Chapter 18 Sloppy Repair

[Name: Sloppy Repair]
[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Permanently Learned]
[Skill Category: Machinery]
[Effect: Temporarily improves a mechanical creation of Garbage or Ruined quality to Normal quality for three minutes]
[Consumption: 100 Stamina Points]
[Learning Condition: Machinery Specialization F]
[Remarks: As everyone knows, the great founder of "Rotten Apple" company, the goblin inventor and entrepreneur known as an industry pioneer, Mr. Steve Chew-not-tear, used to be a repairman in his youth. His epitaph reads, "Only rookies try to completely fix something." To help more people understand this sentence, he also printed the company logo (an apple with a bite taken out of it) on his tombstone]

Feng Bujue's luck in games had always been terrible, and getting this skill was a good illustration of that. At low levels, skills like [Exploding Divine Fist], which have low learning conditions, low consumption, and limited uses, can be of great help to players.

But this [Sloppy Repair] is the kind of skill that... after a player reaches level 20, even if their skill slots aren't full, they feel like they can take it or leave it.

The effect is mediocre, the consumption is quite high, and the worst thing is that the target is limited to "mechanical creations." If this skill could be applied to all equipment, it would have some value. For example, if a player picks up a rusty iron pipe of Ruined quality, and their stamina is abundant, they could use this skill to turn it into a Normal quality iron pipe, adding a bit of power.

But the reality is cruel. This skill can only be used on machines. Feng Bujue was already imagining what situations he could use this skill in... If he found a malfunctioning chainsaw... then spending 100 stamina points to make it run for three minutes would be worthwhile. In theory, this skill should also restore the function of broken vehicles. Assuming he was at full health and got into a scrapped car, timed it right, and reused the skill a few seconds before it expired each time, the car could run normally for nearly fifteen minutes.

But these are just assumptions. It's hard to say if things like vehicles would really be affected by this skill, since large objects in the scene like cars don't count as "items," and players can't check their attributes.

Anyway, keeping this thing won't make any money during the open beta, so Feng Bujue learned the skill, adding it to his skill bar. Then he came to the second glass pillar, and the system prompt appeared:

[Please choose your additional reward: 1. Randomly draw a piece of equipment corresponding to your level; 2. 5000 Game Coins; 3. 200 Experience Points]

Feng Bujue resolutely chose equipment. First of all, the latter two options were completely unnecessary at this stage. Secondly, he just didn't believe that, now that he was level 5, and had nothing but a useless skill and a plastic needle, he could possibly draw a second [Stone].

White light converged and materialized. The white shadow of a piece of equipment gradually appeared in the glass pillar. Before it was fully formed, Feng Bujue knew that this time he had a chance. Judging by the outline, it was definitely a weapon.

[Name: Mario's Pipe Wrench]
[Type: Weapon]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Attack Power: Medium]
[Attribute: Fire]
[Special Effect: When attacking the head of a humanoid or human-like creature, there is a high chance of causing a critical hit]
[Remarks: The owner of this pipe wrench is very famous. He claims to be a plumber, but he never fixes pipes. He just climbs in and out of pipes, jumping around. He's busy fighting evil forces, saving kingdoms, and finding princesses all day long. Sometimes he disguises himself as a frog, a raccoon, or even Jizo Bodhisattva. Sometimes he throws fireballs and hammers... but he NEVER! Please note, he "NEVER" uses this essential tool for plumbers. Thus, the pipe wrench became angry. It was furious, and it wanted to prove that a pipe wrench can be used in battle!]

"This worldview is a little strange..." After reading the attributes, Feng Bujue couldn't help but complain, but he was still happy. No matter how bizarre the content in the remarks column was, at least the other attributes of the equipment were good.

Back in the elevator, Wang Tanzhi's communication request was already displayed on the screen. Feng Bujue clicked accept and sent a team invitation. "How's it going? Did you reach level five?"

Wang Tanzhi replied, "Ah, I have just enough experience. What about you, Brother Jue?"

In the friend list, you can only see the other person's nickname and current status, not their level. But just as Wang Tanzhi asked this question, because he accepted the team invitation, the team status bar appeared on the screen, and he saw Feng Bujue's level information.

"You really made it. Did you get any equipment, Brother Jue?" Wang Tanzhi continued, "I just used up the remaining Divine Fist. Before the scenario, besides the fruit knife I already had, I found a piece of armor."

"Let's not talk about that for now... In your last scenario, did you use a key at the end?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Ah? Yes, how did you know?" Wang Tanzhi replied.

"How did you get that key?" Feng Bujue asked again.

Wang Tanzhi was stunned for a moment, then replied, "At the end of the scenario, I found a key lying on the ground in front of the exit door. I still don't understand what was going on... I was almost at my limit. My Survival Value and Stamina Value were bottoming out, and there was something chasing me in the distance. I didn't expect that in such a situation, I picked up a key, opened the door, and completed the scenario." He paused. "Hey? Brother Jue, do you know why? Was the situation in your scenario the same?"

Feng Bujue said, "How could it be... My scenario was very difficult. Your situation... I guess the system thought that, with your intelligence, picking up a key and unlocking a door was already a puzzle, so it gave you that setting."

"That kind of puzzle is for apes!" Wang Tanzhi exclaimed.

Feng Bujue smiled. He was deliberately changing the subject, so he made that joke. "Are you ready? Do you need to organize anything before queuing for the team survival mode?"

"I'm good, queue up." Wang Tanzhi replied.

Feng Bujue operated the touchscreen and quickly brought up the queuing menu. After both of them reached level five, the available modes changed. Now the menu showed Single Survival Mode (Normal) and Team Survival Mode (Normal).

Training Mode had been closed and became an invisible option, while Single Survival Mode was now grayed out and unavailable.

[Feng Bujue, Level 5]
[Wang Tanzhi, Level 5]
[Please select the game mode for your team to join.]
[You have selected Team Survival Mode (Normal), please confirm.]
[Confirmed, the random value for the team size has been generated: Five players.]
[Your team has entered the queue, searching for other ready individuals or teams.]
[Match complete, coordinating neural connections, scenario generation in progress...]
[Loading begins, please wait.]