enough Zephyx to keep my Zephosis running. Even without a Shell.'
'Now that I think about it, it actually makes sense. Specter Cores are far superior to Zephyx Synchronizers. A Specter doesn't need a Shell to survive, and they don't use any less Zephyx than humans.'
'Specter Cores naturally pull in more Zephyx than Zephyx Synchronizers. Even if the Zephyx Synchronizers have Shells.'
'Additionally, since the Specter Core also contains all the Zephyx of a Specter, my Zephyx Synchronizer should have access to all of my Zephyx in its immediate surroundings, assuming the Specter Core stores all the Zephyx inside my body.'
Nick's brows furrowed.
'However, how will my abilities work?'
'There are Manipulation Lines on the Specter Core, and while pure Zephyx can travel through them without being changed, Zephyx in the form of an ability can't do that.'
'I can pull Zephyx to and from my Zephyx Synchronizer, but if I want to use any of my abilities, they won't be able to get through the Specter Core.'
'Do I still have access to my abilities?'
Yet, this wasn't the only issue that Nick foresaw.
'And how will my level grow in the future?'
'My Zephyx Synchronizer absorbs Zephyx that's created by a Specter in order to advance in level, but Specters only create Zephyx under specific conditions.'
'Even worse, the Zephyx created from Specters can't be used on Specters unless it's the Crimson Sea using it.'
'So, if I were to work with a Specter, its Zephyx should theoretically not be able to reach my Zephyx Synchronizer since my new Specter Core is isolating it.'
More and more problems appeared in Nick's mind.
It was very clear that this was not a natural evolution of power.
This was the result of an experiment.
So many problems.
An unknown period of time later, Nick saw how the Specter Core fully reformed.
His Zephyx Synchronizer and Specter Core had recovered.
Shortly after Nick saw that, his mind started to hurt.
Then, his body started to hurt.
Nick put his hand to his head and gritted his teeth.
He squinted his eyes as the world around him transformed.
Everything became heavier and more oppressive.
He was being pulled somewhere.
Nick's abdomen started to strain, and he felt his torso moving.
"Oh, look who's finally up."
Nick slowly opened his eyes and was blinded by the bright light around him.
He massaged his head and tried to get used to moving again.
His mind was in chaos, but it was calming down with remarkable speed.
Nick still felt like he was freezing.
After a bit, Nick looked around.
He was inside a bed in the middle of a big hall filled with different devices.
Nick could only recognize what about 30% of the devices did.
He also saw someone standing beside his bed.
It was the Technician, and he was looking at Nick with a grin.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Nick," he said.
Then, he took out some kind of device.
"Are you ready to unearth the secrets of your new body?"