Flesh, Steel, and Revolution

The footage from the construction site went viral before sunset.

Newsfeeds were flooded with images of the two NEAR units—silent, skeletal giants standing motionless above a perfectly marked foundation. Commentary flooded in from every corner of the world.

"Are these bots really building on their own?""Zero human supervision!""Is this the future of construction?"

Inside Arkbound's headquarters, the atmosphere buzzed like a storm.

Raen stood in front of a holodisplay, observing a real-time live feed of the site. On one side of the screen, NEAR-03 and NEAR-04 stood idle. On the other, comments and reaction metrics scrolled endlessly—millions of eyes watching their every move.

Lira, sipping her second energy drink, stared at the reaction numbers. "People are either amazed… or terrified."

Korin chimed in from his desk. "We just showed the world something it wasn't ready for."

Saelyn entered, scrolling through contracts on her tablet. "We've already received twenty meeting requests. Corporations, governments, even private military tech groups."

Raen didn't look away from the feed. "Ignore the military ones."

Nyra arrived with sharp footsteps, her usual confidence doubled. "I've already filtered out the dangerous offers. But Raen…"

She hesitated, then smiled. "You just changed the world with two bots and a slab of concrete."

Raen turned, eyes calm but full of focus. "And we're not even close to full potential."

Nyra leaned against the table. "Public interest just spiked our valuation. If we keep the performance up during this build, we'll hit 1 billion Lux valuation before the expo ends."

Korin blinked. "From zero to a billion in a month..."

Raen waved his hand, switching the screen to internal schematics. "Valuation means nothing if we can't scale. We need to finish that apartment complex, flawlessly. Then we talk business."

He turned to Nyra. "What's the situation with Arkbound Electric?"

She nodded. "Filed the paperwork. It's official as of today. Arkbound Electric exists, and I've put together a roadmap for commercializing our reactor units by the end of next quarter."

Raen smirked. "Good. And Neuro?"

"I'm digging into defunct neurochip startups. Found one that might work—they went under two years ago, but their IP is solid. I'll get you a quote soon."

Raen leaned forward, both hands on the table.

"Listen up, all of you. This company isn't just about building bots anymore. It's about creating tools that build civilization faster than anything before."

He looked at Lira and Korin. "Tomorrow, I want a full diagnostic on the bots' performance. I need to know how they adapt under stress."

Nyra raised a brow. "Planning to push them?"

Raen's expression darkened with ambition.

"I'm planning to evolve them."