"Whew!"

Jason's legs were aching mildly by the time he made it to the Good Game Shoppe. He pulled out his phone and clicked the Health app.

The rather winded Overdrive pilot smiled as he saw the familiar four miles displayed on his screen.

In his rush to spam games as a One Star Boss, he'd left fitness out of his routine.

This walk wouldn't have been a problem for him back in high school. Since he didn't like driving, he made the eight-mile round trip several times a day.

For the next week, Jason planned on training at the Good Game Shoppe's private events rather than playing on the server.

It would be a good opportunity to work off some fat and get back into shape.

He stretched his legs out a little using a nearby concrete block, and then he walked past the parking lot and into the building.

The business park complex was unusually tall, and it looked totally out of place in the suburbs.

Jason was surprised to see that although the address was similar, they'd rebuilt the building in the five years since he'd competed in the Good Game Shoppe's events.

Before, the building had looked standard - simple and boring with gray walls.

Now...

Jason winced a little and stepped into a stark white lobby.

The floors were spotlessly white, and so were the walls.

The sun was setting in a few hours, but the refracted glow from the windows was blinding.

A man greeted him on the first floor before waving him past after Jason explained that he was visiting the Good Game Shoppe.

The security guard entered a quick command from his console, and then the elevator at the farthest corner glowed bright green.

"Second floor. They've bought the whole thing now."

The guard smiled politely at Jason as he walked past him.

The building was full of financial firms and tech start-ups. They didn't want any strangers wandering in.

Security was tight, and only three floors were widely accessible.

Even after redesigning the building, none of the old procedures had changed.

There were various restaurants on the top floor, and the Good Game Shoppe owned the second floor.

The third, fourth, and fifth floors were strictly off-limits.

Jason was elated to hear that the Good Game Shoppe was doing well.

Even five years ago, the owner had already considered aggressively expanding.

Over the last few years, the explosion in Overdrive's popularity had allowed the Russell family to expand and purchase the entire floor.

During Jason's childhood, the Good Game Shoppe had hosted one of the first Overdrive regional competitions.

Players had flocked to the store from around the Bay Area.

Even after new tournaments like the Overdrive World Cup and the Overdrive National Championships had eclipsed that first competition, players still knew to visit the Good Game Shoppe for high-quality matches.

On top of that, the Russell family had found a unique niche: one-on-one competitions.

It was one of the few stores which offered individual battling tournaments, and enthusiasts attended the competition from all around the Bay. Even out of town players knew that it was the spot to play whenever they were in the area.

Most other stores only offered the main four-on-four esports format, making it difficult for out-of-towners to play.

The elevator dinged, letting Jason out on the second floor.

The ride took only a few seconds, but Jason had never felt comfortable in elevators.

He wished the business park allowed strangers to use their stairs, but he understood why that might be a security concern.

The brightly decorated Good Game Shoppe was a sharp contrast to the sleek and rather soulless building that contained it.

Jason shook his head.

The old building had been boring, but this one was just weird.

The redesigned building looked like a parody of a futuristic building.

The walls looked like they'd been copied straight out of a science fiction movie set.

The receptionist's desk was a rounded, vaguely circular pod inspired by a UFO.

Jason was a huge science fiction fan.

In fact, he spent all his time playing a science fiction game!

However...

There was just something annoying about this sort of imitation science fiction look.

It reminded Jason of his distrust of the business world.

The building had clearly been designed by an exorbitantly paid team of consultants and architects.

It felt like it was meant to impress people like Wass and the AngryBoardMember.

That kind of man was easily impressed by appearances, and they didn't care much for substance.

Of course, between Wass and the AngryBoardMember, Jason disliked Wass much more.

Wass had been a petty and cruel bully.

He'd basically been the archetype of a frustrated middle manager who took out his anger on everyone else around him.

Meanwhile, the AngryBoardMember was just a mad dad.

For him, Overdrive was just an investment. He wanted to buy the game his son liked playing.

If Jason were being honest, he'd definitely gone overboard using his death by a thousand cuts torture strategy on a kid.

Of course, both the kid and the board member had made an obvious mistake.

The child was by no means trapped.

He could have just turned off his computer and walked away.

To Jason, this was the downside of seeing Overdrive as just another investment. Both father and son had lacked some pretty basic knowledge.

Jason shrugged.

It didn't matter anymore.

Truth be told, he was a little annoyed he'd even wasted time thinking about the two men who'd gotten him fired.

He hadn't liked working as a One Star Boss anyways.

He was on his own, and his own actions would determine his success in the world.

There was no need to dwell on the past.

The Good Game Shoppe was futuristic as well, but it felt far more welcoming and genuine.

The walls were painted jet black and covered with bright lights resembling stars.

Steel plates had replaced the panels on the ground.

It was like walking right into a space station.

The main hall led to various separate gaming rooms, all with their own themes.

Even though the Good Game Shoppe no longer made most of their money through card games or tabletop role players, the local shop's former staple products were still very well respected.

Both rooms were decorated with posters from popular franchises like Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering.

On the tabletop gaming room to the right, Jason glimpsed a large crowd of players shouting excitedly and arguing heatedly about various in-game interactions.

Someone hit a bad dice roll, and everyone started laughing at them.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The card game players were laser-focused on their individual battles despite the noise.

It seemed like a tournament was going on - players silently examined their hands as they deliberated their moves.

The player sitting closest to the door made a frustrated gesture and then started scooping up his cards.

Even though he was clearly disappointed, he stayed quiet to respect the players around him.

Jason smiled as he turned away from the rooms in the back.

He'd played card games before and enjoyed them, but he'd only explored them at a surface level.

In Jason's opinion, developing his mastery and continuing to improve himself and his Mech were the most exciting things about Overdrive.

After hours a day on the server, he still had his passion, and he did not want to split his time with another game.

However, Jason always had a lot of respect for card game players.

He loved the customizability of decks and the importance of carefully deliberating moves.

In a way, the game was very similar to Overdrive.

If things had gone a little differently, Jason definitely could have seen himself going down an alternate path as a card games fanatic.

Jason turned a corner and entered the central room.

Overdrive's explosion in popularity had shifted the store's priorities, and the virtual reality Mech battler now held a prime place in the very middle of the shop.

Initially, the store's card gamers had been slightly miffed at getting kicked off to a side room.

However, just a basic look told the TCG players that focusing on Overdrive was the best decision for the Russell family and the Good Game Shoppe.

At the end of the day, each individual gaming group considered themselves part of the Good Game Shoppe community.

Edgar Russell, who everyone called Mr. Russ, was extremely passionate about every game, and he did everything he could to give everyone a top-class experience.

As a result, every Good Game Shoppe patron - even Jason, who hadn't visited the store for several years - rooted for Mr. Russ's success.

A state-of-the-art battle rig sat in the center of the Overdrive Corporation.

The virtual stadium was the evolved version of the hockey-table like projector Jason had played on back at the regional tournament.

Back then, Jason had gotten eliminated fairly quickly.

He was skilled, even in high school, but five years later, he could see that there'd been plenty of holes in his game.

Jason smiled.

Five years in the future, he hoped he could say the same thing about his current performance.

Improving was always the best feeling, and you only ever noticed it in the long term.

The table was covered with brightly glowing LED lights, and there were a pair of pods on either side for the pilots.

A set of outlets at the sides allowed Mr. Russ to wire in additional pods for the nights when the Good Game Shoppe switched to the conventional 4v4 setup.

At the far end of the expansive Overdrive gaming center, which had once been a corporate boardroom, was a general warm-up area where players could practice before their matches.

Row after row of computers with accompanying virtual reality headsets sat on small individual tables.

At the far corner was a large vending machine for drinks.

Jason stepped over and popped in two bucks for a medium-sized bottle of juice.

Although it sounded surprising to outsiders, game stores made plenty of money on selling drinks and snacks, which was especially true for the Good Game Shoppe.

Players focused on gaming didn't want to run back down to the nearby convenience stores to get drinks.

The Good Game Shoppe could charge an extra dollar or two in exchange for the convenience.

Jason was totally happy paying some more on water or juice to support the store.

They made razor-thin margins on reselling stuff like trading card game singles or Overdrive parts.

Big groups like OverManiacs or the Overdrive MKTplace - or even Amazon.com - could always through their weight around and buy in bulk, allowing them to sell back at lower prices.

The same thing went for mappers like Jason, who wanted to sell parts.

Although Jason would have liked to help the Good Game Shoppe by selling them some parts, he could get a much better deal from OverManiacs.

Even the outsider deal from OverManiacs was more profitable than selling to the Good Game Shoppe.

Jason would have loved to help out the Russell family by selling them high-value parts, but he couldn't afford to be super generous this early in his career.

A few drinks were the best he could do for now.

Of course, if Jason won the local tournament, he'd also try to spend his winnings at the store. The Good Game Shoppe had a decent selection of parts, and it'd be nice to give something extra back.

After all, the Good Game Shoppe provided tons of benefits to its patrons.

They had a state-of-the-art rig that Jason would never be able to play on by himself.

Even better, they brought in players from all around the Bay Area. Considering Jason's rather miserable charisma, he seriously doubted he'd be able to find dozens of players to battle against by himself.

The store also offered several unique technologies that regular players like Jason couldn't afford.

He could use state-of-the-art testing equipment that was usually accessible only to big Guilds like the Hive or the Illusionists.

One of those programs, a unique app called HemoLovers, was another reason why testing at the Good Game Shoppe was a much better option than going at his own online.

Jason headed over to the warm-up area, but then a boisterous voice called out his name.

"Hey, Jason! Good to see you!"

Jason turned around excitedly and smiled back.

A big bearded man was standing behind the counter - Jacob, Mr. Russ's son.

It'd been five years, but they still remembered him here.

It was a good feeling.

Jacob gestured, and Jason walked over.

The much-younger Jacob looked absolutely nothing like his father.

He was big and broad, with a large belly drooping over the counter.

The only commonality was long and shaggy hair, though Jacob's was red, unlike his older father's gray.

Jacob's clothes were extremely casual - a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. On the other hand, Mr. Russ was known for wearing flashy suits every day.

The client Jacob was talking to left.

The big man finished processing an Overdrive part transfer, then reached under his desk to the glass case to pull out a USB drive.

The Good Game Shoppe displayed their Overdrive parts just like their TCG singles.

The parts data was loaded onto a USB drive and placed inside a glass case, complete with an illustration and description].

Once players bought the part, they brought the thumb drive to the warm-up area and transferred it to their account before dropping it back off at the counter.

Jacob grinned.

"How have you been? It's been a while dude! I heard you were working for the Overdrive Corporation, how is that going?"

Perhaps Jacob saw some hesitancy in Jason's eyes because he quickly waved his large hand.

"Ah, NDA, right? I heard a bunch of people had to sign them. So what brings you here?"

Although nobody knew exactly what the Overdrive Corporation was up to, the company's secrecy was well-known. New game design developments, such as new parts or new frames, almost never leaked.

In fact, the company actively played up its high level of secrecy to further build community excitement.

Nobody knew what each independent NDA was for, but people just knew that there were a ton of them.

In truth, Jason hadn't been thinking about the NDA.

After two years of having it beaten into his brain, keeping the Overdrive Corporation's secrets was second nature to him.

As a result, he had no intention of discussing his work.

In fact, he'd planned on telling Jacob that he'd quit. However, the big man had run him right over.

Jacob was extremely talkative, and he'd dominated conversations all the time. It'd been the same during Jason's childhood.

In fact, Jason never wound up getting a word in.

After hearing Jacob's loud cry, a couple of the other players also looked up from their desks.

It wasn't just Jacob.

All the regulars still remembered Jason.

A man wearing a short-sleeve Hawaiian shirt turned and mumbled greetings before returning to the computer.

Peter was one of the Good Game Shoppe's regular players.

He'd been there even when Jason first started going to the Good Game Shoppe back in junior high school.

He was a converted tabletop role player who'd moved to Overdrive after enjoying a mech-inspired RPG he played.

Unlike Jason, who only played the individual tournament, Peter attended everything, ranging from 4v4 to the casual game nights where players just mapped together.

Simply put, he was always at the store.

Peter was a very creative player who always tried out new things, but he wasn't particularly skilled. His control skills and shooting accuracy were decent at best.

Jason smiled back at Peter, but he decided to leave Peter alone for now.

Jason didn't like it when people tried talking to him while he was examining his parts and considering his options.

He knew Peter felt the same way.

At the corner table, a bunch of players eagerly waved him over before returning to their heated discussion.

The shop's consistent local players were all sitting in the corner, examining various possible builds and discussing the ramifications of the latest Martial Arts Event patch, which was dropping in a couple of weeks.

Jason carefully walked around the enormous central stage, careful not to knock over a few players new to the shop who were examining the high-tech projection platform.

The group circling the table appeared to consist of local high school students who were all extremely excited.

For all Jason knew, it was their first time at the store. He didn't want to bowl them over.

After maneuvering past the high schoolers, Jason smiled brightly and greeted everyone in the group of two dozen or so regulars.

To his surprise, the players all looked extremely happy to see him.

At the center of the group was a man in a long felt coat who wore a pair of frameless glasses.

Eric worked as an IT assistant elsewhere in the building, and he was probably one of the nicest people Jason knew.

The first time they met, Jason had stupidly compared the Korean man to the Pokemon Honchkrow since he had a very hooked nose and always wore his signature black cloak.

The fact that Eric had laughed along instead of beating Jason's ass displayed his deep and abiding kindness.

"How did your time at the Overdrive Corporation go?"

The man besides Eric, a small and wiry man named Iggy frowned.

"Wait. How do you mean how did it go?"

He turned back to Jason.

"Aren't you still working for them? We heard from Mr. Russ that you had a job in San Francisco with them."

Ah!

So that was how everybody knew about Jason working at the Overdrive Corporation.

Jason had run into Mr. Russ downtown a couple of years back, but he'd totally forgotten about that chance encounter.

Jason shook his head.

"No, I quit."

Then he turned to Eric.

"How did you know about that?"

It'd only been a couple of days since Jason had left the Overdrive Corporation.

It made sense why the rumor about his hiring had spread, but he was surprised people already knew about his firing.

The hook-nosed man pulled out his phone.

"I saw you on stream!"

Eric smiled excitedly.

"Man, you were kicking ass in the Tournament of Assassins!"

The Illusionists broadcast every match of the Tournament of Assassins.

The tense battles encouraged other players to try their luck.

Before long, the whole table was congratulating Jason and watching his performance.

Jason's smile split his face from ear to ear.

He wasn't super close with anyone at the table, but they still liked and supported him.

It was a stark contrast to his time at the Overdrive Corporation when he'd felt like an atomized cog in the machine.

Initially, Jason had only visited the Good Game Shoppe to get some practice in.

Instead, he'd received a reminder of how fun it was to interact with others.

The Good Game Shoppe was a place where a weird guy like him could feel at home just because he liked games.

Jason felt like he understood everybody at the table.

There were all sorts of people sitting there from different walks of life and jobs. There were many few college and high school students.

However, they were all joined together by their love of Overdrive.

Seeing all these different people reminded him how big the world was.

It anchored Jason and reminded him that there was a bigger world outside his adventures on the Overdrive servers.

After speaking with the regulars for a while, Jason booted up a computer in the warm-up area.

Just like with Peter, the other players left him alone as he pulled open the Overdrive app on the Good Game Shoppe's well-maintained setup.

The keys were crisp but not so hard that it felt difficult to press down on them.

The screen was set at the perfect brightness to avoid straining his eyes.

Mr. Russ had always been a tabletop player, but his son had grown up with computer games.

Jacob knew his stuff and always maintained the equipment in a way that kept everyone happy.

Jason took a look at the time.

It was 5:30, and the tournament started an hour later, at 6:30.

The later time gave people who worked elsewhere in the Bay time to go down to the suburbs for the competition.

Jason scrolled to the bottom of his screen.

Overdrive Premium, the paid version of the app, could only be purchased by reputable organizations. Jason scrolled to the center of the bar, then clicked onto the HemoLovers app.

Normally, Hemoborn transformations involved a great deal of randomness. HemoLovers cut the amount of guesswork down to a mere ten percent.

By loading his machine's data into the Good Game Shoppe's apps, Jason could experiment to his heart's content.