Kill the Sun

"We currently have liquid funds of a bit over 400,000 credits. That means we can purchase another Containment Unit," Wyntor said as he sat in front of Nick in his office.

"400,000 credits?" Nick asked. "I thought we only had something like 250,000 credits."

"There are a couple of tricks that can increase the value of our Zephyx," Wyntor said. "My job is not only for show, after all. If I don't do a good job, the money that comes in doesn't reach its full potential."

Nick just nodded.

Nick had never suspected that Wyntor wasn't working. 

Even though Nick didn't know what Wyntor was doing all day, he still trusted in him.

There were probably many things that Wyntor was doing that Nick and his two employees didn't even notice.

"So, we can get a new Containment Unit and get a second Specter?" Nick asked.

Wyntor nodded. "I've been in talks with a manufacturer for Containment Units, and I managed to get quite a good deal. Under normal circumstances, the next level of Containment Unit costs about 1.5 million credits, but in exchange for exclusively buying their products, I managed to snag one of those for the price of a cheap one at around 450,000 credits."

Nick's eyes widened in surprise and wonder.

As someone who had never worked in a company before, Wyntor's work always seemed so nebulous to Nick.

While Nick trusted that Wyntor was working, he had never really felt the impact.

But now, Nick actually saw what impact Wyntor had on the business.

The entire business had only brought in something like 250,000 credits of Zephyx for its savings account. 

Yet, due to Wyntor, all of that increased to 400,000 credits.

And now, Wyntor had essentially brought in another million credits in goods.

Just by cleverly negotiating with some people, Wyntor had essentially brought in four times as much money as the remaining employees combined!

Naturally, without the employees, Wyntor wouldn't be able to get that much money, but still, Wyntor was increasing the wealth of Dark Dream a lot!

"The Containment Unit I am going to purchase has a light tunnel, which means we don't need to light it with artificial light anymore," Wyntor explained. "Additionally, it can withstand Adolescent Specters, which should also secure our future with the Dreamer."

"Due to the Dreamer's rapid growth and since we constantly need to light its Containment Unit, I will put the Dreamer into the new Containment Unit. We can use its current Containment Unit for a new Specter."

Nick nodded.

Nick had noticed that the Dreamer's output of Zephyx had increased a couple of days before.

By now, Nick was producing ten grams of Zephyx, Jenny was producing six, and Trevor was producing eight. 

Since the Zephyx production for all employees increased at the same time, it meant that the reason for that was with the Specter.

Nick hadn't been sure what had happened, but Wyntor had known.

The Dreamer was growing more powerful.

Every Specter needed to feed to become stronger, and the Dreamer was no exception.

Naturally, the Dreamer's power increased by giving people nightmares, and by constantly working with it for two months, it had gotten a lot of food.

According to Wyntor's calculations, the Dreamer had reached the Peak of the Hatchling Stage.

In every stage, there were five levels.

Initial, Early, Mid, Late, Peak.

Each level had an increase of power of about 1.5 to the previous level. 

So, if an Initial Hatchling had a power of 1, an Early Hatchling would have 1.5, a Mid Hatchling would have about 2.3, a Late Hatchling would have about 3.4, and a Peak Hatchling would have about 5.

This meant that a Peak Hatchling was about five times as powerful as an Initial Hatchling.

Surprisingly, that was also about equal to Nick's strength increase when his ability was activated.

Whenever a Specter advanced a level, the power of its ability increased, as well as its physical strength.

Back when Nick had caught the Dreamer, the Dreamer had been a Mid Hatchling, close to becoming a Late Hatchling.

This meant its physical power had been about 2.3 times stronger than the power of an Initial Hatchling.

Based on the body and the type of Specter, an Initial Hatchling was about as strong as an average adult male or stronger.

In the Dreamer's case, it would have been about as strong as an average adult male since it was not a physical fighter.

Naturally, without his ability, Nick's power had also been about as strong as an average adult male, but he still counted as much stronger than average in the Dregs since everyone was malnourished.

That had been why the Dreamer had been so much more powerful than Nick.

But when Nick's ability activated, he had been much more powerful than the Dreamer.

Yet, if the Dreamer had been as powerful back then as it was now, Nick wouldn't have been able to put up a fight.

It would have simply torn Nick apart.

Right now, the Dreamer was just as powerful as Nick had been when he had captured it with his ability active.

However, one had to remember that Zephyx Extractors could also become more powerful.

When the Dreamer produced Zephyx, Nick also absorbed part of the Zephyx, but it was important to note that Nick's increase in power wasn't compromising the Zephyx production.

When a Zephyx Extractor worked with a Specter, both of them produced Zephyx, but only the Zephyx produced by the Specter would be harvested.

The Zephyx produced by the Zephyx Extractor would never leave the Extractor's body and would immediately get absorbed, increasing the Extractor's power.

In general, the Zephyx the Extractor produced was about 20% of what the Specter produced, but this ratio could vary.

This meant if Nick made the Dreamer produce ten grams of Zephyx, Nick would gain about two grams of Zephyx for himself.

Under normal circumstances, this would mean that the Dreamer would grow five times as quickly as Nick.

However, one had to remember that the Containment Unit harvested 90% of the Zephyx, which meant that, from the ten grams produced, the Dreamer could only keep one gram.

But then, one also had to keep in mind that three different people were working with the Dreamer for a total of about 24 grams of Zephyx every day.

This meant, per day, the Dreamer was growing by about 2.4 grams of Zephyx, and Nick was growing by about two grams.

Yet, due to the difference in level, Nick didn't need as much Zephyx as the Dreamer to advance, which meant that he was growing quicker.

So, what did this mean for Nick's actual power?

Well, just yesterday, Nick had managed to advance another level, and right now…

Nick was at the Late First Stage.

Or Late Newbie, if one used the unofficial denotion.