The Power of Nine: A Mecha LitRPG Adventure (Overdrive Book 2)

by R. H. Tang

  Julian was a nobody too. The Mechanical King would happily disqualify him.

  With The Mechanical King done listing all the names, the crowd’s tension loosened. The attention immediately swung onto Phillips. More and more of the players started whispering about her. It seemed like Emma wasn’t alone in her suspicion.

  Julian heard plenty of players accusing her of working for the Overdrive Corporation.

  “What about Edgar?”

  “It’s because she thought she couldn’t beat him, that’s why she got rid of him.”

  “No, it’s because Edgar is a messy guy. The Mechanical King wants people who look good on TV.”

  “Either way, I think Phillips ratted him out. She’s The Mechanical King’s spy.”

  The whispering around Julian grew louder and louder. However, nobody on the other half of the stadium said anything, so Phillips couldn’t hear the allegations. If you thought she was working for the Overdrive Corporation, you wouldn’t dare tell her your suspicions to her face.

  The Mechanical King grinned broadly.

  “There will be no cheaters at this Selection. As soon as I hear more news of cheating, I will eliminate everyone involved.”

  He clapped his hands happily together.

  “Now, with all the bad stuff out of the way, it’s time to have some fun and play some Overdrive!”

  He snapped his fingers.

  For a moment, Julian expected the battle boxes to return, but instead, the individual pods whirled and grouped to form clusters of six.

  A slight smile split across his face despite his worry. The Overdrive Corporation’s technology was the coolest.

  “Today is Mini-Games Day! You will compete against a group of six randomly selected players. The two players with the lowest scores at the end of the day will be eliminated.”

  A murmur went through the crowd.

  Thirty-three percent of them would be eliminated from the Selection today.

  At the very least, it wasn’t an entirely new challenge. Almost everyone had heard of Mini-Games Day before. It was a Selection staple. Although the company used ranking to determine who qualified—after all, defeating a team of Fortress Masters qualified you for the World Championship—you also needed a lot of PvE mission knowledge. After all, a Fortress Master’s primary job was designing maps. The constant mini-games tested your abilities outside of a head-on battle.

  Were you able to win in racing missions? What about underwater dives or hostage situations? There were even certain Fortresses that required you to solve a series of complex sliding puzzles.

  “Finally, I intend to award the bold! The following players, please come to the top of the stage. Julian, Skinner, Sweetshot303, and Jamiefish.”

  Jamiefish was the well-dressed man who’d ended up with Lilac’s box.

  The four players who’d held the court at the end of the battle had earned a special award. Julian didn’t know how The Mechanical King had chosen between Skinner and sm0ke. It might have been as simple as who’d entered the box first.

  He handed them each a set of envelopes.

  “This will be of assistance in the mission. Open it when you enter your pod.”

  Julian glanced at the envelope.

  His eyes widened.

  The other players wouldn’t know what mini-games they were playing until after the Mech Selection process. They’d be going into every round blind. In exchange for holding their tables, Julian had earned the full breakdown of every map and the order they’d play them in.

  It was an enormous advantage. Since Julian had advanced knowledge of every stage, he’d be able to bring the perfect Mech. Everyone else would be stuck on suboptimal machines.

  Julian put the envelope into his pocket and walked towards his assigned pod. The weight was small but comforting. He had a secret weapon.

  The large screen at the back of the theater buzzed as every player was given their assigned pod. To Julian’s disappointment, Felix was immediately assigned to one of the first pods. It would have been nice to play with his friend. They possibly could have teamed up to guarantee that neither of them would fall into the bottom two.

  The screen continued counting off players six at a time. At the very end, they reached Julian.

  He cursed. There were several pilots ranked in the top 200. There were no weak pilots in his pool, only serious contenders.

  And worst of all, Phillips was in his pod too.

  She smiled politely at him as he arrived at the table.

  “Watch out. I’m not losing this time.”

  23

  Julian entered his pod and closed the door. When he opened the envelope, he found a USB drive marked with a golden crown. The note told him to plug it into the port at the lower corner of his simulator.

  With his secret weapon installed, Julian put on the lightweight Overdrive Corporation headset. A few keystrokes later, and he entered the match lobby.

  The other seven players should have had no idea what Mechs to choose, but Julian couldn't help but wonder if Phillips's strange psychic abilities would help her.

  He shook his head. As he'd been reminded during the Minesweeper Fortress mission, you couldn't plan ahead with dangerous enemies right in front of you.

  It wasn't just Phillips.

  His other four opponents were all formidable foes. Technically, Julian was the second-lowest ranking player in the group. Other than Phillips, his group had nobody from the 400-500 range, the players who were usually considered free prey during the Selection.

  Everyone in the pod had their rankings and names displayed on the side of his screen in numerical order.

  Seedster: 143

  Six3r: 144

  Leontime: 187

  Birthday: 282

  Julian: 360

  Phillips: 521

  Phillips had fallen out of the top 500 after yesterday, but that wasn't surprising. Your ranks always shuffled around depending on everyone playing around you. If you didn't consistently play ranked games, your ranking would gradually decline. For obvious reasons, almost everyone's ranking fell during the Selection. There was no reason to play ranked games after qualifying. All spare Overdrive time was dedicated to grinding.

  The screen blinked, and then they entered the lobby.

  So far, every single player's Mech was shrouded in the usual Grunt's fog of war.

  Phillips was using her eccentric Power of Nine.

  Seedster, Six3r, Leontime, and Birthday were all using the same frame, the spherical Guardian X. Julian wouldn't have been surprised if a few people ended up bringing it. The Guardian X was a competitive standard machine. The sturdy Mech boasted thick armor and an unusual gimmick. Because the Guardian line lacked heads, standard blinding shots wouldn't work against them.

  However, Julian remembered from yesterday's matches that there was no guarantee. The rules for free-for-alls were different from those of competitive battles, where the Ace had to declare themselves at the start of the match. Players could always swap their Mech at the very last moment. Regardless of your plans, hovering a Grunt was the smart thing to do as it avoided giving away free information. If you showed your Ace during the whole loading screen, your opponents would simply counter it.

  If Julian had to guess, most players would end up bringing Aces.

  After all, if you were entering a completely unknown stage, wouldn't you want to use your most powerful machine? Besides, Ace units were usually much better-rounded than Grunts, simply by virtue of having 50,000 Credits to use and more robust base frames.

  It was only Julian who benefited from The Mechanical King's special advantage. When he went to select his Mech, a golden invitation flickered across his screen.

  THE MECHANICAL KING'S BOON: KNOWLEDGE

  THE FIRST MISSION IS A RACE!

  Course: Cityscape 4

  Goal: Four laps

  Time Limit: 30 minutes

  No Combat Grace Period: 30 seconds

  Checkpoints: 8

&
nbsp; Points Awarded

  1st place: 15 points

  2nd place: 7 points

  3rd place: 3 points

  4th place: -3 points

  5th place: -7 points

  6th place: -15 points

  Julian smiled.

  He liked races.

  Back in high school, he'd never played through treasure hunts or statue building missions. Those had been Felix's favorites. Julian had only sharpened up on them recently because of the Selection.

  But races were almost identical to making an approach on a melee unit—you had to dash through narrow spaces, hunt for short cuts, and finely control your Mech even as it whizzed forward at the highest speeds possible.

  Of course, they were still playing Overdrive.

  As important as it was to win a mini-game, it was even more important to remember that Overdrive was at its core, a Mech battling simulator. If you got too caught up in the gimmicks, you'd get killed.

  You'd win if you were the first to finish four laps, but killing all your opponents was an equally valid path. After the thirty-second No Combat Grace Period, you were free to do whatever you wanted. It was technically possible to bring an offensive Mech and try to kill all five of your opponents. However, if you burdened your machine with too much heavy equipment, you wouldn't be able to hit speedy opponents who'd specced their Mechs for a race.

  Balance was key.

  His first decision was to bring a Grunt unit instead of his Ace. As helpful as the Overdrive boost was, he could reach comparable speeds by designing a machine built for racing. He also wanted to keep the Starlight R secret for as long as possible.

  Julian swapped back to his trusty orange and gold SPG Caster. There were better Grunts frames for this situation, but with so much on the line, Julian wanted to stick to what he knew.

  Of the standard options, the well-balanced Defender frame was a better fit. A niche pick, like a pterodactyl or velociraptor-based Hemoborn would be even better, but Julian wanted to stick to what he knew. He'd spent most of his two month training time diversifying his weapons loadout. Training on different frames was much more complicated.

  Besides, the Caster was fine. Spell Titan class' light armor made them a good fit for a racing stage. His only concern was getting hit.

  Two additional thruster rockets were an absolute necessity. The high-speed equipment, a smaller version of the ones used on the Zane's Guilt, substantially increased Speed and Maneuverability.

  The only question was the weapons. Swords didn't make much sense here. It was a good thing Julian had trained on long-range firearms.

  In the past, he would have stubbornly stuck to a blade even though long-term sword fighting was a great way to fall behind in a race. Even exchanging blows for three or four seconds could doom you to defeat if the other racers streaked past you. However, the biggest issue was its poor range. They'd only work in a race if you were neck and neck with an opponent or because someone was getting lapped.

  In a race, it was far more important to hit opponents who weren't in melee range—rivals you were trying to catch up to or stragglers you were trying to keep away.

  Julian unequipped all his melee weapons and scrolled through his available options. He still couldn't manage anything tricky, like a bow or a harpoon, but he had a good understanding of the fundamentals. He could manage everything from pistols to rifles to machineguns to bazookas.

  The thruster rockets cost 2,500 Credits each, meaning he had 5,000 remaining out of the Grunt restriction.

  Pistols were the lightest weapon, which could make the difference in a narrow finish, but they just didn't have enough stopping power. Besides, nobody else knew that the stage was a race. Julian's Mech didn't need to be the fastest possible. He just had to be fast enough. If given the option, he should gear his Mech towards combat.

  Julian immediately ruled shotguns out of the question. Their low range made them little better than swords.

  Larger machineguns weren't viable either. He needed something he could raise and fire while flying quickly. Machineguns were best used to overwhelm opponents with sustained fire, meaning they lost their greatest advantage in a race.

  Paradoxically, the best choice was likely a bazooka. Despite their enormous size, a bazooka was a very viable option compared to a machinegun. Stopping briefly to fire was far easier than managing a weapon with continual recoil. Even better, the massive explosions were especially useful on a cramped stage like Cityscape. A well-timed blast could destroy opponents with shrapnel or trap them beneath rubble. Alternatively, Julian could create shortcuts by blasting through buildings.

  To complete a full lap, contestants needed to touch the eight checkpoints in sequential order. The tall Cityscape buildings meant that permanently flying wasn't a great option. Julian needed some way to break through.

  The bazooka cost 3,000 as a base weapon. The beam variant cost 4,000. Julian grabbed the beam option. It was only slightly lighter, but the simplified reload made the significant 1,000 Credit difference worth it. Slapping in a beam fuel canister was far easier than loading a massive bazooka rocket.

  With his last 1,000 Credits, Julian grabbed a pair of smoke grenades.

  The weapons would help sow chaos and give him a quick opportunity to escape from unwinnable fights.

  He suspected they'd be especially effective against Phillips. During Julian's ranked climb, he'd carefully studied every map. He knew how to move even when his cameras weren't working. Phillips, who seemed like more of a grinder than a ranked player, wouldn't know where to go. Of course, if Emma was right and Phillips was an Overdrive Corporation employee, his gambit would fail.

  Unfortunately, Julian had no comfortable place to store his smoke grenades, so he made two loose indentations at the hips to slot them. The hip slots were typically for weapons like swords or pistols. Attaching grenades there harmed his Cohesion, but that wasn't a major problem. It was only a slight drop to the B-tier, which corresponded to about a 20% possibility of taking increased damage from strikes at his legs.

  He wasn't a skilled crafter like Emma, but he could make do.

  One of the essential things about crafting was knowing when you could afford to break the rules. Brandon's malformed Patchwork Mechs were the best example. Their horrible Cohesion and Maneuverability meant that nobody else could pilot them, but they were the perfect fit for his incredible skills.

  He took one last look at his Mech's statistics, then locked it in.

  - General Data -

  Pilot: Julian

  Machine: SPG-01 Caster—Felix Custom

  Class: Spell Titan

  Sub-class: Artillery

  Designation: Grunt Unit

  - Statistics -

  Melee: D-tier

  Shooting: A-tier

  Speed: S-tier

  Maneuverability: B-tier

  Defense: C-tier

  Cohesion: B-tier

  - Parts -

  Beam Bazooka

  Arm-Mounted Thruster Rockets [x2]

  Smoke Grenade [x2]

  - Abilities -

  Thunderbolt

  Static Freeze

  Storm Surge

  It wasn't a great machine. He knew Brandon was doing a far better job with The Mechanical King's exclusive information, but the Caster would get the job done. Julian was especially proud of noticing that he'd be able to sacrifice some speed.

  After all, with the possible exception of Phillips, he was the only player who knew this would be a race.

  The Mechanical King's Boon was truly a completely unfair advantage. If Julian played his cards right, he'd emerge from today with an insurmountable lead. Now all Julian had to do was ensure that Phillips couldn't mess up his plans.

  24

  The six contestants loaded onto the start point. During the five-second countdown, the other contestants finally got to see the map details and mission purpose. All communications between their pods were blocked off, but Julian figured his opponents who selected
the wrong machines must be furious.

  Julian took the opportunity to examine his opponents.

  Phillips's olive green Power of Nine stood stock still to Julian's right, all its items hidden.

  Two generic Guardian X Mechs stood in front and behind her, commanded by Six3r and Leontime. The last two players used very balanced Guardian X units that carried two beam rifles, two beam swords, and a sturdy shield. The highly standard equipment normally would have prepared them for every match, but in this case, it more or less eliminated them from the running. There was no way they could catch Julian's machine.

  The three machines looked like they were already jostling for position, but Julian knew that was a fool's game. There was an invisible forcefield during both the countdown and the No Combat Grace Period. It was essentially an amplified version of the Lobby's Peacekeeping effects.

  You could hamper someone's movement, but you couldn't harm them. And of course, standing in front of someone else for thirty seconds was an idiotic idea in a race. This wasn't a one-on-one. If you stopped one person, you still had to worry about all the other contenders.

  Julian looked at his left side and cursed.

  Birthday was using a twin set of boosters identical to Julian's own. Instead of using a bazooka, he was carrying a pair of beam pistols. Although the Guardian X used lighter equipment, the higher weight of the frame made the speeds comparable.

  The racing focused Guardian X was worrying enough, but the final Mech was an even bigger problem.

  Seedster had swapped away from the Guardian X at the very last second for a rocketship-based Ace unit. The Mech was virtually optimized for speed. Large shields protected the Mech's side, and a proud launcher protruded from the base.