CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE

Jason and Stephanie walked around the first floor, slowly collecting the different pieces of heavy armor. In total, the Red Minerva's new splitting Antigone Armor consisted of twenty-one separate segments. After purging all of his armor at once, the heavy pieces had been blasted around the room.

Stephanie grabbed the Red Minerva's headpiece and chucked it at Jason. Her artillery Mechs thick arms had no problem tossing the heavy pieces of metal.

"Man. This thing flies far! You could use this as a weapon - it'd be like hitting someone with a truck!"

Jason frowned.

It was an off-handed comment, but she definitely had the right idea. The other day, Jason had ejected a limb from his Vampire Brawler to strike his foe. It'd be a lot safer emulating that attack with his heavy armor pieces.

New players like Stephanie and Gavin were great at thinking outside the box. Jason supposed it came down to their general inexperience with Overdrive. In the past, Jason had liked studying outside media for ideas, but someone like Stephanie spent very little time on the server. For her, this kind of unusual idea was just par for the course.

As the two continued grabbing and collecting the discarded armor parts, Owen's Belcher waddled down to the second floor.

The fat dragon could barely use the steps. It was only Owen's familiarity with the Mech that allowed him to move the unwieldy cyborg down the stairs despite its stubby legs and enormous belly. He fell towards them with an awkward gait that reminded Jason of a rocking chair.

Although the Belcher had three pairs of tiny wings, it couldn't fly any under gravity. The six wings only allowed the machine to maneuver under zero gravity situations.

When the machine made it down, Owen released one of the two medic packs that'd been strapped over his Mech's back. The pack promptly flew into the air. Unlike its work with the Vampire Brawler, the Medic Pack also had to heal the Red Minerva's biological parts. The gentle manipulators carried bandages and what looked like a fountain of disinfectant.

After the pack finished restoring his machine to full health, Jason re-attached his Antigone armor, which locked in place with a firm hissing noise.

With his Mech repaired, Jason and Stephanie started walking towards the Knight of Friendship's room. The other members of the BAG Guild followed them, chattering amongst themselves as they discussed their strategies.

Jason wanted to get started too, but Stephanie was exceptionally curious about his successful battle. Apparently, the BAG Guild hadn't seen anything. The hermit-like Spell Titan's illusion technique had blanketed the entire floor in smoke.

Jason hesitated for a moment, then decided he wanted to keep showing off.

Most of Stephanie's questions had to do with how Jason found his opponent despite the horrible visual conditions. He explained to her his strategies, both measuring the damage gauge and using the power rating on his beam rifles.

She was extremely impressed.

"Man! You know that machine really well!"

The enthusiasm in her voice caught Jason a little off guard. He smiled abashedly.

"Yeah, I've used her for a really long time now, so I was familiar with the damage stats. The power rating was a little different. I only added that Bloodlust ability after the Tournament of Assassins."

Stephanie pumped her fist. She smiled brightly in the corner of their video conference. The thin woman had shoulder-length brown hair and a wide grin. Her hands were exceptionally small.

"That's crazy! I want to learn a Mech that well."

Although they were still walking towards the Knight of Friendship's room, Jason found himself drawn into the conversation.

"So, what's your favorite Mech?"

He really liked talking about players' preferred Mechs. In Jason's opinion, the kind of Mech someone used reflected their personal beliefs and their ethos on the server. He felt like you could learn a lot about someone by finding out about their main Mech.

Although Stephanie used an artillery machine, Jason figured that was only because of her beginner status in the BAG Guild. They were a generic frame rather than a custom model like the Dehua or the Bandit, but the bulky Mechs still seemed like a standard guild issue rather than a personal machine.

But to his surprise…

"Oh! Just the one I'm using right now, actually. It's pretty basic, but it gets the job done. I like how you can really go hard and take a bunch of hits while supporting the team."

In the corner of his screen, Jason pulled up Stephanie's data on the Red Minerva's scanner.

-- General Data --

Pilot: StephtheDeath

Machine: G-Blaster - Steph Custom

Class: Kingbreaker

Sub-class: Artillery

Designation: Ace Unit

- Statistics -

Melee: C-tier

Shooting: A-tier

Speed: B-tier

Maneuverability: B-tier

Defense: A-tier

Cohesion: S-tier

- Weapons -

Heavy Bazooka

Urumi of Envy

Buckler Shield

- Abilities -

N/A

The G-Blaster was a mass-produced version of the Cannonblaster X, a higher-level artillery unit used by many professional players. The G-Blaster wasn't a Grunt, but it cost far fewer Credits to purchase. These kinds of budget builds were common for newer players.

Stephanie had modified the machine to fit her preferences, shifting the artillery unit's stance, gait, and arm settings for her personal comfort. Due to the simplistic build, there were no S-tier stats or customized items, but it was still a reliable partner.

Stephanie went on.

"Plus, I like how it's tanky. You can start shooting before you go down. I'm always worried about feeding, so I want to make sure I'm leaving a contribution!"

Jason remembered that she'd tried doing the same thing against the Green Envy. There'd been several times where she'd stood her ground to try and bring it down. While she definitely could use more in-game experience, nobody could doubt Stephanie's bravery!

The artillery pilot continued chattering excitedly.

"Man. I love the feeling of a brave last stand. I've done it before a few times. I remember I blasted an alien Hemoborn at the last second the last time we were in open space."

She laughed abashedly.

"It was just, you know, a regular alien, but it felt good. I still have the frame, I'm thinking of building it up someday. Maybe you can help me get some ideas for it! An artillery alien would be pretty sweet."

Jason agreed, but before long, the two players realized they needed to start talking about an actual strategy. They were just a single floor away from the Knight of Friendship's floor. It was a good thing that most of the bulky artillery units in the BAG Guild moved slowly.

Jason turned to Stephanie.

"Alright. Let's anchor down what we're doing before going inside."

Stephanie nodded.

"Yeah…if we don't come up with something, we should just walk slower!"

Jason laughed, but before long, he remembered the last plan Stephanie had proposed. The female artillery pilot chirped enthusiastically.

"Wait! I had a pretty good idea. You can just drive it to me, and I can whack it with my Urumi."

Right…

That was definitely not going to work.

Even worse…

Danny and Steven were busy at the moment. He wanted to ask the two skilled leaders for advice on how to change Stephanie's strategy without discouraging her, but the two were probably busy getting to know the new Illusionist pilot.

Jason pulled up his control pad and sent them each a text message, but they didn't respond.

Instead, Jason scrabbled to come up with a strategy.

This time, his suggestion wasn't new or unique. Instead, thinking of Steven and Danny had reminded him to mirror the two players' most common strategy. Oftentimes, the BAG Guild would deliberately stall until Danny charged up a powerful sword with his random roles.

"How about this? I can use a wrestling shoot, just like I did against the hermit. The Knight is pretty strong, but with my Antigone Armor, I'll have enough weight to take it down. After that, you can whack it apart while I'm holding it down."

Stephanie nodded.

"Yeah! Yeah, I like that! That's even safer than what I had in mind!"

Jason sent over a loose diagram. Unlike Danny, he wasn't an expert artist who could sketch out a battlefield plan on the fly, but their strategy was still relatively easy to understand.

Their two machines would line up back to back with Jason in the front. Once the other machine charged, Jason would bring it down. After that, Stephanie could step forward to take down her foe from a high vantage point. With a careful strike, she could finish off the Knight of Friendship without damaging Jason.

But as they arrived at the door, they realized the battle would be much more complicated than they'd initially expected.

A notification appeared in front of the door.

PALACE OF EMOTIONS MAP ADJUSTMENT

NEW CHALLENGES ADDED

Enemy: Knight of Friendship

New Ruleset: Two on Two, Relay Race + Battle

Description: Only two players are allowed to enter. Before battling them, the two machines will have to challenge the Knight and his Squire to a race. One of the machines will act as the runner. The runner starts at the base of the island and has to run to the top. The other machine will act as a support. They start at the top of the hill. They will be able to use weapons the other racer and hamper its path. The team that loses the race will suffer from a damage nerf.

Jason and Stephanie frowned as they read through the details repeatedly.

Interesting…

That was a great twist on the usual Palace of Emotions map. The stage was all about celebrating the diversity of Paragon Mechs. Now, players no longer battled their opponents on a custom stage. They also had to defeat the machines in a custom event.

Beside him, Stephanie started relaying the information to the rest of the group.

Jason sent Danny and Steven another message.

Devourer22: You guys should check and see who will buy this data.

High-ranking Guilds like The Hive were always looking for this kind of information, and you could often sell it for a pretty decent price. The two guilds hired special explorers who rounded the various secret maps to check for updates, but in this case, the BAG Guild had gotten lucky. They were already right at the station for the current update, so they received the information before anyone else.

Stephanie laughed.

"Alright. I call squire! I call squire!"

Jason made a confused face.

"No, I think the Knight and Squire are the enemies of the map. That's actually a pretty big change, I remember it used to be the Knight and the Horse."

Stephanie shook her head.

"Ah, no, what I meant is that I don't want to race."

She pointed at her Mech.

"I am not known for my speed."

Jason laughed.

"Mine isn't either, at least not now…"

Then he trailed off and grinned.

"Say, Stephanie. What do you think about being an actual squire?"

Jason detached his armor. This time, he let it clattered off instead of launching it far away. At the end, the Antigone Armor formed a large pile on the ground. Stephanie's bulky machine quickly scooped it up.

For this challenge, Jason needed to use both aspects of his Mech. The race favored the conventional Red Minerva, but the battle against the Knight of Friendship was a better fit for his new bulky machine.

The veteran pilot smiled.

This was exactly what he wanted to use his armor system for.

Even better, he could also give Stephanie additional weapons.

From the sounds of it, the support Mech spawned at the peak of the mountain right away. The key was hitting the other racer with heavy artillery weapons, so Stephanie's Urumi of Envy wasn't useable until the fight started. She'd be better served carrying her bazooka in one hand and one of Jason's beam rifles in the other.

Jason and Stephanie stepped inside together.

A notification appeared on their screen, asking them to pick their roles.

Moments later, the stage was displayed.

The race track spiraled up the hill. There were two separate lanes, and the ground was made of hard dirt. At the top of the hill was the traditional jousting grounds from the old Knight of Friendship stage.

A lift clattered to the ground, and Stephanie's machine stepped in.

To Jason's surprise, his opponent didn't appear until she was finally at the top.

Crsh.

Crsh.

Crsh.

Crsh.

The pure white Mech strode forward on four legs, and then Jason realized why the new Squire opponent had been created - the Knight and his horse had been fused into one.

He groaned.

How the hell was he supposed to beat a centaur in a race?