Chapter 31: [Experimentation]
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Haley looked around his now thriving home base with a small smile, there were drones carrying raw resources and building materials to every corner as they continued to work with the sole focus of fulfilling tasks that Haley had assigned to an AI Assistant for completion.

                          He sat in the middle of what was now his main room of operations, there were several holo-desktops with different displays showing him the installation of the camera system, defence system and the progress of the automated factory; an area was currently being dug out beneath the current floor for the sole purpose of automated construction of robots.

                         “Ilux, is there any progress on the other task I asked you about?” He said casually as he relaxed, a monotone voice rang out in the room shortly after; “Yes Master, a list of all gangs within the city has been compiled – I have taken the liberty of estimating the strength of each group and creating a hypothetical course of action as to how to deal with each of them.”

                         The monotone voice belonged to the AI Assistant mentioned before, it had been created with the assistance of 001 and was by Haley’s estimations an Artificial Intelligence with capabilities exceeding most of the average human populace. “Good work, focus all efforts on the construction of the new floors; you have my permission to access and use all of the funds in the account, just get it done.” Haley had silently amassed at least Ten Million Luna with the addition of the funds he had ‘traded’ for Antares, it was time to put them to good use.

                       With a small yawn he watched as the drones immediately sped up their efforts, the increased efficiency would most likely damage their internals but with the money he had given Ilux access to the AI had most likely deemed it an acceptable trade off as the drones could always be replaced in the future.

                      With a satisfied nod after seeing that he was no longer needed to direct the construction of ‘Autratia’ it was a name that held little meaning to the ‘new’ him but it was one that would always remind him of his past and what he was walking towards. It was the name of a friend that had never given up on him but had paid the price for his arrogance. “I know you’d have a few choice words for the person I’m becoming but I don’t have a choice anymore… I don’t even know if I’m even me anymore.” He whispered.

                    [Code 0 Initiated.]

                    Almost instantly Haley shook himself like he had been in a daze and looked around in confusion, “Just a daydream.” He muttered before digging around in his top pocket for something, he soon fished out the small pouch that contained the Planar Crystal, ‘Now to figure out just what exactly you can do.’ He thought in anticipation.

Only a few minutes later Haley found himself in the small ‘laboratory’ he had asked Ilux to create for him, the AI had done well in only a week, of course it was impossible for the AI to source advanced technology without arousing suspicion but through some Black Market connections it had been able to create what could only be called one of the most advanced laboratories on the planet.

                  Without missing a beat Haley started, only to realise that this part of the base still wasn’t connected to the main power grid – mainly because Ilux had been concerned that the energy needed would draw attention, so it waited until Haley had returned. Haley knew this would be a problem of course so he had created a few plans with 001 for such situations.

                 “001, integrate me into the Central System.” He said before sitting down onto a chair, it was likely he would collapse during the connection so it was best to ensure that he didn’t give himself a concussion, ‘That’s if I can still even get one…’ he thought with an amused expression.

                [Link Start] 001 Replied simply after a few moments, Haley’s target this time was the system that governed the mainframe of the power grid and tweak their data to hide the power use from Autratia. It only took him at most twenty seconds to make the changes and regain the senses of his own body, the only change in the room was the whirring from the machinery coming to life filling the room with a sense of purpose.

               With a calm expression he opened the Planar Crystal Pouch and dropped the crystal onto the surface of one of the machines, immediately it began to float in the air as the machines anti-gravity field held it in place allowing it to perform several in-depth scans, the machine read its energy and searched its integrated database for any similar data.

               Almost instantly it found a match, unsurprisingly considering that with how rare a Planar Crystal was and how much energy it held within it there was more no doubt that there was hardly anything in the universe that could match the amount of power it held within it.

               Item Name: 01x-Crystal . AKA . Planar Crystal/PSY Crystal
               Energy Value: Planetary Level . . . Z Class
               Item Value: Please Contact your local Planetary Government
               Usage: //No Data Found//

               Unfortunately, apart from its classification by the rest of the universe there was nothing else that the machine could tell Haley that he didn’t know before, he was very tempted to try and harness the power that the Crystal held but he had a foreboding feeling that any attempt to use it to power Autratia would result in the place being unable to handle the energy output.

              Saddened at his attempt to understand the Crystal Haley knew that there was only one other person, or thing, that he could ask. “001, can you tell me about this?” He said, pointing at the floating Planar Crystal.
001 was silent for several minutes but Haley waited patiently, for something so rare he was sure that 001 at least had some basic information to provide about it; if not for the fact that he was hesitant to put most of his trust in the AI he would’ve asked it much sooner.

             Of course, after about ten minutes 001 finally replied. [A Planet Heart. It has unimaginable power and is the basis of life for a planet, any planet that has a Planet Heart is naturally able to sustain life – it has multiple uses…] Haley nodded as he read this, it was somewhat similar to what he already knew; the next portion however was far beyond what he could ever have imagined to be possible by a mere crystal. [Every being born with a supernatural power has been blessed, or had an ancestor blessed, by a Planet Heart giving them supernatural powers in the process. The Planet Heart can also be used to create a planet.]

            The two pieces of information were practically opposites, on one hand it seemed to provide Haley the chance to become a Luna – a rare elite of the universe. But on the other, in the future he could create his own planet. ‘An entire planet… my own planet.’ He couldn’t help but fantasize, of course he didn’t know how much of the information from 001 he should believe but it was that outlandish that he felt that it had to have some notion of truth to it.

            But his dreams were soon crushed by 001. [Planet Creation can take upwards of 1.2 Million Years.] It was simply a timeframe that was unimaginable to him, he knew that there were ways to live beyond the standard 300 Years but all of those involved being a Luna first…

           “How does someone receive the blessing of the Crystal?” He asked resolutely, when choosing between something that would immediately give him a qualitative strength boost and something that was an unimaginable distance away, he would, of course, choose the opportunity to become a Luna.

           [The Blessing Process is begun by…..

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