CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWO

Stephanie cursed.

"Goddamn it...this guy?!"

Jason turned to her.

"You've played with him before?"

Stephanie shook her head.

"Nah, I just heard from Danny. We've dealt with a few of their fans before though...one of them once stabbed me in the back for no reason. He wasn't even trying to find a rare drop, it was just a rage attack since he didn't get as many kills as they wanted."

She cursed.

"Damn! I hate those guys! Do you know him? Danny said you worked at the Overdrive Corporation, I know DISTINCTIONMAN does a lot of stuff with their office."

Jason shook his head.

"Nah, I only know him by reputation...fucking hated hearing about that guy. My boss was always trying to get everyone to copy him."

DISTINCTIONMAN was well-known throughout the server for obnoxious and selfish gameplay. The popular streamer was one of the most polarizing players on the server. His intense fans followed his every word like it was gospel, but his many detractors criticized his zero-sum approach to Overdrive. According to DISTINCTIONMAN, everything was justified, from stealing your teammates' item drops to teamkilling.

Jason had always loved competitive Overdrive, but DISTINCTIONMAN's attitude never sat right with him. In his opinion, going all-out meant trying to win no matter what. There was no need to drag your alleged teammates down with you.

On top of that, Jason had never liked DISTINCTIONMAN's playstyle. He used a highly unrealistic glass cannon strategy that forced everyone on the team to support him unless they wanted to lose. The only reason he'd climbed the ranks was the signature machine granted to him from the Overdrive Corporation.

Jason frowned.

"Honestly, I don't know why that guy has any fans. Who would want to deal with a pain in the ass like that?"

Stephanie laughed knowingly.

"Well, the thing is...how many annoying people would you say play Overdrive?"

Jason frowned.

"Well, most of the people I've met have been pretty cool...but there are guys who just attack people for no reason, you know?"

"Yeah, that's the thing. I would say only five to ten percent of Overdrive players are assholes...but all of them are DISTINCTIONMAN fans! It's not the best niche, but it's definitely a way to get a ton of fans."

The famous streamer's voice echoed through the in-game chat, cutting off Jason and Stephanie's discussion.

"Listen up peasants! You guys have lucked into an amazing opportunity! My name is DISTINCTIONMAN and you guys are on my stream! If you give up every rare item, we won't have any problems!"

The newer players just sounded confused.

"Who is this guy?"

"Why would we give you our items?"

"Jason said we were going to split them evenly..."

DISTINCTIONMAN scoffed.

"Who the hell is Jason? Don't you guys know who I am?"

"No?"

"Why would we know who you are?"

"Sorry...we're new to Overdrive."

DISTINCTIONMAN chuckled.

"Oh, you guys are missing out. You'll soon recognize this machine on sight. But for now, I'll punish you for your insolence!"

Jason and Stephanie glanced at each other. Stephanie looked both bemused and disgusted, and Jason saw that he had an identical expression of disgust and disbelief reflected in her eyes.

Jason whispered to her.

"Is he for real?"

He wasn't very good at judging people...it felt like DISTINCTIONMAN was just acting, but the man was also absurdly rich and successful. For all Jason knew, he could really be that arrogant!

Stephanie just threw her hands up.

"How would I know?"

They turned back to the screens. DISTINCTIONMAN was using the bright pink Mech he'd received directly from the Overdrive Corporation. The original Deadeyes Nullifier frame had debuted during the Selection tournament, the competition for the top five hundred ranked pilots on the server.

Although DISTINCTIONMAN lacked the skills to break into the top five hundred, he'd been invited as a special guest. His enormous streaming fanbase meant that the Overdrive Corporation would be foolish not to support him. Although most of the players hated playing alongside him or his fans, it was impossible to deny the brash streamer's popularity. As Stephanie said, it paid to cater to a niche base.

The eerie Lionknight's most distinctive characteristic was its bright pink armor, which covered the machine from head to toe. During the Selection, the Nullifier's armor had been modeled after a traditional European knight's. Since the dramatic event, DISTINCTIONMAN had moderately adjusted his machine's outside aesthetic appearance, reshaping the unit's helm into a roaring lion's head. The mechanical beast's eyes glowed with brilliant emerald light. The snaring mouth and sharp teeth had been painted directly onto the machine.

The Mech's segmented armor was now covered with countless innate paintings in fine gold brushstrokes. The painting depicted DISTINCTIONMAN's greatest victories. The expensive and highly realistic artwork could only be attained by the top crafters and designers on the Overdrive server. If Jason had to guess, the beautiful artwork must have cost over four digits.

Of course, its most prominent characteristic was its status as a Reality Shaper. That meant it had game-breaking abilities that broke the conventional rules of Overdrive.

-- General Data --

Pilot: DISTINCTIONMAN50000

Machine: Reality Shaper - Deadeyes Lionknight

Class: Spell Titan

Sub-class: Attacker

Designation: Ace Unit

- Statistics -

Melee: S-tier

Shooting: D-tier

Speed: A-tier

Maneuverability: A-tier

Defense: S-tier

Cohesion: S-tier

- Weapons -

Obliterator Sword [Full Custom] (x2)

Infinity Spear [Full Custom] (x3)

- Abilities -

Gaze of Eternity

Green-Eyed Leer

Glare Across Dimensions

Jason sighed.

He wouldn't abandon the Red Minerva for anything, but it was hard not to feel jealous.

There were only seventy Reality Shapers on the server. Finding one was an earthshattering event. Meanwhile, the Overdrive Corporation had simply handed DISTINCTIONMAN one of the unique Mechs for free. The machine had powerful custom-made items and unique abilities that enabled DISTINCTIONMAN's glass cannon melee style.

Jason had studied DISTINCTIONMAN before. In fact, Wass's constant rants meant that Jason was practically an expert. He could no longer talk on the party chat without the bombastic streamer hearing him, so he privately started coming up with a counterstrategy.

Although it seemed like a conventional close combat Kingbreaker or Paragon, the Lionknight was actually a Spell Titan, a Mech with magical abilities. The armor could split apart and reveal the machine's interior, a void black fog filled with countless Mana Gatherer Spikes designed to resemble human eyes.

By now, the Lionknight's abilities were already extremely well known.

The Gaze of Eternity would forcibly age any target machine, dramatically reducing its performance. The damage was an unavoidable magical attack. DISTINCTIONMAN's target only had one choice - to challenge him to an immediate head-on fight where he held all the cards.

Meanwhile, the Glare-Across Dimensions ability allowed the machine to absorb enemy attacks and even enemy body parts. The high-powered gravity ability meant players would suffer against the Lionknight in long-range.

However, the most troublesome ability was the Green-Eyed Leer, which allowed DISTINCTIONMAN to instantly steal item drops from other members of his party. The overpowered ability meant that until Jason killed DISTINCTIONMAN, there was no point playing through the mission-he could just talk everyone's rare parts no matter where they appeared on the stage.

The timer finished counting down, and the group received their first mission objective.

MARTIAL ARTS EVENT, LEVEL 1

STAGE: TEMPLE, FIRST FLOOR

MISSION OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT 100 DEVOTED MONK MACHINES.

Details: Each Devoted Monk will carry one of the unique Martial Arts stage items. Items from the monks you destroy will automatically be added to your inventory.

Beneath the mission objective was a picture of the Devoted Monk. The Paragon martial artist was nearly identical to the version Vile had used against Jason. The plain white machine fought with a pair of gauntlets that allowed it to manipulate beam energy like ki. On top of that, it had a weapons rack strapped to the back. A zoomed-out window listed out all the possible options, including the Butterfly Knives and Triple-Gravity Staff Vile had used in their battle.

The kids murmured excitedly about the available options, but Jason knew it wouldn't mean anything unless they got rid of the parasitic streamer.

He pulled off his headset and muted his mic so nobody could hear him. Then he turned to Stephanie.

"We're going to need to deal with that guy if we want to play the mission normally..."

Stephanie nodded, then mouthed that she'd try her best.

"Just tell me what to do."

Based on what he'd seen from the film, Jason felt like he was a better player than DISTINCTIONMAN, but you never knew until you faced off against them. However, just beating the other pilot wouldn't be enough. Before the streamer hopped in, Jason had hoped for a fun and relaxing match with Stephanie and the kids in their lobby.

If he played well, that could still happen.

Not only did he want to beat DISTINCTIONMAN...he also wanted to keep all his teammates safe during the fight. Going on an all-out attack was one thing, but doing it while keeping six less experienced players would be a totally different challenge.