CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

"Yo, Jason!"

"Hey, what's up, man!"

Jason turned away from his computer. Then he smiled and waved politely back at the two Good Game Shoppe regulars as they walked into the store.

"Good to see guys!"

Phil walked in with his friend Taylor, a squat and heavyset man with red hair.

The two could not have seemed more different on the surface.

Phil had stern features, and he always wore a fancy suit. Taylor was always wearing a T-shirt and gym shorts. On top of that, Phil had to be at least a foot taller than his exceptionally short friend.

But despite their enormous physical differences, the two of them were best friends.

They'd been brought together by Overdrive. Jason knew that their families often vacationed together.

The two men sat down next to Jason.

"What's up dude? How's your day been?"

Jason smiled.

"Pretty good! I've been working on a new build, and I'm looking forward to testing it out. How was work?"

Taylor grinned.

"Had an awesome day. Not a lot of people there, so I just drove around on my patrol. Got to spend a ton of time walking, which is pretty good."

He laughed and pointed at his stomach.

"My wife is still getting on me for my weight!"

Taylor worked as a ranger at their local park.

However, he was the kind of ranger who rode around in a golf cart and chased people away from picking flowers instead of the kind of ranger who wrestled with bears all day. According to Taylor, the first kind of ranger was a lot more common in the suburbs, which, in hindsight, definitely made sense.

Phil just shook his head.

"I don't wanna talk about work. We're getting hosed on a trade right now. It wasn't my decision, but they want me to fix it."

Back when Jason was in high school, he never had any idea what Phil was talking about.

Now that he'd done a little bit more research into Overdrive finances, he had a better idea.

Every so often, larger stores like OverManiacs would deliberately buy large amounts of parts. The scarcity would then drive up the price. This process was called speculation, and many financial companies did the same things with stocks.

Jason winced.

"That's tough. Good luck."

Phil smiled thinly.

"Thanks. It's not like you had anything to do with it with it, though!"

He laughed at his own joke, but only a little bit.

The other man was clearly very stressed out. He quickly redirected the conversation to focus on Jason's exploits on the server.

"What about you, man? Did you get any training done for the Tournament of Assassins? I'm in the office on Saturday, so I was super stoked to hear you're playing on Sunday. I wanted to see you in action then."

Jason started talking about the BAG Guild and their battle against the Green Envy, but then he realized that the spindly Mech was an excellent fit for Phil's playstyle.

Phil's greatest strength was his positioning. He'd used that skill to great effect against Jason in their match.

On top of that, the Green Envy was a peculiar machine. It'd appeal to Phil's love of novelty.

Jason pulled out his phone and swapped it over to the Overdrive app.

"Check out this enemy I fought earlier today!"

The Overdrive app had a built-in highlights feature that allowed players to broadcast their past matches.

Famous streamers often displayed their greatest wins on their fan pages and Discords. Similarly, pro players or Guild mercenaries like Wendy would send their best plays to organizations to apply for jobs.

Jason pulled up his match against the Green Envy and flipped the phone around.

"I think this machine would be a pretty good fit for your playstyle."

Phil and Taylor watched the match with great excitement.

Both of them marveled at the Green Envy's extreme flexibility and attacking prowess. They quickly agreed Phil would enjoy using the Mech.

Phil swore in disbelief and pointed at the Green Envy's ridiculous dodging abilities as the pilot swerved the central cockpit from side to side.

"Of course, I'll have a bit of trouble making moves like that!"

Taylor shook his head.

"How the hell did you guys beat this thing!"

Jason laughed.

"You'll see. I don't want to spoil it too much."

It sounded weird talking about spoilers from his own game, but Gavin's solution was truly ridiculous. It had to be seen to be believed.

"I was definitely at my wit's end, but one of the other guys in the group figured out a crazy solution."

A few minutes later, Taylor and Phil laughed and laughed as Jason and the BAG Guild dive-bombed the Green Envy.

"Dang, that's awesome!"

"Nice!"

Phil grinned.

"You're definitely right. I would like this build. Let me figure out how I can use it, looks like I have to create my own version."

The Mech was a perfect fit, but there was one notable problem.

With his income, Phil would have no problem purchasing a copy of the expensive Green Envy, but it was a Giga Mech. He wouldn't be able to use it in most battles.

After Phil bought the parts, the two friends immediately got to work.

Transforming a Giga Mech into a regular Mech was simple - players just had to lower the frame's cost so that it dropped beneath the 50,000 Credit Cap.

There was no rule against using an unusually large machine, only unusually expensive ones.

However, the Green Envy's strange arm-legs were extremely expensive.

They'd been created using dozens of unique joint parts. The pricy items allowed the Mech to bend the limbs without any problems. However, the separate joints could also lock together and create a stable base.

Jason asked if he could stand behind Phil as he worked on his build. When the other man nodded, Jason stepped closely to watch the screen display.

After a while, Phil pointed at some of the lower points.

"Hmmm, I probably can't even use some of these to good effect. I can definitely dash around and anchor myself, but these super tight dodges are too much for me."

He immediately started replacing some of the joints with longer parts. Before, the legs had reminded Jason of a slinky. Now, they were much more insectoid.

The change weakened the Mech, but the cost also went down dramatically.

Phil's wisdom got Jason thinking.

The 50,000 Credit Cap was one of the biggest barriers to creating a perfect Mech. There was an upper limit that players couldn't avoid. However, Phil didn't waste any time equipping parts that he couldn't use. In that way, he was able to actively use all of his Credits.

"Dang! That's smart! When did you learn to adjust like that?"

In the past, Phil had mostly been known for copying machines straight off the Internet. It seemed like watching so many crafting videos had improved his skills.

Phil frowned for a moment.

"I do this all the time...Oh!"

The man suddenly laughed.

"Right, right. I've been using the Spell Titan recently. Plus, I was just netting builds the last time you saw me."

Phil grinned.

"I started building my own Mechs about a year ago. I still like to copy builds, but I realized it's a lot more fun to try and throw stuff together myself. I still bounce around after I get bored, but I also like adjusting Mechs to my playstyle over time."

Unfortunately, simplifying the legs wasn't enough. He was still way over the cost.

Phil's next move was even more thought-provoking.

He pointed at the Mech's base hands.

The machine's three balancing hands had been surprisingly powerful.

Their enormous gripping strength allowed them to essentially act as feet. The Green Envy was similar to a gecko - it could balance itself in any position.

"Unfortunately, these cost too much. I swapped out the joints, and it didn't really do anything. I'm still way above 50,000."

Taylor nodded.

"Yeah. You might have to cut them entirely."

Phil shook his head.

"What's the point if I do that? What about..."

The flexible legs were a big part of the Green Envy's strength. It didn't make sense to remove them completely. At that point, you should just build a separate machine.

Phil's fingers deftly maneuvered through the keyboard.

He replaced the new stick bug legs and returned them back to their original form. Unlike Jason, Phil had no problem undoing his mistake. He calmly moved the tiny pieces back to their original position.

Then, he removed two legs and moved the single leg to the center.

After that, he removed the hand at the bottom. Instead, he replaced it with a device that looked almost like a jagged plunger.

The item was a Turret Docker. Normally, machines used them to place remote turrets to guard specific corridors.

In this case, Phil was equipping it to his actual machine. The Green Envy's light weight meant that it could balance without any problems.

Last of all, Phil removed both of the Urumis of Envy.

He glanced back at Jason.

"I'll be real - these items are way too complicated for me!"

Lastly, he removed the tiny hands and replaced them with conventional arms.

Each of the two hands carried a high-powered beam rifle.

"I can hit people much better with these."

The new machine looked nothing like the Green Envy.

The old Mech was a tall and spindly three-legged tripod.

This current machine was still tall and spindly, but it only had a single flexible leg. In Jason's opinion, the Mech looked rather like a scarecrow.

In addition, it'd shifted into becoming a ranged machine instead of a close combat Mech. He'd willingly removed the machine's signature item.

However, Jason had to admit that the new Mech's concepts were exactly the same.

Both were offensive Mechs who used their flexibility and high attack angle to strike down opponents.

Every one of Phil's adjustments had simplified the old Mech's abilities to better fit his skills.

Like Jason, Phil finished his project by putting his Mech in the PseudoWorkshop.

He tuned the Mech until it reached a suitable level of balance.

Then he saved the project and implemented it on the actual Overdrive server.

He turned to Jason.

"Any interest in a trial battle?"

Before Jason could respond, Phil shook his head.

"Wait...you've kicked my ass the last few times we fought."

He called out his friend.

"Taylor! Get over here!"

Then he turned back to Jason.

"How about a two on one?"

Jason grinned.

"Hell yeah! That sounds like fun!"

This was exactly how he wanted to train.

Jason was better than Phil and Taylor, but facing both of them at once would be very tricky. The two friends had excellent coordination.

As he continued growing as an Overdrive player, Jason knew that he'd face new and greater challenges.

If he wanted to continue leveling up, he had to take on every tough training opportunity he could find!