The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 63: Information Gathering and an Attempted Fix

Chapter 63: Information Gathering and an Attempted Fix

There was a lot I needed to do in the small time frame available to me.

With there only being nine days until the auction, I knew my time was limited and that I had to make the most of it.

It had already been over half a standard day since I arrived at the station; it was early morning when we arrived. The artificial lights in the walls and ceiling brightened and darkened to some extent to simulate the day cycles. This only happened on the third layer due to it being completely closed off from the view of space. 

Preferably, I would have some sort of access to the top segment before the starting date of the auction. However, I didn’t know how feasible that was. I knew it would be harder going from the second segment to the first than the third to the second, but the latter was still going to be tricky.

Not only did I need to figure out a way to move up a segment, I also needed to not be caught while attempting it. 

I knew that if I revealed my identity to the correct individuals, I could move up the layers legally, maybe become a guard for the auction, and maybe be able to contact my family to let them know I was safe. However, I was scared that even trying to do that would fuck up and go completely wrong.

They could just try to contain me, Dominous Hood could learn that I survived and potentially even connect the dots to my actual identity, attempt to kill me, cause trouble for my family, etc. It was easy to think of the reason for what could go wrong and the consequences, and so I’m not going to risk it. 

Of course, my current plan had plenty of risks of its own, but I felt they were manageable if they went wrong.

Annoyingly, it wasn’t the easiest to sneak around in full combat gear, people didn’t tend to cover their faces in the third segment. So I stuck to the corners, ‘rooftops’, and alleys. With my senses and observation skills, it wasn’t too difficult to scope out the area while staying hidden.

Not that there were no close calls.

I jumped off, slid down an alley, and opened a secret door to the service vent. These were large enough to walk through and they were littered throughout the third segment. People weren’t supposed to go through them, but that never stopped anyone. Told by the few people I met who were from Jelannax during my working days, they had mentioned stories of playing in these tunnels as kids.

They were placed in spots and covered to be hidden, but due to the standards of space station design, it was easy to predict where they would be located.

My information gathering had three goals. The first was to scope out the area and figure out the points where I could ascend to the second segment. The second was to see if I could find any leads on Dominous Hood. That was tricky since I wasn’t actually talking to people and was mostly just looking out for people who seemed suspicious. 

I spent some time looking through a hatch in a side section of the vent I went into.

No one looks suspicious around here…

. (“ Besides yourself ”)

Quiet.

The third goal was to find someplace to fix my phone. Preferably in a side street without a lot of noise.

Not having access to [Star Mapping] definitely hindered my exploration efforts, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that.

From my search, I did find one place that seemed to be what I was looking for.

I exited into another alley, it was slightly busy and full of small back alley shops. It was filled with people selling personal crafts for what it looked like, mostly for fun.

“Are you here to do business?” An old man asked me as I walked up to his small store. A shop with a couple of shelves behind him and a long table separating him and the customers.

“Of course.” I placed the broken phone on the table. “I don’t really need to be back to normal, just back to a state that will be workable.”

The shop had a sign saying it would fix technical and mechanical issues for small devices, so I decided to see if this place would help.

The man sighed and looked at the phone.

I asked, “Do you take any physical forms of currency?” I had some mana crystals on me that I swiped from the pirate ship. I had no money on me before that, after all, and I knew I would need at least a little bit.

He seemingly ignored my comment and examined the phone for another minute.

“I’m going to need 280 Chars.” He asked for an amount in the station’s currency. 

“What about an equivalent currency?” All currencies were easily interchangeable with each other, not that there were too many different currencies in the universe. However, in places like this that did have their own private currency, they tended to mark up the cost when paying in physical cash.

“680 Chars then.”

God damn you, piece of shit.

I didn’t steal that many crystals, so I couldn’t afford the stupid multiple-time markup. 

“I’ll go somewhere else then.” I picked up the phone and turned around.

“Whatever.”

Sigh… I guess I better get a move on.

“Hey there, what ya doing in these parts>”

As I was walking away, a group of teenage punks walked up and called out to me.

Are these people actual idiots?

I was wearing my full armour, while all these kids had were dyed polka dots in their hair.

Even the old man from the store looked shocked. He seemed to know them from his reaction, probably kids of the parents around here. He waved his arms around in a large cross while mouthing, ‘What the hell are you doing?!!’. 

I sighed. “Yeah, grow up, kids.”

“Huhhh?!” One tilted his head up and said, “And who are you to say that?”

The next second, all three kids fell to the ground.

“They are just knocked out, probably a minute. Give them a good, harsh warning for next time, okay?”

The old man just nodded, and I left, quickly getting out of sight and jumping back into the vents.

Guess I’ll just scope out the hatch then. Let’s see if that is a possible entrance to the second segment. 

Today's work was still far from over.