3: Chapter 3 Super Functions

"This unit is in its initial state. Please explore the specific methods of use on the operation panel yourself."

The synthesized electronic voice vanished, and the cube flowed and deformed like liquid before his eyes, gradually shrinking. Before long, it transformed into a plain silver-white ring without any ornamentation, flying directly onto Cao Xiao's finger. Simultaneously, a semi-transparent interface appeared before him. He could see the ground clearly through the interface; the light from his mining lamp didn't cause any reflection on it, as if the interface didn't even exist.

Completely unprepared and with everything happening so fast, Cao Xiao didn't react immediately to this sci-fi object suddenly appearing in his real life. He stood dazed for a long while before coming to his senses. He was certain that what had just happened was not a hallucination. Since the facts were right before him, there was no point in agonizing over it. Besides, this was a good thing, so he decided to first figure out what exactly this object was.

The panel interface displayed several menu items: Detection, Collection, Processing, Manufacturing, R&D, Energy, and Personal. He tapped the tabletop with his hand, but felt nothing; his hand passed directly through the semi-transparent surface.

It seemed this wasn't controlled by touch, nor did it have external devices; it was likely controlled directly through the mind or brainwaves. Thinking of opening the Personal menu option, the interface changed as expected, and the Personal options appeared on the display.

Administrator: Cao Xiao (Carbon-based intelligent life, Human)

Current Authority: Level 1 (Total of nine levels, upgradable)

Personal Combat Power: 8 (A combination of Stamina 7, Strength 8, and Agility 6, plus Combat Skills 1. A healthy adult without combat skills is typically a 10.)

personal space: 2*2*2=8 cubic meters (Cannot store living organisms, upgradable)

Scientific Knowledge: None (Can be accumulated by absorbing external knowledge, which aids in product R&D.)

Operating System: 49th Generation Intelligence (No personality, no emotions, possesses basic technological intelligence)

The Personal menu was quite concise. Seeing that he was the administrator, he breathed a sigh of relief. If an extraterrestrial civilization were involved, it would surely involve intelligent life, and as the saying goes, 'those who are not of our kin must have different hearts.' He didn't want to deal with such beings; encountering alien intelligence isn't necessarily a good thing. Most aliens in American sci-fi blockbusters are invaders, and friendly ones only appear in children's movies. Fortunately, this thing was just a simple industrial mother machine without even autonomous intelligence. Otherwise, Cao Xiao would have been constantly on guard against it, or would have simply thrown it away or tossed it into a steel furnace.

Seeing his combat power and physical attributes, Cao Xiao felt a bit depressed. A lack of exercise and poor nutrition over the past few years had caused his physical fitness to plummet. Back in university, he was a star soccer player; playing a full match back then didn't leave him gasping for breath like climbing a hill did now.

He hadn't expected something as legendary as an independent space to appear, and it was even upgradable. The civilization that created this Intelligent Industrial Mother Machine must be a super civilization that had mastered spatial science, far more advanced than Earth's. One must realize that Earth currently doesn't even have a correct spatial theory; spatial technology is still in the speculative stage. Even with theoretical support, current technological levels are nowhere near touching spatial science. Yet now, Cao Xiao possessed an 8-cubic-meter independent personal space. If it could be exchanged for money, its value just for proving the existence of space would likely make many nations willing to give up everything to acquire it. Thinking of this, Cao Xiao's scalp suddenly tingled. He had to be extremely cautious when using this thing. He couldn't leave any clues for others to find, whether in public or private, and he certainly couldn't let anyone associate him with such things. If there was even a shred of suspicion, many powers would rather kill an innocent person than let a chance slip by. This was equivalent to carrying a nuclear warhead that could explode at any time. He couldn't let himself fantasize about becoming a god; from now on, he had to control his desires and behavior, or he would only die faster.

The initial excitement in his heart was instantly doused by a bucket of ice water, leaving him incredibly calm. He even started breaking out in a cold sweat from the lingering fear. Anyone else might have been overjoyed and become arrogant after receiving such a massive opportunity, but Cao Xiao hadn't let it go to his head.

After calming down, Cao Xiao felt very fortunate. One's character must match one's abilities. If his character were insufficient and he was blinded by the temptation before him, his personality would become unstable, leading to uncontrollable highs and lows and impulsive actions. He finally understood why the ancients valued Personal character so much—not being swayed by gain or loss and thinking thrice before acting ensured one wouldn't be affected by changes in circumstances, remaining true to oneself even if one ascended to the heavens in a single step.

Time was running out. There was a summary meeting at four in the afternoon, and it was already past two. It would take time just to get out. He decided to take a general look and explore the rest slowly when he had time.

The Scientific Knowledge category was empty; he would need to fill that in himself. There was no rush; he'd handle it when needed. The operating system version wasn't much to look at either; as long as it posed no threat to him, it was fine.

With a thought, the interface switched to the detection options. There was no need to exit and re-enter like operating a computer.

This Detection Function worked by having the industrial mother machine—the ring on his finger—emit special rays that penetrated objects to scan their size, shape, elemental composition, and other information. It could display dynamic images directly on the interface. At Level 1 authority, the scanning range was a sphere with a ten-meter radius.

Cao Xiao tested it, and 3D holographic images of objects within a ten-meter radius appeared in the display window. It was like the objects were placed right before his eyes, allowing him to see into their interiors, including himself and the items he was carrying. Analytical data such as color, density, volume, weight, and elemental composition appeared next to the display window. As he moved, the images changed accordingly. Thinking of what he wanted to see, the images of his own body and belongings vanished, leaving only the surrounding coal seams. This Detection Function was incredibly powerful. Metal detectors are widely used in military, medical, archaeological, and public safety fields, with maximum detection depths of dozens of meters, but they were pathetic compared to this. With 100% perception, 100% sensitivity, and 3D modeling capabilities, it was exactly what metal detector manufacturers dreamed of.

He opened the Collection Function and found that it also had storage space, which was much larger than his personal space. A cube with ten-meter sides gave it a volume of a full thousand cubic meters. There was an operation interface here where he could select specific items within the ten-meter detection range to collect. With a simple thought, items would be taken into the storage space. However, this space could only store non-living raw materials.

The processing function was a processing space, also one thousand cubic meters in volume. However, in the center of the space was a Decomposition and Synthesis Furnace that took up half the area. By putting raw materials into it, they could be processed into desired materials. As the name suggested, the Decomposition and Synthesis Furnace could decompose items or synthesize them with others into hybrid materials. Its decomposition ability was extremely powerful, capable of decomposing down to the neutron state; for instance, raw materials like coal could be decomposed to obtain neutrons of carbon and other constituent elements. However, at Level 1 authority, it could only decompose items to the atomic state. Its synthesis ability was also formidable enough to synthesize microscopic particles, though it was currently limited to molecules. Of course, Level 1 processing didn't strictly require decomposition and synthesis at the atomic or molecular level; that was just the maximum limit. It could also perform simple purification and chemical synthesis. Using these abilities required a large amount of energy; the smaller the unit, the more energy was required, increasing exponentially. Cao Xiao had wanted to try decomposing coal to the atomic state, but was prompted that energy was insufficient and had to give up.

Next, Cao Xiao briefly looked over the remaining functional options. The Manufacturing, R&D, and energy space functions each had their own thousand-cubic-meter spaces. But the interiors were different. The Manufacturing Space contained a large piece of intelligent Manufacturing equipment. It wasn't like the processing lathes or Manufacturing equipment on Earth, but rather like a giant liquid machine tentacle monster that could change shape at will. When not in use, it was a rectangular block, but when active, it would extend countless processing arms and transform into many processing tools. Its processing precision was far beyond what current multi-axis linkage lathes could achieve. As long as Manufacturing blueprints and materials were provided, it could automatically manufacture technological products or modify existing items—it could even build an aircraft carrier, though Level 1 authority clearly lacked the space for that. This function was exceptionally powerful; combined with the detection, Collection, and processing functions, even if he were dropped on a desolate planet, he could build a modern city through the Manufacturing Function as long as he had the blueprints.

The R&D Space had only one control device. This device could use its powerful computing power and intelligent analysis to reverse-engineer product production blueprints and Manufacturing technologies. It could use provided experimental equipment and theoretical methods to automatically conduct experiments or theoretical verifications according to a specified research direction, finally producing research results. In other words, if he wanted to do research, he didn't have to do it himself; he just had to set the experimental route and direction and wait for the results. Furthermore, the scientific knowledge he collected in the future could be verified and organized by the R&D Space's intelligence to form a complete and correct scientific system. In this era of a technological explosion, one couldn't effectively learn many technological achievements in a lifetime; some might not even be correct, and even if they were, they were complex, with some papers having only a fraction of useful content in ten thousand words. With the help of this industrial mother machine, his learning wouldn't take detours, he wouldn't be weak in any subject, and his learning would be more systematic.

However, seeing the energy space made Cao Xiao feel a bit uneasy, because the energy reserves of this industrial mother machine were nearly exhausted, with only three percent remaining. Replenishing it was troublesome, requiring either bio-energy or electrical energy. The coal mine itself was a major electricity consumer, so using a little bit of electricity was fine, but replenishing the energy clearly wouldn't be satisfied by just a hundred kilowatt-hours. To fill it up, the required electrical energy might be in the tens of thousands of units. Doing so was too risky; if caught, he might face more than just a fine—he could end up in jail. Bio-energy was also problematic; it required putting plant or animal remains into the energy space for absorption. But that was a thousand-cubic-meter space! How many plants and animals would it take to fill it? Looking at the space's capacity, he knew energy wouldn't be easy to replenish. However, compared to electricity, using bio-energy was much safer. He didn't have the money to buy grain or meat, but in the countryside, there were plenty of discarded stalks left after harvesting crops, and the mountain forests were full of withered branches and fallen leaves. As for meat, he could forget about it; it cost money, and he had none.

Shaking his aching head, he decided to deal with these things after getting out. It was time to leave, but then he wondered whether he should report the coal mine area he had discovered. Thinking of that fellow Fang Xuehai, he made a firm decision. Reporting it might not bring any benefits, and even if there were, they wouldn't reach his hands; it would just benefit that guy for nothing. But if he didn't report it and it was discovered later, it would be a problem.

He slapped his head, realizing how silly he was being. Didn't he have this industrial mother machine? A thousand-cubic-meter space, at a density of 1.7 for this kind of anthracite, could hold 1,700 tons. The other functional spaces could also hold some since they couldn't be used without energy anyway. Storing 3,000 tons at once wouldn't be a problem. The remaining reserves in this coal seam were at most tens of thousands of tons; he could finish it in a few trips. Then he could stack it somewhere outside and sell it slowly for a huge sum of money. The factory price for anthracite of the Hengyu specification was over five hundred yuan per ton; if he really sold all of this, he would have millions or even ten million yuan. This made Cao Xiao incredibly excited; with such a large sum of money, his life would change drastically.