Gears & Girls, Book 1

Quick notice—we had a batch of files uploaded that were pre-edits; if you've downloaded the book before the end of the day today (July 17, 2025), please re-download the chapters! Thanks so much for your patience. We now bring you back to your regularly scheduled Gears & Girls! Being a tech-serf sucks, but being powerless and broke sucks even more. Trapped by crushing debt in the ancients-powered city of Alnda, Alaric barely scrapes by on five-credit repairs and monster scavenging. Gaining his freedom feels more impossible by the day, until he discovers a forbidden alien AI. Crimson Death isn’t just a program, it is self-aware and pissed that it lost the war against humanity. He offers Alaric a simple deal: power in exchange for partnership. The catch? Put him out in the sun to recharge his battery. First order of business? A history lesson and a whole new understanding of the monsters haunting his world, and the lies it is built on. The second? Teaching him how to grow monster cores in