Nick left Deep Core Base and went back to the underground city.
Within the last nine years, the underground city had changed yet again.
While ten years was just a short trip for him, it was a long time for normal people.
The number of Experts had increased drastically.
One needed a Shell to become an Expert, and with perfect usage of Zephyx, it needed about ten years to make one.
By now, the underground city already had over 2,000 Experts.
In any other city, this would be crazy.
Cities generally had between 30 and 200 Experts at any given moment.
When Nick had still lived in Crimson City, there had been about 100 Experts.
This city had over 2,000.
They had 20 times the number of Experts as Crimson City.
Such a force would be terrifying for the Specters in the surroundings.
'And we're going to increase that to over 2,000 Specialists,' Nick thought.
After returning, he contacted Samar and Aria.
He met the two of them in Samar's office, which was in the middle of the underground city.
Samar had the title of Chancellor, which had the highest authority in the city, while Aria had the title of commander, which had the highest authority in the military.
While Samar was more than brilliant, she didn't have a lot of combat experience.
Meanwhile, Aria had a lot of combat experience.
"I have acquired the biology knowledge of the Enlightened Ones, and I am going to add it to the Archive. It will take about ten years to transcribe everything," Nick said.
"That's quite a lot faster than last time," Aria said.
Nick nodded. "I can create a biological implant and interpreter that allows me to tell the machine everything via voice transmission."
As Nick looked at the two of them, he couldn't help taking note of several parts of their bodies.
Bodies told a story, and he could now see Aria's and Samar's stories.
Aria trained a lot and tried her best to be strong for everyone.
Her expression was stalwart, and there were several signs of regular training visible on her body.
Samar, on the other hand, seemed like she was fighting against the tide.
Nick could see the stress accumulating on her body.
She had a lot on her mind, but she knew that this was her duty and responsibility.
As the Chancellor of an isolated society, she had to make many difficult choices.
All the authority was in her hands, and if anyone inside the city spoke about forbidden knowledge, everyone would die.
It was her job to stop that from happening.
She needed to make her people happy enough that they didn't lose control, but she also needed to allocate resources according to contributions.
She knew that everyone was stuck here with no way out, and such a life was not easy for many people.
Her mind was assaulted by constant worry.
But that was what made her so good at her job.
She never took things lightly.
"I also have a solution for the Consumption," Nick said.
The two of them had expected something like that and waited for Nick to tell them.
"We are still going to use the Consumption. The Consumption is superior to what the Enlightened Ones used to become Experts," Nick said.
"However," Nick added, seeing their skeptical expressions. "We are going to use artificial Specters."
"Artificial Specters?" Samar asked with furrowed brows.
Was that even possible?
The researchers had entertained that idea, but it was just a musing.
They didn't even know where to start.
"Finding out how to create an artificial Specter is difficult, but actually creating it is not," Nick explained. "We can already create all of the materials for the machine since all of them have to be treated with Zephyx anyway."
"The Specters will grow by consuming pure Zephyx, and they do not have a limit to their speed of growth. If we feed them enough Zephyx, they will become Elders within a day."
"They also will not have any survival instinct, which means any person can consume a Peak Elder without any danger. The Specter Cores will integrate almost willingly."
When the two of them heard that, they had to take deep breaths.
This essentially got rid of all of the weaknesses of the Consumption and only left its strengths.
Peak Elders!
Nick had been the only person who ever managed to "consume" a Peak Elder.
His rate of improvement had shot through the roof after consuming it.
Specialists who consumed a Peak Elder might become Heroes after only 30 years!
That was unimaginably fast!
"How much Zephyx do we need?" Samar asked.
"A lot," Nick said. "The creation of an artificial Specter will consume about seven kilograms of Zephyx. Their growth, on the other hand, will consume about 1.2 tons."
Samar took a deep breath.
1.2 tons for a Specialist.
Crimson City's yearly tribute was only between ten and twenty tons.
Of course, due to the Protectors and Heroes in the underground city, they produced a lot more Zephyx than Crimson City.
But they also needed Zephyx for research and Pure Energy creation.
"If we take our time, we can make it work," Aria said. "We don't have to turn every Expert into a Specialist in a year. This is a long-term project. As long as we keep turning more Experts into Specialists as Veterans turn into Experts, we will get rid of the backlog at some point."
Samar nodded.
It was a heavy hit on the finances, but they could take it.
"I am going to put the knowledge about the artificial Specters into the Archive first," Nick said. "There is not a lot. Within a month, the researchers can start focusing on creating the machine. It's simpler than you think, and I don't think it will take more than a year for them to make it work."
"After I'm done with that, I will deal with any resources you need."
Aria smiled bitterly at Nick, and he could see that she already had something in mind.
"Well," Aria said. "We have a couple of Protectors now, and we are in dire need of Zephyx."
"One Fallen is not enough anymore."
Nick nodded. "I'll get right on it after I'm done with transmitting the knowledge about artificial Specters."
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