Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

@occipitallobe my new Good Seed background

Mograine

A child of the Golden Devil Clan that had their bloodline mutated heavily and without any chance of repair. The physical power of the metals removed in favor of greater magical power. He came originally from a simple farming village of the clan and has an older brother and younger sister.

Age: 98 (turn 6)
Cultivation: Heavenstep 10th
Target stage: 13th Heavenstep
Bonuses Received:
Bloodline of Eight Fold Metal - turn 3
Nine Fold Dao path - turn 4
LFS - Turn 5
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Bonus Asked for:

The rattle of chains and the grinding of stone was my only warning before a hand caked in callouses and thick with muscles dragged my weak body into the burning light of the sun. In the light the visage of the one that had held my body aloft without strain was only ever made more revolting and painful to look upon. Scars and aged leathery skin stretched tight over bones and muscles gave him an appearance akin to that of a corpse that still moved, creating a form of instinctual horror within my heart.

"Specimen 05 has shown an above average intelligence, and has resisted a nervous breakdown since I acquired the specimen. 05 has thus surpassed specimen 03 in mental acuity and strength. Experiments will now commence at Noon today. Desired outcome of experiments: Mutation of Golden Devil Bloodline to remove or weaken physical strength aspect of bloodline. Mutation preferably viral in nature, allowing for single success to affect the entire bloodline." The man's voice was a deep drone that never wavered and had less life than the empty desert of the clan's holdings. Yet, I knew that the odds of escape were low as the person was clearly skilled in the arts of the cultivator and based upon the angle of the light and the scenery from the window we were within the foothills of the Turtlebone Mountains. Unfortunately, straining my neck I could tell that we were closer than I would like to the mountains themselves than the land of the clan.

With a harsh screech of bone on stone the man turned back towards me, with a strange item in hand. "Experiment 05-1, Series 15 of type M. Introduction of extracted bloodline essence from specimens 01, 02, 04, combined with essence from spirit beast of decay type. Expected outcome: metal provided durability reduced or eliminated as 01, 02, 04 all had activated basic expression of bloodline, it is expected that decay will target similar aspects and enforce decay upon them. Lower concentration compared to final 04 experiment due to decay overpowering life-force. Injecting compound into origin point of bloodline, duel focal point bloodline; heart, and dantian." As he spoke a quill carved his words verbatim into a piece of solid stone, with widening eyes I looked around the room and saw well over a hundred stones shimmering with carved writing. As the corpse like man moved towards me with that large item in his hand, I struggled against the metal chains that held me in place. "05 you are not able to break those chains as I used Blood Bone Forging on them, only a person of greater power than I, could hope to shatter those chains. A mortal such as yourself, especially with the curse of the heavens upon your shoulders has no such hope. Of course I do not discount the possibility of a normal Mortal ascending or otherwise breaking such items, but once more the curse of the Heavens eliminates that chance. Tell me truthfully, why did you think I went after you?"

The man spoke as he saw me struggle against the chains, that anchored me to the ground and forced me to stand on my toes without rest. Looking up at the inhuman face of my captor, I shrugged the best I could, "I assume due to the Heavens hatred of my people. As for myself in particular, no real reason beyond ease of capture I would say." I wished that I could gather enough energy to scream at him in defiance and claim that the clan would come for me, but I know that the odds of my being saved or let go are near to zero for the location in which I am, and so with defiance impossible the only option was to bend the knee to him. For where there is life there is hope after all, and perhaps if I work with him I can eventually make my escape.

His lips, dried and leathery split open in a parody of a smile at my answers and nodded his head, even as he moved closer towards me with that item in hand. "It seems that my assessment of your mind was not invalid, although I find your lack of outright defiance interesting. As the previous specimens I gathered never stopped screaming and pledging their final revenge upon me for my actions, their defiance although impossible and irreverent was unending. Although, as much as your clan tries to claim that they are above the others of this world, in truth I feel that you are more akin than you would like to admit." My face twisted into a glare at the wretched lies that he spoke at the end and jerked my head around at the room in which I was held within, to bring attention to the differences that existed.

The man glanced around the room and did something I never expected such a creature to do, he faltered, his stance and movements becoming weaker and less sure. "I…I…My Dao is that of Revelation. I might only be a Core Formation individual, but even so I can see further than most due to my Dao." The man turned away and his form shimmered in the light as an illusion faltered and ended revealing a much more normal human, that stood tall and aged, giving the sensation of a sage more than a monster. It was almost enough to make one forget the chains that held me in place. "I do not seek redemption or forgiveness, my crimes against humanity are too great for such outcomes, and even now I can feel Heaven's fury turning towards me. Soon a tribulation will fall and annihilate me for it will be of a strength beyond that which has ever tested me before. Yet, until that moment I will work towards a greater end." The man flicked his finger and the chains that had once held me tightly simply faded away as if they had never been.

Moving my limbs to recover sensation, I looked at the man outlined in the light of the setting sun. "The Blood of Bronze must never end if there is any hope for this world, and yet the blood has become weak and diluted. Aspects have been long forgotten and even longer unused within your blood." He raised a hand towards the distant planes of the clan's holdings and shook his head ruefully, "One aspect has been recovered in the last century, yet even it is yet to truly manifest. Your Elder is both powerful and weak, the others that surround you seek to eliminate your clan at the command of the Heavens, yet darkness shrouds your people."

Emotions raced through my body and mind, even as I was lost in a sea of confusion at the change in the man. He once seemed like any Blood Path cultivator that we were told horror stories of and yet now he seemed more akin to an elder of the clan in his words and actions. The man turned to face me and once more I was struck by how different he was from the one I awoke too, that man had been dead yet alive and inhuman, yet this man was alive and human to a high degree. He gestured once more and the house shifted towards something akin to a workshop of the clan, before sitting on one of the many chairs. "Your confusion is expected, although" He smiled ruefully, "your refusal to run screaming in fear out of my house is unexpected." I could feel my body shaking in fear or perhaps it was just tension, "There is no way I could live the night outside." The man leaned back in his chair as he looked out over the foothills of the Turtlebone Mountain, "That is true, yet some might argue that such a fate would be kinder than what I would do to you." I forced my shaking body to still, as I looked at the man and noticed just how weary he was, in every line of his body it was clear that he was tired and all but dead on his feat, but no matter how tired he was a Core Formation expert would have no issue with killing a mortal. "I have no interest in killing myself, there is always hope no matter how little if there is life. If I leave I am losing hope for the beasts without will quickly kill me, while you will take time to do so."

"Once more you prove your intelligence, yes whenever there is life there is hope. Outside of my house you would die within the first five minutes if not less, as the spirit beasts of the area have become accustomed to me feeding them scraps. However, you have interested me enough to extend an offer. I will do my best to reduce the damage that the experiments done by the Dark Revelation, and you will not resist such actions. Furthermore, if you prove skilled and able to cultivator I, as the Radiant Revelation will provide your foundational teachings."

Shocked, was an understatement of the century, as I did not understand what most of what he said meant. "Dark Revelation, Radiant Revelation what do you mean?"

The man sighed, "I was banished from my sect when I reached Core Formation, as my Dao manifested in such a way as to make me highly unstable. I was a great talent of the sect, one of the best in fact. From this came hubris, as I came to believe that I was always in the right, or otherwise could just brute force my way though everything that came before me. I chose the Dao of Revelation, with the intent of becoming something akin to a Lord or Saint figure, that brought with them revelations. If it had worked as I had hoped, it would have evolved into a potent form of mental control, or at the very least suggestion. However, due to my hubris and power I made several errors that I won't explain as knowing of them could destroy any hope that one might have of reaching such a stage of power. Regardless of the errors themselves, the result is what you have seen. I am a duel individual, during the day I am that monster that you awoke too, the creature that I was when I was with my sect. A creature without any morality or ethics and only seeks power at all costs. As the sun sets, I arise, during the night I understand morality and ethics that I inflict upon others during the day. Only during Dawn and Twilight, do both of us exist together and as one, yet each day we know that our time is running out."

I swallowed as the man spoke, for even I knew of the dangers of a broken Dao and how it could result in catastrophic outcomes for cultivators, and the two versions were so different even on the most fundamental of levels I could only accept the words of the one in front of me as true. "What is Dark trying to do?" I asked the single most important question for me right now.

"I honesty don't truly know, his experiments" The man gestures towards the towering stacks of stone tablets covered in carvings, "change on a daily basis it seems. He has done countless experiments on the nearby spirit beasts, mostly focusing around the core formation that the creatures have, but the rambling and nonsensical notes and write ups he has done frankly make no sense to me. His experiments regarding your clan are overall more understandable, most of them focus on removing your physical improvements, although I am not entirely sure why he is so dedicated to such a goal considering he doesn't want to remove the bloodline entirely, just that one aspect of it. Beyond that, I believe he is trying to figure out some way to remove my existence, and thus return to the sect and hoping to use the weakening of the Golden Devils as an offering to be accepted back when he does remove me."

Taking a seat on one of the other chairs in the room, thinking about what Radiant had told me of their fate and what their Dark side wanted to achieve. It was obvious to any of the clan that I had to do something to protect the clan's bloodline as that is one of the few things that gave us a true fighting chance against other forces from the increased durability and strength. My eyes danced over the stacks of stone and a hazy memory of a few cultivators talking about how spirit beast cores could be used as a cultivation pathway. It can't be that obvious can it? Was the only thought that came into my head as I considered the information and logical extrapolation of what I knew. "I think Dark might be trying to make a beast core for himself to use to escape you or for him to push you into." The moment I explained my theory behind the experiments, Radiant raced into action moving faster than I could see as stone flew and powered as he read through notes in seconds.

Cowering in my chair waiting for the maelstrom of energy to stop before moving all I could experience was the full power of a cultivator of such might using all of his power to increase his speed and the ramifications of such an act. Minutes turned into hours as Radiant read the notes of his dark opposite, before slamming to a halt in the middle of the room and sinking into a chair with a weary sigh. "I must thank you for providing that inspiration, otherwise Dark would probably have succeeded in his quest, although I do not believe he understood the true outcomes of such a work. I also understand more about his work and believe that I could complete his work so to speak with your assistance."

Shifting uncomfortably in my chair, looking up at the man, "What would I need to do and what do you think you can do?" The man stilled for a moment before waving his hand and a pot of food drifted over towards me, where he smiled towards the food. Taking the pot I began to eat as the man leaned back in the chair and began to speak.

"Your bloodline of Bronze is full of ancient power, that has not been seen for eons on this world. Yet, within each and every single one of your clan the echos and remnants of those aspects linger within the bloodline, awaiting the right spark to ignite." A wave of his hand saw sand raise up and take the form of a women with bronze skin, "This is Rina, one of the top talents of her generation, and also one that could revive the Blood of Gold in due time. If she manages such a feat it would be the first time in eons that a Gold Warrior arose within your clan, however other bloodlines have also been forgotten," The sandy form of Rina fell away as he let his hand fall back to his lap, "Silver, Tin, Copper and others linger within your blood but their aspects and concentrations are too fragile to ever return in their original forms. The desire of Dark was to push the Bronze aspect down so that it could no longer was a hallmark of your people, however in doing so he would have inadvertently opened the way for other bloodlines to arise once more within your clan. I think that with your acceptance, and the research that the Dark has done, I can mutate your bloodline to express elementals of many if not all of the forgotten metals. I expect that a minimum of three could be activated up to a total of nine metals. I personally would suggest not going above four, but this is your choice and I am not going to deny you, your choice. The one certainty that I know is that your body will not receive the physical support of the bloodline of bronze or any metal if you do this path, however in exchange you will gain greater mystical might."

As the man fell silent and the only sound was the wind blowing across the foothills as I ate the food I pondered his offer. Giving up the normal physical support of the bloodline, would be dangerous for me but the offer of greater mystical strength seemed to outweigh that cost. Furthermore, if the bloodline of the clan was running thin and aspects were being lost, was it not my duty to recover them as much as possible. "Go all the way, try for nine aspects unlocked." The choice had been made and now it was up to him.

The man's face became strained but he nodded reluctantly, but firmly nonetheless. "I will endeavor to unlock the nine most potent aspects in your bloodline. These are according to the Dark's research: gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tin, iron and mercury, Due to the fact that you won't receive any physical improvements from the metals, the only suggestion I have is to discover which each metal calls towards and build from there. However, you will be in uncharted territory for your clan as a whole and no one will be able to explain the next step to you. So be prepared for stress and difficulty aplenty on this path, yet you will gain power in the magical arts instead. Now we wait for sunrise, at which point this shall be done. I will shatter my Core and those of the spirit beasts in the area, to forcibly mutate your blood as you so wish. You must not resist or this is in-vain."

Nodding my acceptance of his words, I turned towards the night sky and waited in silence. Reflecting on how rapidly the course of a life could turn, before this day I was just a normal mortal farmer of the clan. I came from no great family, I had no money to my name, I had no true prospects in life and yet now I had a chance to become something more than another farmer. I hoped that my family was okay, but based upon the statements and what could be inferred, it is likely that they are safe and assumed that I was eaten by a spirit beast. Perhaps, I would one day see my younger sister again, but life has proven to be unpredictable and so only hope for such events could be held. The moon slowly drifted towards the ground and the golden rays of the sun tinted the sky red, alerting me that it was time for the first day of my new life or death.

The man blurred into the distance as howls and screeches erupted across the foothills as spirit beasts were harvested with brutal efficiency. As the sky grew ever brighter red, I waited and then he was back and his form shifting towards the gaunt corpse like appearance I saw when I first awoke yesterday, yet even so I still saw Radiant within his expression. Something grabbed me and moved me, as the land and scenery changed vastly in a single moment. As I tried to move I realized that the Blood Bone Forged Chains were once again wrapped around my body, but this time they were anchored to eight spheres the size of melons, radiating energy that even as a mortal I could feel. With a blur of speed and a wave of sand the man appeared in front of me and a ghastly smile split his face. In a voice thick with power he spoke and the world listened, his voice wrapped around and enveloped me even as it revealed sights unknown to mortals to my eyes.

"Awaken the forgotten, reveal the lost, empower the sundered, crippled the prominent. Ruin the mighty, empower the weak, sunder the tall and rise up the short. Reveal the truth, build forth knowledge. I am the bringer of Revelation, and I so command this Revelation to happen. Cores wrought of metal, blood bless of metal become one. Bronze melt away in the fire of revelation, come forth the wandering aspects. Let this final Revelation be done!." Every word the man spoke reverberated in my body, the cores and chains that surrounded me, building to a crescendo of power. As he spoke the final word, he withdrew a knife blazing with power and dripping blood, before slamming it straight into his heart and twisting it.

Power, invisible yet visible tore his body apart, blood rained from the sky, splinters of bones flew through the air and chaos reigned as the power that was unleashed tore into the array he had created. The cores ignited and the chains did so as well, for a split second I was stunned and then the pain reached my brain and I screamed.

I could feel my body burning on a level beyond the physical, the chains dug deep into my body and dragged with them the cores anchored to them. The first chain was consumed by flame and pain, and within my heart something new sparked into existence, empty and starving yet there none the less. The pain only grew and intensified as the empty hole feasted upon the energy left behind, filling its empty hunger. Before I could become accustom to the pain, a second and third chain were consumed and thus two more empty holes tore their way into existence. I could feel my body breaking apart and shattering under the unnatural forces at play, yet gritting my teeth, I refused to let it consume me. One by one the remaining cores and chains were consumed by the spectral flame, and empty holes tore open within my body.

As the final hole filled, and my body relaxed, darkness began to consume my vision, as the stress of the last days consumed me and I fell into the sand. Pain, all consuming pain welcomed me back to awareness. My entire body felt as if it was being burned and frozen all at once, each breath a struggle as my lungs screamed in pain as daggers of air raced through the sensitive organs. Every twitch of my body, a new sensation of pain and suffering slamming against my mind. All of this paled compared to the pain that radiated from something beyond the physical, as eight gnawing wounds tore into something that I did not even know I had had until now.

Feeling tears drip down my face leaving trails of burning pain as they fell from my eyes, I struggled to push myself up off of the burning sand. Slowly, as if I was a cripple I made my body move upwards, I could feel my arms tense and almost falter with such simple movements. Yet I pushed through and managed after agonizing minutes to sit upright and look at the surrounding area. The first thing that caught my eye, was the sun for it was now sinking towards the bottom of the sky, fear warred with pain as I knew that the spirit beasts would soon hunt and I could not hope to fight back against such creatures at all right now. I doubted I could even run, as the pain tore deep into each and every single part of my body. Placing my right hand on the ground I slowly stood upward, as I did I could almost hear the bones creak and crack even as a wave of pain washed through my body. Cursing my past hubris for placing me in such pain and suffering, I took a step and promptly fell on my face as my legs gave out and my arms refused to move.

Once more the struggle repeated itself as I climbed back to my feat, despite the pain still wracking my body. This time I made sure to take that first step slowly and deliberately, for there was no way to know how many times I could fight against the pain of my very body tearing itself apart. Master the pain, or it will consume you, a voice that I recognized whispered in my head, from the little I knew of the higher levels of cultivation, a mighty individual could easily have left something behind and this was probably his work. Regardless of origin, the warning was true for I could feel muscles, bones and tendons unraveling and if something was not done to halt the decay I would become nothing more than a puddle of unraveled flesh.

Forcing my body to obey my needs, I fell to the ground taking a mediative stance as I did. Feel beyond the physical, let the truth of the human form be revealed, the voice whispered in my mind once more. As I settled into the position I could feel something akin to water drifting within my body guided by something other. Closing my eyes and turning inwards I saw something of grand beauty and yet I was not the one seeing, instead something was showing it to me. Perhaps, a final gift of the man that started this whole event, regardless I needed to do something in order to not unravel.

See the points of slag, purify them to live, the voice whispered once more, as I became the web of light, or perhaps it became me. I could feel within the lines countless points where energy was blocked and twisted away from the correct course, yet the knowledge of how I knew such was not something I held, but know I did. Within the center of the web lay nine pools, each connected to the others with thick channels, energy flowing cleanly between the pools each flavored differently.

As I drifted within, I saw and tasted the pools and knew of their flavor. In the center of the pools lay one that tasted of impurity, mundane matter. It held power beyond the others, yet it also cleaved to no direction. Power without direction was its calling, waiting for me to shape it as needed. From its endless depths, power flowed forth and through the lines revealed by the final revelation. Blockages and areas of corruption were washed away and consumed into the already tainted energy of the central core, as the corruption was contained, pain slowly faded away as energy flowed once more without impediments through my body. Yet, something about the construction of the web, was wrong and so drawing from the well within, I began to slowly reshape the web of energy lines into a cascading ripple of nines. From the beginnings of my limbs the series began and was forged into the rest of my body until finally at long last the web and the cores were aligned as once.

Waking from my trance I saw that the moon had risen high in the sky during my work, then came the realization that the pain of the past hours had vanished as if it had never been. My body felt as if it had never been harmed or in pain, standing up from my seated position posed no more challenge to me than such an action would have a day ago and yet only a few short hours ago such an action was all but beyond my ability. As I looked out over the expanse of land in front of me, looking for landmarks I eventually spotted far in the distance a landmark that I recognized. The Broken Nail, a strange anomaly in the area as a very tall and very thin spike of rock outside of the actual mountains, it was often considered to mark the edge of the midpoint of the foothills, with the side with the mountains behind it as the easy side. So on one hand at least I knew where the hell I was, on the other I was in the middle of highly dangerous spirit beast land as an effective mortal, well this is not going to go well for me, was all I could think of this realization, the odds of finding a friendly cultivator in this region was not the best and frankly anyone not of the clan was more likely to kill me than help me.

In the end the only chance was to run and hope that I do not end up as dinner for a beast. Taking a deep breath feeling my body preparing for the coming journey I begin to run. It would be the worst type of hyperbole to say I was at all fast or had at all great endurance, but my body at least could ignore pain better than before and pain tolerance could be leverage into longer running periods. Which I abused without end, as I forced myself to the brink of total collapse from pain and only waited the smallest amount of time before I could run once more. With this strategy, a journey of several hours only took me around three. As I fell against the Broken Nail, panting from exhaustion and my body screaming in pain once more, a smile danced on my face as the run I had just done was something that would have been near impossible for a normal human, yet ahead of my lay the next leg of the journey. For I might now be in the safer part of the foothills, but for me this was still a death sentence to be found by even the most minor of spirit beasts.

Days turned to weeks , which turned into months as I walked the land of the clan's holdings. When I had returned from the foothills I began the long journey to the center of our power, for only there could I hope to acquire the information I would need in coming years, and it was also there that I would have the best chance of surviving the coming trail. Finally, after months of travel I could see the bronze gates ahead of me and a smile graced my face once more as I moved towards the final destination. My body which once felt tireless, now felt leadened with the weight of exhaustion upon my back and my bones ached as the patchwork solution I enacted in the foothills unraveled with every passing day unless I spent hours repairing the fraying strands, but I had made it to the gates and my life was assured for now. Right as I was about to pass through the gate my legs simply collapsed on me, reminiscent of the days right after the ritual, causing me to fall to the ground. Thankfully, we were civilized and as such I would be given medical treatment in time.

Not sure if I want to vote to disagree or vote for the current Negotiate vote. Instead I'll write an Omake!


In the wake of Archegetes Konstantinos's battle with Child Corpse Gulper, the Golden Devil Clan moved to enact resettlement and reconstruction of the shattered regions in the Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds. Ferenike's squad of the Ninth Centuria under Centurion Dragoumis were currently stationed in Water Wings and Golden Tile City in the Burnished Crags. Not the most original name in Ferenike's opinion, but it was usefully literal as the entire city was swathed with golden sandstone tiles for its streets and on its roofs. It gave a sort of blended shimmer to the concentric rings of the city, rising steadily higher and higher till it towered like a man made mountain around the central Legion Fort and barracks which hung around the spire of the Colonial Magistrate's Palace like an armored cloak.

They were here to support crime mitigation and bandit security with the rest of the Century, though given her squad's status as relatively fresh trainees they were kept within the bounds of the city and its direct environs within five li as was current Legion policy after the truce with the Cannibals. Couldn't be too careful and all that.

That was all the important official stuff. Right now though Ferenike, Tiu and Nan were racing over the golden tiled rooves after a criminal in the second Heavenstage for stealing someone's coin purse and clothing. Markus and Gallius were ahead, moving to cut off the woman thief's flight. They'd spotted the fleeing woman as she bulled through the tea shop they were having lunch in. Tiu had ended up with a soup bowl over turned on his head as an eruption of debris and various flying dishware followed the criminal, and the poor boy was still pulling noodles off from around his ears and his black hair glinted with broth.

The mortals below were pointing up and calling out as they watched their antics, a mixture of excited screams and laughter. It brought a smile to Ferenike's face.

Ferenike's Qi boiled pleasantly under the light of the noonday Sun, humming along pleasantly as the flame of her Qi settled into her blood. Something she'd discovered after that strange night was that her Qi seemed to respond positively, very slightly stronger and more easily controlled, when she was near a source of heat. Didn't help with much else but slightly narrowing down the lists of possible bloodlines, but she'd take it for what it was, progress and reward for her patience.

Lightfooted steps rushing across the tiles with a staccato clatter Ferenike reached out to one of the Water Wings, a tall Spirit Steel pole with multiple protrusions modeled after an eagle's feather sticking from it with an array embedded in it that gathered and channeled water into the city's plumbing. She grabbed its shaft and spun around it, flinging herself after the thief as the criminal dropped off of the roof and to a lower balcony running along a shorter building.

Ferenike dropped to the balcony railing with a clank of her armor and charged after the woman in front of her, her ill-gotten goods flapping in the wind as she ran without looking back at her pursuers. To Ferenike's right, desert cacti and flowering shrugs grew in a long line and she swiped up a cactus pot in one hand.

With a grunt of effort she hucked the thing at the fleeing cultivator. With a crash and a yelp of surprise the pot and spiky plant smacked into the woman's back and caused her to tumble forward awkwardly. Ferenike surged forward, pouring hot qi into her legs. Twin thumps told her her companions were right behind her.

Then the thief didn't fall, tucking forward into a somesault and then something glinting bright lashed out across the intervening space and wrapped around Ferenike's leg. With a mighty jerk as she completed her roll the thief yanked Ferenike off her feet and sent her sailing over her curled back and off the end of the balcony and down towards the street.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttt..."

Ferenike screamed as she fell head first, arms flailing. Before she could correct she landed in an open trash bin with a wet splat.

Ugh.

Her mouth was full of fruit rinds that tasted like rotten meat. She wiggled fiercely, trying to right herself and get out of the bin, but all she accomplished was flailing her legs from where they stuck up out of the heap of trash near the butt of her spear.

"Tiu, after her! Ferenike you alright!?" Ferenike could distantly hear Nan shouting, somewhat muffled by the rotting slightly jellied animal skin jammed into her ears. She tried to speak and coughed as a variety of terrible things reached her taste buds.

"Oh dear that was a spill. One moment let me getcha outta there." A wizened woman's voice said as firm hands gripped her legs and pulled harshly. Ferenike, able to get one hand under her head after her wiggling pushed, and together their efforts caused her to pop out and flop to the ground with a wet smack.

A clatter of steps heralded Nan, her red eyes concerned. "Are you okay!"

Ferenike waved a hand and coughed out a yellowish peel of something she didn't want to think about too much.

To her right was a elderly mortal woman in her fifties or so, grey haired, and with arms like thick timbers beneath her dark skin. She laughed. "Like pulling up Spirit Turnips. Come ere dearie, up you get." She said as she grabbed Ferenike by the shoulder and yanked her upright. As the girl wobbled unsteadily, using her spear to balance herself, the older woman patted her on the head and dusted her off.

"Blech!" Ferenike wretched as she spat out something meaty looking and nodded at the grandmotherly woman.

"Thank you grandmother." She said with a bow as she waved Nan away with a Legion signal to keep going after the thief. The silver haired girl hopped away rapidly, bouncing up to the roofs.

The dark skin woman laughed. "I ain't no grandmother yet, call me Auntie Caliope. Now," She gave her a firm pat between the shoulders, "Off you get dear. Don't want to loose that thief now do ya?"

Ferenike smiled and dashed away with a wave. "Bye Auntie!" she shouted back as she bounded up between the walls of two buildings.

She quickly caught up to Nan, putting her slightly longer legs to use hopping after her faster as they ran along a curving roof towards the city center and the next ring. Ahead Ferenike could hear Tiu shouting as he fought with the thief. Beyond him about two blocks away she could see the spire which marked the direction Markus and Gallius would be moving from.

Her and Nan leapt up and over a lip at the end of the roof and came down in a rooftop plaza. Assessing the situation happened in an eye blink for Ferenike, as Tiu struggled against the wires wrapping around his right arm and leg as the other woman puppeted him towards the edge of the roof.

Nan exploded forward, low to the ground as she lunged for the 2nd Heavenstage cultivator. Ferenike could see a sour frown under the rim of the thief's large circular hat, green and blue in the striped style of the southern desert. Nan slammed into the wires and grabbed them up, Qi sparking from the contact. That frown turned into a yelp of surprise as Ferenike shot forward and bounced up and off of Nan's crouched back, her spear flying for the other cultivator's face.

With a circling swipe of both of her arms she pushed Ferenike's spear aside and was forced to let go of the wires holding Tiu. Ferenike followed the momentum of the blow, flying through the air and rolling. As Nan came in low, sweeping her spear out in a scything arc, Ferenike and Tiu came high from two different directions with their own spears. As the wire cultivator spun in the air, bouncing off of Nan's spear tip, she could see the fear in the older woman's green eyes, peering out from between dark bangs from bronzed skin. Not the bronze of the clan, but the bronze of the deep south in Hong Xuan.

Ferenike and Tiu's spears were each knocked aside, flying in opposite directions, they both saw Nan flash a signal. Scorpion. Ferenike spun with the momentum of her spear as Tiu let out a kiai and pressed in on the thief. Nan came in high, forcing the enemy to look at her and Ferenike used the opportunity to begin to circle around, spear held high and ready for when the other cultivator fled.

It was on her third circuit around the battle, throwing in the occasional jab to relieve pressure for the others, that the wire cultivator had enough and reaching into her kimono top threw down some kind of pellets. They exploded into noxious smelling green smoke and then there was a thud and a shout from Tiu before he flew out of the smoke and Nan stepped back out of it sneezing. Ferenike noted them in a tiny corner of her attention as the rest watched.

There! She jumped forward as a shadow shot out of the crowd, and her shoulder slammed into the gut of the wire cultivator.

"Fucking...!" The woman shouted in a deep voice and then the both of them were careening off the edge of the roof.

Dammit. That was not intended, she overshot!

Wrapping an arm around the other cultivator as they spun end over end through the air towards the road below, Ferenike ignored the punches the woman was landing on her helmeted head, tucked as it was into the woman's shoulder to limit damage and lashed out with her spear.

It sliced into the brickwork of a shop facing across the street and their fall slowed with an extremely sharp jerk! The momentum caused them to keep sliding down and Ferenike's feet slammed into the siding, slowing it further. The fucking bitch she was hanging onto though was raining blows like iron hammers on her back though.

Then she twisted like an eel and before Ferenike could twist out of the way the woman grabbed the back of her helmet and lifted her head so that she could slam a fist into Ferenike's nose. She felt a very gross and painful crunch. The Legionnaire shouted in pain and flinched back, skidding down the side of the building as the thief bounced away towards an alley.

That didn't stop Ferenike for very long and she was right on the woman's heels, her brief head start having disappeared as the thief reached the mouth of the alley. There was a sudden sweep of something at head and ankle height and a very loud pair of thunks. The 2nd Heavenstage cultivator collapsed like a sack of rocks flat onto her back, holding her broken nose.

"'Ey guys, ook oo fukin long 'nough." Ferenike griped, her throat full of blood and snot. "Hggh bwoke mah nose." Reaching up to it as she walked towards the emerging Markus and Gallius, their spears in their hands and shields on their backs. Gripping it she gave it a firm yank.

The spike of pain cleared the last of her daze from her head and caused her to cough up a big glob of messy blood.

"Guh, fuck... As I was saying. She broke my nose." Ferenike said to the too of them, face painted with blood as she they surrounded the groaning woman.

She had a hand to her head and a massive welt starting up across her forehead.

"I can see that." Markus said with a wince. Gallius sighed and then looked up with a wave behind Ferenike, his spear generally pointed in the downed woman's direction.

"Nan, Tiu, over here!" The stout boy yelled in his deep baritone.

Two thumps behind them and Ferenike looked back. There they were, Tiu picking the last bit of a sprig of spice out of his hair.

He winced. "Yikes Fere that looks absolutely awful."

She twitched. Before she could react though the thief gave an abortive lurch and then a cough.

"Aghhh... alright alright you jumped up grasshoppers, I yield." She got out, voice woozy with pain.

Markus smiled ominously. "Good! Up you come then, Fere get the rope please?"

Ohhhhh she was gonna get the both of them.

Thoughts of pranks aside, they managed to get the woman bound up and carted off to a nearby Legion watch station and handed off to the 4th Heavenstage fellow on duty for processing and a trial.

---

Later that night they were heading home to their bunks after passing through medical where very nice nurses poked at her nose and then slapped a small bandage on it with a healing array attached.

Outside the med hall the rest of them waited. Before anyone could react she rushed up to Tiu and Markus and snaping out her arms got them both wrapped in headlocks, jamming them under her armpits with a pair of surprised yelps. "Nooooooow, what did I say about calling me 'Fere'..." She said ominously as she loomed over the two struggling boys.

"Don't do it, it's cutesy!/It makes you seem too cute!" They said at once.

She smirked darkly. "Yesssss..." She said with a terrifying hiss.

Then she cackled and let them each go with a peck on their hair and a slap across the back of the head.

As they fled from her grip she put her hand on her chin in a facsimile of a high born lady and said with an extremely faux haughty tone.

"I am of course much more than extremely cute. I am obviously beautiful." She said with a flutter of her eyelashes.

There was a pause. Then Nan lost it, giggling hiccups filling the waiting room, and it was hopeless from there as everyone descended into giggles.

Their fun was broken as the door popped open and a bundle of something smacked into the back of Ferenike's head. "Oi you pack of jackals, go heck it up somewhere else! Patients are trying to sleep!" The grumpy nurse said as he picked up the bundle of cloth.

"Sorry sir!" They chorused and then made their escape.

Their cackling and jokes meandered as they did out of the barracks and eventually back into the neighborhood where they had caught the thief. It turned out Auntie Caliope ran a bar with a mean curry, with a discount 'for the Legion children', with a drum band playing on the place's stage on the second floor and filling the whole building with sound.

A round of drinks was purchased with some of their leave currency, little bits of black jade scrip and slivers cut from a larger block, and they settled in around the booth. Ferenike was squished right in the middle between everyone, as was usually the case, with Gallius and Tiu on her left and Markus and Nan on her right.

"Gods that was a weird day. That tea shop looked like a bull went through it didn't it guys?" Ferenike mused as she held her sake bowl between two fingers.

Nan nodded, sipping heavily from her own bowl, as Markus and Gallius leaned across the table to arm wrestle, their sake already drunk. As the one unoccupied Tiu answered in his smooth mid voice. "I hope the proprietor is okay," He shook his head, "I'm pretty sure that was a variant of a Western Green Aurochs Style technique, the small horizontal tornado following her was a dead give away." He snorted as he ran a finger through his hair, obviously remembering how that soup got upended by said vortex.

Bang! "Hah! I win again Markus!" Gallius shouted as he slammed Markus's arm to the table, making all the bottles on it jump, and then threw up his hands in victory. Ferenike leaned forward again and reclaimed her part of the table as the two boys broke up.

Markus slumped, resting his head on the table. "Spirits damn you, you monster. What the fuck do you eat to be that fat and yet that strong?" Their erstwhile leader moaned.

Gallius chuckled, slapping his belly, a very thin layer of fat over reams of muscle. "Family secret recipes." He said in a whisper, holding a finger to his nose. "Buuuuuut, I could perhaps... invite you all over again?"

"YES!/Please god yes!/If you don't I'll murder you!/Yaaaaaay!" The rest of the squad exploded into pleas of joy at the thought of the Armenicus's cooking.

"Okay okay okay I will I will I promise, when we get back to the Fortress I'll do it, you pack of starving vultures I swear!" He said with a laugh as he held his hands up defensively.

With that sorted out the squad settled into companionable silence, somewhat huddled together in the booth as they drank. In the silence Ferenike looked out over the city from their position on a balcony on the third floor. It was a tangled, thick warren of streets set to obscure Legion defense patterns, channeling enemy invaders into kill zones and array traps. The rooves slowly rose as they approached the wall and the buildings were spaced such as to provide sightlines for both those on the rooves and the walls with bows and javelins and other devices.

Throughout it all though, the thing that really caught Ferenike's attention was all of the mortals. Water Wing and Golden Tile City had maybe eighty thousand in it with constant construction under way as it expanded and people emigrated in from the Core Territories. It was more people, mortals in particular, than she was used to seeing outside the Fortress. Her nomadic family tended to stay somewhat apart from the cities, surviving via knowledge of oases and the caravan trade overseen by the Golden Devils, and their children in particular weren't really let into the city.

The Fortress had been the largest congregation of people she had seen in her life, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people, most of them cultivators of some stripe. But here it was different.

The taste in the air and the tone of distant conversations she could hear, held a completely different tenor or atmosphere. If she was honest she felt relaxed here. The people around her were admirable in their happiness and downright cheery. She could imagine herself walking in amongst them as one of them in complete comfort.

"...ey, hey Ferenike. Hellllloooooo wake up girl." She blinked as Nan snapped her green painted nails in front of her nose.

Ferenike snorted and pushed her comrade's hand out of her face. "Feh I was thinking! Can't I do that?" She groused, bringing her sake up and taking a big gulp.

"Spacing out more like." The other girl snorted.

"Anyway we were talking about cultivation goals and were wondering about you? I want to get to tenth and then break through, works best with my family teachings my mom says." Markus said as he leaned back against the booth, arms spread, waving a hand as he talked.

"Yeah, and I want to get to ninth and move on if I have the time." Nan demurred.

Gallius shrugged. "Ninth would be good for me too, though I'll be surprised if I make it to break through." He said quietly.

Hmm. She hadn't thought about it much truth be told, face scrunching up as she peered into the dregs in her sake bowl.

"...wait, you haven't thought about it? Seriously Fere? Oh my ancestors this dork!" Nan shouted as she threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Hey hey hey I have, just give me two seconds to string it all together proper-like!" Ferenike shouted back as the others sniggered.

She huffed and refiled her bowl, then swigged it all down in one go before sighing.

"Alright, alright. So, while I was poking around in the archives a couple months ago, this would be before Agatha had that little accident for your information, I ran across a reference to a stage in Foundation Establishment called 'the Emperor's Pillar'. And that was pretty much it, no information anywhere else, just a little dinky reference in an out of the way textbook on Turtle World history from a Clan perspective." The yellow haired girl shrugged.

"I want to get to 12th Heavenstage first and then, well, we'll see from there." She finished sheepishly.

There was silence around the table, and then a chorous of ooohs. Tiu smirked while the others smiled. "I see we have a very ambitious Clan sister amongst us. I say, this calls for a toast!" He said, lifting his bowl and standing. The others followed him, Markus and Gallius pulling Ferenike up as well as grabbing bottles. "To us! The best trainees in the Ninth Century in the Ninth Legion!" He said.

Everyone lifted their bowls and shouted "A toast to the Ninth!", the echoes ringing out into the night sky.

---

@occipitallobe another omake for you! A supplemental for my fate roll this time and I'll mark down where Ferenike is intending to go on her cultivation goals for you on my Background sheet. Hope you enjoyed! This was quite fun to write.