Eddie ported away to buy ingredients for the BBQ.

Meanwhile, Flora printed materials for the arena and bought some simple B-rated drones in the weight class of the Robo-Melee.

The distinction between robots and drones is that robots function autonomously while drones had a remote controller. When Flora looked at the remote, she discovered a socket for an AI jack.

Aidan said it didn't matter to him whether the gizmo was directly connected or via the controller. The difference lay in Flora's skills. They only worked for robots but not for drones.

Additionally, there existed jamming devices for remote connections. In the case of drones, they disabled them. On the other hand, robots only lost the link to the handler, but could still work within their parameters.

Because the player directly controlled the drones, they profited from the user's stats. But Flora preferred to have her hands and thoughts free, so she didn't mind the disadvantage.

Flora set up the 5x5m arena on the roof garden. Because Eddie was picky with the barbeque, she left it to him to get a grill. Instead, she printed some deckchairs, two porch swings, and a jacuzzi and positioned them with a good view of the arena with the help of Lorky and some elementals. While she had been in the workshop, Aidan had summoned three earth elementals. They still followed Flora around. Hence, she put up the Stehaufmaennchen for them to train.

When Flora finished setting up the roof garden for the evening, she even had time for a test round. Therefore, Flora assigned Aidan to the Blade-Roller-Extreme and Aitoshuri to a spinner-drone. It had four wheels and a chainsaw in front, a very basic model.

"Tear it to pieces, Aidan!" Flora commanded while entering the jacuzzi.

Aidan rolled to the Spinner with multiple blades rotating aggressively. The Spinner evaded with nimble movements.

Flora gaped at the fight. Aitoshuri literally drove circles around the blade-roller. The only part of her Aidan hit was the spinning wheel, and even then, it hurt Aidan more than Aitoshuri.

After five minutes, the Blade-Roller-Extreme was scrap metal while the Spinner barely had a scratch.

Flora shook her head in disbelieve while she cast Repair on both devices.

"I'm sorry, Milady." Aidan sounded crestfallen.

"Not your fault, dear. Probably it's on my tab for designing such a shitty robot, but I still believe in the design. Let's try another opponent."

This time, Flora connected Aito to a model named "Spiky2050". The name was a euphemism; it had not a spike but a freaking pickax on the top of its casing.

"Slice it up, Aidan!"

Aitoshuri stood still while Aidan approached. Then she struck down. She hit the core of the Blade-Roller perfectly. One Hit Kill.

"How can this be? There are so many blades around the core that the sensors couldn't get a good look, and now the pickax smacked it without even getting a scratch!"

Aito beeped two times and showed Flora a tiny nick on the shaft. Sighting, Flora dove deeper into the pool.

"Auntie Flow?" Mia arrived at the roof.

"Hi, dear." Flora greeted her from the jacuzzi. "Come in! Or grab a seat, whatever makes you feel comfortable!"

After Mia got seated on a porch swing, Flora told her about the Robo-Melee and her need to train for it.

"I have often participated. The Garage pays good money to drone operators. I get hired privately, as well. My rates are 1000 VirDos for first places, 500 VirDos for the second, 100 for the third, and 50 VirDos for the rest if you are interested."

"I have a robot this time, but good to know."

While Mia familiarized herself with the drones, Flora plugged Aito's jack in a second Blade-Roller-Extreme.

On a hunch, Flora commanded Aito to show Aidan some moves.

Under Aitoshuri's control, the little robot jumped and weaved around Aidan.

Flora gaped. Though she had built the blade-roller, she never anticipated it bouncing around.

"Aidan, take notes! Aito, teach Aidan how to operate the blade-roller. Burned toast and stale jam! Aitoshuri is a freaking genius driver!"

"Aito should represent you at the Robo-Melee, Milady," Aidan said, dispirited.

"No, she already is at max capacity with the octopussy and the mana-battery. You have to learn how to fight, sweety."

"Yes, Milady! I do my best! The algorithms sent by Aito are very effective."

Flora nodded and cleared her mind of any doubts she had about Aidan's performance.

"I have confidence in you and your ability to learn. Maybe we won't beat Mia at once, but our goal is to beat her at least one time tonight!"

The change in Aidan's blade-roller was noticeable. Now it bounced side by side Aito's.

Flora opened her skill menu and read the descriptions of her Robot-Handler commands.

Name: Overcharge Regular Mode

Description: Raises the physical power and physical controls of the robot.

Cost: 10 mana

Duration: 10 sec

CD: 25sec

Name: Overcharge Build-In Skill/Feature

Description: Raises the base damage of the skill or feature.

Cost: 10 mana

Duration: 10 sec

CD: 25sec

Name: Grease with life's blood

Description: Heals your robot, but lowers your health.

Cost: 10 mana + 1 mana / 2 sec; 10 health + 1 health / 2 sec

Duration: channeled

CD: none

Name: Hurry Up

Description: Accelerates the movement speed of your robot.

Cost: 10 mana

Duration: 10 sec

CD: 25sec

Name: Human-Machine Connection

Description: Shares your attributes with your robot.

Cost: 10 mana + 1 mana / 2 sec;

Duration: channeled

CD: none

"Let's start the fight!"

Mia had chosen the Spinner. The drone moved smoothly around the arena.

Flora to Aidan: "Don't attack from the front, catch her flank or back."

!

The Blade-Roller picked up speed and moved in a curve towards the Spinner. Just before hitting the Spinner at the side, the drone turned and presented it saw-blade to the blade roller.

Aidan reacted timely and bounced on the top of the Spinner, leaving a deep gash in its casing. He sawed through the tail end while disembarking. Immediately, he reversed the direction and hit the rump again.

The Spinner accelerated away, and Flora could see the gash on the top closing. The drone driver class had a healing skill, Flora concluded.

Naturally, Aidan chased it, but the drone was a bit faster than the blade-roller now that Hurry Up had run out.

!

While channeling mana Flora looked at her pool values.

Health: 54/280

Stamina: 530

Mana-Pool: 172/280

Concentration: 518/520

Flora was so used to low values that she didn't think about regenerating them before the fight. She regretted the oversight now.

Awkwardly, she groped around for the temperature control of the boiling Jacuzzi. She didn't dare to let the robot out of her sight while channeling the spell.

"Aidan, set the jacuzzi to friendly during the fight. I want more health."

"Yes, Milady!"

With the help of Human-Machine Connection, the robot was as fast as the drone. It herded the Spinner into a corner of the arena.

Abruptly, the drone turned around and tried to pass Aidan. Aidan went in for another attack, but in the last moment, the Spinner did a sharp turn and drifted by with its blade directed to Aidan.

Rotating disc met rotating disc, and sparks flew. The discs of the Blade-Roller were thinner and therefore more fragile and lost in the exchange. Furthermore, the hit spun the lighter Blade-Roller around.

Mia sized the opportunity to press the attack. The second, Aidan needed to get a grip on the controls, cost the Blade-Roller two more arms.

!

Now was Flora's turn to heal her robot, but seeing the relentless Spinner bullying the slower Blade-Roller, she changed her mind.

!

"Attack, Aidan!"

Obediently, Aidan cast Saw Storm, and the saw-blades started to glow orange and went into overdrive. He gave back as good as he got. Actually, even better. The Blade-Roller tore up the Spinner until it was a smoking mess. Aidan won the fight, but the robot was in bad shape with three arms missing and four additional discs damaged.

"Congratulations, you won," Mia said calmly. "I didn't expect you to kamikaze suddenly. You fooled me with that healing attempt."

"Thank you. It might not be the best strategy in the Robo-Melee with its battle royal format. I'm in no shape to fight against more robots."

Mia nodded. "Yes. The last attack was so unexpected because I was too used to sustainable fighting styles." Mia shrugged. "But there are a lot of n00bs who go kamikaze in the Melee too." Then she noticed what she had said and blushed. "I mean not that you are a n00b, ma'am. Shit."

"Relax, sweety. I never fought with robots before, so I'm definitely a newbie. That is what the word noob stands for, right?"

"Not exactly. A n00b is a newbie who never graduated from n00bdom." Mia shrugged. "It's just overused gamer-slang."

Mia changed drones. The fight against the pickax drone was harder, and the Blade-Roller was getting banged up.

Flora couldn't resist. "Kamikaze!" She yelled, and Aidan went berserk. In the end, the Spiky2050 was scrap metal, but the Blade-Roller didn't look much better.

"I'm sorry I got carried away. The problem is when I win, the behavior gets positive reinforcement. Therefore, I won't heal the Blade-Roller, and you switch to a fresh drone." Flora explained. "Not only do I have to live with my decisions, but at the same time, I learn how to deal with a broken robot."

After Mia switched again, she destroyed the blade-roller.

Flora healed it up and cast Refresh on herself, and they started again.

"Hello, Ladies!" Eddie arrived in the roof garden.

He fetched the Sailing Container from his inventory and pulled a grill, a picnic table, some salad bowls, and an assortment of raw seafood out of it.

"This container belongs to First Mate, pirate!" Flora exclaimed.

"I want one too! With my name on it!"

Flora sent Eddie to the workshop after he started the fire.

Meanwhile, Flora was getting better at remaining cool-headed during the fights. Now and then, she still went berserk, but gradually she learned to disengage when the Blade-Roller needed repairs.

The mental communication between Flora and Aidan became smoother as well. Now, they needed only short pings of thoughts to communicate which spells were needed, Aidan to Flora, or which maneuvers to execute Flora to Aidan.

Mia sat with a board on her lap and the controller on it on the porch swing. Except for the gently swaying swing and her rapidly moving hands, she didn't budge at all, not even her head. Her eyes were glued to the middle of the arena.

Her mood was as calm as her body. She congratulated Flora when she lost and accepted Flora's congratulations when she won with the same tone of voice.

"I can control two drones at once, Auntie Flow. If you would like the challenge."

"Bring it on! Muahahahaa!" Flora stopped laughing. "Oops, sorry, I don't usually do evil laughter when there are witnesses."

At the first try, Flora struggled, but then she started to win again.

While they took a break to regenerate, Flora reflected on the fights. Flora felt good about her skills. She definitely won more than she lost and started to feel cocky until she noticed a pattern.

"Oh, burned toast and stale jam! Aidan, display all the fight results with just a 0 for a loss and a 1 for a win."

"1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 , Milady."

"We are not only playing, but we are also getting played! That little shite is letting us win." Flora exclaimed mentally. "Let's destroy that pattern!"

"Dinner is ready!" Eddie called them cheerfully.

Flora to her AIs: "Bad timing; Aito, can you take on Aidan and Mia simultaneously?"

"Beep?"

"What if I buy you a book for the win?"

"Beep!"

"One more fight, Eddie. Mia, 1000 VirDos, and a free dinner when you win a battle against Aitoshuri. Aidan will fight on your side as well. If you lose, you have to join us for dinner and give me advice for my duel against Tigressa Flameante. What do you think?"

"Deal!" Mia's voice was still steady, but Flora thought she heard a tinge of excitement in it.