008 Training Arc 8: Encounter 2

Ninth entry in the tenth chapter.

I regretted it. Should've gathered intel on the enemy sooner.

The enemy’s presence was obvious—after all, they were scavenging debris.

But since my job was debris collection, I’d completely forgotten about their danger.

Never thought I’d end up running into an enemy with just basic debris scavenging gear.

"Place where a fight happened? Yeah, that’s basically a hazard zone."

I muttered to myself, carefully watching the enemy’s movements.

The scout probe was tracking our motion, adjusting its orientation with precision.

But the core—what looked like a rock mass—showed no signs of movement.

The enemy should’ve taken damage severe enough to be classified as downed. They’re probably hiding inside that rock mass now.

"Could it be... barely alive?"

No radar emissions. Seems they’re only tracking us passively.

I bring the ship to a halt, ready to move at any moment, and run a precision scan on the probe and the rock mass.

“If they make a move, we’re outta here.”

The scan detects something inside the rock mass. No enemy action.

But the probe’s always keeping us in its field of view—might just be waiting for an opening.

Depending on angle and range, we could easily fall into their weapon’s kill zone.

I grab a small rock fragment with my right arm and use it as a shield, then position my left arm drill forward and cut the radar.

Cutting the radar should let us slip out of passive detection. Their only eyes should be the probe’s optical sensors—its cameras.

But now we’re blind too—have to rely on the drill’s camera to close in on the enemy’s rock mass.

Same conditions, but we’re the ones moving. That’s gotta be an advantage.

This is about all a standard mining rental ship—equipped only with a debris-cleaning laser—can manage.

I edge the left drill forward, hiding behind the right arm’s rock mass, moving carefully.

Enemy still doesn’t budge.

Before I know it, we’re past the probe’s alert line.

The enemy’s rock mass is wired to it. Should I just cut the line?

Grab the cable, slice it with the laser—worst case, I recover the probe.

Don’t know how much it’ll cost, but it’ll be solid proof we found the enemy ship.

“Could blind them completely. Might kill two birds with one stone.”

I hesitated. This was hostile action. We’d been overlooked as a non-combat vessel—now we’d provoked them. Might get shot at.

“Can’t they just… move? Can’t they… move? Didn’t we become pro-gamers to avoid risking our lives like this?”

But if we could secure that likely enemy ship… the reward would be insane.

Truth is, I’d become a pro-gamer just to earn tuition—so I wouldn’t get kicked out of high school.

And now there was a reward that’d more than cover that, right in front of me.

“Prince, I’m sorry… but maybe it’s time to retire. Go back to a quiet high school life?”

At that moment, I was trapped in a dangerously simple thought.

Never thought… this would happen next.

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