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Chapter 41 - Chapter 41: Mini Mechanical Warrior

Chapter 41: Mini Mechanical Warrior

[Simulation complete. Host, please make your choice.]

[Option 1: Randomly acquire three skills or proficiencies obtained during your transmigration.]

[Option 2: Randomly acquire three items obtained during your transmigration.]

This time, the choice was pretty obvious. There weren't many great things in One Piece to begin with, and Devil Fruits were definitely off the table. Without hesitation, Zhou Ning chose the first option.

[You have selected Option 1.]

[You have acquired the proficiency: Intermediate Endurance.]

[You have acquired the skill: World Language Mastery (Expert).]

[You have acquired the skill: Armament Haki (Beginner).]

A flood of knowledge surged into his mind, making his head feel like it was about to explode. It took a while before he recovered. Zhou Ning rubbed his temples and opened his status panel.

As expected, two new skills and one new proficiency had appeared on the panel.

[Intermediate Endurance]: An advanced version of the proficiency [Basic Endurance]. Stamina growth coefficient +0.2, Willpower +2. Significantly reduces the negative effects of debuffs like hunger, thirst, and cold.

[Armament Haki (Beginner)]: A skill that increases both offensive and defensive power. It can be applied to one's own body or to objects.

[Because you've mastered a professional-grade language, your Linguist level has increased!]

Leveling up the Linguist class granted him a point in Mentality and one free attribute point. Zhou Ning decided to save the free point for later.

When he activated Armament Haki, a thin black film suddenly coated Zhou Ning's hand, followed by a faint ripple effect.

Just as he'd imagined, Armament Haki could indeed stack with Ripple.

With this, his attack and defense—especially his attack power—had taken another step up.

All things considered, this transmigration wasn't too bad. Though he died a bit early, he still came away with a powerful skill and a useful proficiency, so it wasn't a total loss.

Intermediate Endurance was a rare proficiency that increased growth coefficients. As for [Armament Haki (Beginner)], not only could it stack with Ripple, it also counted as a buff-type skill. Now with two buff-type skills in hand, Zhou Ning was one step closer to creating a new class.

The next morning, Zhou Ning, as usual, went to work at the alchemy building of the school. Although he planned to resign, he was still determined to do his last few shifts properly. He'd wait until the new term started before officially quitting.

That morning, crafting low-grade potions and organizing materials netted him a total of 1,000 XP. It wasn't until noon, when Rosie came to take over, that he noticed her unusually cheerful mood. She was even humming when she walked in, like her voice had a piece of candy in it.

"What happened? Did you find money on the street?" Zhou Ning asked with a smile.

"Nope." Rosie shook her head and puffed out her cheeks ever so slightly, then habitually gave a serious explanation. "Professor Wesley said he's increasing my stipend. Starting this month, I'll be getting six Vecktas a month."

"That's great," Zhou Ning gave her a thumbs-up. "You're the first person to ever get stingy old Professor Wesley to agree to a raise."

That clearly hit the mark. Professor Wesley's stinginess was more famous at Vick University than his good temper. Rosie smiled at the praise and didn't stop smiling for a while.

"Oh, right. Professor Wesley told me to remind you not to forget about the orientation the morning after tomorrow."

"Got it," Zhou Ning nodded, his smile fading. He wasn't sure what Sherlock was thinking. Even knowing there was danger, he hadn't called it off. Was he really that confident?

"I should be there too. Need any help?" Rosie asked a bit shyly when Zhou Ning fell silent.

"If I need it, I won't be shy about asking." Zhou Ning replied with a smile.

The two of them chatted for a while, and by the time Zhou Ning had snagged a red bean cake from Rosie, it was already 1 PM.

After leaving the school, Zhou Ning went to the Trade District and visited various herb shops, alchemy stores, and engineering supply shops to purchase iron ingots, iron plates, bolts, gunpowder, and various alchemical materials. Most of the components for making a Mini Mechanical Warrior could be found in regular shops—just not in one place, so he had to go to several stores to gather everything.

This cost him 23 Vecktas. The 160 Vecktas he'd just received yesterday hadn't even warmed in his pocket before it vanished. Easy come, easy go.

By 2 PM, Zhou Ning returned to his alchemy lab. Without even resting, he started clearing the alchemy bench and laying out the materials one by one. Then he shut the door and got to work.

He opened his panel and mentally recited the crafting recipe for the Mini Mechanical Warrior: 33 iron ingots, 21 refined bolts, 29 portions of gunpowder... I already have the firearm…

The initial steps were basically the same as making a regular mechanical golem. With his [Tony Stark] talent bonus and expert-level precision mechanics, Zhou Ning found the process relatively easy.

After some focused effort, Zhou Ning finally let out a breath and put down his hammer.

The system panel popped up with a prompt:

[Mini Mechanical Warrior: A mechanical puppet that can be equipped with any small firearm. Usable in combat, defense, or as a display piece.]

In his previous life, the lucky guy who got [Puppet Alchemy] started with a relatively simple mechanical pet squirrel. So Zhou Ning guessed the initial recipe depended on the life skills the user had at the start.

His [Mini Mechanical Warrior] recipe was probably a fusion of Puppet Alchemy and his own expert-level precision mechanics.

Creating the Mini Mechanical Warrior was only the first step. Zhou Ning now needed to refine it using an alchemical array and seal it into a parchment card.

The next step involved blending Pure Water Orbs, Dragon Blood Grass, and Ice Mint into a spiritual powder used for drawing the alchemical array.

Two Pure Water Orbs, 7 grams of Dragon Blood Grass, 5 grams of Ice Mint…

Zhou Ning followed the instructions meticulously.

Half an hour later, the alchemical array was complete.

Holding his breath, Zhou Ning placed the Mini Mechanical Warrior and a blank parchment card into the center of the array.

Once everything was ready, he poured the alchemical catalyst—a special mixture of herbs—onto the array.

Ssssst!

A cloud of mist immediately rose, shrouding the alchemy room in a thick fog.

Moments later, the mist cleared, revealing a card etched with intricate patterns lying quietly on the bench.

[You have created the card: Mini Mechanical Warrior. You gain 7,000 XP!]

[Mini Mechanical Warrior: Click to summon a Mini Mechanical Warrior to aid in battle. Duration: 30 minutes. Cooldown: 30 minutes.]

"Hell yeah!" Zhou Ning was overjoyed.

A small step for alchemy, a giant leap for Yu-Gi-Oh!

Zhou Ning clicked the card to activate it. A mist erupted, and when it cleared, a half-human-height mechanical warrior stood before him—holding the M1 Garand rifle Zhou Ning had specially equipped it with.

Perfect! Zhou Ning snapped his fingers.

Over the next few days, aside from his regular morning shifts at the alchemy lab, Zhou Ning devoted himself entirely to his personal lab.

Once the first batch of herbs from Golden Oak Herbal Shop arrived, it was no trouble for him to start crafting specialized bullets. His second batch had a success rate of 79%, and by that afternoon, he had completed 50 rounds. He delivered them, along with nine guns, to West Lin General Store in the western part of the city.

…And in return, he received over 180 Vecktas, along with more orders for guns and bullets.

According to Sherlock, the guns Zhou Ning drew from the prize pool were a big hit with the Sunwatcher squads. Even agents from neighboring divisions were asking about the source of these weapons.

Zhou Ning even suspected that Sherlock was buying in bulk just to resell them at a profit.

Fortunately, Golden Oak Herbal Shop proved reliable. With Richard's endorsement, his supply of materials never dried up. One batch after another was delivered to Zhou Ning's lab on schedule. For two days straight, he barely had time to breathe. His daily bullet production was nearing 200 rounds, netting him a massive amount of XP—and padding his wallet once again.

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