Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Is Bai doing all right? She doesn't seem to be using the mouth-to-mouth-fishblood-ambush tactic.
In part three of this story she learned that getting affirmative consent before kissing anyone is a good idea.
Bai Meizhen turned to face her fully. Her mouth was dry. Was she really going to be this bold again? "I propose a kiss. Do you think I could fool you with such a thing?"

Bao Qingling was off balance, visibly so. Bai Meizhen stepped forward. Bao Qingling stepped back. Even if this was not a battle, she knew that she had to press the attack.

"You can't be serious," the other girl muttered, still not looking at her. "Fine, if you wish to push this far with this, I will call your bluff."

Bai Meizhen felt a thrill, both fear and anticipation as she stepped up. It was only then that she realized a problem.

"Well?" Bao Qingling challenged, looking down at her.

"You're too tall," Meizhen muttered, looking away, she felt her cheeks burning. "You-that is. You would need to bend down."

Her voice sounded so horribly awkward that she half wished to fall into her own shadow and disappear.

"Oh," Bao Qingling said, once more off balance. "...Fine, I won't give you an excuse to back out."

Bao Qingling lowered her head. Bai Meizhen raised herself on her toes.

Their lips met.

It wasn't like the night on the lake. There was no drawing back, no fear, no perceived disgust.

She hadn't made a mistake this time.
Ambush kisses sound good in theory but have a strong risk of backfiring!
 
Building toward Revenge
Building Towards Revenge

Li Suyin tossed her last can of Diesel energy drink into the corner, joining the twenty previous victims of her mania. Liquid energy flowed through her, focusing her addled mind and tensing limbs laden with fatigue. Her heart was stuttering just on the edge of cardiac arrest, the blood pounding erratically in her ears, but the task was almost finished. All six of her screens had scores of windows where were code was generating, compiling, and debugging. Information was flashing by faster than could be processed, at least by human eyes and minds. A few of her dumber virtual assistants were ensuring the process the code was undergoing went smoothly, freeing her to do the important work. Her work as warden, jailer, and captor for a crumb of the most hostile, potent, and dangerous piece of code she had ever seen.

Encased in ever-evolving, and, unfortunately, dissolving, firewalls, this piece of code was her only lead on the… boogeyman of the Net. It was at once a virulent virus, capable of subverting and destroying any code in front of it and was the most impressive piece of self-modifying and growing artificial intelligence she had seen. Normally, self-modifying code, even with some basic AI, were a dime a dozen. Heck, the firewalls containing this thing were her own special brand of the stuff. But whatever this was made even the best she could create look like children bicycling in a drag race. However, get enough bicycles on the track and clog up the drag-racers engines and even a kid could win the race, albeit with an unhealthy amount of carnage behind it.

Shaking her head to get rid of that morbid imagery, Li Suyin slotted the last piece of programming in place and began to run it. The jail worked beautifully in containing whatever this was. How it did that, she couldn't rightly remember. Nor did she care. Step one was done. The next step would come later. Much later. After detoxing from dangerous amounts of Diesel and crashing on a bed for the next eternity. The last thing she remembered was checking the airgaps before slumber, and the dreams that came with, ensnared her.

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A bird chirping on her nightstand was enough for Li Suyin to know that the world disapproved of her reliance on chemical cocktails to stay awake and was showing its disapproval with a pounding headache, nausea, and cramps. Crawling out of bed to turn off her godforsaken alarm was a torture that should be banned by every convention regarding human decency and rights. But it was either that or getting a progressively worse headache as her alarm rose in pitch and volume.

The choice was conveniently made for her when the alarm abruptly shut off. Snuggling deeper into the quilt and mattress, she attempted to will herself to sleep so that she could forget about all the pain. That didn't last long. Her covers were rudely removed from her and the blinds cruelly opened letting in the most hated ally of the world, the sun.

"Rise and shine, it's time to eat your breakfast so we can get on the road," her mother spoke in a calm and measured voice that drove nails into her mind.

"W...what? Why would I ever get on the road today?"

"Li Suyin, it's already Monday. Orientation day for second years like yourself at Argent Programming. We need to leave in an hour or you'll be late. Now come on, get up, and get ready."

Crawling out of bed and grumbling vulgarities and obscenities that only made her mother shake a head in disapproval, Li Suyin stumbled into the restroom. Staring at her reflection, she saw the eyepatch which hid her empty socket from the rest of the world. With carefully practiced steps, she removed the patch, grabbed a pocket light, and began inspecting the socket. No sign of infection or inflammation. Good enough. With more practiced motions she cleaned and covered the hole, all the while turning her thoughts to the vicious code trapped in her custom jail program and secured on air-gapped equipment. She smiled, a smile filled with malice and promises of retribution. Stage one of her revenge was complete.

But stage two would have to wait. Next was the rest of her hygiene, picking the outfit for the day, breakfast, packing Stage One in her Dad's car, and then traveling to college, for another year of work, learning, networking, and building Stage Two.

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Diving into the virtual world of the Net was always an experience. Data represented by colors and shapes flashed into reality around her. Skyscrapers of data spread through every level of this fragmented world, threads of connections and privacy gates crisscrossed every which way, creating a tapestry of flimsy security for individuals seeking what pleasure they could in a fake world. Or what money they could.

The eight legs of her avatar nimbly avoided various data packs containing ads or viruses or both as she navigated quickly to the darker corners of the Net. Places where there wasn't as much observation, and where the less scrupulous lurked and plied their trade. Li Suyin tugged on various strands in her web of news and communication, seeking for more information as she traveled to the predetermined server. Apparently there were whispers of a Haas-Bioroid server on Mars melting down, with no explanation. All the data that was there had been seemingly deleted to the point it no longer existed. Or consumed.

With that dark thought swirling in her mind, she had her avatar enter a very specific pack of data and then entered a simple code, twice, before getting access to Ling Qi's chat.

'Hey, you up and around Ling Qi?'

'Oh, hey Li Suyin! It's been a while since we've been able to talk. Are you back on campus now?'

'I am, but as much as I would like to chat, I don't know how long I can piggyback off of the college's security before alerting someone right now, so I'm going to make this short. I want to commission a heist.'

'No time for tea and pleasantries Li Suyin? For shame.'

'Do you want to hear about the job or not?'

'Fine, fine, business before fun I suppose. What do you want?'

'I want every scrap of data from the Jinteki NESEI projects.'

There were a few uncomfortable seconds with no response. And then it edged into a minute. Li Suyin checked the stability of her connection and the security to make sure that there wasn't a drop on her end before returning her attention to the chat.

'Ling Qi? You still there?'

'Yeah… I just had to run a debug program real quick because the text that popped on my screen made no sense at all.'

'Look, I'll give you the tools to do the job and we both know that copies of the information there will make a pretty penny to the right buyer. I just need to know if you are willing.'

'Some of your fancy AI tools Li Suyin? You shouldn't! Alright, I'm willing, but this is going to take months to plan, maybe even years. Are you willing to wait that long?

'I am, especially if I'm constructing the tools you'll be using.'

'Then it looks like we have the beginnings of an arrangement! I'll take a peek around the Jinteki servers and see what they'll be protected with as well as connect to some acquaintances who run against a lot of Jinteki servers and see what they know. I'll keep in touch though! Bye for now!'

Her avatar was quickly shunted out of the server as the entire place seemed to crumble to pieces. Li Suyin just snorted at her friend's antics and jacked out of the Net. Back in the real world, she struggled to get out of her equipment. Now was the time to get ready for class. But before heading out, she went and peered at the innocuous form of Stage One, the hardware and software that imprisoned her only lead.

"I don't know what you are," Li Suyin whispered, "and I don't know who created you or your purpose. But you are a threat to the Net. And I will destroy you. I will grind your code to dust and scourge your software with hellfire. All because you thought it was a good idea to take my fucking eye. I'm coming for you, I will rend you asunder, and I will not be stopped."

A/N: Another omake for the omake throne @yrsillar! This one is another crossover between this quest and the world of Android:Netrunner. I hope people enjoy the read!
 
Meizhen's aunt, upon reading her niece's obligatory monthly report on progress of her cultivation arts:

"...Started learning two new social arts, good. Let's see... w-wait what. Seduction arts? Spider taming arts? E-eh? ...Butterfly Qi on ...Stomach Meridian? That's not even a thing! The fuck, Meizhen. :U"
 
Turn 10 Arc 4 Modding Vote 1
"I think I want to remove the active element," Ling Qi said, after considering for a moment. "The effects I find the most useful are the extension of my perceptions. I want to make that two way though. Really, the rest of the art is something I'm willing to discard, I have better arts for those purposes."

It had been a useful stopgap when she had lacked social arts entirely, but now between Playful Muse's Rapport and Moonless Saboteur's Smile, she had better options.

Bian Ya raised her head from Ruan Shen's shoulder, frowning thoughtfully. "I understand why you wished to speak with me on this matter."

"Senior Sister is the best expert I know," Ling Qi said humbly.

"Perhaps in a year or two when you've expanded your circle of acquaintances that might even be flattering," Bian Ya said in amusement.

"Give her a break, Junior Sister Ling has been trying pretty hard of late," Ruan Shen teased.

Ling Qi just crossed her arms and huffed at them. At least they had stopped… cuddling.

"It's not too difficult a task," Bian Ya admitted. "I would normally suggest removing the musical element to achieve what you are looking for, but your focus makes that a poor choice."

"You still practicing that art you were looking at before?" Ruan Shen asked, leaning back in his chair.

Ling Qi nodded. "Yes, it's proved pretty useful."

"You can probably use that as a model then, convert the Harmony of the Dancing Wind into a secondary background effect," Ruan Shen said

Bian Ya shot him an unamused look. "I believe I was the one being asked for advice?"

"Sorry," Ruan Shen replied, with a playful smirk.

"Hmph. In any case I would suggest leaning into your command of the wind," Bian Ya said. "It is an element of transmission, the medium through which light and sound alike must travel. For this art, I would suggest focusing on sound, attempting to add visual elements would simply snarl the qi flows."

Ling Qi nodded slowly. "I see, I would probably need to shift the arts heart meridians to head meridians."

"Not necessarily," Bian Ya replied. Ling Qi felt the wind in the room shift, and then a feeling of fluttering lightness and energy. When she heard Bian Ya's voice again, it whispered directly in her ear without the girls lips moving. "It can be of use to provide some bolstering effect to those you are in communication with."

"Of course, that'll cost you in other areas," Ruan Shen said.

"The Harmony of the Dancing Wind is unsuited to long range communication," Bian Ya said, giving him a quelling look. "I do not believe it can be adjusted past the battlefield coordination level. Of course communications are not your specialty, so for your purposes, that should be enough."

That was a fair enough point. If she went all in the communications aspect she probably could squeeze more range out of the technique, but she wasn't sure how useful that was, given her usual battlefield role. "Alright, thank you for your advice Senior Sister," Ling Qi said. "Do you think you could assist when I go to make the adjustments?"

"I can certainly observe," Bian Ya agreed. "And warn you if it seems that you are in danger of breaking things."

"That is all I ask," Ling Qi replied. She knew the process was too personalized for anything more.


Alright, it is now time for the art design vote

There are several parts to the art design.

First you will need to decide on the passives. HDW has forty points worth of passive bonus to distribute. No one bonus may be higher than half the value(20) in this case.
Bonuses may be applied to the following categories.

[] Combat perception
[] Social Perception
[] Spiritual Avoid
[] Physical Avoid

Example
[] Combat perception 20, Spiritual Avoid 10, Social Perception 10

Secondly, you will need to decide the new meridian count for the art. HDW has three head and two heart meridians at base. You may keep this the same or increase the number of head meridians, either by converting heart meridians or just adding additional head meridians. Increasing Head Meridians will increase the maximum range and perception effects of the art, while reducing maximum buffing efficacy. Meridians cannot increase beyond a maximum of 10.

Example

[][meridian] 4 head, 1 heart

Finally, you must choose how many techniques the new art will have. Actual technique effects will be designed in the next step. Right now the number and rank of techniques is being determined. You will have a certain number of TP(tech points) to spend on potency.

E or below= 0.5 points
D-rank=1 point
C-rank=2 points
B-Rank=4 points
A rank=8 points

HDW has a total of 6TP so for example it is impossible to have an A rank technique, it could however have a B and a C rank or three C ranks.

This vote is by plan, so a whole vote would look like this.

[] Plan example
-[] Combat perception 20, Spiritual Avoid 10, Social Perception 10
-[] 4 head, 1 heart
-[] C(2), B(4)

This Vote will be closing tomorrow and the next update will be Thursday, with the final portion of this mini arc on Saturday due to more mechanical nature of updates. Normal schedule will resume afterward.
 
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3/2 seems okay to me for meridians
probably dump most of the points in combat stats
and probably minimize number of techniques in favor of strength, my gut feeling
 
Please wait while the math cabal is processing. It could take a while. How about you take some coffee/tea and wait? LQ has very good tea taste after all.

Edit:[09.Sept.2020] This is officially the funniest comment from me on this forum and it`s about math!

Edit:[09. Sept. 2021]This is still my funniest comment even year later.

Edit:[27.11.2023]This is sadly not september the 9th, but it is still the funniest comment i have made. thank you!

Edit:[09.09.2024]This thread is still active after four years and that fact astounds me. Let's make it four more awesome years!
 
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Well, we wanted communication and perception stuff. Do we want to try for a B rank and C rank tech, one devoted towards communications and one towards perception? Something like:

Spring Breeze Canto upgraded to C rank, and a B rank battlefield communications technique? Or the other way around?

Alternatively, we could run three C rank techniques, although I'm not sure what the third one would be.
 
Lets say:
[]plan combat coordination
-[] Combat perception 10
-[] Social Perception 5
-[]spiritual avoid 15
-[]physical avoid 10
[][meridian] 3 head, 2 heart
-[] C(2), B(4)

Such an art doesnt need many techniques, so 2 is the best I think
Meridian distribution is good I think
And since is a combat art there is less need for social perception, better to use this for spiritual avoid, a weaker stat for us
 
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For reference:
  • HDW currently has 10/10/10/10 Social Perception, Combat Perception, Spiritual Hit, Spiritual Avoid
  • HDW currently has 3/2 head/heart, 2 music 3 wind
  • HDW currently has 2 D-rank and 2 C-rank techs, with the main one we actually care about (Spring Breeze Canto) being one of the Ds, though Winds of Winter Yearning provides social screen at C.
I'm not a math cabalist, but I suspect we'll end up allocating our passive bonuses to Social Perception and Combat Perception alone, shift at least one heart meridian to head, and collapse down to three C-rank techs (one each for perception, communication, and screening).

That said, yes, we're waiting on the long-range-planning division to crunch the numbers. For those not as versed in the mechanics: meridians are the main thing to be careful with, because our meridian opening is planned out very precisely to ensure that we can actually equip the arts that we train up. If you look at our character sheet, there is almost no "slack" in our current meridians.
 
If this is a combat art, then might a C rank Upkeep tech be worthwhile? As I understand it; activating techs takes time, so a cheap way of skipping one of those actions might be something to consider.
 
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