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

Name: Choíros Pentekonter

Appearance: Choíros is a pigman. Slender for his own kind he is still a lot more muscular than humans. His body is fully covered with dark brown fur. Tusks grow from his mouth and his eyes are a sandstone in colour.

Starting Turn (Age): turn 11 (15)

Cool thing: Choíros was always smart for a pigman. That fact grew only stronger as Elder Pentekonter raised him to the first Heavenstage and grantet him the bronze bloodline on his death bed. However instead of just awakening to the bronze bloodline, the similar yet oh so diffrent bloodline stimulated his own bloodline, one of wind and water. This bloodline makes him faster than other cultivaters of the same stage while also drasticly increaceses his competence in wind and water arts.

Background: Born a pigman he had a hard life in the Hong Xuan territory. His family was send to develop the new lands of the Hong Xuan. There he would, meet maybe in a stroke of good fortune or the lastest fight of his bloodline to change its cruel faith, Elder Pentekonter.
The dying man, maybe in a state of madness or one of enlightenment adopted the pig man who tried to save him. Pentekonter raised him to the first step of cultivation, shared his bloodline, gave him a new name and instructed him to bring his remains back to the clan.




Stats:

Turn: 11
Health: Healthy
Impact: 0
Cultivation: 1st Heavenstage
Cultivation year equivalent: 21
Omake bonuses: 1x Lifesaving
Cultivation goal: 9th Heavenstage



Omakes
Turn 11
Turn 11 Omake 1/ Prologue
Turn 11 Omake 2
Turn 11 Omake 3 The Pig Man at the gate

@Alectai @occipitallobe

Choíros Pentekonter Omake Turn 11 One


The age of strife was once again uppon them. At least, Quikrr thought that was what his tribe called it. He had heard other names, most prominent Golden Devil hundert years tribulation or as some of the more daring Hong Xuan masters called it in secret, the golden devil punishment.
No matter what its real name was it was of little consequent for the Pig Tusk tribe. There lot was that of one of the many pigman tribes serving the Hong Xuan. Short and painfull lives doing the work that was beneath the Hong Xuan. Quikrr hated it, hated it how most of his people seemed contend, no even proud to slave their whole life away for the Hong Xuan, however he could do little to not do the same. Ever since their ancestors were subjugated thousands of years ago there were no cultivators in the pig tribes anymore, for their only purpose was to serve as cheap labour.

Every pigman had to start working at the age of six , they may grew up faster than humans but with six years of life they were still no more than children. With 10 they moved form light labour to the more gruesome jobs mostly mining and constructing in dangerous environments.
Quikrr was currently on such a construction job at the boarders of the new lands. However to put it bluntly he was fucked. Hes construction team was attacked by spritual beasts their Hong Xuan commander and the other pigman all dead, only Quikrr, fast as he was, was quick enough to get to safety.
If you could call being trapped on a small stone plateau out of range of the dangerous spirit mice "safe*. At least he was not wounded to badly, blood only run out of a large cut on hes right leg, he would easly survive it. The real problem was that without help he would surely die on his way back to camp.
Oh well.... he had nothing more to do than to wait until the mice lose interest in him.


PV: Elder Pentekonter

He groaned, the pain was strong, though the the thought that this is how it was going to end hurt more. Pentekonter opend his eyes and looked around himself, next to him layed his opponent from the fitht sea dead and decapitated. At least it was a good fight and he had gotten his revenge.
Now however he was dying. It was to far to the next clan base that could have treated him and he had but hours to live. He closed his eyes again ready to wait for his death, as suddenly his senses picked up the smell of blood, not that of the clan but simalar in a way hard to describe.
It reminded him of the sea, of his dream of a Golden Devil Navy that would once rule the 3rd Sea. He rose and followed his scences, maybe he could still do something with the short remainder of his life.


PV: Choíros


The spirit beasts were still there, he had already waited for hours if nothing changed he would have to try to fight them. It would be over quickly but he would not allow himself to die like a coward. Just as he was about to ready his resolve and fight to the death, his iron spear in the hands, something changed.
One moment the mice looked at him with hungry eyes and in the next there were no more mice only some red stains remaind where they stood, Near them stood a old man coverd in blood, he had seen people who look like him before. He dropped to hes knees and quickly spoke: " this humble servant greets the Golden Devil. "

The old man starred at him with a look of concentration and mumbles: "a pigman no thats not possible..... or is it? There is no need for ceremony young pigman, dont you see in what state i am? Tell me your name, you are most certanly interesting!"
"I am Quikkr of the Pig Tusk tribe my lord" Quikkr answered slowly rising to his feet. "Quikkr, oh this strange pigman naming conventions, i will never understand them." He looked at him with crazed eyes:" Anyways it looks like faith has guided us together. I am dying and you look like you would have died if I would not have chanced uppon you. I have a task for you, and a gift."

"your wish is my command Master" Quikkr answered. "Good you are quick to answer and show no hesitation, first accept this drop of blood from me." He reached out for the wound of Quikkrs leg and out one of his many drops of blood from his body in to the wound.
Thats the last thing Quikkr saw before he passed out. Something in him stirred, he was the wind carrying the foam, the wave that broke a dam. Something in him awoke and his fate changed.






@Alectai @occipitallobe first Omake for turn 11 I would like to have a life saving treasure this round pls.

I hope it was not to bad, this is the first time i am doing something like this and english isnt my first language.

In a quiet moment, when paperwork does not stack to the high heavens and her platoon doesn't get itself into more trouble with the usual ghost than they can handle, she finally had time to just relax. The last few years had been difficult, but good for the clan overall. Many died but Alexandria was happy their efforts to curb the appearance of haunts and wraiths in the most populated places had at least a small effect on the Clans fate.

But the thing Alexandria liked the most was finally acting according to her dao and starting the foundations of her own [Family]. The time after the trials had been hectic and Zeno - ~her husband~ - was understandably exhausted from the fighting. It was hard to imagine facing down a king, much less fighting their dao guardians nearby while being suppressed by one.

It was good then, that they took the time to have a proper vacation and truly enjoyed themselves. The water of Pearling was as clear as Zeno claimed and just such a delight to relax in. No strange qi fluctuations to account for or an opportunistic beast or bandit to fight off. She could at least admit privately that seeing the beasts of the desert accidentally charge off a cliff, as they strode through a portal midcharge, never gets old. Apart from leisurely enjoying the water we did so much there. We drank through many nights, gambled and loosened some other fools pockets and enjoyed each other's company undisturbed for the first time in many decades. For once there was no curse interfering with our lives or any mission forcing us to separate for decades at a time.

Truly, the stories of Immortals undersell how lonely life as a cultivator can become.

Hmm…maybe Maria would like to visit us? I can at least send a letter and if our luck holds true she arrives when the children are a little older or better yet with Georgy in tow! Old Gold knows why his correspondence with us is so sparse.

On matters of lonely individuals, Abel Angelus lives a very lonely life as well. She'd seen him interact with Zeno and their mother Iulia alright, but when it comes to actual friends? Nothing.The closest thing to a friendship Abel seems to have are his various acquaintances both high and low. Various mortals flock to him with their newest inventions, hoping to get funding when they can spot him near the family manor, but since most of them don't meet his exacting standards, he actually sponsors few and asks for Spirit stones from the family's stores for fewer reasons.

The cultivators he is known to have met are more eclectic still, even accounting for Fort Dreadsand and the trials as a whole. Konstantinos and Minervina, both of their fame echoing beyond the clans' mess halls into the wider worlds for their own works. One is known to strike across realms and make any fight with her a pyrrhic victory at best, the other has made the public image of the clan his craft to contribute to the clans eternal war effort. Important and amusing information spread to the far corners of the clans territories with only the rumor mill his superior in speed of information spread.

Though, is that truly all that bad?

She could admit that most of the friends she had found were found among her legion under lady Callista. Abel on the other hand, is more of a free agent and was born with Goergy jr. under auspicious circumstances. The Angelus family members rarely births a child near a liminal rift and we knew from the start that both of their souls have been affected by this somehow. A passion focused mind seems to be a rather mild change in comparison to the usual afflictions. Though, even that seems to have changed in the last few years.

More and more he seeks out people in search of something, suggesting inventions to those who would hear him, irreverent to the status of those he speaks with. Oh, she had heard he was perfectly polite, but very few have the gall to ask Minervina for any advice or suggest Konstantinos any ways to improve his craft. Most would blanch at his presumption, to know better as the experts of their craft- Others think Abel doesn't know enough to contribute in a discussion with Minervina, but he meets these expectations more often than not and in the case he doesn't he learns from these encounters, accepting failure as part of a process.

She knew that Abel certainly didn't lack confidence, but these two examples purge any remaining doubt. Abel will be fine. It probably helps that Zeno seems to really like his view of status and cultivation and no doubt encourages it when they talk.

Having Zeno praise Abels lack of anger towards his lacking cultivation and his good work ethic is always a good topic for small talk or trash talk. Knowing that my family member absolutely destroys his enemies with his fire-iron-thingy before the enemies reach him fills me with pride. She asked Abel regularly what danger he faced in his adventures and Abel always talks of defeated enemies in either annoyance or just dead monotone when they were particularly hard to kill. The best part is, when Zeno and I retell his stories of adventure to various ghosts and wraiths, clinging to this turtle world for vengeance or any other reasons. They declare him to be impossible. We simply reiterate his lowly status as a cultivator and emphasize his use of formations in line with clan doctrine.

They plead to the world for all this to be a dream, hoping to be proven wrong that no cultivator would have so much confidence or apparent might without the cultivation to match.

The ghosts ask to know where his confidence is, but their expectations are not fulfilled. The wraiths howl to the world and demand to know the secret to his will to live, where he hid his cultivation to match his enemies and defeat so many above his station when Abel himself is so young and weak in cultivation. All the while they contemplate this seemingly impossible person, their lack of focus on the physical present slowly unravels their translucent silhouette.

They don't ask a second time, because as liminal beings they know the absolute truth. Abel Angelus does not help others or make progress into branches of arts unknown, because it helps his cultivation directly. For Abel sees the glory you achieved as righteous as any other.

Abel Angelus is.

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@Humbaba , @TehChron

words: 1120

AN: Fictionfan asked me nicely to show how other people think of Abel and I used the opportunity to try myself at writing a proper Interlude. In this case from the POV of Alexandria.

Since this is my first Omake for turn 11 I ask for a Life-Saving Treasure.

Bicycle part 1
It is time for my next invention. Not nearly as ambitious as my computer or hand cannon. But hopefully more practical. I am going to reinvent the bike. Also who knows, with how the computer and hand cannon worked out if I spend a bunch of time and energy making a bike a super fast spirit beast should come and offer to become my mount. Or at least that has been the pattern so far.

Looking through the clan archives I find that this sort of oddly coincidental fortune is actually somewhat common when I read the stories of great cultivators. Fire cultivator finds ancient fire techniques in a random cave that are only useful for them and such. At first I thought it was just the narrative bias effect in that people with good fortune are more likely to have stories written about them, but now that it is happening to me I now have a new hypothesis.

It is well established that qi responds to intentions, but why assume that is only the case in the immediate short term? When I was gunsmithing and making my computer I spent large amounts of time focusing on a goal and then suddenly a way to use Qi to accomplish that goal suddenly appeared before me. The pattern is consistent. Also nicely explains why there hasn't been any sort of mortal industrial revolution yet despite how long history is. If someone really focuses on some goal a way to do it with Qi will appear before him. Not sure how to test that besides just trying to invent something new. If I try to get a mortal to really focus on a goal there is no way to control my own presence. Wish I had a way to control this experiment without my own realization. It's possible that things might not work if I am forcing it.

I walk around my workshop in the Angelus family manor and write down everything that I remember about bikes. They have wheels, pedals, handlebars connected to the front wheel, a chain connecting the pedals and the back wheel, a seat and gears. I remember that gears worked by changing the size of the inner wheel the chain is on, but I can't remember ever knowing how a bike can change gears mid pedal. Well not all bikes had gears. I can figure that out later.

Not sure I can blacksmith a bike. With my clockwork computer if ever I couldn't manage a fine enough detail going bigger was usually an option for everything besides the screen. I am considering just using wagon wheels for now. But no normal wood just would not be able to handle the strain. Bone seems like the way to go.

There is a problem with ordering spirit beast parts. Even if the part in question isn't actually useful for anything. Even if the beast is regularly hunted because other parts are useful. Still the not useful parts are expensive. Why do you ask? Because of marketing. Someone will use spirit bone wheels on this wagon when wood would work just as well so that they can point at them and brag. Anything made out of spirit beast materials might as well have a huge brand name on it for how much it jacks up the price even if it is completely useless.

I skipped using spirit bones for my first prototype. Yes they would be better for withstanding cultivator strength, but right now I only need a bike for me not some 9th heavenstage. Regular pig bones work for me and wood works for me. In any case, despite my troubles with getting materials, making the frame of the bicycle was easy. I had it done in less then a week even taking into account other duties like array crafting, formation training and other training. Still don't know why or how Mom got me so many exemptions, but I haven't questioned it because I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It is when I attach the chain to the back wheel that I quickly find a bunch of problems. Having the pedal directly connected to the back wheel causes all sorts of problems and just makes the bike a pain to ride. I can't just coast along on my momentum. If the back wheel is spinning then the pedals also have to spin at the same rate furthermore in order to increase speed I have to spin the pedal faster than they are already turning. The handle bars don't turn the front wheel like I remember. I have a lot more fiction from where the back bike frame and the front handlebars connect. All of these make biking a pain and are obvious wastes of energy that were not the case with bicycles back home even single gear ones. What am I missing?

I go back to my list of things I remember about bikes and start adding as many words as I can hoping to jog something. Everything from from I remember about what sort of tires are supposed to be the best to how to do a wheelie. Wait, ball bearings. They were supposed to have something to do with bikes. I never saw them on my bike, but I heard people talk about them and even played with some of them. They were small metal balls.

I look over my prototype. How would small metal balls help this design? Well I guess my first question is where would they have been if I didn't see them? I look over to where the back of my frame attaches to the part with the handle bars. Hmm. If I had a bunch of ball bearings in the contact point between the two parts it would allow the front wheel to help support the bike without causing a bunch of friction at the where they join when I turn the front wheel with the handle bars so long as I had something holding the ball bearings in place which would explain why I never saw them on my bike.

Not quite sure how ball bearings help with the other problems, but the first step is to make some. Which is very difficult. I try casting them in molds, but making a mold that small is hard and the hole that the liquid metal is poured into causes a deformity. I guess it sort of works if I am willing to spend large amounts of time polishing out the deformities and still not quite have a perfect sphere.

Next I try just dropping liquid metal into cool water to have it form. It sort of works. The real problem is that when liquid metal touches water the water will immediately turn into steam which causes a bit of deformation.

What if I just drop the metal off tall towers and have it cool on the way down? No steam explosion problems then. I try that, but it only works with lead. At least with the height of the towers I have access to. Not sure if lead can handle the stresses that ball bearings get put under.
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@Alectai, @TehChron, @Humbaba, @ReaderOfFate, @Kaboomatic Another Omake.