Kill the Sun

"How come?" Julian asked, a curious expression on his face.

"It's not exactly a secret why, but it's better if the people don't know about this," the governor said. "The less the people know about Adversaries, the less fear they feel."

Nick furrowed his brows.

So, an Adversary was involved.

"The Envious Researcher is one of the Adversaries that opposes humanity," the governor said. "Aegis is not certain if it has a personal vendetta against humanity or if its way of becoming more powerful inherently makes it humanity's enemy."

"While the Envious Researcher is not responsible for many deaths, its impact on humanity is probably amongst the greatest out of all the Adversaries."

The governor looked forward with severity, but his eyes were not focused on anything in particular.

"Whenever a significant advancement in technology is produced, the Envious Researcher gets attracted."

"If the significant advancement is only known by a handful of people, its attraction is not very strong, but as soon as the number of people knowing about it reaches the double digits, things become very dangerous."

"If, for example, you were to tell several people about the machine that produces Zephyx, the Envious Researcher will almost certainly show up…"

"And completely destroy the machine."

Nick looked with surprise at the governor.

"And the people that know about it?" he asked.

The governor glanced at Nick, and Nick felt like he had spoken out of turn.

"It depends on how much they know about it," the governor said. "If they only know it exists, nothing will happen."

"However, if they know a bit about how it works, the Envious Researcher will also destroy them."

"The Envious Researcher becomes more powerful by stopping humanity from advancing technologically. Anyone that develops new technologies is under constant danger with the Envious Researcher out there."

"Every new technology has to be kept top secret with only a handful of people knowing how it works. If we want to publicize that technology, we need to get past the stage of attraction."

"That is usually accomplished by producing hundreds if not thousands of products including said advancement, distributing them across many cities in secret, and then simultaneously teaching thousands of people all across the world."

"If enough people know about how it works and if it is too difficult to get rid of the advancement, the Envious Researcher won't try to stop it anymore."

"Sadly, publicizing every bit of advancement in this manner consumes great amounts of resources, making it very difficult and costly. Additionally, many people still die during the initial lessons."

"Teaching the public about technology is extremely dangerous."

"Luckily, you didn't tell more people," the governor told Nick. "Otherwise, the machine would probably have already been destroyed."

Nick looked at the governor with a bit of uncertainty. "Is there no way to deal with it?"

"I'm not privy to these things," the governor said. "Naturally, Aegis views the Envious Researcher as one of its greatest enemies, but a mere Hero is not someone that can get involved in such matters."

Nick just nodded, showing that he didn't intend to ask any more questions.

"Where is the ruin?" the governor asked, looking at Nick.

Nick blinked a couple of times in discomfort.

Sluuurp.

At that moment, Julian drank some coffee and released a sigh of relaxation.

Markus furrowed his brows in annoyance.

"You will get an adequate reward," the governor said.

Julian smiled brightly and turned to Nick.

"Nick, could you please lead our governor to the ruin?" Julian asked politely.

"Of course," Nick said, standing up.

Markus also stood up.

"Oh, Markus, one more thing," Julian said.

Markus turned to look at Julian with a bit of annoyance. "What?"

"I got something else that might interest the city, but it's not as important as the ruin. When you're done with the ruin, could you come back so that I can show you?" Julian asked.

"What's this about?" the governor asked.

"It's a Specter with a peculiar ability. Based on some theories, it might help against the Forests, and it might even help in weakening the Crimson Sea. However, that second part is not a certainty yet."

The governor was definitely interested, but just like Julian said, the ruin was of greater importance.

"I'll come back later," Markus said, walking out of the office while Nick held the door open.

Julian just smiled.

Nick quickly led the governor out of Dark Dream.

Nick was running at a high speed, but the governor had no issue in keeping pace.

Surprisingly, the people the two ran past didn't even notice the governor.

Not even the guards looked at him.

With enough power and experience, Zephyx could be used for many different purposes.

For example, Nick regularly used Zephyx to quieten the impact whenever he landed on the ground after jumping a great distance.

Someone as powerful as the governor probably didn't have any issue using his Zephyx to stay hidden.

"Just run past them," the governor said as the two of them approached the bridge.

Usually, Nick needed to identify himself whenever he left, but this time, apparently, he didn't.

Nick ran past the guards, and none of them batted an eye.

Even the two Experts on the other side of the bridge didn't seem to notice Nick.

When Nick saw that, the anticipation he felt lessened.

What if he ran around outside, and an Extractor of Anatomy decided to attack him?

Wouldn't it be great if they attacked him while the governor was just beside him?

Sadly, the governor also hid Nick from the outside.

The two of them left the corridor and ran towards the east.

A bit more than a minute later, the two arrived at the foot of the mountain.

"It's in there?" the governor asked.

Nick nodded.

"How did you find out that there is a ruin in there?"

"We were attacked by a Specter," Nick said.

Nick told the governor what happened while jumping towards the place where the hole was.

"You jumped into the darkness to save your employee?" the governor asked with furrowed brows.

Nick nodded before jumping into the hole.

The governor looked at Nick jumping into the darkness with an interested glint in his eyes.

Then, he jumped after Nick.