CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

After he finished reading Vile's note and equipping the valuable new part she'd gifted him, Jason walked over to the central stadium.

A big part of Jason simply wanted to go home.

He'd learned a lot of new techniques battling against Vile, and he was eager to implement them in his own gameplay.

On top of that, he wanted to start playing quests and building out his machine. He now realized that filling up the Blazing Avarice system was of the utmost importance.

In short, Jason felt an enormous rush.

He only had a week left before the next round in the Tournament of Assassins, and he wanted to start making changes as soon as possible.

However, Jason also knew that effective training didn't involve grinding as much as possible. Preparation and research were just as important.

Right now, Jason had the best possible role model in front of him. By watching Vile play for a night, he could learn much more than he could by training on the server.

Being honest with himself, Jason was a very jealous and competitive person.

Vile had beaten him and taken his spot in the tournament.

After losing his registration, Jason didn't even get loser's bracket matches. He was out for the rest of the night.

A substantial part of him hated the thought of watching any opponent - no matter how skilled - play in his stead.

However, he couldn't let his ego get in the way of improvement.

As he waited for Vile to take her place on the stage, Jason pulled out his phone and conducted some light internet research.

Before implementing physical training, Jason needed to do more research. He did not doubt that pianist-like finger flexibility training would improve his mechanics.

That being said, he'd look like a total moron if he wound up pulling a finger muscle or breaking a bone.

Jason laughed.

Since he spent all his time competing with his hands, a finger injury would be like a pro athlete breaking their leg. The thought of comparing himself to a pro athlete was pretty absurd, but the comparison made sense in this particular instance.

Phil, who was building yet another new Mech a few seats across Jason, shot him a strange look.

Jason waved to him.

"Ah, my bad, my bad."

Eventually, Vile took the stage.

She was up against Vincent, one of the tournament's most consistent competitors. Even during Jason's earlier stint at the Good Game Shoppe, Vincent had been a talented competitor.

The local high school teacher heavily favored bulky Kingbreakers.

All of his Mechs were densely packed behemoths that prioritized armor and speed at the expense of weapons. Oftentimes, he fought his opponents completely bare-handed.

He skillfully abused his machine's durability, weight, and armor to force his opponents onto the ground.

Tackles might seem out of place in a game with beam weapons, but they were highly effective whenever Vincent got into range.

Although Mechs were much larger than human beings, they had similar proportions. On top of that, Overdrive had a fairly accurate physics system.

His unusual style had often caught Jason off guard. He'd never seen anything like it before, so it wasn't easy to practice against.

Vincent was one of many players who brought techniques he'd learned from outside of Overdrive into the game.

His skillful tackles and brutal takedowns stemmed from his additional job as a school wrestling coach. Jason remembered that Vincent often skipped games at the Good Game Shoppe when wrestling contests happened in the winter high school sports season.

Jason had been looking forward to testing his skills against Vincent.

However, he was even more eager to see how Vile clashed against the other pilot's eccentric style.

Eventually, Vincent and Vile loaded into the Forest 3 stage.

The stage had extremely lush and dense vegetation.

The PvP map stage was different compared to the Illusionist's version. However, many of the principles were the same.

Normally, battles in the Forest map devolved into high-paced sniping and hunting battles.

Initially, Jason expected a similar stealth and assassination-focused battle.

He wanted to know how the two players, who were both using close combat focused Mechs, would contend on a stage that discouraged their usual playstyle.

However, Vile threw those expectations out of the window right at the beginning.

As soon as she launched out of the platform, she raised her machine's fist high into the sky. Blue light concentrated around the glove.

After approximately a full minute of charging, a blast of light launched high into the air.

From what Jason could tell, the fists also had a ranged mode.

Very few players would build Grunt Mechs without ranged capabilities. Unlike Aces, Grunts were meant to be generic all-around machines. They couldn't afford to specialize too much.

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However, that mode was gated by a high charge-up time.

The machine could unleash high-powered beam energy blasts, but only if they had significant preparatory time. The move was somewhat comparable to a highly-nerfed version of the Red Minerva's Pestilent Snipe.

After her initial blast, Vile charged up another shot before blasting a beam of blue light into the air again.

Vincent still didn't respond, so Vile eventually called out to him on the global chat.

"Hey. I want to battle head-on. Your Mech is meant for close combat, so I want to see you give your best shot."

It took Jason a bit before he comprehended Vile's words.

What a fascinating statement.

Before the match, she'd gotten a chance to scout out Vincent's grappling-focused Mech. Normally, Jason studied out his opponent to devise an appropriate counter.

Vile's attitude was totally different.

After investigating her opponent, she wanted to battle him where he was strongest.

In a competitive match, this would be completely and utterly foolish. Jason had watched Vile's streams before, and he knew that she always went all-out against her rivals like vermillionangel or Twister.

However, Vincent was just a casual player at a local game store.

He was talented and skilled, but only when it came to his specialty - wrestling and close combat. Vile wanted to challenge Vincent where he was strongest to get better practice.

It was a totally fascinating way to look at the game. It further demonstrated to Jason that strength was Vile's default state.

She wanted them to show her their very best techniques.

This practice style allowed her to grow stronger even when fighting ostensibly weaker opponents. On top of that, it demonstrated that she was willing to learn from anyone - even random local players.

Jason nodded.

There were plenty of skilled players at the local store, and Jason could learn from all of them. Even Phil, who he'd initially underestimated, had displayed plenty of new strengths.

Vincent eventually walked over to Vile's location, and the clash began.

When battling the Red Minerva, the Devoted Monk had the advantage in size and armor.

Here, the roles were reversed.

Nonetheless, Vile happily scrapped on the forest floor with Vincent's bulky Mech. She willingly allowed Vincent's heavy machine to take her down and gain its preferred position.

The wrestling coach's hulking gray titan initially dominated the white-painted Devoted Monk with its strength and power advantage. It spent most of the battle on top of the scrum as it pushed the Devoted Monk into the dirt.

As a highly regulated competitive sport, high school wrestling had many built-in safety precautions.

None of those precautions mattered in Overdrive, where the only important factor was demolishing the opposition.

Vincent freely used dirty and illegal moves like slams and finger-shattering locks as he battered the Devoted Monk.

Like Jason, Vile initially struggled to understand her opponent's brutal style.

But then...

Kak-chunk!

Jason's eyes widened.

Damn!

Vile disconnected her machine's left elbow and slipped out of her larger foe's grip.

The left arm was bent so far backwards that it'd practically fallen off of the Devoted Monk's body.

Like Vincent, Vile understood that this was not a high school wrestling match. Very few humans would have been able to tear their arm out in that position. It reminded Jason of something from the horrifying Saw movies.

After slipping out of Vincent's grip, Vile drew a slim blade from her machine's waist.

The sword was of moderate length, and the hilt was a hand-and-a-half grip that enabled both single-handed and two-handed strikes. The blade itself was slightly curved, and it was only sharp on one side.

The sword looked rather plain and common. The only unusual trait was its color.

From the tip of the blade to the end of the hilt, the entire weapon was pitch black. The metal was even darker than the perpetual night of starless space.

The blade greatly resembled a traditional western saber.

However, the notification flickering above the new weapon identified it as the Obliterator Dao, a new weapon inspired by a traditional Chinese single-sided sword.

It was another exclusive item for the wuxia-inspired Martial Artist event.

Unlike regular players, who had to discover an item's effect through the course of a match, spectators automatically received complete profiles of every single weapon.

The notification flickered high above the gleaming black sword.

Item Identified: Obliterator Sword

Effect: The Obliterator Sword is a special item that circumvents defensive techniques and armor. It will inflict damage at a B-tier level regardless of the opponent's defenses.

Jason frowned.

That was an interesting item, but it was hard to measure its true efficacy. It essentially allowed players to guarantee a specific damage floor for their attacks in exchange for locking in a low ceiling.

B-rated damage wasn't very impressive. It was equivalent to the striking strength of the initial Red Minerva frame.

However, guaranteed B-rated damage was a very different story.

After all, the Red Minerva had consistently been flummoxed by its opponents' armor and defenses.

It was the kind of item Jason needed to playtest himself before verifying its worth.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the fight didn't provide a particularly good measure of the sword's worth. Vile never even tried cutting at her opponent's armor.

Instead, she carefully attacked the large wrestler's joints.

Demolishing an opponent's joints was the typical way to circumvent heavy armor. Even the strongest machine would have a gap in their armor around the joints. Otherwise, they'd be totally inflexible.

Once again, Vile was challenging herself to a new level.

Although she had a powerful item that allowed her to ignore the wrestler's defenses, she used it as a conventional blade.

Jason glanced at the pod and saw that the veteran pilot's eyes were laser-focused on the screen.

The Fortress Master was completely and utterly focused on the game.

Her swordplay was steady and conservative.

She prioritized maintaining her guard instead of attacking, but she took every single low-risk opportunity that presented itself.

Before long, she'd cut the wrestling-focused Mech to tatters. After escaping, Vile never allowed Vincent to lay a finger on her Devoted Monk again.

Jason smiled as the match ended.

Vile's defeat of Vincent reminded Jason of her previous victory against him.

In both cases, she'd deliberately forfeited parts from her machine to circumvent enemy attacks. Against Jason, she'd detached her gauntlet to block the Blazing Avarice's clapping motion. Against Vincent, she'd dislocated her arm to escape.

Her playstyle was extremely free-wheeling and creative. She was willing to deliberately make sacrifices to win, almost like a chess master sacrificing her queen.

Vile continued battling for the remainder of the night.

As everyone expected, she won every battle and the tournament.

However, nobody surrendered against her or took it easy. She did her best to get her opponents involved in the game, challenging them where they were strongest.

Although Vile wasn't known as a bombastic public persona, Jason now understood why she was such a respected community member. She'd been a schoolteacher for many years, and she knew how to keep everyone involved and engaged.

The experienced pilot alternated her items throughout her matches, displaying countless exciting items throughout the competition.

Vile's ability to wield the totally disparate items was extremely impressive. It provided Jason with further inspiration for how he wanted to empower the Blazing Avarice.

Every weapon had a unique effect, but the base inspirations ranged from simplistic to exotic.

Some of them, like the Obliterator Dao, were inspired by fundamental items. In addition to the single-edged sword, Vile also used a spear, a staff, and a two-edged sword.

On top of that, the Devoted Monk could also use a bow as a ranged weapon.

The arrows had a variety of powerful effects, ranging from temporary status abilities to high-powered explosions.

However, there were also several creative items, including a rope dart, a pair of tonfa, and a hook sword.

According to Vile's speech after winning the finals, the items were loosely based on the Eighteen Arms of Wushu. However, there was a total of thirty items.

The Overdrive Corporation was always willing to bend history in order to create more cool content. After all, history was only a loose guideline.

After Vile left, the entire game store was filled with excitement.

Players eagerly made plans to battle together in the Martial Arts mission.

Jason even agreed to schedule a game session with the other regulars.

After losing to Vile, he'd realized that he needed to get more open-minded about his approach to Overdrive.

However, that was all in the future.

The Martial Arts event wouldn't happen for a few more weeks.

For now, Jason needed to focus on the Tournament of Assassins. With the tournament concluded, Jason headed home, fully invigorated to grow even stronger.