Duel
[ You have been challenged to a ranked duel ]
The floating text seemed to glow a bit brighter than usual. After a second or two, the text changed to reveal the details of the match.
[ Challenger: 83rd rank
[ Defender: 82nd rank
[ Victory: +5,200 CP ]
[ Loss: demotion to rank 83 ]
[ Please select duel arena and time ]
Ranked duels among the top 100 were a big deal in the association. For all ranked duels, both parties would use an official simulation pod which still expends each agent's mana as they compete. Cayce had competed in countless duels, but he spent most of his time being the challenger.
The rules of the association stated that the challenger would pay a certain fee to request the duel and the defender would chose both the place and time for competition. Also, in order to make the duels less of a nuisance for defenders, the CP used to create the duel would be given to the defender, should they win.
Cayce whistled when he saw the victory reward. It took a long time to earn that much. The challenger must be confident if he was willing to drop that much cash to request this duel. After some brief research on his opponent, Cayce opened the duel request and swept through the arena options.
A slight smile crept over Cayce's mouth as he made his preparations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The simulation's swamp arena was quite dark. Only thin streams of "natural light" broke through the tall trees and trickled towards the damp ground. Cayce spawned in his armor in a random location and a holographic countdown appeared in front of him.
[ Time to match start: 5m 00s ]
As the seconds counted down, Cayce inspected his simulated armor's condition. The machinery on his left shoulder, which was currently damaged in real life, was in working order. The armor was smooth and it only had a few small scratches on the surface, the same as when he first scanned this configuration into the simulation.
[ Time to match start: 2m 44s ]
Cayce opened his helmet's vents to breathe in the simulated swamp air and feel the moisture press against his skin. He had completed various missions in countless environments, and the swamp environment specifically brought back good memories.
[ Time to match start: 0m 15s ]
Closing the vents, Cayce looked forward with determination and entered a more focused state of mind.
[ Match start ]
[ Eliminate the enemy ]
The second the timer reached zero, his mana supply was no longer restricted and flowed through the mechanical armor encasing his body. The black machine which was mounted to his left shoulder immediately whirred to life on it's own. It was a small, rectangular box with smoothed edges and a strange series of lines running accross every surface.
This little machine was the single most expensive attachment Cayce had, but it was well worth it. It came from a small company which had requested a personal guard during a war some time ago. They weren't able to pay much at the time, but Cayce still accepted the mission despite the high risk and low benefits. As thanks, they offered to produce a one-of-a-kind support attachment that didn't make it into production due to the sky-high cost it took to make the thing. It was safe to say the piece was unique, and no other arnor had such a tool.
The strange box had two functions. First, it was able to scan the surroundings and provide useful information such as enemy mana levels or abnormal factors within the environment that could be of use. Second, it was able to control the armor if the user was suddenly unresponsive. This second ability was a bit risky, as it wasn't as capable as Cayce himself and it would also likely have its own priorities. Overall, you could say it was a type of advanced artificial intelligence patched directly into the mech.
[ Environmental scanning online ]
[ No entities detected ]
Lights filled the HUD and highlighted nearby areas with loose ground or decaying trees. Cayce didn't waste time and moved forward through the swamp at a fast pace. After a little more than an hour of walking, a red target indicator appeared on the HUD.
[ Target marked ]
[ Target mana: 5260 ]
[ Heavy armor detected ]
As Cayce crept closer, the marker didn't move. It seemed as if the enemy was waiting for his prey to come to him. Cayce smirked. The opponent gave up the advantage of taking the initiative. Either they had something up their sleeve, or they were overly confident. When he came within 300 meters of the target, a new notification flashed over the HUD.
[ Environmental anomaly detected ]
Red lines were immediately drawn in the HUD, connecting several of the trees standing between him and the enemy.... tripwire? Faint amounts of mana flowed through the marked lines.
"It looks like the enemy wanted to know where I would be coming from. Perhaps I can use this to my advantage."
Before the Shattered Star event introduced mana to the world, Cayce had been a sniper in an obscure special operations section within the military. Back then, most of his missions were done with a number of allies, but he also performed splendidly when he needed to work on his own. In fact, the greater the challenge and the higher the personal responsibility, the greater his satisfaction.
Cayce removed a timed smoke grenade from his inventory. Most of the lower tier agents wouldn't use expendables in the simulations because they still had to pay for them. In the simulation, expendables were just information, but the cost made it so they couldn't abuse the system. The cost was essentially a voluntary tax, as the spent CP would return to the association.
Cayce carefully synced a timer on his interface with the smoke grenade's and started the countdown. He then threw the smoke grenade well beyond the tripwire and looked at a tree the wire was tied to.
"Mark environment point"
A glowing green marker was placed where he looked so he could easily see it from a distance. He then quickly retreated to a high ground some 50 meters back. Laying prone, he activated his helmet's viewfinder and aimed it directly at his AI's red target indicator, which marked the enemy. Luckily, the trees in this area were quite sparse. A few obstructed his view, but he was still able to see the edge of the enemy's armor.
[ Recorded known enemy structure ]
[ Activating view enhancement ]
A thin yellow highlight formed around the enemy so Cayce could see through the few obstructing trees. This function wasn't perfect, as it only knew the location of the enemy and assumed their stance by what parts were visible. If the enemy went completely behind over, the system could only assume their stance and change the yellow highlighted outline to an orange color.
Cayce pulled the high caliber magi-rifle over his shoulder to his front and peered through the scope. The shoulder-mounted guns could fire from the shoulder quite well, but they were attached by a mechanism that could reach down to allow the user to hold them in his hands if he wanted to. Since Cayce's previous profession was as a sniper, he felt holding his rifle with his hands was almost necessary when taking farther shots.
"Ballistics calibration"
[ Target range: 362 meters ]
[ Reticle adjustments complete ]
[ Reticle adjustment update interval: 2s ]
Cayce peered through the scope and waited until he could feel his heart beat against his armor's padding. He paced his breathing and emptied his mind of emotions.
[ Timer: 8m40s ]
After just a moment, the target's outline shifted slightly to the point where Cayce could see his head. The enemy had heavy armor, so he would aim for the best disabling weak point he could find. That would most likely be the neck. Cayce focused, watching for any patterns in the enemy's movement.
The timer counted down at a constant pace.
[ Timer: 30s ]
Five grey mana rings formed around the barrel of Cayce's magi-rifle.
[ Timer: 20s ]
Two more rings formed slightly beyond the end of the barrel, suggesting the preparation for an even heavier round.
[ Mana: 6380 / 6430 ]
Cayce waited. His cold eyes fixed themselves to the neck of his unsuspecting victim.
[ Timer: 5s ]
Cayce exerted the slightest increase in pressure and pulled back the trigger.