The stars, but they become the gray wind

As the group of nanomachines floating in Aze's hands gradually took shape into a shape that everyone was very familiar with and turned black, a black submachine gun with a metallic luster fell between Aze's hands.

"OK, it's done! We'll take it hunting later!"

"This shape... is it a Vector submachine gun?"

Renlong stared at the black gun with a metallic sheen in Aze's hand and asked

"Of course, I am now wearing the appearance of Angel of Exiah, so how can I not have this iconic weapon?" As he spoke, Aze pulled the bolt on the Vector submachine gun, while not forgetting to explain.

"The Vector submachine gun, full name submachine gun, fires .45ACP pistol bullets, with a standard capacity of 25 rounds. It is sufficient for hunting and dealing with small animals."

"Wow, that's cool, let me see it too."

Having never touched real steel before, Kalisi excitedly leaped forward, but Aze dodged sideways, leaving Kalisi empty-handed. Then, Aze cradled the Vector submachine gun in his arms like a treasure. He shouted to Kalisi, "This is my standard issue! What are you so excited about? And if you want to see it, you can build one yourself. Just build one and see for yourself."

"Don't be so stingy, let me see it!"

As she spoke, Kalsi pounced on him again. Aze dodged to the side again, and Kalsi bumped headfirst into Renlong behind Aze, causing chaos among them.

"These guys are surprisingly interesting. Maybe this vacation will be interesting?"

Looking at the chaotic group of people in front of her, Miss Cabot smiled.

Chapter 4: Left Zero Right Fire Fishing Technique and the Application of Nanomachines

"I didn't expect you to actually catch a fish! Yuuki, I thought with your luck and skills, you probably wouldn't even be able to catch a single fish!"

Carlisle exclaimed as she looked at the fish being roasted on the fire and the various kinds of marine fish piled up next to them, almost forming a small mountain.

"Of course, I'm Yuuki Yuuna, the administrator of the group known as the Star Witch. How could I not be able to catch a single fish?"

Star Witch Yuuki Yuuna patted her chest and raised her chin, boasting proudly.

How did our dear Miss Star Witch catch such an abnormally large number of fish in such a short time? This requires us to go back a few hours.

After assigning their respective tasks, Aze and Kalisi were responsible for finding edible things in the woods on the island, Renlong stayed where he was and built a temporary camp under the guidance of Cabot, and Yuki was responsible for going fishing at the beach.

"Although I made a bet with Renlong that I would definitely catch a fish, fishing is not an easy task after all."

Sitting on top of a towering rock on the beach, Miss Star Witch looked at the midday sun above her head and the azure sea below her and sighed.

"But I promised everyone I'd catch some fish, so I have to keep my promise. Otherwise, not only will I lose the bet, but I'll also lose face."

"Anyway, when she made the bet with Renlong, she didn't say that only fishing rods were allowed. So if that's the case..."

Miss Star Witch lowered her head and thought for a while, and soon found what she wanted from the universal database that Cabot gave to everyone. Then she stretched out her right hand, and a large ball of silver-white nanomachines separated from her palm and gradually took shape into a square high-voltage lithium battery. Two wires extended from the lithium battery and connected to two long metal sticks with rubber sheaths on the upper half.

"Since fishing wasn't restricted to rods before, it makes sense for me to use some high-tech methods, right? And electric fishing rods are still considered fishing rods, right?"

While talking to herself, the witch grabbed the rubber sheaths on the two metal sticks, turned on the switch on the lithium battery, and with a smile on her face, put the two metal sticks in her hands into the sea water under her feet.

Within a few minutes, amidst the crackling sound of electric current, hundreds of various electrocuted marine fish floated all over the sea surface in front of Yuki.

"Hahahaha, Zero on the left and Fire on the right! Thunder God, help me! This method is indeed the best!!!"

Miss Star Witch of the "new energy" and "high-tech" fishing rod showed a crazy smile.

While Miss Star Witch was indulging in using a new energy fishing rod to give fish electrotherapy at the beach, the white-haired dragon lady Renlong was also building a temporary camp and the next base of operations under the guidance of Cabot, but... obviously, Miss Dragon Lady encountered a problem.

"Cabot, can I ask you something?"

The white-haired dragon girl asked as she stared at a solar panel in her hand that had just been transformed by nanomachines.

"what's up?"

"Just now I discovered that as a collection of nanomachines, we can indeed use nanomachines to create almost any material. However, some things, like this solar panel in my hand, were formed from a mass of nanomachines. But the moment this solar panel was completed, it completely slipped out of my control. It was no longer a mass of nanomachines obeying my commands, but became a genuine, ordinary solar panel. I can no longer command it to transform back into its original mass of nanomachines and undergo a second transformation or change its material composition."

"It's normal for you to have this question. Nanomachines like Gray Wind are powerful, but they're not omnipotent in some aspects. When nanomachines are transformed into complex products, they undergo specialized processing to ensure the stability of the resulting material structure. For example, the solar panel in your hand, at a microscopic level, is just an ordinary solar panel made primarily of ordinary silicon, not a high-tech product like a nanomachine. Similarly, if you transform a large group of nanomachines into a large piece of iron, then this iron, transformed by the nanomachines, is just an ordinary piece of iron, not a highly active nanomachine."

"So, once a nanomachine is fixed in a certain form or product, the only way to recycle it and transform it is to use other nanomachines to devour and assimilate it, turning it back into an unformed nanomachine cluster."

"That's true in most cases, but... it's not absolute. It's possible for a nanomachine to retain its properties and activity as a nanomachine after it's solidified into a certain substance. However, maintaining the activity of the nanomachine after it's solidified into a certain substance requires a continuous consumption of a large amount of energy. In most cases, rather than wasting a large amount of energy maintaining the activity of the nanomachine, it's better to disassemble it, devour it, assimilate it, and then recycle it back to its nanomachine state. Although there will be some loss in this process, it's still much more cost-effective than consuming a large amount of energy to maintain the activity of the nanomachine."

"Well... I originally thought that Gray Wind, as a nanomachine, should be a 'universal material' that can be easily deployed and retracted at any time, reflecting my thoughts and transforming into anything I want. It seems that even a von Neumann self-replicator like Gray Wind needs to follow certain laws of physics!"

"The kind of 'universal material' you imagine truly exists, and it's also the most common material in our combined fleet."

"We call it 'hyperdimensional matter'... I believe you've heard of this material. However, it's not something you can use at this stage."

"Extradimensional matter? Is this the legacy that allowed you to possess technology far superior to that of other interstellar civilizations in your original stage, just after leaving your home planet?"

"Indeed, it can be said that the reason the Union has been able to develop to this day is largely due to the research and application of hyperdimensional matter. It is precisely because of hyperdimensional matter that we possess power and technology far exceeding that of other civilizations, making us the most unique among all civilizations."

There was a hint of pride in Kaber's expression as he spoke.

Chapter 5: What to do if you lack resources?

While Miss Renlong was receiving in-depth instruction from Cabot on the usage and knowledge of nanomachines, Aze and Calisi, who had found a lot of delicious game in the woods, were chatting on the way back to the beach.

"Aze, your shooting skills are too good, haven't you ever touched a real gun?"

"I've never touched a gun before, but now that I have the appearance of an Archangel, I feel like I'm familiar with using various firearms like an instinct."

"Is there a bonus of talent for this?"

"Perhaps? But speaking of this, the one that has had a greater impact on us is the universal database that Cabot has implanted in our brains. That database not only provides us with skills and knowledge, but also a wealth of experience that integrates various techniques and practices, as if we had experienced them firsthand."

"Indeed, I've discovered this. When I was searching for edible wild fruits in the woods, I could accurately identify the name and type of each fruit, as well as whether it was poisonous, with just a glance. It's like a professional botanist with extensive field research experience... Maybe it's thanks to that database?"

"Besides, our bodies are now poisonous, let alone poisonous fruits. Even nuclear weapons may not be able to kill us, right?"

"What's more... whether it's organic matter... or inorganic matter like this stone, we can now decompose, devour, and assimilate it into part of ourselves, while also increasing our own nanomachinery reserves."

During the conversation, the Angel girl Aze picked up a pebble at her feet and placed it in her palm. A small ball of silver sand-like nanomachine emerged from her palm and almost instantly decomposed and swallowed the entire pebble. Then Aze noticed that the reserves of nanomachines that made up her body had increased a little. Although it was very little, the reserves did show a slight increase.

"Tsk...it's only this much. Compared to the nanomachines we're planning to consume, it doesn't seem like enough, huh?"

"Don't worry. This island and the surrounding sea area are quite large. The resources there are enough for us to increase our nanomachine reserves. We can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. We have to take it step by step."

"I have a lot of ideas and plans for the future, but they're all stuck in a lack of resources."

"Don't worry. With the universal database Cabot provided us, as long as we can gather sufficient reserves of nanomaterials, we can establish a complete industrial system equivalent to the technological level of an interstellar civilization in a relatively short period of time. As for how to produce sufficient nanomachines, Renlong and I have already come up with a clear plan."

Jun Yang Liu went to my Si Ling duty

As the roof and interior of the camp's final high-grade, quick-drying concrete structure were completed, Renlong withdrew the nanomachines that were devouring the trees surrounding the beach to replenish the rapidly depleted resources needed to build the camp. Near the completed camp, all traces of trees and plants had vanished completely. Just a few hours earlier, the area had been a dense forest and grass.

The white-haired dragon girl Renlong raised her left hand to wipe the non-existent sweat from her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Huh... finally done! Nanomachines are worthy of their name, right? Such a large structure was completed in just a few hours. And who would have thought this concrete structure was actually made from wood, a material so completely unrelated to concrete?"

"Not bad. It seems you've become quite adept at using nanomachines to reconstruct the properties of matter at a microscopic level."

Cabot praised the relaxed dragon lady in front of him.

"It has water and electricity, and the main structure is supported by steel bars and high-grade quick-drying concrete. I even built the interior and furniture at the same time. This small area of ​​buildings can be used as permanent infrastructure, not just a temporary camp."

Renlong counted on his fingers his small achievements at each stage.

"But... the consumption of nanomachines is greater than expected. Even if we use all the surrounding rocks and trees as raw materials for the nanomachines, it's still not enough."

"So... you really still need more resources? If that's the case... then we can only..."

As she spoke, the dragon lady turned her gaze to the calm sea not far away.

Time goes back to the present...

"So... the solution you two came up with is to separate some nanomachine clusters and use them as automated miners to dig up manganese nodules on the nearby seabed to solve our current resource shortage problem?"

Aze, who was chewing on grilled fish, asked Carissa and Renlong.

"Yes, we're currently in the equatorial North Pacific, the region with the highest reserves of submarine nodules in the world. It would be a waste not to utilize these resources. Furthermore, the efficiency of mining with nanomachines is far higher than any other method. We can even achieve 100% utilization of the materials with almost no material loss during the mining and processing process. This is not a difficult task for us now. And well..."

Having said that, Renlong paused and looked at Kalisi.

Calisi immediately understood and added, "And it's not just seabed minerals like manganese nodules. Seawater itself also contains a large number of rare elements, such as uranium and thorium, which can be used as fuel for fission nuclear reactors, as well as important industrial raw materials like sodium and gold. The world before we traveled through time was technologically limited, making it difficult to mine and separate these elements from seawater at low cost. But now, we have universal nanomachines like Gray Wind, which can separate the various minerals we need from seawater at almost zero cost! Not to mention the ocean's nearly inexhaustible supply of protium and deuterium isotopes, nuclear fusion materials. And the database in our minds just happens to have the complete technology for deuterium-deuterium fusion reactors. The tritium isotope shortage that once greatly restricted the development of human society and the promotion of deuterium-tritium controlled nuclear fusion technology before we traveled through time is no longer an obstacle for us today!!!" (Note 1)

Calisi and Renlong were dancing with joy, and could hardly hide their smiles and excitement. Cabot held their shoulders to prevent them from getting too excited.

Aze, holding the grilled fish in both hands, looked at the two excited people and took another big bite.

"Wow... this girl told me not to be too hasty back in the woods, but now she's practically ecstatic herself."

Note 1: In fact, at the current stage, the fuel for controlled nuclear fusion is not unlimited. The total reserves and production of tritium, the fuel used in the mainstream deuterium-tritium controlled nuclear fusion reactor of the ITER device of the International Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor project, can be said to be ridiculously low. Even if the tritium breeding energy of the deuterium-tritium controlled nuclear fusion reactor itself meets the standard in the future (the theoretical maximum value is only 15%, and this is under the condition that all conditions meet the standard), the supply of tritium will still be in serious shortage. Currently, one of the few relatively reliable and relatively low-cost methods for producing tritium is to use fast neutron breeder reactor lithium-6 to produce tritium, but the global lithium reserves are not high, and various other industrial fields themselves also need to consume a lot of lithium, which further squeezes the total production of lithium, which is already relatively scarce. The shortage of lithium-6 as a production raw material has made the production and production cost of tritium even more problematic.

As for deuterium-helium-3 or pure helium-3 fusion, because helium-3 originates from the solar wind, it is distributed almost evenly across the lunar surface, resulting in virtually no enriched points or regions suitable for mining. This means that even if you dig up thousands or even tens of thousands of tons of lunar soil, you might not find even a few grams of helium-3, making it virtually impossible to mine. The only truly valuable helium-3 concentrations in the entire solar system are on gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, and the cost of mining in the outer solar system is prohibitively high.

In comparison, controlled nuclear fusion technology using deuterium-deuterium isotopes as fuel is the real way to solve the root cause of the energy problem. Although the technical difficulty of deuterium-deuterium fusion is much higher than that of deuterium-tritium fusion, the deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction only requires deuterium as fuel, and there is no shortage of it on the earth in terms of total reserves or output. Moreover, the deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction itself will produce a large amount of tritium and helium-3 as reaction products, which can also solve the problem of tritium shortage in deuterium-tritium fusion reactors, as well as the problem of lack of helium-3 in deuterium-helium-3 reactors and pure helium-3 reactors.

Chapter 6 Mining Machines and Firearms

Although this island with an area of ​​only 27 square kilometers is very poor in mineral resources, the biological resources provided by its rich ecological environment allow the few people to have food and clothing without worries. Then, the few people on the beach outside the temporary camp began their next action.

Yuuki bent down and poked the silver-white slime with a metallic luster in front of him, which was just as high as his knees, with his finger, then looked up at Kalisi.

"Is this liquid metal slime-like thing the nanomechanical automatic mining machine you and Renlong made?"

"Yes, Renlong and I have tried it. It completely obeys our commands and can automatically identify various minerals. Its own form can also operate almost perfectly in the high-pressure environment of the deep sea. Most importantly, as an automatic mining machine, it also has the ability to replicate and repair itself."

Kalisi raised her right hand towards the metal slime, and the metal slime, receiving the command, quickly began to replicate itself. In less than ten seconds, an identical metal slime separated from the original body like cell division.

"As you can see, this automated mining machine will search for valuable minerals on its own according to my commands, and will replicate and multiply itself."

"Wow, with this, our future nanomaterial reserves will not be a problem!" Aze shouted happily.

"It can indeed solve our current problem of insufficient nanomaterial reserves. However, before you throw it into the sea to look for minerals, I have an important point to remind everyone."

When Carlisle said this, she changed the subject and her expression became extremely serious.

"what happened?"

"Although we've conducted numerous experiments on this thing and confirmed that, as an automated mining machine, it lacks self-awareness and cannot think like intelligent creatures, and that, as a machine, it will perfectly obey our commands, including self-destruction commands, I cannot guarantee that this thing won't lose control."

"Um... let me ask first, if, I mean, if this thing gets out of control... what will be the consequences?"

Yuuki asked, feeling a little uneasy about what Carisi said.

"It's highly likely... it will transform into the original form of a nanorobot like Gray Wind... a Gray Gu Storm form capable of devouring an entire planet."

“Is this mining machine… so dangerous?”

"That's not the most serious issue. After all, it's just a mining machine. As long as we're careful enough when using it and do real-time monitoring and precautions, there's basically no danger."

Carlisle paused for a moment, then added with a more serious expression, "In fact, the most serious potential danger lies within ourselves..."

"We are our neighbors and we are responsible for the pollution?"

"As for ourselves... I previously consulted Cabot about a very important matter, which is about the self-awareness that our bodies currently carry."

"The more bodies with dispersed consciousness there are, the harder it becomes for each individual to maintain self-awareness. Once a certain threshold is reached, it transforms into a Gray Goo storm, where the nanomachines simply follow their primitive instincts to replicate themselves, transforming entire planets, entire galaxies, and even the entire Milky Way into its own nutrients. Compared to us, this selfless mining machine is actually safer in this regard."

"Although there are such risks, all we can do is be cautious when using it, right? We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater, whether for our own development or survival."

Aze spread his hands and expressed his helplessness.

"Besides, we were brought here by Miss Cabot after all. If something goes wrong, she should be able to help us clean up the mess, right?"

"Um... I asked her about this when I consulted her before. She just told us to just go for it and nothing will go wrong."

"........."

"........."

"Isn't this guy a little too arrogant?"

Yuuki sighed, holding his forehead.

"But in this case, we still have to use this mining machine. We just need to keep an eye on it at all times. If any abnormality occurs, we will immediately make it self-destruct."

As Carlisle spoke, she ordered the nanomechanical mining machine at her feet to slowly crawl towards the seashore, and was submerged by the waves little by little, slowly merging into the white waves.

As the sun rises again, a new day arrives, and everyone begins their tasks and actions for the new day.

Calisi slept soundly that night, although the idea that a nanomachine would sleep was itself strange. The nanomachine mining machine thrown into the sea yesterday was running well and there were no problems. In addition, Renlong observed and calibrated the time of the stars in the night sky and the position of the zodiac last night, and confirmed it with Cabot afterwards, confirming that the current time on Earth in this parallel universe is 1902 AD.

At seven o'clock in the morning local time, Carlisle yawned as she walked out of the camp's courtyard and saw Aze fiddling with a large group of nanomachines. On a simple wooden table next to her, several guns of different lengths, shapes, and uses, as well as several boxes of bullets, were neatly stacked.

Seeing the guns on the table, Carlisle's sleepiness was immediately swept away. She walked forward, picked up the guns on the table and examined them carefully, then looked at the Sakota girl beside the table.

"Wow! HK416D assault rifle, AR-15 assault rifle, Dragunov SVD sniper rifle, SR25 sniper rifle, and AWM sniper rifle, are you at Elite 2?"

Aze scratched the back of his head and looked at Kalisi, who was clearly interested in the guns on the table in front of him, and replied, "Uh... not really. Anyway, I thought everyone was lacking some easy-to-carry personal weapons. I happen to be an Archangel and have a natural proficiency in firearms, so I made some guns for everyone to use."