CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ONE

Jason and Stephanie logged into the Overdrive server and spawned in the central lobby.

Unlike before, they used the usual virtual reality goggles, however, they adjusted the settings to "partial reality." The goggles would display the Overdrive virtual reality world, but Jason and Stephanie could also briefly de-activate the goggles by turning their heads from side to side, which allowed them to chat with each other in real life.

Jason hadn't used that set-up before, but Stephanie explained that it was a staple of the usual BAG Guild meetups. Just like the crafting process, the ability to interact in-game added an extra touch of camaraderie Jason hadn't expected.

The Overdrive virtual reality was excellent, but there was still a difference between seeing someone and talking to them in person compared to seeing their avatar and hearing their voice through your headset.

Stephanie pointed at the far corner, where a fourth Special Event bulletin board had joined the traditional three mission options.

"Jason, have you done a special event before?"

Jason shook his head.

"I actually haven't. This is the first special mission I had since I started playing on my own."

Stephanie beamed from ear to ear.

"I'm sure you're going to do more than me in-game, but I'm glad I'll be able to help here. The lobbies can only launch once eight people enter the mission, so we're going to have a few strangers in our games."

Jason frowned.

"That's interesting. So we have to play with people we haven't met before?"

Stephanie nodded.

"Yeah, and not just play with them. It's more of a competition. You're technically supposed to be working together, but you keep all the prizes you win, so it can get pretty cutthroat. Sometimes, there's even teamkilling involved if a rare item spawns."

Jason's frown grew deeper. That reminded him of the first Tournament of Assassins mission when he'd met Danny. It'd turned out that Lynn and all the other players had been ganging up against them...

That hadn't been very fun.

"You sure you want to do that? I feel like people can get pretty nasty."

Stephanie laughed and waved him off.

"Well, first off, I don't think we have much of a choice. I texted the guys at the BAG Guild, but it looks like most of them are busy."

Stephanie caught the worried look on Jason's face, and she laughed louder.

"Come on. It can be pretty fun playing with randoms. Usually, you guys team up, and that's pretty fun. Most players tend to work together, you'd be surprised. Besides, I actually think the competition is fun...you get to see all sorts of crazy players and test your skills. Battling against your supposed teammates means that the challenge is different every time. I remember at the last event, we were paired up with a super high-ranking mapper. She used a bunch of drones and sniped all the prizes before we could get them."

"Oh, Phillips, right? I've heard about her. My colleagues told me she was super competitive and basically just wanted to make as much money as possible."

Stephanie laughed abashedly.

"Well, she definitely made a lot of money over us, that's for sure. Our guild had six of the players there, but we still weren't able to stop her."

Instead of sounding frustrated or worried, Stephanie seemed eager to take another bite at the apple.

That was what Jason respected the most about her. She was definitely a casual player, and from the sounds of it, she didn't have time or desire to grind the game and improve her skills. However, she approached every match with a diligent self-growth mindset. Even though Jason was trying to become a pro player, he felt like he could learn from her attitude.

"Alright, let's do it then."

The two walked to the fourth bulletin board, discussing their strategy together on the way there.

In the end, Stephanie decided to use her usual artillery unit instead of the current alien Mech. At the moment, the bulbous alien was mostly an obstacle. Neither of them had played the Martial Artist Event yet and the online guides didn't have any information, but it stood to reason that there'd be a fair amount of running and jumping.

Although there was a large crowd around the Special Event board, they were the first two people in their individual lobby. The other players had either loaded into another lobby or were still discussing their strategies.

Stephanie and Jason locked in their respective machines. Both Mechs were loaded into special launching catapults, but they wouldn't be allowed to enter the stage until six other players loaded in.

Befitting the traditional martial arts theme, the launching catapult was built out of bronze and stood on top of a rickety wooden frame. The old-fashioned weapon was badly beaten up. If it weren't for the fact that the catapult was over a hundred feet tall and three hundred feet long, it wouldn't have looked out of place in a museum. Jason recognized the launching station as a replica of an ancient Chinese cannon from the twelfth or thirteenth century.

Despite the low-tech appearance, Jason knew that the decor was purely aesthetic.

It had no actual impact on the mission--the ancient cannon would shoot his Mech onto the map just as reliably as Overdrive's conventional launching catapults. The unique twists wouldn't come into play until Jason entered the actual map.

Jason and Stephanie only waited a few seconds before five other players popped into their lobby. Jason carefully scanned each of their accounts, but none of them had names he recognized. Unlike almost every other online game, players couldn't have a secondary account, often referred to as a smurf account. There were stories of people cheating the system, but those cases were usually few and far between. The few stories Jason heard ended with the secondary account getting permanently banned and the first account being harshly penalized.

The five accounts' Mechs backed up Jason's analysis. None of them had particularly impressive machines. Four of them used upgraded versions of the base Kingbreaker given to new pilots at the start of the game. The fifth had a slightly better Mech, but his Paragon was only lightly customized. If Jason had to guess, they'd probably won the frame recently from a One Star Boss mission.

Stephanie took in the new machines, then frowned slightly.

"Alright. Looks like these guys won't be a lot of competition...but now we might struggle to complete the mission."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that battle against Phillips we had a few months ago, that was tough because she was able to defeat us all on her own while also completing the mission. So that was pretty tricky, right? We basically needed to survive against both the mission and Phillips. But this looks like the opposite situation. We're probably going to need to carry these guys, they seem pretty inexperienced. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I might be the second-best player in the lobby!"

"What if they stab us in the back?"

Stephanie laughed.

"Yeah, that might happen, but people tend to be pretty chill...I think it's probably a ninety-ten split. Usually, I get destroyed on Special Events by people who are pretty honest about coming for me. Otherwise, people tend to be pretty grateful if you carry them."

"I guess..."

"Plus, if I had to guess, these are probably high school kids...that's usually who uses these kind of new Mechs. High school kids have a prety bad reputation, but you'd be surprised, I feel like most of the ragers are adults."

"Really?"

Stephanie nodded.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised."

Jason took another look at the five Mechs.

Stephanie was definitely right-these guys were beginners, and that got Jason thinking.

Jason had flubbed his old job as a One Star Boss pretty badly. The main problem was that he was too socially foolish to even understand the purpose of his job, but it also hadn't been a very good fit for him at the time. He'd been so focused on optimizing his own skills and competing, but after spending time with the BAG Guild, he also saw that there was a lot of meaning to helping newer players enjoy the game.

If he could go back in time, he definitely would have done many things differently.

Maybe this could be a new opportunity.

"Hey, Stephanie. What do you say we say hi to these players?"

She laughed.

"Yeah, let's do it! I love talking to people in the lobby...or I usually do, unless they are weird. I only stayed quiet because I thought you'd want to keep to yourself."

"Yeah, I normally would have. Thanks for thinking of me, it's just..."

Jason shrugged.

"Ah, you know. Thought it'd be fun to meet new people this time around."

In the end, Stephanie's prediction was correct.

The five players who'd hopped into their lobby were all kids-five freshman boys in high school. All of them were pretty new to Overdrive, but to Jason's pleasant surprise, all of them had actually heard about the Tournament of Assassins. They remembered seeing Jason's Mech in the tournament, but the responses to his new machine were mixed.

Two of them seemed to think his new build was awesome, but the other three were disappointed. They thought the ooze just didn't look as cool as his original build. One of them, who was starting to upgrade their Kingbreaker into an artillery Mech, had hoped to see Jason focus on the heavy-assault Antigone Armor.

At that point, Stephanie cut in.

"Hey! What about me? I'm an artillery expert now. You might have seen me in the Tournament of Assassins too."

Their response was unanimous.

"Uh...who?"

"You were in the tournament?"

"Did you manage to make it to the finals?"

Jason glanced to his side and laughed at Stephanie's indignant expression. She'd definitely been an invaluable help, but it sounded like these kids had only watched the actual Castle Notoria event. They hadn't paid any attention to the descent or the mission there.

"Yes! I was in the tournament! I fought on the way there, I was one of the players who escorted Jason and Danny to the event!"

"Ohh, an escort..."

"Yeah, I guess that counts."

"Yeah, good job escorting? I guess."

Stephanie glanced at him and whispered.

"Are these kids being sarcastic?"

Their words definitely sounded pretty sarcastic, Jason could almost imagine them ribbing a hapless teacher. However, their tone was totally earnest, which only made the situation funnier. At the end of the day, Jason didn't know too much about kids, so he couldn't really say.

Nonetheless, the five players definitely seemed excited to play with him. Jason eventually proposed an even split of all the found items-no matter what happened, they'd divide it up evenly at the end. He had a feeling he'd be putting in most of the work, but he wanted to encourage these new players.

Besides, he and Stephanie probably had to play the mission a few times over to get the parts they wanted. The Triple-Gravity Staff was a very low probability drop. The blind sensory system was much more common, but it was only rewarded every two or three times they completed the mission.

The screen blinked again as a new player joined their lobby.

Jason tsked as he read the name - DISTINCTIONMAN50000. He was a famous streamer, and a famous asshole to boot.

This mission had just gotten a lot more complicated.