The Apprentice

In a kingdom rebuilt on steam and silence, nothing is wasted—not even people. Yan Karel was sent to the mills to pay a debt that was never truly his. He learned quickly: survive, work, and don’t ask questions. Machines were honest. People were not. Then Professor Voron arrived. A man of the University. A man who does not ask—only observes, calculates, and decides. By morning, Yan’s contract is gone. His past, rewritten. His future, purchased with a single stroke of ink. Beneath the Old Palace, something long sealed is opening again. The Iron Archives. A place where systems are studied.Not mechanical ones. Yan is offered an apprenticeship.Not a choice. And in a world where everything is measured—pressure, time, usefulness—he is about to learn the most precise discipline of all: How far something can be pushed…before it breaks.