CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN

The next day, Jason logged onto the Overdrive server from his bedroom.

After battling the Knight of Friendship and acquiring the Partner's Lance, he and the BAG Guild would arrive early at the Castle Notoria tomorrow before preparing for descent on the following day.

Jason spawned in the space station above the Palace of Emotions.

After beating the Green Envy, they'd returned to the original station to save their progress. Outside of the space stations, players couldn't maintain their position in open space. If Jason had logged off inside the Palace of Emotions, he would have respawned at the central station the next day.

Jason and the BAG Guild players stood together inside the space station's hangar.

Out of the BAG Guild's regulars, only Danny and Steven had already logged in. Like Jason, the BAG Guild's two leaders always showed up around fifteen minutes ahead of time.

Steven turned to Jason.

"Good to see you at this time. You know, nobody would care too much if you showed up late."

Jason shook his head.

"It's fine. I hate being late for stuff. I feel like it's way better for me to wait."

Steven grinned.

"Yeah, I always feel the same way."

Jason smiled back and pointed at the hangar computer.

"Besides, I like having some time to plan out my build. I wanted to equip items to counter the Knight of Friendship. I've been creating a new armor system that combines my Vampire Brawler with the Red Minerva, and I wanted to try it out."

Jason looked at the window.

He craned his virtual avatar's head around to make sure he saw the top of the station. After what happened last time, he didn't want to make the same mistake again.

"Looks like nobody is here - I know the Knight of Friendship is pretty tough, and I wanted to get more practice with my main Mech."

Steven frowned thoughtfully.

"That's a pretty good idea. You'll get some extra practice without anyone getting to scout you. I'm guessing you're using this combined build for the Tournament?"

Jason nodded.

"Yeah, I thought I could customize my Mech to fit the stage and the opponent."

Steven held up his hand.

"One quick thing. I wouldn't design your Mech just yet. You should probably wait for everyone to get here to find out what works best."

Danny looked over.

He'd previously been customizing his Mech with the hangar's manipulator arms. Like Jason, Danny wanted to try out his new build. He'd created an updated version of the Lucky Duck incorporating the Searing Anger's abilities.

"Ah, I didn't ask him yet."

The BAG Guild's leader had an apologetic expression on his face.

"After beating the Green Envy, the players are pretty hyped. They wanted to try the Knight of Friendship too. Originally, I was going to have Wendy or Steven lead the group to another boss while we took on the Knight, but I was hoping you could go with a less experienced player."

The Knight of Friendship had a special requirement.

Unlike the Green Envy, it was an ordinary machine, not a Giga Mech.

However, the Mech would only allow two players to enter the stage at a time.

The Knight of Friendship battled while riding a mechanical Paragon horse. Unlike other bosses, which would happily take on many players in a melee, the Knight of Friendship's stage mandated a two-on-two.

The Partner's Lance was a relatively simplistic item - it dealt bonus damage when you were riding on top of a Mech identified as your partner. Whether the other machine was a horse or an airplane, standing on top of them allowed the attacker to deal additional damage.

Danny kept going.

"If we can't beat it, we can come back later to try and take it ourselves. Or, I can ask someone who beat it to give you the lance so you can copy the machine."

Danny's voice sounded mildly strained, and Jason felt a good deal of sympathy for the other man. Danny had to balance many different priorities as the BAG Guild's leader. He wanted to maximize Jason's chances of acquiring the Partner's Lance, but he also wanted to make sure his teammates received good loot.

If Danny and Jason did the stage together, they'd beat it without any issues.

If the two of them paired with the BAG Guild's inexperienced players instead, the battle would become far more complicated.

However, Jason was looking forward to the challenge.

He nodded.

"Yeah, that won't be a problem."

At the end of the day, there wasn't any risk to using the Palace of Emotion's stages to practice.

For a casual gamer, three hours of game time was a big commitment.

Unlike other professional guilds like the Vermillion Fighters, Danny couldn't fly to Castle Notoria on the day of the competition with his teammates. He had to slowly chip away at it, otherwise he wouldn't have a team for the descent.

For Jason, getting knocked back wasn't a big deal. He could just fly back on his own and continue training with the Vampire Brawler in open space.

Without a job, it wasn't like he had anything better to do!

"Do you know who I'll be paired up with?"

Danny shook his head.

"Not yet - it'll depend on who can log in. Plus, Wendy's group wasn't able to make it all the way here last night. People had to go, so they stopped a couple of stations away from her."

He pulled out his panel.

"Looks like they're going to get here, but they'll be a little late. So I'm not sure who we have...I'll make sure to partner everyone up so that the teams are reasonable, but you'll have to carry pretty hard no matter who it is. Me, Steven, Wendy, and Owen are all going to be with rookies."

Bzzt.

Bzzt.

Moments later, bright white lights flashed across the hangar as the other members of the BAG Guild returned to the station.

Anthony was the first one in the lead.

Now that Jason saw him outside of his Mech, he noticed that the other pilot was exceptionally muscular, with a unique appearance.

He had a very broad chest and large well-defined arms.

Although he wasn't as big as Steven, his exceptionally toned muscles had clearly come from years of dedicated bodybuilding. He had a fierce and angular face, and he grinned widely behind his extravagant pompadour haircut, which was dyed blond.

The bodybuilder smiled apologetically.

"Gavin and Franz won't be able to make it. Gavin got called in for last-second work at the lab, and Franz has too much homework."

From the sounds of it, the three of them were real-life friends from the same school.

Anthony turned to Jason, and a mischievous look crossed his face.

"Hey, did you guys tell Jason that Gavin is actually a genius?"

Steven laughed.

"No, I didn't tell Jason that, because I knew you would tell him."

He shook his head in an exaggerated and mocking fashion.

"You won't stop talking about it!"

Anthony turned to Jason.

"Yeah, Gavin is a genius. He's going to get a PhD in economics, he's deciding between like twenty different schools."

"Really?"

From the sounds of it, Jason couldn't keep the surprise from his voice. The whole group started laughing.

Anthony laughed the loudest.

"Yeah, he might seem unfocused in game, but he's really good at math."

Jason supposed that he shouldn't have been so surprised.

Gavin's unorganized nature made it seem like he wouldn't be a very good fit for academics, but that just went to show that everyone had a different approach to the game. Gavin was probably locked in when working, but he just wanted to log into Overdrive to goof around with his friends.

A bit later...

Clank.

Clank.

Clank.

Thud.

A series of loud clanks and thuds echoed throughout the station as a set of new machines landed inside.

For a brief moment, Jason flinched back instinctively. Even though he knew that teammates were coming, he still felt paranoid after the last surprise attack.

However, the space stations were a violence-free zone.

While it was possible to attack people as soon as they left, you couldn't kill someone who'd made it inside. Players often tried hiding out inside the space stations until their pursuers lost interest.

Regardless, the new players were the other members of the BAG Guild.

Wendy stepped forward, leading nine other players behind her.

In addition to Stephanie, she also brought back some of the pilots who'd been defeated during the descent. Unlike the players who Jason battled the Green Envy alongside, he wasn't very familiar with these new faces.

Meanwhile, Owen brought up the rear.

Once everyone arrived, Danny gathered them up.

A screen appeared above his head as the experienced leader displayed a self-created guide for the Knight of Friendship. Danny had neatly outlined a picture of the boss Mech's stages and provided a list of its possible abilities.

In this case, Danny's insistence on training the BAG Guild to use bulky artillery Mechs provided an enormous boon.

The tanky machines naturally countered the Knight of Friendship, which relied on hit-and-run attacks. The Knight of Friendship and its mechanical steed lacked any melee weapons. On top of that, the Mech could only attack in a straight line. Running right at a tanky artillery Mech was generally a bad decision.

However, the Knight of Friendship had help - just like the Green Envy, the stage would act in its favor.

Danny pointed at the chart.

"The main thing you need to keep in mind is these jousting dummies."

As a whole, the Knight of Friendship's stage was a simple grassy field lined with gates.

The battlefield was a tournament grounds.

However, various metal practice dummies would move throughout the stage.

The dummies had no offensive capabilities.

Although they carried lances, they wouldn't use them. Their main characteristic was their incredible tankiness. The dummies were nearly indestructible and they would screen and block off ranged attacks directed at the Knight of Friendship. Similarly, the dummies would hurry out of the way whenever the knight attacked.

Successfully manipulating the terrain was the most important aspect of defeating the Knight of Friendship.

On top of that, the mission would only be a success if both players survived. The battle ended as soon as a single member of the pair was defeated.

Normally, Jason would try to dive beneath the stage and ambush the Knight of Friendship from underground. He'd have no problem using Vinny's wrestling moves to upend the horse and attack directly.

With an inexperienced teammate, things were much more difficult.

After moving through the basics, Danny then announced the teams.

Teams would have to wait in line as the teams before they challenged the boss. To Jason's relief, he was partnered up with Stephanie. They would be going second after Danny and his partner.

Although she wasn't particularly good, Jason liked her.

She had a good sense of humor, and she'd already shown that she was a great teammate. Even though she was a casual player, she fought for the team's victory rather than individual success.

Besides, he didn't really want to meet someone new. It was best to stick with someone he already was friendly with.

The other pilot greeted him eagerly.

"Yo! Jason! Nice that we can battle together again!"

Her high-pitched voice made her sound like one of the Chipmunks from Alvin and the Chipmunks. She laughed.

"I'm hoping you can carry me again!"

Jason smiled back at her.

"Nah, we'll need to work together."

Unlike before, Stephanie couldn't sacrifice herself to let Jason attack. The match would end on the spot - the two players needed to develop a new tactic.

Now, Jason understood why Steven had wanted him to wait before picking his items. Coordinating with Stephanie would be critical for success. Their two Mechs needed to work together.

He turned to her.

"Did you come up with any ideas?"

The short woman laughed.

"No, I think it'll be better if you take the lead. I'm not much for coming up with ideas. However..."

She ran over to the console and entered a few quick commands. Moments later, her Mech materialized inside the hangar.

The artillery machine looked just like it did the day before, but there was a single change - the Mech now carried the Urumi of Envy. The silver weapon - eight bladed steel whips - gleamed in the light of the hangar.

Jason saw where Stephanie was coming from.

He'd used the Blazing Avarice to absorb the Urumi of Envy that morning, and he was looking forward to trying it out. As a rare boss, the Knight of Friendship would apply the power-up bonus.

However, Stephanie's modification was mirrored alongside every other machine.

Every member of the BAG Guild who'd played yesterday carried the same item. Save for Steven, everyone else had equipped it to their Mech.

The steel whips were repeated repeatedly across the hanger, and Jason laughed at the comical sight.

The energetic artillery pilot grinned from ear to ear.

Her eyes gleamed with excitement.

"I want to use my rare item!"

Jason turned to Stephanie as the group prepared to launch.

He grinned. The BAG Guild always helped him remember the excitement of Overdrive. They appreciated every accomplishment.

"Let's get another one!"