--- Nixilei ---
Nixilei left Lily to her thoughts, as she observed all the competitors coming in. Nixilei found herself unsurprised by the competitors that took the read chairs. First in was Ellenell, who arrived a bit before the rest of his team. *He's in a similar position to me. The team healer. The real question will be if there's anything I can use as an edge over him. I would suspect my physique is better, and perhaps my martial training… but how useful those things will be is a bit up in the air.*
The second person to sit down was Chartreuse, alongside most of their team. Nixilei didn't really have any thoughts about them just yet. They hadn't participated in any events before now, and it was unclear if they were chosen for their unsuitability for the obstacle course, or because they had a decent amount of mana. The book on their waist implied mana capacity… but they might've just been chosen because they were the team wizard. Time would tell.
Next up was Asteodia who was followed by Carl, while the rest of her team trickled in later. *Asteodia. She's creative, but perhaps not someone with a great memory. Then again, she'll likely pay close attention this time around. From what Kat let slip she took her poor performance yesterday pretty hard. I'll need to watch her, but I'm not too afraid of what she'll do just yet.*
The final contestant this round was Midnight, who also came in with their entire team. Nixilei also didn't have a lot of data on them. They weren't super well known despite hanging around Marigold, and while Nixilei did know they were a shadow mage, building sandcastles isn't a particularly good indicator of fighting ability.
*Is it wrong of me to be glad that Ellenell is taking this round instead of Blue? After her display of capacity and control during volleyball yesterday she likely would've been the most dangerous opponent… barring Romilda and Kat of course. Hence why they were banned from the round. As it stands… Midnight and Chartreuse are likely my toughest competition but there isn't enough information on them to say really.*
Nixilei glanced at the door, still not seeing her teammates. Where are those three idiots? Wait… I just realised that Gareth might be forced to stay in that medical coffin and Green would use that as an excuse not to show up… which is fair honestly. Where is Kress though? Nixilei looked around and found that Stan hadn't arrived yet either.
*Well I suppose that answers that question. Now are they going to get here before-* Nixilei's thoughts were cut short with Thyme appearing, answering the question she was pondering. Thyme was dressed up a bit oddly. They had hair for one. Not hair-like vines, but real hair. It might be a wig, but Nixilei had a good enough eye for detail to say even if it was, the hair was still real, just probably not Thyme's.
The weirdness didn't end there though. Thyme's hair had a whole mess of clear gel in it ruining the look of the hair, and making Nixilei wonder why Thyme bothered to have any if this was what they were going to do to it.
The rest of Thyme's outfit wasn't in great shape either. It was a suit and tie… but the suit had the top three buttons undone and the tie was hanging loose with enough space to pull it off again. The jacket was falling off one of Thyme's shoulders and while their shoes looked nice… Thyme wasn't wearing any socks. Not to mention the staining on the edges of the sleeves.
Though, when Thyme started to speak it was with an impressive booming voice that easily carried through the room. "Hello everyone and welcome to the second round! We've got a whole bunch of rules for you, and some fantastic machines! If in the previous round the enchantment was so bad you had to be a master trying to do it poorly, this round we've turned it all around.
"Each of the flying contraptions on offer are so perfected, why, you'll think you've doubled your mana pool! They're extremely efficient with their mana usage and all optimised as best we can make them for prolonged flight. Obviously the different designs will have different strengths and weaknesses, but in their own class? They're each unmatched!
"But before I show you what I have in store, we do have to go over the rules! So, everyone gets to pick one flying contraption. You can all pick the same thing, or each of you can pick a different one. Don't just follow the trend, follow your dreams! I'll be handing out a sheet of paper where you can pick your chosen vehicle secretly in just a bit! Don't get impatient now!
"As for proper rules? You score first off based on how long you're in the air. I do want the contest to end in a reasonable time though, so after two hours, if multiple people have managed to stay in the air, I'll then be taking the distance away from this platform in a straight line and using that to determine the winners. I will not be taking into account gaining or losing height for this. It is a purely horizontal measurement, so don't try and fly directly up or down. It won't help you out at all,"
Thyme paused here to loosen their tie further and take a drink of a flask from one of the pockets on the pants. Nixilei just shrugged at the fact the pocket was completely flat and didn't look wide enough to fit such a thing in it. Thyme was a space mage. This was simple stuff.
"Just so that nobody loses because they didn't jump off at exactly the same time, I'll be launching you all off the platform. You can calibrate how exactly you'll leave the platform. Picking the direction you want to go in, how far up I send you, how far forward and what not. Now, these launchers won't be a big help, but they needed to be configurable… well you'll see why later.
"But wait, there's MORE RULES," said Thyme with a wild grin that was too wide for their face. Literally. Thyme expanded the smile past their cheeks and it was now about twice as wide as Thyme's face. "Perhaps things won't go perfectly. Perhaps, you'll get into fights, which is allowed. All bets are off. Brawl if you want. If you fall though…
"You'll need to wait. The rule is, after being on the ground or ocean for longer then five minutes I'll teleport you back to this platform and repair your flying contraptions. You cannot switch contraptions; you'll get a copy of your old one. You can return to the platform at any time to get your things repaired, but landing here stops the 'time in the air' counter, and obviously if you're back here your 'distance away from platform' will be practically zero.
"A special note in the case you manage to steal someone else's vehicle. You'll be allowed to keep it, and if you return to the platform you can pick either one to have fixed, but only the first time. After that you'll be 'locked' into that choice. With that being said, if you have your vehicle stolen it's no big deal. Just another five minute break on the ocean, or land and you'll get it back.
"Oh, I'm sure you're all wondering how you'll survive the fall to the ground? Well each contraption comes with a harness that has, if nothing else, a safety feature built into it. You'll bleed momentum before you hit the ground… but it's been enchanted in such a way as to not work if your flying machine is in good condition, so be careful landing them.
"Which brings us onto the final point landing your contraptions. Every time you touch the ground, you'll incur a one minute penalty on your time, and a 100m penalty to your total distance. If you run along the ground for more than 100m during take-off… then you'll be further deducted twice the distance you travel along the ground. This is meant to be a challenge of arial skill, not your ability to skim along the ground to cheat height and distance off of me,
"Now, that's all the rules out of the way, I'll open the floor for a few questions. Keep in mind, there will be another chance for questions after I introduce all of the vehicles. So no pressure here,"
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