Slowly, my consciousness began to return.
My body dropped to the floor, and I opened my eyes.
For a moment, I felt lost, not knowing where I was or how much time had passed.
Only after a while did I realize that dawn was breaking.
Through a small window just below the ceiling, the first rays of Tatooine’s morning sun were entering the room.
The only time of day when the temperature actually seemed bearable.
Then it hit me.
I had meditated through the entire night.
I did not remember exactly when I had lost track of time.
It felt as if I had entered some kind of enlightened state.
I had never felt anything like it before.
For those few hours, nothing existed except the Force.
I opened my status panel and looked at one of the skills.
Force Control – Level 5 (5/3200 XP)
For a moment, my brain refused to work.
A skill that, at a normal training pace, would have taken over one hundred and twenty days of meditation to raise to this level had suddenly jumped to level five in a single night.
I tried to sense the difference.
And then I understood.
I could truly feel the Force.
I could truly use it.
As if some invisible veil had fallen from my mind.
I turned my gaze toward the glass marbles still lying on the floor and focused on one of them.
I stretched my hand forward, imagining it slowly rising into the air.
The marble trembled.
Then, uncertainly and shakily, it began to follow my will.
It felt surprisingly heavy.
Or maybe I was just hopeless.
But who cared?
For the first time in my life, I had a superpower.
I spent the next twenty minutes playing with telekinesis like a child who had just received his dream toy.
I lifted everything I was able to move.
Small parts.
Tools.
More marbles.
Eventually, however, I completely exhausted myself.
I was lying face down in the middle of the room, breathing heavily.
Then I heard a familiar sound.
Ding
Moving a small object: +2 XP ×10
Ding
Keeping an object in the air: +5 XP ×6
Telekinesis – Level 1 (0/100 XP)
Unlocked
For a moment, I stared at the experience points I had gained.
I quickly realized that if I wanted to reach a truly high level, years of constant training were waiting for me.
Day after day.
Constantly pushing my own limits and driving myself to exhaustion.
Honestly, it did not sound especially encouraging.
On the other hand, every training session meant growth.
And growth meant a better chance of regaining control over my own life.
So I had no right to complain.
That, however, was a problem for future me.
Right now, I had much more urgent matters.
I had to wash, get myself in order, and open the shop.
I did not want to annoy Watto, who still had full control over my life.
I left my room and noticed that Mom was finishing breakfast.
She heard my footsteps and turned toward me.
“Ani!” she called out in surprise, looking me over carefully.
“What happened to you?
You look like a bantha ran you over.”
I looked down at my clothes.
Dust.
Sweat stains.
Hair sticking out in every direction.
Yeah.
I did not look my best.
“Go wash yourself,” she said with a sigh.
“I will finish breakfast soon.
After that, you can go open the shop.”
“Okay, Mom,” I muttered.
I quickly headed toward the sonic shower.
Another thing I had to get used to.
On Tatooine, water was too valuable to use for daily hygiene.
Most residents could not afford real water showers.
And as slaves, we were certainly not among the exceptions.
The cabin closed behind me, and a moment later, a quiet hum filled the small room.
Invisible sonic waves began removing layers of desert dust from my body and clothes.
I closed my eyes.
Even if my life was still far from ideal…
This morning was the beginning of something new.
Something fascinating.
So different from my previous life as a corporate rat.
Bathing under a sonic shower turned out to be quite a peculiar experience.
It felt…
soulless.
Yes, the invisible waves removed all dirt and desert dust, but I missed the feeling of warm water running over my skin.
I missed wet hair and steam rising in the bathroom.
I quickly ended that slightly traumatic experience and returned to the kitchen.
Shmi Skywalker, as usual, talked a lot.
We exchanged a few words during breakfast.
She complained about part deliveries to the shop, which were once again delayed.
She also reminded me about a few repairs I had to finish before the next day.
Even so, I liked these peaceful mornings.
We did not have much.
A modest home, little food, and a life ruled by Watto’s whims.
And yet I could see how hard Shmi tried to give Anakin everything she could.
She really was a good mother.
After breakfast, I helped her wash the dishes.
Then we put on protective clothing against the desert heat and set out to open our owner’s shop.
Walking through the almost empty streets of Mos Espa, I could not stop looking around in every direction.
Every few moments, I noticed something that reminded me I was truly in the Star Wars universe.
Spaceships flying over the city.
Droids performing daily tasks.
Alien races I had previously known only from movies and books.
My inner geek was coming back to life.
Unfortunately, not everything was so fascinating.
Near Watto’s shop, I noticed a group of newly arrived slaves being led out of a transport.
One of the traders was whipping a middle-aged woman.
Her only fault was that she did not want to be separated from her roughly ten-year-old daughter.
Apparently, they had been sold to different owners.
That was the reality of Tatooine.
Sometimes it was easier not to think about the fate of those people.
At least that was what the previous Anakin believed.
And me?
What exactly could I do?
I had no power.
And even if, by some miracle, I saved those two…
what about millions of other slaves suffering across the galaxy?
One thing I knew for sure.
I had never desired power as much as I did in that moment.
Once again, I had to remind myself that I was no longer on Earth.
I was not living in a first-world country where slavery was only a chapter in a history textbook.
This was Tatooine.
A planet where a slave’s life was worth less than a working hyperdrive.
With clenched fists, I followed Shmi.
She did not even look toward the scene unfolding nearby.
Maybe she was already too used to it.
Or maybe she was simply trying to protect herself from pain she could not stop.
We reached Watto’s shop.
We opened the doors and began the daily preparations for another busy day.
Shmi took care of the register and prepared the parts displayed for sale.
I, meanwhile, went to my small workstation at the back of the workshop.
Calmly, I took out my tools and began preparing the components meant for repair.
Even though I was only nine years old, Anakin’s hands moved with incredible confidence.
I felt as if I had a natural ability to disassemble and reassemble any mechanical device I touched.
I could not explain it.
For the first time in my life, I was experiencing something like this.
A strange feeling, as if I was finally doing something I had truly been made for.
Every part I picked up seemed to tell its own story.
In my head, information almost automatically appeared about its technical condition, level of wear, and the devices it could be used in.
It was absurd.
And at the same time, completely natural.
Anakin Skywalker truly was a child prodigy of mechanics.
He could build a droid from parts found in a junkyard.
He repaired components that adult mechanics did not even want to touch.
He understood machines in a way most people would never be able to comprehend.
It was just a shame that his talent had never been given a chance to fully develop.
War, the Jedi, Palpatine…
History had done everything to turn a brilliant inventor into a weapon.
But this time, it would be different.
Now I was the one playing this role.
And I did not intend to let such an extraordinary talent be wasted again.
After all, this was my future now.
I finished repairing the first few parts for podracers and took a short break to catch my breath.
Then more notifications began appearing before my eyes.
General Mechanics – Level 16 (420/2400 XP)
→ Level 16 (440/2400 XP)
Vehicle Repair – Level 15 (980/2250 XP)
→ Level 15 (1000/2250 XP)
For a moment, I waited for the familiar feeling of knowledge flowing into my mind, the one that had appeared after the night meditation.
Nothing like that happened.
After a short moment of thought, I concluded that simply gaining experience points did not increase my abilities.
They were only an indicator of progress.
Only reaching the next level caused a real change.
New information.
Better understanding of how mechanisms worked.
Greater intuition during work.
If every repaired part instantly made me even slightly better, development would be too chaotic.
The system apparently gathered experience and then transformed it into a concrete increase in skill only after crossing a specific threshold.
I looked at the parts lying on the workbench.
I had nothing against that.
After all, repairing parts was my duty, which I performed for free.
If I could increase my mechanical skills thanks to it, even better.
“All right…
let’s go,” I said to myself under my breath after a few sips of water.
Then I returned to work.
I spent the next ten hours like a man possessed.
Part after part.
Screw after screw.
My hands did not stop working for even a moment.
I repaired podracer control systems, replaced burned-out relays, straightened damaged wires, and calibrated sensors.
Several times throughout the day, Shmi looked into the workshop to make sure everything was all right with me.
After all, I had never worked with such enthusiasm before.
“Ani, rest a little,” she said at one point.
“Just a little longer,” I answered automatically, not even lifting my eyes from the disassembled repulsor engine.
That little longer lasted for several more hours.
By the end of the day, I had started repairing parts scheduled only for next week.
Normally, I should have been exhausted.
And yet…
I could not stop.
Every time I took a short break, more notifications appeared before my eyes.
Ding
General Mechanics: +2 XP
Ding
Vehicle Repair: +3 XP
Ding
General Mechanics: +1 XP
Every time, it was the same sound.
Satisfying and rewarding every effort.
I realized I was starting to wait for it more than I should.
I repaired more devices not only because the work required it.
I wanted to hear the next notification.
The next increase in experience points.
A step forward.
It felt strange.
But at the same time, damn effective.
If this was how RPG games worked, it was no wonder people could spend thousands of hours on them.
I picked up another damaged part and stared at it in silence for a moment.
“I hope I am not developing an addiction to grinding.”
After that incredibly wise thought, I got back to the next repair.
After all, the experience bar would not fill itself.