CHAPTER 88: PLANET-SCALE TREASURE VAULT

Five days had passed in the Dimensional Space and Lucy had completed all the stages of her training. Liam had also put her through her paces and he was satisfied with the results.

Lucy’s intelligence now put her at least a decade ahead of Earth’s current AI models — and she was still only in what could be called her child phase.

While Lucy was already extremely intelligent as an AGI, she was still like a child with much to learn. But with every task she undertook for Liam, she would grow —and at a pace no human could ever match.

Currently, Liam and Lucy were working on the bridge program that will use to connect not only to the nanites’ swarm AI, but also the molecular assembler’s and the desktop-sized molecular analyser’s.

The bridge program would function like a vast expressway, with unlimited lanes that allowed as many AIs as necessary to connect, receive instructions, and pass information seamlessly back to Lucy.

That way, Lucy, a general AI, will be able to communicate and control those specialised AIs.

Liam had written the basic codes of the program, and Lucy was currently expanding the code while following the main framework that they both had worked out before they started.

While Lucy was working on the program, Liam decided to start analysing with the handheld molecular analyser. He wants to analyse the soil of the plain and a small chip of the slab he brought back

He turned on the device and its screen lit up as a soft blue glow spread across the glassy surface, forming clean panels and faint outlines.

At the center, a bold header read "No Data."

The rest of the screen was divided into empty sections and subtle frames waiting to be filled.

"Lucy, connect to this device, would you?" Liam asked, as he bent down and took a pinch of the ochure ground.

"Connected," Lucy replied.

The reason Liam told Lucy to connect to the molecular analyzer was because, while the device could break anything down to its atomic structure, it lacked the database to identify what those atoms actually were.

With Lucy connected, however, she could instantly reference her vast knowledge and classify each element or compound with ease.

Liam nodded, as he opened the slid out the slim compartment and gently let the dust fall into it.

He slid the compartment back in and the device’s screen that had once been blank with No Data

glowing at the center, new text now appeared.

At the center: Sample Detected. Analysing...

In the empty sections: Analysing...

Liam curiously watched and waited for the result, which didn’t take long as it was displayed right the next moment.

At the centre:

Analysis Completed.

Sample: Dust.

The sections: Silicon Dioxide (SiO₂): 47.3%

Aluminum Oxide (Al₂O₃): 19.6%

Iron Oxide (Fe₂O₃): 12.1%

Neodymium Oxide (Nd₂O₃): 7.4%

Cerium Oxide (CeO₂): 5.9%

Europium Oxide (Eu₂O₃): 3.2%

Lutetium Oxide (Lu₂O₃): 2.1%

Trace Elements: 2% (Yttrium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium)

***

What the...?, Liam reacted in shock when he saw the result.

"Sir, these concentrations are 10,000 times richer than Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, currently Earth’s largest rare earth mine," Lucy said.

Liam nodded slowly in agreement to what she said. He was still trying to process everything.

All he did was just analyze a pinch of dust, and it wasn’t just sand or dead sediment. Instead, he had just discovered that it contains high concentrations of rare earth oxides like neodymium, europium, lutetium, etc.

On Earth, these materials are mined in extremely small quantities, often in politically sensitive regions like China’s knowm for their dominance in rare earth mining.

What does this mean for Liam? This means the entire wasteland is potentially layered with strategic elements far more concentrated than Earth’s richest mines.

On Earth, rare earth scarcity is one of the biggest bottlenecks for advanced technology like magnets, lasers, semiconductors, nuclear materials, quantum devices.

But Liam now has a private world where these elements are abundant, free of geopolitical risks, labor issues, or scarcity.

And his assembler can refine the raw dust into 100% purity metals, which is impossible with current Earth refining tech.

Which also means that effectively, he has monopoly control over critical resources that can shift global industries.

This level of abundance is world-shaking if it’s ever revealed. Governments wage wars over grams of europium or lutetium. But Liam has tons just sitting in the dirt.

If anyone found out, they wouldn’t just investigate him. They will hunt him.

But Liam doesn’t need to worry about anyone finding out as this is private space and no one can access it beside him.

"The system really knows how to outdo itself every single time," Liam said, as he let out a small laugh.

After discovering that this barren Earth sized pocket realm is potentially a treasure trove, he no longer felt bad about its barren state.

Curious to know more, Liam decided to analyse the slab. He pinched the edge and adding a bit of strength, he broke off a tiny piece from it.

He slid out the compartment that was now empty, as the dust sample had been atomised during the process of analysing it.

Liam placed the slab sample into the compartment and slid it back in. And the device immediately started analysing it.

Two seconds later, the result was out.

Silicon Dioxide (SiO₂): 34%

Aluminum Oxide (Al₂O₃): 22%

Iron Oxide (Fe₂O₃): 18%

Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂): 8%

Rare Earth Elements (Nd, Eu, Tb, Dy, Yb, Lu): 12%

Trace Elements (U, Th, Pt, Ir): 6%

***

"Wow! This is huge. The valley walls contains even resources," Liam said slowly in a low voice.

This result has confirms that the Dimensional Space is more than "sandbox terrain." It’s a planet-scale treasure vault.

The dust on the plains was like "surface scatter" and but it was already valuable. But the cliff wall is the true ore body: solid rock laced with dense seams of rare earths and strategic metals.

On Earth, mining companies dig miles of tunnels to extract fractions of a percent of these metals. But here? The valley walls are basically pure concentrated ore.

If he starts mining them, he would no longer have to rely solely on Daniel sourcing raw materials through the shell companies. A process that is not only slow, but also risky as it’s traceable.

"Thank you, system. You’re the best," Liam muttered in a soft voice.

[It’s my pleasure to serve, Host]

Liam smiled and turned to Lucy.

"Lucy, what’s your progress with the program?" He asked.

"A few more minutes, please. I’m almost done with it."

"No rush. Take your time. Just let me know when you’re done," Liam said, and left the space and returned almost immediately.

"The program is ready," Lucy said when he appeared.

"Good. Let’s get started," Liam said, as he took his seat.

Now, let’s connect to the nanites’ swarm AI.