After learning about the class system in Neo-Astra, and presumably the rest of this world, Damian continued to saunter through its streets. He never stopped playing with the locket around his neck, and went unobserved by most. Even the ones wielding catalysts only noticed some myst vibrations before Damian had moved past them.
He angled his eyes upward and noticed drones zipping erratically between buildings, some delivering illicit goods, others scanning their surroundings, undoubtedly on corporate or gang payrolls.
Occasionally, a drone would hover over Damian's position and scan him, reminding him that purely technological scanners and cameras were surprisingly proficient at seeing through myst-based abilities.
Fortunately, his clothes would prevent these drones from discovering anything truly interesting, and Nova was definitely invisible to scans like this. That said, he realized that if anyone was actively controlling these things, they'd likely know he was walking around here, but he barely cared.
'I doubt I'm the only myst-wielder who walks around like this occasionally,' he muttered to himself as he glanced at one of these drones. 'I'm sure they won't care. But if they do, I'll deal with it.'
He focused his attention back on the surroundings and felt an odd kinship with this place. It was familiar yet distinctly alien. Its undercurrents of corruption and neglect were apparent, but he also sensed potential—a spark hidden beneath layers of grime and oppression.
"Crude, chaotic, yet brimming with opportunities," he whispered to himself, already busy considering his first steps. Looking down at his hand, he briefly snapped open the locket to reveal small, holographic images of Lavinia, Lilith, and Luna, causing him to smile for a moment.
But almost immediately, he snapped the locket closed again and moved on, a lazy smirk on his lips. 'Plenty more to discover…' he muttered in his mind.
* * *
A few hours later, Damian had already learned much more about this city. He knew he'd passed through the territories of several different gangs, as determined by the gang colours and signs he noticed. That said, he didn't yet know what kind of hierarchy existed between these different gangs, if any.
At the same time, Nova had informed him she'd discovered a worldwide network that connected most devices together, much like there was on Eryndor. Although she'd need a stable access point to get into it. Unfortunately, her wireless range was somewhat limited, and since Damian stayed on the move, she'd not had a good opportunity yet.
Finally, he'd learned the city was divided into two districts, and a larger number of sub-districts. He was now in the Expanse, which essentially formed a massive ring that surrounded the inner city, and housed most of the Gutterborn. But even this place was divided into absolute shitholes and quasi-nice subdistricts.
Just before, he'd actually found himself in one of the nicer subdistricts of the expanse, where people had half-decent jobs and some spending money to forget their troubles with at night. Gangs usually earned most of their income there, and tried not to stir up too much trouble between each other. Even the corrupt police pretended to do their jobs there.
But there were also much worse places.
As Damian moved through the streets of the Expanse, he eventually found himself in one such place. The filth rose higher here, and most neon signs were flickering sporadically, as if gasping for life. The buildings were only a few steps removed from ruins, and the desperation in people's eyes ran much deeper.
Yet, people still clung to life here. Most either worked in hazardous industrial jobs, joined gangs, or lived on the streets, and even in just an hour of walking around here, he'd heard several gunshots. But despite all of that, the graffiti art became all the more vibrant, defiant, and emotional as the people cried out for change.
'Change begets opportunity, opportunity begets power,' Damian grinned to himself as he remembered one of his mother's most important lessons.
"But where to start…?" he wondered casually, scratching his chin as he turned into a narrow, disgusting alley.
Instantly, his thoughts were interrupted by a scene unfolding in front of him. "Please, we don't have anything!" a mature, ragged woman screamed as she clutched a young girl, likely no older than sixteen. The woman kept the girl behind her back as they cowered in a corner, eyes filled with panic, searching for a way out.
In front of her, a group of youths, all brandishing weapons of various kinds, sneered at her. Damian halted in his steps and observed curiously. He noticed many of them had at least some minor cybernetics, with one of the obvious leaders' eyes shining to prove it was an implant as well.
'That eye would probably see through my shadows,' Damian muttered to himself and stayed put. 'I don't sense any catalysts, so I'm sure I could win in a fight, but I don't want to draw so much attention on my first day here. They're in the way though, so I can't move forward either. Let's observe for now.'
"Shut it, bitch!" their leader, a woman in dirty, but not ragged clothing, grinned as she pressed the barrel of her pistol against the mature woman's forehead. "Your little Crash and his friends failed their quota this week, so you'll have to compensate!"
"T— That's not true! Get away from us!" the young girl screamed fiercely, glaring at their attacker as she struggled in her mother's arms. "Big brother would have told us!"
The young girl's eyes burned with fear at the gun pressed against her mother's head, but her defiant spirit refused to rest. Unfortunately, her mother held on to her tightly, making sure she was in between the gangers and her daughter.
"Everyone is a liar, kid," the leader chuckled meaningfully. "Maybe he just decided to pocket some of that money himself? I hear he's fond of the brothel…"
"That's a lie!" the girl screamed furiously, as anger quickly replaced fear.
"S— Stop this!" the mature woman gulped, unable to take her eyes from the gun barrel, even as her protective instincts demanded she stay focused. "L— Like I said! We have nothing!"
"Oh, I'm sure that's not true," the leader grinned as she licked her lips. "The only reason you'd leave your apartment is to buy food, so cough it up," she demanded, before thumbing behind her at some of the male members of her crew. "Unless you want some of my boys to play with your little girl…?"
The woman's face paled as she noticed the men's hungry eyes, but the girl they were looking at only seemed to grow more defiant. "C— Crash—!" the woman began, but was immediately interrupted when the leader pushed against the woman's forehead with the barrel.
"You let me worry about him!" she grinned sadistically. "Now, what's it going to be…?"