Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 46: Work Plan Book

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

Ma Lu, after briefly inquiring with Mai Mai about the background of the new team members, shifted his focus to the newly acquired curio.

In the last round of hunting, he earned a total of 105 blessings, including 52 white blessings, 46 blue blessings, 6 purple blessings, and 1 gold blessing.

Final score: 2112.

Thanks to the last-minute dream-chasing success, where he secured a gold blessing worth 1,000 points, his score doubled again.

Combined with the 46 points left from the previous round, Ma Lu now had 2,158 points, elevating him from moderately wealthy to quite well-off.

So, this time he purchased two curios in one go: 【Work Plan Book】 and 【Piggy Bank】.

The Work Plan Book’s function is to select an existing blessing, making the chances of receiving blessings associated with it 50% higher in the future.

There’s a small note at the bottom: once a blessing is selected, it cannot be changed during the current round.

The moment Ma Lu saw this curio, he was immediately drawn to it.

Although the effect description of the Work Plan Book was somewhat vague, and like its name suggests, plans might not always go as intended, only boosting the probability by 50%.

But if Ma Lu’s guess was correct, this item could speed up the building of a “build.” It’s a highly valuable key item in Roguelike games.

It’s well known that in Roguelike games, a team’s most vulnerable period is when their build is not yet fully developed.

And the most frustrating thing is defeating a tough enemy only to receive blessings that are completely irrelevant to your needs.

The Work Plan Book could help alleviate this issue to some extent, further increasing the value of the Heartbeat Lottery, making the blessings it produces more useful.

It would reduce the chances of getting blessings like 【Corpse Explosion】 that don’t fit well.

The other curio, the Piggy Bank, was much more straightforward and crude in its function.

—For every round completed, the points on hand earn an additional 20% interest.

A 20% interest rate is neither too much nor too little.

Since Ma Lu had just unlocked the Curio Shop and was still in the phase of needing to enhance his strength quickly, he usually didn’t keep many points on hand.

But with this curio, if he encountered a shop with nothing particularly appealing, he could save up points and enjoy some interest.

This time, purchasing the Work Plan Book cost Ma Lu 999 points, and the Piggy Bank cost 499 points, leaving him with 614 points.

After buying the curios, Ma Lu used the Sticky Web to retrieve the designated skill 【Strike Charge】.

However, he didn’t rush to activate the Work Plan Book’s effect.

Instead, he first slaughtered the 15 Red-Bellied Rattlesnakes, planning to see what blessings he would receive before deciding on the build direction.

Now that Ma Lu had more money, he was starting to find the previous method of accumulating blessings too slow. Additionally, if he encountered danger right after arriving, he might not have time to react.

So, he asked Bocchi to help pre-purchase some fresh ingredients from the market to directly farm blessings.

He chose Red-Bellied Rattlesnakes because they were cheap, lightweight, easy to carry, and were 2-star ingredients.

A live Red-Bellied Rattlesnake sells for around 90 energy units, while a dead one can be taken back and sold to a restaurant for about 60 energy units.

Ma Lu paid 450 energy units for 15 Red-Bellied Rattlesnakes and, in return, received 15 blue or even purple blessings.

To Ma Lu, it seemed like a pretty good deal.

Bocchi, after hearing Ma Lu’s plan, even suggested that the expense be counted as part of the hunter group's costs.

Her reasoning was straightforward: since Ma Lu’s use of his Roguelike ability ultimately benefited the entire group, the expense should be covered by the group, not by Ma Lu personally.

Getting reimbursed by group funds was, of course, ideal for Ma Lu, and he did not refuse.

Now it was time for the much-anticipated gamble.

From the 15 Red-Bellied Rattlesnakes, Ma Lu ended up with 2 purple blessings and 13 blue blessings.

One of the purple blessings was swapped in after triggering the upgrade effect of Heartbeat Lottery, while the other was due to the small chance of getting purple blessings from 2-star ingredients.

It was decent luck, and Ma Lu examined the two purple blessings he had received.

【Headshot: When team members perform long-range attacks, there is a 33% chance to hit the target’s head】

【Resurrection: When a team member dies, there is a 33% chance of revival】

The first blessing didn’t need much discussion; Ma Lu wasn’t yet sure what weapons the newly joined siblings, Setta and Senqi, preferred, but this blessing worked well with his small hand crossbow.

However, Ma Lu knew he wasn’t the main DPS of the team, nor did he want to be; it was too risky.

So, he wasn’t planning to build around this blessing.

The second blessing made Ma Lu pause and think.

A 33% resurrection rate sounded high at first, but the problem was that there was still a 67% chance of staying dead. Even if those probabilities were reversed, no one would gamble on life-and-death situations.

So, apart from serving as an unreliable last resort, it didn’t seem very practical.

However, it oddly synergized with the gold blessing he got last round, 【Corpse Explosion】.

But Ma Lu quickly pushed that dangerous idea aside.

As always, when it comes to life and death, it’s better not to mess around.

In the end, Ma Lu chose a blue blessing, 【Poison in the Water】, to activate the Work Plan Book’s effect.

【Poison in the Water: When a team member with a water-type psychic ability uses their power, there is a 15% chance to add poison】

Mai Mai’s psychic ability could only be used once, and it was already powerful enough, so it didn’t need further boosting from blessings. Setta and Senqi were newcomers, and Ma Lu didn’t know them well yet, so he focused on enhancing Bocchi’s abilities.

At most, when there were no blessings suitable for Bocchi, he would choose those that could benefit others.

Setta watched coldly as Ma Lu slaughtered the Red-Bellied Rattlesnakes, feeling a pang of heartache, knowing that some of his money was involved.

However, having been warned by Bocchi once, he kept quiet this time, although his expression still betrayed his thoughts.

He then saw Ma Lu walk over to Bocchi and Mai Mai, shaking hands with each of them before approaching him and his sister. Ma Lu extended his hand again, smiling slightly.

“You wanted to know what my psychic ability is? Then join my team and experience it firsthand.”

Worried that her brother might say something to offend the two leaders again, Senqi quickly shook Ma Lu’s hand first, stammering, “P-please take care of us.”

Seeing this, Setta reluctantly shook Ma Lu’s hand too, but his expression immediately shifted as he felt his body become noticeably lighter.

Among the 13 blue blessings were some that boosted basic attributes, and as Setta joined the team, he instantly felt the effects of these blessings.

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