The starship's carcass had become a labyrinth of scaffolding and durasteel. James stood atop the reactor core, now repurposed as a command hub, sketching plans into the sand-polished floor. His Earth memories surfaced like ghosts—aqueducts, wind turbines, crop rotation—ideas alien to Tanalorr's desert, but adaptable.
"These trenches," Mira said, squinting at his diagram. "They're… channels for water?"
"Irrigation canals," James corrected. "We'll redirect runoff from the hyperstorms to the crops. And these—" he tapped a cluster of domes, "—are greenhouses. Sealed, humid, to grow Earth plants. Potatoes. Wheat."
The elders murmured. "Earth?" Shira asked. "You speak of your old world again."
James hesitated. "A world that no longer exists. But its knowledge does."
[Basic Engineering: 30% → 38% – Applied Terraforming Concepts]
[New Subskill: Hydroponics Design (Lv. 1) – Crop Yield +20%]
By dusk, the tribe broke ground. James taught them to mold sandstone into aqueducts using a mix of desert clay and pulverized starship alloy—crude but effective.
"Like the Romans," he muttered, earning puzzled stares.
"Roamers?" Tharak grunted, hauling a durasteel beam.
"Romans. They built empires with less."
[Tribal Leadership (Lv. 4) – "Innovator" Reputation: +10% Morale]
-------------
At night, James trained.
Physical Regimen:
Endurance: Sprinting the starship's perimeter with weighted sandbags strapped to his limbs.
Strength: Hauling salvaged engine blocks to rebuild the forge.
Agility: Sparring with Rulan in the dark, relying on Force Sensory Awareness to predict strikes.
[Strength: 14 → 15]
[Agility: 15 → 16]
[Pain Resistance: 50% → 53%]
Force Training:
Force Cloak: Masking his presence while maintaining a Force Reinforcement shield on the greenhouse frames.
Kinetic Control: Compressing sand into glass panes for the greenhouses, each pressurization a test of focus.
[Force Cloak (Lv. 2) → Lv. 3 – Can now cloak small objects)]
[Kinetic Control: 4% → 12% – Glassmaking Efficiency +15%]
Exhaustion blurred his vision, but the system's cold chimes kept him moving.
-------------
The reactor core hummed louder now, as if awakened by the tribe's activity. James knelt before it, palms pressed to its rusted panels.
"What are you doing?" his mother asked, her scaled silhouette framed in the doorway.
"Listening."
He channeled Force Echo, the visions sharpening:
A Jedi Knight—face obscured by a hood—stood in this same chamber centuries ago. She placed a hand on the reactor, her voice weary. "The Sith have found us. Hide the key… for the unbroken."
The vision shifted: a holographic map of Tanalorr, glowing waypoints marking buried vaults.
[Force Echo (Lv. 2) → Lv. 3 – Visions now include partial coordinates.]
[New Quest: "Legacy of the Lost" – Locate the nearest vault. Reward: ???]
James opened his eyes. "There's a vault. North. Buried under the Glass Plains."
His mother's gaze hardened. "More Jedi ghosts?"
"No. A weapon. Or a shield."
-------------
The first greenhouse collapsed.
A faulty sand-glass pane shattered, dehydrating the crops. Refugees coughed in the dust, and Tharak's faction jeered from their tents.
"Earth magic," Tharak spat. "Worthless."
James rebooted the system's schematics. Too dry. Too brittle. He'd forgotten Earth's gentler climate.
"We need moisture," he muttered. "Like the Vapor Farmers of Andelm IV."
[Galactic Intel (Lv. 1) Activated – Cross-referencing Star Wars Agri-Tech]
By dawn, he'd rigged a condenser using salvaged starship coolant coils. The machine hissed, pulling trace moisture from the air into a tank.
"It's working," Rulan whispered as droplets formed.
[Hydroponics Design (Lv. 1) → Lv. 2 – Crop Yield +30%]
[Tribal Cohesion: Tense → Stable]
-------------
As the tribe celebrated the first wheat sprouts, James returned to the reactor. The Jedi's map burned in his mind.
The Glass Plains. Two days' trek.
But the system warned:
[Reactor Core Stability: 45% – Overuse risks meltdown.]
He'd need to choose: power the tribe's growth or risk the reactor to uncover the vault.
[New Skill: Risk Assessment (Lv. 1) – Calculates cost/benefit ratios for critical decisions.]
For now, he shut down non-essential systems. The greenhouses dimmed, but held.
-------------
[STATUS PAGE]
[Age: 12]
[Current Identity: "Victorious Defender of the Tribe"]
[Affiliation: Tribe of Stone Ridge]
[STATS]
[Strength (Physical): 15]
[Agility (Movement & Reaction Speed): 16]
[Force (Midichlorian Count): 8,000]
[Luck: 8]
[SKILLS]
[Staff Combat: 55%] [Advanced] [Foundation skill; opened into subskills like Whirlstrike and Fluid Assault.]
[Combo Chain – Fluid Assault: Lv. 2] [Allows for smoother, uninterrupted chains of attacks during melee.]
[Momentum Skill – Whirlstrike: Lv. 2] [A forceful spinning strike, useful for clearing space or staggering foes.]
[Pain Resistance: 50%] [Allows to keep fighting while injured. Developed from repeated exposure in training and battle.]
[Tactical Insight: Lv. 2] [Grants limited predictive combat intuition; recognizes enemy stance shifts and weaknesses.]
[Force Body: Lv. 3] [Boosts physical resistance and stamina recovery; triggered through willpower during the first trial.]
[Force Sensory Awareness: 12%] [Allows user to detect hidden threats, resources, or presences (e.g., water sources, approaching enemies, or Force-sensitive beings) through the Force.]
[Force Telekinesis: Lv. 10] [Most used Force ability. Can lift, push, and crush enemies mid-combat. Precision is improving. Lift limit is expanded.]
[Kinetic Control: 12%] [Compressing air with invisible force.]
[Force Cloak: Lv. 2] [A rare and advanced Force ability that allows a user to mask their Force signature, making them undetectable to other Force-sensitive beings. It's often associated with Sith stealth tactics (e.g., Darth Sidious hiding his dark side presence) or Jedi Shadows (elite Jedi who hunt dark side artifacts covertly).]
[Force Reinforcement: Lv. 1] [A utilitarian Force skill that strengthens objects, structures, or the user's body. Jedi often use it to reinforce shields or fortify defenses (e.g., Bastila Shan's Battle Meditation indirectly bolstered allies). Sith might enhance weapons or torture tools.]
[Force Echo: Lv. 1] [Glimpse memories imprinted on objects with audio traces.]
[Strategic Planning Lv. 1] [New skill unlocked from tribe leadership and defensive planning. Provides insight into long-term survival and defense strategies.]
[Basic Engineering: 38%] [Construction and fortification design.]
[Salvage Crafting: 34% Success Chance] [Repurposing scavenged materials (starship parts, Skarn weapons, etc.) into tools, weapons, or infrastructure.]
[Starship Engineering: Lv. 1] [Can repair basic systems (life support, power grids).]
[Tribal Leadership: Lv. 4] [Governing, morale management, organization.]
[Environmental Empathy (Passive): Lv. 1] [Grants an instinctive connection to the planet's ecosystems, letting the user "read" environmental patterns (weather shifts, geological stability, resource distribution).]
[Hydraulic Mastery: Lv. 1] [Grants advanced understanding of water systems (+10% irrigation efficiency).]
[Hydroponics Design: Lv. 2] [This skill boosts food security by allowing soil-free cultivation in sealed greenhouse domes, using recycled water from hyperstorm runoff and Force-regulated humidity.]
[Crisis Management Lv. 1] [Enables the user to make rapid, effective decisions during emergencies (raids, natural disasters, resource shortages).]
[Risk Assessment: Lv. 1] [Calculates cost/benefit ratios for critical decisions.]