Kill the Sun - Chapter 718

Shadow Novelist

Volume 23: The Game Changes

← Previous chapter: 717 Establishing Contact

This question made Nick doubt if he actually understood what he was hearing.

Had he misinterpreted the Specter's language?

'No, it makes sense. I'm pretty sure it just asked me if I'm hungry.'

Nick hit the middle of the gate, signifying a no.

"Joyful: Ha ha ha! I should have expected!" came the translated answer from the walls.

Surprisingly, the Specter had also established a way to communicate the tone of a sentence. Apparently, that was important to the Specter.

'This is not how a normal Specter communicates,' Nick thought. 'Either this Specter is extremely adept at mimicking humans and believes that its positive and charismatic delivery gives it a better chance to be released, or this is a Specter with an altered state of mind.'

'It didn't even ask me whether or not I'm human. Although, that's probably because it doesn't even think that I could be a Specter. A Specter has no reason to come into contact with another Specter unless it was searching for a servant.'

'Also, most Specters wouldn't be interested in some ancient Specter that was contained. Only humans would be inquisitive enough to try to communicate with this Specter.'

"How long have I been in here? Has it been more than a hundred years?" the Specter asked via hits.

Nick kicked the bottom of the gate, signifying a yes.

"More than a thousand?"

Another yes.

"More than ten thousand?" it asked.

Yes.

"Surprised: No wonder I'm hungry!" it commented. "You got food?"

Nick furrowed his brows and hit the side of the gate, which represented uncertainty or confusion.

"Encouraging: Bodies! Human bodies!" the gate answered.

Nick didn't answer.

'So, it does consume bodies,' Nick thought. 'If we manage to properly contain this Specter, we can train all of the Shields.'

Over five seconds passed without Nick answering.

"Careful: Want me to change the topic?"

Nick kicked a yes.

"Exasperated: I see that you like conversations to be a bit more serious."

Nick kicked another yes.

"Accepting: Alright, let's talk about the important stuff then. Why did nobody talk to me for so long? Did everyone die?" it asked.

Nick kicked a yes.

"Before we continue talking, do you actually have the power to free me, assuming you wanted to free me?" it asked.

Nick punched a no.

"Can you contact a Sky Shatterer?" the Specter asked.

Nick raised an eyebrow and sent an answer signifying confusion.

"Someone powerful enough to break through this prison," the Specter elaborated.

'Guess level nine Extractors were called Sky Shatterers back then,' Nick thought.

Nick gave a no.

"Why not? Do you not know one?" the Specter asked.

Nick punched the left side of the gate, signifying that none of the available options to answer were adequate.

"Shocked: Wait," the gate answered before hesitating for a moment. "Don't tell me that there are no Sky Shatterers."

Nick kicked a yes.

"Wait, yes, no? Are there any Sky Shatterers that are alive?" the Specter asked.

Nick gave a no.

Silence.

"Level five Transcenders?" the Specter answered.

Nick gave a confused answer.

"One level lower than a level one Sky Shatterer," the Specter elaborated.

'He's probably talking about Peak Shields,' Nick thought.

Nick gave a no.

"Level four Transcenders?"

No.

"Level three Transcenders?"

Nick had already prepared his answers.

No.

The Champion of Light was a Mid Shield, but Nick decided to keep the Champion's existence secret.

No.

"But you have seen Seeds?"

Yes.

"Okay. So, not everything is lost. As long as you can implant a Seed and make it work, we can work from there. You just need to get a Seed, restore its energy supply, imprint it, and implant it."

"Can you get one of the Seeds?"

Yes.

"Good! Go get one and come back. Joking: No worries, I won't go anywhere."

Yes.

After giving his yes, Nick transformed into mist, moved through the different hallways, and grabbed a random Seed from a random pile.

Nick didn't want to experiment on the Seed of the dead Peak Shield. There might be information on it that was extremely valuable.

Yes.

"You got a Seed in your hands right now?"

Yes.

"Good! How good are you at forging in the context of your peers? Use yes and no as a scale. The closer you hit to yes, the better you are."

Nick went about 70% to 80% to yes.

By working with Ghosty and the Technician for years, Nick became extremely good at Zephology and engineering.

"Great! That makes things easier! First, we need to delete all the contents of the Seed. Without deleting all the data, we can't make it usable. You delete all the data by letting Specter Energy run through it for about five seconds. Do that."

Nick knew that the Seeds could absorb and release Zephyx, but no one could interact with the Seed by using Zephyx.

Nick had expected that the Seed would need a complex flow of Zephyx to delete its contents, but he apparently only needed to shove Zephyx in.

'That means that Seeds most likely don't work with Zephyx.'

Nick's body was made of Zephyx, and he just willed his energy to flow through the Seed between his two fingers.

Nick could feel a bit of resistance when his Zephyx flowed through it, but after some seconds, all the resistance vanished.

Yes.

"Are you done?"

Yes.

"Was the flow of Specter Energy different between the beginning and the end?"

Yes.

"Good! That means it most likely worked! Next, do you know how to make Pure Energy?"

Nick raised an eyebrow and gave a confused answer.

"Pure Energy is something that you can make with Specter Energy and Star Energy. Do you know what that is?"

'Star Energy?'

Nick gave a confused answer.

"Okay, you do have access to Specter Energy, right? You just used it to delete the Seed's contents."

Yes.

"Can you transform Specter Energy into matter?"

Yes.

"Can you transform Specter Energy into light?"

Barriers worked partially with that principle.

Yes.

"Can you force atoms to split with Specter Energy?"

Nick furrowed his brows.

This was one of the biggest hurdles when it came to creating rank seven materials.

The Technician could do that, but it took an insane amount of work, and the Technician had to do it all manually.

Splitting atoms with Zephyx was essentially the very tip of the world's cutting-edge technology.

Nick hit the middle between yes and no.

"Is there a Transcendent that can do that?"

Yes.

"Do you know how to do that?"

No.

"Is there a Transcendent that can make atoms fuse?"

Nick blinked a couple of times.

They had thought about that and knew that it should theoretically be possible, but they had no idea how to actually do that.

No.

"Disappointed and accepting: Seems like I have a lot to teach you."