CHAPTER FORTY SIX

Jason stared at the screen, completely lost in thought.

Usually, his brain surfaced from the server as soon as the battle finished.

Now, Jason felt like he was stuck in a loop. He replayed the battle in his mind over and over again. There was no way to mince words.

He'd been thoroughly dominated.

The fight had gone on for about twenty or thirty minutes. Throughout the match, Jason had never once truly held the advantage.

Since leaving his job, Jason had won several impressive battles.

He'd defeated the Red Lamia and upgraded his machine to far greater heights. He'd made it past the first round of the Tournament of Assassins.

But before battling Vile, Jason had no idea what to expect from a top pro. Now, he'd personally experienced a frighteningly skilled expert whose skills far surpassed his.

He'd caught Vile off guard with several clever tricks, but she'd always struck back immediately. He'd been on the backfoot the entire fight.

On top of that, Vile's counterattacks had been utterly masterful.

She'd strung Jason along at every single turn. She'd matched every single one of Jason's tricks with one of her own.

The bewildered pilot shook his head.

That last move when she'd ejected her hand...

She'd exposed a weakness of the Blazing Avarice weapons system that he'd never even considered before.

That last play had thoroughly demonstrated the gap between himself and Vile. Jason had always considered himself quite creative. However, his opponent showed that he had a long way to go.

Her combat style was totally free and full of improvisation. She saw Jason's signature item and understood it better than he did.

This was the difference between a good player and a Fortress Master.

On top of that, Jason had made the critical error of getting rattled after a strange move. There wasn't much Jason could have done to stop Vile's gauntlet from intercepting his hands. Her smooth ejection of the part had stifled the Blazing Avarice's activation condition.

Regardless of what Jason did, Vile would have been able to get back to her feet.

He'd been too focused on finishing off his opponent. He'd allowed the excitement of bringing down a Fortress Master to get the better of him. If he'd been paying more attention, he could have scraped off the glove before summoning a different item.

Staring and gawking at the discarded glove was an even bigger blunder.

This was the first time Jason had lost since leaving his job as a One Star Boss.

On top of that, it was the first time he could remember when he'd lost to someone with a weaker machine.

Due to Vile's powerful equipment, the Devoted Monk was stronger than just a random Grunt. The average Grunt player wouldn't have had access to so many high-powered items. Even though the base frame was mediocre, Vile could strike as hard as any Ace. It was sort of like battling a random peon who'd uncovered a legendary treasure trove.

However, her machine was still a Grunt, a Mech with an innately restricted frame and a Credit cap eighty percent smaller than the Red Minerva's.

Simply put, losing was disgraceful.

Now that the battle had ended, the post-match report gave Jason the full details on his opponent.

-- General Data --

Pilot: Vile

Machine: Devoted Monk

Class: Paragon

Sub-class: Attacker

Designation: Grunt Unit

- Statistics -

Melee: A-tier

Shooting: C-tier

Speed: B-tier

Maneuverability: B-tier

Defense: A-tier

Cohesion: S-tier

- Weapons -

Triple-Gravity Staff

Beam Energy Manipulators [x2]

Soulbound Butterfly Knives [x2]

- Abilities -

Beam Energy Manipulation - Qi Mode

First, Jason pulled up information on his opponent's items.

He wanted to understand the exact workings of those strange new weapons. He needed to understand exactly how he lost. On top of that...

The Martial Arts event would eventually open up for every player.

Even though he'd completely failed to claim the rare parts from Vile, he might want to acquire the weapons later on.

The text box scrolled across his screen one by one. All of them were new content that'd been added exclusively for the martial arts event.

Triple-Gravity Staff

Description: The Triple-Gravity Staff is based on a traditional Chinese martial arts weapon.

This complex two-handed weapon specializes in versatility.

Depending on where a Mech grips the staff, it can be used as a whip, a flail, or a pair of shorter defensive staves. The triple-gravity staff is forged of an Eternium-steel alloy, so it has an exceptional amount of durability.

The weapon's most important feature is the built-in gravity manipulation cores. The staff's controller can freely activate the built-in cores to increase the weight of any section up to fifty tons.

Ah!

Now, Jason understood how he'd been defeated.

More likely than not, Vile had dramatically increased the weight of the furthest two links after raising the weapon above her head. The average Mech weighed around fifty to sixty tons.

A single link of the Triple-Gravity staff already rivaled that weight.

Unlike the Blazing Avarice's current options, the Triple-Gravity Staff specialized in raw force. There were no particular tricks involved - the goal was plain and simple power.

Beam Energy Manipulator

Description: The Beam Energy Manipulators activate the Devoted Paragon's Beam Energy Manipulation - Qi Mode ability. The gloves allow the Devoted Monk to control beam particles, similar to how legendary martial artists control qi.

They can channel the energy throughout their body or use the gloves to empower handheld weapons.

Jason briefly flicked over to the ability description for Beam Energy Manipulation - Qi Mode, but it basically repeated the same description as the gloves.

The weapons were fascinating.

Historically, the Paragons suffered from mediocre base stats, just like Hemoborn.

In general, the Kingbreakers were the most solidly reliable, with high statistics and few weaknesses. They would have the highest average stats when holding build quality constant.

The Spell Titans had extremely skewed stats, but due to the nearly unbound nature of the S-tier, their statistical averages were still very high.

Meanwhile, Paragons and Hemoborn were expected to make up for their deficits via special abilities. In this case, Vile crafted a particularly potent special ability that experts could skillfully use for both offense and defense. It was a great option that highlighted the very best of the Paragon class.

Jason moved on to the last description.

Soulbound Butterfly Knife

Description: A pair of linked blades that attack as one.

Each pair of Soulbound Butterfly Knives are remotely connected with each other and attack as one. The blade that leaves the Mech's hands will imitate the moves of the one still being held. It is not possible to attack remotely with both blades at once.

The weapons require a unique program installed in the computer's OS before they can be used. The blades themselves are exceptionally sharp and can easily cut through armor rated up to the A-tier. Destroying S-tier defenses will require multiple hits.

All of the weapons were powerful.

The Martial Arts event wouldn't come out for a few weeks, but Jason was deeply interested in capturing the Triple-Gravity Staff to his build. The strength and raw damage-oriented weapon were a perfect complement to Jason's other options.

Meanwhile, the Beam Energy Manipulation system was also very promising.

Jason wasn't sure if it would work with the Blazing Avarice, but it was worth an experiment. Even if it wasn't, the highly creative weapon was a great source of inspiration.

Unfortunately, the Soulbound Butterfly Knife wouldn't work with the Blazing Avarice.

The weapons system could only summon a single weapon at a time.

As a result, Jason wouldn't be able to use the remote weapons system, even if he dedicated two slots to the weapon - the first blade would disappear once he summoned the second.

Next, Jason pulled up the Red Minerva's profile again to compare the two builds side by side.

All he could do was shake his head.

-- General Data --

Pilot: Devourer22

Machine: Red Minerva

Class: Hemoborn

Sub-class: Attacker

Designation: Ace Unit

- Statistics -

Melee: S-tier

Shooting: A-tier

Speed: A-tier

Maneuverability: S-tier

Defense: C-tier

Cohesion: A-tier

- Weapons -

Magnum Pistol

Silenced Pistol

Mindmeld Garotte

Ghostfire Dagger

- Abilities -

Olfactory Perception [Level 10]

Auditory Perception [Level 8]

Bloodlust [Level 3]

Blazing Avarice Weapons System [Signature Ability]

Pestilent Snipe [Signature Ability]

Damn!

He'd been truly outplayed. A simple look at the stats revealed the gap between himself and his opponent.

Back when he worked as a One Star Boss, he could salve the constant defeats by reminding himself that his opponents had much better Mechs.

Jason's hypercompetitive nature had forced him to try and win at all costs, but there'd been no real shame in losing.

In this case, there was great shame in losing.

If you compared the awakened Red Minerva with the Devoted Monk, the Red Minerva was superior in almost every single way.

The Devoted Monk had some excellent items, but not even the most biased person would argue that the Triple-Gravity Staff was far superior to Jason's own treasures.

The difference lay in the skill of the pilots - Jason had let his machine down.

If Vile had used one of her Ace Mechs - or even one of her mini-boss Mechs, which required a special 30,000 Credit cap - Jason would have been defeated in an even more brutal and spectacular fashion.

Of course, Jason's feelings also went beyond mere shock and admiration.

He also felt uncomfortable and uneasy.

The defeat wasn't just a reminder of the skill gap between himself and Vile. It was also a reminder of Jason's own weaknesses and mental flaws.

A couple of days ago, Jason correctly identified that Overdrive pilots were bad at measuring risks and rewards. However, he'd rightfully put himself in this category.

In the battle lobby loading screen, Vile had refused Jason's offer of an Expert Level Match. Had she accepted, she would have utterly demolished the Red Minerva.

Jason would have effectively lost his machine.

Under the Expert Level rules, Vile wouldn't have been able to claim the Red Minerva. Unlike the Salvage ruleset, players got to keep their Mechs.

However, the damage dealt would have remained.

Her brutal attack with the three-part staff would have left the Red Minerva in shambles. His partner would have been beaten to the brink of her life, possibly destroyed beyond repair.

The powerful new Red Minerva was more or less irreplaceable.

Although Jason could easily find another cave dragon, the Red Lamia transformation and the Blazing Avarice weapons systems were unique gifts that could only be found from the Towering Crag's Vault.

The Vault had since shut down after Jason defeated it.

Without an operating Mech, Jason would have been forced to drop out of the Tournament of Assassins. He would have lost his opportunity to receive an expedited deal from OverManiacs.

On top of that, not every future opponent was as nice as Vile.

By challenging Vile to an Expert battle, Jason had displayed gross overconfidence.

From now on, he had to be much more conservative.

Like the first round, the second round of the Tournament of Assassins would also involve the Salvage Rule.

While logic dictated that the Illusionist's ace pilots and guildmasters weren't as strong as Vile, there was a large gap between Jason's level of skill and Vile's.

This sobering experience led Jason to two simple and easy conclusions.

The first was that he wasn't strong enough.

With only a week before the next event, he needed to use his time wisely.

Although Jason didn't want to admit it, he particularly needed to improve his coordination with others. Vile had defeated Jason in his preferred battle format - a direct one-on-one match.

Since Jason had spent so much time fighting in one-on-on battles, that would be the hardest area to improve. He would train with his usual effort and diligence, but he had to be realistic.

Dramatic improvement in two weeks would be unlikely.

Logically speaking, that meant that Jason needed to improve his skills at lesser-used aspects of his game. He needed to find an area where he had relatively low experience to harvest beginners' gains.

Depending on the skill level of his opponents at the Tournament of Assassins, Jason would probably have to coordinate with Danny again. It was best to practice beforehand.

The second conclusion was that he needed to make his machine more powerful.

Jason knew he hadn't lost the battle because of his machine. In fact, he'd let his partner down.

However, with just a week's worth of time, it would be much easier to improve his machine than to improve his solo fighting. Upgrading his Mech's weaponry and capabilities was another important aspect of improvement.

In particular, this battle highlighted Jason's carelessness. He'd gone into a battle with a Fortress Master hoping to claim her weapons.

In hindsight, that was an idiotic hope.

He should have gone into the battle fully prepared with a perfected Red Minerva. That was what a battle against an expert required.

Before the second round, Jason needed to upgrade his outer build further while loading higher quality items into the Blazing Avarice weapons system.

Jason smiled.

Losing sucked, but now he had a path forward.

Before the end of the week, he and his partner needed to hit a new level of strength.

After admitting his weakness to himself, Jason pushed back from the computer.

He kept his head low, not out of shame, but simply because he was thinking very hard. The veteran pilot slouched over in his chair. After admitting that he needed to improve, the next step was actually implementing that process.

First things first, he had to review his gameplay. He was still debating internally if he'd picked the right techniques and weapons for the fight.

In battle, Jason never second-guessed himself after an exchange.

That kind of sunk cost fallacy was totally unhelpful. Wasting valuable in-game time mourning previous mistakes would only expedite defeat.

However, the opposite was true once a battle concluded. Reconsidering all of his decisions was one of the easiest ways to improve.

After competing as a One Star Boss for so long, Jason realized that plenty of fights fell into similar patterns. Reconsidering his options after losing a battle was a good way to improve for future matches.

Jason doubted he would compete in a battle identical to this again.

If he battled Vile again, he doubted she would use the Devoted Monk. The Fortress Master was always testing out different machines. Even if she did, it was very unlikely they would end up on the Ring stage again.

However, there were a lot of lessons that could be taken from the match. Battling another close combat machine in a confined space was a common scenario. In addition, as Jason's fame and skill as a pilot continued, he would battle other skilled opponents.

The first and most obvious issue was that Jason hadn't used all of his items.

He'd dismissed two of his machine's powerful options out-of-hand.

He'd felt that the Red Lamia transformation would have failed against a swift and robust machine like the Devoted Monk. Similarly, he'd dismissed the Mindmeld Garotte. He'd worried like the frontal assault he'd used against Phil wouldn't work on a stronger machine.

In the end, it came down to the fact that both weapons - the poisonous saliva and the pilot strangling rope - specialized in assassination. However, using stealth-based strategies in a confined space was a challenge. Fighting his opponent head-on had been much easier.

Hmmm....

On the one hand, it was difficult to feature every weapon equally. The whole point of the Blazing Avarice weapons system was that it could freely adapt to the stage conditions.

On the other hand, Jason didn't benefit from weapons he equipped to his machine but did not use. The vestigial items essentially wasted his Credits.

Disregarding any item was a significant nerf to his machine's power. Jason had always felt comfortable sneaking behind his opponents and circumventing their attacks.

Especially skilled players were able to dictate their playstyle no matter what. They could impose their will on the match without compromising for the stage conditions.

Seeing as he'd lost, maybe Jason should have tried something like that. It couldn't have hurt.

After all, he'd had some success burrowing around...

At the end of the day, it was impossible to say what strategy was the best. All Jason knew was that his current attempted strategy failed. In general, it was better to focus more on larger macro things he could change such as upgrading his machine.

"Hey!"

Jason jerked up. The famous Fortress Master was standing in front of his chair.

He immediately forgot his previous thoughts about the match.

Vile's voice was sharp and awkwardly cheery. It felt like she was deliberately trying to inject energy into her voice.

The skilled Fortress Master reached out a hand for Jason to shake.

He took it.

Her fingers were strangely long, and although the nails were colored a bright sky blue, they'd been cut down to the nub. Her palm was very cold.

"That was a good game."

Her voice was artificially bright and encouraging. She was clearly trying to make Jason feel better after beating him.

Jason felt embarrassed, but not because he'd lost.

After battling Vile, he clearly saw that she was the superior pilot. There was no shame in losing to a superior enemy. It only motivated him to play better.

Rather, Jason felt abashed due to Vile's attitude.

The Fortress Master was completely sporting.

Jason had brashly challenged her to an Expert Level match, and Vile had thoroughly proved that in comparison to her, Jason was no expert.

However, there was no judgment in her voice.

Jason knew how easy it was to feel petty after wins against inferior opponents with superior machines. Even though he'd lost his job, it'd felt great to beat up on the AngryBoardMember.

However, Vile had a different attitude.

For her, strength was only natural.

She expected to win every match, and she expected herself to act gracefully after each win.

She was a true model for the community.

Although it was in a different context, Jason was reminded of Danny. The other pilot felt that acting friendly and kind was only natural.

However, being nice was a personality trait. It was impossible to naturally be strong. It required obscene amounts of dedication and hard work.

Vile might have been considered a prodigy, but it was obvious how much time she'd spent perfecting her moves and increasing her game knowledge.

Despite his current growth level, Jason still had a long way to go until becoming strong was as simple and expected as breathing.

"You were a lot better than I thought you'd be."

Jason wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Although Vile sounded kind and cheery, he wasn't sure if that was an insult or a compliment.

There was an awkward pause, and then Vile let out a shaky laugh.

"What I mean to say is, that was a good game. You truly scared me a couple of times there."

Vile sounded genuine.

It was well-known that she lacked the social skills of other pros. Although she was typically quiet, she always wore her emotions on her sleeve when she spoke.

Receiving a compliment from her was already an accomplishment.

However, Jason did not want a moral victory.

He wanted to get to the level where he could challenge her for real!

Nonetheless, Jason smiled back at her and bowed his head.

"Thank you."

He'd always felt a kinship and respect for Vile.

She was one of the few players who'd become a big-name pro without tremendous social skills. She was a good role model for Jason, who wanted to rise to the top of the Overdrive server on strength alone.

Like Vile, Jason just didn't feel super comfortable talking to others. He felt he couldn't market himself as a brand, so he needed to rely on his in-game actions.

She briefly glanced around them and saw that the crowd was paying attention to them. She stiffened a little as she considered her words before speaking on.

"I like to see a good Hemoborn expert, especially a fellow trickster. I had a lot of fun with our battle of wits."

She pulled out her phone.

Her lengthy fingers rapidly darted across the touch screen. The speed of her hands was a little jarring. The joints quickly turned into blurs.

Jason smiled inwardly.

It was sort of funny.

On the surface, Overdrive was a video game. There was little room for athletic abilities.

However, long and swift fingers clearly provided an advantage. Even though Jason was over a decade younger than Vile, she had better mechanics and control skills than he did.

Recently, Jason had noted how regularly walking and exercising kept his mind fresh and ready. From a scientific perspective, that essential exercise helped improve blood flow throughout the body, including the brain.

Now, he saw that he could also perform physical exercises to improve his abilities. Jason knew that pianists and other musicians often performed certain finger exercises to improve their manual dexterity. He'd be well-served emulating their drills.

She smiled.

"I sent you a note. Check it out when you can."

After that, she smiled and returned to the warm-up area. She waved a little to Jacob.

"Thanks. I'll get some more work done until it's time for my next round."

Some of the other players in the room asked her for pictures and autographs.

She politely obliged but otherwise spent most of her time silently in the corner, typing away at the computer and waiting for her next match. Despite the noise of the gaming center around her, she effortlessly cut out all noise and distractions.

Jason pulled out his phone and opened up the Overdrive app.

As he did, he thought about Vile's last few words.

He certainly agreed with what she had to say - he was a tricky and maneuverable player. However, he'd never felt particularly creative. Instead, he had simply copied other people's moves or used pre-tested strategies to outplay his opponent.

Hemoborn pilots generally fell into two categories.

The first group consisted of aggressive pilots like Jason, who used Hemoborn's natural abilities and buffs.

His current version of the Red Minerva had plenty of tools for assassination and stealthy attacks. He used his machine's diverse moveset to outplay his opponents.

The second group consisted of hard-hitting artillery and tank experts.

Those players stuffed their machines with heavy armor to circumvent their low natural defenses. Turning their Mechs into powerful but slow-moving behemoths maximized the Hemoborn's regeneration abilities. Those builds turned the typically fragile Hemoborn into high-regen monsters.

However, Vile's comments also served as an important reminder.

Thus far, Jason had considered quite a few avenues of improvement, but he hadn't considered changing up his playstyle. That was another step he needed to take if he wanted to reach Vile's level.

While Vile had certainly outsmarted Jason, she was known for both her creative battle skills and her ability on heavy damage assault types.

That was yet another avenue Jason needed to explore to improve his game. While Jason was a maneuver type, he didn't come up with his own moves. On the other hand, Vile's counters had been fluid and ingenious.

In addition, Jason had never played as a heavy assault Mech before. Like working on his teamplay, using a heavy assault strategy was another way for him to harvest beginner's gains and improve quickly.

The message had also come with a note.

Jason's eyes widened as he read through it.

"You might have left under controversial terms, but nobody cares about that anymore. People have moved on. If anything else happens, let me know, and I'll step in."

Vile hadn't wanted to mention the discreet boss system aloud, but it was obvious she'd known about it. Jason was a little surprised she felt so comfortable messaging him, but he supposed that was logical.

As a Fortress Master, she had special privileges.

She was one of Overdrive's biggest stars, someone who was absolutely critical to the company. Her vaunted status was similar to a star athlete who could flaunt league rules or get better foul calls.

After some deliberation, Jason supposed it wasn't too surprising that everyone had already forgotten about him. The AngryBoardMember was super-rich, and money was great for assuaging anger.

Jason had gotten dismissed. In the board member's mind, the problem was already solved.

Besides, it wasn't like Jason held a grudge against the board member himself.

After realizing that he was actually supposed to lose as a One Star Boss, it was a pretty logical that he also should have taken it easier in his battles. The job just wasn't a good fit on either side.

On the other hand, Wass was just a guy doing a job. He was a real asshole, but he was way too lazy to go after Jason now that Jason had already left the company.

Jason was already happy that Vile wanted to vouch for him, but her next line motivated him further.

Jason could not let her down.

"One day, if you become strong enough, I look forward to you challenging me at my Fortress."