Rumor looked around the reception area. In just a few seconds, the person manning the desk would come back and see him.
The first place his gaze darted to was the cubicle where the manager stayed. Luckily the blinds were down, so, at least from that angle, he was in the clear.
Then there was the door. Rumor knew that just outside of it were two Krayt Dragon Gang members. They were just low-level thugs, so he was confident he could take them down, but it would inevitably cause a commotion, which was the last thing he wanted right now.
But he also couldn't just stay where he was. He could already hear footsteps down the corridor, and it was only the fact the receptionist seemed to have stopped to say something to the two aliens in the recreational room that gave him a couple extra seconds to plan.
Standing up, he pressed his body against the wall that led to the corridor, unsheathing his blade as he did so.
The receptionist, a female alien with scaly skin and a very thin and long snout that ended on oversized lips, opened and closed the door without even looking to the side.
Apologizing silently in his head, since the woman seemed to be just a civilian and not a gangster, Rumor nonetheless looped his arm around her neck, pulling her back flush against his chest, and plunged his knife into her heart.
[ Extreme Xenophobia (12/15) - Trandoshan, Miraluka, Rodian... ...Palowian. ]
The alien woman made a sort of wheezing sound as she slumped over, and Rumor ignored the system's notification. He gently lowered her body and hid it behind her desk - it wouldn't stay hidden for long, but it was better than leaving it out in the open.
Rumor shook his head. He really wasn't a good person. When it came to his own survival, he was willing to cross just about every line.
Sighing, he made his way to the cubicle. Putting his ear to the door, he snorted when he heard the low rumbling.
Whoever was inside was snoring, and quite loudly at that.
Turning the doorknob, he saw that he was right. Reclining on an armchair, crumbles of some pastry dotting his clothes, was a blue elephantine alien, for all intents and purposes dead to the world as the tip of his trunk swayed ever-so-slightly with each snore. Rumor used [ Observe ].
[ Palo'en ]
[ Species: Ortolan ]
[ Strength: 7 ]
[ Dexterity: 4 ]
[ Vitality: 5 ]
[ Temperance: 5 ]
[ Spirit: 4 ]
[ Appeal: 3 ]
[ Skills: Management lvl 4 ]
[ Special Skills: None ]
[ Description: Manager of the Ship Graveyard on behalf of the Krayt Dragon Gang. Average in all aspects, but an efficient manager. ]
Truly, the description hit the nail in the head. There was no other word for the alien than average.
Rumor walked over to the armchair, lightly tapping the blunt side of his [ Standard Ottegan Army Blade ] against his leg.
"Wake up."
He slapped the alien a couple of time. The manager groggly opened his huge eyes, only for them to quickly widen in surprise when he saw Rumor standing there.
"Who are you? How did you enter here?"
"Doesn't matter and doesn't matter. I'll be the one asking questions."
"The fuck you are! Get the fuck outta my office before I-"
The Ortolan stopped cold-hearted Rumor pressed the tip of his blade under his chin.
"You were saying?"
"A-Ask whatever you want! Just please don't kill me!"
"First of all, keep it down. Even if your pals outside hear you, who do you think will be faster? Them or my knife?"
The manager swallowed loudly and nodded.
"Good. Second thing, stop begging. It's annoying. Just answer my questions and everything will be just fine."
"O-Okay. W-What do you want to k-know?"
Rumor pulled the knife back, but still left it in sight of the alien as a clear threat.
"First things first, what's your job? What do you do around here?"
"I-I'm the manag-"
"I know that, dipshit. I'm asking about specifics. I don't think Valemerin pays you to sleep all day, right?"
The Ortolan nodded, then shook his head, then nodded again.
"I-I mostly just keep the books in order. Log new shipments, tally whatever parts we take from dismantling, and sell them."
"Hm. And that money, where does it go?"
The manager hesitated, but a quick narrowing of Rumor's eyes had him tripping over himself to talk.
"E-Every 15 days, The Scourge sends someone to collect it! I swear!"
"When was the last collection?"
"N-Nine days ago."
Then, anticipating Rumor's next question, the alien pointed to a safe nestles between two empty bookshelves - why even have those if you are not going to use them?
"The money's there! I can open it for you!"
"Do it."
The Ortolan stumbled onto of the armchair and walked to the safe. He was about to input the combination when he felt a prickling on his lower back.
"Just so we are clear, if you have an alarm trigger or a weapon in there, I'm still faster."
The alien shuddered, and nodded. Then he opened the safe and stepped back, to reveal piles of chips. Rumor's eyes twinkled in satisfaction.
[ You acquired: 19.800 wupiupis, Ship Graveyard Account Book. ]
Swiping his hand over the money, Rumor watched it all vanish into his storage. There was also a nice surprise, in the form of a little green book.
Putting that away too, Rumor prodded the manager on the chest with his knife until he was sitting at the chair again.
"You've been most helpful, and we are almost done. Now, I just need you to tell me one more thing."
"Anything!"
Rumor smirked.
"Valemerin. Where can I find him?"
...
Closing the cubicles door behind him, Rumor held back the urge to whistle in happiness.
[ Extreme Xenophobia (13/15) - Trandoshan, Miraluka, Rodian... ]
Just two more to finish the achievement. Despite the off-putting name, Rumor was looking forward to it. The skill he got from the first phase of the achievement, [ Red Blood ] had proved itself to be very useful when he was playing hide and seek with Alo'Reme's group back in the Dune Sea. He could only assume that the second phase reward would be even better.
But his biggest gain by far this time around had been information. The account book had some very interesting numbers, and the manager had told him all about where he could find the leader of the Krayt Dragon Gang, his habits, and his personality. All valuable intel.
The reputation points from killing the manager were also nice.
But the day was far from over, and Rumor far from done. Throwing a quick glance to the front door, he saw the guards were still there, showing no sign that they were going to come in anytime soon.
Rumor swiftly crossed the reception area and then made his way down the corridor that led to the back. One of his objectives was to farm reputation and items, and there were two 'piñatas' sitting on the recreational room he wasn't going to let go.
CRASH!
This time, Rumor gave up on subtlety. He kicked the door open, startling the two aliens, who were still playing the holographic game.
One of them had their back to Rumor, and was the first he attacked. The tester first punched him on the back of the head with his left hand to disorient him before plunging his knife in his side twice.
The alien groaned and toppled off his chair, holding his injured side. By them, his companion, who had been facing the door and thus saw Rumor first, was fumbling to draw his blaster from its holster, but the sitting position he was in made it awkward to pull out the weapon without hitting his elbow on the table.
Taking advantage of that momentary lapse, Rumor leaped over the table, tackling the thug - and yes, he used [ Grav-Leap Boost ] just for that extra 12% movement speed. Who knew, it might be the difference between getting to the enemy before they could get a shot off.
Rumor would never find out if that was the case. When both he and the gangster went tumbling to the ground in a mess of flailing limbs, the thug had only managed to pull half of the blaster out of the holster.
Digging his elbow into the solar plexus of the alien, Rumor left him gasping for air. Then he raised his blade with both hands before plunging it down on the enemy's chest.
He held it there until the alien stopped moving and the battle summary notice flashed across his vision.
Some money and miscellaneous items, but nothing worth noting. Rumor was now sure that killing low-level members of the same group was decreasing his gains.
'What a fucked up system.'
It didn't take a genius to see what The Mind wanted him to do. Fighting and killing was the quickest and easiest way to get stronger. But going after the same type of enemy diminished his returns. So, obviously, he had to find new, different enemies.
The Mind didn't want testers to live simple lives. Rumor would bet everything he owned that, if instead of going after the Krayt Dragon Gang that first day he had stayed quiet, something or someone else would have popped up that forced him to fight.
Shaking his head, Rumor opened his storage and took out a certain scratched green cylinder.
[ Turret Energy Source (Leaking) ]. It was the same stuff he had sold to Watto the other day. Well, not the same same, but another he had pillaged while making his way through the Graveyard.
Putting the device on the ground, Rumor rolled it over until it revealed a fine crack running down the length of it. Translucent green gas wafted from the leak, heavy enough that it flowed like water and didn't rise more than 5 or 6 centimeters above the ground.
Covering his mouth so as to not inhale any of the gas, Rumor went back to the reception are and searched the receptionist's body until he was rewarded with a lighter - amazing how some things didn't go out of fashion.
Going back to the recreational area, Rumor saw that there was now a thin layer of gas around the cylinder, and spreading. He guessed it would take 5 minutes or so for the whole floor to be covered by it.
Grabbing a bunch of random paper bits from around the room, he used the lighter to light them on fire. Then he set the whole bundle down in front of the door, tossing a couple more wads of paper for fuel.
Then he booked it the hell outta there. He had no idea how reactive the gas from the [ Turret Energy Source ] was, but he didn't want to be inside the building when it met the fire he started.
Poking his head out the back door, he saw nobody was nearby and quickly slipped out. Then he sneaked his way through the wreckages until he found the perfect spot.
It was the back half of a spaceship - what kind, he had no idea. But the top of it was pretty much straight, and it had a lip at the end that hid him from careless watchers when he laid down and waited.
His [ Standard Ottegan Army Blade ] was strapped to his waist again, and Rumor pulled something else from his inventory.
It was a sleek black blaster, which he had bought earlier today from a reputable - in a very Tatooine sense of the word - arms dealer. Gotta love the fact the Star Wars universe apparently had no laws whatsoever against selling weapons in the middle of the road - or at least they weren't enforced here in Tatooine.
The [ E-206 Renegade Blaster Rifle (Old) ] had set him back nearly 18.000 wupiupis. It was worth it, though. He couldn't use the [ High-Powered Slugthrower ] due to the requirements, and a ranged means of combat was essential.
Plus, the rifle was a lot stronger than his old [ C-21 Scout Saboteur (Damaged) ], even if it had the 'old' denominator.
[ E-206 Renegade Blaster Rifle (Old) ]
[ Rarity: 1-Star ]
[ Requirements: Strength - 5, Dexterity - 5 ]
[ Attack: 17 ]
[ Attack speed: 5 ]
[ Range: 250 meters ]
[ Durability: 19/25 ]
[ Effect: None ]
[ Description: This is an old blaster rifle, but well looked after by its previous owner. It will serve you well as long as you remember to clean it properly from time to time. ]
[ Observation: Can be brought out of this world. ]
It was easy to see why the item had just a 1-Star rarity. It had no effects, positive or negative, and neither the attack nor speed were anything to brag about, but unlike his old pistol, it didn't have the 'instability' effect that made each shot a gamble. It was just a reliable weapon.
Combine that with Rumor's [ Firearm Mastery ], and there was plenty he could do with the rifle.
Poking the muzzle over the lip, Rumor looked through the iron sights. From his position, he had a clear line of sight to the entrance of the office and the two bored-looking guards outside, who had no idea yet of just how miserably they had failed at their jobs.
That changed very soon. Rumor saw a flash of light through one of the office's windows, followed by what seemed to be two seconds of absolute silence before everything exploded.
KA-BOOM!
Even from his spot about 50 meters away, Rumor was hit by what felt like a physical wall of hot air and sound. He instinctively closed his eyes, his ears ringing from the booming noise.
When he opened them again, it was to a vision of hellfire and brimstone. Apparently whatever gas was used to fuel spaceship turrets was a whole lot more powerful than he initially thought, which raised several questions about work environment safety for the Graveyard workers if he was able to find two of them just lying around without even trying.
The office was how a heap of molten scrap metal, most of it still on fire. Shrapnel had reached as far as the ship Rumor was hiding on and beyond, and he was truly grateful he had the foresight to choose one with at least a little bit of protection.
The two gang members hadn't been so lucky. What little of their bodies that wasn't terrifically burnt had been torn apart by the impact and shrapnel.
[ Krayt Dragon Gang member has died. ]
[ Krayt Dragon Gang member has died. ]
[ Battle summary: You have slain 2 Krayt Dragon Gang low-level thugs. ]
[ You acquired: 199 wupiupis, False-Gold Shoulder Pad. ]
Huh, it was actually a piece of equipment this time. It seemed his luck was quite good.
But he didn't have time to check the item, because at this moment workers and Gang members swarmed from all around, attracted by the explosion.
Including the group who was previously guarding the gate.
Rumor flexed his finger on the trigger, but didn't squeeze it quite yet. He waited until everyone in the Ship Graveyard had arrived.
It was quite the crowd. About 60 workers from various species, 13 low-level thugs, and 4 elite guards, all standing around the smoldering remains of the office, unable to approach due to the heat, and unsure what to do.
Rumor drew a bead on the forehead of the closest gangster. Following the lessons shoved into his head by [ Firearm Mastery ], he held his breath and steadied his hands.
Then he pulled the trigger.
25 base attack + 17 attack from the [ E-206 Renegade Blaster Rifle ] + 12% attack bonus from [ Firearm Mastery ] + another 12% of [ Red Blood ] + stealth bonus, and finally a critical hit due to striking a vital area bypassing the thug's defense.
[ You have dealt 148 points of damage to Krayt Dragon Gang low-level thug. ]
Down the criminal went, head snapping to the side like someone had hit it with a baseball bat, followed by the rest of his body. He crashed to the ground and didn't get up.
[ You have killed Krayt Dragon Gang low-level thug. ]