Universe's End

1. The Wrench Princess

“Thanks for the help today,” The man sighed, wiping soot from his forehead, only to end up with more grime on his forehead from the hand that he’d used to wipe away the soot.

“Happy to have helped,” Roxy said with an exhausted smile.

“This bitch is always such a damn brute to maintain,” The man sighed once more, slapping the hulking behemoth of a machine. “Normally repairs require a crew of inscription artists, blacksmiths, gem crafters, and even some alchemists.”

“I’d imagine so,” Roxy laughed as she eyed the machine. A ‘Blast Catalyst Converter’ took the principles of inversion processing, exposing a neutral item to an immense amount of energy to invert the neutral state into an anti-neutral, but applied it to the creation of catalyst items such as specialty coal for ore processing or ingredients in alchemy.

If Dad had been around when it was first made, he’d have probably made the entire thing less of a hassle to work with.

“Well, I’ll stop taking up your time,” The man said as he offered his hand to Roxy, who grasped it. For a moment, the man attempted to flex his strength, only to find Roxy returning the favor and then some.

“Hah, sorry,” The man chuckled. “Habit.”

“Careful, or you might lose your hand next time,” Roxy jokingly warned.

“I’ll keep that in mind, missus,” The man chuckled one last time as Roxy finally took her leave, leaving behind the building attached to the foundry and into the sunlight.

“Exhausting,” Roxy sighed as she took a moment to enjoy the sunlight. The work she’d been handling solo was really meant for a team of tier sixes, but of course, she’d said he could handle it herself.

She hadn’t been wrong, but that didn’t change how exhausting it was.

“Sure, just call me up for anything, I can do everything,” Roxy muttered to herself as she finally began walking once more, destination in mind. “Any busy work you always wanted to ask Dad to do but were too intimidated to ask? Sure, ask me instead.”

She was complaining, but it was without any real venom. It had been she who’d put herself in that position. And it wasn’t as if it was without benefits.

The fact that she had cracked tier six in only five years was a testament to that, faster than generally agreed to be possible, except in exceptional cases.

That was two years ago. While Roxy was making steady progress through tier six, it would be, at the earliest, another thirteen or so years until tier seven. The thought excited her, even given that it was something still more than a decade away.

Because once she broke into tier seven, she’d be right on the heels of Gil, Mariah, and Jed.

I told him that I’d take the top spot: one down, four to go.

In the absence of her father, she’d already taken the spot of top gem crafter. In fairness to the other gem crafters, it was also known that gem crafters were perhaps the slowest field to grow, so it hadn’t been too hard to catch up, especially not with her… talents.

Catching up to the likes of Gil, Mariah, and Jed, now that was a bigger ask. Over the last few years, they’d shifted their focus more toward their own individual growth.

Well, Mariah had always been focused on that, but she didn’t really count.

Ms. Irene had made it possible by offering to take up their share of the responsibilities. Be that as it may, Roxy was reasonably sure there was more to the story. Unfortunately, her interactions with Irene were surprisingly few, and compounding on that, Irene was one of the very few who’d discovered how to shield her intent from Roxy’s empathic resonance.

At the thought, Roxy briefly opened her interface, a pleasing patchwork of aquamarine and sea green greeting her as she examined the skill.