Nick created several machines that could produce the pills and published their effects and the process of their creation in the Archive.
Then, Nick consumed the pill.
He had already tried it several times to test it, but this time, he would actually advance.
After consuming the pill, Nick had to wait for a couple of minutes.
His body started to feel numb.
This was a necessary process since it numbed the pain one would feel.
Over the next hours, Nick's body started to vibrate and shake.
His heart and lungs were being denatured, and the waste was transported by the energy pathways to the intestines.
Then, the esophagus collapsed into the stomach.
The stomach shriveled up and collapsed into the intestines.
After that, the intestines started to roll into a ball as they weakened.
Any remaining nutrients would be harvested by the remaining intestines, leaving only black sludge behind.
Some hours later, Nick felt a pressure in his abdomen.
This was the signal that the body was ready to expel everything.
Nick strained his abdomen, and with his power, he compressed the weak remains into a long tube.
Finally, the black tube was discharged via the anus.
An hour later, the energy package the pill delivered was used up, and the body desired oxygen again.
Nick started to feel lightheaded.
Not enough oxygen was reaching his brain.
A moment later, his body lost consciousness.
Of course, Nick's actual perception came from his Specter Core, which meant that he actually didn't lose consciousness.
It was just his human brain that didn't work anymore.
While the body was unconscious, it would enter survival mode.
It would desperately search for any kind of energy, and it found plenty in the energy pathways.
It accessed these pathways, and Nick's body regained consciousness.
The Zephosis was complete.
With Zephosis achieved,Nick's skin started to pull in much more Pure Energy and directly injected it into the energy pathways.
This was much easier than having to starve for several days.
Finally, Nick reached the Third Realm.
Since he now had more access to Pure Energy, he started to create more techniques.
He created several Concrete and Abstract Techniques for all Affinities and published them.
Nick remained at this level for five years.
The energy conversion and manipulation became more complex, but he still managed to create over a hundred Techniques in these five years.
'If someone can master just ten of these, they would be able to win against any Extractor who's at an equal energy level.'
By now, Nick was already at the peak of the Third Realm.
Bodies needed time to grow stronger.
Needing only five years to go through the entire Third Realm was already very fast.
Extractors needed decades for that.
'However, Nightmen shouldn't advance as soon as they can.'
'If Nightmen want to keep up with Extractors, they have to master and create many Techniques. If they just skip to the next Realm, they will be missing the fundamentals of energy manipulation.'
'Learning how to efficiently manipulate little bits of energy helps in learning how to efficiently manipulate big amounts of energy.'
'The path of a Nightman requires a lot more studying.'
'Extractors have it easier since their abilities are fixed already.'
'Nightmen need to study far more, but practical experience is also important. They need to actually test their Techniques in proper battles.'
'When I create the new city during the new era, I also need to consider that.'
'I have all of these Techniques, but during a battle, I wouldn't be sure which one I should use. There's too much choice, and I don't have an inherent instinct for which Technique is the right one to use.'
'Sure, my mind is fast enough that I can look through all the Techniques before the enemy hasn't even moved a millimeter,but if I had the mind of someone at the peak of the Third Realm, this could cost me my life.'
Next, Nick had to come up with a way to improve the advancement to the Fourth Realm.
'Extractors use Shells to further improve their Zephyx regeneration.'
'Nightmen don't need that. Their own Zephosis is much more efficient, and it can support them for the entire Fourth Realm without issues.'
After some thinking, Nick came up with a good idea.
For several months, he experimented.
It only took him a single year to come up with the perfect way to advance.
A lot of Pure Energy gathered in Nick's body.
Then, in the place where his left lung had been, the Pure Energy turned into a spherical bone.
Yet, there were complex inscriptions on the bone.
The inscriptions were for an advanced Abstract Technique.
More energy pathways formed, and they surrounded the bone, feeding it an incredible amount of Pure Energy.
The inside of the bone was hollow, but it quickly filled up with Pure Energy.
When the saturation of Pure Energy reached a certain level, the bone started to shine.
The Abstract Technique inscribed on the bone was activated.
'This should be the biggest increase in power any Nightman has ever experienced.'
This spherical bone could keep one Abstract Technique active with only minimal cost.
The cost was only a quarter of what it would need to activate the Technique without such a bone.
This bone would allow a Nightman to choose one Abstract Technique that would be active at all given times for a small price.
At this moment, Nick's body was three times as powerful as it should be.
He didn't recover Pure Energy very quickly, but the Abstract Technique was active at all given moments, and he didn't even need to focus on it.
'Sadly, this requires a change in how Abstract Techniques are developed.'
'The development of successive levels of Abstract Techniques needs to be additive.It is easy to add Manipulation Lines but very difficult to remove them.'
'But we also shouldn't discard the other form of Abstract Techniques. They are still useful.'
'I think a third kind of Technique should be introduced. A kind of Abstract Technique that's designed to be used for these kinds of bones.'
'An Internal Technique seems like a fitting name. Internal Techniques have to be Abstract Techniques that develop additively.'
'And I think the bone should be called Energy Bone.'
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