Chapter Five: A Double Promotion

“Silicon-based Plane Agent has gifted you three mid-grade energy crystals. Accept?” came the mechanical voice of Little Bell.

“Accept!” Amu replied eagerly, troubled only moments before by his lack of energy crystals for upgrading the plane system.

“Receiving… Mid-grade energy crystals… Each energy crystal contains 5,000 energy points, three crystals totaling 15,000 energy points, sufficient to meet system upgrade conditions. Proceed with upgrade?”

“Upgrade.” Amu shouted, unable to hide his excitement.

“Upgrading… Plane system recalibrating… Plane system enters Grade E, assimilating advanced technology items… New feature unlocked: Transformation—Wristwatch! Energy storage enabled. Note: Next upgrade will require 100,000 energy points.”

A wristwatch—much more convenient to carry, Amu thought. Meanwhile, Iron Lump anxiously interjected, “Brother Wood, these three high-grade energy crystals are a greeting gift from Nanshan. We should discuss possible ways to cooperate.”

“Ah!” Wood sighed theatrically, his tone tinged with melancholy. “As the saying goes, ‘A favor received binds the hands; a meal taken binds the mouth.’ As for what you need, let me see what I can do.”

Nanshan was overjoyed. “Good brother, please think about it. Nanshan never lets his friends down!”

After a moment’s thought, Wood asked, “Nanshan, I don't quite understand—why are you looking for meteoric iron in the basic material plane? Aren’t there other planes?”

“Other planes?” Nanshan replied, “With technological development, many resources have been rapidly depleted. I figured the basic material plane, being less advanced, might still have abundant meteoric iron deposits. Seems I wasn’t the only agent to notice.”

At this, Wood understood. What Nanshan called meteoric iron was simply the meteorites from outer space—every year, cosmic meteorites break free from their orbits and fall to Earth. These are rare, valuable specimens from the solar system, prized for collections. They contain iron and nickel, as well as small amounts of copper, chromium, and other elements. Such iron-rich meteorites are known as meteoric iron, with extremely high melting points—ordinary temperatures are useless against them.

While Wood was still pondering, Nanshan grew increasingly anxious. “Brother Wood, do you have much meteoric iron there? However much that other party took, give me the rest!”

Wood considered. “Not much, maybe about twenty tons a year?” He referred to the rough annual volume of meteorites that fall onto Earth.

“Twenty tons! That’s too little!” Nanshan said, disappointed.

“No hurry!” Wood replied, grinning. “Brother Nanshan, you strike me as a very honorable agent. I’ll be honest with you: we actually have plenty of meteoric iron here; it’s just that we lack the technology for space exploration and mining. I’ve never told anyone else this.”

Nanshan’s eyes lit up at these words. “If that’s the only problem, silicon-based plane technology is more than up to the task. Wait—I’ll send a few probe robots over.”

As he spoke, the item trading panel glowed, and four robots appeared within.

“Silicon-based life forms: Probe Robot Model 3. Accept?”

“Wait.” Wood quickly interjected. “How big are these robots? I don’t want them punching a hole through my roof!”

Little Bell replied, “Volume: 10 cubic centimeters; Weight: 0.5 kilograms; Energy: automatic collection; backup energy: energy crystals.”

“Oh, so small? Accept!” Wood breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, I was worried they’d be the size of Optimus Prime!

A flash of light later, four palm-sized, cartoonish robots appeared next to the computer.

A mechanical chorus rang out: “Probe Robot Model 3, Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 reporting to Master Wood!”

Wood was taken aback by their politeness. He waved and asked, “You know what you’re supposed to do?”

“Yes!” all four replied in unison.

“Go, then,” Wood commanded.

“Yes, sir!” The four robots instantly vanished.

“Huh?” Wood was stunned. “Where did they go?”

“Silicon-based tech—phase transfer, spatial jump. Probe robots can travel at light speed—ha ha ha!” Nanshan laughed.

A few seconds later, images of outer space appeared on the computer, confirming Nanshan’s claim. Four views from different angles filled the screen… though, to be honest, all four cosmic scenes looked much the same—just endless darkness.

“Beep… Meteorite belt detected… Scanning… Iron meteorites (meteoric iron), primarily containing iron and nickel; stony-iron meteorites (pallasites), olivine iron meteorites, stony meteorites (chondrites), enstatite meteorites…”

“Analysis… Smallest meteoric iron deposit: 50 tons. Largest: 7.5 billion tons!”

“Conclusion… Rich resources, suitable for mining!”

“Seven point five billion tons? Did they just find an asteroid?” Wood smiled wryly, while Nanshan, tense with expectation, asked, “Brother Wood, what’s the result?”

“You didn’t get the data?” Wood asked in surprise.

“Hehe, Brother Wood, you’re still new as a plane agent. Each plane has its own communication protocols. I can talk to you because of the plane system, but I can’t receive the data sent by the probe robots from your side!” Nanshan explained.

“Oh, I see. Little Bell, transmit this data to Nanshan.”

“Transmitting data…”

“Oh… my god! A treasure trove…” Nanshan was nearly delirious with excitement. “Brother Wood, I want to sign a long-term contract with you. I’ll build a space-time portal for you… establish a space mining base! We’re set, hahahaha…”

Once Nanshan had laughed himself out, Wood asked with a smile, “So, brother, what are your plans?”

Nanshan quickly composed himself. “Brother Wood, your basic material plane lives up to its name—what abundant meteoric iron reserves, especially the enstatite meteorites. They’re extremely rare!”

“I want to communicate with you exclusively—give me all the meteoric iron from the basic material plane. In return, I can offer you energy crystals, Transformers, weapons, and more. I’ll take full responsibility for establishing the mining base and constructing the space-time portal.”

“Hmm, exclusive communication? For Brother Nanshan’s sake, I have no objections, but we need to discuss the cooperation terms,” Wood said coolly.

Wood had never been a businessman—honest to a fault, negotiation was not his strong suit. As it happened, Nanshan was similarly straightforward—if not altogether rigid. After a brief back-and-forth, the two quickly reached an agreement: Nanshan would dispatch teams of probe and engineering robots to construct both the base and the portal, and would gift Wood two combat-type Transformers as bodyguards, as well as sufficient energy crystals for Little Bell to reach D-rank.

In return, the first 500,000 tons of meteoric iron mined from the basic material plane would be gifted to Nanshan, with future transactions handled according to their needs, but always giving Nanshan first priority. With the plane system overseeing their agreement, both parties were satisfied. Wood was not concerned about any hidden dangers with the incoming robots—the plane trading system’s protection made sabotage impossible, and the Transformers, once traded, would obey only Wood, with even Nanshan unable to override them.

Soon, the probe robots chose a suitable asteroid within the meteorite belt, and Nanshan began transmitting various models of Transformers:

“Silicon-based life form: Engineering Robot Q3, accept?”

“Silicon-based life form: Combat-type Transformer, accept?”

“Silicon-based life form: Base Vehicle, accept?”

Little Bell’s mechanical prompts came one after another. Without thinking, Wood replied, “Accept, accept them all!”

“Confirm? It is recommended to accept in an open area, as silicon-based life forms are of enormous size!”

“Whoa…” Only then did Wood realize the gravity of the situation—these were not tiny probe robots. He quickly halted the process.

With the agreement signed, Nanshan first transmitted the energy crystals needed for Little Bell’s upgrade.

“Energy crystals detected… Upgrade conditions met. Upgrade now?… Basic Material Plane System upgraded to D-rank… Assimilating advanced technology… New function unlocked—Protective Shield: absorbs a portion of physical and mental damage as long as energy points remain. Note: Next upgrade requires 500,000 energy points and 1,000 reward points. Current energy points: …”

Wow, this new function was incredible. Wood was delighted—each upgrade of the plane system brought astonishing surprises: transformation, protection… Who could imagine what would come with grades C, B, or even A?

After a wave of euphoria, Wood realized that actually receiving the Transformers posed a new problem—he’d have to go far from the city, and preferably late at night. Thinking it over, he decided the wasteland Fatty had once shown him was the ideal spot—remote enough and large enough.

However, Wood’s greatest concern now was his future life. With his increasing height, he could no longer risk going to work. Even the slight growth he’d experienced today had already drawn suspicion. If people found out he’d grown to 1.8 meters in such a short time, he’d probably end up as a lab specimen. “Body growth?” they’d ask. “At your age?” After all, Wood was already twenty-four—well past the age for a growth spurt.

Luckily, Wood was still single, with no girlfriend. Not that he was unattractive—though he wasn’t movie-star handsome, he was at least pleasant to look at, and not short either. But nowadays, women had become both more open and more pragmatic. Any woman with even a hint of beauty wouldn't look twice at a man without a car or a house. Especially in a city like Chengdu, a guy like Wood, renting a shared apartment and making a modest salary, had little hope of finding a girlfriend.

After weighing his options, Wood realized that, with the increasing frequency of plane trades, what he needed most was a private, hidden space. Renting someone else’s apartment was always inconvenient, especially when sharing.

After some thought, he instructed Little Bell, “Connect me to Guy Wind from the Magic Plane.”

Little Bell replied, “…Connecting to Third-Class Star Agent from the Magic Plane…”