After experimenting with his abilities, Nick went back to the suppressed Adversary to learn more about Star Energy.
Sadly, with Nick's increased intelligence, the inefficient way of communicating with it became even more frustrating.
However, while he listened to the Adversary, he could still focus on his Zephyx Manipulation.
This time, he was primarily looking at the gigantic diagrams that were his abilities.
Maybe now, he could attempt to understand them.
Attempt was the right word here.
The diagrams were still far too complex, but Nick could at least partially deduce small parts of them.
For the next four years, he listened to the Adversary while looking at the diagrams.
He didn't even understand 0.1% of one of them.
While he couldn't read the minds of stronger people, Nick had integrated a couple of security features.
For one, his perception of the surroundings would only weaken a bit instead of completely vanishing.
Additionally, he put in a maximum load to stop him from running out of Zephyx or losing consciousness.
These two features increased the Zephyx consumption of the ability, but he had also increased its efficiency, canceling out the added cost.
Nick was also already working on adding a new ability, but that one would take a long time until it was completed.
After these four years, Nick left the Adversary and delivered his findings to the research base.
The research base was coming along nicely.
There had been no deaths, and almost everyone had increased in power.
Most of the Extractors were in the dark research base, which meant they had all come into contact with the Nightmare.
Just as expected, all of them were convinced.
'Maybe too convinced,' Nick thought as he looked at a Late Veteran.
She seemed to be working in the biology department,but she only appeared to be working.
Or, more accurately, she was trying to work but failing.
She was genuinely trying to make progress, but she just couldn't focus.
The reason was one thing.
Emotions.
Fear and anxiety.
She had seen the proof with her own eyes, and she realized that they were dealing with something even more terrifying and powerful than Specters.
This revelation made her despair.
Her mind was going wild, and she constantly felt nauseous due to anxiety and terror.
She felt like some cruel God was constantly looking over her shoulders.
She feared that the Specters could enter the research facility at any moment.
They only had a Peak Hero.
If the Specters realized what was happening, they would be helpless.
She tried to calm herself down in her mind, but it just wouldn't work.
The panic was too strong.
She was suffering immensely.
'She's a liability,' Nick thought. 'If she says the Sentence, Nurse Alice will arrive and will see all of this.'
'She's unstable. A wrong joke or argument could set her off, and she might lose control.'
'This is very dangerous.'
Naturally, working in the underground lab was extremely taxing on the mind and the emotions.
Being in perpetual darkness was not something humans were designed to endure. Especially when every human had been in perpetual light for all their life.
The dangers and fears of the Late Veteran were valid.
These were real dangers that could come true.
This put constant pressure on everyone.
But, as cruel as it was to say, they just had to deal with it.
They just had to eat up all the fear and uncertainty.
'This is difficult to solve,' Nick thought. 'If I just kill her, the mood in the underground lab will worsen significantly. Everyone would feel even more fear and pressure.'
'But we also can't just let her stay like this.'
'I also can't frame it like she accidentally died to a Specter. Everyone in here is a genius,and they would suspect that we got rid of her.'
'Confronting her is also bad since that might push her to do something stupid.'
"We're having a problem," Nick transmitted to Ghosty.
"You're still here?" Ghosty transmitted back. "You usually just leave after handing your books to us."
"Yes, I'm still here. Ghosty, this is important," Nick transmitted back.
"What's the issue?" Ghosty asked.
Nick explained the issue to Ghosty, and Ghosty threw a careful glance at the Late Veteran.
"I can see why that is an issue," Ghosty transmitted. "If she shares her worries and isn't careful, she could say something that's picked up by the information filter."
"Honestly, I'm not sure how to solve this issue. If the stakes weren't as high, I would just trust her, but I don't think we have that luxury," he added.
Ghosty thought for a couple of seconds.
"I need to discuss this with Aria and Ferdinand. Ferdinand is leading the biological research team, and since this is an issue related to biology, maybe he has an idea."
Nick left Ghosty to solve the issue.
While Nick could deal with many issues, he couldn't deal with something like that.
For now, he decided to remain in the underground base to make sure that nothing went wrong.
He kept supervising the Late Veteran in case she lost control.
However, she was still holding on.
"We got a solution, but it will take a long time to develop," Ghosty transmitted to Nick.
"Yes?" Nick asked.
"The issues are her emotions, right? She is so overcome with fear and anxiety that she is close to breaking down. Talking to her directly might push her over the edge since she will feel watched, which means we can't solve the issue by directly talking to her."
"However, if we could find a way to weaken negative emotions, we could help her."
"Mind control?" Nick asked.
"No, nothing as invasive as that," Ghosty answered. "We were more thinking along the lines of medication.Maybe there is a substance that can weaken the effects of anxiety and fear. The brain is just a complex machine of neurons and chemicals. Emotions are just a complex mix of chemicals that make humans act in a certain way."
"If we could interfere with these chemicals, we could stop someone from being so afraid."
"But it will take a long time. Something like this hasn't been attempted before. This is completely new ground."
"We might need more biologists," Ghosty transmitted.
"I'll get you some," Nick transmitted.
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