Need a Litheor Datashell to do this mission. The way to get a Datashell is to battle a Deepspike. I did kill a Deepspike, but I didn't get the Datashell artifact. Would need to successfully do this 60 times in order to complete the mission. Is this supposed to be an automatic reward for battling the Deepspike, or is it a chance drop (in which case you would need to battle more than 60 timrd)?

You can't kill them. You can't even attack them.

Go to the Actions tab and Download Data for 50 Energy. The artifact just got placed in your inventory.

Yes, you need to do this 60 times = 3,000 Energy. (plus the energy to do the mission)

Well you don't 'defeat' the Deepspike. You just download the data. After doing that, you get a Litheor Datashell. When you do the mission, you use one up. Derpidy derp derp.

Plus all the E it takes to find them. I have spent 15kE so far, but i dont mind because i am hoping this inspires ppl to npc more