New Prey

What does every sentient being do when he gets access to space?

That's right, he buys his first spaceship.

Lee Long was no different from most of his peers in the galaxy. He had desired. He had the money. He decided to buy himself a spaceship.

The boy sat down at his computer and opened the web of the ferin sector. The selection of a model began. The FS 209 Courier caught his attention. The standard model of the Ferin Space Board Corporation. The model was shaped like a wedge. Two fangs extended forward from the small cockpit. The dimensions of the ship were announced on the FSB website. Length is 9 m, width 3 m, height 3 m. Lee hummed thoughtfully. The standard weight of this courier was 4.1 tons.

It takes 414 endurance points to carry 4130 kilograms. That's an unrealistic number! Level 400 requires billions of billions of experience points. It would need to wipe out the entire population of the galaxy to get that level. But why have a level 400 when you're the only one left in the whole galaxy? The boy shook his head. Silly thoughts. A spaceship is not a flyer. A flyer is made of special plastic. A journey to space requires a sturdy material for the hull. Sturdy and reliable metal weighs a lot. Perhaps in the future, he can order a customized model. It will be an option for escaping into space in case of danger. Perhaps he can fit half a ton of weight into his inventory when he reaches level 50.

Lee Long looked at the image of FS 209. The cost of the standard model suited him. 127,000 credits. That's the kind of expenditure he could afford to get into space.

The main thing was to get a new identity!

During the flight, he spent all his time next to the Cracked Bone. Lee discreetly took several pictures of the cat from different angles. Now he had material to study. The little duelist made his first attempt at the Race Dance skill. It was painful and had a bad result. The face looked like the face of an ugly ferin. With a face like that, it was hard to give the impression of an ordinary ferin. Lee thought it was good to have a difference from his partner's face. But the muzzle looked too abnormal. The boy laughed. It's a mixture of ferin and bregan! A cat who is badly dabbling with genetic alterations. Such a scoundrel would be called to account at once. Have you no respect for the ancestral precepts? Welcome to the mine! The freak must mine valuable resources!

The easiest solution was to get false documents. The experienced smuggler was sympathetic to the boy's problem. Cracked Bone shook his head. He had a stock of identification cards. He promised to show the boy his counterfeit cards. The cat had used them in the days of his cheerful youth. Manipulator Lee immediately decided to get one card for himself.

Cracked Bone felt uncomfortable. He didn't understand why he trusted this kitten so much. But the kitten trusted him with the secret of his magic. It was powerful magic. The cat immediately realized that the boy had decided to have a permanent partnership with him. The bregan situation got out of control. Arrogant Rhonda had severed a good contact! But Bone had many contacts. His old squad, the Cosmic Tails, had long ago grown from a team of young brats to a serious mercenary squad.

Bone arranged a meeting with his partner and explained the difficulties. It was possible to get the tree and he was preparing a new deal. After a serious conversation, the cat began to recall old adventures and showed the kitten old trophies. Lee looked at the cards and saw the unfamiliar faces of young cats on them.

" Cracked Bone, how did you use these cards? They have different images of personalities on them!"

"These are cards of different cats. They died during the fighting. Bregan does not distinguish between the muzzles of the ferins. To an elf, the muzzles of all cats look the same. Elves can pay attention to the color of the fur and special markings. But the Bregan have had little legal dealings with the Ferin. And now the races' contacts have not improved. Fluffy Paw was under strict surveillance. The ship managed to break away from the planet, but now that transporter cannot be flown to Mirros. But I have other contacts in the Bregan sector. We'll do big business!"

Lee Long was ready to continue the business. Smuggling is okay. It's not piracy or slave trading. The trickster asked his partner to give him one old identification card. The suggestion made the cat sympathetic to the small but valuable partner's request. The boy thanked him for the gift,

"Thank you, partner! The card will be useful to me. Are you sure Fluffy Paw isn't wanted by Bregan's security services?"

"Elves don't like to expose their blunders to the public. Rhonda did a foolish thing. A self-righteous fool! But she values her reputation. That's why she'll keep quiet. She could have sounded the alarm. But we left orbit quietly and had no pursuit. You surprised me! I don't believe in your excuses. You must tell me the truth. We are partners and we must trust each other!" said the cat.

"We are at the very beginning of a partnership. I have revealed to you the secret of my magic. Yes, I have a few secret powers. But those secrets are no secret. I am an orphan. My parents were great soldiers. The colony allowed me to learn special hand-to-hand combat techniques as a child. I don't want to talk about it," the boy began to justify himself again. He could hardly avoid the subject of his fight on the planet Mirros.

Lee thought he couldn't change ships often. He needs to conserve funds! He's willing to pay for useful adventures but he doesn't want to make unnecessary expenditures.

A small ship costs a small number of credits. Maintenance and operation required constant expense. Lee had to rent a hangar and constantly pay to renew the power supply. The spaceship's engines used the power of the Power Stones. The operation of the hyperdrive ate up the energy supply. Lee Long knew that these valuable stones were very expensive. The Power Stones on a ship were worth more than five ships! The available cost of spaceships led to the beginning of constant spending to maintain the purchase.

His active search for a way to penetrate the Bregan sector was no accident. He took the results of his meeting with Rhonda with responsibility. Elves are formidable opponents. Lee descended into the dungeons of the lower city. Obtaining a complete set of free points to allocate to the attributes became the main task. In the dungeon, the duelist did not worry about questions of evil and good. He was superior to his opponents in strength and dexterity. A brazen monster appeared in the Ferin dungeon!

***

There was gloom in the Corpse Worms gang. The vile creep found the gang's lair and beat everyone. He appeared suddenly. A short cat with an ugly face was greeted with taunts and scolding. The scoundrel responded to the taunts with an attack. He pounced on the bandits and beat them all! The little brat broke the arms of everyone who grabbed the knife. The bandits lay exhausted on the dirty floor of the shelter, whimpering their complaints.

"Don't hit me. I give up, take my credits!"

"Who are you? Get away from us!"

"Leave me alone! I got a big family to feed."

"You broke my paw! You're hurting me. Don't take my credits. How am I going to pay for the treatment?"

"You won't get away with it!"

The ugly shorty wrinkled his cheeky face, it looked even uglier. His insolent words stunned the bandits,

"You miserable worms. I want more credit. Who here is against it? Are you the one threatening to punish me? You will pay for your insolence. Yes!"

The scary little brat started beating up the leader of the Corpse Worms gang. The leader tried to resist, but his arm was already broken. Lee finished the beating and gained another victory. As a reward, he chose a point of characteristics. These bandits don't have to be strong and dexterous. Lack of intelligence is no threat to these scoundrels. The miserable losers never had brains.

"Hey, are you saving your credits for the big family? I don't believe you. But I'll show you kindness! Give me your ID!" demanded the boy from the bandit cat.

"Here's my ID card. Take the card but leave me the money!"

Lee took the card and looked at the picture.

"Your face looks just like mine. We're both freaks. But I'm a strong freak and I'll get my reward."

"I'm ready to give up my map, too!" shouted one dog.

"Are you stupid? Are you laughing at me again? I am a ferin! I am a brave dungeon hunter! I don't look like a dog."

The boy kicked the dog. He looked at his status and was not satisfied. He needed more duels and more characteristic points. At first, he needed 18 points. Seven bandits gave him 9 points. He needs to repeat the punishment and collect booty.

"You have no respect for me. Crooked Face is about to teach you obedience! Ganid will be the first. The dog you mocked me. I challenge you to a fight. Yes!"

The dog managed only to bark a few words in his excuse. But the enemy wouldn't listen to excuses and began beating the bandit. Then the freak taught obedience to the rest of the gang. The cadaver worms no longer resented or whimpered. Better to keep quiet and not provoke the wrath of this lunatic. He turned out to have a nasty temper. The freak was displeased with everything and clung to every word the bandits said.

This creepy evening ended badly for the bandits. They were all lying on the floor and could not move from the beatings. A short figure in an old hunter suit stood in the middle of the room. He had a satisfied expression on his face. Cracked Bone gave one card to the boy. Now Lee had four more sample documents and he had five cards. Good opportunities to maneuver. The status information was pleasing to the eye,

[Lee Long

Race: Earthman.

Type: Duelist. Mage.

Level: 21. 721500/839800

Strength: 4

Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 30

Endurance: 30

Health: 300/300

Mana: 300/300

Skill: Appraisal 3 level. Duelist Balance 1 level. Duelist Trophy 1 level. Water Magic 1 level. Healing 6 level. Ice Arrow 1 level. Earth Magic 1 level. Shield 2 level. Air Magic 1 level. Speeding 2 level. Short Blade 4 level. Race Dance 1 level. Mental Hegemony 1 level.

Available Characteristics point: 52

Available skill point: 0]

Lee thought that he was now ready to visit Rhonda. All that was left was to visit the vendors and buy himself a ship.

In the morning, Lee Long went to the used ship sale site.