Born of Fire and Code

The hum of machinery had become the background music of Arkbound's lab.

Cables snaked across the floor like veins. Monitors blinked, blueprints floated in AR overlays, and the air buzzed with the quiet tension of something monumental being forged.

Korin and Lira stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the assembly table, their eyes scanning the compact unit before them—a power core the size of a fist, pulsing with soft white light.

Ten days. Ten power cores. The blueprint Raen gave them was brilliant—modular, elegant, but also laced with parts no one could fabricate but him.

Still, they had done it.

"Ten functional Aetheric Resonance Cores," Korin said, pride breaking into his voice. "All humming like a heartbeat."

Raen nodded as he stepped into the lab, glancing at the ten neatly arrayed power cores, gleaming under white lab light. "Good work. You two have exceeded expectations."

Lira grinned. "We'd better. You dropped the impossible on our laps and vanished for three days."

Raen smirked. "Had to finish this." He gestured toward the assembly table behind him.

Everyone turned.

NEAR V2.

Fully assembled. Standing tall, matte gunmetal finish, sleeker and more refined than V1. The old wiring and exposed limbs were gone, replaced by modular plates and optimized joints. Still humanoid in shape, but unapologetically mechanical—a builder with presence.

Raen turned to the others. "This version… it's more than just a prototype. With the new power core, it can run for over a year, no degradation. Autonomous. Precise. And…" he tapped his tablet, "…it's self-replicating."

Saelyn's eyes widened. "Wait… you finished it?"

"Almost," Raen replied. "Just needs its heart."

He turned to Korin. "Bring me one of the reactors."

Korin moved quickly, lifting the gleaming unit carefully and walking it over. Raen fitted the core into the bot's chest with a subtle click-hiss and stepped back.

For a moment, nothing.

Then—

A soft hum.A flicker of light across its optics.And NEAR V2 straightened.

Everyone in the room froze.

Its head tilted, scanning them, then it took one perfect, calculated step forward.

"Greetings," it said in a smooth, resonant voice. "System online. All parameters within optimal range."

Nyra stared, stunned. "It's… alive."

Raen stepped closer. "Welcome to the world," he said softly. "Who is your creator?"

The bot paused, then answered clearly:"Arkbound."

Silence.

Then applause broke out, sudden and stunned.

Nyra was the first to shake her head in disbelief. "You made one bot in ten days. That means…"

Saelyn did the math aloud. "One bot every ten days… that's ten bots in a hundred."

Raen held up a hand. "No."

They stopped.

"You're forgetting something," he said, pointing at the bot. "I'm not making the rest."

Everyone stared.

"This one… will."

Korin blinked. "You're saying…?"

Raen nodded. "Estimated time per unit build: two days. In twenty days, it will build ten more."

Lira grinned wide. "Self-replicating... fully autonomous… no charge needed…"

Nyra's voice came low and full of awe. "This isn't just robotics. This is a new industrial age."

Raen looked around the room, eyes intense but calm.

"Let's make history."