In the inhospitable terrain of a reddish landscape, a heavily armored figure makes his way slowly, step by step, carrying two enormous cylindrical tanks on his back and a massive, spherical helmet. Astronaut Touki makes his appearance in the universe, seeking adventure in a desolate world that has seemingly never possessed life.
The man finally managed to complete his special modification to his armor, allowing him to breathe in toxic or airless environments—in this case, an atmosphere filled with strange gases and without a trace of oxygen.
The X project aims to find worlds or dimensions with intelligent life, or that's what Touki believes may be the most important thing, but that doesn't mean that the places found don't contain other interesting things. The first world, better known as the 'dead world' or 001 for the record, is a completely dead place, a true rock in space, which doesn't even have natural energy capable of being used by the artifacts within it, so it can be considered an extremely dangerous place. The 'red world' or 002, on the other hand, does have natural energy in minimal quantities, so it is possible to explore it safely and use the artifacts to explore and perhaps find useful minerals and materials.
The man walks for several hours, specifically toward some hills he spotted from the spot where he first appeared. Once at the foot of one, he begins to cut some rocks with his wind sword. These rocks turn out to be quite soft, and the cuts show their composition in detail: a multitude of red stains in various shades, which he believes must be some type of iron oxide.
As time goes by, the man must constantly change his air tanks, which begin to last less as he begins to get tired of cutting stones, all without anything surprising, until he comes across a peculiar black rock, small and hidden among the other common ones. As he has done with all the previous ones, he proceeds to cut it and what he finds surprises him quite a bit, because inside he finds a lot of golden and silver spots, a possible indication of gold and silver.
Touki begins to jump for joy at the incredible discovery, and his shouts can be faintly heard through his helmet, also reflecting his good mood. Without wasting time, he begins searching for more of those black rocks, which turns out to be a little more difficult than expected, only finding 5 in the span of an hour. But upon entering a kind of ravine, between two hills quite close together, the man was surprised to find an enormous wall of completely black stone, which, after being tested by the sword, revealed a huge vein of the golden material.
With considerable enthusiasm, he proceeds to take a large number of samples of the golden metal, storing them in his storage system, to be later transported back home. The man takes his time with his work, but when he seems to be unable to bear the fatigue and apparently the urge to go to the bathroom any longer, he extracts a metallic cubic artifact from his armor and proceeds to carefully place it between some stones, before disappearing from the scene through teleportation.
Back at his secret base, Touki begins a tedious decontamination process, undergoing a disinfectant shower and a heat chamber, all designed to prevent the introduction of any foreign pathogens from these new, unknown worlds. The minerals brought in are also heat-treated, while the man removes his suit and takes a long trip to the bathroom.
Some time later, Touki nervously removes one of the golden fragments from one of the black rocks and rubs it on a sanding stone, then applies a few drops of jewelry-grade acid to the golden stain. The man's face immediately changes, as he notices that the golden stain doesn't seem to react in the least.
"I'm filthy rich," Touki exclaims with a serious face, looking at the large amount of rocks he brought from the red world.
…
It's been a long time since Touki had been so involved in an investigation like Project X. From preparing the probes, collecting photographic evidence, studying air samples, crafting a spacesuit, and even discovering the worlds themselves, the experience has been exhilarating for him. But the discovery of gold in the red world has put everything on a much more serious level, as it represents a strategic resource for the growth of the Divine Order.
The minerals were delivered to metallurgical specialists, who found significant concentrations of gold, silver, copper, and iron, with the former present in quantities high enough to overshadow the most productive mines in the land of iron. The man doesn't know for sure how much gold there is in the vein he found in the red world, but he suspects it must be enough to have a major impact on the global economy, leaving him wondering what level of extraction he's willing to commit to. He knows well that if he wants to extract large quantities of ore, he'll have to share his interplanetary travel capabilities with the rest of the order, something he doesn't think is so bad, but which he needs to carefully evaluate so that no one involved commits treason out of greed.
With great motivation, Touki reassembled his probe and proceeded to investigate possible new worlds, yielding completely erratic and strange results. World 003 turned out to be a place just as dead as 001, except that it is the moon of a huge orange planet. World 004 is a strange white world, with no sky or air and devoid of anything identifiable, an anomaly so strange and terrifying that he didn't dare set foot there and only proceeded to leave the beacon artifact. World 005 ended up being a world very close to its sun, with temperatures close to 100°C, a place incompatible with human life and that could not be visited. World 006 was another completely white world, which also ended up being ignored.
World 007 emerged as the winner, presenting a strange tundra-like landscape, with breathable air and cold temperatures, not unlike an Arctic landscape. The most significant feature is the presence of vegetation, which could indicate the possibility of animal presence and perhaps intelligent life.
The man took the latest discovery very seriously, studying in detail the soil and air samples the probe brought back, even calling on specialists in the capital to conduct an in-depth analysis in search of any harmful agents, whether chemical or bacterial. Fortunately, all the results were satisfactory, which allayed his fears, but raised many more questions. How can there be a completely separate place with an air exactly like his current world? It doesn't make sense from a scientific standpoint, but since Touki long ago decided to believe in magic and divine events, he simply decided to accept it all without complaint.
Now all that remains is to undertake the first major expedition to a living world, and Touki isn't planning on making a solo trip, as it's very dangerous if something strange or unexpected happens and no one can help him. So the question remains: who will be the lucky ones to accompany him?
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