Finally, Ryder fixed the problem with the nanobots’ functionality and control. Using a command rune, he will be able to instruct the nanobot to carry out whatever he wants.

After arriving at his chamber, Ryder placed all the materials he obtained from Kade onto a table and directly went to the ball mill.

Inside the mill, Ryder carefully collected the resulting silicon and graphite powder. The particles were incredibly fine, almost like dust. He knew he had to handle them with care in order to avoid any contamination.

He then replaced the silicon and graphite powder with mana crystals, since he wanted the grind up the crystals as well.

Just to be sure, Ryder used a microscope to examine the particles to ensure they were of the correct size and shape. And indeed they were, the ball mill had produced the ideal uniform nanoparticles.

Now, he was able to get started in making the carbon nanotubes, the structure of the nanobots. To start, he immersed the graphite powder into a mixed nitric and sulfuric acid solution with potassium chlorate. Obtaining the acids was quite easy since they were the common strong acids.

Then, Ryder heated the solution and left them to dry in the air for at least 3 days. This will allow the carbon to become solid and form bundles.

Since he couldn’t really progress further in the meantime, Ryder decided to go check on Brigitte and also ask some questions regarding the mana stone.

He found her documenting the growing hybrids, which have been experiencing a period of rapid growth. Some of the baby hybrids have even grown to be as big as Ryder’s torso.

He still found them a bit uncomfortable to look at, but also fascinating at the same time. It was a weird feeling, something that you hate but like simultaneously.

“Hey Brigitte,” Ryder called out to her.

“Hey,” she replied, not looking up from her computer. She really was concentrated on her work.

“The hybrids are growing well.”

“Yup, in this stage, the hybrids will experience a period of rapid growth,” Brigitte explained. “It’s like an early puberty for them.”

Ryder listened in fascination. The biological processes in the hybrids truly worked wonders.

“So,” Brigitte said while turning to him. “What did you come here for.”

He hesitated for a moment before pulling out the mana stone. “Do you know what this is?”

“Yeah, it’s a mana stone,” Brigitte looked at it and said. “How did you get it?”

“From Kade,” Ryder replied. “He said it might be possible to temporarily absorb the mana from the stone into my body, is that true?”

Brigitte thought for a moment before saying, “depends on how long the mana stays in your body, the longer the more risk involved.”

Ryder nodded, that made sense. “Can I come to you later for help?”

“That even a question?” Brigitte smiled.

He didn’t know how long it took for the command rune to recharge nor the quantity of mana needed. He needed help, and Brigitte was one of the only people he knew.

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After just a day, Kade came by and gave him the rune, which was sealed in a vial. Ryder couldn’t see it at all, which meant the rune was now a nanoparticle.

He didn’t have any uses for it at the moment, so he allowed Brigitte to test the rune out first. Since she didn’t have ownership over the rune, she couldn’t directly use it, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t charge the rune with her mana.

Doing so, Brigitte concluded that filling up the rune didn’t require much mana, but testing how fast it would run out was another question.

Setting that aside, Ryder focused on the construction of the nanobot over the next few days.

Finally, after confirming that the carbon nanotubes were completed, Ryder was able to start after days of preparation.

He was excited, of course, but was also nervous as making a nanobot by hand is by no means an easy task.

First, he coated the silicon nanoparticles with PEG to prevent any cellular damage in his body. The process was simple and it didn’t take very long, he just dispersed the nanoparticles into the PEG solution.

Then, using the carbon nanotubes as the core, Ryder attached the coated silicon nanoparticles onto the core using an applicator, creating a solid structure that looked something like a metallic spider.

Everything was done under a microscope, and Ryder had to use his utmost concentration to complete this task.

This specific nanobot had to be a bit bigger than the rest since he had to integrate the command rune into it. He carefully connected the rune to the carbon nanotube framework, making extra sure that it would be secured right in the middle.

And finally, it was done.

With sweat dripping down his face, Ryder stared at his creation under the microscope. It was greyish-white, just a little bit transparent, sitting there menacingly with a purplish glow in the middle. The tiny particles sticking out resembled its legs as it stood upright.

He decided to name the little thing “Epoch” to distinguish it from the rest of the nanobots.

Creating this thing took him way longer than he had anticipated since there were so many roadblocks along the way, but he had finally done it.

And yet, he was still not entirely finished. Although he had made Epoch, he still had no idea how fast the rune would run out of mana.

To test it out, he cut his finger and placed a drop of his blood onto the nanobot. Then, he used a micropipette to transfer Epoch into a vial.

Since Ryder had nowhere near the energy nor time required to make millions of nanobots, he planned to let Epoch make the rest of the nanobots on its own. Not only would this save Ryder a great deal of effort, but it would also allow him to see just how much mana the rune uses.

He injected the rest of the carbon nanotubes and coated silicon nanoparticles into the vial where Epoch was.

To finish off, he went back to the ball mill to retrieve the now nanosized mana crystals and also injected them into the vial.

He noticed that just one drop of blood wasn’t enough, so he added more.

At last, Ryder was ready to execute his first command.

He placed the vial under a microscope in order to see a clear picture of Epoch. The tiny nanobot was suspended inside the blood, at rest. Ryder took a deep breath.

“Epoch, wave your hand,” Ryder instructed.

As if understanding perfectly, Epoch lifted one of its tiny legs in response.

Ryder smiled, it worked!

“Grab the carbon nanotube nearest to you, it looks like...” Ryder described what each material looked like and also the process of assembling a normal nanobot.

Now, instead of integrating the command rune in the center, mana crystals took its place instead.

The first nanobot took a while to assemble since Ryder had to instruct Epoch through every step. However, once Epoch got used to it, the process became a lot faster.

Furthermore, Ryder also commanded Epoch to instruct the other newly created nanobots to help assemble more nanobots as well.

All this time, he couldn’t tell how much mana the rune was using. In fact, he could barely see Epoch itself amongst all of the nanobots being made.

Noticing that the assembly was progressing much faster than he thought, Ryder needed to figure out how to temporarily store mana before injecting Epoch and the horde into his body.

He went to his best friend Brigitte for help, again.

From her, he learned how to absorb the mana from the mana stone from Brigitte, which involved meditation. Basically, he just needed to sit in a meditative pose and think of his body as a conductor or something. At least that’s what Brigitte told him.

But the duo found out that Ryder couldn’t even do that since his body refused to absorb any mana. No matter how hard he meditated, Ryder couldn’t experience that “feeling.” Left with no choice, they had to resort to Brigitte manually transferring mana into his body.

‘So the mana stones are essentially useless,’ Ryder thought disappointedly. Now, he had to rely on someone else to transfer mana into his body.

Brigitte only transferred a tiny bit of mana into his body, the amount needed to fill a thumb.

Even so, Ryder still felt his body prickling, not on the level of pain but like an itch that couldn’t be scratched off.

What if she accidentally transferred more? Ryder shuddered at that thought.

Nevertheless, it was time to inject Epoch and the horde into his body.