When he woke up the next day, after a relatively restful 6 hours of sleep in a run-down room on the top floor of a shady club, the first thing Rumor did, even before getting out of bed, was call on The Mind to confirm the events of the previous day weren't just a blood-loss-fueled delirium.

  It wasn't.

  [ Name: Rumor ]

  [ Titles: None ]

  [ Prestige: Unknown ]

  [ Health (HP): 100 ]

  [ Mental Points (MP): 70 ]

  [ Strength: 5 ]

  [ Dexterity: 7 ]

  [ Vitality: 5 ]

  [ Temperance: 7 ]

  [ Spirit: 5 ]

  [ Appeal: 6 ]

  [ Attack: Physical - 25 (Strength X 5), Mental - 25 (Spirit X 5) ]

  [ Defense: 10 (Vitality X 2) ]

  [ Free attribute points: 0 ]

  [ Skills: Observe, Hunter Sense lvl 1, Red Blood lvl 1 ]

  [ Equipment: Standard Ottegan Army Blade, C-21 Scout Saboteur (Damaged), Rusted Brass Knuckles ]

  [ Miscellaneous: 3.510 wupiupis, Delicious Unknown Fruit (1) ]

  [ Active missions: 1 ]

  [ Incursions: 1 ]

  Visually it wasn't all that different from when he first started the incursion, but to Rumor, it felt like night and day.

  His biggest gain, however, had been information. Yesterday he had been too tired and overwhelmed to properly sort everything put, but now that he had time, there were a few key points he realized he almost missed.

  The way The Mind worked, how rewards and achievements were distributed, the things the system didn't tell you, but let you discover on your own, like hidden achievements.

  Most of all, Rumor was impacted by how much stats and skills mattered. Watto held absolute dominance over him in both, and yet he was able to counter with just one skill.

  That meant interactions between testers and characters, storyline or not, weren't as simple and straightforward as just having bigger numbers.

  Slowly, Rumor was starting to understand how The Mind operated and its intricacies.

  'Today's goal: scouting ways out of this rock.'

  He didn't waste any more time thinking in bed. When he started the incursion, The Mind had said he could spend up to 3 months the in the outside world once he was done. There would be time to think then.

  After a quick breakfast, he stepped out onto the streets of Tatooine - only to find out the sky was dark.

  It took three minutes of pestering a very grumpy bartender for him to discover that Tatooine had a 34 hours' rotation cycle, of which 22 were day.

  That... Actually changed things a little. His discombobulated biological clock aside, it meant that the 15 days The Mind had given him to complete his main mission were more like 21 days in total.

  And more than that, there were plenty of things that could be done at night that you wouldn't want to be caught dead doing during the day.

  Such as breaking into Watto's shop.

  That had been an spontaneous decision on Rumor's part. But one he couldn't put away once it popped up.

  Breaking in was actually fairly simple, mainly because Rumor's target wasn't the shop itself, where Watto kept his most valuable wares, and thus had the better security system, but rather the open space at the back of the shop where the larger ship parts were stored.

  The merchant hadn't invested nearly as much in security back there. Although climbing the wall while avoiding the two rotating cameras was a bit of a hassle, Rumor managed it by the skin of his teeth.

  Then, it was a matter of going around the veritable junkyard of spare parts to find what he wanted: a hyperspace drive, or hyperdrive for short.

  Indeed, Rumor was searching for the same item as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original movies. According to The Mind, the ship from Naboo carrying the Jedi and Princess Amidala would arrive tomorrow, so tonight was his one and only chance to carry out his bold plan.

  In the movies, it's said that Watto was the only one in Mos Espa who had a hyperdrive that fit Qui-Gon Jinn's spacecraft.

  Rumor couldn't help but wonder how it would affect the plot if Watto didn't have the hyperdrive. Would Qui-Gon Jinn still find a way to bet Anakin's freedom on the pod-race?

  Somehow, Rumor couldn't see the entire plot being derailed by such a minor change. Just like Anakin had his [ Chosen One ] title and the [ Fate's Chosen ] special skill, there were bound to be other ways for the system to correct any deviations, unless they were too big, like the death of a main storyline character.

  Either way, Rumor considered it a worthwhile experiment. Succeeding or not, it would give him much needed information.

  And, if Rumor could get his hands on the hyperdrive, he would have a direct path to forging a relationship with many important storyline characters.

  Usually, that would be easier said than done. A hyperdrive wasn't something you could keep in your pocket. It was big, which was one of the reasons Watto kept it in the open with all the other large ship parts. After all, there was no way anyone could abscond with a car-sized hunk and metal without triggering any of his alarms.

  Unless, of course, said someone had a system with a storage feature that let them carry whatever they wanted.

  Well, the storage didn't work exactly like that, Rumor had asked. There was a weight and capacity limit, and you could only put away things classified either as miscellaneous consumables (like food and water) or as proper items. You also couldn't just go around shrinking everything you touched and storing it away, it had to be things you owned.

  Luckily for Rumor, much like earlier in the Graveyard, the system recognized what he was doing as stealing - which was what it was, really. So, as long as there weren't witnesses, he could take away the hyperdrive.

  And also a few other things along the way. Rumor came across a perfectly functional [ Tempest-class Water Condenser and Mist Purifier ]. That was an essential item from farmers and the like in Tatooine, allowing them to thrive even in the desert planet.

  It also cost about 40.000 wupiupis, or 6.000 Republic credits, for one. He had seen many being sold around Mos Espa, so he was very aware of the price.

  Putting away the condenser, Rumor allowed his lips to curl up slightly. That was the first half of the [ Smuggler ] achievement done.

  Although tempted, he refrained from stealing anything else. Watto had been in Tatooine for a very long time, and undoubtedly had quite the list of contacts. If his stolen wares started to turn up on other shops, he would surely be alerted.

  No, better focus on the hyperdrive. Surviving 22 years in a place as inhospitable as The Quarter had taught him the value of moderation.

  Half an hour later, he finally found what he was looking for. The [ T-14 Hyperdrive Engine ] looked a lot like, well, a car engine. It was slicker and bigger, reaching about his shoulders, and undoubtedly weighting at least half a ton, but other than that, pretty normal-looking.

  He was about to put the device away when he froze. There, resting inconspicuously against the hyperdrive, were three odd-looking bowls.

  Only, they weren't bowls. Rumor recognized them from the movies. They were those goofy androids Jar Jar Binks ended up provoking when Qui-Gon Jinn's group first visited Watto's shop.

  He didn't remember their names, but that was easily fixable. Taking a few steps back very, very careful not to make any noise, he used [ Observe ].

  [ DUM-series Pit Droid ]

  [ Species: Droid ]

  [ Strengh: 2 ]

  [ Dexterity: 2 ]

  [ Vitality: 2 ]

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  [ Temperance: 0 ]

  [ Spirit: 0 ]

  [ Appeal: 2 ]

  [ Skills: Loud Blaring ]

  [ Special skills: None ]

  [ Description: A cheap, unintelligent droid series used mostly in Tatooine's pod-racing arenas. Their size and foldable capacity makes them a favorite for exploring otherwise unreachable spaces. ]

  [ Loud Blaring: When spooked, make incredibly loud noises. ]

  Good thing Rumor had looked twice. While laughably weak, the three pit droids would have caused quite the racket if he approached carelessly.

  So, even this sort of extremely roundabout way of affecting the plot was guarded against. Although, compared to the protections around Anakin or even Watto, this was one obstacle even the current Rumor could surpass.

  The [ Loud Blaring ] skill was a bit annoying, the latest entry in a category Rumor was mentally labeling as 'versatile skills'. Like [ Observe ], it didn't seen to be able to level up, but even then, despite its simple description, there were a myriad uses for it.

  The DUM-series Pit Droids obviously used them to alert and warn their owners in case someone tried to steal from them. But Rumor could also see it being useful as a distraction, for communication, or even an attack, depending on how sensitive to noise the enemy was.

  But before wondering about the possibilities of the skill, he had to think of a way to not become a victim of it.

  The eye. In the first movie, Anakin said you had to hit them in the eye to deactivate them.

  Biting his bottom lip, he brought out the [ Rusted Brass Knuckles ] from his storage. Here he would need their speed more than the [ Standard Ottegan Army Blade's ] attack.

  Then, picking up a loose piece of junk from the ground, he hid behind what looked like the lower half of a water tank and threw it over his head.

  CLANG!

  The noise was particularly loud in the mostly silent area, but luckily it didn't travel very far beyond the walls, thanks to Mos Espa's active nightlife.

  The pit droids woke up right away, though. From their initial state as five-fingers-tall squashed plates, they jumped up into three robots about 1,20 meters each.

  The large eye right in the middle of their head was, well, eye-catching, and the way they started chattering right away and hitting each other looked like a comedic routine.

  But to Rumor, the wait was anything but funny. It took an eternity for them to start moving towards the distraction, during which the tester felt his palms sweating around the brass knuckles tightly clenched in his grip.

  Finally, two of the pit droids left the vicinity of the hyperdrive, leaving only one to guard it. The robot looked bored, kicking a bolt around.

  Rumor knew he wasn't going to get a better chance than that. Lunging from his hiding spot, he punched the pit droid square in the eye just as it turned around.

  The droid crumbled like a badly-built Lego tower. Parts scattered everywhere with a racket that made Rumor wince.

  [ You initiated an attack on DUM-series Pit Droid PO-2. Calculating attack value... Deducting target's defense... ]

  [ You struck DUM-series Pit Droid PO-2 in a vital area. Calculating attack value... ]

  [ You attacked DUM-series Pit Droid PO-2 while in stealth. Adding stealth bonus... Calculating attack value... ]

  [ You achieved a one-hit kill. 89 damage dealt. ]

  [ DUM-series Pit Droid PO-2 has died. ]

  Notifications flashed past his eyes, and Rumor ignored them. Not even looking at the remains of the droid, he rushed past it to where the other two had gone.

  He almost bowled them over as they evidently made their way back to investigate the fate of their companion. Before either could use [ Loud Blaring ], he punched one and smashed an elbow in the face of the other.

  [ DUM-series Pit Droid PO-3 has died. ]

  [ DUM-series Pit Droid PO-1 has died. ]

  Ignoring the majority of the notifications that followed, he focused only on those two to confirm the kills. Only then, satisfied that that he hadn't left any loose ends, did he turn to the battle summary.

  [ Battle summary: You have slain 3 DUM-series Pit Droids. ]

  [ No one has witnessed your battle. Do you wish to hide this information? ]

  This time, he selected yes. The whole point of this venture was not getting discovered by Watto.

  [ You have acquired: Mechanical Optical Nerve (Damaged) (x2), Magnifying Lense. ]

  Oh? The first was just junk he could sell, but the [ Magnifying Lense ] was interesting.

  [ Magnifying Lense ]

  [ Rarity: 1-Star ]

  [ Effect: Allows you to see the stats of a character if the difference between your spirit and their temperance is no more than 20 points. ]

  [ Remaining uses: 3 ]

  [ Description: A lense taken from the eye of a DUM-series Pit Droid. Due to the rudimentary extraction, it can only support 3 uses before cracking. ]

  [ Observation: Can be brought out of this world. ]

  That was a useful item. Almost too useful, in fact. Rumor didn't think weak opponents like the pit droids would drop something that valuable.

  Maybe it was because he didn't let them use their [ Loud Blaring ] skill? After all, that seemed to be their only move - they certainly weren't fighters.

  Could the rewards change like that, depending on how well he did in the battle?

  Yes, no doubt they could. After all the incredible things he had seen The Mind do already, that wasn't even worth mentioning.

  All the more motivation to always do his best. If he was going to keep getting thrown into fictional worlds, he wanted to be as prepared as he could for it.

  Pocketing the [ Magnifying Lense ], he made his way back to the [ T-14 Hyperdrive Engine ]. This time, he didn't hesitate to store it away.

  Leaving Watto's property was even easier than entering. By dragging over a metallic cube, he avoided having to climb the wall again, and simply had to wait for the cameras to turn away before jumping down.

  He quickly left the area - walking fast, not running. Running attracted attention.

  CLA-TRAK!

  Just as he thought he was safe, Rumor heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked behind him.

  Slowly turning around, he found himself faced with 5 aliens, all armed to the teeth. The one in the center had a rifle that looked decidedly ancient, and was aiming it at his chest.

  "Don't move, ya hairless sewer rat. Or this beauty here's gonna put a hole through ya that I can fit my head through. This ain't no blaster, but a good 'ol fashioned slugthrower. Yeh gonna bleed to death and it won't be quick."

  Rumor said nothing. He also didn't move. This wasn't his first time being held at gunpoint. It wasn't even the first time in the last 24 hours.

  The leading alien saw he was keeping quiet and sneered, hints of very pointy teeth poking through his sausage-like lips.

  "Good boy. Now, boss wanna have a word with ya."

  Boss? Rumor could think of only one group of people he had offended in Tatooine. The alien must have seen the realization dawn in his face, because his sneer grew more pronounced.

  "Shouldn't have fucked with the Krayt Dragon Gang, human. Now ya get a personal interview with The Scourge."