CHAPTER SIX

BATTLE START

The bright red letters lit up Jason's screen, and he briefly started in surprise.

Jason hadn't seen Overdrive's iconic Battle Start announcement in several years.

As a One Star Boss, Jason normally waited inside his lair until it was finally time to challenge his opponent. This was his first time fighting in a competitive match since the exams he took two years ago to receive his position with the Overdrive Corporation.

The changed circumstances were another reminder that this was a new game mode Jason hadn't played before.

The announcement faded away, and Jason's surroundings rapidly turned into a blue and green blur as the Red Minerva fell through the sky.

Once again, Jason felt a brief moment of surprise. Normally, Mechs were fired out of a launching catapult. On Skyward Paradise, the machines simply fell from the air.

However, the veteran pilot quickly adapted to his unusual surroundings.

Jason had never fought on this stage before, but he still effortlessly maneuvered his cyborg Mech as he plummeted downwards.

No matter where he was, Jason was very familiar with falling through the sky. He'd been knocked airborne countless times on Towering Crag. Skyward Paradise had a slightly different wind speed, but Jason rapidly accounted for the difference.

Moments later, Jason pushed forward on his thrusters. His partner's claws extended, and the cave dragon cyborg landed deftly on the side of a flying island, catching itself on the side of the floating triangle.

For now, it was best to hide on ledges and duck around corners instead of standing in the middle of a forest.

Despite the AngryBaoardMember's powerful Mech, he lacked innate game knowledge about Overdrive.

Jason didn't want to tip his hand too early.

The lush forestation was critical to Jason's victory plan. He had to keep the Red Minerva's secret strength hidden until the perfect opportunity.

On the other side of the stage, the enormous Smouderhulk landed with a tremendous crash on top of one of the fragile islands.

The triangular stone screamed beneath the weight of the enormous machine.

The Smoulderhulk was so wide that it covered the entire island - the Mech's legs and tank treads dangled right off the edge.

Despite the seemingly precarious position, Jason knew there was no chance that the Smoulderhulk would fall off by itself.

The Mech was perfectly stable - it didn't wobble a single inch.

This was the difference between a generic frame like the Sicko and a personally customized machine like the Smoulderhulk. The Sicko was built by experts, but it was designed for quick and easy mass production. The Smoulderhulk was a masterpiece with a specially designed center of gravity that prioritized balance and stability. The powerful Mech could fire any weapon with absolutely minimal recoil.

Hiss…

Thump.

Hiss…

Thump.

A cacophony of pneumatic hisses echoed through the battlefield.

Jason raised an eyebrow.

His opponent was new to the game, but they'd clearly done their research.

The AngryBoardMember might not know much about the game, but he understood how to use his Mech. Spike had opened up every single battle in the exact same way during his professional career.

As soon as it'd landed on the island, the Smoulderhulk's backpack had opened to reveal a set of four matching devices that resembled gigantic nails. The heavy equipment immediately launched from the machine's back, streaking across the battlefield. Smoke and bright red flames briefly spiraled across Jason's field of vision before the pistons embedded themselves deep into the surrounding stone.

Bzzztttt...

A pink forcefield briefly materialized before immediately vanishing again. The faint pink atmosphere covered the entire battlefield.

A bright red warning appeared on Jason's screen.

WARNING: OVERDRIVE BOOST DISABLED

Just as Jason had suspected, the four weapons were Overdrive Lockers.

The four uncreatively named pistons created a disruption field which made it impossible for either player to activate their Overdrive bonus.

The game's eponymous buff was similar to a hyper mode in other Mech media - it greatly boosted a Mech's stats and performance for a brief time period. Each of the four Mech classes received a different bonus. Hemoborn such as the Red Minerva were granted massive health regeneration via their biological parts.

The Overdrive Lockers were the perfect option for a titanic Giga Mech like the Smoulderhulk. Their absurd amount of armor and weaponry meant that increasing their strength had diminishing returns. Simply put, banning Overdrive boosts hurt their opponents more than it hurt a Giga Mech.

On the other hand, the Overdrive bonus was a key part of Jason's fighting style. The regeneration allowed him to bait out more information over time before aggressively turning the tables and going for the win.

Jason had not seen Overdrive Lockers in a long time, not even on the Towering Crag.

The Overdrive Corporation had nerfed the items out of competitive viability by increasing their Credit cost and implementing a strict 50,000 Credit cap on all competitive machines. At the end of the day, an item that canceled out the game's titular mechanic simply wasn't very good for business.

At the moment, an individual Overdrive Locker cost a whopping 45,000 Credits, making it impossible for a Mech to feasibly blanket the entire stage with an Overdrive canceling forcefield.

At best, they could only restrict Overdrive bonuses for a small portion of the map.

However, the board member was using the Smoulderhulk in its pre-nerf stage, back when it'd been one of the most feared machines on the server.

Jason knew he was in for a very tough battle.

When evaluating old school Mechs like the Smoulderhulk, Jason usually used a very simple heuristic. Although they occasionally made mistakes, the Overdrive balance team generally knew what they were doing. If they ever deliberately weakened a Mech multiple times, that strategy had to be extremely overpowered.

Jason stood no chance of beating his opponent in a head-on brawl.

Instead of targeting the Mech, he had to target the machine's pilot.

Jason's well-trained mind immediately began calling up information on similar opponents.

By now, he'd faced thousands of opponents as a One Star Boss, and every new match reminded him of battles he'd fought in the past. His simple psychological profiles weren't completely revealing, but they always gave him some hint of how to proceed successfully.

He'd battled many whales before, and they usually came in three different types.

In order to describe and catalog them, Jason had created his personal categorization system complete with his own self-created slang terms.

Some whales skipped eagerly from Mech to Mech, freely enjoying everything the game had to offer.

They happily played gimmick machines for a few matches before abandoning them.

Jason described these players as "casual whales" - people who had money to spare but who played for fun instead of trying their best to win.

Those players almost never knew their Mechs very well. In fact, Jason often defeated them because he understood their Mechs' weaknesses better than they did.

Jason would have classified the AngryBoardMember's son as a casual whale - the younger player had been decent, but he'd lost because he'd tried out a new build that he didn't fully understand.

The second category was custom whales, a group that often aligned with professional players.

They were pilots who dumped a ton of money into building a specific machine that aligned with their playing style.

Jason referred to these players as custom whales - they spent a great deal of money customizing a single machine.

It was very common for them to build totally customized frames like vermillionangel's Vermillion Draco or Twister's Bug Fighter 34. Spike himself, back during his pro days, had also been a custom whale.

Those pilots were difficult to deal with because all of their machines were totally different. Their Mechs were direct reflections of their personalities and fighting styles. There wasn't a clear pattern for Jason to draw - he just had to fight those opponents head on.

The last group was cookie-cutter whales, players who spent a lot of money emulating tried and tested builds used by the professionals.

This phenomenon was very common in all sorts of competitive games. In trading card games, players often spoke of "netdecking," or copying a successful decklist from the internet card for card.

Most cookie cutter whales used Mechs that they'd copied from someone else - just like the imprint of a cookie cutter in dough.

A lot of players looked down on cookie-cutter whales, but Jason actually sort of respected the mentality.

It was impossible for a new player to know everything about the game. Why would they experiment when they could just copy experienced experts?

Jason frequently researched other players' perspective to learn as much as possible.

When it came to high-speed aerial combat, Jason didn't have time to experiment with every tactic himself. It was a lot smarter to learn from an expert like vermillionangel.

However, the process of solely learning from others without self-experimentation had its own weaknesses.

Cookie-cutter whales played well when they were able to stick to their game plan, but they always faltered when put into strange situations. While there were times when cookie-cutter players eventually managed to exceed the player they imitated, that took a great deal of time and practice.

Jason knew he could defeat his opponent if he put them into an unexpected situation.

On top of that, the AngryBoardMember had made another critical mistake.

The Smoulderhulk might have ruled the Overdrive metagame years ago, but the game had evolved dramatically since then. Giga Mechs were still overpowered, but some of the equipment was out of date.

Jason's strategy crystallized in his mind.

He reviewed his plan again, then nodded.

Just like all his best plans, his strategy had appeared seemingly out of thin air.

After his well-trained brain examined the field and his opponent's mind and Mech, it automatically synthesized a strategy from the disparate strands of data.

Brrrrrrrrrr...

A resonant thrum, far louder than the faint buzz of the anti-Overdrive forcefield, echoed across the battlefield. The eerie buzz was the only hint that the Devastation Cannon - the most powerful weapon in the Smoulderhulk's arsenal - had started gathering energy. Under normal circumstances, the Devastation Cannon was a very flashy and vulnerable weapon with a long charge time.

It was a somewhat common option for Three or Four Star Bosses. The key to defeating the item was destroying the brightly glowing purple weapon before it reached its maximum power.

However, Smoulderhulk had a unique hollow interior which allowed Spike to safely charge the item from inside the heavy armor plates. The cannon would not emerge until it was completely charged, removing its greatest weakness.

However, Overdrive was a game of trade-offs. Placing the charger inside the machine had also extended the charge time. The Smoulderhulk's Devastation Cannon had a full charge time of three minutes.

Normally, there would have been no reason to use such a flashy item.

While Jason hadn't played this Treasure Hunt battle before, common sense dictated that the players should focus on completing the objective as soon as possible. The Smoulderhulk was a lot larger than the Red Minerva, but its sensors were just as sharp as Jason's dragon.

The Mech could search for small targets with the best of them.

However, the other player clearly had no interest in finding the treasure. They just wanted to blow Jason clear out of the skies.

In a way, Jason understood the man's mentality.

The board member didn't care about Overdrive. They just viewed the game as an investment. They were only playing in this match to crush Jason for beating up his son.

His primary goal wasn't winning the match - it was humiliating Jason and the Red Minerva.

However, Jason could use the man's rage to his advantage.

The Smoulderhulk could not move until the cannon finished charging. The weakness hadn't mattered in the age of immobile Giga Mechs, but here, it was a crippling weakness.

Jason would get a significant head start.

But even if the Smoulderhulk couldn't move while charging its cannon, it could still attack.

The enormous mechanical beast began unleashing salvo after salvo of tiny red missiles.

Spitfire Missiles inflicted minimal damage.

Instead, they were used to lock down an opponent and control their movements. However, repeated blows from the weak attacks would inflict significant damage, especially considering the Red Minerva's low base health and abilities.

The highly sensitive heat seeking missiles were designed to seek out opponents.

The AngryBoardMember couldn't see Jason. Instead of standing on an island, Jason had hidden his Mech at the edge of the cliff.

Flushing out opponents with the Spitfire Missiles while charging up the Devastation Cannon was another textbook strategy Spike Saunders had employed during his days as a professional player.

It seemed like the AngryBoardMember was reading directly from a guide.

Fortunately for Jason, he knew the textbook response to Spitfire Missiles.

Strategic counterplay had advanced since the days when Spike Saunders ruled the Overdrive server. Almost every skilled player knew that they couldn't avoid every single missile.

Instead, Jason had to selectively take damage. Panicking and trying to avoid everything would put Jason in range of the Devastation Cannon. However, excessive stalling and turtling would cause all the missiles to hit him.

There was no way Jason could stay hidden forever. The Spitfire Missiles were just too sensitive.

Jason waited for a moment, plotting out an escape path.

He couldn't just flee without thinking.

Despite his instincts, it was important to remember that he was no longer participating in a head-on battle.

The real goal was finding the hidden treasure chest. That meant that Jason would be punished harder for doubling back. He had to continue running to new areas so that he could search the premises.

As the storm of tiny darts arrived, Jason willingly tanked three of the missiles, before charging straight through the approaching gunfire and leaping cleanly off the island cliff.

Although the Red Minerva couldn't fly, there was no danger soaring through the air.

Jason's partner easily caught herself on all the floating islands. Although it wasn't quite climbing, the Mech's incredible traction still allowed Jason to swiftly dart from island to island.

The skilled pilot swiftly scanned the area for any signs of the treasure chest, but he saw nothing.

Jason kicked off cliff after cliff, quickly dropping down further and further beneath the gigantic Smoulderhulk as he moved lower and lower on the islands. The Mech moved smoothly and confidently on its strong mountain goat-like legs.

The skilled pilot grew increasingly perturbed as he saw no hint of the hidden treasure.

Per his brief online research, the treasure chest was a brightly glowing box of about ten by ten feet. The object was large enough that he should easily be able to see it even if he was only briefly hopping from island to island.

Even though Jason had never participated in a Treasure Hunt before, he shouldn't have had any problems spotting the item. After all, a big part of successful Overdrive play was instantly noticing things that were out of place. He would be able to see the jarring gold from a mile away.

On top of that, the treasure chest couldn't be destroyed.

The item was protected by a barrier. Even if Jason somehow missed the gold plating, he should have noticed an area that deflected his opponent's missiles. His foe's gunfire was blanketing the entire stage.

But even as Jason ran and ran, covering more and more ground, there wasn't any sign of the hidden chest.

Smoke rose higher and higher as the missiles devastated more and more of the forestation, leaving nothing but ashes and cinders.

Jason ran faster and faster, acting as if the forest fires would be just as dangerous as the missiles themselves.

His Mech jumped furiously from island to island, its slender arms and legs waving through the air.

Sometimes, he'd leap up, high into the sky.

Other times, he'd dive low, falling from one island to the one beneath it.

As the smoke continued wafting higher and higher, rising from one devastated floating island to another, Jason saw something that briefly turned his heart to ice.

He stared high at the sky, up towards the Smoulderhulk.

Jason took another look at the smoke, then cursed.

He definitely wasn't seeing things.

Immediately after confirming his realization, Jason replaced his fear and annoyance with cold and professional resignation.

Having used a fire-breathing Mech for many years, Jason knew exactly how smoke was supposed to behave on the Overdrive server.

The smoke rising up towards the islands was behaving in an exceptionally strange way. It was parting in a barely noticeable manner around the island the Smoulderhulk was directly perched on top of.

It was just the faintest of disturbances, but the slight difference screamed out to Jason's well-trained eyes.

The treasure chest's barrier was pushing back the smoke.

The prize was buried in the island directly beneath the Smoulderhulk...

Jason wouldn't be able to reach it without confronting his deadly foe.

Ding!

The shrill note echoed across the battlefield.

And to make matters worse, the Devastator Cannon had just finished charging.