CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN

The day of the tournament came faster than Jason possibly could have anticipated.

He'd had a full month to train and develop skills, but time really flew by when he was having fun and developing. He fell into a consistent pattern of training by himself in the morning before meeting Stephanie at the Good Game Shoppe after her afternoon shift.

After finding out that Stephanie lived by, the two wound up coordinating games even more than before. At times, they'd even play with the other members of the BAG Guild while at the Good Game Shoppe, another collision of the online and real world that Jason hadn't anticipated.

Usually, Stephanie would stick along to play in the tournament too, but sometimes she left early. At the Good Game Shoppe, Jason prioritized the one-on-one events so he could practice for the Tournament of Assassin's final match.

However, Jason knew better than to assume he'd waltz into the finals. There were plenty of talented players, and he'd even heard rumors that the Illusionists might invite a few celebrity guests. Only the top eight players would qualify for the final round, and Jason first needed to sharpen his skills for the melee.

Over the weekends, Jason and Danny played together with the rest of the Guild, fighting through missions that were a close fit with the tournament structure. Jason and Danny battled through countless minions and Grunt Mechs attacking them from different angles. The two rivals would have to battle it out if they made it to the finals, but they'd remain allies until the very last second. Jason was incredibly excited to fight Danny one-on-one, so he'd do anything to make sure that both of them qualified.

In addition to his in-game training, Jason continued working on his physical health and schedule. He continued exercising physically by walking back and forth from the Good Game Shoppe and performing finger exercises to avoid overwork and strains.

On the day of the event, Jason logged onto the Overdrive server and met up with Danny. The taller player enthusiastically greeted him as soon as he appeared.

"Yo! Jason! Can't believe it's already the big day."

He clenched his fists and grinned.

"Man! I'm pumped!"

Jason smiled. He wasn't as excitable as Danny, but his competitive spirit was just as high. He couldn't wait to get started, but there was an obvious problem--they didn't know where to go.

"Did you get a note from the Illusionists?"

Danny shook his head.

"No, I haven't heard a single word from them. It's actually kind of crazy...they normally plan these things out way ahead of time."

Jason shrugged.

"I bet they are probably trying to make a dramatic entrance or something. They've been doing that all tournament."

Danny nodded. He'd played in the tournament before, so he knew that this year's accommodations were a step up from the usual. The Illusionists always provided the competitors with a first-tier experience, but they were even showier than normal.

"I bet it's to try and gain recruits for the Guild Wars--they want to show people they are just as impressive as The Hive."

Moments later, Jason realized just how hard the Illusionists were trying.

A message appeared in his inventory.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have qualified for the last round.

The Tournament finals will take place on our new artificial planet, Solomon, which can only be reached via warp code.

A 26-character code appeared on his screen, allowing Jason to teleport directly to the planet. Normally, warp codes could only be used by official Overdrive maps. This new artificial planet--Solomon--sounded like it was considered an official world by the Overdrive Corporation. The Illusionists had likely secured the deal with an enormous payment to the company, securing their legitimacy through sheer financial prowess. The purchase had cost thousands of dollars, it might have even broken into the ten thousand mark.

It was almost like a professional sports team buying a stadium. The construction costs were far less, and Overdrive was still smaller than pro sports, but it was still an enormous show of strength--no guild had done something like that before.

Danny and Jason shot each other bewildered looks, then both friends started laughing. At the end of the day, the two of them were trying to make it in Overdrive and become pros in their own right. They both had dreams of becoming full-time players, but they were far smaller than any of the big guilds or major pro teams. They were small fish in a big pond, and for now, just getting a little bit of their money would be a life-changing improvement.

Winning in the tournament, or at least reaching the final round, where they could get sponsorship opportunities, would be a great start.

Jason and Danny carefully reviewed every letter and number in the 26-character code, then inputted their final options. The screen flashed to white. As it did, Jason briefly took off his headset as he waited to load in.

After playing with Stephanie, Jason hadn't just learned about her out-of-the-box thinking. He'd also realized that temporarily leaving the server was a valuable tool. The mix of real-life play was fun, but it was also a mental reset that allowed him to look at the game from a fresh perspective.

In this case, Jason just wanted to calm down. The possibility of a new mappers league was extremely exciting. After plying his trade in the shadows for so long, it might finally be time for Jason to step into the major leagues and receive the accolades he badly wanted.

It was only natural to feel thrilled and even prideful, but those emotions might drag him down.

His heart thumped heavily in his chest. He couldn't stop smiling and he felt a little bit dizzy. A bit later, he got messages from the other members of the BAG Guild, including Stephanie, telling him that they were all watching and cheering for him.

The encouragement made him feel even more excited, but Jason eventually put himself in the mental state he needed to succeed. The excitement wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The adrenaline might even increase his reaction times, but he couldn't let it negatively affect his thinking.

Eventually, he put himself in the proper mental state. When he put his virtual reality goggles back on, his screen fizzled and he reappeared inside an absolutely massive conventional hall. In addition, Jason was now automatically inside the cockpit of his machine. He glanced down at his hands and saw the sports car-like controls.

The enormous stage had been built to fit a gigantic machine's proportions. The fifty-foot-tall Red Minerva was completely dwarfed by the skyscraper-like marble pillars. The entire stage was decorated with equally large paintings which imitated traditional art. However, the principal characters had been replaced by Overdrive machines. Gleaming golden Paragons stood in place of knights, their swords and rifles brandished at roaring Hemoborn that'd replaced dragons.

He turned to Danny, then sent him a private message.

Devourer22: I would pay attention to our surroundings. I feel like there's some kind of trick...

Danny agreed--he was already on it. The Illusionists were going all out for the tournament, so these pictures had to be here for a reason. Jason briefly glanced across the room, observing every single painting and committing the scene to memory before moving on to the next one.

Mapping heavily prioritized noticing hidden clues and deciphering puzzles. There was a fairly decent chance that the Illusionists would test the surrounding competitors on the content of the portraits. The scenes depicted all sorts of different machines, ranging from those that resembled modern warfare weapons to the very eccentric cat-themed units used by Phillips, one of the top-tier mappers. Most of the machines were used by celebrities. Jason also caught a glimpse of the Deadeyes Lionknight among the famous Mechs.

However...

The competitor's machines were also depicted. Jason was very pleased to see that they'd included the Red Minerva among the art. His longtime partner roared angrily at a hoard of rotting cyborg zombies. The black talons on its Blazing Avarice gauntlet gleamed with endless menace. Although Jason never used her that way in battle, the Minerva looked tough as hell. The picture made it seem like she was about to effortlessly slit the closest enemy's throat from end to end.

Jason finished reviewing all the paintings, glancing at a few for a second or even a third time to ensure that he'd seen all of them. Of course, Jason couldn't discount the chance the Illusionists had simply placed all the paintings there just to show off, but there was no reason not to pay attention.

Other Mechs continued warping into the event. Jason carefully glanced at them, noting when luminaries like Castor appeared. At this point, Castor's ally had also revealed himself. Castor had stored them in the cube for most of the match, but the stage's rules had forced the machine out of its portable hiding place.

The monstrous mechanical creation loomed high over the slender spider. The Hive's Mechs all looked like insects, but this machine's resemblance was only passing at best.

The heavy Kingbreaker leaned forward, walking on a set of gigantic metal gauntleted fists like a gorilla. The gauntlets were not meant for striking. Instead, they were gigantic weapons depots that immediately delivered weapons straight to the machine's hands.

The technology was similar to Red Minerva's wristbands all those years ago, but the pilot's breadth of weapons meant it was far more potent. Nobody could ever guess what was about to emerge. For all Jason knew, the hidden weapons could range from tiny spitfire missiles to an enormous tactical nuke. The fists looked like boulders.

The machine's legs were rather tiny and it was tilted forward like a shopping cart. Its small feet were accompanied by a set of wheels and a pair of jet boosters. The machine's individual movement skills were poor, and it rolled forward instead of walking. Come to think of it, there was even a chance teammates would have to push it forward for high-speed battles.

The back of the machine featured a large artillery unit, much like the one Jason had added to the base of Stephanie's machine. A trio of central cannons was joined by a pair of very large missile launchers.

The Mech's design was topped off by a set of minuscule wings and a small red lightbulb at the very back.

Danny frowned.

"Is that supposed to be a firefly?"

Jason laughed.

"Looks like it might be? That is not much of a resemblance...but then again, the Hive did need an area of effect specialist. I wonder who they got?"

The position had famously been open for a long time, and Twister, the Hive's captain, had wanted to find only the very best.

A few players walked up to the Hive members, but they were all soundly ignored. Although the players weren't allowed to fight yet, Castor and his partner moved away from everyone who approached them. Just as Jason suspected, the spider wound up pushing the bulky mechanical firefly like a shopping cart.

In the end, only the press event caused them to loosen their lips.

Media members, including several famed game journalists, spawned inside the room. Jason had watched their coverage for many years, and he was excited to be featured in one of their events.

They hovered behind the desk in spherical "Broadcast Mechs." The machines were plain silver orbs with a circumference of just twenty feet - significantly smaller than a normal Mech. The top half had been replaced by a window, allowing casters to see everything around them with perfect 360-degree vision. A pair of spindly arms held matching megaphones.

The caster's desk was also extremely detailed. Were the desk ever to be constructed in real life, it would have required chopping down an entire forest just to assemble all the fine red oak.

The reporters immediately made their way to the Hive members.

"Hello! In a joint event between the Overdrive Corporation, the Illusionists, and the Hive, we wanted to announce one of the challengers for this event, a returning star from Overdrive's past!"

Castor wheeled the Firefly Mech over, and the pilot stepped on.

Jason gaped, and Danny laughed.

"Man! They dug him out of retirement? That's awesome!"

Jason had never met this man in person before, but he'd seen his photos countless times. In fact, he'd even battled against his machine!

Befitting his role as an area of effect specialist, Spike Saunders wore a special customized piloting suit covered in blazing flames. Like every member of The Hive, he wore a customized helmet that reflected the insect that had inspired his machine. The helmet was bright red with a glowing firefly painstakingly drawn in the center. On top of that, his outfit labeled his role. Area of Effect was splashed across his chest in bright blue graffiti-like paint.

Over the years, Spike Saunders had grown rather thin. His cheeks had hollowed out, revealing rather angular cheekbones, but he still had the same wide and charming smile. His former shoulder-length hair was now cut in a razor-short buzz cut. Even after coming in and out of retirement, he still hadn't bothered to fix his famously crooked teeth over the last five years, even though he must have attained plenty of extra wealth as a new member of The Hive. Even though over half of their players weren't streamers, the organization divided up all its revenues equally between the eleven members.

In a way, the Firefly machine fit Spike to a tee. Like the old Smoulderhulk, the hulking machine leaned over due to its own weight. Even though it strictly followed the 50,000 Credit Cap that'd been implemented since the Dragon Masters Tournament, the machine had stuck to the old metagame strategy of prioritizing armor and physical strength over maneuverability. Many of the players from that early time period had faded away in prominence after the initial Credit Cap nerf.

Some of them had simply proved to be bad players - it didn't take a lot of skill to simply stand in place shooting down an opponent. The best players at the time had been the ones who could afford the best gear, either because they spammed a ton of games or because they could buy it with real money.

Others simply lacked the longstanding dedication to being the best. It was tough staying at the top for over seven years in a row. Only a handful of players like vermillionangel and his elite 4v4 team had managed to do it.

Still others had explored other avenues of Overdrive. Some had become crafters, doing their best to miniaturize high-powered weapons. Others had even become coaches for competitive teams. A lucky few had managed to become streamers, cashing in their popularity at the right moment to build a lucrative fanbase.

It seemed like Spike had found a fourth path - he'd found a team who could accentuate his strengths while hiding his weaknesses.

Jason took another look at Castor and Spike, then grinned. To win, he needed to bring down two legends--a new one and an old one.

He couldn't wait to get started.