After searching in the Dregs for about an hour, Nick found a guy belonging to the Riker Strikers.
Just like last time, Nick just killed the guy and pulled him back to Dark Dream.
On his way, he handed the token back to the guards, who just thanked him for his patronage.
Nick threw the corpse into the Screaming Coffin's Containment Unit and watched it consume the corpse.
As always, the terrifying screams hurt Nick's ears quite a bit.
After Nick left the Containment Unit, he looked at the clock.
'About 3 p.m. That means it should be done between 10 p.m. tomorrow and 2 a.m. the day after tomorrow.'
Nick nodded and walked into Wyntor's office.
"Anything you need?" Wyntor asked without looking up from the sheet of paper he was writing on.
"Hey, Wyntor," Nick said. "What do I do with my money?"
"Invest it," Wyntor answered.
Nick furrowed his brows. "Like, in the company?"
Wyntor snorted. "No. I don't need your money right now, and I don't want to lose ownership of Dark Dream."
As the sole shareholder, Wyntor owned 100% of Dark Dream.
Even though Nick was the Chief Zephyx Extractor, he only held a very high management position. He was not an owner or director of the company.
Technically, if Wyntor wanted, he could throw Nick out without any issues, but that would be beyond stupid.
"You want to help the people of the Dregs, right?" Wyntor asked, putting the sheet of paper down.
Nick nodded.
"In that case, I would invest in your own power," Wyntor suggested.
"Into my power?" Nick repeated.
"Yep," Wyntor added. "Get some equipment. You are still fighting with your bare hands, and you're only using the official uniform of the city as your armor. Even more, if a Force Specter attacks you, you can't even do anything to it since you have no weapons to use against it."
"By getting a good weapon and armor, you can increase your own power by a lot," Wyntor said.
Nick's eyes widened in realization as he thought about all the things he could buy with the money he had already gathered.
But then, Nick became a bit confused. "And what does that have to do with me wanting to help the people of the Dregs?"
Wyntor chuckled a bit. "If you die, who will help the people of the Dregs? Even more, if you use 10% of your current income to help the people in the Dregs, that's about 300 credits per day, but if you use 10% of your income two years later when you're a level two Extractor, that might turn into 3,000 credits per day."
"The stronger you are, the more money you earn, and the more you help the people of the Dregs. The longer you live, the more payments the Dregs will receive."
"Because of that, I suggest investing about 80% of your income in your own power, keep 10% as a safety net, and use the remaining 10% to help the people," Wyntor explained.
Nick almost couldn't believe how easily Wyntor had fixed the very thing that Nick couldn't fix after thinking about it for a long time.
It was actually so easy and logical.
"Sounds great," Nick said with a bright smile. "So, where can I find equipment? What should I get first?"
"The most important thing for a Zephyx Extractor."
"A Barrier."
"A Barrier?" Nick asked in confusion.
"A Barrier is something you can put into your official uniform. If anything dangerous comes near you, the device will shield you from it."
"Since we are not Specters, we humans can't use our Zephyx without equipment, and a Barrier was one such piece of equipment."
"The Barrier uses your internal Zephyx storage to block any and all attacks. The stronger the attack it blocks, the more Zephyx it uses."
"While you can deal with punches, claws, and kicks without issues, you would be helpless if someone throws a vat of burning oil at you. Additionally, Force Specters almost always have attacks that are almost impossible to block with anything physical, and even other kinds of Specters can have these attacks."
"A Barrier will allow you to deal with attacks that normal humans can't deal with."
Nick listened to Wyntor intently. "That sounds very useful! How strong is such a barrier?"
"Depends on its price and your level," Wyntor said as he leaned back in the chair.
The next moment, Wyntor opened a big pocket on his chest and pulled something out.
It was a silver plate with a beautiful blue gem in the middle that seemed to shine like the ocean.
"That's mine," Wyntor said. "It can block all manners of attacks, deploys intelligently and automatically, has a malleable surface, is invisible while active, and blocks attacks at a ratio of five to one Zephyx. That means it uses one unit of my Zephyx to block five units of an enemy's Zephyx."
Nick took a deep breath.
"That sounds very expensive," he commented.
Wyntor chuckled. "Yeah, I can't buy something like that on my own. It was a gift from my father before I left to build Dark Dream. It costs like 100 million credits, but my father probably got it for half the price."
Nick sucked in a violent breath through his teeth.
100 million credits!
That was nearly a thousand times more than what Nick had earned so far!
"Yours will not be as good, but it will still help you a lot," Wyntor said. "For starters, I would suggest getting one that has a two-to-one conversion rate that can block most kinds of attacks."
"You should have just enough money to get a decent one, but don't spend everything on it. You also need a couple of one-time-use items and actual weapons. Try to keep what you spend on the Barrier at about 80% of the 80% you use to buy equipment."
Nick nodded. "Will do. Where can I buy something like that?"
"Well, usually you would need to enter the Inner City to get this stuff, but level one Zephyx Extractors are not allowed in the Inner City without a permit. You have to be a level two Zephyx Extractor first."
"But, of course, since there is a big market for equipment for Newbies, there is money to be made."
"Once a week, there's an open market in the Outer City for Newbies."
"Lucky for you, it's tomorrow."