Synthesis-type adventurers

Chapter 53 Harvest and New Investments

"nice one."

This property, which can reduce fluid friction, once applied to a specific launching mechanism...

For example, blowguns, high-pressure water guns... or even some kind of fluid-driven propulsion device?

Rod's gaze was fixed on the pipe that his arm could not reach, through the cage bars.

The distance was about three meters, which was well within the effective range of mental energy.

Scavenging anything usable is an instinct that everyone who lives in the wasteland must possess.

peel off.

Another blue stream of light entered his forehead.

On the return journey, Rhodes no longer needed to conserve his mental energy for battle and began to systematically dismantle everything in his sight.

Passing by an abandoned repair station that hadn't been explored much before, we peeled off the [insulating rubber].

The cables hanging in the repair shop were still wrapped in black rubber sheaths, and they felt no different from before they were stripped. However, the physical properties of that sheath in blocking current had disappeared, and it had become just an ordinary decoration with no function.

A section of the anti-corrosion railing was found broken; the corrosion-resistant coating was peeled off.

The paint on the railing remained unchanged, but the chemical structure that protected it from acid rain had been removed, leaving only a layer of pigment attached to the rust.

Only when his mental strength plummeted below the warning line and a series of needle-like stings shot through his head did Rhode reluctantly stop.

Chiba watched as Rod reached out and made grasping motions towards the rusted iron plates and empty walls. She couldn't understand his actions, but she inexplicably felt a chill run down her spine.

What's with this feeling of "I don't know what you're doing, but I feel like you've stolen the whole world"?

"Boss... Rod," Chiba swallowed hard, "you're not going to... dismantle me too, are you?"

Rod turned his head, and the eyes behind his goggles seemed to be seriously assessing the situation.

"As long as you don't have any intention of betraying me or running away with my money," he gave a kind smile, "the value you can create while you're alive is far greater than the materials you get after dismantling you."

Chiba felt a chill run down his spine.

-----------------

Back on the surface, fine acid rain was falling from the sky over Rusty Harbor, pooling into gray-black puddles on the ground.

The Gear Brotherhood's supply receiving point was located on one side of the scrap yard.

The appraiser, wearing a monocle, examined the seal with a magnifying glass for a full five minutes, as if it were a thief, and weighed it three times with a balance.

"Hmm... the seal is intact, and the weight reading is within acceptable tolerance."

The appraiser put down the magnifying glass with some disappointment, his tone tinged with resentment, seemingly frustrated by his inability to find any flaws.

He pulled out 50 Orim transfer receipts from under the counter and casually tossed out a rough-edged bronze medal.

"This is the reward. And this, you can get a 20% discount on future purchases of goods from our exchange—of course, this discount does not apply to contraband and controlled items."

"Thank you for your generosity, sir." Rhodes accepted the paper voucher and bronze seal, a simple, honest smile spreading across his face. "Thank you."

But the moment he turned and stepped out the door, the smile on his face relaxed, and the corner of his mouth turned to one side.

A 20% discount?

Even including the value of the [Anti-Metal Fatigue] attribute he stole, he still made at least three times the profit of the Gear Brotherhood from this deal.

That's the allure of information asymmetry.

The next step was to split up and act separately.

Chiba wrapped the oilcloth cloak, which was soaked with the smell of fish and salt, tightly around himself and plunged into the narrow, slippery alley of the black market.

That area is her home turf.

With her insight into the needs of various buyers and her precise control over prices, she successfully sold the damaged power core and a bunch of sensors as a "sample of technological relics from an ancient civilization".

When she handed the heavy money bag to Rhodes at the agreed-upon dock, she couldn't hide the smug look on her face.

"180 Dukat! And every single one of them is a newly minted Virian coin of the finest quality!" Chiba's tail wagged, his eyes reflecting the golden light of the coins. "Those gnome scholars went crazy when they saw that core; they almost started a fight!"

"Well done."

Rhodes quickly did the math in his head.

According to the guild's official exchange rate, 1 Orim is approximately equal to 10 standard Trade Ducat Gold Coins.

These 180 gold coins are equivalent to 18 orms, which is quite a considerable amount of extra income from casually picking up trash.

Rod opened the bag and counted out 50 gold coins, handing them to Chiba.

"Here's your commission. Go buy yourself some decent clothes and some of those delicious foods you've been clamoring for. Now that you have money, stop making yourself look like you just crawled out of a slum's garbage dump."

"Tch, it's all because of you..."

Chiba subconsciously looked down at his cloak, but holding the dozens of gold coins in his hands, a genuine smile immediately bloomed on his face.

As if afraid that Rod might change his mind, she quickly pulled them all into her arms.

"Thank you, boss! You're so generous!"

The last stop was the ironworks workshop in Black Iron Alley.

Before the Rhodesians even entered, they could hear Torin's mumbled curses and the clanging of a hammer against an anvil.

"Damn it! Why is it stuck again? This damn pile of scrap metal!"

Rod pushed open the door, and a wave of heat hit him.

The dwarf, shirtless and covered in sweat, was kicking an old steam forging press with his iron-plated boot.

At Tolin's feet, a piece of refined iron, already crushed into scrap, was still glowing red.

"Don't kick Torin anymore, you'll break it and have to fix it."

Rhodes walked over and patted Torin's broad shoulder.

"Rhodes? You're still alive, kid?" Torin wiped the oil and sweat from his face with the back of his hand, leaving black marks. "It's been half a month since we last met, hasn't it? I thought you were dead in the woods to the east."

"I'm doing well. I even brought you some useful things."

Rod walked around to the front of the forging press and placed his palm on the frequently jamming drive shaft box.

The space of consciousness then unfolds.

The [anti-metal fatigue] and [industrial-grade precision] extracted from that P-704 transport box were forcibly injected into this crudely structured old machine through his mental power.

Applying the properties of such an ancient industrial-grade part to a civilian forging press is tantamount to using the tendons of a dragon to repair a broken-down crossbow.

However, Rhodes didn't care at all.

Torin is currently Rhodes' most trusted partner. He himself doesn't need industrial-grade terms, so loading them onto Torin's devices is just another investment.

Moreover, any words that Rhode had extracted and stored in his consciousness space were bound to his soul.

Even if it is loaded onto other items, Rhode can remove it at any time with almost no mental energy required.

"load."

As Rhodes' mental energy fluctuated, all the noise from the machine, which had been accompanied by a piercing friction sound with each operation, vanished instantly.

The gears meshed without any resistance, and the piston's reciprocating motion became steady and regular.

All tolerances caused by long-term wear are forced to zero under the correction of the concept of [industrial-grade precision].

"What...what's going on?"

Tolin's eyes widened as he reached out and touched the now-compliant machine in disbelief.

He tentatively fed a new iron billet into the press and pulled down the control lever.

"Thump."

Accompanied by a steady and powerful impact.

The iron billet is quickly pressed into shape, with smooth edges and a flat cross-section, without any burrs caused by uneven pressure.

"By the God of Forging..." Torin's beard trembled as he turned to Rhodes, his eyes filled with astonishment and suspicion. "You brat... are you some kind of gnome master craftsman disguised as a human?"

"I already said it's a family recipe."

Rhodes waved his hand, unwilling to dwell on the matter.

"With this machine, you should be able to handle equipment repair and upgrades much better in the future, right?"

"Nonsense!" Tolin patted his chest and guaranteed, "As long as you have enough materials, I can forge your basic equipment into a treasure comparable to mithril!"