Chapter 3: Hand-Building a Robot in a Beast-Taming World

Early blueprints were absolutely critical.They were ranked from low to high as: Broken, Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Rare, Legendary… and possibly more beyond that. But Lin Binbin had happened to get stuck just before the game's major update in his past life, so he never found out what came after.

At the time, these mech blueprints were extremely scarce. A single basic blueprint had cost him an entire week of mining. If he could have pulled a high-level mech blueprint early on, he would've gained a massive head start over everyone.

But a broken blueprint?No one wanted those.

If you were lucky, you might find one tossed in a junk bin on the street. After all, mech construction materials were expensive—who would waste their time and money building a piece of junk?

Lin Binbin went into full mental shutdown.Staring at the ruined blueprint, he had to take over ten deep breaths just to keep it together.

"Stay calm… stay calm… I've already drawn a sickly chick and a broken blueprint. What else can go wrong?""Nothing!"

Lin Binbin firmly believed: when a person's luck hit rock bottom, things could only go uphill from there.

After roughly skimming the blueprint and memorizing as much as he could, he began to prepare for construction.

But he quickly discovered another problem—A devastating problem that almost shattered his last sliver of sanity.

The system didn't give him any materials.

Which meant he was nothing more than a commander without troops. He had a blueprint—but every component and resource would have to be gathered by hand.A single blueprint, and the rest? Up to you!He knew this cursed system couldn't be that generous.

Staring at the system interface, Lin Binbin wanted to smash his head against a wall and reincarnate again. But reason soon took over.

So what if I have to hand-build a robot? Let's go!

A real man confronts fear head-on. He wasn't scared.

He pulled out a palm-sized iron box from under his bed. The surface was rusty, and it clanked loudly as he opened it.

This… was all the wealth he had.

Staring at the few spirit stones inside—barely the size of candies—Lin Binbin gritted his teeth and dumped them all out.

You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb.

Right now, his top priority was to buy a robot crafting toolset. Only with tools could he unlock his life profession.

In War Mecha, the main class and life profession complemented each other. For example, if your class was a healer, your life profession might be gathering herbs or alchemy—saving on costs and boosting stats.

Life professions could also level up and enhance base attributes.

In his past life, Lin Binbin's first life profession was mech maintenance. But now, it seemed better to start with component crafting.

As soon as he got the toolkit, the system chimed:

[Life Skill Tree unlocked. Please choose your Life Profession. Each main class may select up to three. Additional slots require skill certification.]

Lin Binbin immediately selected Component Crafting.

Finalizing his life path was more important than anything right now.

[Congratulations! Life Profession unlocked. Bonus: +2 Free Attribute Points]

Lin Binbin scanned the stat options and put both points into Basic Components. As for personal attributes? Those could wait until he finished building his mech.

Once he chose Component Crafting, the interface popped up with a list of parts and required materials.

"All I'm missing now is the materials—then it's smelting, casting, polishing, and assembling…"Hell-level difficulty, here I come.

Lin Binbin stood up and decided to take a walk through the market to see if he could get lucky with supplies.

He quickened his pace.

It was already 2 PM, and most people were at work. The marketplace felt quiet and empty.

As soon as he walked in, someone recognized him.

"Sanzi, taking the day off today?"

Sanzi was Lin Binbin's nickname—he had two older brothers. The eldest, Lin Xiao, was twelve, and the second, Lin Binhong, ten. Both served at the beast station.

Lin Binbin turned toward the voice and saw a man in rough linen clothes sitting behind a cloth mat, selling items related to spirit beasts.

Seeing Lin Binbin's puzzled face, the man chuckled warmly. "You don't remember me? I held you when you were just born."

He pointed at himself. "Li Kui. I used to serve under your father. We fought side by side in the army."

"…Oh," Lin Binbin blinked. He didn't remember this man at all, but judging from his tone, the guy was probably telling the truth.

"Oh, so you're Uncle Li," Lin Binbin said politely.

That one "Uncle" instantly made Li Kui beam with joy, his expression growing even warmer. He scratched his head and smiled. "So, Sanzi, what are you looking for? Tell Uncle Li—I can get anything that's available in the market."

Lin Binbin's eyes lit up—but he kept his expression calm, blinking slowly and giving a casual nod.

"Thanks, Uncle Li. As it happens… I do have something I need help finding."

He listed out the materials he needed and stepped aside to watch Li Kui's reaction.

"…Phew, these are all rare items. What's this… a gear? A bearing?" Li Kui squinted at the unfamiliar terms.

Lin Binbin had expected this. He was just testing his luck—if he found anything, great. If not, no big deal.

"Uncle Li, just focus on the top row. Those are raw materials," he explained.

Li Kui nodded. "The ores shouldn't be a problem. But what do you need all this for?"

He hesitated. "Also… you do know that metalwork is forbidden around here, right? Your father—"

"I've got nothing to do with my dad," Lin Binbin quickly cut in. If his dad found out, who knows how many beatings he'd get?

"The spirit beast I bought this morning hatched. I just want to build a little nest for it."

"A spirit beast?" Li Kui was startled. His attitude immediately grew more attentive. "Of course! Wait here—I'll go ask around."

Once Li Kui left, Lin Binbin casually browsed the stalls. Most of it was spirit beast feed and low-grade (F-level) beast cores—weak and short-lived, totally unsuitable for mech use.

Suddenly, his gaze froze.

A black ore caught his eye.

Just as he reached out to grab it, Li Kui's voice rang out, and Lin Binbin's hand shifted to land on a nearby bloody-red F-rank Crimson-Tail Fox core instead.

"I asked around for you. Prices are fair. The supplier's another of your father's old comrades—he said he'll even deliver it for free," Li Kui smiled.

Seeing Lin Binbin's hand, he added, "Just a low-level core. If you want it, Sanzi, take it—it's a gift from Uncle Li."

"…Can I take two?" Lin Binbin pointed at the black ore and grinned, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth.