Getting a start

[Keyfie]

"Well how long does the average line reach?"

[NPA]

Beats me. I've seen some people go from tree to tree in a forest with them, and I saw one guy hop over to Guild World with one. How long do you want them to be?

[Keyfie]

"Well. . . I'm guessing if I get started I won't stop for a little bit. Basically, if I can imagine it, its quite reasonable to expect that it can become a reality, correct?" Keyfie asks while casually gazing around.

[NPA]

. . . . . Um, are we still talking about the 3DMG?

I don't know whether or not Keyfie has played Super Mario Sunshine or not, but if he has, he would recognize some of the symbols on much of the gear as Shine Sprites. There were lots of other symbols for water, stars, and tropical flora and fauna. The color spectrum of the clothing was somewhat dazzling, as it was intentionally not sorted by color, as one may expect for a tropical theme. It wasn't all what Keyfie was used to as tropical clothing, though. Actually, more than 60% of the gear was finely crafted armor of all sorts, light to heavy, stylish and . . . uh, an eccentric take on an otherwise stuffy design . . . Lookin' at you, teal and yellow full plate mail with pine trees and . . . apatosauruses? Yeap. Yeap. There were plenty of people all over the broadway that were atypical to Keyfie, too, most of them in very creative swimwear. The most common was what he might call a tribal-looking design (See the thread with Bianca.) on women and similarly styled trunks on the men. That guy's wearing women's gear. Er, maybe that's a woman that looks like a dude. Honestly, given the interpretation of minotaurs that is common in fantasy games where Keyfie is from, he didn't stand a chance of interpreting that. There were lots of different centaur-type people, too, more of them aquatic than not, but still plenty who really didn't look to be very seaworthy. It seemed like at least one for every kind of common livestock was visible just with a quick 120-degree glance. Hume/Beorc/whatever people seemed to be slightly more common than other races, but then, that might just be because Keyfie couldn't tell them apart.

[Keyfie]

"Yes, and no. This is just an observation that I'm making here. Ever since I arrived here, magic has been a strong presence. So strong that people don't give it a second thought when they see something that I would find out of the ordinary. Heck, some even use it for their wares. So a general rule of thumb, that I can observe, is that when obtaining a crafted product, you're only limited by your imagination and available currency." Keyfie states, gradually speaking faster while pacing back and forth.

[NPA]

Well, yeah, sorta'. Resource limitations apply to a lot more than just money. I mean, things are rare, right?

Speaking of scarcity, do you have any Brightbuster Mk VIs left?

Last one. Trade-in?

I was going to, but I had to give my Mk V to an ally to keep him from being petrified, incinerated, and partially disintegrated, so . . .

Ah, wonderful. After depleting your tab, it comes to $400.

Augh! Just short. Later today, all right?

Sure thing!

[Keyfie]

"Well, would it be possible to see how the 3DMG actually operates? That way I could figure out how I may want to modify it to suit me better?" Keyfie asks while coming to a stop next to Kenizz.

[NPA]

(‾)Wordlessly, Kenizz held his arm out for Keyfie to get a good view. Footage included excerpts from Attack on Titan in addition to many other characters, some harpies, some merfolk, some -taurs, various draconic folks, basically everything humanoid that he had seen in any fantasy game, and lots of races that Keyfie couldn't even begin to try to name. It clearly showed balance issues, even adding some diagrams and pointers, though Keyfie would have to read quickly just to process the basic "shifting weight this way" info while also watching it happen. Clips showed characters using the gear offensively, and some grappling hooks were clearly labeled as substitutes, such as sticky gels, tricky arrows, sharp grenades that exploded into hundreds of caltrops within the penetrated target while remaining attached to the rope by magic, then reforming into undetonated grenade form when the ropes retracted . . . Air canisters came in all shapes, sizes, and locations, and plenty of gears didn't appear to have air canisters at all. Silos shot missiles and spells of all sorts, all manner of objects were stored in them, some were detached and used as throwing weapons (and were sometimes seen teleporting back, optionally with explosions or more spells), and some of them reshaped entirely into being armor pieces. They, too, had differing locations. Kenizz realized while he was reading a black tome that he pulled from his shadow pocket that this footage showed alternatives that, though Kenizz was quite used to, would probably be pretty novel to Keyfie. Go fig. He casually glanced up to read the man's expression.(‾)

[Keyfie]

"So, what have they done to work out the balancing issue?" Keyfie asks as he continues looking at the arm.

[NPA]

Back in the day, they just trained to balance themselves better. It can be a steep learning curve to some, but people managed. Since then, what hasn't been done to make it easier? Controlled, pulsating levistone and other anti-gravity units and magic, controlled pulses of gravity units and magic, wings and parachutes of all sorts, momentary propulsion of all kinds, you name it. I'm sure that there are at least twice as many tricks as what I can think of.

Xahir nodded in agreement.

(‾)The video showed before-and-after instances of some people of various races. Some draenei and orcs were seen in addition, as well as individuals that looked like tieflings or some other demon/pseudo-demon/demon-spawn/fucking whatever folks, as well as the inverse. The cliché usage of such chars with so little depth in fantasies on Keyfie's home world is so boorish and disorienting. Everyone except one elf appeared to be working on the same side in each clip, but almost no verbal communication appeared to be present despite the apparent lack of path-crossing incidents. Chars of all sizes were using them, too. This was especially apparent when a giant that had to be at least twenty meters high- Oh, hey, some text came up and labeled her as twenty-four meters high. See, yeah, she was using one, and she still zipped around at apparently the same pace as everyone else. She's even seen using them from tree to tree in a thin forest of massive trees and keeping along with her allies, which were all much smaller. Actually, that is one tall dwarf. Some 3DMG silos are shown to deploy retractable wings, some have magical wings that phase through things and may or may not be actually, physically connected, and lots of them have funny glows or periodic bursts of various shapes and colors that appear on or near parts of them.(‾)

[Keyfie]

"Well, I wouldn't think that it would take too long to learn how to use one of those. From what I can tell though, I would like to get one that will be as fast or faster than myself." Keyfie says while he folds his arms around his swallow. "One that won't get in the way of using my swallow, so a compact version."

[NPA]

(‾)Conveniently, the video showed some kitsune zipping by his party at mach four, then doing that crazy buzz-saw slash like Levi Ackerman of Attack on Titan performs, but with green foxfire all over. He tore through an adamantitan like it was paper!(‾)

Oh, let me fast-forward.

(‾)Sure enough, a few clips showed versions of silos that were fitted to such sizes as the depths of the bearer's hips or shoulders, and several models were shown to be arm-mounted, underarm-mounted, wrist- or ankle-mounted, and, well, basically everything that could be thought of. Even what Keyfie might call peripheral body parts, such as tails, horns, and wings, were shown to equip some models of 3DMG. The propulsion mechanisms were likewise made into differing sizes, numbers, and locations, though there were usually less than six of them on any given person, and most of the shapes were pretty much the same.(‾)

Underarm and wrist variants were really popular for a while. Celle was telling me about a cool technique that she likes to do with anklet silo models, though.

The recoil spin to Radiant Dispulsion Kick to double recoil shrapnel rip one?

That's the one!

It's definitely her style.

(‾)It was apparent at this point in the footage that most of the ropes were either invisible or somehow nonexistant. Okay, there's the labeling text box. Those two are using invisible ropes that cut effortlessly, but maintain their aerial position, splitting apart by only a few millimeters like magnets of the same polarity being held very closely, for a few seconds before gravity affects them. They can be repaired with certain reactants. The silos, here collections of rather small tubes that are organized into a cylindrical fashion, much like a revolver's chambers and barrel, are labeled as being lined on the inside with said reactants to automatically apply over broken areas as the retraction process causes the ropes and silos to conjoin, whether retracting the user to a location or the "hooks" to the user. The camera pans to point at a user's head and state that these people are trained to feel the tiny hiccup in their movement that the rope breaks cause, even though they make no real stability difference. They want to know whenever there is a break in order to be aware of potential enemies who are keen to their invisible ropes, unforeseen environmental hazards, and when they may have to make an early stop to refill their repair reactants into their silos. Others forgo ropes entirely, often utilizing such things as magical targeting reticules that attract the silos with gravity, magnetism, or just magic that works as a similar force. At this point, it seems like no one is using classic hooks: Crystals, slimes, crystals that turn into slimes, slimes that crystallize, and points of magic seem to be the standard issue. One guy is still shooting arrows.(‾)

[Keyfie]

"What sort of material is that slime that crystallizes?" Keyfie asks, studying the video feed intently while crossing his arms. "Also, is there any idea of what they won't attach to? The line I'm still a bit wary of, though I'm quite certain that we could increase the durability of it to break only against extreme stress and still be able to keep just enough to retract to be repaired in the. . . Um. . . The silos?". The possibilities seem to be limited to the extent of my imagination. . . Maybe I could commission a different swallow that is even more effective for me later on when I have the funds to do so. Keyfie leans his head back and stares into space while attempting to grasp the full extent of his thoughts on the matter.

[NPA]

I dunno'. I can rewind and make guesses as it goes.

(‾)Kenizz waved Xahir over to hover behind so that she could watch and comment along with him, then rewound the video a bit and had it start back up from just before each slime was shown. He paused it.(‾)

Just the ones that crystallize, right?

The armorer monk had started to sew, but noticed the gesture, set her things down, and took a step toward the guys. She hovered, quite literally, behind Keyfie and Kenizz. She appeared to be standing two feet off the ground, her whole body leaning forward like that one Michael Jackson move.

[Keyfie]

"Yes, I can't say that I ever ran across such a substance." Keyfie is too focused on the video to notice anything around him except for what his air sensory could tell.