The following day, Darian immediately returned to the rocket, he wanted to see what had happened to the gem during the night.
Pax even waved at him. "Morning, Darian!" he said, but Darian completely ignored him and simply rushed toward the rocket. Darian barely gave a small answer to Pax. "Morning," Darian said while running to the starship, his heart beating fast.
The moment he opened the door, he saw the gem was still the same color as yesterday. The clock was still working, and it felt like the gem was still functioning perfectly fine. Darian immediately sat down in the chair in front of the desk and began to study the gem to see if it was different in any way.
"It feels like the gem hasn't changed in any way, right, Darian?" Darian immediately turned around just to see Pax with some fruit on a plate in his hand. It was different from the Corange, this fruit had an elliptical shape and its color was brown. "You should definitely try this one… and you should not skip breakfast," Pax said playfully.
"You can leave that here, I'll eat this while I study the gem," said Darian as he immediately returned his focus directly to the gem. Pax left the plate on the desk and sat down on the bed, looking at Darian.
"So? What do you think has changed?" Pax asked Darian, who answered after a few minutes.
"From what I've been able to tell, nothing. It feels like this gem can last for a really long time…" Darian immediately began thinking about how he could use it here for his purposes. He knew that if this gem could last for a very long time, it would be very useful, but Darian wasn't sure yet and he had to test it.
"Pax… do we have something else in this rocket that can be lit up by these gems? I need at least three of them." Pax didn't even think for a bit and immediately answered.
"We have got some light bulbs, are they good enough for you?" asked Pax. Darian grabbed three gems: one from the flowers that Sonar took from the caves, the one from the monster's cave yesterday, and the one he had found on the ground.
The gem that he had already used, the one charging the clock, was left in the starship.
Before going out with the three gems in his hand, Darian grabbed the fruit and took a bite. This one tasted different from the one he had eaten yesterday, while the Corange was extremely sweet, this one was more sour, but it still felt good to eat. It wasn't as sour as a lemon, but Darian realized it felt like a waste to eat it just like this. "How did you decide to call this fruit?" Darian asked Pax, who was following him.
"We decided to call it Blosour. We wanted to hear your opinion on it, do you think it is good?" asked Pax.
Darian remembered the taste of the meat he ate yesterday. "I think it would go really well with the tiger meat from yesterday. Do we have more?" asked Darian. Pax nodded his head.
"Do you want me to try cooking them together and see how they turn out?"
"Exactly. You can cook that for dinner… now I need the help of…" Darian finished eating the fruit and threw the seed away inside the rocket; Pax immediately grabbed it. Darian then pushed the button for Mason, who was currently working together with Aegis to build the ranch further away.
"Sorry, Aegis, Master is calling for me," said Mason as he started to walk toward the base. Aegis nodded his head and walked together with him. "I'll come with you, in case you get attacked, I'll help you," said Aegis. The two of them began to run toward the rocket to reach Darian.
"Why do you need Mason?" asked Pax.
"I want to test these gems… and I need him to build some stuff for me." The moment Darian finished speaking, Mason had just reached the rocket. Aegis, who wasn't called, remained nearby to see if any monsters would arrive.
"Did you call for me, Sir Thorne?" asked Mason. Darian immediately started to walk toward his small wood hut.
"Because I don't have any type of energy in my small house yet…" Darian threw one of the gems to Mason, who caught it without any problem. "I need you to install it. This type of gem can produce energy, do you think you're able to do it?" Pax was bringing a box full of light bulbs. Mason grabbed one of them and analyzed it for about ten seconds before answering.
"I can. Give me a single hour," said Mason. He carefully left the light bulb and the gem on the ground and went back inside the rocket; after a minute, he returned with some wires.
"I'll immediately begin my work," said Mason. He entered the wood hut and began working on the installation of the light.
"Pax… do you know if I can send a vocal message to the robots when I press the button?" asked Darian as he began walking toward the rocket again. "It was written in the file they sent us, Master, haven't you read it?" asked Pax. Darian looked down for a moment before looking at Pax with a dead-eyed expression.
Pax sighed and began to speak. "Yes, you can. I'll show you how to do it." Pax immediately brought Darian to the place where he could press the buttons to call the robots. "Currently, you just press it and let it go immediately, but if you keep the button pressed, you can record a message that will be immediately received by the robot."
Darian clicked Sonar's button and kept it pressed without letting go. "Sonar, can you return for a moment? And bring as many rocks as you can." The moment Darian released the button, he looked over at Pax, wondering if he had done it right. Pax, behind him, gave a thumbs-up.
"Sir Thorne, I've brought the rocks." After some minutes, Sonar returned to the starship with a lot of rocks, exactly as Darian had asked. "That's perfect…" Darian started to look at all the rocks Sonar had brought.
"Can you work this rock so that it can be used for construction?" asked Darian. Sonar nodded his head. "I can. Just give me a few hours, the process is not easy." Sonar took all the rocks and immediately started to work them.
"Do you need them in a particular shape?" asked Sonar. Darian thought about it for a moment before answering. "Make them into the shape of bricks." Sonar understood what Darian meant and immediately began to work.
"And now, lastly…" Darian walked toward Ceres, who was still harvesting some plants. "Ceres, can you go and grab some materials that can help us build a greenhouse?" asked Darian. "Should I finish my work here first?" asked Ceres. Darian shook his head.
"Don't worry, I'll do it," said Darian, grabbing the hoe. He started the work while Ceres immediately began to analyze the materials that could be found around the area for the construction of the greenhouse.
Darian remained in the field, working the soil and harvesting some seeds. "If you need some help, Darian, remember that you can ask me." Pax offered to help Darian, but he refused. "Don't worry, Pax, you can just wait for me here," said Darian as he began working the soil. Pax went to sit nearby a tree and waited for Darian's next instruction.
As Darian worked, about thirty minutes passed. The sun was high in the sky and it was now time to eat, but Darian had to keep working because Ceres hadn't returned yet and he couldn't leave everything unfinished.
"Pax, listen here," called out Darian while breathing heavily, it was clear that he was tired from working this much. "What is it, Darian?" he asked.
"Can you go and check Mason and Sonar's work? Then, can you please tell Mason that once the light bulb is finished, he should build a small laboratory with the rock that is currently being worked by Sonar?"
"Alright, Master, I'll be right back," said Pax as he went away to relay Darian's instructions to the other robots.
"Let's hope they won't take long… I need to build the greenhouse, too." Darian wiped the sweat from his forehead and returned to work.
Pax returned after a few minutes and told Darian that Mason was about to finish at any moment and would start the construction of the small laboratory right after. Sonar was still working on the rock, and Ceres had brought some materials, but they weren't enough yet, so he needed to keep working.
As the hours passed, Darian felt extremely tired. "Damn…" he said, falling onto his butt on the ground after all the hours of work. Pax, next to him, helped him up. "Come on, Darian, you've done so much." Darian looked behind him; finally, a part of the field was completely harvested.
"Yeah… let's go eat. I'm literally starving." Darian got up and returned to the rocket. "In the end, I haven't eaten anything for lunch today, either…" he said, as he was starving again.
"I offered you something, Master, while you were working, but you simply declined it and kept working," said Pax, sounding almost annoyed.
With that, Darian and Pax both returned to the base. They saw Mason and Sonar, who were still working. Sonar had just finished working all the rock, while Mason was currently building the small stone laboratory Darian had asked for, it felt like half of the work was done.
Next to the laboratory were all the materials gathered earlier by Ceres. That robot, together with Aegis, was currently powered down in the starship.
"I'll go prepare the meat now, Darian, you can wait here." Pax entered the rocket and immediately began cooking the meat in the same way Darian had told him to that morning.
"Mason, you can go and rest, you can finish it tomorrow," said Darian to the robot. After hearing Darian's words, he stopped working. "I have installed the light in your hut, Sir Thorne, you can turn it on without any problem." Hearing that, Darian smiled and thanked him before entering the hut. He saw the switch right next to the entrance door.
The hut was a single room that received light from the sun, but whenever night arrived, everything inside could barely be seen. The moment Darian turned on the switch, the room was flooded with light.
"Woah… it works perfectly…" Darian remained amazed. Everything felt extremely impressive, and he couldn't believe his eyes. After a few seconds, a strong smell of sulfur appeared. Darian understood that it was coming specifically from the light bulb and sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to accept it." After some minutes, Pax entered the hut to call for Darian.
"Come on, Darian, the food is ready." Darian was currently lying down on the bed; he didn't have any strength left, but the moment Pax opened the door, Darian caught a strong scent that brought all his strength back.
Darian immediately saw the beautiful meat waiting for him outside. "I think using the Blosour was such a great idea, you should definitely try this." Darian was looking at the meat in front of him; there was so much brown juice, which Darian understood was coming from the Blosour.
"I tried boiling the fruit, too… and I didn't realize it would have such a great taste." Darian got some of the juice on his fork, after being boiled, the juice had become extremely dense. Darian smelled it and realized it was still sour, but the moment he tried it, he realized it wasn't only sour.
The juice tasted a bit sweet, too, and Darian couldn't help but try it with the meat. The explosion of taste in Darian's mouth could never be forgotten; it was one of the best things he had ever tried.
Darian spent the whole night talking with Pax about his project and what he would like to achieve in the first year.
"That laboratory will help me see how useful the gems can be. I will try to use a single gem to light up everything in the laboratory, and for the greenhouse, I want to see how things develop." Darian explained some of his plans to Pax, who remained amazed to hear them.
"The idea of having a small laboratory that helps you study every type of plant is really great, Darian. I'm sure that in a year, it will be perfect." With that, Darian kept speaking with Pax.
As many months passed, a year had gone by without any problems. It was morning. Darian had spent his days studying all the plants around XERBAB-7, he had studied over fifteen plants and, thanks to the help of Aegis, they had discovered even more animals.
Darian spent his nights always talking with Pax, who cooked for him without any problem and always listened to Darian's stories every night, never leaving him alone. Darian's hair had grown longer, he hadn't had a haircut yet, so they grew freely.
"Guess I'll need to cut it whenever I have time," said Darian, grabbing some of the hair falling down his neck. Over this year, his clothes had changed, too. Thanks to the help of Ceres, he had been able to make multiple other sets of clothes that were more resistant. This outfit had been built with the skin of a Snebear, the snake-bear, it had multiple pockets all around in which Darian always kept something. Currently, since he had spent most of his days at the base, they were full of seeds and leaves from his previous studies.
"Hello, Darian, have you been able to sleep well?" As had happened every single morning for a year, Pax greeted Darian the moment he woke up. "Yes, Pax… come on, we can't lose any time. I feel like I'm close to discovering something important." With that, Darian grabbed the Corange brought by Pax and began eating it while heading to his small laboratory.