Chapter 1288 Chapter 1288 An Answer Disguised as a Test
--- Green ---
With no more questions, Thyme called the contestants to the stage. They consisted of Green, Burgandy, Burnice, Nell and Carl. Thyme clapped their hands when everyone and Green found herself on the far left side of the field, with Nell next to her, then Burnice and Burgandy and ending with Carl. Green could see that everyone except for Carl had come equipped and ready for combat. Not sure what that says about Carl, but perhaps he has the right idea. Perhaps. Carl did have combat boots on, but nothing else of his was armoured and he wasn't armed at all. It made him an easy target… in theory.
Green turned herself away from the competitors and out to the field… and what a field it was. There were five obvious platforms ahead, one in front of each competitor. All bobbing slightly just tempting you to jump on them. Everyone else would have to… and Green found herself thinking she might need to as well.
As soon as you got past those first five? Well the platforms exploded in numbers. Some where up high, some where down low, there were a whole bunch off to the left and right. The second 'row' if you could call it that with how scattered the platforms were, held easily triple the number of platforms, with the number tripling again in the row after that. *No wonder Thyme suggested that remember your path would be difficult there's so many platforms here*
They were a whole bunch of colours as well. The immediate five were just grey, but afterwards it looked like a rainbow had exploded over the platforms. Some had carvings on them, some had multiple colours, and Thyme, the sneaky shithead, made sure that yellow was easily the most common colour mixed in with everything else. Even a few yellow bands. The only reason Green could be confident that they weren't gold was her skill in scouting…
Well that and the fact the starting platform the five were standing on was a massive platform of solid gold. It did give a rather pointed comparison between it and the yellow platforms floating out in the air. Though, despite Green looking for it, she found no sign of the ending platform.
*So… are we just supposed to head forward? The platforms spread out a bunch… but not forever like they seem to if you're going forward. Plus it would be a bit weird if it turned out I was the closest to the end platform just because I'm on the correct side. Though, if anything but forward is the finish line I imagine Thyme would've put it over on Carl's side of the event. Guess I'll just go forward and see how things turn out.*
Thyme appeared hovering in front of them, clapping their hands once more to gather attention and said, "The round is about to begin. The finish line is directly ahead," Guess I was worried over nothing. "And when I finish my countdown, the invisible barrier in front of you will drop. You're all free to act once it's down, so go forth… TO VICTORY!"
An awkward silence passed over the competitor and Thyme pouted. "You were meant to shout along with me… but whatever, I guess you're all just boring like that. Ok then… Five, four threetwonego!"
Green glared at Thyme as she jumped forward, not able to be tricked by something so juvenile… only to land on the first platform and have a visibly glowing barrier appear around her. The rest of the group followed soon with Carl landing last. Not that it seemed to have changed his fate at all.
Nell immediately went to town on the barrier, hesitating nary a moment. Her gauntleted fists booming out across the sky as she landed heavy blow after heavy blow on the wall. Every time she struck it, the glow seemed to intensify slightly and ripple out from where her fist impacted it. Burnice and Burgandy weren't far behind, making their own attacks.
Green had pulled out her own dagger and was about to start slicing it when she glanced at Carl. He wasn't attacking at all, and if her eyes were correct, the barrier seemed to be dimming. *Hmm… does that mean the challenge here is to leave the barrier alone? Or do we need to overload it? Making it brighter and brighter till it shatters?*
Green shrugged and put away the dagger. *If I'm wrong, I can just take advantage of the fact they'll be clearing the way for me a bit. It's not like they can attack me in the barrier, so if they turn out to be right I'll just need to stab away at it for a while, maybe try a few kicks.*
Green stood there, silently, waiting. Thirty seconds passed and bother her own and Carl's barrier was only visible at the corners. It would disappear anytime… if they were correct in their guesses. Burnice was making decent progress, her own barrier quite bright but nothing compared to Nell's and Burgandy's. They both had barriers that were nearly completely white. Green waited for another few seconds… and…
CRACK
The barrier in front of Nell exploded and the bear beastkin leaped forward onto the nearest platform, jumping off it immediately onto another before vanishing into thin air. Burgandy wasn't long after and did the same, jumping off her platform, onto another and then another before vanishing herself despite having chosen a different route to Nell. The breaking of the barrier invigorated Burnice, and soon her barrier fell as well, though she only got one jump in before another barrier sprung up.
Green let her attention fall away as she desperately started to attack the barrier in front of her. Light spilling from her dagger strikes and the occasional kick, while Carl, despite seeing the barriers break, didn't move. Green gave him a confused look but kept attacking. Soon after though, a popping sound rang out and she saw Carl hop off his platform and onto another… and then another… and then another. Green growled as the barrier around her started to be too bright to see out of.
*Dammit. So it was more a testing of picking a strategy and sticking with it. Despite giving a slight bonus to people will to attack the barrier, they're going to be exhausted. Now I'm behind because I swapped strategies part of the way through. That's annoying. I suppose I'll just have to make up for time in other ways.*
Green went over her memories and noticed that Burgandy and Nell both vanished once they stepped on a blue platform. With this information in mind, once the barrier shattered, Green leapt off onto a red platform, then activated her shoes and launched herself over a blue platform onto a yellow one… and vanished in a flash of light.
Green clicked her tongue in annoyance as she found herself in a room with a pie and a sign that says. 'Remove the entire pie from the table and you may leave,' beside a plate and cutlery. The pie itself even had a pie slicer stuck into the middle of it.
Green rushed forward and was about to cut herself?a pie when she paused and reread the question. Carefully Green pulled the pie of the table and as soon as she did so the room vanished and she was back in the obstacle course. Looking around, Carl was somehow ahead of the pack… well as far as she could see. Nell was missing, Burgandy was nearly as far ahead but she was stuck in another barrier and Burnice… was running off to the side?
Green was confused but saw that Burnice had line herself up with a rather distant checkpoint off to the left of the course. It was rather high up and solid gold, so everyone could claim a spot on it… but it seemed very far away. Green was pretty sure it wasn't going to be worth it. Then Burnice vanished, which settled the matter for now.
Green bounced forward a few platforms before a new barrier sprung up around her. Green pulled the breaks… and still slammed her forehead into the barrier. Green felt her ears ringing for a few moments as she took a second to calm down. After she did so, a question appeared. 'What is the air speed of a mortal swallow carrying 1.4594kg of cargo over a distance of one-hundred and seven metres?'
Green looked at the question and read it again before asking aloud, "This is a mortal swallow right?" the word 'mortal' glowed twice as bright for a few seconds. "Right, so… doesn't that mean the answer is nothing? A mortal swallow can't lift that much?"
Green found herself almost surprised when the barrier dropped. *That was a strange question, but I got it right so that isn't too bad.* Then Green looked out over the rest of the field, and groaned. Sure the question was easy and it took almost no time… but there were hundreds of platforms between her and the end. She couldn't see it at all. *Guess I better get on it.*
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