Since the Shields were working with a Mid Adversary, the Initial Shield quickly advanced to become an Early Shield.
The Early Shield still needed a bit more time to advance, but they were on their way to becoming a Mid Shield.
Nick kept diligently working with them.
Another century passed.
During that century, the Early Shield became a Mid Shield.
Now, Nick was working with two Mid Shields and one Early Shield.
The underground city was developing well.
Giovanni asked for more Fallen, but it was impossible for Nick to get more.
Sadly, the Demons couldn't become Fallen.
The reason was the Sun.
The Sun oversaw the advancement of any Demon, Fallen, or Adversary.
Technically, the Sun could infer the underground city's existence based on Zephyx generation.
The underground city did not interfere with the hidden Zephyx tax at all, which meant 50% of the city's Zephyx production went to the aliens.
This sounded like an unnecessary risk, but Nick believed that it was necessary.
'The Enlightened Ones only realized very late that there was a hidden tax on Zephyx. Their plans of fighting the Sun went well, but in the end, the Sun found them early.'
'I believe the Enlightened Ones interfered with the hidden tax, and that's how the Sun noticed.'
'Most likely, the Zephyx generation wasn't developing as well as they had hoped. Maybe it even fell when the Enlightened Ones found out.'
'This made the aliens investigate, and they found the discrepancies.'
'For them, this planet is all about profit. They want as much Zephyx as possible. As long as the profits keep coming, they are happy.'
'Technically, if they were to trace all the Zephyx to its origin, they would find that something like 1% to 5% of Zephyx comes from an unknown place, but why would they?'
'It's only 1% to 5%. That's not enough to create several Mid, Late, or Peak Saviors that can threaten them.'
'But if the Zephyx production suddenly falls by 5%, they might want to investigate where the 5% went to, and they will look at past data, which will uncover the underground city.'
Sometimes, paying taxes was the best way to protect a shady business that the ones in control didn't want.
'I do not know how the aliens think, but I am sure of one thing.'
'They are greedy.'
'Being greedy is a necessary part of becoming so powerful.'
'Without the drive to accumulate more and more power, a civilization can't advance to such a level.'
'Additionally, if they were not greedy, they would have already destroyed Earth when the Enlightened Ones resisted.'
'The fact that we are still alive is proof of their greed.'
Another century passed.
Finally, Nick became a Late Adversary.
After becoming a Late Adversary, Nick took a look at the world again.
There were over 40 Shields, and three of them were already Late Shields.
'Aegis is advancing too quickly.'
'If I keep going like this, I need 500 years to become a Peak Adversary.'
'By then, they will have Nurse Alice already contained, and they will be creating more and more Saviors.'
'That's when the era will reset.'
'I have to change the dynamics. I need to slow their progression or speed up my progression.'
Nick made a decision.
He traveled to one of the Shields and inspected them from a distance.
He looked at them for several weeks, analyzing their Manipulation Lines through the Zephyx they gave off.
'I knew it,' Nick thought after he was done analyzing the Shield.
'The Champion knows that I'm the biggest threat, and he wants to deal with me as quickly as possible.'
'He knows that I have no choice but to capture more Shields if I want to keep up with his power.'
'That's why he probably told all the Shields to create an ability that allows them to be tracked.'
One of the abilities Nick found would give off a certain kind of Zephyx, which was unlike normal Zephyx.
With a locating ability or a device, this Zephyx could be traced.
This would lead the Champion right to the place where Nick contained the other Shields.
Even if the Champion failed to kill Nick, he could deal with Nick's food.
As long as the Champion advanced faster than Nick, at some point, Nick wouldn't be able to escape anymore.
It was an arms race.
'Seems like I have to unveil some of my abilities,' he thought.
Nick wasn't willing to unveil his abilities since that would give the Champion more information, which might lead to his death.
But he was out of options.
Nick was certain that the Champion was ready for Nick.
If Nick took another Shield, the Champion most likely had a way to follow him or kill him from a distance.
Nick could use his tricks only once.
After he used them once, the Champion would know how to deal with them in the future.
Infiltrating Aegis' headquarters as a Shield most likely also wouldn't work.
The Champion now knew that Nick could read minds, and his way of telling if somebody was a Shield most likely didn't involve the memories of the Shield anymore.
If Nick became reckless and infiltrated Aegis' headquarters again, he would most likely die.
By now, Nick could see why the Sun had chosen the Champion.
'He keeps training and working on himself. He is also very intelligent.'
'I can use my abilities only once. After that, the Champion already knows how to counter them.'
'I only have a limited number of useful abilities, and I need to make them all count.'
Nick tried to think of a plan.
It was no longer easy for him to capture Shields.
However, since Nick was willing to expose one more ability, he quickly found a way to get more Shields.
'But then, this ability won't work anymore on Aegis. I need to get enough Shields to support me all the way to becoming an Eternal.'
'It won't be easy, and it will take a while, but it should be possible.'
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