Wolfy, you changed your stated scenario again. It initially did not assume 30+ arete then when challenged on it you magically changed it to the one that I keep saying we can't count on having enough arete for. The motte and bailey tactics are very annoying.
Suffice it to say wolfy is misrepresenting the crown build and hoping no one notices.
Let me put this in ever simpler terms. Crown weaker early stronger late. Not Crown stronger early weaker late. Is this simple enough?
I've addressed early game weakness of Crown, both of Arete generation and possible risk. Now do put any effort whatsoever in addressing not Crown weakness late, ok?
Well this is kind of annoying, where's the Not Getting Entangled In Bullshit Sidequests Gang? Would've definitely voted for laissez-faire, but that's one lead that's not getting overturned, so going with my second choice.
[X] Intervention Mk. I
[X] The Walls of Myth
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
Stranglethorn's fucking great, don't know why everybody's pretending that only Rank matters? Stats didn't go on strike and stop doing their jobs just because Threefold lost, guys, willpower is still amazing with Cut Through and we still want all the strength we can get for Ruinous Valor.
Let me put this in ever simpler terms. Crown weaker early stronger late. Not Crown stronger early weaker late. Is this simple enough?
I've addressed early game weakness of Crown, both of Arete generation and possible risk. Now do put any effort whatsoever in addressing not Crown weakness late, ok?
I don't need to. The answer to that is obvious, given it's a relative rank deficency. The issue is we can't neglect the shorter term- if we go for the long term it is quite likely we will be able to make up the rank gap easily enough. Time is one thing we are not short on.
Oh, amd we want at least 7 arete after we finish the tower because we want to get the longest delay to decimator we can.
Do we really need a third magical system, fourth if you count Accretion? We already have Praxis and its ability to do practically anything by interacting with the deepest layers of reality and we have Edelross/Elixir and tons of Graces it provides. We are already pressed for time to develop things we have at hand, exactly what would another magical system we don't have time to develop give us?
It's not necessarily more magic systems that I want right now, just cool stuff. Outer Sky wasn't a new magic system, but an alteration/fusion of existing ones.
Furthermore, we have those two new Panoply slots to fill, and we'll get more out of those if we spend Arete on them. Arete we won't have if we go Crown, since we'll have to generate above average Arete just to get OaF for survival. OTOH, if we don't take crown then after OaF we can get cool new stuff.
Let me put this in ever simpler terms. Crown weaker early stronger late. Not Crown stronger early weaker late. Is this simple enough?
I've addressed early game weakness of Crown, both of Arete generation and possible risk. Now do put any effort whatsoever in addressing not Crown weakness late, ok?
Not taking crown is weaker late? So what? We're Progression, we'll always become stronger. It's a guarantee, for as long as we live. Therefore, the most important thing is guaranteeing we live.
We know for a fact that Core Panoply + Once and Future is enough to survive our current Apocryphal proc. We also know that Crown is weaker until we get back up to OaF. Why take the risk of grabbing Crown and maybe coming up short on Arete when we know for certain that if we just go straight to OaF we'll be fine?
Of course you do, you just can't so you are evading.
Again, provide a plan. I came up with WDS as solution to relevant risk imposed by Crown. You came up with nothing. You have OaF and next Tower fight is 4 pick. What do you do, and why can't Crown do the same?
Oh, amd we want at least 7 arete after we finish the tower because we want to get the longest delay to decimator we can.
So you would risk having % to die in Tower? Because that's being weaker means. Having more power at any given moment means greater danger and less rewards; the point of Crown is to have somewhat weaker pre-Tower/early Tower power and then to spike when we actually need the power.
Indeed. This is why we need to limit arete expenditures. Because we will not have enough for everything, and some things can be delayed more than others. And mitigating decimator for years is one we can't really afford to delay due to space travel.
I sure would love to live in the reality where we can earn 2.5 base Rank easily enough. That's 3 2-pick Errantry actions at best - and I would not count on the best. And considering the number of things we already can spend our time on, not to mention the main quest, finding the time for even the best case would not be easy.
Well, we already have a lot of cool stuff, including the magic systems we already have. Do we really need to specifically search for more stuff that inevitably costs time and/or Arete to develop? It's not like we the Tower itself won't provide cool stuff, not to mention that we can always visit the walls later if decide that we truly do want more avenues of spending.
I sure would love to live in the reality where we can earn 2.5 base Rank easily enough. That's 3 2-pick Errantry actions at best - and I would not count on the best. And considering the number of things we already can spend our time on, not to mention the main quest, finding the time for even the best case would not be easy
As I explicitly stated time is one thing we are not in truth short on. We just keep trying to cram too much at once. With the fame multiplier I suspect the human sphere will be far better for rank gain if we can manage it.
Indeed. This is why we need to limit arete expenditures. Because we will not have enough for everything, and some things can be delayed more than others. And mitigating decimator for years is one we can't really afford to delay due to space travel.
Wasn't it outright stated that decimator is actually much easier to mitigate in the Human Sphere? With Lens, I think buying enough mitigation to get to another target later would not cost us much. Or did I miss some WoG on how travel between the stars is slow in the Sphere?
As I explicitly stated time is one thing we are not in truth short on. We just keep trying to cram too much at once. With the fame multiplier I suspect the human sphere will be far better for rank gain if we can manage it.
We will always be short on time because we will always have an Apocryphal Curse to prepare for in the short term. Combining that with the fact that will also need to prepare for it in the long term with potential options and also advance our other short and long term goals, our timetable will always be crowded. We can't just throw more things into it and hope for the best.
How? You are in Tower, about to fight 4 pick Tyrant. Where do you pull 0.5 Rank out? Gisena's ass?
Remember, people were complaining that we won't get enough Arete despite having mini-arc right now. Even if we were to accept that, I've still come up with a solution that works around that.
Now, do explain how would you work around Tower turning too dangerous for OaF/ADS?
Indeed. This is why we need to limit arete expenditures. Because we will not have enough for everything, and some things can be delayed more than others. And mitigating decimator for years is one we can't really afford to delay due to space travel.
Except, again, if we can't get enough Arete for OaF+Crown until after the Temple, we can't save For OaF+7AP Hunger Sated while we are in Temple. Either our Arete generation can do it or it can't you can't have it both ways.
If Be the Change wins I'll be able to help mine with political discourse we will bring a revolution of the underclasses to the Sovereignty and create a just society for all.
Remember, people were complaining that we won't get enough Arete despite having mini-arc right now. Even if we were to accept that, I've still come up with a solution that works around that.
Except, again, if we can't get enough Arete for OaF+Crown until after the Temple, we can't save For OaF+7AP Hunger Sated while we are in Temple. Either our Arete generation can do it or it can't you can't have it both ways.
I am saying that if possible we want 7 arete at the endof the temple. Crown +wds+ OaF is unlikely to be able to afford that. Even Crown +OaF probably can't.
Not an exhaustive list, and some of these (read: Graces probably) might not be applicable depending on Hunger's priorities, but nonetheless let's take a look at the aspects of our character sheet that we can leverage for a better and brighter tomorrow for the Elixir Sovereignty.
Edeldross:
Imagine a King's Court where everyone who enters becomes twice as wise, intelligent, witty, and charismatic. Now do that, Hunger.
With our various bonuses we can keep up a self buff of Edeldross on all of our attributes including the ones in my example all day by about 60%, along with access to a time limited technique that spikes that enhancement up to 90%. But why be selfish about this buff? The smallest blast we can do is the size of a car, so buckle your seat belts everyone we're reforming a government!
It's not as cool or edgy as using doubled might and speed to slay a monster, but the reformation effort could greatly benefit from working in tandem within a room that's suffused with 60% or 90% wisdom and intelligence and agility buffs. Hunger should be spiking the enhancement as much as he's able to without making his work suffer in other areas, it'll be good practice. Who knows, maybe we'll get another Edeldross magnitude boost from continuous usage and this will double as a combat relevant endeavor. This is supposed to be strenuous enough that we're getting picks out of it after all. The extra base stats the vetted hires can get from Ennoblement's +++All Stats works great with this as well.
Aobaru should suffer work with Hunger in this endeavor as well. Sure he's limited to physical buffs, but it would be something we could call element magnitude training as well as still benefiting people from the further near doubling of their speed and constitution. Get more work done, everyone!
Graces:
I know I know, who has the time in modern Elixir to work on Graces of all things? However, Gisena should be well acquainted with the graces that the Maiden handed out that would be helpful with administration, they definitely had at least some in the capital. Some sort of explicit super power to compliment our 'bulldoze through with stats and rank' plan we're currently attempting would be quite helpful. And while it probably wouldn't be great at combat (and in fact might be something like +whatever outside of combat) there's going to be future value for it as well thanks to the fact that we're eventually going to have to rule over other lands as part of this geas task. Honestly even a freebie that's just the equivalent of the default grace we were going to get way before any of our upgrades to grace creation would be nice, the administration or rulership equivalent of '30% attack speed' sounds like it would be useful. And if we don't end up doing this, that's okay too. We'll just, ah, we'll make a grace eventually. Surely.
Plus there's something a little poetic about helping rule the land of High Elementalists with the power derived from Hunger's acquisition of High Elementalism.
Guile Defeating Stance:
Due to the fact that we now have over 6 rank (which means that we can have all three of our purchased stances active at once) and we have not yet upgraded into All Defeating Stance (which would consume Guile defeating stance which is one of the few stances that is actually better at what it does than the 'upgrade') we can keep Guile defeating stance on permanently. The +2 rank and ++++++++Manipulation against hidden schemes is an amazing boon, and also something that nobody opposed to our reforms knows we have. We can abuse that information gap, intentionally tacking towards tactics and pushes that would normally generate some discontentment and scheming against us for the sole purpose of going out of our way to crush it with automatic Power of Ruin procs. Best to push hard and get the anti-hunger reform conspiracy started now instead of later so that when we dismantle it automatically without even thinking about it, the people we leave behind in power have a much easier time picking up the pieces and identifying the threats when we're no longer physically there.
Guile Defeating Stance is described as a power for a sovereign on a throne. Well, we're about to become a crowned king of a Sovereignty. What better time to flex this stance? Get all the mileage we can out of it before we lose the bonuses that All Defeating Stance is unable to replicate in exchange for greater combat power.
Ennobling:
Ennobling is something we haven't really played with up until this point. We uplifted some folks in the Inner Ring civilization and presumably lifted up the people in our party because Hunger isn't an idiot and actively training/relying on them. But they're all already people with high parameters and magics and whatnot, let's talk about how good it would be for the random bureaucrats we intend to make do good works in our name. As strength isn't relevant for how well you can push school reform the relevant upgrades for policy wonks are probably
+.5 Rank
+++Charisma
+++Wits
+++Intelligence
+++Wisdom
+++Agility
+++Constitution
+++Willpower
This is a pretty amazing smorgasbord of benefits to entice people to sign up and continue getting buffed, comes with a health plan and everything. Covers their kids as well so that's even more incentive. The tactics bit here should be to leverage the fact that these people are suddenly that much smarter and more charismatic and can subtly warp reality to give them favorable results to accelerate the process of selection.
The bottleneck here presumably is that we will only ennoble people properly vetted, which means that Gisena and Aeria are working overtime in that department. But as good as they are they're still just two people. Focus their efforts on identifying not just the people who are best to keep pushing Hunger's reforms for the nation. But instead on whomever can identify others worthy of getting ennobled. Basically, before Gisena needs to shift through all the reports to find the next head of education we can boost up, she needs to find the next secretary to help her shift through reports faster. As good as Aeria might have studied the lay of the land, we didn't pick business as her major so there are likely limits to how effectively she can help us process new employees. Also letting new hires pick new hires won't backfire in them scheming against us simply due to the above points about Guile Defeating stance. If anything we would welcome the attempts and get rid of the chaff faster than we would otherwise, praise be to automatic power of ruin defenses.
You know, it's neat to be able to give what's basically a free Crown level Rank boost to anyone who pledges themselves to our new Crown. I wonder how multiple people with Rank combine their abilities. Obviously you wouldn't be able to stack half a dozen 1.5 rankers and get a Rank 9 effect, but there's probably some power inherent in a bunch of people with newly elevated Rank all pressing for the same thing.
Travel Time:
We took the longer option for Errantry, no way around it. Well, maybe a little way around it since the halving of Decimator's lens puts it back to the length implied by taking the fishing contest plus the clarion grenade. But regardless, time's on a premium again! Ber's slated to come around soon, we keep getting hints that something terrible is going to happen in Empire soon the longer Liz stays away (something something has a sick dad while being a teenage mecha pilot protagonist) and the Decimation is coming back fairly soon. Not only that, but apparently the Tower is further away from the staging city we need to hit in order to leave this crazy place than the Elixir Sovereignty. We need to move, fast.
There's basically a single way to move faster in the Voyaging Realm, and that's with a stronger Armament. And hey, before we gained .575 rank and broke the Rank 6 barrier we were capable of exhausting ourselves to heal Vershe to Rank 7.395 total. Now that we're not having to do it all at once and we're going to be anywhere between .575 to 1.075 Rank higher than we were when we had that option. Presumably we should be able to leverage our much greater rank for a greater and thus faster Vershe.
We also had the option to kit our Vershe with replacement weapons the first time we were here, which would increase it's firepower without increasing it's rank and thus the level of enemies it would attract. This would have meant an effective increase in combat ability for it's level. It might be worth looking into to see if there's someone we can task on doing a similar thing not for weaponry but instead of motors and speed, making Vershe faster for his effective rank. Might not be feasible, but the inquiry shouldn't take much time at all even if it isn't.
Triumphal Gleam:
Hunger's intrinsic appeal for acts he considers positive are greatly enhanced, and he's about to do a lot of reforms and benefits for the common Elixir Sovereign citizen that he considers positive. Kind of a no brainer here. The actual tactical part of the information should be leveraging the fact that we're aware of this, and thus doing more positive press events than would otherwise normally be done in these circumstances. Yes, everyone and their pet voyaging dog in the nation are going to want to know what their savoir turned king is up to at the moment, but normally this generates a blow back on the part of the person the interest is about. Fight against the anti paparazzi instinct Hunger, no matter how natural privacy is!
Keeping things transparent and open for the normal citizen to see is a good policy measure that I bet a lot of real world citizens wish they had, so that's a plus. However care should be done so that the people we leave behind to do our will have a stockpile of 'King Hunger gives his thumbs up for early education initiatives and universal childcare' press and policy work so as to further bolster their abilities to get stuff done. People from now until the end of their nation are going to be using the 'King Hunger would have wanted this!' political card in our absence, and if they have any decency they'll wait until Vershe's heads are actually past the horizon before they start. But the fact of the matter is they're going to do that, and we can leverage Gleam in order to get ahead of the game and map out where we want Hunger's name and stamp of approval to be in the coming days.
Obviously you wouldn't be able to stack half a dozen 1.5 rankers and get a Rank 9 effect, but there's probably some power inherent in a bunch of people with newly elevated Rank all pressing for the same thing.
The accumulated disapproval of millions of people eliminating the possibility of you not having a sudden stroke? How terrifying. Best not to do anything unpopular on the internet if you're a Ranklet.
Having deliberated on the choice for a while, and considering that taking Crown is not that much more dangerous than OaF thanks to WoDS, I'll switch to the other combination. It has its weaknesses and downsides, but when choosing between character development and picking up new shinies, I prefer the former. Not always, but it feels like the right moment for trying to rise up to the challenge and have Hunger try to create something lasting with his own two hands. This dream had sustained him even when all his comrades had died and he had been reduced to the merest shadow of his former self, so even if it had ultimately led to betrayal and death, I would like to believe there is something worth pursuing there.
And it's not like the option is without its own shinies! Staying here a bit longer means Gisena will have more time to craft Artifacts and develop Graces, the Feat itself not only represents a significant jump in Rank but also opens up the road towards the next Trinity, and last but not least, it gives us a new Defining Advancement. Much as I like Stranglethorn's themes, it draws its roots from Age & Treachery. That has become a very nice and integral concept for Hunger's battlestyle, but we already have a Battle DA - that's Uttermost. And Inherit, mostly, though it does have a social gimmick. The third should be something conductive to ruling, seeing how it is our Geas task, and while Stranglethorn's timeskip power is surely helpful there, I think a DA that comes from successfully governing people would be more fitting.
There was also the worry about Aeira's relatives fucking up mentioned. I think it was mostly said in a joking tone, but as they say, there's a grain of truth to every joke. Can we really trust these people with the fate of a nation, considering their history? It's a heavy responsibility to place on someone's shoulders, not just something to randomly offload on people just because of who they're related to. If one considers the potential of Surgrafters, - interstellar scale! - the future importance of Elixir is not inconsiderable, assuming they survive. If we're forced to part with certain party members in the future to avoid an Apocalypse, at least we can give them the job of improving our support base in the Voyaging Realm rather than sending them off to do whatever.
Apocrypha might intervene, but that will always be a problem. At least it would reduce personal danger to Hunger? Not a great silver lining when human lives are at stake, but all we can do is try our best. I don't think we would abandon these people to their plight if we heard news of a catastrophe heading for them, since Aobaru and Aeira would plead to let them return at the very least, so it's not like Apo-chan doesn't already have reasons to target Elixir.
It stings to leave the magics and Artifacts of the Wall behind, I won't lie. That was one of the main reasons to go after the Tower instead of entering the fishing competition. I don't believe we won't be penalized for this choice, and the magic/Artifact choices will probably be reduced if not eliminated entirely when we come back to them, but I can console myself with the improvements the Opalescent Tower will make to the Evening Sky and the 10% Danger bonus.
[X] Be the Change
[X] The Tower Itself [X] Feat: Crown
AGAINST ALL REASON, THE SAGA CONTINUES Words: 3219 To see images at full size, simply view them in a new tab or use right-click->view image! [Previous Update][Next Update]
Brand-name Genes
II
The news you receive is grave enough to elicit a carefully-modulated expression of agog consternation rather than knit brows, but inside you boils a righteous and terrible fury all the same.
"A village is imperiled?" you announce, audibly shocked. "We must save them immediately!"
Lady Henrietta nods minutely, looking up at you, resolute yet trepidatious. Freed from helm, her dark bob of hair sits neatly save where it has clumped with blood and sweat. Unconsciously, she clutches the scar of the near-lethal gut wound. "They've likely reached the village. Be careful, Sir Jiko; one can never overestimate orcs."
"Worry not!" You give her a grin worthy of your toothpaste commercials, a glittering arc of sunlight scattered by ivory. "They sound like some real bad apples, picking fights with the weak! It's time they had a taste of their own medicine!" You pat her head, giving her a thumbs up. "That's the guarantee of Jiko, the Martial Hero!"
While you spoke, you had been scanning the horizon subtly, so as to not alert and panic the civilians. There-- a slight discolouration in the celestial dome, a leaden line of smoke like a plumb bob of heaven.
You deploy a thorned spike of Earphone Dupli-Jack from your heel into the earth, an inverted maple harvesting sound instead of light, directing its growth askew to assess the village. In an instant you have the layout of the buildings closest to sources of vibration; in a preindustrial society with low mechanisation, the most likely sources are moving bodies.
You withdraw the Earphone Satellite, moist soil sinking around you in an irregular radius, and crouch down in preparation of high-speed movement. Henrietta approaches and you duck down even further, drawing level to her eyes. "Fairfarren, Sir Jiko. We will follow once we are recovered."
Never let it be said that Tanaka Jiko does not admire a willingness to risk life and limb for the sake of others! Unfortunately, judging by their prior performance, she and her chivalrous fellows were more likely to hurt themselves than any orcs. It was especially sad considering the parameters of Experimental Test Subject 001-O, demonstrably substandard for its species due to starvation and stunted development; what chance did they have against a band of its well-fed brethren?
Even so, there was no need to be discourteous and refuse assistance outright.
"Don't take too long, or there'll be nothing left for you to do but help clean up!" You laugh uproariously as her expression of cautious hope morphs into one of mild exasperation, and subject her to another bout of encouragement entirely unprompted.
Once you feel the Civilian VIP(?) is adequately mollified, you finally set off to deliver justice.
In one bound you reach the next hill, and along the way you take a single voracious breath, sipping greedily on air sweeter than any you could find on Earth; so vivacious, so pure! If you didn't know any better, you might believe someone could actually live on wind and dew alone-- at least, in this world.
On landing you crouch for half a second, calves steaming and stretching as your Quirk builds tension, marshalling every cell in your body. "Ippo!" you proclaim; just one step was all you needed.
Your mind opens.
The grass, still flattened from your sudden arrival, slows in its returning ascent. Flower petals tossed aloft begin to sink like coins in jelly. The flesh of your legs splits bloodlessly at knee and ankle, telescoping to an elongated arrangement of biological lever and muscular catapult.
To the guards of Beleriad you had shown the face of the Martial Hero, the compassionate beacon of victory. To the inhuman marauders threatening innocent lives and livelihoods, you had no intention of offering clemency.
To these orcs- these Villains- you will demonstrate the fist.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" Release. Motion. You loose a thunderclap bellow of exultation, a roar primeval whose deafening front can only hope to chase your shadow. Louder still is the rising marmoreal peal of your legs, bone against cartilage against bone, more industrial actuator than locomotive meat; the grinding of your lengthened tread, clawed toes scraping furrows through soil and stone; the gasp of redirection spiracles compressing atmosphere.
The curve of the hill inverts as though struck by the fist of god, earth blossoming open before splintering into a maze of spiderweb canyons.
The rattled knights, merely a valley away, sway, topple, scatter like leaves. They tumble gracefully across cushion-soft grass and loam, cries alarmed but not pained, reduced briefly to gleaming comets with kaleidoscope tails of wildflower and surcoat chiffon by the touch of a hurricane gale.
But all you see is the halcyon expanse of the sky. The sun feels near enough to pluck from its place in heaven's crown, while the clouds rush by beside and beneath you in frantic waves, spun-sugar continents swallowing up all but the meanest streaks of firmament below.
Technique: One Step, Nine Valleys, complete!
An endless howling fills your ears as you soar unaided through the air. The wind assails every inch of you with cruel whipblows of excoriating force, yet the ragged brushstroke of your mane is undaunted, more rudder than banner as you sheer headlong through turbulence and merciless friction.
At this pace, you won't arrive for another few seconds.
Ah, if you were going to be interacting with society regularly-- at least in the capacity of protecting it-- would you need some kind of identifying costume…? Hm, more pressing than that, what were the nudity taboos like in this world's culture, assuming they had any?
How could you work around them?
With negligible effort you surmount air resistance and drag to cup your chin in thought, possible solutions presenting themselves in your mind's eye. Perhaps a variant of Hagakure's quirk could bear dividends if utilized properly…
You spear through the sunset-colored plateau of a cumulonimbus, chased by miles of spiraling trichroma. On the other side, you spy a beleaguered village huddled under winding columns of smoke, flames like flowers in full display, pillars of grey ash twisting together into a great listing tower overhead.
Your destination. You exhale through mouth and vent jets, correcting your course as distant gray figures resolve into green garbed in steel and leather, ten paired golden twinkles tracking your descent. Five orcs in all, two out of position and already making way to flank your landing point.
Hmph! Too late, Villain!
With a grace entirely beyond human, you twist and turn your body through the biting winds until you resemble more arrow than man, heels locked together and aimed unerringly toward the earth as you steadily develop a clockwise rotation.
However, you are not an arrow; you are not even a drill, though your form quickly begins smearing into a humanoid blur. No. What you are is--
"Divine Retribution: Skypiercing Thunderbolt!" You howl your technique's name with a giddiness bordering on euphoria, and the speed of your descent instantly triples-- with no further warning, you find yourself buried, even as the terrain around you protests violently.
Some moments after you arrive, so too does the shockwave of your impact, dispersing your impromptu earthen tomb with a kiloton proclamation- and the orcs foolish enough to intercept you with it.
Where tree and hill and beast once stood, only you remain!
"From over mountain and under sea… scattering the orioles from the lake branches! In spring the lonely swan takes flight, in autumn the ripe plum falls! Sun and moon wheel eternally in heaven, watching over all! The sins of all shall return to nothing! FEAR NOT! FOR I AM HERE!!" You smile wide to the huddle of humans, gracing them with an upraised thumb and an imperceptible twist of the head which makes your teeth flash mirror-bright.
Still, despite your theatrics, your ears readily track the greenskin remainders as they approach, wordlessly separating to hem you in, each a vertex of a triangle centred on you.
"Now, come at me all at once!"
To the right is the first, an explosive bolt of viridian muscle propelling a chipped axe at your neck. Hmph! Such guts! You duck toward the orc, axe spinning overhead, your left hand diverting the blade like plucking a bird from flight, right foot stamping on the leather boot as you stand upright, fist meeting chin in a buckshot blast of tooth and tongue. In the grisly nebula of flying brainmatter two golden lights fade like stars; upraised, your elbow falls, a dividing meteor that crumples boiled leather, implodes rib and gut and pelvis, a blow that splits the orc in twain and paints the earth brown and speckled ivory. The orc folds, a crushed butterfly still twitching, arms drunkenly clawing at sky and earth.
The orc from behind, too cautious, even now retracting a failed knifeblow. Too slow! You seize its wrist, the joint crushed apart in your iron grip, and wrench. Elbow and shoulder dislocate but flesh holds firm, firm enough for you to pull the orc off-balance. Its own attempts to twist the arm, predictably attempting to dismember itself free, fail when you permit enough slack for it to skate recumbent into your foot, neck first. You stomp on its shoulder, ripping the limb free and belting it at the other orc standing. The disarmed orc, throat crushed, grasps your foot with its other hand; with a mere flex of your toes you dig into its moss-green flesh, hoisting upward in ballerino brawn to lift it onto its feet, facing you, brackish blood spilling from its stump.
You kick away its grip and step forward, biting ankle-deep through soil and stone, your tread a war god's advance, your footing absolute. You do not hesitate to correct the mercy you showed 001-O with your debut attack. With a flash like a thunderbolt, your arm blurs, piston-like, five deep wells wrenched from the orc's stomach through mail and leather and cloth and skin. In the next moment a riotous nexus of wind buffets you, a typhoon ouroboros, ropes of blood jetting from each cored wound on the orc, then the skin itself distending like a balloon, armor rupturing, uncoiled intestines flinging themselves horizonward followed by heart and lungs swollen twofold, tendon and muscle fraying in lengths like unwinding the strings of some mortal instrument, the orc bending backward, folding upon itself with a series of cracks, spine emerging from earthy innards like the back of some shelled serpent from a squalid sea.
Technique: Ox-Disemboweling Reverse Vacuum Palm, complete! You flex, and absorb the mess that stained you. No sense wasting perfectly good nutrients. For the sake of spectators, you dust off your hands.
One orc remains. Having seen you demolish its compatriots in a period of less than seven seconds, it has only hunched slightly in posture, reclaimed axe swinging pendulously, lamplight eyes focused on your fists. You fling your arms wide, then theatrically tuck your left arm behind your back, turning your body to face the orc side-on. You display your palm, then tuck every finger but your index.
Before was business. This is pleasure. Not laboratory conditions, but it'll do.
You beckon the orc, who vocalises a growl, the first sound you've heard from them, but does not attack. You approach, and it skips backward an equal distance. Faced with a physical superior in both skill and physical might, it has correctly assumed to control the range of engagement. Well in truth, the correct solution is to flee, but you won't hold that against it! Its death has been written; all that remains is the road to that destination!
You feint, lone finger like a darting arrow, and close the fist as the orc swings the axe to amputate the digit, your arm writhing as you stab downward at its thigh with a needle of force. Quick as a flash you retreat, watching the orc tilt before correcting. You wag your finger.
Abandoning retreat, the orc attacks, eyes like headlights onrushing. A swing of the axe you paralyse with a jab to the elbow, a rising knee you poke off-centre, its aborted attempt to punch you halt with a stunning flick to its shoulder nerves. Kicks dodged and pushed off-balance, grapples broken through pure motion and prediction, even an attempted bite halted by a jab to the jaw muscles. At each interception, each counter and diversion, you retreat, watching it reassess, watching it learn even as its body grows dotted with bruises and blood, skeleton held together with shivering muscle.
Such earnest resolve! It reminds you of your own adventurous youth. The speed of its adaptation, the way it revises each approach as you test it with attacks from every angle, it brings a tear to your eye. You're seeing its genetic adaptation in action right before your eyes, mastering in seconds concepts it would take humans months to learn.
Suddenly, in the midst of attempting a feinted axechop, it swerves to fling the axe at the civilians. But in doing so, it turns its back on you. In a thundercrack motion of unslung tension through your whole body, you sweep your finger at the twirling logsplitter, sheer wind pressure flinging it skyward.
But the orc is not so lucky. The fall of your finger outnumbers the raindrops of a storm, fresh daylight piercing through its flesh. It collapses, then struggles, half-running on its knuckles to the humans. You stab through its ankle to touch earth, pulling it back. It lets out one last defiant screech before your finger, like a falling missile, sends it to the next world.
You flick away the brainmatter, standing back up. "Looks like I overestimated you."
You turn your body to the humans, who have to look up to meet your eyes. "Fear not, citizens! The orc menace will trouble you no longer! For the Martial Hero, Jiko, is here!"
The villagers stare, before one old man struggles forward on a cane. "My lord, our gratitude is yours."
"Your gratitude buoys my heart, Citizens!" You pose and flex, before remembering there are no cameras. You continue posing anyway. "But you too may rest easy, as the Unchallenged Godfist has never known defeat!"
"That is… good to hear. I am Melas, the elder of the village. Might I ask, are you some manner of ithilyor?"
Ithilyor? You shrug. "I've never heard that term in my life! I'm Jiko, and I'm here to kill the Hero out of Legend!"
"I… see." The man bows, visibly puzzled. "Lord Jiko, we are at your service. You have saved our lives, and we will do our utmost to repay that debt."
---
Lady Henrietta and her guard eventually arrive to witness the aftermath of your blitzing introduction to orc combat. Astonished, they insist on taking you to Duke Beleriad for recognition of your might and discussions of having you on official retainer.
Despite your selflessness, you are in a new world without resources or infrastructure, and not even a shirt on your back. Even if you are especially suited to surviving and acting in a Heroic occupation outside of civilisation, there are benefits to be gained from indulging in society.
[ ]I Would Like A Job- Accept Lady Henrietta's tentative offer, pending corroboration from her father. Guaranteed at least a position on Henrietta's personal guard, can be argued higher or lower.
*Choose to work directly for Henrietta (currently stationed in nearby manor, responsible for local area) or another position within Beleriad's hierarchy.
*Binds you in contract of work.
*Fortress Beleriad is the closest major city and Henrietta's childhood home. Food, clothing, weapons, and other resources are available. Even a library!
*Hardened by frontier warfare, their garrison is almost up to what you'd consider mediocre!
*Your 23rd Century knowledge is revolutionary in the fields of medicine, chemistry, anatomy and physiology, physics, material engineering, etc.
*Perhaps what this world needs is an inspiration, not merely another pair of fists...
*Henrietta confesses that she is her father's favourite daughter. Saving her life will likely earn his unstinting favour, which can be redeemed in many forms.
*Cash money.
*You know you've been walking around with everything out, right?
[ ] These People Need Me - Refuse her offer and stay here, in the outpost-town of Helbersham, close to the Orcwaste.
*You have just met these people and you love them. Such is the power of a Hero's heart!
*Little more than a smattering of houses with enough bodies to ensure at least some early warning of orc invasion.
*There are some problems that cannot be solved by fists. With your aid and nearby lumber, reinforce this town into a truly Heroic redoubt!
*Henrietta will petition her father to financially support the town, but aid will likely not arrive for weeks.
*Make friends.
[ ] The Lone Ranger - Begin making excursions into the Orcwaste. Better to unleash your true power where there is no chance of collateral damage.
*These fists… they hunger for the electric thrill of battle!
*You've not innovated for many years. Perhaps what you need is a true struggle to progress...
*In a test of will, you will see who stands and who falls…
*Your blood churns at the thought, singing a tuneless melody. It sings, calling you… calling you to the ultimate ring!
*The village will send an experienced ranger with you to make sure you don't kill yourself.
Regardless of your choice, you have received 150 Ducats from Henrietta's personal money pouch. A princessly sum, equivalent to three years salary for a labourer, or approximately fifty thousand breads.
---
Now that you have some time to yourself, what should you do?
[ ] Self-Mastery- Orcs come in bigger variants than this paltry offering. Let it not be said that Tanaka Jiko failed to rise to the occasion when it came knocking on his door!
*Begin a total revision of your combat style, some techniques of which haven't seen daylight since your active Heroing days! Also begin adjusting the fatality of your techniques upward.
*Unseal the Forbidden Scroll, the techniques you swore not to use due to excessive lethality, collateral damage, or other miscellaneous reasons.
*Examples: Mad God War Dance, the -Genocider series, Being Like Water.
[ ] Class Reunion- Begin integrating the Quirks and Quirk Factors of your classmates. If this world is truly as magical as it seems, you might want some "magic" of your own!
*Commit Quirk Crimes!
*Integrated Quirks require less time to activate in a combat situation, and are capable of growth and development.
*Assume access to all Quirks held by UA students and teachers during Deku's time.
*The synergies in combining Quirks should not be underestimated. Consider Yanagi Rei's Poltergeist, a telekinetic Quirk whose radius of effect is limited to the "body," combined with Tokage Setsuna's Lizard Tail Splitter, the ability to safely dismember and remotely control your own body parts. Or even Jiko's eidetic memory of accelerator technology made manifest through Creation and Electrification?
*Are orcs magic? Perhaps some experimentation with Erasure is needed...
*Strategies and discussion boost results of this option.
[ ] But Really, Study the Fist - Those tears of yours weren't just for show! Now that the village is safe, the call of the Praxis cannot be denied!
*Make progress in the Fist Praxis, the subsection of the Imperial Praxis with the greatest compatibility to Tanaka Jiko. Despite its name, the Fist Praxis encompasses all unarmed melee arts.
*Even Jikowagon is exhausted!
Three further thoughts, that didn't quite fit into the tactics post above.
Knowing when to come back to the Sovereignty for aid relies on the Surgecraft communication element. Might be worth it to check out the girl responsible, who also had connections to Quickwater kid.
Speaking of Quickwater kid, I liked his rationality. Maybe we should drop by and see how he's doing/see if our increased rank makes him easier to heal/see if he can buff Vershe to move faster with his element considering that Aeria could cover Vershe like that and his take on that is an agility boost.
Also, we might want to mention the expected lifespan of the springs and how they almost were about to peak in five years, so as to better safeguard that resource.
[J] I Would Like A Job
[J] But Really, Study the Fist
Jiko might need true struggle to progress, but with the Praxis, he doesn't have to seek out orcs to get it. And in the meantime, he can drop Jikoness all over the place for the Beleriad people to do with what they will. Jiko probably has to actually do a job at some point, but with his broad skill base I'm sure he could end up getting paid for something he'd more or less do anyway.
we will bring a revolution of the underclasses to the Sovereignty and create a just society for all.
