After the experiment with the Tylenol I had to resist the urge to feed Throngler my phone. Yeah, no, that name is not gonna work either. I knew it as soon as I thought it.

There were still levels of complexity I didn't know if this thing could do. But its time to get a little harder than loose change.

Copper to gold was nice. Even with a 30% weight loss. Technically with that alone I had solved money for myself forever. Each penny turning into 180 dollars of gold would make me a rich man with just a few dollars worth of change a day. But I felt called to more. I could have wealth if I wanted it, but that seems... small... compared to what the crystal is capable of. I want to keep going. The infinite money glitch will still be here after. Everything else is just... mad science.

Also, cash is easier to spend. And how much difference is there between a 1 and a 20 dollar bill really? So I took out one of each from my wallet.

3/100ths of a penny and a dollar bill can become a 20. Talk about a return on investment... They are exactly the same. Exactly exactly.

Shit.

If I use this I'm going to prison.

I fed the core a few more dollar bills and a ream of printer paper. Lets test its arts and crafts ability.

I told it to analyze the paper, see how the colors and materials changed between each one. I asked it to make blank paper that the bills came from with the materials within randomized.

It worked.

I told it to randomize the numbers on the bills as well. I received a 3,168,068,813 dollar bill with a serial number of 12. Gotta be more specific with the request. After a few more tweeks I had a pile of non sequential perfect 20s.

I'd probably still end up in jail trying to use this many, but it was nice to hold for a minute. And I had learned how to get controlled randomness into constructs. I fed all but $200 of the bills back into the core. Money wasn't the goal.

Now we try something else.

I fed the core two batteries. A dead one and a live one. I asked for 2 live ones back, with the difference taken out in pennies. As far as I could tell, nothing had been clipped off the pennies when I got two live batteries back. I know there's a lot of power locked up in atoms, now I just need a bigger object to see what the conversion rate is.

Next went books, cds, and an e reader. The core was capable of spitting out exact working copies of all of them. It had no problems randomizing or editing books, but any attempt at messing with the code on the cds or e reader seemed to leave me with a non working brick. Tech manufacturing is probably not in my future. Maybe the hardware only. Maybe, but I think I can dream bigger

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Next I attempted to repair items. Dull knives, broken glasses, burnt and scratched pans; I fed them all to the core and got out fresh clean and perfect condition copies seconds later. The best repair shop in the world? Maybe. Maybe not. I kept going

Finally I attempted a weird one, I wanted to make water into wine. I gave the core a bottle of wine and a gallon of water, receiving 2 bottles of wine in return.

I sat back at that one. I had not only committed a mini blasphemy, I had also found the blueprints to solving world hunger. World freaking hunger. I could turn water into wine, bread, rice, or hell even steak if I wanted to. I could turn rotten food back to edible. I could turn poo back to edible... that seems like a bridge too far. It is just matter, but its gross matter. But still, think of the good that we could do.

And this is at very weak power levels?

What the hell is Nola?

Oh hey, I don't hate that one.

I glanced at Buddy's armor again in the living room. That was a conundrum. Why didn't it take that one?

I got a push from Nola when I looked at the pile. I should try it again.

I ordered her to eat it, and she did. No issues.

Well now I am even more confused.

I asked for a fixed copy of the armor to be deposited in a closet. No need to have it lying about where anyone can see. And now I guess I can have copies made any time I want them.

"Nola, Do you have enough for a set of armor in my size"

Negative

Ah well. Maybe later.

For now I need to think and plan. I have a super duper matter converter. Money, medicine, and food are no longer issues. The best thing I can do at this point is focus on getting the core as powerful as possible, as quickly as possible. Something shot Buddy, and Nola is a big hovering pile of motive for that crime. Whoever did is probably gonna try to find us again. I want to be ready when they do.

For that I will need matter. Lots of it

Now how can I get it without drawing all the attention to myself and/or going to prison.

Back when the two of us were connected she called herself a dungeon core. There had to be a reason for that. She was in my mind, choosing English words.

Dungeons need a place. My house would be an easy place to start, but not ideal for growth. Also, how much matter could I transport to the middle of suburbia before people start getting suspicious.

And all of a sudden, the way forward became clear.

For once in my life, I thank the convoluted path that lead me to my current employer.

You see, I am a material recovery technician. A garbage man. Thousands of pounds of stuff nobody wants anymore, and it's my job to make it go away. The 'how' doesn't matter to almost every normal person. Just so long as it goes. And because of my job I know the drivers, I know the operators. I know the scrap yards, recycling bays and landfills.

Who would raise red flags at a garbage man going into business for himself processing garbage. Not anyone I know, at least not till I get too good at it. But hopefully by then Nola and I will be stronger.

The two of us are going to open a recycling plant/ dungeon. That second part is gonna have to be subtle. We're gonna take as much trash as we can. We are gonna grow, and we are gonna be ready for whatever comes.