Destiny Hall, trading market.
After walking around for three hours, Mo Yu finally met the broker Ye Kongyun had mentioned.
Its body wasn't made of flesh and blood, but formed from countless glowing crystals. Through its crystalline body, Mo Yu could clearly see a fiery red heart pulsing in its chest, with visible veins branching out from it.
Ye Kongyun, standing beside Mo Yu, said,
"This is the broker I told you about. You can call it Tulong. Generations of its kind have worked as brokers here in the market. It's one of the most well-known brokers in the western district. You can tell it whatever you need."
Hearing that, Mo Yu shook his head.
"I've never studied domainology. You better translate for me."
"No need. The Tulong species is unique. They communicate through consciousness, not words or language. As long as you touch its body, it can instantly understand your thoughts."
Mo Yu nodded in realization.
He took a step forward and stood in front of the Tulong broker.
The Tulong broker raised its head, then lifted its right arm toward Mo Yu.
Mo Yu didn't back away. He immediately reached out and made contact with its arm.
"Hello, guest. What can I help you with?"
A youthful voice echoed in his mind.
Startled, Mo Yu replied right away,
"I'm looking for a metal material that can absorb energy. Do you have access to something like that?"
"Energy absorption? Are you referring to materials that neutralize energy-based damage?"
"No. I need something that can convert kinetic and elemental damage into stored energy."
After a long silence, the Tulong broker finally responded,
"I think I understand. You don't just need something that resists external forces—you want something that converts them into energy. I have several materials that meet those criteria. I'll take you to meet the sellers. You can choose from them yourself."
"Thank you."
The conversation ended as the Tulong broker withdrew its arm.
Then, Mo Yu and Ye Kongyun followed the broker toward the eastern district of the trading market.
Several hours later, they met the first seller.
The seller had a red, blue, and black tri-colored spiritual ore. According to the seller, the ore could absorb specific elemental forces.
But after learning more about its function, Mo Yu lost interest.
This ore could only absorb fire, water, and death-type energies. Using it to craft mechanical nanobots would make them too limited.
If they were attacked with lightning-elemental energy, for example, they'd be unable to absorb anything.
Mo Yu was trying to create mechanical nanobots that mimicked psionic nanobots. This tri-colored ore fell far short.
Since the deal didn't go through, the Tulong broker took Mo Yu to a second seller.
This seller had a black companion-type spiritual ore that seemed almost alive. It constantly changed shape in the seller's hand.
According to the seller, the ore was extremely malleable and capable of absorbing and converting nearly all forms of energy—except spiritual assaults.
This material came very close to what Mo Yu needed.
But when he found out that its energy absorption rate was incredibly weak—almost negligible—he gave up again.
Energy absorption was how mechanical nanobots recharged.
If the metal couldn't provide effective energy, it would make every startup for the nanobots a hassle.
Even so, these two encounters gave Mo Yu hope. He was now confident he'd find a suitable material to create mechanical nanobots. This market was full of potential.
The third seller, the fourth seller… Over the course of several days, Mo Yu followed the broker across the trading market.
The market was massive. Even after days of walking, there was still no end in sight.
On this particular day, Mo Yu met the eighteenth seller with the broker.
The seller had a humanoid shape but was very short—about the height of a human child—yet its face looked aged and worn.
It appeared to be a professional spirit ore vendor. Spread out across its booth were various samples of spirit ores.
A few of them emitted energy fluctuations so intense that even Mo Yu was taken aback.
After the Tulong broker and the dwarf seller exchanged a few words, the seller pulled out a palm-sized spiritual ore from a pitch-black metal box.
The ore looked remarkable—semi-transparent with starlight swirling inside.
Through the broker's translation, Mo Yu learned that this ore was called Meteorite Stone. It was one of the highest-value ores within the dwarf race's territory. It matched Mo Yu's needs exactly, with both absorption and conversion properties. On top of that, it was extremely adaptable—formations could be inscribed inside and out, and additional functions could be added.
The Meteorite Stone completely met Mo Yu's requirements for an energy-absorbing ore.
But there were no instruments here to test the ore's quality. Obviously, he couldn't place an order just based on the seller's description.
If he spent a huge amount now and the ore turned out different from what was promised, getting a refund would be nearly impossible.
Fate City, at its core, was a gambler's city.
The role of the trading market was to let gamblers trade chips and keep playing the game.
So transactions here weren't fully guaranteed.
But that wasn't a big problem—brokers existed exactly for this reason.
Once Mo Yu confirmed he wanted to buy the Meteorite Stone, Ye Kongyun took out a bloodstone card and paid the Tulong broker a consultation fee, along with an additional deposit.
Using the Tulong broker's reputation as a guarantee, Mo Yu received a sample of the Meteorite Stone.
He would take this sample back to Star City's materials institute for a detailed analysis.
If the results met the standards, he would place a bulk order. At that point, the Tulong broker would take an additional 3% transaction fee from the deal.
But this fee wouldn't be deducted from the dwarf seller—it would be charged to the buyer.
The broker system was simple. If a buyer asked for help, the broker charged the buyer. If a seller approached them, the broker charged the seller.
With the deal agreed upon, Mo Yu followed Ye Kongyun back to Star City.
That same day, he went straight to the Energy Research Institute's materials department and negotiated with the director to begin testing the Meteorite Stone sample.
The testing process was complicated.
First came a scan of the ore's structure. Then they analyzed the content of the spiritual substance within the ore.
After that, the ore was removed from the machine for strength and durability testing.
Once the results came out, the Meteorite Stone would be added to the database and recorded as new knowledge in the field of domainology.
Ten days later.
Mo Yu returned to the energy materials department and finally got his hands on the material testing report he had been waiting for.
Looking at the detailed data on the report, his expectations were completely fulfilled.
Especially one line about energy absorption efficiency.
Fire element absorption efficiency: 13%, water element: 15%, blood and qi element: 17%, lightning element: 25%… mental damage absorption: 4%.
Except for the low efficiency with mental attacks, the absorption rates for all other elements were very high.
If the mechanical nanobots were built with a composite of Meteorite Stone and anti-magic metal, they would have both energy absorption and a degree of magic resistance—basically a weapon of war.
The Meteorite Stone made Mo Yu see the greater potential of mechanical nanobots becoming a reality.
Back in the mechanical transformation lab, Mo Yu immediately contacted the fate envoy still waiting in Star City. He decided to place a bulk order for Meteorite Stone right away to prepare for the next phase of mechanical upgrades.
That night, Mo Yu followed Ye Kongyun once more to the second floor of Fate City's trading market.
After finding the Tulong broker, they returned to the dwarf vendor.
Once they stated the quantity, the dwarf began quoting prices.
The dwarves used a unit called a "tu," priced at 200,000 bloodstones per tu.
One tu, when converted to human measurement units, came out to about 1,388 grams—that is, 1.388 kilograms would cost 200,000 bloodstones.
The Meteorite Stone was incredibly dense. 1.388 kilograms was barely the size of a thumbnail.
The price stunned Mo Yu. Even Ye Kongyun, who'd seen his share of rare deals, couldn't help shaking his head.
To craft mechanical nanobots, Mo Yu estimated he'd need 300 kilograms of Meteorite Stone. That would cost 43.227 million bloodstones.
The price was outrageous.
Just 300 kilograms cost 43.22 million bloodstones. If the experiment needed more later, it would become a massive financial burden for all of Star City.
As one of the city's liaisons to Fate City, even Ye Kongyun only carried a bloodstone card with 2 million in balance.
There was no other choice. Mo Yu had to temporarily return to Star City and ask for help from the city administrator.
In response to his request, the city administrator said:
"Over 40 million bloodstones. With Star City's current reserves, we can afford it. But that would be nearly half our entire stockpile. If this much is invested into the mechanization project, it will inevitably affect Star City's future development. But Uncle Qi once told me—this unplanned exploration might bring unexpected rewards for the future of our race. Just like how the cultivation system faced opposition at the start. I believe you can do this. I hope you believe in yourself too… I'll work on getting the Supreme Council's approval. The rest is up to you."
Five days after that conversation.
Mo Yu once again followed Ye Kongyun to the trading market in Fate City.
Through Ye Kongyun's explanation, Mo Yu learned that just yesterday, the approval from the Supreme Council had gone through, with Star City's current highest administrator, Zhang Daowen, personally endorsing the project.
Once the project was approved, they opened Star City Military Department's resource warehouse, moved the required materials to Fate City, exchanged them for bloodstones, and transferred the full amount—45 million bloodstones—onto his bloodstone card.
That gesture moved Mo Yu, who rarely showed emotion.
Just like Feng Qi had said—every race is the backbone for its own people. An individual can only truly grow through the support of the collective.
Without the backing of the Supreme Council, his mechanical transformation project would never have gone forward.
Resources, manpower, knowledge—every part of it was the result of the collective's effort.
And behind every resource was the blood and sacrifice of frontline warriors.
This was a virtuous cycle. Only through the advancement of such a cycle could the development of the human race move forward steadily.
Just like in Feng Qi's view of the Spirit Wars.
Because they realized the collective was their foundation, the Spiritkind found a new path—laying the groundwork to one day stand at the top of the world.
At this moment, Mo Yu deeply felt a sense of belonging and support.
That feeling of having someone behind you was strange and powerful. Not even his cold metal body could block the warmth rising from deep within his soul.
After returning to Star City with the Meteorite Stone, Mo Yu didn't pause for a second. He immediately decided to begin building the new mechanical nanobot.
His mechanical body didn't get tired. He could run nonstop for 24 hours straight.
His body only needed to be recharged once a month.
That gave Mo Yu exceptional work efficiency. He didn't need rare spiritual materials to recover his body, and his resource consumption was extremely low.
The only drawback was that his mechanized body was constantly bombarded by data, which made it hard to get sudden bursts of inspiration.
But the mechanical transformation department was a team.
After all these years of development, he already had a vast circle of talent in this field.
Time passed during the long and monotonous research phase.
Year 117 of the Breaking Dawn Era.
At the Energy Research Institute.
With the engineering support of the Silver Moon Clan, Mo Yu completed the first mechanical nanobot.
Inside the lab—
Through instruments provided by the Silver Moon Clan, Mo Yu could clearly see the mechanical nanobot.
It didn't look like a bug at all. Instead, it was a tiny black cube, with purple and blue markings on the surface that flickered in and out of view.
Sitting by the instrument was a silver-haired elder from the Silver Moon Clan.
When he first found out that the elder helping him with mechanical nanobot development was a domain creature, Mo Yu had been genuinely surprised.
But after spending time together, he understood why humans had chosen to cooperate with the Silver Moon Clan—their engineering was far beyond what humans could achieve.
Now, the elder no longer bothered to disguise himself and revealed his true appearance.
Through the enlarged image on the screen, Mo Yu could clearly see the elder carving formation patterns onto the back of the mechanical nanobot.
The formation was called the Spirit-Absorbing Array. It wasn't a complicated one.
Its function was to draw in spiritual energy from the surrounding environment to power the device.
Energy absorption was only one way the mechanical nanobot recharged. When not in combat, the Spirit-Absorbing Array would provide the energy needed to keep it running.
But carving a miniaturized version of the Spirit-Absorbing Array onto the nanobot was beyond current human technology. Even pre-Cataclysm photolithography machines couldn't pull it off.
That's why they had to rely on the Silver Moon Clan.
Their war puppets included many mechanisms built at the nanoscale, so they were highly skilled in this field.
Once this carving was completed, the process would be recorded by the instruments and could be mass-replicated in the future.
But the first step was always the hardest.
The elder had already been carving for a month, and he had only just finished most of the formation. Some parts were still incomplete.
But from the elder's feedback, Mo Yu learned that with another three days, the entire carving process would be done.
Next, he would face the hardest part of the entire mechanical transformation process.
Consciousness division—breaking the whole into parts.
Each mechanical nanobot would be an individual. But when combined, they would function as a unified whole.
Even if some parts were missing, the mechanical nanobot system would keep running. No flaws left to exploit.
Mo Yu planned to start cultivating the Eternal Spirit technique that Feng Qi had given him once he completed the first mechanical nanobot.
When his mental strength reached a certain level, he would begin dividing his own consciousness.