When the Nightmen realized that they couldn't force the Extractors to work against their will, they grew angry.
They hated that they couldn't get something with raw power.
They were so extremely powerful, but that wasn't any use!
In their dreams, they had imagined armies of enslaved and miserable Extractors producing loads of Zephyx for them.
Sadly, these dreams were not feasible.
The Extractors needed to be happy and relatively free to produce Zephyx.
This was bad news since that meant that the Nightmen had to share their resources with them.
After further negotiations, the Nightwatcher made a deal with the Chancelor.
The Nightmen would help the normal humans with many different tasks, but in exchange, they wanted a bigger share of the Zephyx.
The Chancelor agreed.
The Nightmen were furious when they heard that they had to work for the normal people.
We have to work with these weak, naïve, and spineless cowards?!
Yet, they had no other choice.
The Nightwatcher gave the order.
For the next ten years, the Nightmen worked with the normal people, and the underground city entered a period of abundance.
Progress was made everywhere.
And then…
The Nightwatcher wasn't reelected.
They hated working with the normal people.
Why should they?
These resources were theirs, and since they were the more powerful party, the resources of the other party were also theirs!
They should have everything!
For the next decades, things were not as great.
The Nightmen tried strong-arm tactics again and again, but they never got what they wanted.
Eventually, however, they managed to accept their reality.
While the Nightmen had no empathy, and while many of them were unstable psychopaths, they were not stupid.
Yes, they wanted everything for themselves, but it was better to own 50% of something than to own 100% of nothing.
After some time, they managed to elect a Nightwatcher who was actually reelected several times.
This Nightwatcher was also the first one to manage to reach the Eighth Realm.
The first requirement had been fulfilled.
Now, they had to work on the second.
The Nightwatcher was one of the best ones when it came to researching Techniques, and he immediately went into seclusion to produce the ten Internal Techniques.
During his seclusion, he elected a stand-in, who would lead the Nightmen for him.
Decades passed, and the Nightwatcher managed to create two Internal Techniques that fulfilled the criteria.
Only eight more to go.
If the Nightwatcher managed to get reelected one last time, he would become the permanent leader of the Nightmen, and the third requirement would be fulfilled.
Of course, when the elections happened, he wasn't reelected.
Instead, the stand-in he had chosen became the new Nightwatcher.
The new Nightwatcher knew that this would delay their freedom for a century, but it was worth it.
He wanted to be the leader of the Nightmen.
Naturally, the old leader refused to continue researching due to the betrayal.
Several things happened, and eventually, the old Nightwatcher became the new Nightwatcher again.
They needed these Internal Techniques, and he was the only one who could create them.
The research continued, and the Nightwatcher managed to produce another two.
And then…
He wasn't reelected.
Things repeated themselves, and the researcher became the Nightwatcher once again.
He produced two more Techniques and was not reelected yet again.
It was clear.
The Nightmen would never allow him to become their permanent leader.
Because of that, the old Nightwatcher refused to make more Techniques permanently.
New Nightwatchers were elected, and more of them reached the Eighth Realm.
Within two centuries, they managed to create the ten Internal Techniques.
Now, they only had to fulfill the third criterion.
That was the easiest.
They just had to choose a permanent leader.
'That will never happen,' Nick thought.
The third criterion seemed to be the easiest to fulfill, but it was actually the hardest.
The Nightmen were selfish, and they would not allow anyone else to have all of it.
Even if they managed to elect the perfect leader, they wouldn't be reelected nine times.
That was because the Nightmen couldn't let go.
The older Nightmen wanted this to end since they wanted to get out of the underground city, but the younger Nightmen still had a long time to live.
They could wait for another couple of centuries.
The younger Nightmen believed that they had a shot at becoming the Nightwatcher, and if the elections ended, that chance would vanish as well.
Because of that, they couldn't let the elections end.
Otherwise, they would never become the Nightwatcher.
However, after many years, the Nightmen found a solution to this issue.
They would simply vote for a very old person to become the Nightwatcher.
Then, they would reelect them nine times and make them the permanent leader.
Finally, the old person would die, and new elections would happen.
Sadly, they couldn't vote in a Nightman who was in the Seventh Realm since they could reach the Eighth Realm and live for thousands of years more.
They needed to vote for someone who was already in the Eighth Realm.
So, they chose the first Nightwatcher who reached the Eighth Realm.
Yet, it still took over 1,500 years for that person to become old enough for the plan to work.
Well, this just meant they had to wait.
Time passed.
Nick researched more and more Techniques.
He had already found a way to increase the advancement to the Seventh Realm.
The Nightmen had found their own way to the Sixth Realm.
They simply made a second Energy Bone.
One more century passed.
By now, Nick was over 2,400 years old.
He was almost at the limit of how long Shields could survive.
As Nick looked at the world, he took note of one thing.
The Champion of Light.
He had become incredibly old.
The current Champion of Light looked very similar to the old Champion of Light.
He mostly sat on his throne and let Aegis run on its own.
He had nothing more to do.
'He has less than a century left,' Nick realized.
That was when Nick decided to check in with the aliens again.
And as expected, the aliens gave him an answer.
"This cycle will end in 60 years."
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