Land of Waves
Under the dark night sky, in a small, out-of-the-way village, a few hunters walked along, carrying their catches.
"What the hell does Kisuke want with live animals?"
"Who knows, man? Ever since he asked two days ago, that's all he's wanted."
"Why bother thinking about it? We get paid, don't we?"
"Yeah, times are tough. This job isn't bad."
"We got lucky today."
"Damn right, we did. This animal barely put up a fight, easy money."
Finally, the hunters stopped in front of a small wooden shack and knocked on the door.
"Kisuke! Open up! Your animals are here!"
A thin man with black hair and eyes opened the door. He handed over ten silver coins. "Thanks a lot, old man."
The hunter took the money, carried the animal inside, and said, "No problem, we're all from the same village, call me again if you need anything."
Kisuke watched them leave, then shut the door. He looked at the animal on the floor, it was a wild wolf, struggling hard, but its legs and mouth were tied up with rope. Kisuke grabbed a knife from the table. "Finally, I can start."
He plunged the knife straight into the wolf's eye. The wolf thrashed wildly, but soon stopped moving. When the wolf died, a small blue light shot from its body and quickly flew into Kisuke. The wolf's body slowly faded away.
[Energy +5]
"Alright, five points this time," Kisuke said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "Finally enough energy, this damn Mechanical Core can actually do something now."
He looked at the screen for his Mechanical Core:
Master Name: Kisuke Takahashi
Item Name: Mechanical Core
Item Level: World Secret Treasure
Main Power: Energy Change
Buildings: Fully Automatic Machine Factory [Locked], Civilization Lab [Locked], All Things Research Center [Locked], Library of Truth [Locked]
Energy Points: 101
Civilization Spark: 0
Info: The wealth of a civilization, a treasure everyone wants.
Kisuke looked at the 101 points and told the Mechanical Core, "Make a Level 1 Combat Robot Soldier."
As he gave the order, 100 energy points disappeared, leaving him with just one point.
The Mechanical Core could make things directly with energy, but making them out of thin air cost ten times more. He could also unlock the Fully Automatic Machine Factory, which would let him build factories using materials. Those factories could make anything from a small gun to a huge warship.
"Still missing too much," he grumbled. "If I had that factory, I could make a special robot soldier for just 10 energy points."
The Mechanical Core glowed blue. Inside the blue light, a blurry shape appeared. More and more light points flowed into it, and the shape slowly became real, growing bigger until it was the size of a normal person.
[Level 1 Combat Robot Soldier made.]
Standing in front of Kisuke was a man about his height, looking around 20 years old. He stood very straight, with a cold, blank look on his face.
He wore a black army uniform, black shoes, and a black hat. He had a silver badge on his shoulder with a gold triangle mark. The whole uniform matched. He didn't have any guns, just his bare hands, though he wore black gloves.
"LG001 Level 1 Combat Robot Soldier, reporting to Master."
The robot soldier walked up to Kisuke, stood at attention with a sharp sound, and saluted him.
Even though the robot soldier was a machine and didn't have real feelings, it had smart programming. It could talk a little and follow orders.
Of course, the higher the level of the robot soldier, the smarter it was. But there was another way to make them smarter, by adding a Civilization Spark. Robot soldiers with a Civilization Spark weren't just robot soldiers anymore, they were a Mechanical Race.
Kisuke opened the robot soldier's info screen.
[Type: Combat Robot Soldier]
[ID: LG001]
[Level: 1]
[Skill: Mixed Fighting]
[Weapon: Metal Gloves]
[Talent: Machine Made, Doesn't Fear Death, Doesn't Feel Pain, Always Loyal. If the Machine Heart isn't broken, the robot soldier won't die. If the robot soldier is destroyed, it can be brought back or rebuilt based on how complete it is.]
[Upgrade Needed: 50 Energy Points]
"From today, your name is 'Koga'," Kisuke said. "You'll be my guard."
"Your safety is the most important order, Master, I will protect you with my life."
As Koga went to stand guard by the door, Kisuke packed up his things inside the room.
Honestly, there wasn't much to pack. He had just arrived in this world, and to keep himself safe, he had spent the last three days not only setting traps and hunting to get energy, but also buying animals.
Tomorrow, he was leaving this village and going to a town.
After quickly packing his things, Kisuke lay on the bed, looking at the dark ceiling, and slowly fell asleep.
Kisuke was someone who had come from another world. In his old life, he was named Li Hua. He grew up in an orphanage. A kind person named Li Baiyu saw his talent there and paid for his schooling. At 22, he finished school and got a job at a company. At 24, he became the CEO. At 27, the old person who helped him died. At 29, he quit being CEO and went to another country to start his own business, building the LG Group. He was a successful man, a great businessman.
But on the outside, this great businessman was secretly the hidden boss of the biggest armed smuggling group in the US and along the coast of Southeast Asia.
Everything was going well. But seven days ago, international police, by accident, found Li Hua through a traitor. After three days of constant searching, they caught Li Hua and planned to execute him the next day.
People who haven't died can never truly understand how scary death really is. That feeling of being alone in nothingness, like an endless dark night, is something no words can truly describe.
And the Mechanical Core was what he found after he died. His spirit was floating in nothingness when it joined with the Core.
The Kaelard Civilization was the first big civilization in the universe, and the Mechanical Core was something they made when they were at their strongest.
The Kaelard's universe was falling apart, so they came up with many ways to save themselves, like making new universes, using two-dimensional foils, evolving to higher dimensions, and a universe rebirth plan. The Mechanical Core was part of their "Civilization Spark" plan, chosen if other rescue plans failed.
In the end, the Kaelard Civilization couldn't stop their universe from falling apart. When their universe collapsed, the new universes they made also died. The two-dimensional foil plan, the higher dimension evolution plan, and the universe rebirth plan all failed when the universe collapsed.
The Mechanical Core was made during this time. It held all the best parts of a universe. Even so, the Mechanical Core should not have been able to escape the universe's collapse.
Dr. Yagai, the main scientist at the Kaelard First Research Institute, suggested putting the higher dimension evolution and new universe plans into the Mechanical Core.
Because the universe was collapsing so fast, turning one-third of itself into nothing, this plan was officially started.