Keon materialized the last pipe, his metallic limbs whirring softly, and then his optical lenses focused on the five-meter-wide tunnel entrance. With practiced precision, he enclosed it with a sealing cap, ensuring the rope was firmly attached. Around it, he quickly fashioned a large foothold area using metal plates.
'This tunnel is my first checkpoint in the exploration of this world,' Keon thought, a flicker of grim determination in his core. He crawled inside, locking himself with the rope, hanging upside down like a mechanical spider.
Wheez!
Immediately, the motors roared to life, and he descended at an alarming rate toward the cavern below. Upon reaching the entrance, he released the rope, his eight legs tapping against the rock as he crawled inside. He quickly created a stand, tightening the rope firmly to secure it.
'I have already found the next material for my main structure, which I will replace next.' Keon's processors hummed while recalling the blueprint of the new alloy.
This new alloy composition is primarily titanium with embedded carbon particles. This alloy offers a significantly increased strength-to-weight ratio compared to carbon steel. Titanium provides excellent corrosion resistance and strength, while carbon particles enhance hardness, stiffness, and potentially reduce mass even further, improving agility and mobility. This also improved energy efficiency due to reduced weight.
After observing the structure of the new alloy, he started upgrading his main frame using it. He replaced the iron particles with titanium and merged the carbon particles into it, directly synthesizing the titanium-carbon composite alloy.
The new alloy composition slowly replaced his previous carbon steel structure, including the metal used in the internal components.
'I am feeling a huge difference. Next, it will be the turn of Exoshells. Anyway, I have enough titanium resources, more than enough to transform the basic material of Exoshell 1.0 and 2.0 into this titanium carbon composite alloy. It will increase the force, durability, and strength of my exoshells even more.'
Keon thought to himself, then released the titanium metal and coal, starting to assimilate it through his Exoshell 2.0. Each minute, 30 kg of titanium and carbon were assimilated, and only one watt of energy was consumed. At the same time, he exchanged excessive energy with coal according to his usual practice.
'This assimilation talent is really my racial talent; it just consumes one watt of energy per minute. It doesn't matter if it assimilates one gram in that minute or 30 kg according to the assimilation capacity. The energy consumption doesn't change.'
A thought flashed in his mind, praising his assimilation talent. Then he noticed the basic material of both his Exoshell One and 2.0 was replaced with titanium carbon alloy. At the same time, the strength, build, and basic performance of his exoshells were increasing.
[Main Frame Force has reached 111 grams]
[Exoshell 1.0 Force has reached 38 kilograms]
[Exoshell 2.0 Force has reached 620 kilograms]
[Force > 500kg - Level Up!]
[Congratulations for reaching Level 10!]
[Free Attribute Points +10]
[Sub-Talent: Material Gathering (Unlocked)]
…
'Perfect, let me add the free attribute to my main frame, then I will open the status panel,' Keon thought as he looked at the level-up notification and sub-talent. He then directly added the 29 free attribute points to his main frame after the transformation.
[Free attributes added successfully]
[Force increased by 29 grams]
[Physical functionality increased by +2.86%]
[Energy consumption reduced by -2.86%]
…
Form: Spider Bot
Core: Carbon Cell
Structure: Titanium Carbon Composite Alloy
Primary Attributes
Health: 100 / 100%
Energy: 53 / 53 Wh (50Wh + 5.44%)
Force: 148g (140 grams + 5.44%)
Mass: 9g
Size: One inch
Load Capacity: 15g
Remaining Free attribute: 0
After adding the free attribute points to his main frame, he opened the status panel.
…
[Status Panel]
Name: Keon
Level: 10
Race: Mechanical Species
Form: Spider Exoshell 2.0
...
Primary Attributes
Health: 100 / 100%
Energy: 5.55 / 5.55 KWh
Core: MCHC
Structure: Titanium Carbon Composite Alloy
Main Frame Force: 140 grams (Locked)
Exoshell One Force: 38 kilograms (Locked)
Exoshell 2.0 Force: 620 kilograms
Size: 3 meters
Mass: 90 kg
Mobility: Moderate
Durability: High
Agility: Moderate
…
Racial Talent - Assimilation & Transformation
Sub-Talent 1: Material Recognition
Sub-Talent 2: Material Assimilation
Sub-Talent 3: Reforge
Sub-Talent 4: Core Optimization
Sub-Talent 5: Material Gathering
Extract and gather different element particles from composite ores.
Sub-Talent 6: Advanced Synthesis
(Unlock at Level 15)
Sub-Talent 7: Neural Nexus
(Unlock at Level 20)
…
Growth Statistics
Free Attribute Points: 0
Assimilation Capacity: 60 kilograms/min
Load Capacity: 60 kilograms
Next Level Requirement: Force > 1 Ton
…
A gleam flashed through Keon's heart as he observed the status panel, especially the fifth sub-talent, which solved his major problem of resource extraction, a task he couldn't perform before. Now he would be able to extract all the required resources from the sand without hiring anyone.
He then glanced at the load and assimilation capacity.
'Such a drastic change in load capacity! Before, it was less than forty percent according to the mass of the exoshell; now it is more than sixty percent. Upgrading all the basic structure to new titanium carbon alloy was a good idea.'
He thought to himself, then glanced at the interior structure of the cave.
'It's time to begin the renovation of this cave. At the same time, I will design the Exoskeleton 3.0, a versatile mega exoskeleton for this planet's exploration.'
…
Time passed as if a raging storm swept across the desert surface of this planet, UHS1.
A week, by Earth's measure, had passed since the completion of the first phase.
In the previous week, Keon had completely stabilized and secured the cave's internal structure. He reinforced the structure with steel layers and beam supports at the corners.
At the same time, he collected more coal whenever he found an opportunity to replenish his energy. Now he could assimilate 60 kg of coal in a minute, like other materials, and each kilogram of coal restored 6 kilowatt-hours of energy in return.
In those days, he had exchanged tons of coal from the exchange platform, using thousands of kilowatts of energy.
'This is probably a bug in this trading system,' Keon mused, a hint of mechanical satisfaction in his internal monologue. 'At a thousand kilowatt-hour energy price, I can exchange one ton of coal. I can now gain so much energy by consuming small portions of coal and then exchange it for one ton of coal again. It's like a never-ending glitch, but the side effect is that it's time-consuming, and time is extremely valuable in this competition.'
He stood outside the tunnel, observing the tons of coal in one of his storage boxes, alongside 600 tons of extracted resources he'd received two days prior from Universe 5757 and 8990.
'Now it's time to create Exoskeleton 3.0. The materials are enough.'
He projected the blueprint in his mind: a giant, thirty-meter behemoth in the shape of a spider, with a fifteen-meter main frame and a fifteen-meter limb span, mirroring his previous exoskeleton designs.
Just as he was about to release the materials and begin construction, a sudden notification halted his operations, flashing starkly across his optical sensors.
[Congratulations for passing the second phase of competition]
[Rewards: Sub Talent Unlocking Token]
[Third Phase Task: Survive until half population remains]
[Current population: 2,222,222,222]
…