The Font of Life (Overdrive Book 3) Read online

  Normally, Darren would have criticized picking last. He'd built up quite a personal brand for himself sticking up for the European server.

  But despite the gangly man's passion, he still had common sense.

  He knew not to embarrass The Mechanical King in front of the reporters. Instead, he asked a very different question, one that none of the players had considered.

  "What are we picking for?"

  A reporter turned towards him.

  "Sorry, what was your question?"

  Darren waved at her and smiled nervously.

  "Oh, no, I was talking to the staff."

  "No, I wanted to record what you wrote."

  She showed him what he was writing.

  "I'm a new games reporter, I've been an esports fan for a long time, but this is my first event. I'm not very familiar with Overdrive, I'm more of a MOBA fan. I wanted to jot down what everyone was saying. It seemed like you'd made a nice observation."

  She smiled bashfully. Out of all the reporters there, it seemed like she was the only one paying attention. It was clear the other journalists were only at the Selection because Overdrive was the current hot stock. They didn't care about games.

  "It was just hard to understand because of your accent. Your profile says you're from Europe, right?"

  "Yes, yes, I'm from Europe."

  The shy journalist frowned then hustled over to understand him better. Julian had felt the same way when he first met Darren. The tall man's heavy Eastern European accent had been pretty confusing at first, but now everyone at the Selection understood him without a problem. It only took a few conversations.

  However, The Mechanical King had no patience whatsoever. The Overdrive CEO wrinkled his face in almost exaggerated annoyance and stalked towards the European champion.

  Darren looked a little nervous speaking to a reporter, but he slowly explained his thinking and took care to enunciate every word.

  "I asked what every team is picking for. We've done a lot of different events. That might change who I want to pick. The best racer might not be the best fighter."

  The reporter grinned as she jotted down some notes.

  "Got it! Wow, you really have to stay highly analytical at all times while playing Overdrive!"

  The second sentence was an obvious compliment, and Darren took it in stride as he politely smiled back. The Mechanical King glowered at Darren for a moment longer before shaking his head and muttering under his breath.

  There was one last surprise before the draft started.

  Seedster raised his hand.

  "Sir? The Mechanical King?"

  His tone was the perfectly calibrated amount of respect.

  Julian raised an eyebrow. From what he could tell, Seedster was the captain of the alliance. It seemed like he wasn't just charismatic enough to lead a large group of pilots. He was also good at sucking up to authority.

  The Overdrive CEO beamed.

  "Yes?"

  "You know, I was thinking we should make sure that your special invitee is a captain too. Maybe one with a top slot. I'm happy to give up mine. I've been a fan of DISTINCTIONMAN's honorable gameplay for a very long time."

  He looked right past the imposter Emma and straight towards DISTINCTIONMAN. The pink-haired pilot nodded eagerly.

  "That would be my honor. I'll happily take your spot."

  The muscular pilot was acting with overexaggerated politeness, behaving nothing like his usual brash in-game persona.

  Julian frowned.

  Was DISTINCTIONMAN part of the alliance?

  He certainly had enough money to bribe any pilot he wanted. His popular stream had made him a millionaire several times over.

  It'd explain why Seedster was offering to give away his captain position.

  The new Deadeyes Nullifier was clearly powerful, but DISTINCTIONMAN had a horrific reputation. He consistently refused to work with his team, and Julian did not doubt that the muscular pilot's terrible habits would only grow worse under the bright lights of the Selection.

  Unless one of his fans had also qualified for the Selection, he was guaranteed to be picked last. Neither The Mechanical King nor DISTINCTIONMAN had any interest in that happening.

  The Overdrive CEO beamed.

  "Yes! What a great idea! But I don't want to take a slot from such a humble pilot."

  Then, Julian's jaw dropped as The Mechanical King gave DISTINCTIONMAN Brandon's spot instead.

  "After all, my champion should receive the top spot! Not the number two option!"

  Brandon's handsome face briefly flickered in surprise, but then he smiled good-naturedly and left the stage. He knew he couldn't protest.

  Julian could hardly believe what had happened. Once again, The Mechanical King had upended the Selection rules through his own bizarre whims. It was just like how the Overdrive CEO had penalized Phillips 50 points on Mini-Games day for complaining about the alliance.

  To nobody's surprise, DISTINCTIONMAN didn't take Brandon. He didn't want to be outshined by a better pilot. Instead, he flexed his enormous muscles and asked for any of his fans to stand up.

  Only one pilot did.

  The young boy must have been only sixteen or so - one of the youngest players allowed at the Selection. Based on his ranking, he was fairly average with a spot in the top 350 or so.

  "DISTINCTIONMAN! My name is Kang! I'm your biggest fan!"

  The pink-haired man eagerly shook Kang's hand as the rest of the candidates hoped not to get taken onto their team.

  With DISTINCTIONMAN and one of his fans both on the squad, getting chosen meant being forced into a pure support role, which not everyone would be comfortable with.

  Besides, everyone wanted to show off their skills for The Mechanical King to see. At the end of the Selection, the Overdrive Corporation chose their teams out of all qualifying candidates. Even if you won all your events, you might get passed over if you didn't make any flashy plays.

  Naturally, Seedster grabbed Brandon. The tall pilot returned to the stage with a slightly amused smile on his face.

  That'd be a tough team to beat. Seedster was only a decent pilot, but put three decent players around Brandon and you already had a menacing World Champion caliber team. To an outsider, it might seem like there'd be synergy issues. After all, Seedster had more or less taken Brandon's captain spot.

  But in reality, it didn't matter.

  Everyone at the Selection knew that professional Overdrive was a job. From a rational perspective, there was no time for grudges. If Seedster took Julian for some reason, Julian would have no choice but to play his best if he wanted to become a Fortress Master.

  Slexer paused for a moment before snapping up goldenangel. The World Champion's younger brother was an extremely talented player. In terms of peak control skills, he could even outgun his famous sibling. His main issue was consistency, particularly overaggression.

  Felix picked next. He shot Julian a knowing look and smiled, before grabbing Phillips.

  That was smart. She was a trustworthy player they both knew wouldn't be in the alliance.

  On top of that, she was certain to be a high pick. She'd grabbed so much attention with her potent psychic powers.

  Julian wouldn't go that high. Felix could almost certainly grab him in the second round.

  Chuck272 immediately picked Julian next.

  CHAPTER TWO

  WHAT?

  Julian was utterly shocked.

  Why had he been picked so early?

  He'd stuck out during the first day of the Selection by beating Phillips, but his overall performance had been pretty mediocre. There were even whispers that Phillips had let him win - rumors that'd been true. His Minesweeper would have revealed her item-switching powers for everyone to see. She'd effectively forfeited to avoid giving away additional information.

  After that, he'd fallen to a lackadaisical second-place finish in Skinner's group despite receiving an enormous advantage from The Mechanical King.

>   To an outsider, it should have looked like Julian only got lucky. He didn't see anyone rushing to grab Jamiefish, the shy and inexperienced player who'd finished at the top of Table Three. Like Julian and Brandon, he'd lost his winner's advantage after Day 1.

  Jamiefish was a pretty mediocre pilot. If Julian remembered correctly, the shy player had barely made the top 400. With the exception of grinders like Phillips - who rarely played the ranked queues - low-ranking players were usually easy prey.

  The strangely named 718 eagerly picked Lurkbot, a bold player whose full-on charges were the exact opposite of the covert playstyle his screen name suggested.

  Skinner didn't hesitate before grabbing his best friend sm0ke. It was a definite overreach, but the two of them were famous for their combo plays. He probably hoped that their synergy would make up for their lack of firepower.

  That was a situation where reaching for a technically lower-ranked player made sense. If it were Felix drafting at that spot, he might have picked Julian.

  He sighed. It was such a shame.

  If Felix had grabbed him in the second round, their team would have had both high stopping power and fantastic synergy. With the trio of himself, Felix, and Phillips, Julian would have felt comfortable standing against anything.

  It was so bizarre why Chuck had drafted him.

  Chuck was a high-ranking player who usually floated around the top 80 - too high-ranked to play with Julian, who'd finished in the top 350. Chuck shouldn't have even known who Julian was.

  Julian only knew Chuck by reputation - he was an all-rounder who specialized in securing kills for his team. The skilled offensive cornerstone frequently bounced around offensive roles. He could play as a sniper, a supportive artillery player, a duelist, or an assassin with everything in between.

  A player like him would have synergized much better with a support expert. It made no sense.

  Maybe he'd seen Felix's slight nod.

  Julian wasn't much of a card gamer, but he'd played a few rounds of Magic: the Gathering draft before. One of the advanced strategies - one he'd never gotten the hang of - was drafting a powerful card you couldn't play simply to deny it from an opponent. People probably knew that he and Felix were friends, but denial picking just seemed so nonsensical so early in the draft.

  All around them, players were whispering about Chuck's bizarre choice.

  "Look at Chuck! Grabbing someone in the 400s."

  "Yep, sounds like Chuck did an overreach!"

  "What was he thinking?"

  Julian just chuckled.

  Their disdain didn't really bother him.

  Julian knew he was good, and he was eager to prove them wrong. He just wished that Chuck had also underestimated him. He knew he could punch above his rank, but how could Chuck have known? Maybe he'd watched his duels against Seedster's alliance. But even that shouldn't have been possible. During Julian's games, Chuck should have been playing too.

  The imposter Emma was grabbed as soon as everyone finished taking players who'd initially been in the top 100, which made sense. Based on the footage of Emma they'd seen, they probably expected the imposter to be good. It was sort of a relief that Seedster had encouraged The Mechanical King to give DISTINCTIONMAN an early slot. Julian had encountered the unpleasant pilot before, and he could already imagine the extremely annoying comments.

  "What? Too afraid to build your team around me? Just too many meta sheep here, I'm guessing."

  "Wow! Afraid to take a back seat to a real star?"

  There were still a few pilots making snide remarks about him, pointing out that he was the worst player at the event, but DISTINCTIONMAN didn't respond the way Julian thought he would.

  The handsome and muscular pilot was all charm. The pink-haired man ignored his detractors and directed his response to the reporters.

  "A few players consider my style controversial. I like to make bold outplays and battle honestly on the front lines. A lot of the professional metagame involves hiding and waiting for the other side to mess up. I find that style repulsive. My fans want action! Fans mean everything to this game. It's important to do what's best for them, not what's best for you. In addition, my frontline attacks mean I have more practice on offense than my opponents do. I almost always outplay them. It's a great example of how an unconventional strategy can catch your opponents off guard."

  He sighed.

  "And to be frank, there's just a lot of jealousy. I'm one of the more popular players on the server."

  He shrugged.

  "I've told everyone before - I'm just an ordinary man. If they played as bravely as I did, they'd have more fans too. It's not my fault that you're insecure in your control skills."

  The reporters nodded eagerly and jotted down notes.

  That was when Julian realized nobody there had an Overdrive background.

  The game's popularity had outstripped the still-growing Overdrive Corporation's staff, but it'd caught the financial media industry off guard too. The big news companies were just adapting to esports coverage, and now a whole new game was blowing its competitors out of the water.

  DISTINCTIONMAN's claims were BS. Everyone at the event knew that he was a weak pilot and a total pain in the butt. His selfish playstyle wasn't just unviable - he wasn't even good enough to use it properly. In a clash of blades, Julian was almost certain he'd win.

  DISTINCTIONMAN was barely a top 1,000 pilot.

  But his mix of half-truths and lies worked.

  The reporters looked vaguely impressed, murmuring under their breath as they transcribed everything he said.

  "Conflict in play style."

  "Fan favorite burdened by jealousy."

  Some of the other players tried arguing back, but they were so upset that they stammered over their words. The financial journalists wrote them off. Some even commented on various players' appearances.

  "That one won't look good for the cameras."

  "She's pretty though!"

  "Oh man, get a look at that guy. They need to keep him hidden."

  Julian sighed.

  He didn't know what to say either, but he recognized what was going on here - he almost felt like he was back in high school.

  Most of the players here - like Julian - didn't have the social skills or charisma to compete against DISTINCTIONMAN. The pink-haired man was an ultra-wealthy entertainer for a reason. On top of that, the few players who could compete with him, like Felix or Brandon, didn't have The Mechanical King's favor. His friends were angry like everyone else, but they were hesitant to speak out against The Mechanical King's favorite.

  The journalists didn't actually care about Overdrive. Nor did they care who was right or wrong. They just cared who sounded like they could be a good spokesperson for the Overdrive Corporation. They weren't evaluating DISTINCTIONMAN on his gameplay claims.

  The Mechanical King beamed.

  "Yes, yes. He was frozen out by jealous players who wouldn't work with him. That's why I decided to give him another chance to compete in the Selection. I knew he'd do very well."

  Julian frowned. It was clear that The Mechanical King viewed praise of DISTINCTIONMAN as praise of himself. Meanwhile, he paid little attention to the imposter Emma. He wondered who'd invited her.

  As the draft went on, Julian noticed something else that was fairly strange.

  All the other players were eagerly introducing themselves to their new teammates, but Chuck just sat there scrolling on his phone.

  Julian cleared his throat and smiled. Perhaps his team's captain was just shy.

  "Hey man, it's pretty cool that we're on the same team together. Thanks for picking me so high, I won't let you down."

  Chuck turned and laughed harshly.

  Then, without saying a single word, he went right back to ignoring Julian.

  "Um, excuse me?"

  This time, Chuck didn't even bother turning around. He just giggled to himself.

  By the end of the second round, most of the nota
ble players had already been taken.

  Everyone left was around the 300s range. In lieu of Julian, Felix grabbed two sturdy and reliable pilots he knew well. Felix's picks were semi-reaches, but it seemed like Julian's childhood friend was drafting with the alliance in mind. It was better to play with pilots you trusted.

  Julian grimaced yet again.

  He could have had Felix and Phillips instead of Chuck, who seemed like he wasn't paying attention to the draft at all. The offensive expert picked players without any attention to their ranks, grabbing two other players at the very back end of the Selection. For a moment, Julian hoped that they were grinders like Phillips, but looking at their scores in the last two days immediately disproved that hopeful theory. The two of them had barely scraped out of yesterday's elimination rounds.

  Neither won a single battle during day one.

  What was Chuck doing?

  Under normal circumstances, these weak players would have been eliminated on Day 2. They'd likely only survived because of the cheating purge, which had removed a good portion of players in the top 200. Yesterday, many skilled players had gotten immediately eliminated after The Mechanical King discovered they were rank boosting other players. Account sharing - which Julian had also done to reclaim The Heaven's Boxer - was illegal.

  Julian smiled at the new players, trying not to give away a hint of his trepidation and confusion. If Chuck wasn't going to lead the team, it'd fall to Julian.

  "Nice to meet you guys. Let's win together!"

  He hoped he sounded pleasant instead of extremely nervous.

  Julian hated to admit it, but he wasn't sure he could carry them. Some of the other squads looked like they could eliminate Julian's team with only two or three players.

  Chuck was a skilled pilot, but with two deadweight players on their team, they had no chance of competing with pairs like Skinner and sm0ke or Seedster and Brandon.

  The other two players just did the same thing Chuck did. They smirked at him then looked away without saying anything.

  Julian's stomach sank.

  Oh god.

  Now he had a better idea of what was happening.

  Two weak players squeaking by to qualify was extremely surprising, even with all the accused cheaters being eliminated. He'd thought that Chuck just had some sort of crazy drafting strategy, but now Julian knew that the other picked players were part of the alliance.