Reboot: Mechanic

Shi Tian, who was working on the code required for the IC chip, was dumbfounded when he heard Mary's question.

"Why would you want to punch me?" He asked confusingly. He didn't even do anything to agitate her, and was in fact, working very diligently on the code. 

"I don't know." Mary shrugged her shoulders in response. "I'm irritated because of this damn semiconductor I built and wanted some stress relief. And the only way to release stress is to punch someone, and you're the closest one here." 

"..."

Shi Tian was speechless by her reasoning. It was logical yet illogical at the same time.

To release stress, there are indeed many methods, and Mary's method was one of the common ones. 

However, her choice of target was incorrect and it should not have been him.

"Mary, you might look fragile on the surface, but we both know you are strong and tough. If you punch me and I get injured, then are you going to work on the code on my behalf?" Shi Tian pointed at the monitor that had a list of coding and asked. 

Turning her head slightly to the monitor and seeing the complicated list of codes, Mary's eyes seemed to be rolling around, almost as if she had gone dizzy. 

"Nevermind, you're right." Mary resigned her intention from wanting to punch Shi Tian.

She was already dying from constructing the semiconductor, so if she was tasked with coding it too, then she would truly die.

"But I'm really stressed!" She pouted like a little girl, clearly wanting to vent some frustration.

"Well aside from punching me, what other things do you have that can relieve your stress." Shi Tian asked. 

"I don't know. I'm too stressed to think of anything. This semiconductor craft is literally killing my brain." Mary scratched her head in annoyance, clearly not wanting to deal with this crap anymore. 

"Take a breather and rest for a while." He suggested, seeing her having a somewhat mental breakdown was unexpected. 

"You already finished most of the part, so I can probably finish the rest." 

"No, I can't do that." Mary shook her head in response, surprising Shi Tian briefly. 

"It'll be too irresponsible of me to dump all the work to you when this concerns the two of us in terms of safety." She added. 

"But are you sure you can continue to work in that condition? I don't wish to see a grumpy Mary." Shi Tian teased, seemingly trying to convince her to rest.

Back when he was tasked to craft the Claymore Mines all alone, he had reacted somewhat similar to Mary, but thanks to his passive ability, he managed to compose himself.

And thinking that it was a necessary step to improve his craft, he managed to grip on and continued.

However, Mary didn't need any of that, and he was positive that the remaining process was doable with his current skills. 

It was for the best that Mary could just rest and recover her mindset, considering that she did not have a cheat passive ability like he did. 

With some more convincing, Mary finally nodded her head and gave in. Though she made sure to emphasize to him that he must call for help if he got stuck. 

"Don't think about solving the problem yourself if you get stuck. The semiconductor is very tedious to build. So if you messed up and ruined it, then we would need to build another one. At that time, I'm going to thrash you until your face turns black and blue." Mary made a fisting action, warning him that she was serious.

Shi Tian nodded his head, reassuring her that he wouldn't be reckless. 

Sometime later, Mary got off the seat and laid on the ground after placing a mattress down. Her physical body was fine, but it was her mentality that had taken a strain.

She was not the diligent type that would be willing to sit down for hours to craft stuff. 

So despite being a Staff Engineer, Mary was equivalent to the mindset of an apprentice. Meanwhile, Shi Tian might still be an apprentice, but he had the mindset of a Staff Engineer. 

In other words, it was simply a hilarious scenario that doesn't and shouldn't make sense.

"Oh, when did you record the fight from earlier, Nathan?" While browsing through her Cellos device, Mary was stunned to see a new recording appeared in her folder. 

"Back when you told me to start up the mounted turret. The recording function was close to the control panel, so I thought I might as well record the fight." Shi Tian replied, his eyes focused on the coding screen.

"You're quite clever to be able to think of recording it in such an intense battle."

"Not clever, just more adaptive. By recording the battle, we can now keep on analyzing it and see its attack pattern or movement. That way, we wouldn't be as helpless as earlier." 

"If you had recorded, then why didn't you tell me sooner. This would be a damn good stress relief for me." Mary clicked her tongue and blamed him for concealing the matter.

Shi Tian was speechless when he somehow still got blamed despite being complimented earlier. 

"Anyway, you can watch it over and see if there's something you can find." He said, ignoring her remark of blaming him. 

"Yeah yeah, go do your coding. Don't bother me." Mary waved her hand in annoyance, her eyes focused on the recording. It was as if her earlier fatigueness had disappeared completely.

Did she chunk down some Magicule Electrolytes (Magel) and regain her energy? 

Unwilling to give himself an unnecessary headache, Shi Tian focused back on his task.

The code was nearly finished and Shi Tian just needed to write the last segment to complete it. 

But before he could complete it, someone was knocking on the door. Luckily, it wasn't someone looking for him, but Mary instead.

"Mary, are you there?" A familiar voice resounded from the outside, prompting Mary's expression to change slightly.