Nick repeated the experiment with a Newbie, and his ability only consumed a bit more Zephyx.
Luckily, Nick still regenerated more Zephyx than he was using.
'Works fine,' he thought before focusing on a John.
This time, his ability consumed just a slight bit more than it regenerated.
Nevertheless, Nick could probably read the John's mind for about an hour before he ran out of Zephyx.
'Also works, but the true test is the Veteran. Veterans are Extractors who are deeply involved with Manufacturers. They went through Zephosis, which symbolizes their commitment to their jobs.'
Nick found a Veteran after a couple of minutes and tested his abilities.
His Specter Core started to hurt a bit, and the surroundings grew a bit blurry as all of his focus was pushed to the peak.
Nick's perception of the surroundings almost vanished.
Nick was reading the mind of a Mid Veteran, and he was consuming a lot of Zephyx.
Within less than ten seconds, he would run out.
Luckily, his entire Zephyx storage would fill up again within five seconds.
'If I force it, I can read a Mid Veteran's mind for about 66% of the time. I guess that's where my limit is. I don't think I can even attempt to read the mind of an Expert.'
'But that proves that integrating the ability into my Specter Core works. If I just used the diagram manually, I would only be able to read the mind of a Newbie for a couple of seconds before losing focus on the calculations.'
'All in all, the test was a success. With this, information gathering will become much easier.'
'Additionally, this ability is not limited to my power but to my knowledge and experience in Zephyx Manipulation. As long as I keep learning, I can keep improving it.'
'But I have to be careful. If I push this ability too much, my perception of my surroundings gets clouded, and my Specter Core hurts.'
'This doesn't happen with normal abilities. Most likely, the abilities were created with several fail-safes that keep this from happening. I do not understand these fail-safes yet, which is why using this ability is so problematic.'
'The fact that the Sun can just make these abilities is crazy, but that makes the aliens even crazier. After all, they are advanced enough to automate this process without supervision.'
'I wonder how the aliens learned all of this and how they actually grow in power.'
'Do they use Zephyx like Specters and humans?'
'Most likely not. Zephyx seems to be a refined version of Prephyx or Star Energy.'
'The Sun keeps the Prephyx-levels high in the environment while keeping Star Energy out. This is obviously not the standard on other planets.'
'On other livable planets, the local star should be showering everyone in Star Energy. Zephyx and Prephyx are probably not present, and if they are, they are most likely only present in limited quantities.'
'That means the aliens most likely use Star Energy.'
'But then, what about Pure Energy?'
'While I don't trust the Adversary fully, I can believe that it was honest when it said that Star Energy is not the greatest source of energy.'
'However, it's definitely better than Prephyx. Prephyx is basically trash.'
'We are constantly surrounded by Prephyx. If we were constantly surrounded by Star Energy, wouldn't that be better than being surrounded by Prephyx?'
'Sure, Star Energy isn't as good as Prephyx, but with so much everywhere, it's bound to have a great effect.'
'Specters are probably not the only beings that can create Zephyx. With so much Star Energy everywhere, some organisms most likely evolved some kind of method to create Zephyx inside of them.'
Nick was reminded of the Zephyx-generator he had seen in the ruins of the Ancient Ones.
'Does that generator work with Prephyx, or does it use something else?'
'In terms of biological lifeforms, I would assume that there are some that can generate Zephyx out of Star Energy. It's like plants and oxygen. Plants absorb CO2, which has a low energy content, and transform it into O2, which has a high energy content. But in order to do that, they need light and water.'
Nick imagined a world filled with life and filled with Star Energy.
Some isolated plants absorbed cadavers, which were filled with Star Energy.
Then, they used up a lot of Star Energy just to create Zephyx.
Finally, they combined the Zephyx with their Star Energy in a yet unknown way to produce Pure Energy.
'Two sides of the same coin. Like O2, Star Energy is everywhere. But to survive and grow stronger, you need more than just O2.'
'O2, nourishment, and water. These three things create the energy of life.'
'If Star Energy is O2, Zephyx should be the nourishment and the water. Humans breathe in a ridiculous amount of O2 when compared to what they eat.'
'I think normal humans need over 500 liters of pure O2. Compared to two liters of water and about a kilo or two of food, that's gigantic.'
Nick was reminded of the Adversary's words.
'Star Energy is the meat, while Zephyx is the seasoning. An apt comparison if we use these numbers.'
'The aliens most likely use Pure Energy as their internal energy source. Getting Star Energy is not difficult since it's basically everywhere. Humans also don't need to worry about O2 for the same reason.'
'The difficult part is getting the nourishment. The Zephyx.'
Nick imagined an alien opening a container of Zephyx before consuming it.
Inside the alien, the Zephyx was broken down and combined with the vast quantities of Star Energy that were regularly absorbed.
A bit of Pure Energy was created, which settled in the alien's equivalent of a Zephyx Synchronizer or Specter Core.
'I wonder… were there lifeforms in the original version of Earth that could do something similar?'
'Or did we just never evolve the capability to create Pure Energy in our bodies?'
'It seems like I need to learn more about ancient human biology.'
'Otherwise, destroying the aliens might actually plunge us into an even worse situation.'
'Without so much Prephyx everywhere, how would the Extractors even survive?'
'As soon as the shield breaks and all the Prephyx gets replaced by Star Energy, all the Extractors will essentially asphyxiate.'
Nick narrowed his eyes as a suspicion appeared in his mind.
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