Okay, rather then learn By Rage Recast, I had instead somehow learned Viridian Legend Exoskeleton, and could now do a decent Sentai villain impersonation. I'd say hero, but my best shot at being able to pass as something like a Guyver was pretty much shot to death by the glowing green hieroglyphs burning out from under it with the luminescence of Ligier's green sun.
There was no way in hell I was passing as a Kamen Rider and if I couldn't manage one of those then I was pretty much boned as far as appearance went.
Still at the very least it lookedcool. The thick brass plates extended from every surface of my flesh in impossible detail, each joint covered by chitinous overlapping plates allowing for absolute protection without hindering dexterity in the slightest. I couldn't call it entirely practical in design. It was very...organic and clearly designed to intimidate as much as protect.
It had these thick pointy, overlapping shoulder guards with one curving shell like points resting one over the other with one sliding into the other as I stretched my arm up and distinctive ribbing along my... well... ribs. The arms and legs had many fine plates that shifted and moved over one another in a pattern that seemed meant to illicit the feeling of muscle groups moving over one another. There were even detailed cuffs of armor over each individual fingers tapering down to short sharp pseudo-claws. Delicate script Old Realm tracing each individual plate.
I hadn't seen the 'helm' yet, but I could guess the general design by patting it down. It was thankfully a mostly flush surface with a cutting visor across for the eyes... said visor filled with some kind of lens that was tough but again oddly flexible, the only garnish being a plume of green fire.
That had actually startled me at first as the thing had fallen into my face the first few times I'd bent over without any signal of where it had come from. It had taken me an embarising amount of time to deduce what the long ribbons of flame actually were. More so as I couldn't actually grab tem to examine where they had come from, what with them being made of immaterial fire.
The whole thing seemed oddly familiar for some reason, but I couldn't quite place it.
The material itself was brass, just... different. It could flex to an extent and was warm to the touch. Which made sense, as it was a literal second skin of infernal brass that had grown over me. I could even feel through it though at a muted sensitivity.
So... creepy armor was creepy. And awesome. And hey I didn't need to get a costume now! Though the short duration of it's use was annoying. The living steel receding back into normal skin shortly after I stopped focusing on it.
I think it worked kind of like a muscle. I could keep it 'clenched' and active for a significant varied period of time but once I relaxed it just... let go.
Overall it was a significant addition to my abilities. One that augmented my defensive capacity dramatically if the supernatural material really was as tough as the game mechanics dictated.
It was just unfortunately it hadn't been what I was trying to learn.
Oh well, still awesome!
So it was with a tired and contented mind that I returned to my camping ground.
Only to find someone standing by my tent looking somewhat excited as they turned to face me.
Then their expression quickly became confused, then frightened.
The person was... well, I think they were a bird watcher trying to live up to the stereotype. A wide brimmed hat, big binoculars and a camera, a kaki jacket with lots of pockets. The classic set up.
"I uh... hello?" he tried.
"Yo," I sort of half waved, not really up for the mess I could already tell was soon to follow.
At least my armor had receded by now, poor guy would probably have pissed himself given his reaction to what was 'just' an obvious cape.
"You... haven't seen a young woman about yay high?" he questioned. Hand reaching out to about three inches shorter then him. "Red hair, green eyes, nice smile?" he tried.
I looked at him then shook my head, "Nope. Just me, the woods and a bear I saw a couple days ago," I replied scratching at my jaw a bit and wondering where he was going with this.
"A bear!?" he seemed startled.
"Just a little black bear," I waved him off, "Blackbears aren't dangerous for the most part, they're smarter then that. They don't attack humans unless you back one into a corner," I was Canadian, I knew these things.
"But Rachel was supposed to meet me here! If there's a bear around she could be in trouble!" he panicked.
"Easy buddy," I held up a hand. "Like I said, black bears don't typically cause problems like that," the more common problem was them ripping open garbage bags or getting stuck in dumpsters. "Your friend probably just hasn't gotten here yet. How did you intend to find them?" I asked.
"GPS!" he fished out a device, "I was supposed to meet here right- oh," he blinked, "Seventy six, not sixty seven," he muttered.
~And this is why having a guide kicks the crap out of a map any day~
"See, you just ended up in the wrong spot," I sighed, "There is probably no problem at a-"
I heard a woman's scream in the distance.
Gods damn it.