Everybody in the room turned to stare at Jonathan. He did his best to keep his expression blank, even as he grumbled in his heart. It was one thing to be cavalier about his reputation in front of Chad and his buddies, but it felt like quite another to back down in front of the entire class.

“I’m game,” Jonathan said.

He was going to have to face challengers eventually. He might as well find out where he stood sooner rather than later.

Instructor Brindley looked pleased with their display of martial spirit. Either that or he was just eager to see two of the top cadets pitted against each other in a fight. Either way, class was adjourned for lunch. Afterwards they would meet in the virtual world.

Jonathan noticed a little bubble of space around him as he picked up his food. Other students had been keeping their distance from him since the start of the semester, but this felt a little more pointed. His roommate, at least, stayed by his side.

“Are you sure about this?” Philip asked, once they sat down. It was unusual to see him do anything but tuck in and start eating as soon as possible.

“It’s too late for second thoughts,” Jonathan said. “Besides, I can’t think of any other way to get Chad to stop running his mouth.

Some people just weren’t open to reasonable persuasion. Back in the primitive world of Earth the only other option had been physical force. In the enlightened Orion Star Kingdom Jonathan could instead resort to virtual violence.

It would still be painful and costly, but at least there was no risk to human life.

Philip perked up, buoyed by Jonathan’s confidence. “Yeah, somebody needs to take that guy down a peg.”

Jonathan smiled, then took a look around the room. It was good to know that he would have at least one fan in the audience... maybe just the one, but it was better than nothing.

After lunch, he made his way to his virtual training pod. When he logged in, he was taken to a special sub-section of the virtual world. Their instructors could create these sub regions so as to be able to carry out class activities without affecting the larger shared world. In function it was something like an instanced dungeon in the games Jonathan used to play in his past life.

The bulk of the class had been taken to a viewing arena. There they would be able to see the fight from each fighter’s point of view, as well as an overhead display of the battlefield. They would also have the benefit of Instructor Brindley's commentary. Jonathan would be able to review such things later. In a way, it was a privilege to get personal feedback from somebody on that level. Of course, he was going to have to pay for that privilege with virtual blood and sweat.

Where his classmates got to watch the fight from a luxurious lounge, Jonathan actually had to fight. Instead of a lounge, he was dropped directly into the pilot's pod of a mech standing in a featureless waiting room. When the fight started, he and Chad would be dropped into the arena at the same time.

He moved around a bit, making sure that everything was in order. He was checking over his weapons for the second time when Instructor Brindley's voice came over the comm.

“Are you both ready?”

“Yes,” Jonathan said.

“Why don’t we make this more interesting?” Chad asked. “Let’s put twenty thousand merit points on the line.”

Jonathan couldn’t help a wry smile. He'd been given a round million merit points to start out, while Chad had nine hundred and fifty thousand. Challenge fights usually had ten thousand merit points at stake. Chad was obviously in a hurry to move up the list. Well, if he lost here, it wasn’t like his merit points would last for long once his classmates smelled blood in the water.

“I thought you wanted to make it interesting,” Jonathan replied. “How about five hundred thousand merit points?”

In for a penny, in for a pound. Now that his pride was on the line, there was no reason to stint on the wager. If he won, he wouldn't have to worry about earning merit points for a long time. If he lost, well, he'd save time compared to losing the same amount of points in a series of challenges.

“You’re on!” Chad replied without hesitation. He really didn’t seem concerned at all that Jonathan might have a trick up his sleeve.

“Very well,” Instructor Brindley said. “I’m entering the wager into the system.“

A moment later, a notification popped up in front of Jonathan’s vision asking him to confirm the bet. He did so without hesitation. Like he’d told Philip it was too late for second thoughts.

The message faded away, to be replaced with a countdown timer. Ten seconds later, Jonathan’s first mech battle began.

The scene that faded into existence around him was confusing at first. He was standing at the bottom of a small box canyon. The terrain resembled the area where he and Philip had slaughtered void beasts the day before. The difference was that there was no enemy in sight. No void beasts. No spiritual beasts. And no enemy mech.

A moment later, Jonathan received a notice from the virtual world. The chosen setting for their fight was a barren wilderness, one kilometer square. The two fighters had started roughly on opposite sides of the arena.

Virtual mech battles could take place in all sorts of settings. It could be an agreed on part of the duel or could be left to chance. In this case, it had been left to Instructor Brindley to decide. Jonathan had expected something a little simpler to ease them into the process, but it seemed that their instructor wanted to throw them into the deep end and see how they did.

At least the rules were simple. They were to fight until one of them was unable to continue. There were no style points available, nor any penalty for environmental damage. All that mattered was to win.

Well, all that mattered for their wager was to win. Considering that the both of them were being watched by their classmates, Jonathan naturally would prefer to win with flair.

Jonathan discarded the idea of lying in wait. Considering the setting it would only offer a marginal advantage on his first shot. There might come a time when he needed to pile up small edges like that, but Jonathan had put in his time mastering the art of mobile combat. He was just as happy running into Chad when they were both on the move.

Besides, If he wanted to maintain the aura of the top student in their year, it would be better to go forward boldly to confront his opponent. Of course, if he wanted that aura to last beyond the first exchange of blows then he’d have to do a bit more than that, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

He crouched and channeled as much energy as he could into his mech’s legs before leaping into the air. He still had to boost himself with the flight pack to clear the lip of the canyon, but the leap at least saved him a decent chunk of energy. Jonathan landed on a stretch of flat terrain, the sand dotted with occasional clusters of boulders. He began to jog toward the opposite side of the arena.

As he moved, he kept an eye on his surroundings. Naturally he needed to be on alert for Chad’s appearance, but he also wanted to get the lay of the land. He was moving across the top of a good-sized mesa. The desert terrain stretched as far as he could see, a series of high plateaus separated by deep ravines.

Jonathan picked up the pace as he approached the first ravine in his path. He hit top speed and jumped, just barely making it all the way across without resorting to the use of his flight pack. The awkwardness that he’d used to feel when piloting a mech was a thing of the past. If anything, he was more agile now inside the mech than he was using his own body. Proportionally speaking, the jump he’d just made was about twice the distance he could have managed in a track and field competition.

He bent his knees slightly, absorbing the landing with a creak of metal as his feet pounded two craters into the sand. He used the rebound force to bound forward and settled back into a jog. One more leap put him on the oversized plateau that should be roughly in the center of the arena. Jonathan slowed from a jog to a walk, now on high alert. Even if a long range shot wasn’t a lethal threat to a mech the way it would be to a human soldier, Jonathan still wanted to draw first blood.

He was most of the way across the plateau and starting to consider how far he wanted to push into Chad’s half of the arena when he finally caught sight of his opponent. Chad’s black and yellow mech was arcing through the air, flight pack lit up as it gave him the boost he needed to reach the next patch of high ground.

Jonathan didn’t need a second invitation to take a shot at such an inviting target. He stopped his own forward motion and readied his plasma rifle. He took aim with care. He wasn’t going to get a second chance to hit Chad while he was so vulnerable. Chad was heading straight towards him, so he didn't even have to lead the shot. He centered the crosshairs on the mech's chest and squeezed the trigger.