YM778.TV Chapter 20
By the time he left the material shop, only a pitiful 620 kontribution points remained.
“If the Soul of Life trait hadn’t sold for more than expected, I wouldn’t even have been able to gather enough materials to enhance my Mecha,” he murmured.
“These kontribution points really burn a hole in your pocket too quickly…”
If Xie Minglei knew what Jiang Chen was thinking at that moment, he probably wouldn’t have been able to help but retort—
Who else spends on crafting a Mecha like a rookie?
Only buying high-rank materials to enhance a 0th Rank mecha, no amount of kontribution points would be enough!
Normally, to enhance a 0th Rank mecha using solely 0th Rank excellent materials, it would take around 6000 kontribution points to complete.
Even if you picked some popular 0th Rank accessory modules, the total cost shouldn’t surpass 10 thousand kontribution points.
That would already be considered high-end.
Spending nearly forty thousand just for the elusive power of life force…
Even if we set aside the Supercharge Module, even if Jiang Chen shared the blueprints, it’s doubtful any rookie would imitate this approach.
Too crazy!
Jiang Chen was actually quite satisfied.
All materials were ready; now all he needed was to find someone to enhance the mecha, so he could push his model Zero Mecha to the limit of the 0th Rank.
At that time, after breaking through as a mecha pilot rank, he could directly start the mecha upgrade process.
He would easily become a 1st Rank mecha pilot.
However, you can’t just choose anyone to enhance a mecha.
Given the same materials and mecha, the results can vary dramatically in the hands of different enhancement engineers.
To perfectly harness the potential of a mecha, you certainly need to find an excellent mecha enhancement engineer.
And excellent mecha enhancement engineers… they often charge a handsome fee for their craftsmanship…
“In the end, it’s still a matter of money,” muttered Jiang Chen.
He planned to first head into the abyss to farm a few waves of the Age-Old Shadow carbon copy.
He’d earn some kontribution points before considering the enhancement.
Moreover, from killing so many mutated beasts in the basic trials, the abyss atmosphere garnered had replenished only about seventy percent of the Abyss Rune’s energy.
To elevate his mecha pilot rank, he’d need to kill more abyss beasts to completely fill the Abyss Rune’s energy.
Additionally, mecha pilots can acquire a new trait with each rank increase, and 0th Rank is no exception.
Jiang Chen had already found his target.
[Weapons Master]
[Type: Trait]
[Effect: Grants the mecha pilot the Weapons Master trait, enabling the rapid mastery of any weapon to unleash one hundred percent combat efficiency.]
[Description: Every flower, grass, and leaf can be a sword… My friend, I believe you are a sword too.]
[Price: 20000 kontribution points.]
To enhance a mecha pilot’s combat prowess, aside from installing Weapons Modules on the mecha,
one could also opt to use abyss-sourced materials to craft various external weapons for use.
These weapons don’t need to occupy the mecha’s module slots when used—just like a normal firearm, they can be picked up and used immediately, which is incredibly convenient.
Naturally, there are downsides as well.
Even if they don’t require installation, these weapons still need power supplied by the mecha to operate properly.
Furthermore, the energy value of a 0th Rank mecha can only support 0th Rank weapons, and there is an additional energy consumption rate during use.
The power is also somewhat inferior to that of the Weapons Modules installed on mechas.
The Weapons Master trait compensates for these shortcomings.
It allows mecha pilots to freely use external weapons without shouldering the additional energy consumption, and even enhances their power.
Lacking in offensive means, Jiang Chen intended to use the Weapons Master trait to compensate.
Moreover, the Blood Demon Transformation Module installed on the model Zero Mecha is also very compatible with this combat style.
The most important thing is,
the Weapons Master trait can drop in the 0th level abyss carbon copy.
Jiang Chen happened to be able to clear the abyss carbon copy on his own, farming the Weapons Master trait while replenishing Abyss Rune energy.
In the meantime, any materials, modules, or excess mecha pilots’ traits that dropped,
could be sold to save up money for the enhancement costs.
Killing two birds with one stone!
However, Jiang Chen had just undergone a twenty-four-hour basic trial, and although his stamina had recovered, he hadn’t completely shaken off the feeling of mental fatigue.
He planned to rest for a day before starting to explore the true Age-Old Shadow tomorrow.
For now, he could take another walk around Xuntian City to see if there was any gear or equipment worth buying.
After all, 620 kontribution points, while it might seem few, were enough to purchase a 0th Rank excellent accessory module.
For a rookie mecha pilot, that was quite a significant amount.
…
Inside Xuntian City, there were shops specializing in gear and equipment for rookie mecha pilots.
In these shops, Jiang Chen indeed found many valuable items.
First was a type of repair tool he had used during the basic trial, which could fix completely damaged mechas.
Because ordinary abyss explorations usually didn’t last very long,
they were typically completed within a few hours.
Even if a mecha pilot couldn’t clear the Age-Old Shadow, they could use the power of the Abyss Rune to exit the abyss voluntarily within a matter of seconds.
Once out of the abyss, even if the mecha was shattered, they could take it to a repair engineer for repairs.
Therefore, gadgets like [Active Repair], which require a lot of time to repair a damaged mecha, seemed quite superfluous.
It cost the same as what a repair engineer would charge for one repair at this level,
just 100 kontribution points.
Jiang Chen purchased one, planning to find an opportunity to trigger a talent again and enhance his personal attributes.
There was also the [External Scanning Device].
This mechanical prop created by gizmo artisans looked like a monocular eyeglass, identical to the “Combat Strength Scanner” used by the Saiyan race.
The effect was also the same, as it could be attached to a mecha helmet to scan monsters in the abyss and provide corresponding attribute information through the built-in encyclopedia.
Jiang Chen suspected it was a blatant copy.
But imitation or not, it was a steal at just ten kontribution points each.
Jiang Chen bought five in one go.
After all, such a device looked like it could easily be destroyed.
Especially when scanning aliens with golden hair, the damage rate was extremely high.
Better to buy a few extra, just in case.
In addition, Jiang Chen also purchased a beginner weapon for himself to avoid the embarrassment of fighting unarmed.
Fighting fist-to-fist while donning a mecha was utterly unromantic.
[Light Thermal Pistol]
[Rank: 0]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Type: External Laser Weapon]
[Effect One: Consume 10% of mecha energy for a single charge shot, each charge allows for 10 shots.]
[Effect Two: Upon charging, every 1 point of energy consumed increases the shooting power by 2 points.]
[Effect Three: External weapon, energy consumption increased by an additional 100% (does not enhance power).]
[Description: Old Li’s Weapon Shop now open at 366 Xuntian City Weapon Street, offering firearms for 0th to 3rd Rank, affordable and powerful, mecha pilots are welcome to visit and shop — rookie mecha pilots can enjoy a 15% discount!]
[Price: 200 kontribution]