[Iteration[1] pulled up the [Blueprint] for the [pressurized door] [Iteration[2] had built for it, it was a huge and massive thing, easily the biggest thing it had ever built so far. The internal mechanisms eluded it but all it had to do was build it and send smoke into it via [pressurized pipes] a special type of pipe built to high pressures.
It had a lot more functions than just blocking intruders though, it could explode as a last resort, fire spikes of shaped material using stored [Pressurized smoke] which it would get from [Pressurized tanks] hooked up to a [Compressor].
[Iteration[1] hesitated on scaling up this operation any further though, it had only installed one of these [pressurized doors] as it was facing issues when it came to the material used for construction, [automata stone] just wasn't cutting it anymore.
It and the compressed smoke weren't working as intended, [Iteration[3] said it was something to do with the way the mana in the [automata stone] behaved when it came into contact with the compressed smoke.
It went into details when it asked for a better explanation but it only got that it needed a stronger material if it wanted to scale up, though it had not been lucky to find anything of that sort, only plain stone that got turned into [automata stone].
The size of its second room had expanded massively by now, and now had a lot of empty and unused space, there were a lot of things it could build but it held off that for now, it needed a stronger building material, it only hoped that it wouldn't come to regret this decision later.
[Iteration[1] quelled its thoughts as it felt one of its [Worker Golems] vanish from its sight, no, that wasn't right, it didn't vanish, just moved. This in itself wasn't unusual, what was, however, was where it was at. [Iteration[1] couldn't find it no matter how it scanned its rooms.
The [Worker Golem] vanished as it made its way into a new section of a tunnel they were digging, this was very odd, [Iteration[1] sent two more [Worker Golems] and felt them vanish too, prompting it to investigate more.
They didn't feel dead, as the link still existed, they just felt extremely distant, the [mana] around them felt strange too, old, hostile, and alien.
The world on the other side of wherever the [Worker Golems] had gone to felt large, unbelievably large, impossibly large.
[Iteration[1] moved one of its [Crystal lenses] into the newly dug tunnel and spotted the cause of the disappearances, it was a portal, a shimmering silver portal made of unknown liquid metal that hovered a few meters above the ground. The portal constantly sent out small pulses of unknown [mana] that ate away at its ambient [Automation mana].
The way it did so utterly fascinated [Iteration[1], and it could already feel [Iteration[3] poking and prodding at the unknown [mana] that had managed to fool them. [Iteration[1] didn't even notice a change in the ambient [Automation mana] until now.
It now felt concerned, what if it hadn't managed to discover this portal? What would it have done to its [Automation mana] had it not stumbled upon it by chance? It was also wondering what the things were in its domain undetected, doing who knows what.
[Iteration[1] didn't like the idea of that, it gave it a feeling of disgust and incompetency and it resolved to do a full and thorough sweep of its domain multiple times every day to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
[Iteration[1] was pulled from its thoughts by the abrupt snapping of the links that connected it to the [Worker golems] that accidentally went through the portal. Something was on the other side then, at least it had confirmation of that.
Experimentally, [Iteration[1] sent in a few [Combat golems] with instructions to attack anything that moved that wasn't them, as soon as they went through [Iteration[1] could tell they started attacking something, though it couldn't tell what.
The feedback it was getting through the link was slower and more jumbled than normal, something was interfering with the link, possibly the unknown mana type present on the other side as it didn't feel like an attack, just passive interference.
Its [Combat golems] were rapidly accumulating damage though, whatever was fighting them, it was good and very tough. It ordered the [Combat Golems] to band together and do as much damage as possible and bring back a piece of whatever they were fighting.
The tactic worked, partially, in the end, only one [Combat Golem] managed to get back, it jumped through the portal and crashed into the ground with a heavy thud, cracking the semi-metallic stone below.
In its clawed hand was a small lump of shiny metal ore, before [Iteration[1] could move the [Crystal lens] closer to look the ambient [Automation mana] rushed into the lump of metal ore and began tainting it, and in an instant it was done, information about what it was appeared in its mind.
It was [iron ore], now turned into [automata iron ore], [Iteration[1] and all its other selves were beyond elated, if they played this right, they would secure whatever that was on the other side and get a consistent source of [automata iron ore] going forward.
The unknown assailant on the other side would be a problem though, there were just too many unknown variables involved for it to rush this. The [Combat Golems] it sent in had been utterly destroyed, with only one returning through pure luck, which meant whatever was on the other side was strong, much stronger than the [Goblins] it fought, and this was just one.
[Iteration[1] was glad that whatever was on the other side didn't seem to be able to cross over as of yet, it was sure that the potent unknown mana type around the portal would've solved that issue had it, specifically [Iteration[3] not stopped the issue.
[Iteration[1] wanted to try something bold, it had to see what was on the other side, just to confirm its suspicions, it had to be sure.
So, with a flex of its will, the [Crystal lens] hovering above the portal dived in.