Nick immediately went to work.
He didn't want to manipulate the Shields' minds, but he didn't really have the luxury of morals right now.
He needed the power to free humanity.
The three Shields fanatically worked with Nick due to their altered memories.
In their minds, they believed that Nick would save humanity, which wasn't inaccurate.
From time to time, Nick left the Containment Unit to check up on the underground city's development.
He knew that Giovanni was the right man for the job, but he had to make sure regardless.
Giovanni's way of governing the city was different from Samar's way, but it was just as effective.
But that was to be expected.
Nick had a choice of thousands of Protectors.
At least one of them was bound to be a good leader.
Sadly, working with the three Shields wasn't as efficient as working with thousands of Protectors, but it was still good enough.
After around 55 years, Nick took a look at the world again.
This was a special occasion.
Although, Nick didn't really care a lot about it.
This year, Nick officially reached one thousand years of age.
Nick would have never imagined that he would get this old.
And yet, here he was.
As for the world, it was developing as expected.
Specters were basically a thing of the past.
The cities had developed devices that could sense Specter Zephyx, and they had cleared out almost all of the Hatchlings around them.
By now, even Mid Newbies could travel through the outside world.
A normal person was not yet safe enough in the outside world since there were still a couple of Hatchlings left, but a Mid Newbie could defend themselves. ꭆ₳ＮоВЁṩ
As for Aegis, their number of Shields had increased even more, and they were working on creating another Savior.
But that wasn't easy.
They needed an Eternal to make another Savior, and the only Eternal they could capture was Nurse Alice.
While the Champion was definitely powerful enough to fight Nurse Alice, Nurse Alice was incredibly fast and could teleport all over the world.
The Champion had already tried chasing after her several times, but her Zephyx regenerated faster than she was using it.
Using the Shields to attack her was also difficult.
She had already killed three of them when they had tried to follow her.
What the Champion needed were two or three more Peak Shields.
Peak Shields were only one level below Nurse Alice, and they could defend themselves.
They might not be able to win, but they could stall for long enough for the Champion to arrive.
Sure, the Champion could attack from all over the world, but these distant attacks didn't have a lot of power when compared to his sword.
Because of these reasons, Nurse Alice was still operating normally.
However, Aegis just needed to wait.
Their Shields were growing stronger, and within a couple of centuries, they would be powerful enough to suppress Nurse Alice.
Since Specters, in general, were no longer an issue, most cities started to develop devices of convenience and entertainment.
There was more money to go around, and people could finally afford to spend money on non-essential things.
After looking at the world, Nick returned to the three Shields to continue working with them.
Almost all Hatchlings were contained.
Due to the abundance of Hatchlings, the cities started to kill the ones that were difficult to work with.
This created new Hatchlings, and from time to time, there were ones that even a normal person could work with.
By now, the cities had gigantic complexes stretching out of the city walls just for Hatchling containment.
Normal people could pay to work with them for a small price, and they could become Newbies themselves.
Naturally, being a Newbie no longer qualified people to become real Extractors.
It just made normal people healthier and stronger.
In order to become a real Extractor, one needed to prove one's willpower and work with several demanding Specters.
Another criterion for becoming an Extractor was to become a Peak Newbie.
If both criteria were fulfilled, one could take part in a test to become an Extractor, and if one excelled at their work, they would get the job.
There were very, very few open positions.
After all, there were almost no wild Specters anymore, and every Manufacturer was working at capacity.
The only two times the Manufacturers needed new Extractors was when an old one died or when one of their many Hatchlings became an Adolescent.
The world had changed a lot.
Humanity was the dominant race again.
Sure, the Nightmare and Nurse Alice were still there, but humanity could live with them quite well.
As long as they didn't go into the dark or joked about suicide, life was normal.
'The Zephyx production has changed,' Nick thought. 'Centuries ago, the aliens produced most of their Zephyx via the Nightmare, the Maw, and the war between Specters and Extractors.'
'Now, the Nightmare barely produces anything anymore, the Maw is dead, and there is no more war.'
'The vast majority of production now comes from the Shields advancing and from the Protectors who want to become Shields.'
'In fact, I'm sure that the aliens are producing more Zephyx than before. One Shield is worth more than ten million normal humans in terms of Zephyx production.'
'Humanity is in a mad dash for power, and the aliens are reaping the rewards.'
For the aliens, it didn't make a difference if a Specter was contained or not.
Aegis believed that all the Zephyx that was generated was being intercepted by the Containment Unit, but that wasn't true.
About 50% of the Zephyx simply vanished without Aegis ever noticing.
It was like a hidden tax.
The Enlightened Ones had noticed that fact very late since the mechanism through which the Zephyx vanished was so complex and advanced.
'I don't know how much time I have left,' Nick thought. 'I need to advance faster.'
The author's . If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.