I place the bad upon the cot, thinking it was a good idea to have the captain help me learn how to wear the armor. After all, this is completely new to me since I never grew up in this world alongside such gear and armor.
They latched the bag together in the center with a material similar to velcro. Opening it up, I pull out each segment, with there being twelve pieces to pull out, and then the maintenance kit that I sat to the side.
"Good to see you’ve got all the parts. Oh, what weapon do you use? Me, I wield a greatsword," Captain Ogman says after examining each piece.
I show him the claw gauntlets I am currently wearing, then actually take them off, considering that would be smarter when putting on the rest of the armor. "These."
"Oh, claw gauntlets?! Don’t see those too often. Well, that’s fine; we can set aside the standard issue gauntlets. Both gauntlets have the same latch mechanisms, so it’ll still work," he replies with a nod after a moment of thought.
The captain then picks up two pieces, handing them to me. "Alright, we start with the lower greaves, which includes the boots portion. Just slide your feet in for now, and it’s fine if it hangs loose, as we’ll fix that in a moment. Also, don’t fret about the size; the entire set has size adjustment runes etched inside."
I slide my feet inside the two pairs of greaves, getting a double surprise. First, the greaves that seemed to be for feet much larger than my own shrunk to fit snugly against my feet as I slid inside. Then, was even happier when I felt that there was actually some kind of cloth on the inside, and I didn’t feel the cold metal. It was good that it had the same comfort my gauntlets have.
Seeing that I got the lower pair on, he handed me another set from the gear. "Alright, here is the upper greaves, which also contains the rear plates as you can see. You can tell the rear from the front by two points. The knee guard, and how the rear plates go further down, as that point connects to the upper part of the boot," Captain Ogman explains, showing me each segment he mentioned.
He then unlatches one side of each of the pair and hands them to me. I bring the upper greaves over my thighs, connecting the lower portion to the top of the boot, using the hook latch to pop it in. I do the same for the other segments that intersect between the upper and lower greaves. The last part is to re-latch the area the captain undid that allowed me to get my leg inside. I then watched in amazement as the runes activated, compressing it close to my leg.
"Incredible." I couldn’t help the word that escaped my lips as I watched it become a tight fit and fill any gaps between me and the armor.
Captain Ogman smiles and nods as if agreeing. "I felt the same the first time I saw it. Alright, now is the waistband which you wrap around you and then just latch onto the upper greaves. It’s gonna hang loose until we get to the breastplate and backplate." He says, handing me the circular waistband that has a single opening for me to wrap it around my body.
I wrap it around, then connect it to the greaves as instructed, and watch as it loosely hangs down to my knees. The captain then hands me the breastplate and the backplate.
"This is where it gets a little difficult, as you effectively have to put these two on together. The easiest method is to go ahead and latch just one side of the breastplate and backplate together. Then, bring it over your head, resting it on one shoulder, and from there you just finish connecting all the latches, going from top to bottom," he instructs, guiding me along with each step.
With his instructions, I quickly follow through and get the torso armor handled. He then told me to connect the waistband to the breastplate and backplate, completing the main set.
"Great! Last part is easy. The shoulder plates, which also contains the upper arm portion, just hook on top of the torso set. You wrap it around your arm and slide it up until it rests nicely upon your shoulder. Latch it all together and let it compress to your arm. Then the gauntlets and helmet are self-explanatory as they latch on to the respective areas," the captain says as he hands me each piece, watching me connect it altogether, including the helmet as the last portion.
I moved around a bit, feeling the weight of the armor on me. It is heavy, yet I don’t feel impeded. I am definitely slower than when I was without the armor, but not by much. Having your Mana Veins awakened really does make a difference.
"Oh, if this latches so easily, can’t a foe simply cause your armor to fall off if they get a hold of one of the connectors?" I ask as the thought came to mind.
He shakes his head in response. "That’s the beauty of it. It can only be taken off from the top to the bottom. The lower latches won’t budge until the upper portions of the armor are removed. The only ones that currently work are the shoulder guards, which the main latch is at your underarm, so good luck to the enemy getting that. Then the torso plates prime connection is around your neck, so again good luck getting to that easily."
"I see," I casually respond as I test jumping in the armor and feel no actual movement from the individual pieces. The entire armor is snug against my body. I also notice that there isn’t a sound either, since none of the piece’s clink against each as I move. I had never really thought about that when I was out on the battlefield, since there were countless other sounds.
"Well, get used to it. That is also why I don’t ever take mine off, except during sleep. I always want to be ready while on active deployment and have the armor feel like an extension of my body. When you do take it off, just simply go in reverse order that you put it on. See, once you’ve done it once, it ain’t too bad. Only thing you need to practice now is getting it on fast," Captain Ogman explains in detail.