CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED

Jason got into the Good Game Shoppe at his typical time around three o'clock. None of the other regulars were there, but Jacob hurriedly greeted him as soon as he entered the door.

"Hey! Hey Jason! Check this out!"

The big man was so excited he almost knocked over the counter as he sprinted around. Despite his size, Jacob was surprisingly agile. The storeowner stumbled a bit after clipping his hip against the side of the table, but he caught himself without any problems.

Jacob practically shoved his phone in Jason's face. His excessive enthusiasm was so surprising Jason almost lost his footing and fell down.

"What's up?"

"Check this out!"

Jacob handed over his phone, which was set to the Overdrive web page. He had a video on the latest patch notes on, and it was showing the new Hemoborn items they were adding to the game.

Although the main purpose of the patch was to add in the new martial arts event content, the Overdrive Corporation always seeded additional items on various hidden stages or in the lootboxes of One Star Bosses.

This particular video covered a new type of Mana Gatherer Spike, one that was very similar to the Biomancer spike Jason added into his own machine. The video showed a cloaked Spell Titan that carried a massive blood tank on its back.

"Isn't this one like the Mech you were building with?"

Jason nodded.

"Yeah, but this is a pretty common Hemomancer spike. The one I got was less specialized though - it was more focused on manipulating any biological material, so it could work with both blood and my ooze effect."

The video kept going for the next thirty seconds. Instead of summoning Biological Beasts, this machine was able to create weapons with its blood manipulation ability. As the scarlet liquid seeped out of the tank, the machine hardened it into a blade before stabbing its opponent.

That was a neat differentiating factor.

A lot of players built Overdrive Mechs as a form of self-expression or to replicate other media they liked. Previous hemomancers fired blood in waves. This machine could mix it up in close combat.

Jason finished watching the video, then gave it back to Jacob.

"Yeah, that's a pretty cool build. It's a little frustrating they are adding a new machine that's similar to the mine, but that's just what happens. I think if I was in a mirror match, I could take them out with the Blazing Avarice. I imagine the flames will be pretty effective against their hardened weapons."

Jacob shook his head.

"No, look at the comments too."

Jason pulled back, then started reading the video again, cursing loudly when he saw the line Jacob was talking about.

In the Additional Details section, the Overdrive Corporation explained that this new Blood Manipulation spike could attack the blood inside an opponent's body. For blood inside the opponent's body, the manipulation rate was significantly reduced - the machine couldn't just spontaneously make its opponent's heart explode. It could only slow down or speed up the opponent's blood flow to a certain extent.

However, it was still a very powerful counter to all Hemoborn Mechs.

Jason cursed as he handed the phone back.

"Damn. That's some terrible timing..."

By now, the Tournament of Assassins was whittled down to only twenty or so players. By now, the other players were familiar with the remaining competitors and they'd prepare appropriate counter-strategies for each other. The Red Minerva was a very distinctive machine, and now a new item allowed his opponents to prepare an easy counter.

On top of that, Castor was also a Hemoborn user. Jason quickly googled to check if spiders bled. To his dismay, they did. Everyone was gunning for the famous star, so there was a chance enemies would inadvertently counter Jason en route to countering Castor.

After a bit longer, Jason shrugged it off.

There were already other Hemoborn counters such as bioweapons. The vulnerable flesh was an innate weakness all Hemoborn players had to play around. At the same time, Jason didn't see himself switching to another build. Although he liked using the Brawler, it wouldn't feel right using it in a high-stakes match.

Nobody was in the shop yet, but Jason was eager to practice. He was just about to ask Jacob to play a match, but then a vaguely familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Yo! Jason! Jason! Is that you?"

A girl stood by the door with a simultaneously amused and confused look on her face. She was around five feet and four inches tall, and her shoulder-length hair was brown with golden highlights, a bit different than it looked on the server.

Jason blinked in surprise, but Stephanie didn't bother waiting for him. She started talking to Jacob instead, who'd moved back behind the counter to greet him.

"Hey! Nice to meet you, are you a Overdrive player too?"

"Ya, my name is Stephanie, I'm pretty casual but I've played with Jason before."

Jacob nodded.

"Yeah! The BAG Guild, I remember him talking about it."

Stephanie grinned.

"Yeah, he talks about you guys all the time too. I was thinking it sounded pretty familiar, so I thought I'd look it up to double-check. Turns out you guys are just a mile away from the coffee shop where I work, so I drove by after work!"

Stephanie turned to Jason, then gestured for him to come over. She waved her cupped hand impatiently, almost frantically. Jason smiled, then stepped forward. He was glad to see that her behavior off the server was just like her behavior on it - Stephanie was chatty and loved meeting new people, just like when he saw her online.

She had a bit of a smirk on her smile.

"You still look a little shellshocked - I'm guessing you never met someone from Overdrive online, right?"

Jason laughed.

"No, this is a first for me."

He definitely hadn't - if anything, most of the people he'd played against on Overdrive would have been pissed off at him.

Of course, there was a bit of a twist.

Jason had heard of meeting people online, but meeting people from Overdrive was stranger due to the body scan system. It was one thing putting a face to an avatar. It was quite different to see a face you associated with a fictitious world in the middle of your local game shop.

Stephanie nodded rapidly.

"It's pretty weird, isn't it?"

Jason laughed.

"Yeah, it's definitely a worlds colliding moment. Most of the real-life people I know from Overdrive, I know them from here, so I was already primed to see them online."

Stephanie beamed.

"Well, it's good to get your first time now...we actually do a guild meet-up each year. People save up so they can go, I went the last two years and it was really fun both times. But yeah, it's just kinda strange the first time you see someone just because you're used to seeing them in their pilot suits. Maybe the next event we do can be some kind of cosplay event. I think Danny will announce it in a couple of months once he figures out a fun option, he does a ton of research to find something affordable."

Stephanie's eyes glinted mischievously, and she turned back to Jacob. The big man was fiddling with the computer, but he turned as soon as she spoke.

"Hey, Jacob. Weird question, but do you guys joke about Jason walking around?"

Jacob's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean? I mean...he walks over here, I don't know more than that."

Jason grinned and laughed to himself. He had a feeling he knew what Stephanie was talking about.

"Okay, so I put two and two together when Jason told me he walks over to play with you guys. Basically, for the last few weeks, my co-workers and I have seen this dude walking by our store, and we kept joking he was about to get run over!"

Jason groaned.

"Come on. It can't be that bad."

Stephanie laughed and started miming him crossing the street. She hunched over and put her face right in front of her phone, then shifted to walking around in a wide meandering arc while staring up at the sky.

Jacob laughed.

"Alright, that does sound like Jason."

Stephanie waved her hands back and forth for emphasis.

"He barely watches the lights!"

She shook her head.

"Man, Jason, I know you said you were a lot more competent on the server, but I didn't know it was that bad!"

Jacob laughed.

"Man, it was even worse in high school. I'm surprised some of these guys didn't beat the hell out of you."

Everyone was ganging up on him, but Jason didn't feel embarrassed. If anything, it was pretty fun - Jacob and Stephanie were his trusted friends, so he knew they didn't mean any harm.

After some more chatter, Stephanie said she wanted to finally get started on her alien Mech, so the two said bye to Jacob before heading over to the warm-up area. Instead of hopping onto the virtual reality server, she just pulled up the Overdrive app on her computer.

The low-tech mode was similar to the phone app, with a few additional features. Players couldn't pilot their machines unless they were in VR mode, but they could still use the Workshop or other features.

Stephanie smiled. The cheery artillery player was even more excitable in real life than she was on the server.

"We do this at our meetups. You know, hanging out online is nice, but it's just cool to chat in the normal world."

She brought her alien Mech onto the screen.

"Pretty cool, huh? It's not a super unique build or anything, I looked it up online and it said it was pretty common, but it's the first machine I got."

Jason stared at the design for a moment. He wasn't too familiar with alien Mechs, but he knew they were totally bizarre.

The giant aliens were the same size as Mechs, and they were adapted to living in open space.

They didn't look like anything he'd seen before. The closest comparison was deep-sea fish, which looked like they weren't from this world.

It reminded him of a story he'd seen somewhere, but he couldn't quite remember which one. Regardless, it was an exciting interpretation - most people thought of aliens as little green men who lived in spaceships or on distant planets. Considering the vastness of space, there was very much a chance that aliens had adapted to space itself.

In this case, Stephanie's machine looked like a giant basketball. It was a big orange orb with a very hard shell. All around the shell were small craters. Razor-sharp metal tendrils coiled in and out of the gaps.

According to the data print-out, the alien's regular tendrils had been replaced by these new metal variants.

Stephanie pointed.

"So, according to the guide, these things are its main attacking force. I was hoping to add artillery firepower to it, and then I'd have a pretty balanced Mech. That shell is super sturdy. It's pretty slow, but that already fits what I've been doing."

It only took a second glance before Jason saw the obvious problem.

"So, how does this thing see?"

Stephanie started and then looked at the details. A few minutes later, she shook her head and laughed.

"It doesn't...I think this is an obstacle-type alien, it just swings its tendrils at everything nearby."

Jason laughed. Turning a space obstacle would be a competitive Mech, but he liked the idea of building around a frame you liked - he'd done the same thing with the Red Minerva.

It took only a bit of brainstorming before he saw the obvious solution.

"Well, the martial arts event is out, and there are a few Mechs in that patch that are supposed to represent blind fighters - you know, like monks and stuff who trained their senses or can detect opponents with ki. If we find one of those systems, we can add it to this machine!"

Stephanie laughed.

"So, you want me to turn this into a floating martial artist beach ball? Perfect suggestion - let's do it."