Master-Eli's first ship was not much more than a patched-up shuttle with thrusters that coughed and whined at every burn. He could not afford fittings, modules, or even proper ammunition. Many pilots in New Eden boast of their first killmail—Kaelen’s first accomplishment was something far smaller: making it through a gatecamp alive with only a sliver of hull integrity left.

The other capsuleers mocked him. “Veldspar rat,” they called him. “Gutter pilot.” But Master refused to quit. Where others spent millions, he scraped by with thousands. He learned every trick to stretch ISK: salvaging wrecks abandoned by wealthier pilots, slipping into forgotten anomalies where pirates lurked, and scavenging modules they left behind. He learned to fight poverty as though it were a pirate overlord itself—clever, merciless, and always circling.