Chapter 3

Did it not even return the "materials" when it failed?

Song Xiaozhu glanced at the information bar above the pegboard and found that the number for experience had changed from 0 to 1.

Fine, scrap wood was everywhere. Trading it for experience wasn't bad either.

She was just about to look for more scrap wood and stones when she caught sight of the plastic bottles she had collected out of the corner of her eye... What would happen if she put one on the "workbench"?

Scrap wood wasn't worth anything.

But a plastic bottle was worth a cent.

Suppressing her reluctance, Song Xiaozhu picked up a plastic bottle and placed it on the workbench. A notification sounded in her mind: "Corresponding recipe not unlocked. Perform random synthesis?"

There was random synthesis too?

Song Xiaozhu said inwardly, Yes.

White mist as soft as silk wrapped around the plastic bottle. Song Xiaozhu watched with wide eyes, actually feeling a little nervous.

Obtained "Milk Candy" ×1.

Evaluation: an ordinary piece of milk candy.

Effect: paralyzes the target's body for three minutes.

On the snow-white work surface, the plastic bottle vanished, replaced by a piece of milk candy about the size of a thumb.

A plastic bottle had turned into milk candy?

What kind of logic was that?

Song Xiaozhu took the milk candy off and examined it carefully. Nothing looked unusual about it. It had only a thin wrapper that tore with a tug.

At the garbage mountain, the recycling station refused anything food-related, and scavengers rarely picked it up to eat either. Food that ended up here was either rotten or heavily contaminated. Eating it meant gambling with your life.

Thinking of its effect, Song Xiaozhu was even less likely to casually eat it. Instead, she carefully tucked it away close to her body.

It paralyzed the target's body. Used well, it could save her life!

Since this was "random" synthesis, presumably it could produce more than just "milk candy."

Song Xiaozhu reluctantly took out another plastic bottle and placed it on the workbench, only for the notification to change this time: "Corresponding recipe not unlocked. Random synthesis attempts remaining: zero. Please purchase attempts with Quantum Coins."

It seemed plastic bottles had a corresponding recipe too, but it had yet to be unlocked, and random synthesis had a limit.

Song Xiaozhu wasn't surprised. Without a limit, it would have been far too outrageous. She could have turned the garbage mountain's trash into "treasure" overnight.

Quantum Coins?

Where was she supposed to get those?

Song Xiaozhu asked inwardly, but the notification gave no reply. It seemed she would have to figure it out herself.

Song Xiaozhu rolled up her sleeves, brimming with energy. Wherever this "synthesizer" had come from, it was a good thing. Her current situation was already miserable enough. There was nothing to be afraid of.

The rotten wood was of extremely poor quality, resulting in an extremely low success rate for raw wood material. Fortunately, there was plenty of rotten wood on the garbage mountain.

After more than twenty attempts, Song Xiaozhu finally heard a different notification:

Synthesis successful. Obtained "Raw Wood Material" ×1.

Evaluation: one of the basic "raw materials."

Effect: none.

It worked!

Song Xiaozhu wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the workbench.

The white mist dispersed, revealing a perfectly regular wooden cube that looked just like the little blocks in the game Minecraft.

Song Xiaozhu had never played Minecraft, but she had long heard of the game. Those expert players could even use those little blocks to build "my world."

She tried taking the "raw wood material" off. It wasn't large, with sides she estimated to be ten to fifteen centimeters long. Every face was smooth, and every edge and corner was sharp.

The "raw wood material" had some heft to it, weighing down Song Xiaozhu's hand as she held it in one palm. She put it back on the workbench, but the workbench gave no notification.

Presumably, a single "raw wood material" wasn't enough to synthesize an item.

After all Song Xiaozhu's work, the workbench's experience had risen to 10 points.

Repeated failed syntheses didn't keep granting one point each. After roughly the fifth synthesis, experience began rising very slowly. Once it reached 10 points, further attempts to synthesize "raw wood material" no longer granted any experience at all.

Song Xiaozhu started looking for scrap stones. These were even easier to find than rotten wood. A casual rummage turned up a whole pile.

However, the success rate for "raw stone material" was even more outrageous. Song Xiaozhu put stones in ninety-nine times straight without a single success.

On the hundredth attempt, the notification changed.

One hundred consecutive synthesis failures. Level 1 "Unlucky Player" achievement unlocked. Reward: Quantum Coin ×1.

Song Xiaozhu: "..."

Call her unlucky, and she had earned a Quantum Coin; call her lucky, and she had unlocked level 1 "Unlucky Player."

Song Xiaozhu never saw what the Quantum Coin looked like. It appeared directly on the information panel, where the number changed from 0 to 1.

Quantum Coins had quite a few uses. They could unlock random synthesis attempts, as well as recipes.

Song Xiaozhu didn't hesitate. She prioritized unlocking a recipe. There were six grayed-out recipes in the first row, and she was very curious about what they were.

The synthesizer is currently level 1. Level 1 recipes can be unlocked.

Unlocking a level 1 recipe for the first time requires Quantum Coin ×1.

Unlock?

Yes.

Please select the recipe to unlock.

Song Xiaozhu looked over the six grayed-out recipes in the first row and used eeny, meeny, miny, moe to pick the one in the middle.

Level 1 recipe unlocked: Crude Storage Box.

A storage box!

Song Xiaozhu hurriedly opened the recipe and took a close look.

Recipe name: Crude Storage Box.

Recipe level: 1.

Required materials: raw wood material ×20 + raw stone material ×4 + Quantum Coin ×2.

Success rate: 60%

That was a substantial amount of materials, and more importantly, it required two Quantum Coins as well.

Quantum Coins weren't easy to get.

Going from level 1 "Unlucky Player" to "level 2" wouldn't be easy either... right?!

Chapter 3

Song Xiaozhu was very tempted by the storage box. If it was something like a

spatial

inventory, that would be wonderful.

But the materials required by this recipe were a little difficult for her to obtain.