You said mechs were going to fight monsters, but instead you're destroying stars with your bare

Chapter 7 Cat-eared girl, get me to the spa!
Faced with the cat demon mechanical girl's rapid offensive, Li Zhe did not retreat but advanced instead.

He stomped his feet heavily on the ground and charged towards the silver phantom.

Its combat power is 0.6, which is twice as strong as the previous Steel Rat.

But it's still not enough against Li Zhe, who has a combat strength of 1.5!
The advantage is mine!

"clang!!"

A loud clang of metal echoed through the narrow stairwell.

Li Zhe didn't even throw a punch; he simply raised his arm precisely.

He used his forearm to forcefully block the sharp claws of the cat demon mechanical girl!

Sparks fly!

The cat demon mechanical girl's all-out attack only left a shallow white mark on Li Zhe's arm, failing to break through his defenses at all.

These white marks were left by its claws scratching and rubbing off the paint.

The metal claws, under the immense recoil, emitted a creaking sound as they struggled to withstand the force.

"weak!"

Li Zhe whispered something, and his other hand shot out like lightning, grabbing the cat demon mechanical girl by the neck.

Use all five fingers to exert force!

"Crack!"

A crisp sound of metal breaking rang out.

He twisted the rotten, terrifying cat head off the cat demon mechanical girl's mechanical body and tore out a mechanical spine.

Having lost central control, the cat demon mechanical girl's body convulsed violently a few times before collapsing completely to the ground.

The battle ended in the blink of an eye.

Li Zhe threw away the rotting head in his hand.

Along with the headless mechanical corpse, it turned to ashes at a visible speed and dissipated into the air.

And just as the body completely disappeared.

"Hey!"

With a soft click, a gear gleaming with metallic luster burst forth from the ashes.

Li Zhe reacted quickly and immediately reached out to grab the gear that was flying towards him.

It feels slightly heavy in the hand, has a hard texture, and a cool touch.

A line of text information then appeared on the surface of the gear.

【Name: Mechanical Demon Steel Core】

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Type: Reinforcement Material]

[Effect: Can be used to strengthen the basic structure of the mech; each unit increases the mech's combat power by 0.01]

Li Zhe was overjoyed.

After the battle just now, he had a preliminary understanding of the material drop rate.

Those monsters labeled "Abyss Kin" are just disgusting cannon fodder; you can't squeeze a single bit of profit out of them after fighting them for ages.

These monsters, classified as "Abyssal Apostles," are the real mobile material warehouses.

Although a single steel core can only increase combat power by 0.01.

But little by little, quantitative changes will eventually lead to qualitative changes.

Once Li Zhe understood this, his motivation increased dramatically.

He stored the "Mechanical Demon Steel Core" in the maintenance hangar and then continued his efficient hunting operation in the apartment building.

There are quite a few cat-demon mechanical girls in this building, about a dozen, scattered across various floors.

Relying on the powerful target acquisition capabilities of the detection module and his own overwhelming strength, Li Zhe began a one-sided building sweep.

"clang!"

"Oh!"

"Crack!"

The dull thuds and the cracking of metal echoed throughout the apartment building.

Each battle ended extremely quickly, almost in the blink of an eye.

The attacks from these cat-demon mechanical girls were completely ineffective against Li Zhe.

However, he still consciously avoided the opponent's claws.

It wasn't that I was afraid of getting hurt, but rather that I was afraid of tearing my training uniform.

This uniform cost me a precious 1 point of merit.

If it gets torn, who knows if it will cost more merit points to repair it. He had read in his previous book, "Introduction to Mech Pilots," that there was some kind of rule barrier between the Abyss and Earth.

Any items not produced by the system cannot be directly transferred or exchanged.

Even with the mech pilots' maintenance hangars, it's impossible to store ordinary items from Earth, such as clothing, food, or weapons, in the Abyss.

Conversely, apart from materials obtained from defeating monsters and system rewards, nothing in the abyss, not even a single stone, can be brought back to Earth.

If my clothes are torn, then they're really torn, and there's nowhere to mend them.

Driven by this "save as much as possible" mentality, Li Zhe's fighting style became even more refined.

To achieve maximum damage with minimal movement, while perfectly protecting one's attire.

grace!

A dozen minutes later, Li Zhe twisted off the head of the last cat demon mechanical girl in the apartment building.

At this point, he had wiped out all the "Abyss Apostles" from the entire building.

The results were fruitful.

A total of ten "Mechanical Demon Steel Cores" were obtained.

There were more than ten cat demon mechanical girls that were defeated, and the drop rate of materials was not 100%.

However, it's already quite good to have achieved this much.

To make it easier to think about the next step, Li Zhe didn't linger in the stairwell; he went directly to the rooftop of the apartment building.

On the rooftop, the air circulation was slightly better.

Li Zhe let out a long sigh of relief, exhaling the unpleasant smell in the stairwell.

I walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down at this desolate steel city.

The dilapidated buildings stretched to the horizon, resembling a vast, boundless graveyard.

Hey…

Alright, there's no time to admire the scenery anymore.

Li Zhe took out a mechanical demon steel core from the maintenance hangar.

The cold metal gear lay quietly in his palm, its surface gleaming with a dark luster.

"So... how should we strengthen it?"

Li Zhe held the small gear in his hand, lost in thought.

The system notification said that this thing can be used to "strengthen the basic structure of the mech", which can increase combat power by 0.01.

But the problem is...

His mecha is his own body.

How can this be strengthened?

According to normal procedures, these materials used to directly enhance mechs need to undergo a series of precision processing steps in the maintenance hangar workshop.

After initial processing, it still needs to go through a complex process to be integrated with the mecha.

The entire process takes at least a week.

Furthermore, it requires a certain amount of energy.

Li Zhe gripped the mechanical demon steel cores tightly.

He paced back and forth along the edge of the rooftop, fiddling with it for a while.

He carefully considered the strengthening steps, trying to find inspiration... but couldn't come up with anything at all.

Just as his thoughts were stuck, and he even started to wonder if he should just chew this thing like a cookie...

I can break this thing with my bare hands.

It's extremely hard; you can't bend it at all.

If you put it in your mouth and chew it, you might break your teeth.

And you're just going to eat it without any preparation?
Even biscuits are a bit too dry and not good for digestion...

Ok?
and many more?

"Energy... Enhancement materials... Gear biscuits..."

Li Zhe suddenly remembered the "Private's Energy Supply Pack" that he had stored in the maintenance hangar.

His eyes started to look strange.

Looking at the metal gear in his hand, he thought about the bucket of colorful energy supplements.

If the cookies are too dry, they will be difficult to chew and digest...

Then...

Soak it until it softens?!

(End of this chapter)