Imagine if you will, a machine, very hard to make (maybe some refined blink, rift and umbris) which would have 2 slots inside.
One slot to put an item inside (one that cannot be repaired with a spanner), and another slot to put fuel.
The fuel would be something called “nano-parts”.
Nano-parts would be crafted at the workbench by combining a big number of Ancient tech [I’ve updated the idea, below].
So depending on which tool you want to be repaired, you’ll need a different rank of nano-parts :
• Minor nano-parts : Ancient tech remnants + refined gleam if it’s a tool/weapon made of stone/copper
• Improved nano-parts : Ancient tech components + refined gleam if it’s a tool/weapon made of iron/silver
• Greater nano-parts : Ancient tech devices + refined gleam if it’s made of gold/titanium
• Super nano-parts : (Ancient tech remnants + components + devices + refined gleam + any creature trophy) if it’s a gem tool/weapon.
• Mega nano-parts : (Ancient tech remnants + components + devices + rift or blink or umbris) if it’s a gem tool/weapon.
Maybe some rich end-game players won’t need to repair and will prefer to buy new tools, but lower-tier players who can’t afford all the big shiny tools could repair overtime their best tools/weapons.
You put your item (like a damaged tool) inside the other slot of the machine, and it will slowly repair it overtime. Maybe at a rate like 1 durability point repaired every 30 seconds. So, very slowly! Imagine you have 1500 durability to repaid, that would take about 12.5 hours!
The repairs could be made faster with power-coils for this new machine!
But how much durability repaired should equal 1 nano-part? What quantities would you see?
As a side bonus, what if nano-parts were a placeable block? Something like a circuit-board-like block, with energy coursing its circuits? The color of said energy would depend on the refined gleam’s color, or on blink/rift/umbris if you’re going for the mega!
Would you like something like this?