“Open field. Melee vs. ranged, player may designate who uses a ranged weapon and who uses a melee weapon. Standard Recruit Equipment. Duel to First Blood (after shields have been destroyed). All abilities allowed. No technological or psionic limitations.”
Select that one, letting Sidestep be melee and designating yourself as ranged.
Um, are you sure? There seem to be a number of scenarios that are much more in my favor.
We are unsure of Sidestep’s abilities and items. This is more about demonstrating our abilities than winning, although winning is of course important as well. Trust me.
All right.
Alan selected the scenario, designating himself as ranged, then looked up at Sidestep. A ten-second countdown appeared before Alan, as his equipment suddenly changed into light metal power armor with 100 shield energy, and a pair of basic laser pistols, which dealt 20 damage each shot. Eve likewise highlighted Sidestep’s armor, showing that it now had 100 shield energy as well. The blade he now held apparently did 50 damage a strike.
“All right recruits, good luck. May the best fighter win. Oh, and try to put on a good show,” Mason said.
A good show? Alan thought, glancing around. To his surprise, it looked as though every other recruit was now crowding around the metal ring they were in, watching the battle. Eve highlighted Kitana, standing in the back of the crowd, and Aurora, who was at the forefront directly behind Sidestep, calmly analyzing the situation as well. A sudden spike of nerves rushed through Alan, as he looked around at all the onlookers.
Calm, Eve told him. Simply follow my guidance and we have an above 70% chance of winning this fight.
Taking a deep breath, Alan closed his eyes. When he opened them, he found himself standing in an open green field, all signs of the dome and spectators gone. Sidestep stood about 100 yards away. He let the adrenaline course through him, and activated his hypercognition ability, allowing him to experience every second as if it were hundreds. The seconds counting down slowly shifted from 2 to 1 as Alan felt Eve calmly analyzing the environment around them, simulating almost every possible scenario.
Now that Alan was a Machine Lord, he no longer had to simply mimic a blue holographic projection that Eve gave him. Instead, he could incorporate Eve’s projections and calculations within his own mind, allowing him to act as if he were the projection, not simply following it. As each moment passed, Alan watched as the calculations and predictions shifted, as Sidestep began to favor one leg over the other, demonstrating a high chance he was going to try to approach from Alan’s left, thus Alan should begin by stepping right.
Alan aimed his laser pistols forward, aiming not at where Sidestep stood, but at where he was predicted to be. Eve made two simultaneous calculations, one for if Sidestep moved at the speed using his special blink ability Alan had seen earlier, one for if Sidestep simply ran forwards like a normal being, if his blink ability had been dependent on his armor and thus he wasn’t able to use it. A third projection began, though it was hypothesized to have a lower chance of happening and thus wasn’t prioritized. It predicted that Sidestep would still be able to use the blink ability, but to a more limited degree and shorter teleport distance. Predictions that Sidestep might retreat or step in a direction away from Alan were considered but shortly discarded.
Further projections into the future began, trying to calculate where Alan should fire his subsequent shots, before the first two even began to approach where Sidestep might be. These projections branched from the original two decisions, then expanded, then expanded again exponentially. Alan saw the optimal shots to take, one with each pistol, and the likely next places to fire, even as Eve began to incorporate data as new information came through, making miniscule adjustments as Sidestep shifted his stance. Alan began to feel a slight headache.
Just concentrate on making the shots most likely to hit him, and the movements most likely to defend yourself. You don’t need to consider all of the simulations, just the best one.
Got it.
Then the countdown hit zero, and the duel began.
***
Sidestep arrogantly glared at Alan. There was no way this human, this earthling, had actually earned 5000 guild points. They had been handed to him, like everything else. Sidestep would show this fool the folly of his ways, perhaps even taking him under his own wing after thoroughly trouncing him. That is, if the human still made it into the Black Rose guild after losing all the points he possessed. Sidestep had purposely shown off his signature sidestep ability in the great hall, to get people to assume that it was his main ability, and that it depended upon his armor. While he had less psionic energy without the armor, Sidestep could just as easily use the ability and his others. With two short steps, he’d be within striking distance, able to end this farce.
The countdown reached zero, and Sidestep took his first sidestep, blinking 10 units horizontally towards the newbie, preparing to take a second sidestep. He was immediately met by a laser blast to the face, dealing 30 damage due to a multiplier as it hit his head.
Assuming it was just a lucky shot, Sidestep prepared his second step forward, but to his surprise he saw a laser shot headed to the exact point he’d planned on stepping towards, arcing in such a way that it would hit him if he teleported in that direction.
Sidestep turned in another direction, but saw the human begin aiming one of his laser pistols at that spot as well. Sidestep shifted his feet once more, planning on stepping in a new direction, but saw the laser pistols fire off both towards this new planned destination, and directly towards him!
Slightly nervous, Sidestep stepped backwards and to the left, away from an oncoming barrage of laser fire. He continued to step backwards and to the side, away from the laser fire that spread further and further apart, trying to gather his thoughts. To anyone else, it would look like Alan was simply firing randomly in a wide spread, hoping to catch Sidestep, but Sidestep knew that each of the lasers hit a point that he was considering moving to.
Sidestep couldn’t even imagine the years of training, the skill involved, to both anticipate an enemy’s movement and fire directly at those predicted targets, even upwards of hundreds of units away, far outside the range of a standard laser pistol! As far as Sidestep could tell, each shot was aimed perfectly to align with his head as well. He hadn’t wanted to reveal any more of his abilities, but 1000 guild points were on the line…
***
Alan watched as Sidestep retreated back, feeling more confident about his and Eve’s abilities, when suddenly Sidestep took a sidestep, but left behind a mirror image! Each Sidestep then took another step, leaving behind another. There were suddenly four enemies! Luckily, those four clones left no additional clones behind, but they were still four different targets, indistinguishable from one another at least as far as Alan could tell. Luckily, three were likely fake, mirror images, rather than actual Sidesteps. Otherwise, that would be too overpowered, right?
The four figures suddenly charged towards Alan, but all used the same left and right sidestep movements, which Eve easily anticipated. Trying to spread out the damage, with the hope it would reveal the real one, Alan managed to hit each Sidestep once as they closed half the distance between them and Alan. Nothing revealed any of the four as being the real Sidestep though. Alan managed to hit each one an additional time in the head right as the four converged on him, leaving the real Sidestep, whichever he was, with 10 energy left on his shields. One more shot and Alan would win the duel.
Alan dived to the right as the four Sidesteps converged on his position, narrowly avoiding a downwards strike as well as a sideways slash with perfect timing, firing twice to hit both duplicates in the stomach. They vanished in a shower of green sparks, revealing a single Sidestep stabbing forwards. Eve anticipated the fourth clone was behind him, and thus Alan fired once behind him and forwards while diving in such a manner that would both dodge the hypothetical attack from behind and the stab from the front.