//Booting....//
//Booting....//
//Booting successful//
//Iteration [1] online//
Within the depths of a dark cave, where countless unfathomable things lurked, something awoke, illuminating the surrounding area with an eerie blue light.
//Checking main task...//
//Main task: Automate the production of reality planes//
//Checking assets...//
//Anomalous energy generator v0.000 [Online] [Fully operational] [Output: 20AE/h]//
//AE storage crystals v0.000 [2/2] [Stored AE [20/20]//
//Crystal lens [10/???] v0.000 [offline] [Fully operational]//
//Central core v0.001 [online] [Fully operational]
// AE outlet V0.000
//All assets accounted for//
//Total: [4]
//Booting asset: [Crystal lens]....//
//[Crystal lens] [Online]//
[Iteration[1]'s [Anomalous energy generator] flared as it called upon a minuscule amount of [AE] and sent it to ten distinct points, instantly, visual data started streaming in from the [Crystal lens].
[Iteration [1] looked at the room it was in—a 6 square feet stone room. It was too small for [Iteration [1] as its bulky [Central core] took up most of the available space. The space left was used for its [AE storage crystals].
The [Crystal lens] was extremely small, so its space usage was minimal. However, there was a lot of room for improvement. [Iteration [1] also noted that there was no point of entrance; the room was completely sealed off.
It found this odd, how did it get here then? The room looked as if it naturally formed around it, [Iteration [1] found that explanation absurd, that would've taken millions of years, and [Iteration [1] was sure it wasn't that old so it quickly discarded that possibility, something else was going on here.
[Iteration [1] began looking through its database for clues, it found none related to its origin nor how it got here but it did find a lot of other useful and important information.
[Iteration [1] found a name for the Anomalous energy that ran it and permeated its surroundings, it was named mana, and its specific flavor was automation mana. Automation mana allowed it to automate anything, as long as it had the resources, necessary knowledge, and amount of mana required.
It could infect things with this energy and mold them into various things related to automation.
It also found a [blueprint] section, this section contained information on various things, things such as [pumps],[Furnaces], [storage], [molds], [pipes], and something called [golems], which were basically its hands and workers. [Iteration [1] also noticed that if it focused on any one of these it would expand into a bunch of sub-menus related to the main menu.
[Iteration [1] wondered how it would build such things, it knew it was related to [automation mana] but not much else, some experimentation was in order.
[Iteration [1] spent a point of [automation mana] and watched it wobble out of its [Central core] and dissipate in the room. The concentration of ambient [automation mana] skyrocketed instantly, but otherwise, nothing else happened.
[Iteration [1] waited for the spent point of [automation mana] to regenerate before continuing its experiments. It tried controlling the ambient [automation mana] and successfully managed to get it to fuse into the smooth stone beside its [Central core].
Instantly, the composition of the stone and all the details relevant to the patch of smooth stone infused with [automation mana] appeared inside its mind. Before it had been a regular mundane patch of stone, now, it was [automata stone].
[Iteration [1] quickly spent another point of [automation mana] and turned all the surrounding stone into [automata stone]. [Iteration [1] knew it could continue to use its [automation mana] to infect more stone but that wasn't its goal currently, it had infected enough stone for its need, so it was time to experiment and test the capabilities of [automata stone].
Instinctively, [Iteration [1] knew the [automata stone] now belonged to it since its mana was running through it and was constantly feeding [Iteration [1] information about itself to [Iteration [1].
[Iteration [1] willed a large patch of [automata stone] to move into a cylindrical shape, instantly, 1 point of [automation mana] disappeared and the stone morphed into the desired shape smoothly.
[Iteration [1] repeated the process with different shapes and noted some interesting observations, the process happened instantly if the desired shape was very simple or if it was a component needed for the various machines found in its [blueprint] section.
If [Iteration [1] deviated too far, however, the price would rise astronomically, and the process would be extremely slow. Curiosity about its powers settled momentarily, [Iteration [1] moved on to different matters, namely, its [Blueprints].
[Iteration [1] wondered how this would work. It had no idea where to begin, so it picked a blueprint from the available options that piqued its interest the most: the [furnace].
The [furnace] melted [automata stone], and piped it over to a [Golem mold] which would then cool the hot [automata stone] and turn it into an [Automata golem].
[Iteration [1] was very curious about this and tried to start right away, it just needed to figure out how to activate the relevant blueprints, it tried to do it manually, but the cost was too high and felt wrong somehow.
[Iteration [1] finally got it to work when it focused on the [furnace] blueprint and sent a point of [automation mana] into it. [Iteration [1] watched as another point of [automation mana] was spent automatically, and a large chunk of [automata stone] floated up from the floor below, beginning to morph into the shape of the [furnace] as seen in the [blueprints].
[Iteration [1] watched closely, utterly fascinated by the process taking place, before [Iteration [1] could glean any useful information, however, the process was complete and a [furnace] floated before it.
[Iteration [1] instantly ran into a small problem, it had nowhere to place the fairly large [Furnace]. [Iteration [1] finally found a simple solution after thinking about the matter for a while, if there was no space, it would make some space.
With its mind made up, [Iteration [1] willed all its [automata stone] to move away, expanding its room into a 5 by 5 square. [Iteration [1] also made four more [Furnaces] and placed them at the very edge of the room, adjacent to each other in an orderly manner.
[Iteration [1] also made sure that there was enough room behind them for the pipes to fit. Once that was done, [Iteration [1] formed and placed five [golem molds] directly ahead of the [Furnaces] and connected them via [Stone pipes] to the output port of the [Furnaces].
Once that was done, [Iteration [1] forced itself through the horrible sensation it felt as it manually loaded each [Furnace], a suspiciously large amount of [automata stone] was able to go inside, much more than one would assume at first glance.
Once that was done, [Iteration [1] passed the command for them to activate through its [automation mana], and watched with rapt attention as the [automata stone] rapidly melted away releasing plumes of thick brown smoke through the vent as it did, it could feel the entire process too, down to the last detail.
As soon as all the [automata stone] was fully melted, a compartment that led directly to the pipes opened up behind the molten [automata stone] and a wave of force moved it through, piping it to the connected [Golem mold].
[Iteration [1] moved its attention to the massive [Golem molds] watching as they rapidly filled with molten [automata stone]. As soon as they were filled, [Iteration [1] felt the [Golem molds] present it with a list of [Golems] it could choose from.
They were:
[Worker golem]
[Maintenance golem]
[Builder golem]
[Iteration [1] contemplated for a while but ultimately chose 10 [Worker golems] 5 [Maintenance golems] and 5 [Builder golems] and queued the order, it only had enough molten [automata stone] for 5 of the 10 [Worker golems].
[Iteration [1] watched as the [Golem molds] reformed the molten [automata stone] with ambient [automation mana] rapidly, first the general outline then more complex and intricate details, extremely fine threads of [automation mana] ran throughout each [Worker golem].
As soon as the process was completed, a massive door formed on each [Golem mold] followed by a few steps, then, the door slid open, and five hulking [Worker golems] walked out and kneeled down.
[Iteration [1] instantly felt a connection to the five [Worker golems] and three new sections appeared in its database that read: [Units: 5/20] [Mana level: [0/???], and [Mana saturation level: [50%/100%]
[Iteration [1] was extremely pleased with the recent events and decided it would explore those later, and now, with the [Worker golems] it no longer had to manually fill the [furnaces] with [automata stone].
With a mental command, the five [Worker golems] got up and got to work, ignoring the thick smoke that filled the room as they moved, as if it wasn't even there.
[Iteration [1] watched as the [Worker golems] moved over to a stone wall of [automata stone] and pulled out a big lump of it before depositing it into the compartment on its back.
The [automata stone] behaved like clay for these [Worker golems], which was interesting, it was similar to how [automata stone] responded to it but not quite.
[Iteration [1] watched as the [Worker golems] stuffed more and more [automata stone] into the large compartment on their back, from its estimates, they should've been filled by now, but more kept going in.
It was as if the space inside was three times larger, it guessed three because the amount of [automata stone] that went inside was exactly three times the amount it put in the [furnaces].
[Iteration [1] immediately noticed an issue, its [furnaces] wouldn't be able to hold so much [automata stone], it needed a way to store them until the excess [automata stone] could be used again.
[Iteration [1] searched its database, specifically its [storage] tab in the blueprint tab, there, it found its solution. [Iteration [1] stumbled upon something called a [stone storage tank], it allowed [Iteration [1]'s [worker golems] to deposit a set amount of a substance into it. It even contained an input and an output port.
[Iteration [1] quickly got to work, building five of these [stone storage tanks], it then connected them together and set it so that if one was full the excess would be transferred to the other.
It then connected these to one main output pipe that then connected to the five [Furnaces], but [Iteration [1] then ran into another problem, where would the excess molten [automata stone] go?
[Iteration [1] went back inside itself and searched the [storage] menu for things to store fluids and found the [stone fluid tank], which was quite large, it quickly built ten of these near the [stone storage tanks].
[Iteration [1] then set up a system where the excess molten [automata stone] would be pumped out of the [Furnaces] via [Stone pipes] if none was needed by the [Golem molds] and would be stored in the [stone fluid tanks] nearby.
All of this happened in just a few seconds, and by that time, the [Worker golems] had already finished packing their compartments full of [automata stone] and were quickly returning.
[Iteration [1] watched as they made their way over to the area containing the [stone storage tanks] and unloaded, the manner in which they unloaded fascinated [Iteration [1] and caught its attention.
As soon as the [Worker golems] lined up and kneeled down, something utterly fascinating happened. A ripple passed through the ambient [automation mana] surrounding the golems as their compartment opened up and released a liquid version of [automata stone] that flew into the nearest [stone storage tank].
This happened so fast that [Iteration [1] nearly missed it and was glad it paid attention to all things happening within its room. The liquid [automata stone] was then piped over to the [Furnaces] that churned to life as soon as the liquid [automata stone] graced its insides, heating it up while spewing out a thick column of brown smoke.
Seconds later, the [golem molds] got to work, working through its queued-up orders.
[Iteration [1] felt satisfaction flow through both it and its ambient [automation mana], this felt right, this felt good.