'Right now, since nobody knows everything about me, my increase in power is sixfold instead of fivefold.'
With a fivefold increase, Nick already had the power of a Peak Adversary.
With a sixfold increase, he was stronger than a Peak Adversary.
Sadly, he needed a tenfold increase if he wanted to be as powerful as an Initial Eternal.
'That's only possible if I am completely unknown, and that's impossible. I won't be able to delete the memories of the aliens, and the Null also knows a bit about me.'
'A tenfold increase is the theoretical maximum, but the practical maximum is probably only eightfold.'
'The Null most likely has a ninefold increase, and it kills anyone who makes it drop to an eightfold increase.'
Nick narrowed his eyes.
'The Null has to be extremely powerful. It might be the strongest Specter beside the Sun.'
'If this were a free-for-all, the Null might actually be even more powerful, but that won't happen.'
'The Null was created by the Sun, and the aliens must have given the Sun ways to deal with any Specter.'
'However, I also shouldn't underestimate the true power of the other Eternals.'
'The Nightmare is the weakest, without a doubt. Simply because it is not alive and essentially can't do anything.'
'Most likely, the Maw is also weaker. It is probably a level higher than Nurse Alice, but Nurse Alice has terrifying knowledge regarding energy manipulation.'
'She will never show that knowledge openly, but if there's nothing stopping her, she could probably unleash even more abilities than Envy.'
'But Nurse Alice is probably still weaker than the Null.'
'At my current level, making contact with Nurse Alice would still be too dangerous. I need to increase my multiplication factor, and I have to become an Early Adversary first.'
After focusing on his primary ability for a while, Nick looked at his other abilities.
The first ability he looked at was the one granted by the Mist.
Initially, he could only turn into mist and create a cloud of mist.
Then, it gave him the ability to create a black smoke cover around him.
After that, it gained the ability to scramble Zephyx.
But now, it had changed yet again.
Nick suddenly vanished.
He was completely gone.
But he wasn't.
Nick had become intangible and invisible.
And to top it all off, his body hadn't changed shape.
He traveled through the underground, just passing through the dense walls like they didn't exist.
It was like Nick was a ghost.
BANG!
The ground around his right arm exploded as it became tangible again.
Nick could make parts of his body tangible and intangible whenever he wanted.
Theoretically, he could pass through the Barriers and bodies of a Shield and make this weapon intangible inside their body.
Practically, this wouldn't be so easy.
In the intangible state, Nick was essentially still a Force Specter.
Abilities that could suppress Force Specters still worked on him.
He was just immune to physical attacks.
Another bad part was that Nick was only invisible, intangible, and inaudible.
His Zephyx could still be felt.
It was faint, but experienced Extractors could feel his presence if he were close to them.
Luckily, there was another ability that somewhat made up for that weakness.
The part of the Nightmare's ability that made him immune to darkness.
First, it had given Nick the ability to create a dark and sticky cloud that absorbed light.
Then, it advanced and could create a zone of darkness.
Now, it had gained the power to hide Nick's Zephyx.
However, it had to be dark for that to work.
As long as there was darkness around both combatants, Nick would be truly imperceivable.
This was on the same level as the Envious Researcher.
The Envious Researcher could only be perceived by Nick's primary ability.
If there were a similar ability that worked on perception, Nick could also be perceived this way.
'The Empire created several machines that work a bit like that,' Nick thought. 'The aliens probably also have something like that.'
'There's still some danger.'
Next, Nick looked at his ability granted by the Blinding Light.
Initially, he could only disperse light in a blinding flash.
Then, he learned how to control the flash.
After that, he could focus it into a laser.
When he became a Fallen, he could create a blade of light that could damage Force Specters.
Now, it granted Nick the power to rejuvenate his Zephyx by absorbing light.
The more light there was, the faster his Zephyx regenerated.
'While this does not increase the peak of my power, it gives me something to fall back on if I can't escape into the darkness.'
'I can use my other abilities much more often, which makes escaping easier.'
Then, Nick thought about his second ability granted by the Nightmare.
'It works very well with my ability to delete memories.'
This was the ability that allowed Nick to create illusions.
After he became a Specter, he could also control the Nightmare's influence somewhat.
When he became a Demon, it became more efficient.
When he became a Fallen, it could also be used while his primary ability was only partially active. For example, while being inside a dark cloud.
Now, Nick could directly read the memories of anyone who was under the Nightmare's influence.
In the past, Nick had to control the torture to create scenarios that would make people act a certain way.
But that wasn't necessary anymore.
As long as someone was inside the darkness and Nick could perceive them, he could just directly read all of their thoughts.
This was also much more accurate and efficient than Nick's self-created mind-reading ability.
This even worked on powerful Shields.
It might not work on the Champion, but it would most likely work on everyone else.
The only issue was that he needed to envelop someone in darkness for it to work.
In that way, his self-created mind reading ability still had a use.
However, his self-created mind-reading ability also improved.
It wasn't improved directly, but it was indirectly improved.
Nick's increased intelligence had improved in the best way possible.
Even more intelligence.
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