Nobility on the Golden Plains [A Clan Builder / Cultivation Quest]

Creation 2: The Zhuge Clan

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Panting you kneel in the blasted remnants of your vine shield. Opening one eye you examine your body. You are battered and charred by the lightning. Your path was never one suited for combat. You have neither deadly arts nor a body of stone. But any would envy your mastery of the healing techniques.

You call upon your forest core and run wood qi through your body. You straighten your arm and heal your battered ribs. Charred skin flakes off as new flesh replaces it. The excruciating pain quickly fades under the soothing ministration of your Qi. When your body feels intact once more you pull yourself to your feet and let out a celebratory shout.

Somewhat unbecoming of your position, but there isn't anyone nearby and who wouldn't celebrate. You have just successfully broken through the Iron Knight realm, and at the tender age of thirty two. A century or more is far more common for most cultivators. And that's only if they don't stay a Soldier until the day they die.

Of course it's not all your own effort. As a son of the main house your clan has not stinted on providing you with elixirs and cultivation manuals. The clan elders have always been available to answer your questions when you encountered bottlenecks. Your position is one of privilege and wealth and your cultivation base has benefited greatly from it. But no one can deny that you are not talented as well. Even other noble scions usually take four or five decades to break through to this realm.

Though not all. Your mouth twists as you remember the true prodigies. Your elder brother whose shadow you have yet to escape. And your younger siblings that constantly nip at your heels. Well this breakthrough should satisfy the clan elders for now, and silence some of those who grumble at your failures.

Well no sense mulling it over now. In fact you should get moving. You can sense that this mystic realm is beginning to collapse. Your ascension has drained it of qi. You had best escape from this lunar vault before you get lost in the cracks of unreality. You quickly begin retracing your steps. You run through the twisted forest that covers the gorge where the entrance gate to this realm is located. It is far easier now than when you made this journey as a soldier. Too easy, for all that you know you should focus you can't help but let your thoughts wander. There is one person whose opinion on your breakthrough is vitally important.

Who can't you disappoint?

[ ] Your Mother, the Baroness
Your mother is the matriarch of the clan. As a Baroness her rank is low in the Imperial hierarchy, but still vastly greater than anyone else in the barony. Sitting at the western edge of the crownlands, your family's holdings are considered to be poor and plagued by both bandits and wild spirit beasts. Your family's retainers are constantly on patrol and there are so few of them that you will have to personally deal with many of the problems that may arise.

• Low Imperial Obligations.
• No Immediate Enemies.
• Two Natural Treasures
• Good Expansion Opportunities
• Low Prestige
• Low Infrastructure
• Low Mortal Population
• The barony is highly dangerous between settlements

[ ] Your Uncle, the Count
Your uncle only has one surviving child, and at his exorbitant cultivation realm the chance of ever having another is nearly nonexistent. As such you and your siblings have always been under heavy scrutiny as the next generation of clan leadership. The county is vast and prosperous. There is little danger that can't be handled by the clan retainers, but in return you have been taught to be constantly on guard against other clans lurking like vipers in the shadows.

• Four Natural Treasures
• Good Infrastructure
• Large Capital City
• Very Good Backing
• Medium Imperial Obligations
• One Enemy Clan
• No real room for clan development without some kind of upheaval
• High expectations of you personally.

[ ] Your Great Grandmother, the Marchioness
Actually your many times great grandmother. She didn't personally found the clan, but any ancestors before her are so far back in the mists of history as to be inconsequential. You have literally thousands of cousins, but by a quirk of fate only you and your siblings belong to the direct line of succession. As such while your upbringing has been extravagant, the expectations have been crushing. You don't want to disappoint her, but you know you already have.

• Six Natural Treasures
• Maximum Infrastructure
• Grand Capital City
• Your Backing is Absolute
• Very High Prestige
• High Imperial Obligations
• Many Political Enemies
• Very High Expectations
• Being a Knight is NOT Good Enough