Nick felt an overwhelming influx of suffering coming his way.
'And that's that,' Nick thought.
The amount of suffering he had inflicted on Aegis was tremendous.
Hundreds of Heroes and researchers would need to recreate a database and fill it up again.
Almost all the technology that had been connected with the database in any way needed to be reimagined and changed.
And worst of all, all the researchers would just think they had to reinvent the wheel for decades.
They would not be making any progress.
For a researcher, this was the worst.
Researchers were supposed to find new things, not remake the same thing over and over again.
Tens of Protectors, hundreds of Heroes, and all of the Shields would suffer.
All of their operations needed to change.
As more time passed, Nick felt more and more suffering coming towards him from all over the world.
Did he torture anyone?
No.
Did he kill people?
No.
Did he endanger some cities?
A little bit, but that would be quickly fixed.
The only thing he did was to make Aegis do meaningless busy work.
Boredom.
He caused immense boredom to the strongest Extractors in the world.
'This will actually benefit you in the long run,' Nick thought. 'Your database was archaic, and it had too many weaknesses. Hope you learn from this and make a better one.'
'Based on the predicted intensity of suffering, I will become a Peak Fallen in about 20 years.'
'Also, we got a good researcher out of this deal. Mandurian will be a good addition to our team of researchers.'
"Oh, Sun," Nick said, activating the recording function of the Sun. "Since I can no longer access Aegis easily, I dealt with their progress in a more direct manner."
"Softly pushing them in a direction doesn't work anymore due to my new status as Aegis' enemy. Because of that, I have encrypted their database and destroyed the key. It will take Aegis anywhere from 20 to 40 years to recover the knowledge they have lost today."
"If you wish for me to operate differently from now on, please tell me," Nick said.
Then, Nick waited in an isolated location for around a week.
The Sun needed to sense him if it wanted to contact him.
The aliens most likely checked the messages on a daily basis, but Nick wanted to be sure.
Even after a full week, the Sun didn't contact him.
'If it actually wanted me to help humanity, it would definitely contact me and tell me that this is not okay,' Nick thought.
'But it doesn't. They want to keep human technology suppressed for as long as possible.'
'The aliens are probably exhilarated by what I've done.'
If the aliens had human emotions, they would probably call each other over to look at how the funny humans had been screwed over.
It was such a simple thing.
It was just encryption.
Something that was used constantly.
Just a couple of lines of code.
A couple of lines of words and numbers ruined Aegis for decades.
When the Sun didn't get back to him, Nick traveled back to the underground city.
By now, he was done transcribing all of the biological knowledge.
As Nick returned, he looked at the new set of Containment Units at the back of the underground city.
Inside the Containment Units were small and grey humanoid figures.
They had no features and just stood in the middle of the Containment Units.
From time to time, an Extractor entered the Containment Units to dump kilos upon kilos of Zephyx onto them.
These were the artificial Specters.
They did not have any survival instincts or personality.
They were essentially just plants.
They absorbed their Zephyx, grew bigger, and finally, they would be consumed by a Peak Expert.
The first Specialists using these Specters to advance had already been created.
The speed of their growth broke all records.
30 years.
That was all it would need for an Initial Specialist to become an Initial Hero.
It was terrifyingly fast.
In terms of Zephyx generation, all of the new Specialists had the talent to become level nine Extractors.
The fifth level no longer decided someone's future potential.
Becoming a Newbie was easy.
Becoming a John was easy.
Becoming a Veteran was a bit annoying but also relatively easy.
Becoming an Expert was just a bit time-consuming.
Becoming a Specialist was easy.
Becoming a Hero required a lot of studying and practice in Zephyx Manipulation, but over 70% of Extractors could do that also relatively easily.
With more advancements in teaching methods and better education, that number would also rise to over 90% with time.
90% of the babies born in the underground city would eventually become Heroes.
Tens of thousands of Heroes.
The underground city would have more Heroes than the entire world.
'This is the true power of humanity. This is the true power of our resistance,' Nick thought.
Sadly, becoming a Protector was not easy, and Nick wasn't sure if he could even make it easier.
It required a lot of willpower and dedication, and most humans simply didn't have that.
However, around ten to twenty percent of the Heroes would still manage to do that.
That would still leave the underground city with thousands of Protectors.
All of Aegis had less than a hundred.
With thousands of Peak Protectors, the underground city would easily suppress Aegis as long as the Champion didn't join the fight.
And yet…
Nick looked at the Sun.
'Even millions of Protectors won't make a difference. Even millions of Shields wouldn't matter.'
'We need level nine Extractors and many of them.'
'Even more, they need to be able to deal with Star Energy and Pure Energy.'
'This will become much more difficult.'
'Humanity needs to be reimagined on a fundamental level.'
'We need humans that grow with Pure Energy, not Zephyx.'
'Any of the existing humans are not up to par.'
'They are from the last generation, and we need the new generation to fight the aliens.'
Nick looked back at the underground city.
'I already have an idea, but I need to know more about Star Energy and Pure Energy to actualize my plan.'
'The knowledge is transcribed, and my job as the Envious Researcher has been dealt with. My advancement to become a Peak Fallen is also secure.'
'It's time to pay a visit to the third knowledge repository.'
'Knowledge about the energies.'
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