Keon skimmed through the flood of new conversation threads before tapping out a line of his own. The universal chat, a chaotic stream of desperation and bravado, was a stark reflection of the brutal competition.
[Universe 8888888888]
"If any of you want to trade your redemption coin unofficially for resource-rich sand, contact me privately. The sand contains ninety percent silica, eight percent gold and other metallic elements, with the remaining two percent being titanium sub-elements and special substances."
After posting the message, he fell silent, waiting for the response calmly. A calculated gamble, he knew, but one he was confident would pay off.
It didn't take long; replies began to appear beneath his post.
[Universe 443232]
"What do you mean by unofficial? Is it P2P trade? Can we really do that?"
[Universe 4445333]
"You're a quick thinker, but nobody's going to waste a redemption coin on useless sand."
Keon skimmed the chatter, filtering out the mockery and scolding.
'Maybe they're right. Why would anyone burn such a rare coin on something as common as sand when they could save it for useful basic resources later?'
Just as he doubted, several private notifications blinked across his vision. His core pulsed, and he opened them quickly. At the top was a familiar ID.
[Universe 5757]
"If you give me one thousand tons of sand, I'll exchange it with you."
[Universe 437845]
"I don't need sand. But if you can give me gold, I'll make the trade."
[Universe 8990]
"Five hundred tons of sand will do. I'll exchange it with you."
…
Keon studied the offers carefully before replying one by one. His mechanical mind, cold and calculating, weighed each proposal, seeking the optimal outcome.
"To 5757: I'll give you two thousand tons of sand. In return, I want your redemption coin and five hundred tons of extracted materials, the same as before. Also, I want the redemption coin immediately."
"To 437845: How much gold? I can provide at most one ton of gold, but I'll need time to process it."
"To 8990: I'll give you a thousand tons of sand. In return, you'll hand over one redemption coin immediately and one ton of gold. From the remaining five hundred tons, you'll extract resources at an eighty–twenty split... you keep eighty percent of the metals and give me the other twenty, plus one hundred percent of the magnet and silica. Don't waste my time. I know you already have the gold."
After the counteroffer, he went silent again, waiting for their response. The tension, though purely mental, was palpable.
…
A few minutes later, their replies arrived.
[Universe 5757]
"Deal, I'll need three days to process the five hundred tons, but send me the sand now and I'll transfer the coin immediately."
[Universe 437845]
"Fine. Send me the gold, and you'll have the coin. But I won't wait longer than a day before moving on."
[Universe 8990]
"It's okay, send the sand, and I'll trade the coin and gold immediately. The extracted resources will take some time."
…
Keon's lenses narrowed as he glanced at 5757 and 8990's replies. 'They are both desperate for my sand, but why? Anyway, it doesn't matter; P2P trading is enforced by the system. Once I send it, they're locked in; they can't cheat even if they try.'
The thought brought a grim satisfaction.
He turned to the sand filling the cave floors and started calculating the estimated area of effect after sand excavation.
'Ten by fourteen meters, nearly solid with sand. Three thousand tons will hollow this space another twelve to fourteen meters deeper. Anyway, it's manageable.'
After making a decision, Keon appeared at the section he marked and brought up the exchange panel.
[Do you want to exchange 2000 tons of sand for one redemption coin and 500 tons of extracted materials? Y/N]
[Do you want to exchange 1000 tons of sand for one redemption coin, one ton of gold, and the remaining extracted elements? Y/N]
He chose the "Y" option on both.
In an instant, the cavern floor sank into a vast hollow, as though the sand had never existed. The system light shimmered, and the trades finalizing option flickered.
[You have received a redemption coin, one ton of gold.]
[You have received a redemption coin.]
Keon didn't hesitate. He immediately traded the ton of gold to the third buyer and secured another coin.
[You have received a redemption coin.]
Now four redemption coins glittered on his status panel.
'If I were in human skin right now, my heart would be hammering out. But as a machine, all I can do is note the fact that this body can't hold the excitement.'
The thought was tinged with a familiar, almost wistful, human sentiment.
His gaze shifted toward the massive square pit in front of him expressionlessly. Then he turned back to the remaining material heaps he had acquired before. Over four hundred and fifty kilograms of refined materials lay waiting for him to exploit.
Suddenly a new thought sparked in his core. 'I know what I need to build next. It's Exoskeleton Two. A frame more powerful, tall, and useful.' The idea started consuming him.
He opened the Exoskeleton One blueprint, stripping, redesigning, and rebuilding it in his mind. Every circuit re-routed, every function reinforced. This was no simple upgrade in his vision, more like a rebirth, a testament to his relentless drive.
Hours passed, though for him, time meant nothing. His processor burned, weaving calculations without pause. A human brain would have collapsed, but Keon's core only spun faster, relentlessly.
'This is the advantage of a mechanical species. No sleep, no fatigue. Choose a task and drive it to completion.'
A final click echoed inside his awareness.
[Exoskeleton 2.0 Blueprint Created Successfully]
Core Structure
Overall Size: 3 meters
Nested Design: Shell-in-Shell System
Materials Allocation
Silica Quartz: armored plates, optics, joint housings
Titanium: skeletal frame, leg spars, armor ribs
Iron: heavy joint motors, power cores
Copper: wiring, induction loops, coils
Tin: bearings, solder
Gold: induction plates, control pads
Monazite/REEs: high-strength magnets, sensor lenses, and energy filters
Blueprint Layout
Thorax Core: cockpit chamber built to house the 1-foot shell inside
Legs (8): titanium–silica reinforced, 4 degrees of freedom each, built for both speed and carrying nested shells
Feet: retractable claws with gold-copper pads (induction + ground charging)
Motors: large axial-flux drive systems, each leg powered individually
Power Core: (MCHC-1) multi-carbohydride cell stack in abdomen with carbon capacitor banks
Armor: layered silica-ceramic plating over titanium frame
Control Link: gold-copper assimilation pads aligned with smaller shell pads for seamless transfer
Sensors: monazite crystal optics, multi-layer silica lenses, iron-gold resonance detectors
…
[MCHC-1 (Multi-CarboHydride Cell)]
Core Design:
A compact battery consists of multiple cells; each cell is a single-use power core forged from carbon, hydrocarbon gel, and titanium-oxide beads, sealed in a quartz-ceramic shell.
Material & Roles:
It cracks hydrogen from carbon fuel, shuttles charge through a carbon lattice, and separates oxide from the titanium itself. Maximum power capacity is 5 KWh.
Blueprint:
Anode: compressed carbon scaffold
Fuel: hydrocarbon gel (coal source)
Cathode: titanium-oxide layer
Separator: quartz-ceramic sheet
Contacts: tin leads, gold induction pad
Form: all cells are stacked in a 50 cm sealed battery pack.
…
'Very well… now I've found my true path forward. My original body will continue to shrink, while my external shells will multiply and grow in size.'
The thought surged through Keon's core like fire through circuitry as he studied the completed blueprint.
Each detail, each line, wasn't just design, it was the vision of his conquest, the evolution of a mechanical species built to devour and dominate.
…