The rank for which your sequence has consecutive terms very close is $N_1$, that means after $N_1$ (ie: for $n\geq N_1$), all terms are close to each other.
Also you know that after $N$, all the terms of your subsequence and $p$ are close.
If you want both properties to be true, you must choose $n$ greater than $N_1$ and $N$.
For your last question, remember that an extraction $\phi$ is such that $\phi(n)>n$. In this redaction, $n_k > k$. In this redaction, the author made the choice to directly take $N$ greater than $N_1$, since it's true for all rank greater than $N$, you must always consider it greater than $N$.