Universe's End

Chapter 217: The Wrench Princess

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.

Empath Resonance

Rarity: Unique

Understanding is key to learning, a key you hold most tightly. An innate racial capability of the Sensen that allows one to perceive intent and emotions to varying degrees through the specialty-adapted horns adorning one’s head.

Roxy had always technically had the skill, but it had only been properly labeled as a ‘skill’ after she’d officially become tier one seven years ago. It was a secret skill –though Roxy didn’t make a point of sharing her skills as a general rule anyway– that only a few knew of, such as her Uncle Apostolos, Aunt Violet, and Lady Irene, to name the most obvious examples. It was part of how she’d managed to pick up skills, literal and metaphorical, so quickly. It lost effectiveness the more complex the concept she was prying into, but few could learn the basics as she could. In fact, it was the reason she’d decided not to take the Scholar’s Retreat skill when offered. In fact, it had even been upgraded at tier three when she’d taken a ‘skill’ called Resonance Field, which didn’t actually do anything other than improve the range and sensitivity of Empath Resonance.

Empath Resonance wasn’t the only innate racial skill she’d discovered, though, upon reaching tier one proper.

Origin Ancestor Decree

Rarity: Unique

As not just one of the original but the very origin of the Sensen race, your decree echoes through your kind, shaping their direction. As an Ancestor Sensen, allows one to adopt a Decree, reinforcing behavioral attitudes toward such decrees.

WARNING: Perishing will result in the last adopted decree becoming a permanent echo fixture within all Sensen psyche.

That… that had been a skill Roxy wasn’t sure how to feel about. It explained how, growing up, she’d had nearly unparalleled focus; she’d adopted a focus decree all the way back then, thanks to watching her father’s work. After she had learned of the skill’s existence post-tier-one, Roxy had tested out swapping her decree and instantly noticed the effect. While her focus was still sharper than most, her ability to stay committed for extended periods, the way her father could, had seemingly vanished.

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It had been quite an interesting discovery. Afterward, Roxy generally kept her decree to the ‘focus’ state, but from time to time she swapped off simply so she wouldn’t become the same sort of hermit her father was.

Which says something about him, if he naturally has that sort of focus.

Focus was a strange sort of ‘quasi’ attribute, because it wasn’t an attribute whatsoever. There was no ‘real’ way to improve one’s focus, except through sheer commitment and time. Focus also seemed to be the cornerstone of the Architect—Architect with a capital A — vocation. Since she’d gained an Architect vocation, only two others had gained some variety of Architect vocation.

A thought that made Roxy cringe. Two boys, they had been her ‘underclassmen,’ they both had serious crushes on her. Had it not been for Roxy, they likely would have been the talk of the academy for how talented they were; they’d also been given early entrance, though not quite as early as Roxy.

Rian and Dan. Hotshot crafters who still couldn’t hold a candle to her, still tier fives. They’d made fast progress, at least compared to most.

Ugh.

Roxy shook her head. For some reason, even years after they’d been teenagers, the two still had crushes on her.

Damn Empath Resonance.

She wasn’t a mind reader, but damn if at times it didn’t feel like it, and nothing was quite as off-putting as getting a sense of what a guy who had a crush on you wanted to do to you.

Bleh.

Finally making it to her destination, Roxy folded her arms with the other. She was standing in front of what looked like a wax pillar, as a half-centipede, half-spider, half-leech watched her, its eyestalks waving about.

“Hello, little buddy,” Roxy cooed as she gave the amalgam monstrosity a pet between the eyestalks, its many legs skittering and twitching in appreciation. “Would you mind telling Tsarina I’m here?”

“No need,” A new voice said as a figure stepped free of the wax as if she’d always been there.

The once small humanoid monster had grown, standing several inches taller than even Roxy’s rather tall frame. Fully matured, her wings, while closed behind her back, almost looked like a regal cloak, and her fuzzy ‘fur’ that coated much of her exoskeleton gave her an intimidating presence that further reinforced a sense of nobility.

Also, being an Alpha variant tier seven monster didn’t hurt in that regard either.

Not that it stopped Roxy from throwing her arms around the monster and giving her a tight hug.

“Mistress Roxy,” Tsarina complained momentarily.

“Seven years and you still won’t let that go,” Roxy groaned as she pulled away from the monster.

“Daughter of the Great Khan,” Tsarina said, giving the well-recited lecture. “Much as my royal guards are my attendants, I am an attendant to the Great Khan. Therefore-”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Roxy groaned. “You spent too much time around the Rong clan.”

“They were skilled teachers,” Tsarina countered.

“Blah,” Roxy stuck her tongue out before shaking her head. “Let’s get a move on, we’re burning daylight.”

“As you instruct,” Tsarina sighed, though it was merely a replication of the human response, given that Tsarina didn’t actually have lungs.

Offering her arm, Roxy grabbed on as Tsarina touched her clawed hand upon the waxy pillar. For several moments, it was as if Roxy’s senses were entirely masked under a wall of wax, sight, sound, and even taste.

And then it was over as the two appeared next to a waxy pillar outside the entrance to the Null Window ‘station.’

I still don’t understand why Dad sometimes called it a ‘bus station’. Heck, I don’t even know what a ‘bus’ is.

Stepping inside, the two were waved past as they were instantly recognized. Within moments, they stepped through the Null Window, appearing atop a temple by a miniature lake, a golden landscape spreading for quite a distance in every direction.

“Daughter of Design,” A voice rumbled out as a large head slithered out from the liquid surrounding the temple.

“Khan of Blue Lightning,” Roxy politely said, infusing her voice with her aura. “I did not expect you would be responsive.”

“Returned I have, from the depths below.”

“I would hope it has been a fruitful endeavor?” Roxy asked.

“Indeed,” The Khan said.

“That is pleasing to hear,” Roxy said, continuing the formalities as the Khan turned its attention to Tsarina.

“Youngling,” The Khan said, the usual steel in its voice that appeared whenever it spoke to Tsarina.

“Elder Khan,” Tsarina bowed her head in a somewhat submissive fashion. As an alpha variant monster and a tier seven, being in the heartland of the Khan of Blue Lightning’s territory would usually warrant a relatively quick and brutal end. Being a part of Ehkorrus was the only reason the Khan didn’t squash her like a bug.

Pun intended.

Knowing that, Tsarina had always made a point of being rather deferential to the older and more powerful monster ever since she’d reached tier seven, where she would be considered an actual ‘threat,’ as minor a threat as that was.

“We are just here for some sparring,” Roxy said as the Khan blinked once.

“I am aware,” Blue Lightning grumbled. “Thou informed me of thy intentions last time.”

“Right, well, we will just be going then,” Roxy said, her aura nearly breaking for a moment.

Always tickles the throat.

“Go in peace.”

Having received the Khan’s blessing, the two quickly departed, never bothering to stop by the crafter undercity as they instead made their way to the further reaches of the Khan’s inner territory.

Far enough from anywhere that they could cause harm, Tsarina turned toward Roxy.

“Such practice is… unnecessary,” Tsarina said, for a moment looking as if she were chewing on the word.

“It’s not,” Roxy said, crossing her arms. “I’m not the little princess that needs to be locked up all safe and sound, and frankly, I’m tired of being treated like that is all I am, the princess who is good with a wrench.”

Tsarina shrugged. It was almost a tradition by this point that whenever Roxy coerced Tsarina into training with her, Tsarina would give her the same lecture.

“If you insist, Mistress,” Tsarina faked sighing once more. Taking a step back, she slipped out of her outer molt, which came to life instantly. “Base tier six, it will ramp up as always.”

“Good,” Roxy said with a grin. “Then here we go.”

“Ugh,” Roxy groaned, sprawled out on the ground, covered in dirt and grime.

“You did well, Mistress,” Tsarina nodded sagely, her molted clone copying the motion.

“It’s just so… hard to break that habit,” Roxy groaned. “You spend your entire life using resonance, then you spar against something that has nothing to resonate with, and it’s like someone turned my eyes off.”

“You are unpolished, it is to be expected.” Tsarina countered.

“Yeah, but you’re naturally strong!” Roxy complained. In only a tad over a decade, Tsarina had climbed from tier five to tier seven. Now, in fairness, most of the higher tiers had chalked that up to her assumed ‘baseline’ being that of a tier seven or six, so she only needed to age up to reach such a point. Throw on how much she was able to flex her Queen-abilities over the years of developing her hive throughout the city, and it was no surprise.

“Instinct,” Tsarina countered once more. “Unlike non-monsters, there is a level of-” Tsarina paused for a moment, searching for the word.

“Fundamental,” Roxy offered, having picked up instantly on the feeling she was searching for,

“Fundamental, yes,” Tsarina nodded. “There is a level of fundamental, innate understanding. Within the history of my pedigree, of the ancestry of my origin, the Great Khan and the Sun-Touched can be traced, their echoes giving me understanding.”

“Sounds like cheating bullshit,” Roxy groaned, channeling her inner Rory as she complained.

“It is-”

“Unnecessary for me to push myself in so many different directions,” Roxy said, saying the words she’d heard before. “Oh, Roxy, you’re already on track to be our best artisan; you don’t have to take up a sword as well,” Roxy said, miming Irene.

Tsarina was silent, letting her ‘liege’ grumble and complain.

“No shit, I don’t have to,” Roxy was fully indulging herself and her pity party. “But Dad didn’t have to do a lot of stuff either. And no, I’m not just chasing his shadow. Dad is my hero. I want to be like him! But you say that to people, and I can feel the pity dripping off of them, like I was somehow cursed to chase after him. No one thinks that it’s because I genuinely want to! I am not a charity case or something, or some foolish girl chasing her Dad because she’s abandoned or something! Why doesn’t anyone believe me when I say it’s because I really think it’s cool as shit, no more, no less?”

For good measure, Roxy proceeded to kick her legs up and down like a child throwing a tantrum, purposely playing into her rant before she sighed.

“Alright, bitching and moaning finished,” Roxy grumbled as she jumped back to her feet.

“Do you feel better, Mistress?” Tsarina asked. As a humanoid-monster, quite a bit of her emotions and feelings were hidden behind an expression that few could easily parse.

Roxy, meanwhile, was able to read the feelings radiating from the bug-woman without issue, getting the sense of her ‘aid’ cocking her non-existent eyebrows at her.

“Yes,” Roxy sighed, raising her hands as the pneuma around her began to fold. “So, let’s get back to it.”

A clacking sound came from Tsarina, which, even if Roxy had not been able to sense the shape of her emotions, she would have instantly recognized as her version of chuckling.

“If you insist, Mistress.”

If Dad is going to take his sweet ass time returning, then I’d at least like to have a nice surprise for him when he does return.