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The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

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Vesvius said:
Mo Hanying chuckles at the question, pausing only to dip a small cake into her own brew before answering. "Of course not," she replies. "For one thing, we both know that you're going to say yes. But even if you don't, preparations have already begun. I will staff the seat intended for you one way or another, though I am sure whoever I place in it will be far less competent."

There's a heavy dose of flattery in her words, one which you ignore as you digest the thrust of her statement. No doubt she already has another three candidates lined up for this position. She has already begun planning this endeavor; she most likely could have begun it already if she was not waiting for your answer. Interesting. Though she is no doubt inflating her own opinion of you, there must be some truth to it, else she would have started already.

[...]

"Oh, perish the thought!" Mo Hanying answers, waving away your concerns. "I would never ask any of my close, personal associates to work for me without a suitable reward. But I do not think anything as gauche as money must be discussed here. I think… yes, you would be doing me a favor, thus a favor done in turn seems more than fair."
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This bit appears to have been largely overlooked. I want to make sure it isn't, because this is actually very exciting. Mo is definitely flattering us — the update itself says so. However, the way she's treating us in this suggests that she honestly trusts and values us. This is an important position, which she is offering to us but not pressuring us to take, and which she is rewarding us for with a personal favor. That's not the way you treat a random underling. We may not be on the same level, but we are definitely being treated like "close, personal associates", as she puts it. We're solidly in her camp and we've earned her genuine respect. That's a big accomplishment. Our family will be very pleased, and we should be too.
 
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[X] Mughi

I've been mentally referring to this thing as Muhgi for WEEKS, having to shift gears now just so the thread can flex their google translate skills feels dumb.
 
Maybe for qualifiers do stuff like taking a hybrid material. Having us document it
Then they need to do that crafting purification thing
And remove one of the anam types
The ones who pass are the ones who cause the least amount of reduction in the material
We take the materials of the "failures" and the remaining contestants have to use the material they purified and the "failed" mats to make a charm
They draw lots and get to pick from the "scrapheap" in order Until they are satisfied with what they have
We document what they take and they then have X(not sure on exactly how long) amount of time to make a charm
We could just judge them on the charm alone and decide winners that way
But it might be best to do a straight up capture the flag, but the goal is to exhibit your charms
Winning or losing the game wont really hurt you
As long as you exhibit your charm well
Its just a stage to demonstrate your charm in action
After all the losing team could have the person who made the most interesting/powerful charm



Making the contest too physical ruins the goal of finding good charmcrafters
Thats why i came up with my cooking show style challenge
It challenges actual skill and creativity
I think its interesting because it is a legitamate challenge for crafters to do
And fakers wont be able to do it at all. Which as mo has stated is a real worry.

having to make a decent charm out of an assortment of meh to bad materials is a challenge straight out of a cooking show lol. So it should be entertaining and a real test of skill.
 
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DangerKitty said:
Maybe for qualifiers do stuff like taking a hybrid material. Having us document it
Then they need to do that crafting purification thing
And remove one of the anam types
The ones who pass are the ones who cause the least amount of reduction in the material
We take the materials of the "failures" and the remaining contestants have to use the material they purified and the "failed" mats to make a charm
They draw lots and get to pick from the "scrapheap" in order Until they are satisfied with what they have
We document what they take and they then have X(not sure on exactly how long) amount of time to make a charm
We could just judge them on the charm alone and decide winners that way
But it might be best to do a straight up capture the flag, but the goal is to exhibit your charms
Winning or losing the game wont really hurt you
As long as you exhibit your charm well
Its just a stage to demonstrate your charm in action
After all the losing team could have the person who made the most interesting/powerful charm



Making the contest too physical ruins the goal of finding good charmcrafters
Thats why i came up with my cooking show style challenge
It challenges actual skill and creativity
I think its interesting because it is a legitamate challenge for crafters to do
And fakers wont be able to do it at all. Which as mo has stated is a real worry.

having to make a decent charm out of an assortment of meh to bad materials is a challenge straight out of a cooking show lol. So it should be entertaining and a real test of skill.
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I really like this. Though, refining a mat is purely a craft(charm) check so it doesn't matter if you have a high Craft(woodwork). And since we're scouting for talent it would be a shame if we miss out on those talented with crafting regular things. So maybe add in that as well and have them craft a mundane item however they want as well.

If we go for the above in terms of qualifier, I suppose they can make whatever they want for the final?

Next week is week 16 so they have some time before week 23.
 
[X] Chui Dao
Good enough
 
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To be sure, I am mostly neutral with regards to the meaning of the proposed names, but:

1. In Chinese, "zei" is very definitely a wholly negative word, as unmatchingsocks mentioned above. This is especially salient given that within the context of Chinese wuxia/xianxia, there already exists a word capable of conveying a neutral to positive connotation while still retaining the core meaning of thief: "dao". One notable example of this would be the famous protagonist "Daoshuai" (Thief/Bandit Chief) Chu Liuxiang from the classic works of Gu Long. On that note, just to hammer (heh) home the point, also within this context, there is one specific and ubiquitous term to refer to (serial) rapist: caihua zei (flower-picking thief). That is how negative the word "zei" is.

Therefore, I would propose that perhaps the name "Chui Dao" would be a better fit than "Chui Zei".

2. While "kongosho" is a Japanese word, the exact same concept exists in Chinese because of course they ultimately derive from Buddhism. So perhaps if people are averse to Japanese names (which I do not necessarily agree with), then the Chinese analogue "Jingang Chu" (or just Jingang) might be a better fit.
 
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