Chapter 1257 1257 *Slaps Helmet* This Baby has so many hidden weapons…
--- Nixilei ---
"Now, maybe the sure-fire 2 hours isn't what you want," said Thyme as the balloon vanished into the ground. "No, what you crave instead is VIOLENCE!" A leather suit with a sturdy looking helmet rose from the ground. Nixilei noticed that it had a membrane connecting the legs and arms together. "This here is the ANSWER. While it is impossible for any one of you to fly this suit all the way to the two hour mark it is filled with hidden weapons galore and nearly indestructible!
"Perhaps you'll want to use it to take on your enemies, knock them all out of the sky early on and steal one of their vehicles. Giving you a strong lead, and a chance to batter them down again and again if you really want. Probably a waste of mana after the second or third time, but you could do it if violence is what you crave.
"But perhaps you like your fellow competitors. The idea of knocking them out strikes you as 'unsportsmanlike'? Well I've got a secondary solution for you! By channelling mana into one of the fingers of the gloves you can activate a wide variety of effects! The first, the left-most finger? It will provide you a magical bit of rope to wrap around monsters. It will be a battle of wills from that point, but if you win? Well, you'll have a mount to carry you to the end. Remember, you only get sent back if you touch the ground, and the distance is based on your harness, so it's a perfectly acceptable tactic,"
*Yeah but only if you have the mana control to activate ONE FINGER. This suit seems like a trap really. While I can use it, and probably Ellenell, that's only because of our level of mana control, trained by necessity for healing magic. I can't imagine the rest of the competitors can activate just the one finger. Activating two or three seems more likely. I suppose we'll just need to see what they do.*
"Of course, perhaps fighting is in your blood. The next three fingers on the left hand are all various forms of attack. They are mirrored on the right side as well, so you can use both gloves to attack at the same time, or just one. In this case we will stick with the left hand, starting from left to right, you have a 'basic blast' from the centre of the palm, the next finger adds a cone of super-sharp air around the hand. It sticks around until you send another pulse of mana into that finger, and is a big drain on your reserves but it can cut through nearly anything.
"Then the third finger provides a powerful suction on the palm for just a short moment. You can use this to grab your enemies, and then perhaps through them out of their vehicle, or you can use it, perhaps with both hands, to stick yourself to said vehicle temporarily. You can trigger the suction additional times if you really want to hold on to whatever it is, but the suction uses a good bit of mana and only lasts for three seconds. So keep in mind that it might not be an efficient use of your mana,"
Interesting. Each of those abilities sounds really good… until you realise that if you accidentally trigger them at the same time it completely ruins the effect. You'd blast away the rope, or you'd blast whatever you were attacking away from you. If you were trying to slice something, a blast away is bad, but sucking it to you might be worse because then you can't cut it because your wrist doesn't turn that far. Not sure how the suction and whatever the last one is interacts but…
"The final finger, the thumb, on your left hand summons something rather familiar," said Thyme as they pulled out a dripping package. "I'm sure you remember this monster bait? Well now you have it at your fingertips. Not just one either. Unlike the seals in the balloon you can summon up as much monster bait as you want… but it will take exactly a tenth of your mana pool every time you use it,"
*And there's the final trap. Based on how efficient Thyme has been saying everything is, ten percent is quite a lot. Which is already pretty bad. Magic forbid if you not only summon the bait, but ALSO went and hit the suction by accident. The bag looks flimsy enough that it might get torn open by the suction and then suddenly you're covered in monster bait. You'd need to be really careful with that finger. Heck, that and use the vacuum palm, just in case you summoned the bait as well.*
Thyme kept speaking, not particularly worried about how many people had noticed the traps involved. "Next up, on the right hand, you only have two unique functions. The thumb, and the little finger. Activating the thumb has two functions., The first, summons a crossbow for you, and the second triggers if you already have the crossbow in hand, summoning an arrow for it. Summoning the crossbow, does of course take more mana then summoning the arrows,"
*Yeah and reloading the crossbow, in midair, while using a suit that seems to be kept up by the arms and legs is nearly impossible. So you've got one shot with it, if you're lucky. Despite that, if you hit a vehicle they're probably going to be fine so it doesn't even do anything unless you hit a monster or a person. So what's the point?*
"Now the final finger, the little finger on the right hand side? Well it gives you this!" Thyme said as they pulled out a little pink cotton bag. Opening it, they showed the inside was filled with very fine dust of the same general colour as the bag. "This right here? It's high grade sleeping powder. You can pull the bag back into subspace by activating the finger again and it will slowly fill back up with powder… but if you lose it? No more sleep powder for you.
"It should be enough to knock most monsters and contestants out. Just be warned, if a contestant is returned to here after being on the ground too long, I will also be healing them of any injuries, including removing the sleep powder from their system. So… if you really want them out of the game, you might need to keep them around… but then aren't you helping them if you take them with you?"
*Interesting. The sleeping powder still seems pretty good. I don't understand why you'd keep them with you though. That seems bad for all sorts of reasons. Where's the trap though? Wait… is the vacuum ability on the finger next to the little one or the thumb? Dammit Thyme. That's the trap. You don't know, and you'd have to waste mana to find out. Hmm… it still seems like either the best or second best finger on offer. The only worry is how fast the powder refills. That and how much you need to put someone to sleep…
Wait. You're flying. In the air. Possible against the wind. Shit. The powder works on you as well? Hmm… no you have a helmet unlike the other contestants. So… would you be safe? It's hard to tell just how fine the powder is. So… maybe you would be but perhaps you wouldn't? So the trap is 'don't hit yourself with the sleep powder'? That makes some sense I suppose.*
"Now, it's not just your fingers that are having fun, your feet can get into the action as well! Of course, the functions there are much simpler. By channelling mana into your feet you can get a constant stream of air… or a blast. It all depends on how much mana you introduce to the boots. They'll take whatever you give them, at just about any rate!
"That's not all though. The wingsuit does need some way to stay in the air right? Well if you push your mana out of your body anywhere around the chest area it will be fed to the wings and give you a constant updraft. Balancing the amount of mana going to the wings or your boots will be the true decider of just how good you are with this suit, and I wish you the best of luck," finished Thyme with a taunting gleam in their eyes.
*And there is the final trap. If I didn't think this was the suit for people with insane mana control that sells it. Needing to keep track of three internal mana streams while keeping it all balanced and sending it into an enchantment? I bet the blasted boots aren't even paired so you need to keep the flow to both completely even. I probably could use it… but it just seems like too much effort for too little gain. You'd need to be certain you were taking someone out… and that you could get away from everyone before they came for you.
Even that… that might still not be enough. The amount of mana it could take just to remove on competitor might be so much you'd NEED to steal the hot air balloon specifically and if nobody choses one of them… well you might have already doomed yourself. We'll have to see what, if anything, is left.*
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