The Apprentice Mechanic and the First Mission

Leaving Valerius's quiet laboratory, Yanaki returned to the noise and bustle of the Great Workshop. But this time, she was no longer an outsider. A few players in Guild uniforms nodded respectfully when they saw her. News about a "newbie" who had solved the Steam Giant's problem for Foreman Rory and was entrusted with a task by High-Rank Artificer Valerius had already spread internally.

She felt a strange sense of belonging. This was the first time in the Tower that she was a part of an organization.

Her goal now was clear: earn Contribution Points and raise her status within the Guild to gain access to higher-level information and resources. She went straight to the mechanical Quest Board. As an Apprentice Mechanic, a new series of more complex and higher-reward quests was now available to her.

Her eyes scanned the metal plates, ignoring the simple collection quests. She needed something that could leverage the strength of her entire party. And she found it.

[Guild Quest - C-Rank] Escort a Convoy and Repair Steam Pumping Station 13.

Description: Pumping Station #13 on the Outer Belt has ceased operation, cutting off a critical energy pipeline. The cause is a suspected attack by flying creatures. A team is needed to escort engineers to the site, protect them during repairs, and provide technical assistance if required.

Reward: 1500 Copper Cogs, 200 Guild Contribution Points.

This mission seemed tailor-made for her. "Protection"—that was Sylva's specialty. "Repair"—she had just unlocked her Mechanical Crafting skill. And "flying creatures"—a completely new challenge to test her party's flexibility.

She accepted the quest. The coordinator was another foreman, a portly man with a brass mustache that could twitch automatically. He explained that the convoy would consist of two slow-moving, heavy-duty steam transport vehicles. And she would not be going alone.

At Hangar #4, she met her temporary teammates. One was a short, scruffy man with a wild beard named Grumbles, carrying a steam-powered minigun almost as big as he was. The other was an agile girl named Wisp, with a custom-built jetpack on her back, holding a pair of pistols.

"The Foreman sent a little summoner on a mechanics mission?" Grumbles grumbled when he saw Yanaki and her party. "Is the Guild so short on people they're sending a pet-keeper to fix a pump?"

Wisp just shrugged, her curious gaze sweeping over Elara and Sylva. "As long as you don't get in the way."

Yanaki said nothing. She knew that actions would speak louder than words.

The convoy began to move out. The two giant transport vehicles slowly rolled out of the hangar onto a massive metal bridge connecting two flying islands. Below was a bottomless abyss and thick clouds of steam.

Wisp activated her jetpack, soaring high into the air to scout. Grumbles mounted his minigun on a stand on the vehicle's roof, ready to fire. Yanaki's party walked between the two vehicles, with Sylva and Volt on either side, and Elara floating near Yanaki, on alert.

The first half of the journey was peaceful. But as they reached the middle of the bridge, a long, exposed stretch with no cover, danger struck.

SCREEEEEECH!

A shriek of tearing metal ripped through the air. From the steam clouds below, dozens of dark figures shot upwards. They were giant mechanical birds, with iron wings, steel beaks, and eyes like glowing red lenses. [Iron Vultures].

"Contact!" Grumbles yelled, and his minigun began to roar, spitting bullets at the flock of vultures.

Wisp, with her jetpack, dove into the middle of the iron birds, her twin pistols firing continuously, creating a dance in the sky.

But there were too many vultures. They weaved through the hail of bullets, and a leader, larger than the others, dove down. Its target wasn't the players, but one of the transport vehicles—specifically, the giant steam boiler on top of it. If that was destroyed, the whole vehicle would explode.

"Wisp, stop it!" Grumbles yelled, but the girl was surrounded by three others. His minigun was too cumbersome to turn in time to aim at a target diving at high speed.

The Iron Vulture leader's steel talons were just meters from the boiler.

At that exact moment, Yanaki acted. Her first aerial challenge had arrived, and she was ready.