NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Chapter 4 The First Mechanical Creation
Mechanics and the ocean always seem a bit mismatched.
Speaking of mechanics... the first impression for most people might still be the cosmic sea of stars, right?
Chen Qing closed her eyes, and the exquisitely detailed blueprints immediately appeared in her mind, as if they were ingrained in her heart.
All three blueprints belonged to the basic category of mechanical blueprints, but due to the oceanic environment, they were ultra-rare within the basics, consumable bestsellers.
Her luck was good.
If Chen Qing could produce them, the boost to her strength would be tremendous.
If Chen Qing were greedy enough, she could make a fortune just by selling water.
But there was a problem right now, a skilled housewife can't cook without rice.
Chen Qing didn't have any materials at hand.
Regardless of the blueprint, they all required an extremely crucial component, the "Power Core".
This was the source of energy for automation.
Chen Qing might have been able to substitute other materials, as her woodworking was quite good.
She must find a way to get a Power Core! A determined glint flashed in Chen Qing's eyes.
She quickly opened the other two supply boxes, the smaller supply box was quite ordinary, containing bread.
But the large supply box gave Chen Qing an absolute surprise.
A full box, heavy with all metal parts, among which there was no shortage of damaged Power Cores.
Although these parts and cores were rusty and damaged, seeming unusable, this was not a problem for Chen Qing!
The moment she opened the box, the entire ship sank a bit.
Chen Qing stared at the box, her lips slightly curving upward. The Skills and knowledge from that beginner's guide for mechanics were enough for her to repair these parts to a usable condition.
Just at a glance, Chen Qing immediately knew which parts could be fixed and which were truly junk.
This box gave her an idea, at the start of the game survivors wouldn't have many good things on hand, but things like these damaged parts and mechanics would definitely be plentiful.
These things were like ocean trash.
The immediate priority was to obtain a set of tools specifically for mechanics.
[Chen Qing: Bounty—A set of tools specifically for a Mechanic, Reward: Sea Water Purifier, Automatic Fishing Net, or Automatic Fishing Rod, any one of your choice]
After posting the bounty on the chat channel and trading platform, Chen Qing quickly began working on these parts and the core.
Her bounty also caused a stir among the survivors, spreading quickly from one to ten, ten to a hundred, like a quickly spreading flu.
Each of the items was sufficiently topical, especially the Sea Water Purifier.
On the ocean, what you most need is fresh water.
Some survivors with a stable source of fresh water had already made a fortune.
Chen Qing's attention was all on the Power Cores, with their palm-sized dimensions and craftsmanship completely different from the other parts, they were easy to identify.
After a few minutes of selection, there were forty-one cores in total.
She roughly checked them, and figured these cores pieced together should be able to be repaired into three or four usable cores.
Most of the parts were completely corroded and unusable, re-forging was their only way out.
Some could barely hold together after repair—enough for Chen Qing, a mechanical beginner, and for the other survivors, at least.
After cleaning up all the parts in less than half an hour, Chen Qing's private messages were already overcrowded.
Fortunately, the system has an automatic filtering function, but even after filtering, there were still a total of one hundred thirty-two private messages in Chen Qing's inbox.
Among Blue Star's ten billion survivors, just these few messages were indeed too few.
Chen Qing browsed through the messages at the fastest speed, discarding over ninety percent of the private messages. The so-called mechanic-specific tools offered by these survivors were the most basic and didn't even meet the entry-level standards.
In simple terms, they were just ordinary household toolboxes that one could buy at any hardware store.
They hardly qualified as mechanic-specific tools.
She simply couldn't use these tools to repair parts.
Chen Qing took an interest in a few tools.
[Portable Machine Tool (Green)], [Mechanical Arm-Tool Type 172 (Dark Green)], [Mechanic Apprentice Foldable Toolbox (Light Green)], [X18-Repair Mechanical Ant (Deep Blue)]
After weighing the pros and cons, Chen Qing finally contacted the survivor Qiao Zhiyu, who owned the toolbox—it was the only item she could afford.
Although Chen Qing's reward was to pick one out of three, the other survivors wanted more than just one out of three.
Chen Qing couldn't even produce one at the moment.
[Chen Qing: I'll temporarily trade you the Devil Fish's electric sac and poison sack for the toolbox. I'll trade them back after I've made the Water Purifier.]
Yes, Chen Qing was literally trying to make something out of nothing.
[Qiao Zhiyu: ...Sis, this...]
[Chen Qing: Sorry.]
Chen Qing knew her request wasn't exactly ethical, but right now, this was her only option.
If she were to trade directly using the electric sac and poison sack, she feared no one would even consider dealing with her.
[Qiao Zhiyu: Alright, but don't you cheat me.]
Qiao Zhiyu was surprisingly agreeable, much like Chen Qing, she was willing to take a gamble, betting Chen Qing wouldn't deceive her.
After all, it was just a toolbox that was of no use to her anyway.
The trade went smoothly and, upon receiving the toolbox, Chen Qing wasted no time starting to repair the core and parts.
The blueprint for the Water Purifier had long been imprinted in her mind. Selecting the necessary parts, Chen Qing devoted all her heart power to it.
...
Discarded parts were strewn all over the ground, chunks of metal clung to Chen Qing's body, and although the temperature all around her was quite low, her forehead was covered in fine, dense sweat.
Chen Qing looked at her creation with satisfaction. The appearance of the Sea Water Purifier was odd, with wood inlaid with metal and gears exposed and rust-stained.
When it was running, one could hear clunky clashing and buzzing sounds, giving off a primitive vibe.
It didn't look like a Sea Water Purifier at all, but indeed it was.
[Sea Water Purifier (Improved Version)
Quality: Light Green
Rating: E
Service Life: Estimated 30 Ocean Days
Description: A machine capable of purifying sea water, able to purify over 50L of sea water each Ocean Day.
Evaluation: Looks ugly but is surprisingly practical]
The moment the Sea Water Purifier was completed, the system's prompt sounded in Chen Qing's ears.
This time, the reward was significantly more substantial than the one for killing the Deep Blue Devil Fish.
[Survivor has completed their first independent E-grade Mechanical Creation, reward points 10.]
[Survivor has become the first in the game to create a Mechanical Creation, rewarded with the passive skill: Mechanical Perception.]
[Passive - Mechanical Perception: Through transcendent perception, a mechanic can easily grasp the internal structure, energy flow, and operation status of mechanics, having everything about them at their fingertips.]
...