[9] Frayed Soul
[9] A Lance's Finesse II
[9] Imagination

Even Nines needs and deserves comfy sometimes, even if it's just a delusion.

Apostle: Nine White
Progression Rate: 200%
Symbiote: Promise
Astral Rank: 3.20
Brand: Apostle
Apostle Credits Spent: 10

Conditions
  • None
Attributes
  • Wisdom: +
  • Teamwork: +++
  • Control: ++ | +
  • Might: + | +
  • Agility: +++++
  • Output: ++
  • Heartlessness: ++
  • Willpower: ++
Loyalty
  • Viktor: +
  • Izmerel: +
  • August: +
  • Sanae: +
  • Benefactor: +
[ ] One Goal; Your Team: "You ain't no superhero, kid. Gotta jive with your team. Multiply your strength with theirs and you might even take me down!"
- Provides +WIS, +Teamwork; Requires 2 Picks.

[ ] Feat: Return Of Investment: "You're getting up there with yer kills, kid! If you keep at it, I might even take you with me on a personal Hunt!"
- Provides 0.3 Astral Rank, raising you to 1.8 Astral Rank. +Viktor, +Chances for a Personal Hunt; Requires 2 Breakthrough Points


[ ] A Straight Line II: "The shortest distance between where you are to where you want to be is a straight line. Do not tarry."
- Provides Notable Increase in familiarity with lance-category weaponry, somewhat further weakens the concept of Distance, +Control +Might when using lance-category weaponry; Requires 2 Picks and 2 Breakthrough Points


[ ] Feat: Return Of Investment II: "Quantity ain't everything! Killing an Artillery-Class like that takes balls, brat!"
- Provides 0.4 Astral Rank, raising you to 2.2 Astral Rank. +Teamwork, +Control; Requires 5 Breakthrough Points

[ ] Increased Progression: "Some people take forever to get anywhere in life. You've already got a small boost by being my Apostle, but hey. I can probably toss a bit more your way. It'll be like using the elevator instead of a staircase. Try not to waste it, alright?"
- Increase Progression Rate to 200%.
- Costs 1 Pick


[ ] Symbiote: "Ever get tired of needing new weapons? Seeing as you'll be escalating...hmmm, gonna be a hassle looking for something that can keep up so...ahah! You've gotten pretty good with lances so just lemme...that goes there...fix it here...and there we go! A New Lance that'll grow alongside you! It's made of your own soul and some esoteric jargon you don't have to worry about, so it's not like you'll ever lose it either!"
- Provides a weapon that will scale with you.
- Your Lance is a part of You. You are a part of Your Lance. Its strength is Your strength.
- "Give it a name! Personally? Longinus. It's only presumptuous if you can't back it up!"
- Costs 1 Pick

[ ] Brand Of The Apostle: "You don't get to my level of being without killing a few hundred...million things. Course, some of those things either didn't actually die or had some reallllly bad backers. All who see you will instantly know that you're my Apostle, at least if they're relevant. Normal people like your precious mercenary squad don't count unless they get a backer."
- Provides [Brand Of The Apostle]
- All Beings, and all their Apostles or equivalent thereof, who have an issue with your Benefactor will find themselves immediately aware of what you are as well as your...circumstances.
- Good fucking luck hiding from them.
- Provides 1 Additional Pick

[ ] A Lance's Finesse: "..."
- Provides: +Agi
- Costs: 1 Pick

[ ] Feat: A Promise Kept: "Stand down! Stand down! Alert the medical staff! Get his situation sorted out, or Astral-damned I will have you licking the latrines clean!"
- Provides: +0.25 Rank (Raises to 3.05)
- Costs: 2 Picks

[ ] Fanged Ferocity: "That mentor of yours certainly provided an entertaining show! But the beast, as well! Far beyond your current ability to truly emulate but both you and it have faced equally impossible odds, have you not? Except, you survived. Thanks to me, of course!"
- Provides: +Output, +Output when operating under difficult conditions. ++Output when operating under overwhelming conditions.
- [Symbiote Upgrade]
- Costs: 1 Pick, 3 Apostle Credits.

[ ] Feat: Vulture: "You're not stealing kills, my Apostle. You're merely securing them!"
- Provides: +0.15 Rank
- Costs 1 Pick

[Unshackled I] provides +Might, +Agi, +Control, +Output, ++Willpower.

[ ] Vajra's Privilege: "The privilege of lightning. Unerring in its pursuit. As one would hear the clap of thunder, your lance would have already struck."
- [Conjunctional Advancement: Nine - Symbiote]
- Imbues all of Nine's attack with the privilege of lightning, which induces spreading burns and paralysis in the afflicted area.
- Nine's attacks with Symbiote can now disregard the concept of Distance. Drain is proportional to the distance disregarded. Drain can be mitigated by sufficient Control.
- Gain +++Agi
- Unlocks [Vajra's Resolution]
- Costs: 7 Apostle Credits

Should probably pick up some more Control soon, while the Astral Railgun is rad, it drains power like an absolute fuck.
 
First let me say that if this is what the Apocryphal looks like when we've outscaled it I never want to see it when we haven't. Was the Apocryphal just sandbagging when it sent us that pirate?
[ ] Two - Feint with the jab, then catch 'em with the right hook!
[ ] One - You've got some power stored up, despite that buzzkill of a Nullity Sorceress. Land a real haymaker.
Two could be worth considering if there actually two reasonable options here, but their aren't, so...
[ ] Wait and Hope - The Apocryphal Curse shall merely bide its time, waiting and hoping for a perfect opportunity to introduce delicious complication! A perfectly cute and prudent decision. Patience is a virtue for a reason, you know! Fighting, Apocryphal~ !

*Dramatically increases the power of the next Apocryphal Curse-induced Event!
*Biding your time results in extra power, but an anticlimactic return, how boring...
*Let the Hero stew in fear of your dreadful contingencies, mwa ha ha!
*The Hero has advanced beyond many of the simpler challenges you can muster right now. Best to strike during a better opportunity! Delightful pandemonium may only be a star in your eye, but properly nurtured it can spawn unending havoc.
*That said, the ones below still present some opportunities of not-insignificant promise!
A dramatic increase in the power of the next Apocryphal proc sounds bad, particularly when we look at how bad the option below are...
[ ] Republic Kill-Joys - The Elixir Sovereignty attracts all manner of wandering adventurer and aspirant petitioner seeking relief and regeneration at its famously potent healing springs. Among them, this Republic Kill-Team, armed to the teeth with devastating battle-augs and equipped with top-of-the-line Republic military Armor Prototypes! Embrace the power of L.U.L. and show these imperial bootlickers traitors that only the Free(tm) know truly how to party!

*Itchy trigger finger. Wouldn't the Sovereignty love to get their hands on the equipment these boys & girls are packing?
*Thus, righteous paranoia and relaxation are the order of the day! And there's that mage they're trying to smuggle out...
*Add a Tyrannical hero with no inclination to obey Republic authority into the mix and ka-blam! A sure-fire recipe!
*It'll be interesting to see how they fare against the Surges of the itinerant band, even more so when the high schoolers join the fray!
*A marvelous free-for-all of rollicking Free(tm)-spirited destruction!
*Our hero might be able to claim one of those top-grade Armor Prototypes with the help of his Sorceress friend! Artifice, how gross!!
This could be very annoying. We're a lot stronger than the last time an encounter with these guys were offered, so they're not that scary, but Rihaku warned us not to underestimate them... And the potential collateral damage is not great... Getting access to those Armor Prototypes would be great!
[ ] Prestige Classing - Looks like poor Bearic has fallen behind! Still two weeks 'till he hits level cap and our hero is almost stronger than even that! Well, that simply won't do, looks like our friend Bearic needs an extra leg up. Something to really fire up his mettle and make him an opponent worthy of our dastardly Ring-Lord! You call it cheating, he calls it haxx; bust out you best Santa cosplay, 'cause Christmas is comin' early and Apocryphal Claus is going to be very, very nice to one particularly undeserving gamer. Cheer up Ber, your System may not be up to the task, but you've a far greater friend in your corner and she's coming through in the clutch! Avenge Seralize and all the others, and take back the title of Blue Swordsman from that one-eyed brooding hack!

*Conservation of antagonists, an important skill to learn for any budding Curse!
*Wouldn't you like to see Ber reach massively exceed his full potential? No matter who's defeated, the winner's going to get an absolute truckload of Experience...
*He still won't attack until he hits level cap. What a fruitfully assiduous boy! Could take a bit.
*Oooh, we just can't wait to see his disgustingly overpowered new capabilities brought to light! Make it a showdown worthy of the ages!
*With how fast 'Lord Hunger' grows, it might be possible for him to still outscale Ber after all this, if he steers his build optimally...
*Pfhaha. Like that's going to happen.
We know we can beat this one if we just stick to the build. That might be difficult given how many of the voters don't seem to care if Hunger's die, but it seems like one of the best options.
[ ] Keepin' it Simple - Yyyuup, we're just going to dump the perfect buffing-type Surgecrafter into the Rotbeast's clutches and have it roll on out! With its Rank and general parameters substantially increased, its mountain-range sized bulk will finally achieve full mobility and rain destruction as a walking charnal tide upon the poor Sovereignty! Let's show this Hero who's boss (hint: it's not him!!).

*KAIJU. GUD.
*Another boring Kaiju event... surely you can do better than this, Apocryphal... ! But even if you can't, we all still love you!
*Work down that ablative population, baby!
*This'll totally screw up his Rank-gaining ways...
*...As long as he doesn't save them.
*But if he does, maybe you can spin him as an enemy of the Empire!
*You're a genius! There's no way to lose.
*Will probably offer him a lot of "picks" if he does win. Like, three or four. Yuck.
Reminder that four pick fights all come with % chance of death and so do some three picks. So that's an automatic no from me with One. With Two... Maybe it's safe? For us, at least... Maybe not so much for the Sovereignty or for our reputation with the Empire... Very much not a fan.
[ ] Lucent Thorn - The deadly A-class blade which hunts Ring and wielder alike has set its eyes on Miss Gisena Allria, wielder of the Azure! Lest the horrors of unbound Artifice be loosed upon the universe again, Justice Blade Lucent Thorn is here to punish you in the name of the True Moonlight! Will the evil Sorceress-Queen Gisena finally be felled? Or will her contract with the devastating handsome and also evil Ring-Lord Hunger allow her to cling to unseemly life!? Find out next time in several dozen more episodes!

*Lucent Thorn has its own agenda and sees fit to chart its own course, defying recommendations despite your nigh-omniscience and sound judgement! Hmph!!
*It's also slow af. Gotta work its way from wielder to wielder alllllll the way across the Voyaging Realm...
*But once this good boy finds a Fairbright worthy champion, ohhh boy. You won't be ready. The world won't be ready. And Hunger's body certainly won't be ready! Unless he works on the Praxis a lot...
*Strength matters not! The nigh-limitless power of Hope, Love, and Determination shall strike down the cruel Rings, implements of naked Power made manifest, right where they stand! This time, a two-for-one special...
*In Realm Voyaging, 5-pick fight runs at you! Let's hope our hero doesn't just outpace this one, though it can tangle in the Human Sphere if it has to!
The implication here is that we would need to get a lot of power from the Praxis in order to make this survivable. Given that people still seem obsessed with the idea of unlocking the Imperial Praxis, even after Rihaku told us that such an investment might not end up paying off for multiple geas tasks
I don't think the gap between Royal and Imperial is as impactful as you guys seem to believe. As mentioned before, it's similar to the difference between a Celestial and Solaroid Exaltation! Sure, it may pay out dividends in the long term, but the long term could be measured in multiple Geas tasks!
rather than actually getting power from the Praxis, this is pretty doomed. Seriously, MULTIPLE GEAS TASKS.
[ ] Ring War - That's a nice Ring you got there. Would be a shame if someone... ruled it.

*Have Asterios experience a truly massive and unjustifiable breakthrough, starting the contest of Primacy!
*Our Hero must war, lest he bow to the new king among Rings!
*Force him into the Human Sphere where all manner of complication awaits!!
*Especially the thing with Letrizia's - oops, can't think about that.
*Requires [ ] One. There can only be one Ruling Ring.
On the plus side, we wouldn't have to fear starting the contest of Primacy by picking Ruling Ring because it already got started by someone else! Of course we'd be in need of immediate power so we shouldn't pick a potential focused option at that point and I'm not even sure we'd even be able to as long as the war is going on, there can only be one Ruling Ring, after all! The downside is that this is mostly a mystery box of the worst kind. With the other options we at least have some idea about how screwed we are, with this one we don't. And that scares me.

[X] One
[X] Prestige Classing


We know we can deal with Ber without taking an excessive amount of risk and with moderate rate of Arete generation
Not quite, Hunger with a moderate rate of Arete generation and an optimal build going forward would still be able to outscale Ber without taking excessive amounts of risk.
We just have to stick to the plan and not get greedy.
 
[A] Continue

Kiiinda tempted to vote for Recede for the sheer anticlimax of it, but for the same reason I can't bring myself to do so.
 
EFB - Blurb Previews
Here are some parts of the blurbs (Curses and Remittances) that would have been offered to the Nameless Prince in Even Further Beyond! The full uncut version is available for subscribers of Foremost+ tier on the patreon!

[ ] Geas of the Sanctum - Within a fairly brief window from acquiring this Curse (exact time depends on your capabilities; for an average human, thirty minutes), you must claim a volume of space no larger than 15 feet to a side as your Sanctum. You must be able to credibly defend this claim, whether by means legal or physical. Failure to claim your Sanctum will transform this Geas into the Apocryphal Curse. You may spend no more than 1% of your time outside your Sanctum.

All forms of power projected beyond the Sanctum, including divinations, ranged attacks, and even the deployment of your physical body, decay increasingly with distance from the Sanctum, from a minimum of 10% for the immediate vicinity up to total depletion when halfway across the world. On a world as large as this playground of the Fates, you may travel up to 1000 miles from your Sanctum with only...

---

[ ] A Mirror Brightly - Power compounds itself.

You receive power slightly below that of an average beginner Combat-type Cursebearer, in the form most suited to the realm you currently inhabit. In this world you would become a Cultivator at the higher third of the Grand Solipsist class. This power is considered separate from your own selfhood, allowing you to pursue Cultivation of a separate Dao on your own, and preventing your Remittance-granted Dao from unduly influencing your decisions. However, it also compounds perfectly with your own cultivation; attaining two Ego Barrier stages might grant an Ego Barrier geometrically more powerful than the sum of its parts, while the favorable interactions inherent to wielding two Daos need not be explicated.

Choose your Mirror Dao. This Dao has considerably less influence on your psychology than that of an ordinary Cultivator's, rising to no more than a moderate impetus:

-[ ] Dao of the Cursebearer - Your Dao is that of a loyal vassal to the Accursed, who advances his lord's agenda while also setting aside a healthy amount of time to tend to his own interests and quality of life. You possess a suite of Reality Effects appropriate to your Curses; for example, the Geas of the Sanctum would empower you within its bounds, allowing you to subtly but powerfully influence spirit, matter, and energy within, while the Curse of Hubris would...

The more you mitigate your Curses, the mightier your Reality Effects will become, as if stealing their very power to augment your essence!
 
[ ] Geas of the Sanctum
Oh, I definitely want this one, I never go anywhere anyway! Plus, it's additional incentive to have a badass wizard tower, which is always nice if you can swing it. A very tall and thin one, in this case, but that just adds character! Gotta be sure not to combine with other curses that'll make those 30+ minutes hell... but Mirror should help.

And Mirror looks amazing, but without $$$ I can't make proper comparison of power. :s But the Accursed is a bro, devoting more effort to being his minion sounds like a good purpose to have.
 
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-[ ] Dao of the Cursebearer - Your Dao is that of a loyal vassal to the Accursed, who advances his lord's agenda while also setting aside a healthy amount of time to tend to his own interests and quality of life. You possess a suite of Reality Effects appropriate to your Curses; for example, the Geas of the Sanctum would empower you within its bounds, allowing you to subtly but powerfully influence spirit, matter, and energy within, while the Curse of Hubris would...

The more you mitigate your Curses, the mightier your Reality Effects will become, as if stealing their very power to augment your essence!
Oh wow, basically become an Avatar of the Accursed. That's so cool!
 
Let me just say, this one is some shit. Seriously, what a Curse.
Ha! I mean, I assumed as much from the name, but you tease me so.

Considering how much more of a pain Heroic Passions were than I expected them to be, and how Hubris was an especially bad one, the Curse would probably have the bearer charging off into a Temple or something. Wait, that wasn't a curse, that was just us.

Do you... immediately try to 1v1 the Accursed when he drops it on you? And then he just puts a hand on your forehead while you flail at him. That must get old pretty quick.
 
I wonder if you can take the Geas of the Sanctum and the Geas of Indenture at the same time...wonder how the Accursed dealt with that before he mitigated his curses sufficiently.
 
Nice catch. Wow. Uh. So much for my "thin Hogwarts" idea.

The only other solution is Git Gud, then. That'd be excruciating.
 
But ALL forms of power projection decay beyond the sanctum, who says minions are not included, too?

Well, it's not really your power in that case though? If you focus on effects that provide training bonuses to others or permanent mental modifications (like getting people to take a Dao focused on serving you, for example), you might be able to manage quite well.
 
Sanctum is the worst. 15ft a side is basically just a decent sized room! If it wasn't for the size extension because of how huge the world of EFB is you'd have to stay in your room for 362 days of the year!
 
The No-Agency Build:
Take Hubris. Take as many Dooms as you can. Become warped beyond your wildest understandings without even being able to scream in your head about it, because "precurse" you no longer exists. Increasingly suicidal actions forever.
 
Well, it's not really your power in that case though? If you focus on effects that provide training bonuses to others or permanent mental modifications (like getting people to take a Dao focused on serving you, for example), you might be able to manage quite well.
If they're training bonuses that you can take away afterwards like most of the ones we've been offered this quest, they'd probably decay as well.
 
Remember that Suizhen is like, two in this scenario. Everyone of Nameless Yong's generation is just being born when the counterfactual Cursebearer version enters the world!

Huh. In that sense, Incarnate would be quite good with Age of Glory since the other heroes don't seem like they benefit from it at all. Age of Glory is basically like a free drawback in that case!
 
This whole time I thought it was 15 feet cubed in its entirely, not 15 to a side; I was wondering how the hell you were meant to succeed at anything having to keep returning to this coffin-sized room.
 
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