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

Eight years since the Trials.

Eight years of perfectly fine cultivation funded with aggressive levels of missions being taken on, feeling the strain and push of her Qi Sea overflowing the excess power into each and every outlet it could find--feeling the frisson of celestial tribulation tickle her skin, just waiting for the moment she reaches out just a little bit further.

Truthfully, after the first decade or so of feeling it, like a dagger placed against her throat, Rina found that changing her perspective went a long way. Much more comfortable to welcome it as an old, teasing friend with a bit more of a taste for skinship than was strictly appropriate.

And who may be about to kill you at any moment, but how many relationships in this realm work on similar principles anyway?

She sighed, leaning back in the bath with a satisfied smile, her white-blonde hair kept loose like it was when she was younger, instead of the braided bun she'd been keeping it in recent years. A little electrical buzz kept in check by comfy, hot mineral water.

Paradise on the cheap, as all good things should be.

Rina happily sunk further into the private bath, but not so deeply that her ears didn't twitch at the sound of movement from the corridor leading up to it. Panting and knocking at the entryway.

Well, at least he's learned manners since before.

"Rina, we need to leave, now" Xu Zhen frantically called in through the other side of the barrier. "It's not safe to be in this place anymore!"

There went her mood. Her eyes narrowed and she climbed to her feet, yanking on the strings hidden not far from her seat to pull her blade and shield to her--as well as a bundle of robes. "Who, what and where?" Rina ordered, pulling the outfit over the top of her head and tightening it in the same motion. "Have the sentries been alerted? We can conduct a fighting retreat…"

"There's no time for that!" Xu Zhen called out as Rina barged through the gates. "It's everyone out for themselves! Where's the furthest away mission you can grab on short notice?"

"The Uncast Molds are currently looking for extra manpower to investigate possible Battle Blood Cannibal Incursions" Rina reported, then took a double-take at that, feeling coming back to her as her mind finally caught up with her instincts. "Wait, what do you mean there's no time for that?"

"Just take it and get out of town before it gets here!" Xu Zhen got behind and started pushing Rina with his Foundation Establishment cultivation base, backed by his extensive work in Qi Condensation. "There's no saving any of us if you're still here… When…"

He starts to putter out as the aura of a Core Formation Cultivator fills the air, a tiny, doll-like woman standing in the central foyer of the inn Rina was currently staying at.

With the biggest, most self-satisfied looking grin imaginable on her face.

"Oh no, it's too late." Xu Zhen deflated.

Rina was lost for words.

"Hiiiiiii~~~" She drawled out and waved happily. "So good to finally catch up with you little Zhen!"

A flicker of movement, and the Elder was between them, leaning in between the two and her grin growing even larger, if that was at all possible. "And this would be the Princess you've been talking about?" She licked her lips. "Oh my that's a good catch! Far too many girls just go through the motions instead of really tearing the throat out of their foundation."

"... Umm…" Rina starts, clearly lost. "I… Don't believe we've been introduced?"

The lady smiled, and snapped a fan--and the group found themselves centered around a table, stacked high with delectable delicacies and treats.

"This one's Daoist name is Scarletglyph" She inclined her head, as expected of an elder greeting a junior. "Mistress of the Three Pures Archive, and master of this little rascal here." She reaches out--space seeming to twist before her hand as she ruffles Xu Zhen's hair, knocking his little hat off in the process. "I've heard so much about you and your little friends, but until just recently I didn't have an excuse to just roll in and introduce myself!"

Rina bowed her head back in terms--she knew the etiquette for this kind of thing. "Pleased to meet you then Lady Scarletglyph." She returned the meeting. "Ah, this junior is Rina Callista, Disciple of the Golden Devil Clan."

Xu Zhen collected his hat, and stubbornly shoved it back on his head. "I warned you, if we were just a little faster..." He gets bonked by a tiny fist. "Ow!"

"None of that now, you would not believe the favors I had to spend to get this opportunity." Scarletglyph dismissed him, and turned her gaze back on Rina. "How often is it that your Clan reaches out to the outside world? How often is that extended hand reciprocated?" She leans forward eagerly. "Almost never! it is historic times we live in!"

"... So the negotiations were a success?" Rina perked up at that. "Oh, good, I was so worried about it all."

"You're adorable, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." Scarletglyph tuttered, completely dismissing Xu Zhen's muttering with a waved fan. "Truthfully, your offer came at an excellent moment for all parties involved, with the filth of the Demonic Altar Sect striking so true, and with the Noble Knowledge Sect having exposed an opening in the Siege…"

"Millet's not going to be happy to hear that" Xu Zhen adds. Rina nods--but that's why she moved and set up shop in Pleuron, right? Awful hard for kill teams to run that kind of gauntlet without getting deleted by a patrolling Nascent Soul or two.

"Regardless, the opportunity was well timed, a raiding party slipping through one of the fractures could do incalculable damage if not balked. The Array Masters of your clan have no small reputation in preparing security against that kind of thing." Scarletglyph admits. "While there'll be obvious measures needed to save face in play that will make for some very silly stories down the line, it should be an arrangement good for all of us."

Rina nods. "Well, I'm glad to hear all of that, for all that our respective organizations may be officially incompatible, we remain allies with regards to keeping the Blood Path Sects suppressed."

"As is right and proper." Scarletglyph gives an acknowledging wave of her sleeve. "But such details is and remains the business for those who's business it is to deal with the little network of nonsense that is the outer world. I am here for more direct reasons."

"Oh boy, here it comes' Xu Zhen drives his face into his hands. He is dutifully ignored by both of the ladies at the table.

"I myself am here to assuage my own curiosity." Scarletglyph begins. "That's part one of the process at least. Your Clan's bloodline is remarkably powerful--certainly first class among the Virtuous Flipper Region, both in its tenacity and in its strengthening abilities." Rina's expression grows a little more guarded as this goes on, and is quickly noticed. "Oh, I don't plan to ask questions about how it works, even if you did know, it'd be bullying for me to demand such secrets from a junior." She waved her hand. "What I was interested in is why it doesn't spread out of your Clan territories."

"Oh" Rina's lips made a little 'o' at that question. "Oh, that's not a matter of the blood dying out or anything" Rina shrugs. "It's more a matter of the Blood of Bronze doesn't do much if you're not a Cultivator unless the concentration of it is extremely high. You can't really pinpoint what someone's concentration is though until they start cultivating."

She crosses her arms and frowns. "Plus, raising the concentration is part of our Legion Body Tempering that we're all expected to learn, which is both highly secret and also entirely useless if you don't already have traces of the Blood."

"Remarkable, normally the greatest concern of a Clan's bloodline is ensuring it remains pure and within the main lineage, which leads to extremely insular behaviour and all manner of foul rituals made to strengthen it. A method that simply requires trace amounts and then builds on those?" She smiles at that. "Very clever indeed."

"It's to be expected" Rina puffs herself up a little bit at the approval of a Senior. "Most bloodlines that we've recorded in the past came because someone boinked a monster" There's a muffled snort from Xu Zhen's side of the table. "Or because someone grafted stolen power into themselves in the past. Our own apocrypha states that the Blood of Bronze was engineered by an ancient expert in prehistory, for the sole purpose we've put it to."

"Mmm, providing a unified standard to utilize Battle Formations with, and unrivaled strength and staying power to maintain those as long as possible." Scarletglyph agrees. "Ah, but the world is full of such mysteries, gaining even a little insight on these is the Dao I walk."

Rina nods. "Yeah! I always thought I was going to be a scholar myself when I was younger, but needs are as they must, and they'd feel my own innate talents are best practiced on the front lines."

"You're such a good girl" Scarletglyph gushes and pats Rina's head from across the table. "Eeee! I'm so glad that I insisted on that extra clause!"

Xu Zhen groaned. "Oh no, here we go."

Rina tilted her head curiously. "What kind of extra clause?"

Scarletglyph's smile could swallow the sun, and she snapped a fan open, with two characters written on it.

HOLY MATRIMONY

"Wait what?" Rina didn't understand what this meant. Scarletglyph was all too happy to go on. "Oh, nothing out of the ordinary~~" She singsonged. "I just thought it would be swell to grab one of the best rising talents in the Virtuous Flipper Region tied in with us. I've got a perfectly good little disciple here.." She pulls the despairing Xu Zhen over to her with a flick of her wrist, giving him an affectionate peck on the forehead. "And on the other side is a Princess from a strange foreign land! With tremendous talent unrivaled in her generation!" She pulled Rina in with her other arm, who was now starting to realize where this was going. "Oh sure, you've got that little reputation of being from a Demonic Clan and all that." Rina's face darkened at that. "Oh it's not a hit on you, just relax" She held the two juniors together with both hands. "These kinds of things are what stories are told from, and people like having their little stories."

"That it gets someone who might achieve Single Pillar Foundation Establishment in our Sect's orbit is just icing on the cake, isn't it?" Xu Zhen mutters. Scarletglyph shrugs. "Well, I had to get our Dao Reserve to agree to the fiction somehow." She turned her full attention back to the now quailing Xu Zhen. "After all, someone needs to keep you in line." She began to shake him--slowly. "After all, if you weren't such a lazybones, it might have been you to get that title. But no you just said that Five Element Tribulation was scary and went off and did it when you thought we weren't looking."

Xu Zhen paled at that. "I used every trick in the book! You couldn't have possibly found that out!"

Scarletglyph's smile gained a predatory cast, and she loomed over him all of a sudden--a strange thing for a tiny woman. "You used every trick in your book, you barely crested the first chapter of mine."

As suddenly as the imposing aura descended, it was gone, and she snapped her once more welcoming gaze back to Rina. "I trust I don't need to worry about you encouraging such behavior?"

"... I don't know about stopping," Rina admitted after a moment. "I only know 'Go' and 'Go Faster'."

"Splendid!" Scarletglyph chirped, and let the two go. "So, I've gotten a marriage contract added into the diplomatic agreement. Your Clan of course will be offered a considerable Bride Price for the opportunity."

"I need to know the details." Rina asked, down to business.

"Oh no, you're actually getting into this…' Xu Zhen looked on in horror, Rina waved him off, and adjusted her glasses--shining brightly in the gesture. "I need to be on hand for the Hundred Year Trials, even putting aside not wanting to invite the Invaders into your territory looking for points, I would not see my kinsfolk be slaughtered without my support."

"Of course, that was part of any agreement." Scarletglyph agreed. Rina tilted her head to acknowledge the point. "Secondly, I need to have the freedom to return home as needed to deal with major mobilizations. While I am not unwilling to provide what support I can to your own Sect, my priority must be to home."

"Of course, we're trying to pull you into your orbit, not kidnap you." Scarletglyph tittered. "How would we ever get you to cooperate if we did that?"

"It's good to deal with reasonable people." Rina smugly nodded. "Naturally, I would not require any resources for your Sect by default--my own Clan will provide them as required, but should I be committed to campaign, I will require access to any Contribution Point system you have access to."

"We'll give you a sub account under Xu Zhen's name" Scarletglyph nodded. "You'd share his access privileges--which are extensive. On paper, he would be the one who recieves any credit for your work. In practice, he'll just serve as a middleman so we can save face."

"Do I not get a say in this?" Xu Zhen asked, but was hushed by the two women planning his fate.

"How will you handle any offspring from this?" Rina asks. "The usual fosterage agreements seem like they would be awkward under the circumstances…"

"Truthfully? It depends on your own performance." Scarletglyph admits. "By default, the Strength Purity Sect demands right of first refusal regarding education and association, but the clause is intentionally open for amendment should your reputation rise to the point we can show greater equanimity in the agreement."

"Good enough" Rina nods, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Honestly, I'd need to read a copy for myself, but I'm certainly open to the arrangement."

"This is happening, isn't it…" Xu Zhen whines. "I was supposed to be a lonely hero, standing alone on the heights."

"It's exactly because of that nonsense that I'm doing this." Scarletglyph smacked his knuckles with her fan, eliciting a yelp of surprise from her disciple. "Your talent is millennial, and you've successfully cultivated the Five Element Cauldron Body to your current level. You have a good chance of reaching Core Formation--and even Nascent Soul is in reach--but you squander too much of your time with your card games and dice. If it takes pulling in a comparable talent in to keep you honest, I will do it in a heartbeat."

Xu Zhen frowns at that. "Truthfully, I'd rather work at my own pace."

"Events don't let people like us do that" Rina shook her head. "We're looking at a time of great upheaval, those who don't adapt to the coming age will be crushed by it."

"We are seeing a great upsurge in talents in the past century, yes." Scarletglyph admits. "There is no reason to believe it is exclusive to our patch of the Sea."

Xu Zhen absorbs that, closes his eyes, and exhales.

"Well, when you put it that way, I suppose I do have to bring my own game up, don't I?"

"Indeed" Scarletglyph said, relaxing herself. "Still, this arrangement will take time to unfold, at least until little Rina can complete her own breakthrough… On that note?" She glanced towards the younger woman, who ran some numbers in her head.

"Should be unchanged from the last time I estimated--forty years if I'm fast, eighty years if I'm slow." Rina nodded sagely at that.

"That's pretty good." Scarletglyph looked thoughtful at that. "I'll see if I can shake loose a thing or two to help pad those odds a notch or two, no promises of course, but Qi Condensation grade heavenly treasures aren't quite as restricted as the greater realms."

"I'd appreciate any help I can get" Rina bowed. "Thank you for the offer Lady Scarletglyph."

"No, thank you" She tapped her fan on the table. "I have other business I must attend to, enjoy your meal on my credit." She rose to her feet, and turned around, her daoist robe rising to cover her. "Until next time darlings!" She waved, and disappeared in a flash of paper cranes.

There's a pregnant pause in the room.

"So, that's your master," Rina asked.

"Yep" Xu Zhen confirmed.

"Awfully more bubbly than I'd expect from an archivist." Rina observed.

"She always thought the mature scholar look was a sham." Xu Zhen explains. "But that makes her…"

"That" Rina nodded.

"Yep." Xu Zhen slumped in his chair. "Definitively That"

Yan- patroling the scorpion road.


Tap, tap, tap.


The sounds of Quilstream talons taping the packed stone beneath them could be herd far and wide along the scorpion road but Yan wasn't worried, it was after all the plan.


Tap, tap, tap.


But it was a little wired for Yan –a cultivator who specializes in hiding- to be so openly advertising his location but he choose this job and he would perform adequately.


Tap, tap, tap.


The plan itself was quite simple, various senior cultivators –Yan included- would disguise themselves as young rich cultivators in a hurry and travel along the scorpion road making loud noises and by doing so they will draw the beasts and bandits that the normal patrols missed, and if they got in over their head they had a nifty little crystal that trapped inside it the sound of a gong that could travel a radius of fifty li and would signal the squad of thirty qi condensation cultivators that followed him about twenty li back.


Tap, tap, tap.


In truth, even though Yan is injured he isn't worried too much, he has confident in his power to kill or delay most things that he would find doing this assignment but that was no reason to let down his guard and he had his new perception technique on at all times looking to see if someone is trying to ambush him –he has done the same thing enough times to know how devastating it could be-.


Tap, tap, tap.


In the end considering what the job was, it was a ferly quite assignment with good pay, a perfect place for a wounded cultivator to spend his time heling.


It was of course at that exact moment that a giant devouring sand worm busted out of a nearby dune and tried his head.


It was an easily dodged attack as Quilstream was far faster and more agile then the worm.


Yan sighed to himself as he saw what creature attacked him, there wasn't a lot of uses for the body of a giant devouring sand worm in contrast to their cousins the giant sand devouring worms.


they were also not very strong but he might as well kill it while he is here, before continuing on his way.


@Alectai can you please thread mark this and put a tribulation treasure in the sheet as the reward

Trial run

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Diomedes was running away evading foes, the scorpion road, and the mortal he had rescued at his back.
he had encountered the injured mortal while traveling about, his lack of golden devil blood and comparatively low cultivation
allowed him to pretend to be a loose cultivator, letting him slip through the encirclements of the fifth sea cultivators
and pass information and supplies to his trapped comrades throughout the legion territory.

During one of his latest forays, he encountered the mortal dehydrated starving, and heavily injured it was a miracle that the mortal has survived for as long as he did.
Taking pity on him Diomedes picked him up and took him towards the nearest settlement

On the way he learned the mortal tale -he was a merchant who was delivering food to a nearby settlement.
While traveling, he was quickly besieged by a number of fifth sea cultivators who easily slaughtered his guards and pillaged his caravan.
At first, he believed he managed to slip away thinking that the fifth sea cultivators overlooked a mortal like him, he decided to flee to a nearby town.

what he didn't know at the time was that the cultivators of the fifth sea were following like a hunter with their prey.
Once the town walls were in his sight the fifth sea cultivators revealed themselves injuring him and forcing him to change directions.

This pattern had continued for several days with the cultivators finding more and more creative ways to torment him letting him find hope only to take it away each time.
Eventually, it culminated with him collapsing at the spot where he was found by Diomedes, the cruel hunters leaving him to die once the entertainment he provided ran out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diomedes was gazing upon his targets, the five Cultivators of the fifth sea were sitting drinking and laughing around a campfire, their ill-gotten gains were strewn alongside them.
In their arrogance, they didn't put any protection around their camp, there were no guards, no mighty formations nor any barriers to block foes, there were not even fortifications to impede a marauding animal path.

"That would be their undoing"Diomedes darkly thought as he gauged the camp.
As he tried to turn around and fallback Diomedes found himself frozen in his spot.

"An attack?" Diomedes thought only to dismiss the idea once he saw that the hunters didn't react.
no, it was neither an attack nor a trap it's not that he was incapable of movement it was that he was unwilling to.

but why? the smart thing to do would have been to go and report their location to one of the golden devil hunter teams so that they may be eliminated.
The safest would have been to retreat from the area and hide, to try and stall out the clock and conserve his strength.
"ah," Diomedes noticed finally how his hand was grasping his sword tightly his bones creaking.
It was rage that was stopping him, after seeing so many of his friends die horribly and the frustration at his own weakness at being incapable of saving them,
the pointlessness of the torture the scum from the fifth sea inflicted on the mortal was the straw that broke the spirit camel back.
He wished for vengeance to be inflicted with his own hands.

"well then if I am going to do this I need one hell of a plan, "Diomedes thought as he skulked closer to his foes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diomedes and the rest of the trainees were sitting in attendance as centurion Antonius once more came to lecture them.
Today you shall learn the secret on how to fight multiple foes, the centurion declared as he gazed upon the faces of the trainees who broke into excited whispers.

"The secret invincible tactic of the golden devils is simple!."
"Retreat and find more of your fellow legionnaires, and then when you outnumber them by a large margin crush your foes"
The centurion chuckled as he saw the stunned faces of the trainees.
" That said in every generation there are more than a few reckless fools who would not listen to me, so I shall tell you what to do in such a situation so that you may live".

Diomedes stood at the point in which he was closest to the camp and he could still confidently say that he won't be noticed.

"First of all identify those who are most important- the leaders, the healers, and the unknowns"
Diomedes focused channeled qi to his legs and jumped the qi use making the hunters head swivel to the spot he was in before.

"When you do strike hard and fast, do not leave the enemy time to think as time is your greatest foe."
Diomedes landed behind two of the cultivators his blade flashed shattering a token of the only one of them whose cultivation equaled his and sending the head of a beast tamer flying,.

"Second, use the environment for your advantage"
As Diomedes stood up the cultivators snapped from their shock two of them an ax wielder and a bow user drew their weapons while the third fumbled away to find his.
as the ax wielder charged at him, Diomedes quickly swept his blade through the fire sending embers into his eyes blinding staggering him.

against any cultivator, such a trick was useless for more than a moment, but Diomdeds used this moment to close in with him and whirl him into the path of three arrows that were shot by the bow user.
as he let the now dead cultivator drop to the floor Diomedes threw his sword at the stunned bow user who hastily lifted her bow to block it,
only for Diomedes to kick the fallen axe at head slaying her.

Diomedes turned around and faced the last remaining foe.
The last cultivator, now wielding a staff faced him shaking in fear.
It seemed like the fast dispatch of all of her companions shaken her.

"s-stay back" the girl shrieked at him as he drew close, she closed her eyes in fear and tried to activate what he could fell to be some silver of an expert will only to open her eyes in surprise as his throwing knife shattered her token.
Diomedes let out a breath and allowed himself to relax as the battle ended, only to stiffen up and whirl around as he heard a noise behind him.

Near the corpse of the beastmaster, he saw a small spirit ape clearly confused trying to shake its master awake.
Diomedes approached the ape and kneeled near it musing to himself"what am i going to do with you".
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This took a while to write out.
@occipitallobe
Any way for this turn I guess il go with cultivation boost.

Minervina Barda 13: The Witch of Whitefish Lake. Part 2

I used to fantasize about growing old.

It started as just an idle thought while I slogged through endless hours of breathing exercise's and meditation. 'What if I had walked a different path,' stopped Cultivating and started Living instead. Settled down in an idyllic little fishing hut by the lake of my childhood, long cool days of mending nets and watching clouds. Find a man who didn't fear me or drive me too crazy. Raise a bunch of brats and teach them what little wisdom I had earned in my life.

I was fascinated with the idea of growing old, feeble and ornery. I had delighted in the idea of reaching that subtle point where your age means you can get away with saying whatever you damn well please and one moment you can whack your truculent adult children with a wooden spoon and in the next be all "Oh darling son, can you fetch this for me? My old aches are playing up something fierce."

And after my four score and ten, I would fade peacefully from the world. Nothing but a little memorial stone and a few fond memories to remember me by. It seemed like a bucolic ideal.

After spending 10 years living something that at least looks like that daydream, I can formally conclude that I am a total jackass.

My legs complain loudly as I hobble towards the kettle. Grumbling I snatch clumsily at a few of the tea herbs strung up from the ceiling. I cursed as I realised I was out of Long-Ear root, dammit, it's the only thing that helps my arthritis!

"Emillia, be a dear and fetch a sprig of Long-Ear from the garden, you know where it is."

I get the mental equivalent of a grumpy hiss as my closest companion uncoils from its comfy spot in the venom-ravaged remains of my Dantian and slithers out of my skin and into the garden.

"Thats a good serpent" I coo, tenderness entering my voice as I watch the 10 foot serpent glide away, oozing under the door and heading for my carefully arranged herb garden. "I'll start cooking your favourite while your gone"

I know I spoil that damn Spirit rotten, but it feels good to have someone to dote on, and I have scarce few other folk to talk to. Long Bi and a few others correspond infrequently, keeping me apprised of the tumult that's gripped the capital in recent years and helping me track down the occasional rare herb or formula. I relegate several large piles of research notes and reference books to a small corner of the large table that dominates the room as I prep the ingredients for a batch of lemon tarts, Emillia's favourite dish.

(Yes, the deadly spirit snake I brewed into existence from over a thousand deadly venoms has a sweet tooth. Trust me, I was as surprised as you are.)

I muse over the current state of my Cultivation as I begin the process of putting a short crust pastry together. Some of the pain seems to drop away for a moment as I go about the routine motions. I have been working on a cure for my condition for just shy of a decade, and I think I am close to a breakthrough. After wasting months chasing rumours of scouring methods and seeking potent purging agents, another I had come across another hidden passage in the voluminous Scarlet Crow Scroll. This section had discussed in detail the possibility of forming a sort of Poison Constitution, a unique refinement of the human form that incorporated poison as an essential part of its system. According to the lore, bearers of this constitution could sup on most toxins without fear and could spread a wide variety of venoms from their skin, amongst various other feats.

I theorised that in a way, my experience creating the ShatterDao Four-Step Poison had already given me a flawed variant of such a constitution. I had potent venom running through my veins and out of my skin all the time. I could sense it now, seeping out of my pores and into the dough as I beat the pastry into its desired shape. Yet somehow I cling to life, immune to the venom. My body had already evolved and adapted to harness it, albeit in a limited way. I just have no control over the poisons and the out of control toxins taint any attempt to heal my battered Dantian and Cultivation Base.

So while seeking a simple purgative or cure might have been easier it had seemed fitting to seek to perfect and complete the transformation, rather than simply reverse it. To find a way to turn my flawed constitution into the real thing.

I started whisking the filling as I pondered the exact method I had settled on to achieve that feat. Emilia came back in with the Long-Ear, she rears up to near her full height to obligingly drop the ingredient in the kettle, before winding herself around the base of my stove. She luxuriates in the heat, though I know she is mostly waiting to see if any scraps will fall her way. She looks at me, side on, with one big purple eye somehow managing to make a pleading expression.

Giving in to the inevitable I give her the chewy rinds of the small local lemons to snack on while I continue.

I would be relying on my skills as a refiner to craft the cure. The Formula was the results of years of research and testing, and the project has devoured almost all the contribution points I had gained for my feats at Pleuron. I was tentatively calling it the Malignant Nirvana Pill. A concoction that should, if only for a few hours, give my conscious mind total and complete control over any and tall toxins in my system. This would give me a unique chance to manoeuvre and refine the plague in my body, hopefully shifting it from being a terrible curse to a powerful blessing.

The tarts were in the oven and I wandered over to the west wall of my hovel, which was covered in various depictions of the human body, annotated in countless frenetic notes. It had taken three years to develop the Malignant Nirvana Pill, but designing a way to bind the human body and the powerful toxins in my Dantian together in a harmonious way had taken seven.

If it was successful, the toxins would sublimate into my bodies natural processes, it would be something like a natural evolution. I probably wouldn't quite class as human anymore. Their was even the possibility of it becoming an inheritance, something that would be based down to my future children through our shared blood.

I can't help but snort at that stray thought. Not like thats happening any time soon.

I pull the tarts out the oven, idly push away Emilia when she noses around ("There not ready yet!") and place them in the windowbox to cool. I pour my long delayed tea and sit with Long Bi's latest letter, reading it for what must be the thousandth time.

Its taken the last of my favours and Points, but she has procured the last item I need for the Pill. It wasn't a 'must have' ingredient, but I was certain it would make the final product much more potent. It was due to arrive any day now. My suffering would soon end.

I was distracted by a rattling sound and glanced towards the door. It sounded like someone had thrown something at it.

I stood up and tottered over, throwing the door open clumsily. "Yes?"

No one could be seen. "Strange" I mutter as I turn and shut the door, going back to the table.

Emillia hisses in warning and I glance at the window. "Oh Shit"

My venom tainted lemon tarts had vanished.

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Second Omake of Turn 6 and an insight into the life of a Minervina crippled after the events at Pleuron!