Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Vardis staring at me with his eyes wide open.
The first time, when I launched the chip, he couldn’t have been sure what had actually happened.
This time, however, I had done it right in front of him.
I looked as if I were either trying to squeeze a certain thing through the back door or moving something by sheer force of will.
And I had a strange feeling that he definitely preferred the second version.
For several seconds, we stared directly into each other’s eyes.
At one point, I noticed a flash of sudden understanding in his gaze.
Apparently, he had connected several facts.
Fortunately, he just as quickly came to the conclusion that this was not the best moment to ask questions.
A moment later, I noticed something far more worrying.
One of the walls near our position began turning orange.
A second later, flames burst from it.
Our eyes met again.
This time, we both knew exactly what was happening.
The attackers couldn’t break through the entrance, so they decided to make themselves a new one.
Vardis immediately tapped one of the three remaining guards on the shoulder, pulling his attention away from firing at the warehouse doors.
Then he pointed toward the heating wall.
The guard cursed under his breath and instantly turned his blaster in the new direction.
Slowly, with each passing second, growing more and more nervous, we watched as the glowing circle being cut into the durasteel expanded centimeter by centimeter.
The attackers had apparently decided to break through from the other side at any cost.
Orange light filled part of the warehouse, and heated metal dripped onto the floor like liquid fire.
One of Vardis’s guards tightened his grip on his blaster.
Another silently shifted position, preparing to open fire the moment the wall was breached.
Even Vardis stopped cursing.
That alone was worrying enough.
The circle was almost complete.
Just a few more seconds.
And a new entrance would open in the wall.
Suddenly, like divine intervention, a deafening boom came from outside the warehouse, followed by an entire series of explosions.
The whole building trembled slightly.
We looked at each other in surprise.
Sounds of intense firefight began filtering through the walls.
Blasters.
Heavy cannons.
Human screams.
The glowing circle immediately stopped expanding.
On the other side of the wall, someone began shouting orders.
A wide, almost predatory smile appeared on Vardis’s face.
“Finally,”
A moment later, more explosions shook the area.
Vardis’s cavalry had arrived.
I would not call what happened after his people arrived a battle.
It was a massacre.
When we left the warehouse a few minutes later, the only traces left of most of the attackers were scattered pieces of equipment, burned remains, and dark, wet stains on the duracrete.
Apparently, Vardis’s people were not the type to bother with warnings.
I swept my gaze across the battlefield.
Among the bodies lying near the unfinished opening cut into the warehouse wall, I recognized a familiar face.
One of Vardis’s guards.
The same one who had given me especially unpleasant looks at the gate of his estate.
Apparently, he had just ended his career.
I pointed at the body to the businessman standing beside me.
“I think I found the source of your problem.”
Vardis looked in the direction I indicated.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Then his face hardened.
“Well,” he said coldly.
“That is a very unpleasant piece of news.”
He slowly stepped closer to the dead man.
“He worked for me for seven years.
I knew his father since childhood.
After his death, I took care of him.
Apparently, he did not consider that enough.”
There was no sadness in his voice.
Only disappointment.
And a trace of anger.
“Apparently, not long enough.”
The commander who had stepped out of one of the vehicles approached us and reported that all threats had been eliminated, no losses had been suffered, and they were awaiting further orders.
As we were gathering the remaining equipment and cleaning up the site of the battle, I suddenly remembered something Vardis had mentioned earlier.
I looked around and noticed that he was standing near the commander of his mini-army, issuing departure orders.
I immediately ran up to him.
“I blew up my slave chip.
Won’t Watto realize I tried to escape?
And won’t he hurt my mother?”
Vardis looked at me, then shook his head.
“As I said, I prepared a signal jammer.
And since the chip does not constantly communicate with the control remote and only sends a signal in specific situations, you have nothing to worry about.”
He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small device.
“I turned it on immediately after you arrived at the warehouse.”
He showed me the small transmitter.
Only then did I feel the tension slowly leave my body.
“That’s good,”
For a moment, he looked at me in silence.
Then a slight smile appeared on his face.
“On the other hand, I suppose I should thank you for saving my life.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Me?”
“Without your…
special abilities, we might not have survived long enough for my people to arrive.”
He winked meaningfully.
Without your warning, they might not have arrived at all.
He did not need to say what “special abilities” he meant.
Apparently, a grenade changing direction in midair and a chip flying like a projectile were a little too suspicious, and when combined with premonitions of danger, it was far too much to dismiss as coincidence.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied with the most innocent expression I could manage.
Vardis snorted with laughter.
“Of course you don’t.”
“Alright, kid.
Go with my people, wash up, and change clothes so you don’t scare your mother with that bloody rag you’re wearing.”
I looked down.
I had to admit he was right.
My clothes looked as if I had just lost a very personal fight with a slaughterhouse.
Vardis dusted off the sleeves of his coat and looked at the bodies being carried away.
“I, on the other hand, need to visit a certain acquaintance.”
A cold smile appeared on his face.
The kind that definitely did not promise anything good.
“I intend to show him a little of the same brotherly love he showed me today.”
For a moment, I stared at him in silence.
I understood that on Tatooine, no matter how good a person you were, sometimes life forced you to get your hands dirty.
“I assume it won’t be a particularly pleasant meeting?”
“For me, it should be quite satisfying.”
“And for him?”
Vardis looked at me with amusement.
“Anakin, sometimes you really ask very obvious questions.”
I sighed.
“In that case, good luck.”
“Thank you.”
He turned and headed toward his people.
After a few steps, he stopped for a moment.
“And one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“The next time your ‘feelings’ warn you about mortal danger…”
He looked at the breach in the warehouse wall, then at the bodies of the attackers.
“Tell me a little earlier.”
“I’ll try,” I said, slightly embarrassed, rubbing my forehead.
After those words, he left, jumping into one of the vehicles and leaving me in the care of three of his guards.
Watching him go, I had a strange feeling that the man responsible for tonight’s attack might not survive the night.
When we arrived at his villa, I changed into clothes acquired for me by Vardis’s people and took advantage of his generosity in the form of a real water shower.
It took me almost twenty minutes.
I simply couldn’t stop.
For the years of Anakin’s memories of life on Tatooine, the ability to stand under a stream of clean water for several minutes felt like a luxury worthy of aristocracy.
For a moment, I even forgot about the firefight, the explosions, and the death I had collided with today.
Unfortunately, only for a moment.
I said goodbye to the servants who had brought me clothes and stepped out into the night.
I realized it was already the middle of the night.
Apparently, cleaning up the ambush site had taken much longer than I initially assumed.
Slowly, I began making my way back home.
Mos Espa seemed unusually quiet.
Only from time to time could I hear distant generators or the sounds of night vehicles.
Suddenly, the silence was torn apart by a powerful explosion.
I stopped.
A second later, another one followed.
Then another.
A series of explosions rolled through the city like an avalanche falling down a mountainside.
I turned my head.
In the distance, in the wealthier part of the commercial district, one of the large villas was turning into a ball of fire.
Orange light illuminated the night sky.
For several seconds, it felt as if half of Mos Espa had been lit up like it was midday.
Flames shot high above the rooftops.
Even from that distance, I could see people running into the streets in panic.
I watched the spectacle in silence.
Then I sighed heavily.
Apparently, Vardis was not the sort of man who took attempts on his life lightly.
And his way of solving problems was far more direct than I had initially assumed.
Honestly, I was beginning to understand how he had managed to accumulate such enormous wealth on a planet controlled by the Hutts.
When you react with that level of intensity to every threat against your life, there are not many people willing to mess with you.
After several more explosions, I looked away and continued walking.
Whatever was happening in that villa was no longer my problem.
When I got home, I felt strangely detached from reality.
Just a short while ago, I had been fighting for my life.
And now I was returning to my old life and daily grind.
Except now without the chip controlling my life.
I slowly sat down on my bed and stared at the ceiling for a while.
Sometimes I truly wondered whether all of this was just some kind of dream.
Whether I would suddenly wake up in my own bed.
In my own world.
In front of my computer.
Before all of this had happened.
Because no matter how much time passed, part of me still struggled to accept the fact that I had truly been reborn as Anakin Skywalker.
I sighed and finally decided to check what the system meant by granting me a new skill.
I focused my attention on the notification.
Willpower – Level 1 (0/100 XP)
After a moment, a short description appeared before me.
Willpower
• Increases resistance to the influence of the Dark Side of the Force on the user’s mind.
• Helps make difficult decisions under stress and emotional pressure.
• Increases mental resilience.
• Greatly increases resistance to pain.
• Strengthens control over one’s own emotions.
For several seconds, I stared at the description.
“Well…” “That sounds absurdly useful.”
Especially the last point.
After tonight, I could state with complete confidence that a little extra resistance to pain definitely would not hurt.
Without it, I had already been close to losing consciousness after a small wound in my chest.
Not to mention the increased resistance of my mind to the influence of the Dark Side of the Force.
Something told me that this event was the real reason this skill had been unlocked.
When I tore the chip out of my own chest, I felt something I had never experienced before.
Enormous power.
But also something else.
Hatred.
Anger.
Frustration.
Emotions so intense that, for a moment, they nearly swallowed me completely.
In my previous life, I had never felt anything like it.
And honestly, after it was over, it scared me a little.
Even more unsettling was how addictive that feeling had been.
For a brief moment, it truly felt as if I could do anything.
Fortunately, it lasted only a moment.
I shifted my gaze lower.
I frowned.
With most skills, the system showed a way to gain experience.
With Willpower, there was nothing.
No information on how to gain experience points.
“That’s very helpful,”
Apparently, I would have to discover how to increase its level on my own.