The next ability they experimented on was Nick's most recent ability.
The one he had received from the Nightmare.
Naturally, the Technician knew all about Nick's run-in with the Nightmare, which made this much easier since Nick didn't need to keep that part a secret.
There were essentially two parts Nick had to keep secret about his ability.
The fact that it came from the Null and that he knew where the Nightmare was.
The other two abilities were not so critical.
While the Technician and the Left Arm knew about Nick's run-in with the Nightmare, they didn't know about his run-in with the Null.
They also didn't ask since the Champion of Light had said that Nick didn't need to tell them.
The reason why they were experimenting with the Nightmare's ability first was that it was the least dangerous one in case anything went wrong.
If something went wrong while using this ability, Nick might lose a lot of Zephyx or damage something, but if something went wrong while transforming into mist, Nick might die.
This time, it became much easier to make the ability functional again since they had already gained quite a bit of experience by changing Nick's light ability.
It barely took them six months to come up with a functioning model for the first aspect of the ability and only four months to deal with the second aspect of the ability.
One had to remember that Nick's fourth ability technically had two abilities.
Immunity to darkness and control over someone's perception as long as they didn't perceive him.
And now, both of them had changed after going through the altered Specter Core.
"Is the first variant still working?" the Technician asked.
"I'll check," Nick said.
They had just changed the manipulation lines for Nick's ability to change someone's perception, and the Technician wanted to know if the other part of the ability still worked.
The room the two were in was split in two.
One part was the normal, brightly lit room.
The other part was covered in black cloth that isolated the walls from all of the light, essentially creating a dark chamber.
Nick walked from the brightly lit room to the dark chamber.
As he passed by the curtains and entered the darkness, something happened.
Nick's body seemed to become ethereal.
It was almost like he was vanishing.
And that was kind of what was happening.
Nick had not gained an additional function of his old ability. Instead, his old ability had been upgraded.
In the past, he was simply immune to the effects of the Nightmare, and his mist form turned into black smoke.
Now, Nick's body became transparent and ethereal.
It was almost like he was becoming part of the background.
It was like he was becoming one with the darkness.
If a person were to pass by his location, they would not notice him unless they specifically knew what they were looking for and were searching the darkness very thoroughly.
Nick could be just centimeters beside someone as they pass through the darkness, and they wouldn't notice him.
Even more, Nick's new ethereal form made it far easier for him to move.
His body basically had no weight, and he could "walk" through the air because of that.
Yes, technically, Nick could fly, but he had to be surrounded by darkness.
Sadly, if someone noticed him or sensed him, all of this would vanish, and Nick's body would become solid once again.
Nevertheless, this was definitely a big upgrade.
"Is it working?" the Technician asked. He was deliberately not looking at Nick.
He wasn't quite sure how Nick's ability worked, but Nick had told him that it was extremely important that no one got to know about his main ability.
And since the Champion of Light had also said that they didn't need to know Nick's ability, the Technician had accepted these circumstances and just looked away whenever Nick told him to.
"It works fine," Nick said from the darkness.
The Technician looked over and spotted Nick instantly in the darkness.
Nick looked just like always.
The Technician could only sigh.
Sure, Nick had to keep his ability secret, but couldn't he just show the Technician the ability after it was already working?
Naturally, the Technician had asked Nick to show him a bit more before, but Nick was extremely adamant that this would not happen.
In the end, the Technician had to accept.
"Good," the Technician said. "Now, let's try the new one. You ready?"
The Technician looked away again, and Nick turned ethereal on his own.
Of course, he could always turn solid again. He just needed to will it.
Nick nodded from inside the darkness.
The Technician looked away again, and Nick turned ethereal on his own.
Of course, he could always turn solid again. He just needed to will it.
A couple of seconds later, a person entered the room.
It was a female Bailiff.
She had brown hair and looked to be in her early thirties.
Nick could tell that this was one of the Bailiffs who had joined Aegis by having a family member working for Aegis already.
Most of the normal Bailiffs were family members of Agents or Protectors who were living in Aegis' headquarters.
As for how Nick knew that this was most likely her background, she moved in a very uncertain and inexperienced way.
It was obvious that she didn't have a lot of battle experience, and if she had joined via the trainee program, that wouldn't be the case.
After entering the room, the woman approached the darkness.
The Technician was probably giving her instructions in her mind.
Nick watched as she nervously approached.
Naturally, walking into the darkness was terrifying for everyone.
Over 99% of humans were deathly afraid of approaching the darkness.
Of course, that wasn't surprising since anyone who entered the darkness before had probably experienced one of the most terrifying things imaginable.
No one wanted a repeat of something like that.
The woman took a deep breath as she stopped in front of the darkness.
For some seconds, she was trying to amp herself up.
She only had to go in there, wait a bit, and leave!
Then, she would get some amazing references, and she could advance her career!
She would even earn a hefty bonus!
Just enter the darkness.
Come on, it's not that hard.
Just a couple of seconds.
The woman took several deep breaths.
Then, she stepped inside.
As soon as she stepped inside, her vision began to swim.
Immediately after, terrifying visages filled with hatred shot towards her.
They wanted to consume her!
She braced herself.
But then, the visages suddenly went past her, avoiding her.
In shock, she looked at the terrifying illusions around her.
Yet, there was no pain.
Then, was this some kind of other illusion?
The Nightmare didn't only use illusions of torture.
Sometimes, it also just subtly changed someone's perception to make them commit a dangerous mistake.
While the woman was nervously looking forward, Nick's eyes were focusing on her.
He was losing a lot of Zephyx at this moment.
As soon as she had entered, Nick had felt a terrifying force entering her.
Naturally, that was the Nightmare.
Nick had tried to influence that force, and he managed to push it to the side, figuratively.
The malevolent force was flowing from one direction towards another, like a river, and Nick's Zephyx was acting like a big pillar splitting its flow in two.
Yet, every moment Nick interfered with the flow, more Zephyx was required of him.
But that was only a small price to pay for what he was currently doing.
Nick could isolate the Nightmare's influence from somebody else!
That might not be very useful since people could just use a bit of Zephyx light to achieve the same effect, but it still represented a completely new way to interact with the darkness.
With Nick's help, people could actually experience darkness without pain.
After looking around for a bit, the woman noticed that the hate-filled visages suddenly stopped avoiding her, and in an instant, she was drowned in them.
She was startled, but she quickly recovered her wits and gritted her teeth.
She knew that a world of pain was awaiting her!
And, sure enough, it happened.
A cut appeared on her waist.
Then, another cut appeared on one of her calves.
One second of nothing.
Another cut.
She was in strong pain, but it was actually not as bad as expected.
Beside her, Nick's eyes were shining.
'I can control it!' Nick thought.
'I can control how the Nightmare tortures her!'
At this moment, Nick could see what the woman was seeing.
He could feel what she was feeling.
Nick also felt the pain of the cuts, but he could deal with that pain without any big issues.
The important part was that Nick could give the Nightmare directions.
He couldn't perfectly tell it exactly what to do, but he could give it a general direction.
It should focus on physical pain on the abdomen region, and it shouldn't go too hard immediately.
It should focus on torturing illusions regarding loved ones with a theme of betrayal.
It should inflict extreme fear in her by focusing on her personal fears and exploiting them.
Nick very quickly realized how insanely useful this ability could be for information gathering.