Part 1: When eating potatoes every day isn’t enough.

Knowing the advantages between different types of resources was a nice way of making strategies to solve your problems. Especially when you have an assumption that the dark plants could be dead glowy plants and that they probably petrified or became cooked by the shiny light from the mat. This would be an additional experiment but before that...

If this light is that dangerous to them, why isn’t it affecting me?

A18, answer me, please.

My puddle, the answer is unknown. Yet doing an analysis of the collected data, there is a high possibility that radiation is also affecting the project. Thus, the time of decay can be expected to arrive quicker the more you are exposed to this light or the heat energy the mat produced.

You already told me that A18. Well, I suppose heat will always make things react faster. It’s true that I can last longer by getting the energy from the mat. But it isn’t perfectly refined and damages the unprotected parts of my body. So I needed to find a better way to recharge and digestion seems to solve the problem for now. However, even this one had its flaws.

For example, outside of a safe zone like this, I’ll need something to carry my food and resources. Preventing the time of decay outside will need portable supplies or a recyclable process. The way to solve it is by either processing the materials from the environment faster than I lose them to it, or by having a portable storage of said necessities. In summary, I just need a battery and an inventory.

Additionally, there is a cool way to solve my ‘UV-ray’ exposure problems...

A18, How about sunscreen?

My puddle, I don’t understand your input.

Would you like me to apply some sunscreen to you?

Searching… Sunscreen, lotion, apply it in the—

My puddle the core can’t have you applying sunscreen over it…

Ugh, forget it. I guess you need more practice to get the message.

Message?

Well, no commercial center or boutique near… Let’s continue with my current situation and forget about the AI rejecting my gentlemanly self.

Up to here, I have almost completed two of my experiments. I now have access to resources and solved part of what the plants around me are. Unfortunately, gathering potatoes consumes too much time and I don’t know if I have enough of it.

Yes, those words are asking for salt. Murphy’s Law attacks when you call the deviled rain on a sunny day. Life just wants to make you suffer and remind you that nothing is perfect…

This ominous event appeared during my happy farming life. I recollected potatoes and parts of the plants continuously. It was easy once I knew how to catch the nasty diggers and search for the gems...

Part 2: Asking for trouble will make you salty.

All in all, I ate about 5 glowing potatoes and around 20 opaque ones. They gave me 50 MMs worth of resources, but it— Well, here was where the problems started to show up.

A18, we'll eat till we get around 400 MMs worth of resources. 400 MMs might be enough to make a basic introspection sensor following your diagrams, right?

Yes, my puddle. That amount may be sufficient for constructing the required sensor. However, 400 MMs worth of resources would not necessarily become 400 MMs.~

I know, the energy conversion will decrease the real amount of basic MMs made, right?

Yes, 50 MMs worth of resources isn’t the same as 50 complete MMs. The expenditure of energy and possible failures will make that value decrease. 50 MMs worth of resources will give around 25-30 complete MMs.~

Okay, continue digesting this batch.

Yes, my puddle!~

Starting digestion of item:

Dark Potato...

100% Digestion complete!

Dark Potato...

100% Digestion complete!

Glowy Potato...

100% Digestion complete!

Dark Potato...

100% Digestion complete!

Glowy Potato...

100% Digestion complete!

...

Time passed and after the whole process was done, the system consumed 10 additional samples. Energy increased and reached around 60%. Something that wouldn’t be possible to reach with only heat energy and a damaged battery.

It seems my MMs are becoming fat. Maybe that 10% was the extra-accumulated energy reserves inside each of them, while the 50% represented mine or the battery. I am really curious to know how this works and I can feel myself nearing that with every digested tater.

How much can I make my MMs grow? Unknown for now, there seems to be no way for the AI to tell me, but I could see some values increasing and parts of me growing. It was just hard to believe, so I omitted those for now. It was something that would probably get answered the more I ate. It didn't seem damaging to the body, more like it made it easier to control it. So I gazed at the sky to gather some inspiration.

My body moved in a way that it looked a bit depressed, like when someone let out a sigh. The depths of my vision reflected the now unamusing view of my bleak and grey surroundings. I wondered why I could remain alive or at least tried to survive in such a place. This place, it was murky and silent, but now, all was going to change. building a potato emporium would give me the ability to create a better body, something that’ll paint my life in colors once again.

There are many things that could be achieved if I kept trying, and even though my mind disliked this place at the start, I am starting to feel curious about it.

I gathered my hidden strength and adjusted my direction. The vision sensor had many added references. It had a deploying menu, the important sensors information, a ruler based on ‘body-length’; things that gave me the ability to have everything at my disposal, in a quick and organized mind-controlling device. One of such functions is Goo-book-like, yeah, I have a notification system.

User Notification POP-UP: You've got 1 new message!

Bonus quest was added to 'energy quest':

Player.exe added to the system, you can now listen to music, watch videos, read stories. To unlock them you will need to satisfy the basic living conditions.

Requirements: Complete a battery.

Well, I know that this is just a ‘fake’ quest, not that I lacked the player, more like I can’t use it. However, the request is fair and easy. I just need to keep eating until I can repair the current energy storage device, then learn from it and improve my micro-devices on the go.

My puddle, there seems to be a problem…

Eh?

A18, what happened?

To make the desired batches of MMs, energy is enough, resources are enough, but my puddle misses some required materials. The current maximum remains 50MMs worth for output.

How is that possible?

…

Part 3: A bet placed for the sand and rocks.

And here I am, in a troubling instance—where even if I eat more potatoes—I won’t get stronger enough because the AI won’t be able to make more MMs.

A18, can you explain that?

We are missing an unknown material which isn’t available in our resource fields. We can’t make MMs without it.

This, came as nasty news that limited my future plans. My current goal is repairing myself. And for that, I need extra nutrients.

Where do I find those A18?

My puddle you can check the environment. Air, soil, rocks, deposits…

Yes, the soil!

Sandy dunes and gray rocks that were almost invisible. Those were places that I didn’t check yet and where I expected to find the supplemental requirements.

What is it that this body needs to make MMs?

The required material is unknown to the user.

Yes, it is unknown, but this word appeared in my mind constantly. The AI, she wasn’t the best support for an answer, almost everything she said would be ‘unknown’. But her presence was enough for me to push the continue button.

So, I had to search and determine a source for what I’m missing. Micromachines (MMs), were that important. They weren't as simple as Nanomachines (NMs), and grouping NMs required that unique resource.

I advanced and collected various samples from different rocks in the soil—including part of the soil in the black zone. Unfortunately, the diverse terrain samples I took, didn’t seem that different between each other once I brought them to the light. All of them appeared gray except for some little structures that resembled small pieces of crystal. But all in all, I found black and white vision a very dull approach. I needed to see in colors promptly.

A18, digest the soil samples.

Yes, my puddle!

Starting scanning and digestion of item:

Soil sample # 1 (Near the mat)...

Scan results: Si, C, N, H, Cl, Ca... Unknown elements... None compatible with the required element.

100% Digestion complete!

Scan results: Si, C, N, Cl, Na... Unknown elements... None compatible with the required element.

Soil sample # 2 (Black ring- Penumbra zone)

Scan results: Si, C, N, Fe, Ca... Unknown elements... None compatible with the required element.

100% Digestion complete!

Soil sample # 3 (Near the cave soil)

Scan results: Si, C, N, K, Ca... Unknown elements... None compatible with the required element.

100% Digestion complete!

Soil sample # 4 (Cave entrance)

Scan results: Si, C, N, Fe, Ca... Unknown elements... None compatible with the required element.

100% Digestion complete!

Rock sample # 1 (Rock near the mat)

Scan results: Si, Fe, Ca, Cl, Al... Unknown elements... None compatible with the required element.

100% Digestion complete!

...

Anyways, the digestion process was carried out like always and little mountains of garbage started to accumulate in the corners. I evaded those ‘dirty-poop’ spots in the mat unconsciously as if they never existed. Maybe in the future, I’d create a cleaning bot to make them disappear, or maybe I'll build a storage module—if some of that garbage becomes a treasure I omitted for being a picky eater.

Time passed and the complete results came, but with so many samples, I decided to ask the AI for a better analysis. I’m feeling a bit lazy for doing such calculations.

A18, is anything from the results useful to solve our predicament?

My puddle, the elements acquiesced are useful for other purposes, yet the ones the system currently requires for micromachine creation aren’t available in the digested samples.

I checked the data, finding not many differences between the different samples. They are common resources actually, nothing extraordinary and the elements in the results could vary depending on the amount of sample or the techniques of recollection. Knowing none of them served the purpose was discouraging, I needed to know what the AI needed or if we have gotten them previously.

A18, did we get the missing materials from somewhere before?

The required elements were recovered from the MMs gathered during exploration at the cave. Accuracy of the type of MM that gave more material or defining which material was absorbed from the internalized items cannot be specified.

So the MMs we got in the cave…

Which means only MMs have the things I need?

Going to the cave wasn’t in my plans. I didn’t want to go.

Creeps and shudder invaded my thoughts, I was scared. It was traumatic for a person like me to go there. Despite that, I knew that I needed to overcome my fears. An attempt to survive and become better. I couldn’t stay and collect potatoes forever. My situation was like a farmer that loved the tranquil life of the countryside. A potato lover that thought potatoes were the perfect diet. I would never know what it feels to live in a city and get my necessities satisfied. As such, It was better to see the city, before making a selection of the place to live.

A hard decision, as I had to get out of my comfort zone. Something I wasn't accustomed to doing.

Risking, gambling, and surviving in an unknown place.

Part 4: Overcoming fear and hesitation.

I needed to consider my decision calmly because I had two options. Here, I thought that I had a farm of potatoes. I thought that I could eat them, grow slowly, create more micromachines, and even make a house in the future. But now—contrary to my expectations—I needed to ‘fight’ if I ever wanted to leave this place.

That was the initial condition, and it didn’t take an idiot to figure out that searching for the necessities was a more agreeable approach.

Yes, when the vegetarian diet isn’t enough, you need supplements. And the only known place for those would be the Poke-house. Thus, my goal changed, even if fear didn’t want me to accept it, I didn’t have a choice. I needed to enter that cave, find supplements, and—while I am at it—simultaneously search for the exit. This forced me to create a plan for exploring that grotto…

How many blobs are blocking my path?

Is there an exit at the end of that cave?

Is this mat going to stay warm forever?

Will I really find my necessities by exploring the cave?

Too many things were unknown. They made me feel insecure. It was only with this heater that worked like a chimney, that I could feel comforted. Yeah, it was warm and cozy, and more important than all, it was free.

Free? That’s weird, nothing comes free, usually. What is this mat? I scrutinized the mat with my vision, but it was the same as before, white. It doesn’t look like it will turn off in the short run. But, yeah, it sure was blinding…

What is this made of? I tried to see some detail, but--white.

Ahhh! My one and only eye!

Well, it actually doesn’t hurt. I am just reflective of it because my previous eyes were humanely disgusted when too much light overpowered my vision. Right now, pain is non-existent, so it doesn’t matter…

Guess what, I am reformulating my concept of the white color by staring at this light non-stop. It’s cool that you don’t feel bad while looking at it. My field of view moved as my ‘face’ decreased its distance and approached the mat’s center. I wanted to see if there was some clue between the pearly-white surface. I guess no human or animal would be able to see this near to a source of light before being disgusted.

Heh! My puddle-vision is amazing!

Um, Wait! What is this, some black spots on the mat? Eh, they’re growing!

I quickly retreat from the mat’s center, something isn’t right, my puddle vision became a dalmatian-like, full of little black spots. This is bad!

Hovering over to the plants near the mat and grabbing a stalk of leaves with my flagellum, I grub the crystal in front of my sensor. The sticky black spots are still there.

A18, what happened?

My puddle, the high amount of light damaged 10 of the micromachines in the vision sensor. They are being repaired by using part of the digested resources.

Okay, no more solar eclipse sightseeing today, the light can also burn my pixels without me realizing.

Anyways, this mat seems sturdy at the corners, something I didn’t scrutinize before. It was too big so I didn’t pay attention to it. Who knows what this thing is supposed to be. I move my body to the corners and find they don’t release light. Maybe it’s covered in sand. I advance and try scratching it with my flagellum.

No dent formed, it was extremely sturdy. Maybe my ‘strength’ wasn’t enough or it was made from an extremely resistant material. will this explode if I hit it too much?

This isn’t good. These thoughts are giving me the creeps. I gazed at the ceiling, no sky, and almost complete darkness. You could actually watch some small bubbles drifting and being sucked by a strong current. It was like seeing those cardboard candle-lanterns that flew to the sky until they disappeared in the night.

Two exits...

This unknown cupule like chamber I’m in has two possible exits. The one above looks impossible, no one with a sane mind would go towards that. Especially, when the currents will prevent you from swimming your way back. The second one is the cave. It at least falls into a leeway. Since the blobs are at least unknown, rather than going for something that will not let you return­—trying to sneak and search for an exit inside the cave—it’s way more factual to obtain the needed elements.

Being scared played a big factor in subconsciously evading the cave. Nonetheless, I also accepted the place like a maze full of treasure. Pieces of the nanomachinery that were probably lost inside were the best opportunity to solve my current situation. The only trouble where the guardians of said treasure and the lack of light in it.

Summing up the facts, those monsters appear to react to the glowing of the plants or some pheromones released by them. Having a way to control that might help. The reason it got triggered was me not knowing about their behavior. The cave was dark making me use the leaves of a glowy plant as illumination during my first delve. Something which attracted it. Then the nightmare started, but I got some idea of what the cave is like inside. The paths of the cave are twisted, follow variable directions, and connect to various chambers of different sizes.

Do not count on having an AI with a log or a map as support, some situations—like knowing your position with exactitude—might need some receiver or device outside the cave. If the cave collapses, or some monster throws me to an unknown path again, I might lose my way forever. Going astray in such a maze was that easy, so I needed to prepare.

Taking risks can sometimes create new opportunities. You just have to make the most of them.