If I had to make a change, it'd probably be swapping out for Qi Sense and Doctor from the skills catalogue, we're early enough that the 10th and 11th stages of QC aren't going to be super relevant for a while, but given we are the bloodline, and how much effort gathering Qi takes, I'd definitely suggest Blood refinement and Breath as a definite.
Breath is literally just "ghosts can spend active actions to let our boy temporarily pretend that he has more meridians in the breathing technique". That's what it is. In our case, it's just a combat buff. Now, combat buffs are useful, but let's not tell ourselves that it's anything that it isn't.
Now, a few things to consider:
- Our boy has basically no backing once he goes out into the world. That means that (at least in the medium term) those rare skills are going to be bought here or nowhere.
- Shards are going to be rare, but available in an ongoing way. We want to be picky about what we get, but we can afford to target the medium term rather than the extreme long term. As an example, it seems likely (to me) that we'll have at least one more opportunity to gain shards prior to finishing out Qi Condensation.
- We're heading into Poison Fang Valley. That means that self-sufficiency is going to be important on a cultural level, and that "head out into the wilderness to hunt and gather" is going to be a big part of our available forms of resource generation
- We're
not going to the azure plains, which means that we don't have to maximize the number of people coming with us int eh hopes of creating a sect, which means that we can afford to hang around here for at least a little longer in order to train in herbalism.
- I feel like we don't want to spend shards on things that we could be spending progression on. At the same time, we have a *lot* of things we want to spend progression on.
random thoughts:
Binding of Heaven is interesting but has some pretty severe drawbacks. Better to leave be
We'll want the next few chains of qi condensation eventually, but we can afford to wait on those for our next opportunity at shards. Our boy just isn't advancing that quick.
Twelve Cuts to Topple the Heavens really only applies in life-or-death battles against cultivators powerful enough to have those kinds fo defenses... and it seems pretty iconic. It's potent, yes, but also somewhat niche and unsafe.
Blood Spilling Cycle is potentially a notable source of blood qi when our boy gets into lethal fights. Would synergize very well with blood qi combat techniques... none of which we currently have or are all that likely to be able to get save via shards. Not sure how valuable this would be overall? I sort of felt like we were starting to get over the hump as far as blood qi availability was concerned, but I admit that I haven't been tracking it that closely.
As such I propose the following:
- Stick around in the sect long enough to learn the beginnings of herbalism. Even better if we can also pick up some spiritual butcher. If we can, remove that from the list and add more qi gathering knowledge.
[] spiritual butcher- the upgrade of the butcher skill, utilizing small amount of Qi spun in a specific manner to retain more of the spirit beast power within its body.
[] Qi sense [advanced]- the skill for sensing Qi in the surroundings. Useful for both detecting enemies and finding treasure.
[] Bloodline reinforcement (2 shards)- through the use of copious amounts of Shen, one's bloodline can be thickened providing a multitude of benefits.
[] Blood spilling cycle- a secret technique of the Guang bordering the demonic, when blood is spilled by Guang Li the ancestors may gather it a small portion of it for later use, this technique is incredibly refined and dos not posses the many dangers and downside normally apparent in such techniques. It is also almost completely undetectable.
[] General Qi gathering knowledge [max 5]- +1 to Qi gathering rolls per ghost.
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Bloodline reinforcement has obvious utility. Herbalism plus Spiritual Butcher plus qi sense (plus, possibly, blood spilling cycle) helps to really maximize the value of resource-gathering trips out into the wilds. Better hunting, better avoidance of dangerous beasts, better herbs, better butchering, better finding of treasures and (if we can fit it in) some blood qi from killing the beasts. Then everything else gets tossed into qi gathering knowledge because we spend a
lot of ghost time on gathering qi.
All of it is long-term benefits that are either impossible to get elsewhere or that we'd have real difficulty getting access to on our own, and at the same time all of it starts paying off more or less immediately - helping us get into a better position for the next time we have a chance to free some of our ancestors.
edit: thoughts on what others have said:
There's an interesting question here. We're going to Poison Valley. Are we going to try to join a sect there? How likely are we to be
able to join a sect there? That has real impact on our ability to learn herbalism and spiritual butchery - both of which are likely to be available in a place like this. Doctor and Qi sense, not so much.
I'm basically not willing to vote for any plan that doesn't involve Bloodline Reinforcement. It seems like such a blatantly core part of our power, and one we really ought to be pursuing.
The idea of branching out into Doctor is interesting. I'm not opposed to it necessarily, but it does compete for time with things like "resource gathering expeditions" and "alchemy" - and that's especially the case because it's only the first part of what is necessary to be a good spiritual doctor.
