The first thing he did was draw the blueprint of one of his most prominent inventions and discoveries on his HoloCraft: his three-dimensional scanning tool.

Once finished, he embarked on designing another blueprint, an equally crucial creation: his molecular disassembly nano-robots. Armed with these two tools, he was prepared to subject this exoskeleton to a meticulous analysis. And if, for some reason, these tools were insufficient, he was ready to verify if the system had the knowledge for technology analysis.

In summary, regardless of the circumstances, he was determined to acquire the ability to become invisible to Two Stars' detection systems.

"Head to the workshop and materialize what is depicted in these two blueprints," instructed Kraynnor to his loyal robot assistant. First, it had assisted in the repair of the HoloCraft, and now this task... Increasingly impressed by its performance, he began to consider the possibility of offering it a well-deserved promotion.

With a smile, he stopped thinking about nonsense and, seeing that he didn't have much to do, began to create various blueprints, each of which would be very useful to give those damn aliens a big surprise.

Time passed slowly until he finally heard the system notification.

[Ding!]

[The user God Mechanic has built a Zero Stars device; five Knowledge Points will be granted.]

[Ding...]

In total, Kraynnor received both notifications for his creations, adding up to a total of ten Knowledge Points.

Soon, his wonderful assistant arrived and extended two of its six arms, presenting two technological pieces. One of them was a gray metal capsule housing a swarm of nano-robots, while the other was a rectangular silver device with blue lights on its front.

Upon taking them, the system's description instantly appeared.

[Three-Dimensional Scanner (Zero Stars): A device on the border between a Type Zero and Type One civilization, using quantum fundamentals to meticulously map the particles and atomic structures of objects subjected to its scrutiny. A product of the Type Zero civilization, the High Humans.]

As expected, the devices he had created before encountering the system were Zero Stars. However, it seemed that these two were one step away from ascending to One Star in their classification.

This made it clear to him that even without help, his path to the top was inevitable, albeit at a significantly slower pace, of course.

Kraynnor examined the description of his other device.

[Molecular Disassembly Nano-Robots (Zero Stars): A device on the border between a Type Zero and Type One civilization. They are small devices capable of breaking down every component of an object into its most fundamental elements, allowing for seamless reconstruction. A product of the Type Zero civilization, the High Humans.]

Using his HoloCraft, he ensured that the robot by his side assumed the role of Cognitron X-12, assisting in the manipulation of these tools, as they required being linked to an AI capable of managing all their internal systems.

"I'd love to take off the exoskeleton, but I don't think it's wise to stir the hornet's nest above," whispered Kraynnor. He wasn't ready to be discovered so early.

Zzziip... Zzziip...

[0.10%... 0.20%... 0.30%...]

So, he limited himself to recline and allowed the robot to use the scanner on his body, moving slowly.

Beep!

[Impossible to analyze.]

"...?"

Suddenly, his exoskeleton began to vibrate, as if it had detected an imminent threat.

It was evident that it knew that something or someone was trying to analyze it. In response, he activated his anti-detectors to the maximum, causing his scanner to stop abruptly as it detected no signals.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Kraynnor gently caressed it as if he were dealing with a living entity and said, "I'm not sure if you can hear me, but by seeing how you protect yourself, I suppose you have some form of artificial intelligence. So, stay calm; my intention is to replicate your ability to hide from the world. I want your technology to be present in all my devices!"

His exoskeleton hesitated, but Kraynnor's next words persuaded it, and it stopped hiding from the scanner.

"If you have concerns about being discarded once I copy your technology, let me assure you that it won't happen. Instead of replacing you in the future, my commitment will be to continuously improve you until you become the most outstanding concealment technology in the universe. Trust me; when I set my mind to something, I eventually achieve it..."

Kraynnor's gaze was sincere and firm. If he had made that promise, he could be sure that he would fulfill it to the end!

[0.40%... 0.50%... 0.60%...]

The process continued, and, despite that, it was exasperatingly slow.

He supposed that was why his device had not yet reached the One Star category.

"When chaos reaches immense proportions, I must ensure that they don't realize what's happening for a while..." murmured Kraynnor as he sketched a blueprint with a strange shape.

He used the time to generate a multitude of blueprints while conceiving various strategies to use them in the future.

Furthermore, he made sure that the automatons on the upper levels continued to distract the Astrylites. Whenever he noticed that the aliens were adapting to the tactics of his machines, he made them switch to a different set of strategies, causing a headache for the invaders.

[98%... 99%... 100%... Analysis completed.]

Half an hour later, his robot's cold voice notified him that the analysis had finished, unfortunately without revealing much more. This AI was terrible, nothing compared to his faithful friend who was probably silently weeping in that lonely submarine in the middle of the ocean...

Without further ado, he inspected the information directly on his HoloCraft and was amazed by the wealth of data available.

The information was so detailed that it almost seemed as if he had used the molecular disassembly nano-robots. This revelation made him realize that his exoskeleton had completely shared its entire structure, not holding back any details.

At that moment, Kraynnor discerned three fundamental elements that constituted the essence of this Thalorian-origin exoskeleton.

First, he noticed that the materials used to build the exoskeleton were extraordinarily rare, so much so that upon checking the system store, he realized that acquiring them would cost a fortune in Stellar Coins, maybe even thousands of them just to obtain half of the necessary components.

"Fortunately, materials are not a concern right now. Nor do I need all its functions," Kraynnor declared indifferently.

The second was that its anti-detection capability was a complex electronic camouflage algorithm called 'SSF' (Spectral Scatter Frequency). This advanced system operated in multiple frequency bands, emitting energy pulses that interfered with scanners and detection sensors, creating an illusion of invisibility in the exoskeleton.

Lastly, there was its consciousness, a sort of early-stage proto-artificial intelligence. Despite its inability to communicate verbally, it could sense and understand its surroundings.

"It's just superior..." Kraynnor said with annoyance.

It could be considered inferior to Cognitron X-12 in terms of verbal communication ability, but it actually had a more solid code and much more promising improvement potential. It was like an early-stage virus, seemingly weak, but as it infected more living beings, its adaptability and evolution became unstoppable.

Even in the face of vaccines and defenses designed to stop it, it would eventually become the most lethal threat!

For now, he put aside the idea of improving his AI and, using the 'SSF' algorithm, incorporated it into all his technologies, especially his ship. Once the blueprint was ready, he set in motion the thousands of military androids that were already equipped with BioSync batteries.

This vast hangar would become the birthplace of his first ship, a companion he trusted to accompany him on a long journey.

Kraynnor watched with satisfaction as endless rows of androids flowed in and out of the elevator, transporting loads of materials from the warehouses. He had sent them to the fifth level, where he discovered a total of one hundred storage doors, which he had his androids open, each filled with tons of various materials. The idea of building his ship with such an abundance of resources seemed more than feasible.

"Ha, this time they stole the spotlight from you," he whispered, looking at a gray capsule in his right hand. They were his molecular disassembly nanobots, for the moment, he set them aside as they hadn't been necessary.

"Well, now it's time to see what happens to those little pets," he said as he ascended to level three.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Upon arriving, he could feel the incessant impacts on the second level; they were the explosions caused by the alien's weapons. Kraynnor dodged the falling rock fragments and continued walking according to the map on his HoloCraft. He was only half a kilometer away from where his electronic pets remained immobile.

On his way, he noticed that the roots became more frequent, until he reached a point where everything was roots, leaving buried laboratories.

"What the shit is that...?" Kraynnor said, speechless.

When Kraynnor arrived at the place where the pets were, he was petrified to find a very disgusting creature. It was a mutant plant monstrosity with slimy, twisted roots extending from its central body. The thousands of electronic pets were trapped under a sticky green slime that prevented them from moving.

Each of those appendages was covered in thorns, colorful flowers, and repulsive protrusions...

Gluuurp... Gluuuurp... Gluuuurp...

The creature's head was a living nightmare, with multiple eyes that blinked irregularly and a torn jaw that oozed unpleasant slime. It emitted a disturbing sound that made Kraynnor's skin crawl.

Although his surprise was overwhelming, Kraynnor suspected that the creature was the result of some mutant experiment gone terribly wrong.