The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 62: Welcome To The Bottom Layer

Chapter 62: Welcome To The Bottom Layer

Well, time to figure out how I’m going to climb up two of the Jelannax layers.

There were nine days before the auction started, and within that time I needed to somehow get to the top segment. The immediate issue was how to even get off the bottom segment. 

Any ship that went directly to the top segment had to go through numerous checks, so trying to sneak in that way without help was doomed to failure. There would be plenty of issues if I somehow made it up to the second layer and tried reaching the top layer through the main pipes.

I looked around for a moment and walked towards where I thought the exit was.

As I did, a large man with a glass helmet walked up to me, and he asked in a gruff tone, “You need anything?”

Breathable air had already begun to fill the room, so the helmets seemed like a bit overkill, since a space-breathering choker would’ve done the job. The doors to space weren’t even open for long.

I replied, “I’m fine; just do you know where the exit is?”

“Yeah, but you paying, right?” He clicked his fingers.

How unprofessional.

“The captain of the ship is dealing with that.” I thumbed over my shoulder at the ship behind me.

The man tried judging for a moment before he froze and started sweating. “Wellll–you can be on your way.” He stepped to the side and let me pass.

He had used some sort of skill to inspect me, I doubted it was anything detailed, it probably just gave an impression of how strong someone was.

Once again, I was walking towards the exit, but this time I had a clear understanding of where it was. 

There was a sliding door that blended in with the wall. It wasn’t the only exit, but it was for other people only due to how small it was. 

I couldn’t say I knew much about Jelannax, but the bottom layer was famous for having many small secrets. It had thousands of space ports all over it, some decommissioned and others added by small crews secretly building new ones.

Before I tapped on the door to open it. 

“Do you really plan on going out like that?” A familiar female voice spoke.

I said, “Getting one last bit of chatter in?” Till the end, I never removed my armour. I did eat some food; my armour had a small mouthpiece opened up, so I didn’t need to show my face when I did.

“Maybe, I’m surprised you are leaving without another threat.”

I warned, “I’ve made enough, any more, and I would have to start following through with them.”

"Still, you’re not going to say bye to the captain.”

“That man might have a heart attack if he saw me one more time.”

I did enjoy my occasional attempts at pesting him. Especially with the family question, I had no idea if he actually had one, and I didn’t really care about it, however, it was enjoyable watching him get annoyed about it. Because besides that, he himself was a bloody pain the whole time. The fact he ever managed to get a crew to follow him wasn’t beyond me, but it just meant the people he picked up were also missing a few screws.

Sara sighed and finally asked, “What even is your deal?”

I smiled under my helmet. “Haven’t you been trying to figure that out?”

“Yeah, and you know what, I’ll admit it, I got no fucking idea.”

“Best you keep it that way.”

“But back to my first question, Lux, are you seriously going out like that? You want to go to the auction, right?” She pointed up and down at my armour.

“Dress codes can be a pain, but they can also be worked around.” 

“That’s not–” Sara continued to talk, but I interrupted her with a small, harmless wave of soul pressure. Which just caused her to pause for a moment.

I turned around and waved goodbye. “Thanks for the warning, just go live your best life already, before you make a wrong decision, and I have to set it all up in flames.”

I passed through the door, which closed quickly behind me.

Going through it led me to a long, dark tunnel/alley/service line. It was hard to know what to call since every station had a different name for them. 

Within the dark service alley I entered, the artificial lights barely reached the entrance. There were cracks between the metal buildings above when some small specks of light entered.

Sara left the building shortly after, but I was gone. I jumped up out of the alley and hid, as I tried to get a better view of the area.

I got a better view of the city below and above me. 

It was one large city of vertical layers travelling all the way up and down and spreading to all points in the segment. At one point, you could see where the evenly placed towers and connections were, but over time, new extensions were added, making the place look more like a maze. Gravity was a few notches lower, which added a degree of safety if anyone accidentally fell. Artificial lights were placed along any wall they could. The place was surprisingly colourful; a few plant species that could be grown well in a low gravity environment brightened up the walkways, and there were a few parks as well. There were large sections of greyish metal, but most walls were dyed bright whites, blues, oranges, and yellows. 

[Star Mapping] will be completely useless.

[Star Mapping] required some amount of visibility from the sky and stars, so a purely indoor colony wasn’t great for my best navigation skill.

A lot of people judged the third segment harshly, mostly due to the perception it got from the upper layers. Make no mistakes, if you were richer, one would be in the middle layer, and if you were crazy rich or worked there, you would be in the top layer. 

People in the third segment still lived well, and they weren’t mistreated, but the upper levels were kind of dicks, and the large size of the third layer did allow specks of crime to appear. That was how I was even able to get in, after all. 

It did surprise me why more people in the third segment didn’t just move to one of the planets; they had the money and right to free movement to leave a colony by law. It would be a bit better life, but I could understand that the fear of moving was hard, especially to another society. 

Let’s get back on topic.

As I reigned back my surface thoughts, I looked longer at the buildings. Then a voice decided to say hello.

(“ What do you plan to do now? ”)

Now you decided to talk? 

(“ I can stop ”)

Fuck you as well. But the plan is to find someone to fix my phone a little bit, then try and get to the second layer and work from there.

(“ Doesn’t sound well thought out ”)

I’ve never had the chance to explore Jelannax before, so yeah, I don’t really have the knowledge to think of a well thought out plan.

I sighed and stood up, “Time to get a move on.”

I needed to get a move on, a scheduled auction waits for no-one.