Into the Cosmos (Star Rail SI, Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 2: Meeting the Navigator

Rejoining March, we quickly dealt with any monsters in our way as we headed toward the elevator. I did my best not to look down at the massive drop beneath the platforms we were standing on, constantly reminding myself that I was aboard an actual, genuine spaceship, which was honestly pretty damn cool.

All I had to do was look around to see the signs. The rooms were built from some kind of unknown metal, everything had a sleek futuristic look, and most importantly, I could see a literal sea of stars through the reinforced windows on the ceiling.

As we approached the elevator, I fought down another small wave of fatigue, doing my best not to cough again, and thankfully succeeding.

Then I suddenly blinked as I felt a faint tug pulling me toward the back of the platform.

Looking down at my hand, where the sensation seemed to be coming from, I noticed my Greedy Ring reacting… almost like it was trying to guide me somewhere. Trusting the enchantment, I glanced over and saw March busy with the elevator control panel.

“I’ll be right back, March. I’m going to take a quick look around the platform,” I muttered before walking off.

“Sure, just don’t take too long. Those Legion goons might come back,” March replied nonchalantly.

Circling around the back of the platform while following the pull of the ring, I soon reached the edge, and froze.

Sitting there innocently on the ground was a silver chest, just waiting to be opened.

‘What? That makes no sense,’ I thought in confusion. ‘If this world is real now, there shouldn’t be random loot chests lying around. The monsters haven’t dropped anything so far, so I assumed game mechanics weren’t a thing here.’

As if answering my thoughts, my gacha HUD flickered at the corner of my vision.

‘…Does that mean my R.O.B. made certain aspects of the game real here?’ I wondered.

Naturally, I received no answer.

Shrugging, I decided to open the chest anyway. I may or may not have been a loot hoarder in every game I’d ever played, and that chest was practically screaming at me to open it.

I crouched down and opened it, only to blink as it glowed blue for a moment before dissolving into motes of light, leaving me standing there even more confused than before and more importantly without any loot.

‘What the hell just happened?’

Before I could dwell on it, another notification popped up.

Feat Achieved! Opened your first loot chest.

+1 Bronze Item Gacha Ticket.

I dismissed it for the moment. I had a more pressing concern.

“What the hell… where did my loot go?” I muttered to myself as I stood back up.

Deciding I needed answers, I headed back toward March, planning to ask if people in this world had some kind of inventory system, and wondering whether whatever had been inside the chest had been automatically stored somewhere.

‘If chests are actually a thing,’ I thought absently, ‘then I’ll need to keep an eye out for them from now on.’

Reaching March again, I noticed she was wearing a distinctly frustrated expression.

“What is it, March? Is it busted?” I asked curiously, remembering the elevator being broken in the game too.

“Yes, but not by me,” she pouted slightly, crossing her arms as she turned to me. “If only Dan Heng was here. He’s like a walking encyclopedia… he knows a ton of complicated stuff. Maybe even elevator repair.”

“I don’t know that one,” Dan Heng suddenly said from behind us.

March jumped slightly as we both turned to see him standing there calmly.

“Whoa! Why are you here!? …And how did you get here before us?” March asked, taking a few deep breaths as she recovered from the small scare.

“I took another route to the upper level,” Dan Heng replied evenly. “I saw you from up there. Arlan is in the control room. He’s been injured, but not fatally.”

“You found him!” March said, relief flooding her face. “Will he know what to do about the elevator?”

“I imagine the head of the Security Department should,” Dan Heng answered with a small nod.

“Then let’s go talk to him,” March declared, earning nods from both of us.

As we made our way toward the control room, I turned to March and caught her attention.

“Hey, March?”

“What is it, Caelus?” she replied immediately. “Are you feeling tired? Do you want some water?” she added before I could finish, her concern obvious.

“No, thank you. I’m fine, really,” I said with a small smile as I noticed her gaze narrow slightly. “I actually wanted to ask… where does your bow disappear to all the time? Do you have some kind of inventory? Hammer space? And how hard would it be for me to get something like that?”

At my question, both March and Dan Heng stopped and looked at me curiously, as if I’d asked something strange, before their expressions shifted in understanding.

“Oooh, right. Amnesia,” March said, snapping her fingers. “Almost forgot you wouldn’t know this kind of stuff. Every phone has a small inventory you can access automatically. You can store things like weapons and other small items.”

She brightened even more as she continued. “Actually, that’s a good idea. Do you maybe have a phone on you? There might be something on it about your past.”

“That’s… a good question. I never actually checked my pockets,” I muttered, doing just that while internally celebrating the fact that an inventory system existed, even if it was limited.

After a moment, the only thing I pulled out was a brand-new-looking phone colored black and gold. I turned it on as March and Dan Heng watched curiously, only to freeze when incomprehensible letters filled the screen.

I sighed.

‘Right. I’m illiterate now. Almost forgot.’

“Umm… March? Dan Heng?” I said quietly, turning the phone toward them with a slightly embarrassed look. “I might need a little help. I can’t understand a single word on here.”

They both blinked.

“…You can’t read?” March asked slowly, tilting her head as I gave her another small shake.

“It appears not,” I muttered with a small shrug. “At least I can understand you.” I let out a quiet sigh.

“Another side effect of your lost memories, perhaps,” Dan Heng said, nodding as he quickly returned to his usual calm demeanor.

“Well, don’t worry about it! If you stick around, I don’t mind teaching you~” March said, instantly bouncing back into her cheerful self as she smiled reassuringly. “For now, let me take care of it.”

She took the phone from my hands and began setting things up, her fingers flying across the screen.

“Thanks, March. Sorry for troubling you again,” I muttered with another sigh.

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved it off before sliding closer and invading my personal space a bit as she showed me the screen causing my heart to start racing a bit. “For now, just remember this app opens your inventory.”

She pointed to an icon shaped like a small bag, which I nodded at.

“And this is how you put things in and take things out,” she continued, spending a few minutes explaining the basic functions using the pictures on the apps.

“There you go! I also added mine and Dan Heng’s numbers, just in case you need to contact us, or vice versa,” March said as she handed the phone back to me. “Unfortunately, aside from some Credits and Synthesis Materials, there wasn’t anything else on it.”

“Thanks for everything anyway, March. We should get moving, we already spent enough time because of me,” I said as I pocketed the phone and willed my bat to disappear the same way her bow did.

‘At least now I know that loot from chests, and apparently from the monsters we’ve defeated, gets transferred directly into my inventory,’ I thought. ‘It seems monsters only drop Credits and Synthesis Materials, though. Not that I’m complaining about free money. It just means levels probably aren’t really a thing here… looks like the R.O.B. tweaked some systems to resemble the game.’

“Don’t worry about it. It was nothing~” March replied a bit bashfully as we finally continued forward.

Just as we were about to enter another corridor, I paused.

Another chest sat there, plain as day.

I turned to the other two and noticed neither of them had reacted yet. Deciding to test a theory, I spoke up.

“Hey, guys? What do you think is inside that chest?”

They both stopped and turned toward where I was pointing, their expressions shifting into confusion.

“What’s a chest doing here in the middle of nowhere?” March asked, tilting her head.

“Strange… I could’ve sworn there was nothing there moments ago,” Dan Heng muttered, resting a finger against his chin.

Raising an eyebrow, I felt a small sense of relief. So they could see it too.

‘I see… they can see the chests, but maybe only once I point them out,’ I thought. ‘I’ll need to test this more later.’

Without another word, I walked up and opened the chest.

Just like before, it glowed briefly before vanishing into motes of light, earning a gasp from March and a narrowed look from Dan Heng.

“Whoa! Why did it suddenly disappear like that?” March asked as she rushed over and inspected the empty spot.

“I think that might have something to do with me,” I admitted with a frown as I turned to face them. “But honestly, I have no idea how or why it’s happening.”

That answer clearly caught their attention. Dan Heng looked thoughtful, while March stared at me with wide, sparkling eyes, like she’d just discovered a new mystery.

“Whoa~ You just keep getting more mysterious by the minute. First your eyes turn red and magical, and now this. I wonder what else is going to happen?” she muttered, her gaze going hazy as she probably started imagining all sorts of wild scenarios.

“I was actually going to ask about your eyes earlier,” Dan Heng added. “But I didn’t want to be rude. Regardless, it doesn’t matter right now. Let’s find Arlan and head to the master control room where it’s safe.”

“Yeah… hopefully I can get some answers,” I muttered quietly, despite already knowing that probably wasn’t going to happen.

At the very least…

I’d get to meet Himeko, who I thought was really hot with her big sister aura and red hair.

=====

An Hour Later

After meeting Arlan and figuring out how to get the elevator working—which, in true March fashion, turned out to be as simple as her forgetting she already had the access control card on her—we continued onward with the injured Arlan accompanying us.

Since the elevator could only be accessed from the second floor, we had to fight our way the long way through several more waves of monsters. Each encounter left me a little more drained than the last, to the point that both Dan Heng and March started noticing.

After catching me coughing more than once, this time without managing to fully hold it back, they both asked if I was alright.

I reassured them that I was fine, though I don’t think it worked as well as I hoped. By the half-hour mark, I could feel their eyes on me almost constantly. Still, after seeing me recover quickly in front of them each time, they reluctantly allowed me to keep going.

Along the way, I managed to find and open around ten more chests, netting a small amount of Credits that I was more than thankful for. I also went ahead and rolled my pending ticket, which got me something surprisingly useful, even if I already had something similar.

That being—

[Midas’ Bag of Holding]

|Rare Item|

A small pouch the size of a human hand that contains a 1 km × 1 km square of space inside. Whoever places their hand inside can pull out what they’re looking for without issue, and the weight of the pouch never changes.

With this, I no longer had to worry about running out of inventory space anytime soon. The best part was that I could easily wear the bag over my clothes, and no one would be any wiser about what it really was.

By the time we finally reached the elevator, we were forced to deal with a Voidranger: Trampler, a centaur-like monstrosity far stronger than the enemies we’d faced so far. Still, with some effort and coordination, we managed to bring it down.

As it died, the creature let out a shrill screech, summoning a large group of Voidrangers around us.

Thankfully, we were saved by Himeko’s drone-saw thing before things could spiral out of control.

The monster’s defeat netted me another reward as well, which was a welcome bonus.

Feat Achieved! Killed 50 monsters.

+1 Gold Ability Gacha Ticket.

Which earned me—

[Purification]

|Rare Ability|

Allows you to bathe a target in purifying light, cleansing them of negative effects or foreign substances. The potency of the purification scales with the amount of energy spent.

I now had a proper inventory and another ability, bringing my total to four. I already knew this one would be incredibly useful in the future, being able to cure poisons, paralysis, and even things like mind control was nothing to scoff at.

The best part about all of this, though, was that over the course of our little journey, March, Dan Heng, and I had grown closer. To the point where we were working together smoothly as a team. I already considered them good friends, and I hoped they felt the same way.

As we rode the elevator down, I finally decided to deactivate my Sharingan for the first time since activating it, letting out a quiet sigh of relief as the strain faded. I was happy nonetheless at everything my eyes had witnessed so far.

“Those guys were a bunch of sore losers,” March pouted, crossing her arms. “Just ganging up on us like that! Good thing Himeko was there to save us.”

“Is Miss Himeko another Nameless?” I asked, making conversation, even if I already knew the answer.

“Yes~ Himeko is the Navigator of the Astral Express,” March said, instantly smiling again as she gushed about the redhead. “Which means she decides where we go next.”

“I see. She sounds like an amazing woman, from the way you’re describing her,” I said with a small smile, watching March’s expression brighten even more.

Blushing slightly, March scratched the back of her head. “Ahaha, you bet she is. I admire Himeko so much! She’s just so beautiful and amazing~ Right, Dan Heng?”

“I concur,” Dan Heng replied with a polite nod. “Miss Himeko is a woman of many talents.”

“Just wait until you meet her~” March cheered.

The elevator came to a stop, the doors sliding open as we stepped out.

“Speaking of her, there she is! Himeko~ Thanks for the save!” March waved enthusiastically.

I followed her gaze, and stopped dead in my tracks, nearly causing Dan Heng to bump into me.

The Navigator of the Astral Express stood before us.

The game hadn’t done her justice at all.

With long red hair, soft golden eyes, and a tall, mature figure, Himeko was easily the most beautiful woman I’d seen in my life so far.

As she approached us with a gentle smile, my body betrayed me for just a moment, and before I could stop myself, I whispered in awe—

“Beautiful.”

I only realized I’d said it out loud when I noticed Himeko’s eyes widen slightly before returning to normal, her smile growing even warmer.

“Why, thank you~”