“I knew you wouldn’t be able to fix it! Brian Walker, get down here right now!!!”

Brian Walker was unmoved and tentatively pressed all the buttons.

“Ahhhhh! Brian Walker, get down!” Edward Harris Sr. watched the mech trembling from time to time, tears streaming down his face in distress. “It’s going to fall over!!!”

After feeling out the mech, Brian Walker opened the hatch and jumped down, holding a wrench and aiming it at Edward Harris Sr.: “You’re so noisy, shut up.”

Edward Harris Sr. choked up, aggrieved, and shut his mouth: “……”

She walked around below, found the engine, and knocked on it: “This is a display-type mech, probably the worst kind. You’ve always been using it beyond its limits, so the fact that it only broke down now means you’re lucky.”

Hearing this, Edward Harris Sr. poked his head out: “You… really know your stuff?”

Brian Walker couldn’t be bothered to answer: “What’s the repair budget?”

“Three hundred thousand star coins.”

Brian Walker: “…Your family’s really rich.”

Edward Harris Sr. hurriedly said, “Three hundred thousand is for the mech itself. If you can really fix it, the repair fee is extra.”

“No need, spend all the money on the mech.” Brian Walker jumped down from the engine cover. “Forget the repair fee, last time you treated me to barbecue, that’s enough.”

“Huh?”

Brian Walker glanced at Edward Harris Sr.: “Got any money on you?”

“Yes.”

“Come with me to the materials market.”

The two of them went to the materials market and bought a pile of supplies. The most expensive was liquid gold, but they only got a few grams. Altogether, they spent about seven hundred thousand star coins, and Edward Harris Sr. even had to ask his mom for more money.

“Can you really fix it?” Edward Harris Sr. was nervous; seven hundred thousand star coins wasn’t a small sum for him.

“Whether I can or not, we’ve already bought the materials.”

Edward Harris Sr.: “……” Damn, he must have been out of his mind to believe Brian Walker’s nonsense.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely fix it for you before school starts.”

Even though she took on the mech repair job, Brian Walker didn’t neglect her other tasks and made time every day to go to Edward Harris Sr.’s house.

Edward Harris Sr. watched in terror as his mech was dismantled into pieces, and every night before bed, he regretted trusting Brian Walker.

Display-type mechs didn’t require any perception level, so their attack power was zero. Seven hundred thousand star coins sounded like a lot, but it was only enough to upgrade the mech’s shell hardness and the engine. That was only because Brian Walker managed to cut down on engine material costs.

As for upgrading the mech’s shell, Brian Walker left that for last. She first fixed the broken engine and boosted the power source.

‘Ka—’

Brian Walker installed the engine, stood up, and said to the nail-biting Edward Harris Sr., “Try it.”

Edward Harris Sr. pointed at the mech: “You haven’t even put the shell back on!”

“Relax, it won’t fall apart. Just see if it works first.”

Edward Harris Sr. nervously climbed into the mech room and tried moving it: “Huh?” It actually worked.

He operated the mech around the training room, overjoyed: “It’s fixed!” It was even more agile than before.

“Alright, get down for now. I’ll modify the mech’s shell and put it back on.” Brian Walker had lost interest in this kind of mech; the cockpit was ridiculously basic, couldn’t even launch an attack. At best, it was good for a stroll.

Edward Harris Sr. came out, excited: “Where did you learn these skills? Amazing.”

Brian Walker had already put on her gloves and was melting the liquid gold. The material was too expensive, so she planned to add it only to the mech’s joints and skip the rest.

By the day before school started, Brian Walker finally finished modifying Edward Harris Sr.’s mech. He took it for a spin outside, and when he came back, he looked at Brian Walker with new eyes.

“Brian Walker, from now on I’ll cover—” As her gaze swept over, Edward Harris Sr. immediately changed his tune, “We—we’re brothers!”

Brian Walker didn’t take it to heart. Being able to practice on a mech was already something to be happy about.

……

“Hiss—”

Before dawn, Brian Walker was curled up in bed, drenched in sweat, hugging her legs and gasping in pain.

Another muscle cramp.

It took a long time for Brian Walker to recover, her face pale as she leaned against the wall.

In her previous world, she’d never hurt this much during puberty, but now she got cramps all the time.

Brian Walker was growing fast, but her body wasn’t keeping up, so she was skinny as a stick, even though her shifu’s wife fed her meat every day.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Brian Walker came out of her room and bumped right into Peter Thompson.

“First day of school and you look so out of it.” Peter Thompson glanced at Brian Walker, “Cramps again?”

“I’m fine.”

Peter Thompson frowned: “Eat more usually. I’ll have your shifu’s wife make you something good later.”

After breakfast, Peter Thompson took Brian Walker to school.

With the new semester starting, the atmosphere on the first day was already different from before.

“Haven’t you heard? This school year we’ll get a chance to use a mech.”

“A mech?! The kind I’m thinking of?”

“Of course. Our academy has a mech, specially for the graduating class to practice on. There’ll be a session every week.”

Brian Walker listened to the students’ excited chatter. She hadn’t heard about this before; Peter Thompson hadn’t mentioned it to her.

When the class schedule came out before the first period, everyone was thrilled.

There really was a hands-on mech class!