The Duel in the Snowstorm

While waiting for the cup noodles to be ready in the pantry, I pass the time by juggling with plastic bottles. 

Once you get used to it, it's actually quite easy, easier than pen spinning.

In the game, it's much harder to make the robot juggle with swords. After all, in the real world, it's my own body that I'm moving, and my fingers move so freely. Come to think of it, I've never been so conscious of moving my body before.

I can spin the plastic bottles around at will now. It's all about the center of gravity and acceleration.

"Well, well, thinking of joining the circus?"

Suddenly, there's applause from behind. It was my senior colleague, Tabata, who had quietly come out from behind the curtain. He's a weirdo, but a valuable worker who gets the job done reasonably well.

"Working at a circus would be nice. I want to quit this black company."

I can't tell if he's joking or serious, so I just give a polite laugh to brush it off.

He's a loose talker. What's more, he loves to report everything to the boss. If I accidentally badmouth the company with him around, I'll definitely be in big trouble later.

"If you're going to quit, the sooner the better. Once you're over thirty like me, there's nowhere to go."

Countless colleagues have fallen for this guy's smooth talk and quit, but we've lost contact with them, so it's unclear if they were able to find new jobs. I hope at least one of them succeeded.

"I think the agricultural age is coming next. If I don't get a raise on this next project, I might go back to my hometown and become a farmer."

While I was eating the cup noodles, Tabata kept rambling on about his dreams. Wasn't he just talking about becoming a temple priest the other day? He's just parroting knowledge he picked up on the internet while slacking off. Well, I'm not going to fall for his sweet talk, so whatever.

"Stop blabbering nonsense here and get back to work!" 

Oh no, the queen, who was supposed to be out for lunch, has returned. She's the pantry manager and our fearless leader. Her position in the company caste is higher than us lowly workers.

"But it's still lunch break."

Tabata tries to protest, as usual. This is a situation I've seen many times before, so I can predict what's coming next. I hurriedly shovel down the rest of my noodles and make my escape.

"You corporate slaves don't get lunch breaks! Get back to work!" I hear the queen's roar from behind.

Come to think of it, those two joined the company at the same time, so they might as well hook up.

"Guardian Troopers currently has a 40-minute wait!"

The line for the game extends all the way outside the arcade. It's suddenly become super popular lately. 

The number of arcades with the game cabinets installed has also increased, but being a large cabinet, there's a limit to how many places can accommodate it. They can't keep up with the surge in players at all.

"Maan, there's too many people!"

I happened to be in line with Jimmy, but even he, who spends all day playing, had only played 5 times today so far. Apparently, during peak evening hours, a 2-hour wait is normal. 

We know what caused the sudden increase in players. A score point exchange service has started at the casino resort district in Osaka.

They've set up a "Guardian Troopers" exclusive booth with a hundred cabinets installed inside the casino resort district.

There, you can exchange your score points for Japanese yen cash. For a casino, being able to cash out winnings is nothing new or surprising.

The noteworthy point is that the pilot cards used at the casino are the same as the regular ones. In other words, if I bring my pilot card loaded with score points to the resort district, I can normally get cash for it.

News commentators called it a gray area, but being able to earn money at arcades nationwide seems pretty darn black to me.

Well, the resort district is a hotbed of political interests, so anything goes. If the lawmakers themselves say it's okay, I'm going to proudly rake in the cash.

I don't care if the politicians are in cahoots with the mafia. I just wish we could cash out points outside of the resort district too. With the current system, if you don't accumulate a decent amount of points before cashing out, the round-trip ticket to Osaka kind of negates the earnings.

Still, I didn't expect the wait to get this bad. Everyone must really want that money.

"I guess the cash-out is the cause, huh?"

The exchange rate is 10 points to 1 yen. Considering the effort required to earn score points, it doesn't seem that lucrative for beginners. In fact, I think you'd be in the red until you got reasonably good.

For me, it comes down to whether I can earn 10k points per play. If one play takes 15 minutes, then 10k points is a thousand yen. That's 4,000 yen an hour... damn, that's way more than I make at my job.

"The Guarantee System is where the real money is! Top rankers are earning over a million per battle!" 

The newly introduced Guarantee System allows battles to be publicly streamed with the consent of both players. The official website then allows free viewing of those battle videos.

Players are awarded score points based on the number of video views, essentially earning them appearance fees.

"Who would want to watch that other than hardcore fans? How can it pay that much?"

I can't imagine battle videos being that entertaining for anyone other than players. The spectacle of "Guardian Troopers" is pretty tame by modern game standards.

"You don't get it, do you? In the casino, they can set up betting matches!"

Betting, huh. At the resort district, legal betting is allowed on all kinds of sports, including horse racing. I don't really get the appeal of gambling other people's winnings and losses. You could just use that money to enjoy some good food and definitely be happier.

"But with game matches, match-fixing would be rampant, right?"

"I'm sure that's factored into the bets too. It's gambling, after all."

Jimmy has such a smug, knowledgeable way of speaking.

Gambling is said to have a big economic impact, but locals around the casino resort district are fleeing in fear of getting caught up in gang violence. It seems like a harsh place for the poor.

I'm afraid of dealing with the mafia, and going all the way to cash out is too much of a hassle. The exchange rate isn't that great either, so I think I'll just try making money through online auctions instead.

After nearly an hour of waiting, it was finally my turn. Getting through Stage 5 is a breeze for me now. 

Once you get used to it, Sagittarius' attacks really aren't that tough.

Up until now, I had been focused on piloting in a way that didn't disrupt my mech's balance. But after actively utilizing the wire anchors for mobility, I realized that approach was limiting my movement. Once you get the hang of it, you can instantly recover even if your balance is momentarily thrown off, so you don't topple over as easily as you'd think. It feels like I've suddenly leveled up.

I've also gotten used to swinging around the heavy Xcalibur. Using the sword's weight as a pivot makes sharp turns easy. Instead of forcing the movements, sometimes I let the Lynx be swung around by the sword. 

I can naturally release the sword for a moment to fire the wire anchors now. Depending on my arm angle, I could probably even fire the anchors while still holding the sword, though that would be risky if I mess up.

It's like night and day from when I was struggling - I was able to dive right into Sagittarius' core with ease. Setting any more mines at this point would be pointless. In close combat, Sagittarius is no match for my Lynx; it's a matter of slicing it in half.

In top form, I advance to Stage 6. This time my opponents are two mechs - Scutum and Taurus.

Scutum has the standard loadout of a specialized shield and quad beam guns. Reasonably tough, but I'm well-acquainted with its moves from PVP, so it makes good practice. 

Taurus is apparently a rare mech that isn't available for store purchase, same rarity as the Lynx. At a glance it looks like a beefy Minotaurus. Overall bulkier and one size bigger than Scutum, with its mono-eye sensor giving it a villainous vibe. Its stocky upper body and double antennae head are rather buffalo-like, so players have already started calling it "Ushi" (cow).

Taurus' brawny shoulder parts pack as much power as they look, but its movements are a bit sluggish. However, it can charge forward remarkably fast with its boost dash, not to be underestimated. 

Taurus' ranged weapon is a long double-handed beam cannon, but for some reason it rarely fires, preferring to swing it around as a blunt weapon. The few times it does fire, the beam effects are thick and fairly flashy. Probably packs a huge punch if it lands.

Neither Scutum nor Taurus alone is too scary an opponent. Individually, the all-around firepower of Sagittarius would usually be stronger. But taking them both on 2-vs-1, even against CPUs, is pretty tough. The Stage 6 clear condition is shooting down both within the time limit.

Since it's an even-numbered stage I'm hoping for a good clear reward. But it won't be easy. I'd like to clear it by Christmas if possible.

After finally taking down Taurus, Scutum started running away at full speed. What a cowardly AI - with only 7 seconds left, it was just trying to run out the clock. 

No way I could catch up, so in desperation I mash the eject button to body slam it. 3 seconds left, probably not going to make it in time? Ah, thankfully a challenger has barged in right away.

"Allow battle data to be published?"

The Guarantee System, was it? The money-making potential sounds too good to be true, but I'll publish it as a test.

I'll take both the Xcalibur and a Buster Sword. For the Buster Sword, I choose one that doesn't have much maximum durability left. Those dime-a-dozen store weapons are only worth pennies if sold, so I don't mind ditching it mid-battle.

I'll fix the Xcalibur to my back and mainly use the Buster Sword. Weapon durability depletes rapidly in PVP after all.

My opponent must have set it to a random stage, as the stage is roll-picked after deploying. 

Drew the rare Blizzard Stage, which isn't bad for me. With the enemy status Unknown on an undiscovered stage, it's almost certainly the standard Scutum loadout.

This stage has near zero visibility due to the intense blizzard, causing severe range dropoff for beam weapons. Higher sensor ability and projectile weapons are advantageous. 

Apparently it's common for both sides to fail to detect each other, resulting in a draw. But a draw is a loss for both, so I'd rather avoid that if possible.

There are two sensor types - active and passive. My Lynx doesn't have an active scanner built-in anyway, so I don't need to choose.

Instead, the Lynx's passive scanner is quite capable, and its stealth performance isn't bad either, giving me the initiative against Scutum. The only issue is the time limit draw.

I spot a beam off the 4 o'clock direction. Looks like they're intentionally firing at the wrong angle to reveal their position as bait. 

Since this battle is being published, I don't want to do anything too uncool. Taking advantage of the terrain, I cautiously approach while using the blizzard for cover.

With 10 seconds left on the clock, I was able to close within wire anchor range. As expected, it's a Scutum, its gaudy fluorescent pink paint job making it easy to spot.

I fire the wire anchor but miss, the anchor embedding in the ground at the enemy's feet. But that's not a problem.

As I reel in the wire, I make a slight diagonal jump while activating the boost dash. This lets me finely adjust my movement vector, and also realign my posture easily if I need to deflect beams mid-air. Bringing the one-handed Buster Sword was the right call.

The enemy's reaction seems sluggish - a feint? I slash their exposed back with the Buster Sword and they topple over easily. Following through with a downward thrust to pin them to the ground. 

I was going to finish them off with the Xcalibur, but their shield gauge was already depleted. The Scutum's specialized shield gives an impression of being tough, but the main body itself is actually rather flimsy.

2.08 seconds remaining. The enemy player must have gotten careless thinking it would end in a draw. They put up no real resistance until the end.

Well, letting your guard down on the battlefield is just asking for it.