More time passed, and eventually, Nick became 20 years old.
It was crazy to think that Dark Dream was already four years old and that Nick had been working as a Chief Zephyx Extractor for an equally long time.
Dark Dream hadn't gained any new Specters for a while since they wanted to focus on their strength for now.
They still only had eight Johns, and they needed more.
After all, the number of Adolescents in Dark Dream was rising.
Even the Puppy had become an Adolescent now.
This meant that Dark Dream had seven Adolescents and only three Hatchlings.
Luckily, the three Hatchlings would never become Adolescents.
Everything seemed to be working out great.
Nick was becoming stronger.
Dark Dream was growing.
They were earning insane amounts of money.
Yet, there was always something in the back of Nick's head bothering him.
Envy.
It had been over a year now since the incident with Envy, and nothing had happened yet.
However, that didn't mean that Envy wasn't targeting Nick anymore.
It probably just took a long while to get to Nick.
First of all, Envy probably didn't have that many servants.
Specters were incapable of feeling fear, and as long as Envy wasn't free to move, it wasn't a threat to any Specters.
One had to remember that Envy gained servants by threatening to kill them.
But as long as Envy couldn't move, it wasn't a threat.
The only threat was the servants it already had.
This meant that Envy could gain a servant by talking to them via a relay and only if that Specter was, at most, a Fanatic.
As a powerful Fallen, Envy probably had several Demons and maybe even other Fallen as servants.
Envy could send a Demon towards a Fanatic that refused to become a servant and kill it.
However, these servants were probably also already busy with something.
After all, Envy was waging a war against humanity.
Nick knew these things since it was all pretty logical, and he guessed that this was one of the reasons why no Specter had shown up to capture Nick yet.
The other reason was that Envy didn't know Nick.
Envy knew that Nick was in Crimson Fungus City, that he was a John, and that he had the power of the Null.
But that was it.
No name, no address, no workplace.
There were tens of thousands of people in Crimson Fungus City.
Finding Nick wasn't easy.
'If only things could stay this way,' Nick thought as he looked at the wall while leaning on his elbow in his office.
For a long time after the meeting, Nick had been insanely paranoid and nervous.
Sleeping had been very difficult, and whenever he had a quiet moment, he felt his heart rate spike.
Just after Nick had gotten used to the constant outbursts of guilt regarding Horua, the paranoia and panic from the issue with Envy came.
Inside Dark Dream, Nick felt so strong, but at home, he felt so weak.
But he knew that this was all just an illusion.
Nick knew that he was a general amongst dwarves.
He was only powerful compared to his environment.
Most Veterans could kill Nick.
An Adult Specter could threaten Dark Dream, and an Elder would ensure its demise.
How many Elders did Envy have as servants?
Probably a lot.
Nick felt like he was waiting for his end.
It could appear any day.
But it just didn't.
Sometimes, Nick wished that this agonizing wait would just end.
Luckily, he was rational enough to not vocalize that wish.
When was it time?
When would Envy's servant show up?
Or what if Envy managed to break free and arrived itself?
Nick sighed once again.
He had worked in his dream job for four years, but not even a single one of them was filled with light or happiness.
All because of his stupidity.
All because he offered an eleven-year-old a position as a Zephyx Extractor.
Nick was getting tired.
He didn't want to feel this guilt anymore.
He didn't want to feel Envy's pressure anymore.
What was the point of becoming more powerful at this point?
At any moment, a Specter would appear that didn't care whether Nick was a John or a Veteran.
And if Nick told anyone in the city, he would be killed.
Sure, Simon was fine with letting Envy target Crimson Fungus City since that would take the heat off a different city, but the inhabitants of the city obviously didn't think like that.
Nick's mind stretched towards the ball of foreign Zephyx in his body.
He felt the warm but also threatening heat from Simon's Zephyx.
'At least, even if I get captured, Envy won't gain anything.'
Nick took a deep breath.
'Additionally, I get to go out on my terms.'
Whenever Nick felt like the pressure and terror overwhelmed him, he looked at the foreign Zephyx in his body.
This was his way out.
He wasn't stuck in this situation.
Even if his entire life spiraled out of control, he still had control over the end of his life.
And when Nick looked at the foreign Zephyx, it calmed him down.
He still had some agency left in this world, however small it was.
After a break, Nick decided to return to work and continued writing things on some sheets of paper.
By now, Nick had become very good at reading and writing.
Knock, knock.
Nick was startled as someone knocked on his door.
Ever since that incident with Envy, it was much easier for Nick to get startled.
But within a second, Nick calmed down again.
"Come in," he said with a neutral tone.
The door opened, and one of the clerks greeted Nick with a bright smile.
"Boss, you got a visitor!" she said with some happiness.
Nick raised an eyebrow before he saw someone walk through the door.
It was a young man with blue hair who was smiling with deep kindness.
When Nick saw him, he also got excited.
"Julian!" Nick shouted with a wide grin as he stood up.
Julian smiled back. "Long time no see, Nick."
