- Location
- Spain
That was a typo.
Passives
-User gains a two die bonus to spiritual defences
-The user regains one qi per combat turn as long as an enemy has been wounded that turn
-The user gains a three die bonus to perception against any target touching the ground
-The user gains a stacking one die bonus to offensive clashes each time the user damages an enemy. (Max 5)
For stats, the worms have 3 health, Ling Qi's offense and defense attributes with 5 dice added on, effectively, replacing a mastery. They're early yellow and seem to have no arts. Attacks are DV 4 (but that probably won't be too relevant given their dice pools) with 1 armor penetration. Essentially, that seems to mean that the worms get a flat 11 dice to defend and attack. IF we buff them up, they can do a good deal with FZ stuff, but it's equally probable that a foe can launch an AoE attack that ganks both nearly defenseless worms and makes us defend about as cheaply as we can summon 2.
That's about how hard we hit back when we were Early, tho, I have isn't bad. Considering the stacking defense penalties, they get significantly better.Crawling Horror: This one's a bit weird. The worm's going last in a turn means they often may die before doing anything, unless Ling Qi goes near to last in a turn as well to prevent them from being mangled round 1. OTOH, if Ling Qi sets them up early in a round, they're targetable for buffs that round, but may easily die before they go. Manipulating initiative, as we can do, makes this a bit more valuable.
This is basically FVM but snow themed instead of mist themed, isn't it? The very first tech. We know that Zeqing was one of the spirits that attacked the composer of FVM, and that FVM's mist is similar to what Zeqing uses to Hanyi, but we never seen that Zeqing's ability was so completely a reskinned FVM. If so...She grit her teeth, tears stinging in her eyes as she tried to look for any sign of where she was. No matter where she looked though, there was only snow, even with her enhanced senses, she could not see more than a few centimeters in front of her face, nor feel anything beyond an overwhelming torrent of wind and water, mixed with something else, a light qi that mixed and merged with the rest, barely detectable. Of course it was a test. Every single Elder and Spirit seemed to just love their tests!
That was not okay. That hurt, actually, reading it. For all Ling Qi has resolved to never be so alone again, that loneliness is integral to her personality and mental/spiritual integrity. Ow.She remembered her first winter after running away, shivering alone in an alley. She had come the closest to breaking then, to running back to her mother in tears, ready to sacrifice her freedom for a warm hearth and the safety of her mother's arms.
She remembered the kind old man whose blankets she had stolen, and in turn the beating she had received when an older, stronger boy had taken them from her weeks later. She remembered sobbing alone as she clutched her broken arm while uncaring passerby ignored the huddled lump on the street corner.
Loneliness and abandonment, the cruelty of the uncaring wilderness, unchanged by its urban nature. The mist flowing from her flute thickened, resisting the wind as it flowed down like water, engulfing her feet and legs. It wasn't warm, it wasn't comforting, but it was hers, and it rejected the external cold and driving shards of ice.
Holy shit, these are amazing. Music Special Element means that anti-Thunder defenses don't work on Ling Qi's music arts, which is godly because music arts aren't popular and very little people are going to bother specifically getting defenses against music when they could get defenses against Thunder and (regular) music both. Especially since Ling Qi doesn't even have to turn regular music arts into using Music element to get the benefits: she just needs to keep FVM, one of her best arts, always equipped.Special Element, Music unlocked. Music based arts are no longer affected by sound based defences or deafness as long as at least one meridian is attuned to Music.
Specialty II Woodwind Instruments, unlocked. When using your specialty you are treated as being one cultivation level higher in clashes.
Eww, Meizhan must hate the worms; she's a pure maiden that can't be touched by the filth of base earth! The art is amazing though! Only 40 sux to get the first level, which is surprising low though I'm not going to look that gift horse in the mouth, in exchange for amazing passives. Qi Regen! Spiritual defense dice! Perception dice! Stacking offensive dice!Her effort proved fruitful, and though Meizhen found her new art a bit distasteful, she could argue with the efficacy of it. The girl was remarkably quick to annihilate the slimy constructs Ling Qi could now summon before they could touch her
Hm, but her qi has been altered to be Fire/Heaven/Thunder now; Heaven is the element of intellect and Thunder is the element of impulse. Are her flames acquiring life-like qualities? If Xiulan manages to get her hands on a Fire construct art, she might find her creations unusually advanced?"It makes no sense," she growled. "They are extensions of my qi, they shouldn't have life of their own like this."
For all of Ling Qi's protests to the contrary, she is definitely Zhengui's mother. This scene is textbook parenting! It makes me feel a little better for not voting for taking Zhengui's action last turn; Ling Qi is still taking the time to raise Zhengui, just not pushing him through combat training while he's still learning what the world even is. (Would she treat her human children, if she even acquires any, the same way? Presumably she'll want a co-parent, since spirit beasts like Zhengui are remarkably self-sufficient in terms of protecting against dangers in the sect environment but human children are definitely utterly helpless for far longer.)"Big Sis, I found a pretty!" She looked down to find a proud looking Zhengui trundling over, a clump of warped sand that glittered in the late afternoon light. He dropped it at her feet, his serpent head looking away even as his little green eyes gleamed up at her, excited for her approval.
"How lovely," Xiulan said, a touch of amusement entering her voice, despite her strained expression.
Ling Qi merely glanced at her before picking up the bead and examining it with a serious expression. It was pretty in a rough way, especially with the spark of azure fire that still glittered at its core. "Thank you Zhengui," she replied with dignity, patting the little reptile on the head. "It's very pretty, I love it."
This is (the lesser, more basic form of) what Jiao used when he appeared from shadows back a turn ago, right! (And that passive +9 Speed is amazing, especially combined with One with Shadow's movement limitation. Similar to how EPC's passive also applies to EPC cultivation: as SCS's speed bonus passive increases, SCS techs get even better above and beyond advancements to the tech themselves.)
...That phrasing was absolutely deliberate on Xin's part, she could have described the binding process entirely innocuously! That being said, this insight on the nature of elemental spirits is interesting -- they're completely inhuman at base, but then learn to be human as they spend time bonded to humans. This is in contrast to how human cultivators become more inhuman, spirit-like, as they progress in cultivation."Oh?" Xin asked playfully, turning her head and resting her cheek in her hand. "You do not want the girl to know how you stained an innocent fairy with your essence, and wrought her into your ideal spouse?"
These are essential, in my mind! Spirit beasts really improve cultivation speed, and if Suyin is to enter the Inner Sect with Ling Qi, she needs all the help she can get. And Ling Qi needs to talk with Meizhan about how they're going to stay connected in the future, and what Ling Qi should expect and know about being Cai's vassal.[] Go on a trip to the spiders nest with Li Suyin
[] You need to speak with Meizhen, about Cai's offer and the future in general
It says a lot about Ling Qi that learning a new language/deciphering new arrays is seen to her as a relaxing activity instead of, yanno, work. There's having a work ethic and being a work ethic, and Ling Qi's heading straight into 'I was deliriously self-indulgent when I went shopping for food earlier this week and bought some porcinis' territory.
Deepwood vitality or TRF are very powerful for the worms, I think. makes sure they can last a full turn at the very least. Also, keep in mind that AE1 is mid yellow. it probably caps at AE3 for yellow, meaning it will get significantly more powerful by the time it's capped for yellow.Crawling Horror: This one's a bit weird. The worm's going last in a turn means they often may die before doing anything, unless Ling Qi goes near to last in a turn as well to prevent them from being mangled round 1. OTOH, if Ling Qi sets them up early in a round, they're targetable for buffs that round, but may easily die before they go. Manipulating initiative, as we can do, makes this a bit more valuable.
You make a lot of good points! I, however, am going to argue that AE is going to be much more our bread and butter than what one might expect.Let's take a look through AE. A lot of people are saying it's very good, and while it is, I think it's a bit more situational than we're accepting right now.
[X] Plan The Dark Storm
Has the minors I want, and also takes a mission (Wind site pls?). Doesn't have scouting Sun Liling, but that's ok.
[X] Plan: Surprise! I'm secretly invincible!
I like this plan best, only I would like to open the last bag, maybe instead of Guangli action?
But the work doesn't get the bonuses from passives or techs. That is a pretty big deal; for reference, something like Crescent Grace gives us +9 on the turn we use it, and +6 of that carries over to subsequent turns.Abyssal Exhalation is downright amazing. Level 1 and the summon is already just about as good as we are, 5 bonus dice being worth roughly the 2 sux a Late opponent gets,