The air at the harbor of Jiangnan was thick with the smell of wet iron and the nervous energy of a city about to leave its home for the first time. The Salty Nut sat low in the water, a massive scrap-freighter that looked like it had been held together by nothing but stubbornness and heavy-duty welds. After the search for Star-Steel in the Deep Roots, the ship was now equipped with the city’s final hope: a mechanical engine designed by Mei that didn't need the magic of the Needle to run.
Xin stood on the gangplank, his boots thudding against the metal. He wasn't wearing his fancy sentinel armor. He wore heavy canvas trousers and a thick coat, looking more like the worker he used to be. On his back was a waterproof pack containing the manual tools he had grown to trust more than any digit
