(A/N: I added a auxiliary chapter with reference images of some characters, you can take a look.)
(A/N²: Most of the following content is taken directly from the novel, but I think it's important to remind you of this for those who haven't read the original in a long time.)
The final stop was Juberly Hub, the destination of Black Spider's journey, not only to register as a mercenary, but the place itself was a famous transit station in the Garton galaxy of the Colton Star Cluster, also a chaotic place with various groups stationed there, which was a great environment for mercenaries.
The universe was divided into many Star Fields, the Colton Star Cluster belonged to the "Shattered Star Ring" Star Field. The Shattered Star Ring was located on the edge of the Explored Universe and was considered rural. Its name came from its structure. This Star Field was like a broken and shattered ring of stars, each Star Cluster being part of this 'Ring'.
In the heart of the Shattered Star Ring was a dangerous place with a huge cluster of wormholes, where the universe's debris was being ejected from numerous Star Fields, floating in the area and forming a garbage dump. Because of this, scavenger groups were very active in the Shattered Star Ring.
There were a great number of unusual occupations in the galaxy, such as Galactic Pirates, Scavengers, Mercenaries, Colony Explorers and so on. The Shattered Star Ring had no governing authority, only scattered Star Clusters and galactic civilizations, so there were many areas with a worrying level of law and order.
The Shattered Star Ring was legitimately ruled by the Western Arenids, but this civilization only had its emissary residing in the local offices and hardly administered the area. Western Arenids was the official name of the universal civilization 'Federation of Light'.
While peacefully thinking in his room, Black Spider heard an announcement. - Everyone, please return to your rooms. The spaceship is about to accelerate and enter the Light Jump Tunnel. Turbulence may be experienced. If you experience dizziness, don't panic, it's a normal reaction.
Black seatbelts emerged from the wall shortly after the warning. Better safety measures, such as protective cabins, were too much to expect from low-level travel agencies, especially since he was only in economy class.
After the group fastened their seatbelts, the doors to the room locked automatically. A loud roar came from the spaceship as the walls shook.
Soon after, a force came from above and pressed everyone firmly into their seats. This was the reaction force even after it had been weakened many times by the various devices.
The Little Horn Star shot out a blazing flame and sped away rapidly.
Streams of light suddenly appeared in the darkness outside the windows, as if entering a tunnel of light.
Hmm…
When the pressure force reached its peak, the Little Horn Star shone and transformed into a stream of light.
The engine operated at full capacity. After entering the tunnel, the reaction force weakened rapidly due to the internal stabilization devices.
-Next stop, Star Zone 5 of the Garton Galaxy. Travel time: three days. Please enjoy your trip.- The announcement sounded again, as seatbelts were released and the cabin doors were unlocked.
//-//
The next three days were quite monotonous, he only heard about the universe through Han Xiao's eyes in the original novel, much was left out, so he let his clones separate and gather information.
During that time, one of the clones was targeted by a woman without a nose and with tentacles instead of legs, who wanted to have some fun, another was targeted by a fat, hairy man. Ringo felt that the universe was truly terrifying, the level of modesty here was alarmingly low.
If certain social norms weren't still in place, he even believes there would be nudists walking around the ship or even starting intercourse in full view of everyone.
This was no exaggeration, many species viewed this type of act as a way to build "friendship".
Black Spider remained in his cabin because of this, driven by persistent fear. Although it was merely a basic social fear, if a real fight were to occur, even if Black Spider couldn't handle it, the Ringo clone still possessed half his strength, which still firmly placed him in Grade B.
In the universe, if a Grade C is like a standard soldier and a Grade A is like a weapon of mass destruction, then a Grade B is a solid elite.
Conversely, anything below Grade C is easily destroyed if it doesn't keep its head down, a Beyonder Grade A is relevant in any civilization in the universe, even the three universal civilizations.
If Ringo wanted to, he could hijack the entire ship with his own strength, but he wouldn't do it. Even if he could change his appearance, the tracking methods of the universe cannot be underestimated, especially in the eyes of Godora, a magical civilization. He had no interest in becoming a galactic pirate like Black Spider, nor did he have any interest in messing with those who didn't mess with him.
On the other hand, their savings tripled during the three days on the spacecraft.
He now possessed 1,469 Enas.
Reason? Wayne Cards.
Out of boredom, he discovered a group of players betting money on the game, and after watching for a while, he bought a complete Floating Dragon deck for 30 Enas and went to play a few matches.
Was it a waste of money? Absolutely, but hey, he'd heard a lot about this game in his previous life, he could finally play a little.
He soon discovered something he hadn't expected: he was horribly lucky.
The cards I needed always came, and the opponent always drew the worst cards.
He didn't even need to use his future vision, he was completely dependent on his luck. At first, he was just testing the game, but even before he started cheating, he discovered he didn't need to.
In the short span of 3 days he had cleaned out a large group of card players, at first it was a simple game, then news of a player who won every time spread, in the end he won so much that the other passengers thought he was cheating, but they had no proof.
So, they stopped playing with him, but the damage was already done, he had already acquired some money and was happy with it. Don't underestimate that amount of money, the salary of a Godoriano Grade C investigator is around 3,000 Enas annually.
It's a highly respected and risky profession and this money is enough to live frugally for a long time.
Ringo felt that his luck must be at least average, maybe even exceptional! This made him very happy for a while. In Aquamarine, he had never played any games of chance, so he never realized it, it was only now that he discovered he was a lucky child.
He was expecting a universal treasure to fall into his lap the next moment, at least a purple piece of equipment!
Humming happily, he hoped the journey would encounter problems, attacking scavengers was his hope, that could get him some ships and some money. He would sell some ships and keep one for himself if it was good enough, if not, he would buy a new one.
Han Xiao didn't want a spaceship initially because it's a waste of money to maintain one, he was so stingy that he preferred to wait until he learned how to repair spaceships before acquiring one.
Ringo, on the other hand, doesn't care at all. He's not a mechanic, where else is he going to spend his money? Of course, he needs a fast and cool spaceship!
He wondered if he should go after Aroshia in order to obtain Risda's stealthy Light ship.
But having a Grade SS Mechanic keeping an eye on him... no thanks, the spaceship isn't worth that much trouble.