Nick wasn't sure what this change meant for the world.
He only knew that this was a monumental change.
'First, I should check the city and take a look at how the people react.'
Nick quickly moved towards Water Pillar City and looked at everything.
The people were all standing on the streets with excitement in their eyes.
Nick's perception encompassed a huge part of the city, and many different conversations entered his ears.
A normal person would very quickly get overwhelmed by the chaotic mass of talking, but as a Specialist, Nick's mind was fast enough to listen to more than ten conversations at the same time while also being able to filter ten conversations out of a sea of a thousand.
'They are excited,' Nick thought. 'Many of them believe they are dreaming, while many others have gained newfound belief in the old tale of the Champion of Light.'
Nick's eyes shone as he heard something interesting.
The city had captured over five Specters within the last minutes.
When the new Champion of Light shouted that the Specters should repent, all Specters were hit by the power of the Sun, not just Nick.
Just like Nick, all the Specters were thrown back and lost consciousness.
Of course, not really all Specters. Nick doubted that the new Champion of Light had enough power to injure Fallen while distributing his attack over such a large area.
Most likely, Demons only got pushed back a bit and didn't actually receive any damage.
Nevertheless, all the Specters weaker than Demons staying inside different cities had been thrown back and injured, exposing them as Specters.
This was actually crazy.
Having five hidden Specters in a city was definitely on the low end. Most cities probably had over 15 hidden Specters.
Water Pillar City had a good grasp over its Specter situation since it was stronger than the average city.
The city had seven Heroes and over 50 Specialists, even after Nick had weakened the city quite a bit.
'The new Champion dealt with five Specters here and probably more than five in every other city.'
'Just the Great Triangle has around 300 cities, totaling a bit more than three million people. Only the Grand Continent has more, but it shouldn't be that much more.'
'The entire world probably has barely 1,000 cities, which come to something around ten million people.'
'With this one move, the new Champion probably exposed over 5,000 Specters.'
'The number of lives he has saved is staggering. In just one moment, he has helped many more people than I have in decades.'
Nick looked at a group of Extractors in the distance as he narrowed his eyes.
'And that's not even everything,' he thought as he listened to their exhilarated conversation.
'The light that stopped me from producing Zephyx had an incredibly beneficial effect on Extractors.'
From what Nick could hear, the short moments in the special sunlight filled every human with Zephyx.
This meant that no one needed to work with any Specters for today to advance.
They had already gotten their Zephyx.
Additionally, the light had also allowed people to push through their bottlenecks.
Nick had always forced his way through the bottlenecks between levels by exhausting himself to the absolute limit when he had gained around 80% of the necessary Zephyx to reach the next level.
He had first learned about this when he had trained with Manela when he had still been a Newbie.
Yet, the Champion's light apparently allowed people to reach the next level even earlier.
People barely needed 50% of what they usually needed to advance.
This led to around 30% of people advancing a level today. Sadly, the light didn't help with achieving Zephosis, creating a Shell, or getting through the Consumption.
However, this was still a terrifying effect.
After all, this even worked on Heroes!
Water Pillar City now had three Early Heroes.
That was crazy.
The Champion of Light had done so much good today.
Humanity should be happy to have someone like him.
Yet, Nick didn't like it.
'While all of his actions are good and beneficial for humanity, I can't be sure about his actual goals.'
'Some things are very worrisome.'
'First, why did the old Champion already die? I'm sure he had a couple of decades left.'
'Second, how was the Champion able to transmit his power? I don't think that's easily achievable. There are too many hoops to jump through. I've spent years with the Technician, and I'm certain the technology or Zephology are nowhere close to achieving something this miraculous.'
'Third, the amount of Zephyx required to push back thousands of Specters and to advance tens of thousands of Extractors is crazy. Only an Eternal could hope to exhibit anything close to that level of power. Even if the old Champion completely converted his life into Zephyx to be used with an ability, it wouldn't be enough. Additionally, doing something like that needs an ability that not even the Champion should have access to.'
'The Champion was 'just' a Mid Shield. Not even Death can encompass the entire world in his mind. I've gone in and out of Aegis' headquarters many times, and I can tell that Death's perception 'only' encompasses a circle with a radius of about 500 kilometers.'
'Death should be a Peak Adversary. I don't think the old nor new Champions of Light can encompass the entire world like this.'
'Lastly, the new Champion said that the Sun is our ally.'
Nick narrowed his eyes.
'And if I take that into account while looking at the other unexplainable things, it actually makes sense.'
'If the Sun actually helped, all of this would be possible.'
'The Sun is most likely the strongest Specter that exists, and the fact that it is always perfectly centered around everybody's head all over the world means that its perception also stretches across the entire planet.'
'Either the Champion used the Sun as a tool, or the Sun helped him voluntarily.'
At that moment, Nick had a thought.
'When my ability deactivated, was it the Champion looking at me or the Sun?'
Nick thought about that for a while.
'I can't tell. The answer would determine the Champion's relationship with the Sun, but there's no way for me to find out.'
'Yet, one thing is for certain.'
'Somehow, the Sun and the Champion of Light managed to work together for a moment.'
Nick furrowed his brows.
'But isn't killing the Sun the very thing that would free humanity?'
'Isn't Aegis' goal to kill the Sun?'
'Why is it suddenly an ally?'
'There are too many strange things going on.'
'Too many things don't make any sense.'
'Speaking of. Where did this guy even come from?'
'Sure, I'm not very high in the hierarchy in Aegis, but there wasn't even the slightest sign of his existence.'
'The Sun should be the strongest Specter, and Specters grow stronger by causing suffering to humanity in a certain way.'
'So, as the strongest Specter, shouldn't the Sun have caused the most suffering to humanity?'
'Doesn't that make it the very representation of humanity's suppression and suffering?'
'This should be the last thing that humanity should be allied with.'
'Then, why is the Champion suddenly talking about it like it's our ally?'
'If it were our ally, it could just kill all of the other Eternals, and even if it weren't powerful enough to do that, it could just kill the Adversaries.'
'The Sun has the power to save humanity, but it isn't doing so.'
'Something doesn't make sense here.'
Nick furrowed his brows as he gazed towards the Sun.
'Nobody except the Champion of Light has ever received the Sun's ability. If the new Champion of Light also has the Sun's ability, only two people ever received its ability, and both of them have been the most powerful humans in the world.'
'But aren't abilities given to new Extractors? What's the chance of both of them receiving the ability and managing to become the strongest humans.'
'Speaking of. How did the Champion of Light even get so powerful?'
'History just states that he suddenly made himself known to the world before creating Aegis. Back then, he had already been the strongest human.'
'But there are no eyewitness accounts of his rise, and nobody knows from which city he is from.'
'Had there even been cities as we know them over 2,000 years ago?'
'It's almost like the Sun chooses its Champion.'
Nick rubbed the side of his head.
'But that also doesn't make sense. The old Champion of Light was a genuinely good person. I could feel it clearly. He looked at me with such care and hope, and I could tell that he genuinely wanted to help humanity.'
'Why would the Sun choose someone like that?'
'Why did the Sun choose him?'
'All of this-'
Suddenly, Nick felt his ability deactivate, and he shot into the ground.
"Nick!"
Nick suddenly stopped moving.
He knew that voice!
How was he here?!