One of the first lessons you learned in the environment Rumor grew up in was to never show fear or uncertainty. In fact, you never showed anything. Even too much confidence or arrogance would attract the attention of others.

  The more blank you were the better. If people couldn't see through you, they would hesitate to mess with you. After all, The Quarter was full of psychos who might stab you for no apparent reason. Mos Espa wasn't much different.

  For that reason, Rumor walked as if he had lived his entire life in the dusty old city, even though he only had a destination in his mind, but no idea on how to get there.

  Right now, Rumor had one main objective: finding a transport that would get him to the Mid Rim, allowing him to complete his main mission and keep his life. Related to that, he had smaller, optional goals. Getting into a ship which would take him even further than the Mid Rim, and getting something to sell there, so he could accomplish the milestone Smuggler.

  For both of those, he needed money. Rumor didn't particularly care if it was earned legally or stolen. And thankfully, the settings of the incursion had handed him the perfect target to accomplish all of that: the Krayt Dragon Gang.

  According to the thug he interrogated, the gang was responsible for the spaceship yards in Mos Espa, and also a place called Graveyard which Rumor was itching to visit. Most importantly, his relationship with them had already fallen to Hostile, so everything tied up nicely.

  Before facing the Krayt Dragon Gang, however, Rumor needed to learn more. His shallow knowledge of the situation in Mos Espa, based only on the words of a disgruntled thug, wasn't enough.

  Thankfully, Rumor thought he knew just the place to get both information and a chance to make some credits.

  That place was Watto's shop. Indeed, Rumor was thinking of the same Watto who appeared in the movies, the scammer who tried to swindle Qui-Gon Jinn out of his ship, and also the owner of the young Anakin Skywalker and his mother.

  Rumor wouldn't deny that a large portion of his choice for Watto's shop was based on his wish to see one of the main characters of the Star Wars universe face-to-face. Even in his current situation, trapped by The Mind in something he still wasn't one hundred percent sure wasn't a delirious dream while he bled to death on his cell, Rumor couldn't help but let his curiosity take hold of him.

  Most of all, he wanted to use [ Observe ] and see what the character sheet of the Chosen One looked like.

  Would Anakin Skywalker be a defenseless child? Or would he have some sort of protection? Somehow, Rumor just couldn't see The Mind allowing someone to kill Anakin before he matured, thus derailing the entire Star Wars series.

  He stumbled onto something else entirely before finding Watto's shop, however. In fact, he was almost ran over by it.

  "Watch out!"

  "What the hell?!"

  "Look where you are going, asshole!"

  A badly-damaged hovering vehicle zoomed past Rumor, and he had to jump back not to be hit by it. It crashed through several stalls and almost crushed a few pedestrians, inciting a wave of insults. Somehow Rumor could understand most of them, despite all the different alien languages, and was glad for The Mind's foresight.

  Something was really wrong with the hovering car, though. After it crashed into a stop, nobody got out. When some disgruntled stall owners went to request compensation from the driver, they discovered all the passengers were already dead.

  It spoke loads about Tatooine that the corpses were immediately pulled out and stripped of all valuables, and nobody said a word against it.

  Rumor heard some whispers and captured the words 'Tusken raiders' multiple times, enlightening him to who the murderers were.

  Deciding it was not his problem, he sidestepped the commotion and continued on his way.

  It took Rumor another half an hour to find Watto's shop, which was way less than he expected. Contrary to his first impressions, Mos Espa was huge. But he always had a glib tongue, and a little persuasion in the form of showing he had a knife and wasn't afraid to use it went a long way to convince people.

  Rumor was fairly certain by now that The Mind had changed something in him to make him more receptive of new and strange things. Otherwise, there was no way he could just approach a random alien with half a dozen eyes and twice as many tentacles and ask for directions.

  He wasn't going to complain. That was likely the only reason he was still alive and able to react so quickly to all the impossible things he went through.

  The shop front wasn't anything special. Just another dusty old facade with a metal sign in some language he couldn't read despite The Mind's translation hanging above the doorway.

  Rumor didn't enter the shop. He didn't really want to deal with Watto - he had no money, and the flying alien was only concerned with profit, so nothing would come out of it even if he tried. Furthermore, he could see his target from outside.

  Anakin Skywalker was sitting on the counter, wiping some mechanical part with a dirty rag. He didn't look exactly like the kid from the movies, but it was close enough that Rumor identified him instantly. With a whispered thought, he used [ Observe ].

  [ Anakin Skywalker ]

  [ Titles: Chosen One ]

  [ Species: Human ]

  [ Strength: 2 ]

  [ Dexterity: ?? ]

  [ Vitality: 10 ]

  [ Temperance: ?? ]

  [ Spirit: ?? ]

  [ Appeal: ?? ]

  [ Skills: Bargain lvl 9, ???, ???, ???... ]

  [ Special Skills: Fate's Chosen, ???, ??? ]

  [ Description: The Chosen One of the Star Wars Universe, Anakin Skywalker is a force to be reckoned with even as a child. He is protected by the Force, and any attempts to harm him are likely to have severe consequences. ]

  Rumor froze. He already expected Anakin to be protected I some way, but this was absurd. 4 out of his 6 stats were question marks, as were most of his skills. [ Bargain lvl 9 ] apparently made Anakin a genius in buying and selling stuff, and Rumor wouldn't be caught dead trying to negotiate with the little slave. The special skill was even more interesting.

  [ Fate's Chosen: Passive. Anakin Skywalker is chosen by the Force. Immune to all physical attacks, 90% damage reduction from testers' attacks. Unless he is killed in one blow, HP will always recover to full within 2 seconds. ]

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  That was... Broken. The Mind might as well have added a line saying Anakin was immortal. If all main storyline characters were like that, Rumor wasn't sure he would ever be able to face one. And there was also the title, [ Chosen One ], which only returned more questions marks when Rumor inspected it.

  In the end, Rumor left without showing himself to Anakin. He didn't think cultivating a connection with a character such as him would be easy. He would be lucky to get into the double digits of relationship points, which wouldn't be worth all the time and effort he put into it, and the things he would give up.

  No, while Anakin Skywalker was tempting, Rumor had another target. He had no money to buy tickets to a ship out of Tatooine, and he didn't fancy finding an honest job to earn it - if one of those even existed on the planet.

  Thankfully, there was a place he could go to... Procure valuables he could sell. And, as an added bonus, the owners already hated him, so he didn't need to feel bad about robbing them.

  The sun was still high on the sky when Rumor arrived at the Graveyard - but then again, considering there were multiple of the star, that was always the case. He couldn't imagine nights in Tatooine lasting very long.

  "Woah..."

  Say what you will about the Krayt Dragon Gang, but the Ship Graveyard they administered was impressive.

  Hundreds upon hundreds of broken down spaceships and other vehicles laid surrounded by a tall fence in the outskirts of Mos Espa.

  Some were small, no larger than a car. Others were huge, at least several hundred meters long. And there was a behemoth in the process of being dismantled which easily exceeded a kilometer in length.

  Guarding the entrance to the Graveyard were four nasty-looking aliens, giving the mean eye to anyone who got close. Each of them was armed with blasters and blades, and Rumor knew right away he wouldn't be getting in through the front door.

  Still, he decided to throw an [ Observe ] their way. His MP recovered fairly quickly in an out-of-combat state, so he could afford the expenditure.

  [ Roran ]

  [ Species: Twi'lek ]

  [ Strength: 8 ]

  [ Dexterity: ?? ]

  [ Vitality: ?? ]

  [ Temperance: 10 ]

  [ Spirit: 10 ]

  [ Appeal: 6 ]

  [ Skills: Precise Shot lvl 3, Blade Mastery lvl 3, ??? ]

  [ Special Skills: Elite Guard ]

  [ Description: One of the elites of the Krayt Dragon Gang, responsible for safeguarding their most profitable business. ]

  Rumor's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He thought those four would be like the two thugs he fought before, just some low-level enemies, not the kind of elite mob that could wipe him out with ease.

  And they were just members of some local gang!? What would the criminals from the Hutt Cartel be like then!?

  "Oof..."

  Taking a deep breath, Rumor focused on the character sheet of the thug. He didn't quite understand yet how The Mind determined what he could see and what he couldn't, but other than Anakin, this was the first time he had seen a special skill.

  [ Elite Guard: Passive skill. Raised wariness when guarding something or someone. Higher likelihood to know when someone is targeting your charge. ]

  As if to prove the words he was reading, Rumor saw the Twi'lek's head suddenly snap in his direction, eyes narrowing as his fingers drifted closer to the blaster on his hip.

  Rumor immediately made his retreat. The elite guard wasn't someone who he could tangle with right now, much less four of them.

  He would have to find another way into the Graveyard.

  Growl...

  But first, food. He hadn't eaten in hours, and his stomach was begging for sustenance.

  Deciding to try something which would be harmless even if it didn't work out, Rumor made his way back to Watto's shop. Anakin was still sitting on the counter, fiddling with what looked like a mechanical eye.

  "Hey, kid! Do you know where someone can get something to eat without getting food poisoning?"

  Rumor walked over to the shop's entrance and yelled, causing Anakin to turn his head and look curiously at him.

  Inside, Rumor would admit to be feeling some small amount of trepidation, although he kept a friendly smile on his face.

  Anakin's gaze was heavy. Way heavier than any kid's eyes should have the right to be. Rumor felt as if he was being stripped, analyzed, and assessed.

  Thankfully, it seemed that whatever was doing said assessment - likely one of the Chosen One's many skills Rumor couldn't see - decided he wasn't a threat.

  "Go back to the main street and take a left. Two alleys over and left again, there's a food stall. It's good and the owner's responsible."

  Another main storyline character would have likely ignored Rumor. His appeal wasn't that high, and his presgige, reputation, and relationship with Anakin were basically non-existent.

  But the Chosen One had always been depicted as a nice kid - before he went to the dark side. Although he didn't smile or anything, he at least talked to Rumor, and that was a victory in his books.

  "Thanks."

  On a whim, Rumor reached into his inventory and took out 10 wupiupis. He had no idea if that was a little or a lot, but he flicked the weirdly shaped coin to Anakin nonetheless.

  For the first time, there was a flicker of something other than boredom in Anakin's eyes, but Rumor had already turned around and walked away. He didn't want to seen too eager, after all.

  [ You have caught main storyline character Anakin Skywalker's interest. Relationship: Neutral (0/1.000) --> Neutral (2/1.000). ]

  Rumor had to resist the urge to jump up and down while whooping in joy. It was just two points, basically nothing. But it was proof those supremely important storyline characters weren't out of reach from him.