A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Peterborough, NH, USA
Seems like Gisena and/or Hunger are taking a page from Indenture and sending powered-up volunteers on scouting missions to gather power-ups for him.
Hunger can't leave and proper Companions are too valuable to risk on some metaphysical bylaw they didn't notice screwing them over, but a few hundred people sent out to various realities after as much ontological reinforcement as could be managed could strike gold, and I'm sure as many as a million could be managed in a population of trillions like the Human Sphere without much trouble. Gonna make a build when Provisions are filled out, but I'll roll the dice now.
Age of Glory huh? Given Exalted's Celestial Bureaucracy hasn't actually been set up, I'm thinking Heir with Bureaucracy is probably going to be a post-victory thing, though Mandarin to grab Bireaucracy and Thieving could let me Exalt myself pretty easily, I think, or pull a Campione and steal Primordial powers outright.
Hunger can't leave and proper Companions are too valuable to risk on some metaphysical bylaw they didn't notice screwing them over, but a few hundred people sent out to various realities after as much ontological reinforcement as could be managed could strike gold, and I'm sure as many as a million could be managed in a population of trillions like the Human Sphere without much trouble. Gonna make a build when Provisions are filled out, but I'll roll the dice now.
Age of Glory huh? Given Exalted's Celestial Bureaucracy hasn't actually been set up, I'm thinking Heir with Bureaucracy is probably going to be a post-victory thing, though Mandarin to grab Bireaucracy and Thieving could let me Exalt myself pretty easily, I think, or pull a Campione and steal Primordial powers outright.
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- Location
- Europe
Together they should make Heroism pretty survivable. Another benefit might be a higher chance of a Reversal of Fortune.
[ ] A Quest
[ ] Shimmer Of Possibility
[ ] Special Disposition
[ ] The Genius
I think this should be reasonably viable? Maybe not the raw power of some of the other options but it provides a lot of versatility. Also, I'm like a cockroach so I'll eventually reach my potential.
Still waiting on the Provisions so it isn't a done build yet. Wouldn't mind more Panoply options though. They're really neat.
Let's see where I wind up...
Edit: D&D Forgotten Realms! Not too shabby though not my ideal option either.
[ ] Shimmer Of Possibility
[ ] Special Disposition
[ ] The Genius
I think this should be reasonably viable? Maybe not the raw power of some of the other options but it provides a lot of versatility. Also, I'm like a cockroach so I'll eventually reach my potential.
Still waiting on the Provisions so it isn't a done build yet. Wouldn't mind more Panoply options though. They're really neat.
Let's see where I wind up...
Edit: D&D Forgotten Realms! Not too shabby though not my ideal option either.
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
I think you've gotta pick only one Heroic option, because there is no way to get a second Heroic Favor
DnD is probably the setting that I am most optimistic about mining for additional power. Knowing that you're heading here, Overlord might be feasible (if still unpleasant)
- Location
- Italy
...I just noticed I missed some 5 pages before Rihaku's update. I hate it when that happens...
well, I'll have Birdsie's cyoa to read later, but in the meantime I might as well begin with Rihaku's.
First of all( and pre-provision edit from Rihaku):
yeah, that was pretty basic, and I'm not the first to point it out. But sometimes the choice is just THAT simple.
But what If I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond?
All in all those are fairly riskless builds that would lead me to become one of the (if not THE) most important person on Earth, while also keeping me safe and granting me the supernatural luck to get the chances I need.
Ok, now for something less... comfy
..yeah, I'm not convinced... but I tried.
but now let's go for something a bit more extreme.
...of course with the provisions not available Overlord is not really that interesting yet. Overlord is +5 gifts, and you get 3 initial ones... but that's 8 gifts ignoring the destination, and there's only 7 gifts worth of patrons here!
...I suppose one could go with Quest with three rolls + all patrons, or maybe choose the perfect world with the perfect power system...
1008 words of rambling and kinda simple builds
well, I'll have Birdsie's cyoa to read later, but in the meantime I might as well begin with Rihaku's.
First of all( and pre-provision edit from Rihaku):
[ ] November Sky [4 Gifts]
[ ] The Duchess [+1 Gift]
easy. I basically get access to heaven for free, what could any unambitious person ask more?
If you didn't at least CONSIDER this... well, you're a pretty abnormal person, I think.
I don't mean this as an insult, I just mean that most people would be satisfied with access to heaven for a few quintillion years and take that over challenges with uncertain dangers and challenges.
[ ] The Duchess [+1 Gift]
easy. I basically get access to heaven for free, what could any unambitious person ask more?
If you didn't at least CONSIDER this... well, you're a pretty abnormal person, I think.
I don't mean this as an insult, I just mean that most people would be satisfied with access to heaven for a few quintillion years and take that over challenges with uncertain dangers and challenges.
yeah, that was pretty basic, and I'm not the first to point it out. But sometimes the choice is just THAT simple.
But what If I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond?
[ ] Return [0 Gifts]
[ ] The Genius [2 Gifts]
[ ] The Forester [1 Gift]
-[] Mental power, mental agility or spiritual power not sure which.
pretty simple. I go back to the real world, but with the assurance I just can't be killed, and a significant advantage over any other human. With Mental Power I'll just develop the sciences, create and patent valuable technologies, and become rich by creating industries based on them.
Basically I'd become Elon Musk, if Elon Musk was the one that actually personally developed each and every technology his companies use.
With Spiritual Power I'd simply go into politics and start my progression toward becoming the leader of the new world order. Genius will help me along the way, making sure that I won't be assassinated, and the charisma should help me bring most leaders on my side.
Mental Agility, if I went with that, would make me basically a mythological creature if I went into politics: The man with the plan, the politician who ALWAYS knows what he should do!
[ ] The Genius [2 Gifts]
[ ] The Forester [1 Gift]
-[] Mental power, mental agility or spiritual power not sure which.
pretty simple. I go back to the real world, but with the assurance I just can't be killed, and a significant advantage over any other human. With Mental Power I'll just develop the sciences, create and patent valuable technologies, and become rich by creating industries based on them.
Basically I'd become Elon Musk, if Elon Musk was the one that actually personally developed each and every technology his companies use.
With Spiritual Power I'd simply go into politics and start my progression toward becoming the leader of the new world order. Genius will help me along the way, making sure that I won't be assassinated, and the charisma should help me bring most leaders on my side.
Mental Agility, if I went with that, would make me basically a mythological creature if I went into politics: The man with the plan, the politician who ALWAYS knows what he should do!
All in all those are fairly riskless builds that would lead me to become one of the (if not THE) most important person on Earth, while also keeping me safe and granting me the supernatural luck to get the chances I need.
Ok, now for something less... comfy
ok, first the annoying part: I'm a not that young male, so no access to this world's magic... not that I'd want it without a way to deal with the despair.
I suppose that the path to safety/success would be really two.
1)Reach Madoka and convince her to make the perfect wish to make everyone happy forever. This would likely require supernatural wisdom.
2)Go into this world with something that would allow me to fight entropy, and use this skill to ally myself with the Incubator.
yes, I'm not mad, I really said that. They're amoral beings, but they've been shown to respect the letter of their agreement, AND they're doing their atrocities in the name of delaying the end of the universe.
If I could offer a way to deal with that problem permanently, I think a satisfactory "contract" could be reached. This would likely require "The Heir".
...wait a sec... I actually don't know my quest. I can very easily imagine the quest being "dethrone the incubators" or something like that... though they wouldn't know that, so maybe I could trick them... but they might very well be able to read my thoughts if they thought I was a threat...
ok, let me think... I'll assume the quest will be against some powerful witch like Walpurgis and NOT against, say, the Incubators. Hopefully.
...I could see it being against the incubators if I also took the hero upgrade though.
[ ] A Quest [+1 Gift] (rolled Madoka)
[ ] The Mandarin [1 Gift]
[ ] The Heir [3 Gifts]
-[] War and Energy.
Just at adept level, achievable for both domains in something between two weeks and two months, I can combine "win against a thousand armed men" and "Emit destructive energies capable of destroying a skyscraper" to become stronger than basically any Witch or Magical girl. If I can meet Homura I can convince her I'm willing to help, and if she loses, to bring me back with her in her time loop. After the first time loop I'd probably become strong enough to help her against Walpurgis. worst case, after 20-40 years worth of time loops I'd master both domains and basically be able to fight against the Incubators directly if needed, or against Entropy if necessary (possibly recruiting them), or maybe use the new energy I can create in place of the emotional energy they get from little girls despairing, or something like that.
...All of this is based on the assumption the Incubators won't simply kill me/delete me the moment they notice I'm a foreign variable, but that doesn't quite seem their style, and If I showed an inclination to work with them...
I suppose that the path to safety/success would be really two.
1)Reach Madoka and convince her to make the perfect wish to make everyone happy forever. This would likely require supernatural wisdom.
2)Go into this world with something that would allow me to fight entropy, and use this skill to ally myself with the Incubator.
yes, I'm not mad, I really said that. They're amoral beings, but they've been shown to respect the letter of their agreement, AND they're doing their atrocities in the name of delaying the end of the universe.
If I could offer a way to deal with that problem permanently, I think a satisfactory "contract" could be reached. This would likely require "The Heir".
...wait a sec... I actually don't know my quest. I can very easily imagine the quest being "dethrone the incubators" or something like that... though they wouldn't know that, so maybe I could trick them... but they might very well be able to read my thoughts if they thought I was a threat...
ok, let me think... I'll assume the quest will be against some powerful witch like Walpurgis and NOT against, say, the Incubators. Hopefully.
...I could see it being against the incubators if I also took the hero upgrade though.
[ ] A Quest [+1 Gift] (rolled Madoka)
[ ] The Mandarin [1 Gift]
[ ] The Heir [3 Gifts]
-[] War and Energy.
Just at adept level, achievable for both domains in something between two weeks and two months, I can combine "win against a thousand armed men" and "Emit destructive energies capable of destroying a skyscraper" to become stronger than basically any Witch or Magical girl. If I can meet Homura I can convince her I'm willing to help, and if she loses, to bring me back with her in her time loop. After the first time loop I'd probably become strong enough to help her against Walpurgis. worst case, after 20-40 years worth of time loops I'd master both domains and basically be able to fight against the Incubators directly if needed, or against Entropy if necessary (possibly recruiting them), or maybe use the new energy I can create in place of the emotional energy they get from little girls despairing, or something like that.
...All of this is based on the assumption the Incubators won't simply kill me/delete me the moment they notice I'm a foreign variable, but that doesn't quite seem their style, and If I showed an inclination to work with them...
..yeah, I'm not convinced... but I tried.
but now let's go for something a bit more extreme.
[ ] A Quest [+1 Gift] (rolled Madoka)
[ ] The Seraph [+1 Heroic Favor]
[ ] The Genius [2 Gifts]
[ ] The Mandarin [1 Gift]
[ ] The Forester [1 Gift]
-[ ] Spiritual Power
-[ ] Mental Agility
[ ] Special Dispensation [1 Heroic Favor]
The Idea: Genius to survive and be lucky, The Praxis to do anything, and the Mandarin/Forester combo to have the willpower to actually go through the (eased) praxis burden of training while also having the wisdom to know the course of action I should take in any situation.
I'd be a wise, lucky hero... hopefully.
...If this was ACTUALLY me though I'd much rather stay in Forebear land. Sorry Haeliel, I'm not really hero material
[ ] The Seraph [+1 Heroic Favor]
[ ] The Genius [2 Gifts]
[ ] The Mandarin [1 Gift]
[ ] The Forester [1 Gift]
-[ ] Spiritual Power
-[ ] Mental Agility
[ ] Special Dispensation [1 Heroic Favor]
The Idea: Genius to survive and be lucky, The Praxis to do anything, and the Mandarin/Forester combo to have the willpower to actually go through the (eased) praxis burden of training while also having the wisdom to know the course of action I should take in any situation.
I'd be a wise, lucky hero... hopefully.
...If this was ACTUALLY me though I'd much rather stay in Forebear land. Sorry Haeliel, I'm not really hero material
...of course with the provisions not available Overlord is not really that interesting yet. Overlord is +5 gifts, and you get 3 initial ones... but that's 8 gifts ignoring the destination, and there's only 7 gifts worth of patrons here!
...I suppose one could go with Quest with three rolls + all patrons, or maybe choose the perfect world with the perfect power system...
1008 words of rambling and kinda simple builds
- Location
- Europe
Honestly, unless there is an option that requires a whole bunch of points to provide for the family, friends, and loved ones that I'd be leaving behind there isn't anything that would make me choose Overlord. At least for me, it would be suicide.
- Location
- Italy
eh, if you get access to some power that makes it so you don't need to sleep, you're still left with 8 free hours each day outside, which basically turns the 16 hours a day each day of power growing efforts into... kind of a job. a full time job with no vacations, but still a job. And it admittedly pays pretty well.
Some of the time spent on the job might even be enjoyable. Maybe. If you're lucky.
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Just take Overlord and November Sky and shuck your mortal indolence. That way, you'll find spending 16 hours a day advancing your personal power and Hunger's interests to be a pursuit of transcendental joy, as is right and proper. Throw in the Seraph and some panoply option and you'll not lack for meaningful challenge or interests, even while you're sheltered from the very worst outcomes under the Forebear's auspices.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
It's identical to my own build, except I left two Gifts for Provisions instead of taking the Genius! Maybe I should've picked Shimmer instead?
- Location
- Italy
hey, nothing wrong with having the same build. Especially not with the currently incomplete cyoa, which makes it admittedly easy.
Overlord + November Sky is an interesting combo, which admittedly gives you 8 hours of pure bliss and 16 hours of... probably lesser bliss, but still a more pleasant growth to power than anywhere else. I'm not sure about Seraph in there, though. After all if you're being led to be a hero, it makes sense you might have to leave the paradise for places you WILL risk your life at some point.
sooo... less risky than going at it alone, as you'd get access to a lot of magic and energy for training to sweeten the pill, but it's still a hero's burden, even if a bit lighter than normal
Fayhem
Definitely not an escaped SCP
- Location
- At large
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It should be noted that you specifically have to start in one of the Outer/Evil planes. So you're not actually starting in Faerun, you're starting in the Nine Hells or something. As currently written it does technically say you could start in any major Outer Plane, not just the Evil Planes, but that would mean you could literally choose to start off in one of the heavenly planes which seems like it'd be rather defeating the purpose of making you start somewhere really dangerous. So unless Rihaku specifies otherwise I'd assume that's RAW but not RAI and hence shouldn't be assumed to actually be allowed.
- Location
- Europe
If I'm genuinely trying my best in those 16 hours, then the optimal use of my time is to ensure I use the remaining 8 hours for power acquisition as well. Across even quite short time spans the extra eight hours would make a significant difference.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
A Winter Dynasty [DLC] - Patrons of Sanctuary
At the very edge of the frost-peaked forest, there happened to be an enormous, granite boulder - about the size of a small truck. It was, more or less, perfect for my purposes, so I dragged Enoch's battered form over there, hand on the back of his collar.
I tossed him down to lie in the snow and bleed silently, as I sat on the boulder and situated myself comfortably in its grooves.
A cigarette magically appeared between my lips and its tip ignited with a burst of intense sparks, while my helmet's visor lifted slightly to make smoking easier.
I watched the school in front of me burn down like a precious artwork carelessly thrown into a vat of acid. Its buildings were ornamental pyres feeding the orange-red flames, dancing in a scarlet-tiger blaze, the gunpowder infused into the fundamental substrate of the buildings popping every now and then with a thermobaric explosion that rendered entire halls and auditoriums lost to history forevermore, kicking up vast swathes of dark smoke and plumes of sugary dust into the air, which floated up along the coastal breezes invading the island into massive trails of gray assaulting the sky and forming an eye of gloom above, swirling and circling like a herald of apocalypse.
It was a spectacular, breathtaking process - to behold, let alone instantiate and maintain - even for one such as myself.
I was tempted to call it either picturesque or bucolic, but it wasn't quite either. It was something else - like an infinitesimally unlikely dream rendered into reality. It was like having a thought one day, and then, a few weeks later, what you thought about happens, and you vaguely recall having that thought - déjà vu, almost, but not even that.
"I'll be fair to you," I said to Enoch. I could sense him perking up, listening. Good. "It wasn't the worst attempt, given what you knew and what you were capable of. I'll give you a, let's say... three out of ten on the attempt itself, a one on the motive itself. It was a very dumb idea to attempt killing my niece."
He didn't even reply to that, having neither the cheerful spirit nor fire in his belly from before. He didn't have much left in him after our 'fight.'
It was funny watching the pro-Enoch faction members coming to their Headmaster's rescue like faithful lapdogs, though. At first, they believed they could fight me, and when I breezed through every strike and unique Conjoiner power thrown at me, they started to realize maybe they should try diplomacy instead.
I'll never forget what Foxglove said to me, Perishing Blade in hand, a bead of sweat dribbling down his forehead as he stood back to watch me punch Enoch in the face. I had that effect on people where, even with supernaturally improved cognition, I could manage to make them look nervous.
"You know this is a magic academy, right? You're shooting up a school, gunsmith."
And I, in response, had shrugged my shoulders and told him:
"Fuck you. I'm a Gunman. It's what I do, to you and your fabled academies."
He even thought I was called, 'Gunsmith,' or something. How cute!
Ahead of us, the Megalith finally exploded in a round conflagration of eye-searingly bright white plasma light, sending up a mushroom cloud of roaring nuclear fire, its shockwave reaching our position and being promptly annihilated as I buttressed the boulder's surroundings with a flick of defensive Pressure.
I chuckled and whistled victoriously.
I moved down from the boulder and picked up Enoch. He hadn't attempted teleporting away, mostly because he already knew from personal experience that such attempts were hopeless against me - I was metaphysically the uncontested master of space and time, the lord of warfare and magic, and the Emperor of Essence. There was nothing he could do to escape outside of me granting him specific permission to take a step in any given direction. Out of everything on Terrascape Academy that even came close to hurting me, Arthur Drake with the Perishing Blade was maybe the closest, and even then, his attack that penetrated any defense ultimately failed to get past mine.
"It's time, sir, to separate you from that Metatron you've got kicking around in your nogging, put you in jail, and then, uh, I dunno. I'll figure it out."
I'd already remade a new magical academy in another layer of reality and sent all the students and professors there for now - with more subjects to learn, to boot - so I was positive we were good on that front. Maybe I'd play at being a headmaster for a couple of decades? And make friends with my niece's friends - maybe one of them would turn into a magical angel or become a Complete Ordinalist in the future and they'd like to hire my services at some point? It was always good to make contacts early and ingratiate yourself to the people you considered important...
Speaking of which.
---
[ ] The Gunman [+2 Gifts] - Although in the past, he was known for cruelty and not so much for magnanimity, the Gunman's rebirth has changed him significantly - and now he offers you a mission, should you choose to accept it. His gifts are charitable, but the duty he circumscribes on you is restrictive indeed.
Simply, you must fight. It doesn't have to be a meaningless fight, and indeed, shouldn't - the Gunman wishes you to declare a state of absolute war on a single concept, person, location, or event that you utterly despise, hate, and feel nothing but contempt for. It can be something as elaborate and grand as the dark lord of the realm of your Passage, or as mundane and silly as the very idea of breakfast cereal. It must, however, be at least tangentially relevant to your present circumstances. After such a declaration is made, a strong compulsion prevents you from acting to support your enemy, and a minor one pushes you to take actions that'd damage your enemy's position and standing. It can be especially difficult to resist this influence when an opportunity shows itself - a conflict is fundamentally unavoidable in the long run, so pick well.
As soon as your enemy is defeated, utterly and completely, beyond any possibility of return or creating further disturbances, you are free from this mental influence. In the case of enemies who are impossible to defeat completely as we'd define it, an overwhelming victory in your locality will suffice. As an example relevant to the previous target examples used above, removing cereal from the top lists for breakfast meals in a large country in the locale of your Passage would suffice.
[ ] The Academic [2 Gifts] - The gift of the Academic is knowledge and power, as well as power and knowledge; for they are inextricably linked, and no one understands this better than the Academic. As such, he will research and create for you a dimensional scaffolding that allows for spellcasting; a partially customized magical system of modest capability, and slow learning.
Select at least one, and no more than three foci from those presented below. It's very possible to venture outside of these spheres, even expected, but it's faster to research in the field of your specialization, or in places where they overlap. The Mandarin's patronage here allows you to pick all foci, or to double Progression speed overall.
[ ] Evocation - Broad and diverse field of manipulating dimensional energies, strange forms of exo-matter, and other kinds of evocation. Also elementalism and similar.
[ ] Conjuration - The summoning of items from the nonexistent ether, or helpful entities from locations beyond. Also concerns space warping, teleportation, and similar.
[ ] Divination - Anomalous procurement of information and data, as well as its manipulation. Precognition, clairvoyance, cognition enhancement, etc.
[ ] Illusion - All spells that concern themselves with manipulation of senses or minds: charm spells, invisibility, or even paralysis. All similar effects.
[ ] Necromancy - Manipulation of the energies of life and death, the ability to create lich phylacteries, etc.
Wizard's Spirit
+++Intelligence, ++Wits, +Wisdom, +Manipulation.
Progression: Varied. It has a tendency to occur slowly over time, with occasional leaps and infrequent bounds. However, a moderate outpouring of intellectual effort, sustained research, or even simple practice can transform a nightmarishly slow spell-making process into one moving at a huffing jogger's pace. A Beginner-level effect can be fashioned in a day of effort, or a few hours with luck; an Adept-level in a few weeks or months of sustained research; a Master-level with several years. All Progression is halved for effects outside of your foci, then reduced by a further 20% for every focus you have. It's possible to research effects completely beyond any focus mentioned. Progression is somewhat boosted by one's intellect, and the system itself runs on personal spiritual power as its fuel, so having those attributes in reserve is always good.
Beginner: A smorgasbord of basic spells - easily developed, learned, and practiced. A finger-pointed ray of flames that incinerates a wooden door in a flash (Evocation), an excellent but mundane sword is made; or a simple and weak, but loyal task spirit is brought into existence as a permanent object (Conjuration), the caster sees a glowing specter of the route he should follow in order to reach the city he is traveling towards or immediately knows the answer to a commonly asked question with a commonly known answer in the realm he's in (Divination), the caster makes himself transparent, only visible as a blur when moving; alternatively, he charms a creature to not attack him (Illusion), the caster drains the stamina, willpower, and spirit of a creature in order to restore those same attributes in himself (Necromancy).
Adept: A number of more advanced spells. An exploding fireball flying at over five times the speed of a bullet that easily obliterates an entire bunker with only its entrance on the surface and razes the surrounding countryside (Evocation), a loyal and fiercely protective combat spirit in the shape of a fiery boar the size of a truck can be summoned with a few seconds of linguistically-dense incantation (Conjuration), an entire city can be mapped out in real-time, including the locations of the people within and small items held by them, and made known to the caster simultaneously with parallel processing of multiple locations (Divination), a small group of skilled and strong-willed mercenaries can be dominated utterly or an entire army can be fooled into thinking it's in an active skirmish with an enemy force (Illusion), a death knight can be formed out of the ritualistically-prepared corpse of a dead but famous warrior, retaining 90% of its combat capabilities in life on top of a few perks conferred by undeath (Necromancy).
Master: A nuke spell; city-obliterating when cast as casually as a cantrip, or potentially strong enough to completely destroy a continent and damage the ecosphere of the whole planet if charged long enough (Evocation), creates a magical artifact on par with Excalibur or summons a servile entity on par with a Heroic Spirit (Conjuration), allows you to know the answer to any one question you desire as known by the great over-entities of the realm (Divination), allows you to fool an entire world into believing something, or mind control an entire country into total obedience (Illusion), make a lich's phylactery (Necromancy).
[ ] The Traveler [1 Gift] - Compared to her friends, the Traveler's gift is rather simple - she will do her best to ensure all of your minor needs are taken care of, in one of two forms, whichever proves more desirable. It's possible to switch between them at any point. Either you may find that you no longer have to eat, drink, sleep, breathe, or rest - or you shall find those accommodations provided to you in a luxurious manner.
If you select the latter, then at any point in your journey, you may spirit yourself away to a minor pocket realm; a nocturnal slice of the nightly world, in a palatial estate, where you can eat good food, drink excellent beverages, and spend the night to your heart's content. All time and space outside of this realm are effectively 'frozen' from your relative perspective; an entire year may pass within, and not even a speck of significant progress will have been made towards the passage of an attosecond without.
However, this is a realm of night's kiss, and the moon's caress - not the day's scathing brilliance or the sun's glory. It does not permit any kind of training or effort to be done, save as a method of rest - as such, it's possible to twist some methods of training as "hobbies," but the realm frowns upon this, and accruing enough of its disfavor will result in its accommodations growing fiercely less indulgent, sometimes even bordering on hostile (such as finding a carpet tack in your tuna sandwich.) Anger the realm enough and it may boot you out entirely, forcing you to permanently switch to the former method of rest. If sufficient eons pass, it may, in time, come to forgive you this abuse.
---
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- Location
- Italy
well, OF COURSE that extra 50% more training would make a difference. But that also means no free time at all.
My point is that 16 hours a day of power accumulation leaves time for nothing else... if you also have to sleep and rest. But if you don't, you can actually have a somewhat normal life. Just do all your socializing and meeting friends and hobbies during the free 8 hours each day. And if you want to still train during those 8 hours to maybe get some free time later on, you can still do that.
- Location
- Italy
and yet you still get your free time. It's a lot like having a tiring job you can't slack off on, but also plenty of perks when out of it
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
16 hours of work a day is equivalent to a 112 hour workweek.. and the Overlord option is hardly mandatory to actually get those perks to begin with. It might be worthwhile if you really need power but in other cases it's decidedly not the best option.
- Location
- Italy
oh, sure, it's not the best option for comfort.
About the 112 hour workweek... true, but IF you don't actually need sleep you can view it in terms of free time left, and it's not THAT much worse than a normal 8 hours job. After all, once you don't have to sleep and rest, the actual free time you have on "work days" is more or less the same (8 hours of free time each day), though you rarely if ever get vacations unless you're excelling
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
I am fairly confident that most people who work would disagree with this sentiment.
- Location
- Italy
Sure, but most normal people wouldn't take Overlord anyway XD
I mean, I already said I'd definitely take November Sky and live my quintillion years in heaven!
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
A quintillion years is a limited span, however. And what shall you of the quintillion-distant future say to yourself of the beginning?
It's simple. At the apex of all his works being laid to waste, he will say, "Why?"
A human's light may proclaim to be bright and ceaseless, made of nurturing and love, but humans do have a shadow as well - avarice and hate, a constant desire for more, no matter how much was already received. When Heaven breaks, which do you think will dominate your tiny mortal mind? It will be self-directed spite, and eternal consternation and regret of not having picked the other paths, which, in their culmination, would lead to ends possibly far greater than what insipid Heaven can offer once entropy dissolves it.
Do you wish to receive the answer? It's simple - do not bother serving in Heaven, nor ruling in Hell. Instead, pick up a sword and carve out a Heaven of your own.
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A few Royal Praxis spells, for my own use and that of others in any upcoming omake. Also, visit these two pages for old Praxis spells I wrote.
[ ] Affection of the Broken (1 Praxis + 1 ordinary pick) - As this spell is executed, the practitioner sends out a wide ring-pulse of liminal blue energy that scatters into the surrounding world. Its passage effortfully repairs breaks and flaws in the world; restoring broken objects, repairing wounds in allies as if they had never been dealt, or inflicting harm in the bodies of enemies (an "enemy" counts as a flaw in the world,) and similar, being rather selective in its effects, interpreting breaks and flaws from the practitioner's relative perspective and in a manner that is favorable to it.
Its range and power is proportional to the power expended on its casting, but can usually affect whole countries or armies at a time. It can be cast multiple times for a more complete effect, or alternatively, it may be channeled in order to send out a single, more powerful pulse.
A skilled practitioner may also train in order to render these pulses directional, affecting ninety-degree cones at quintupled power instead of being omnidirectional and relatively diluted pulses. None of these will ever harm the practitioner's allies, almost by definition of their primary effect, instead seeking to repair and fix even minute issues.
[ ] Unbroken World Reformation (4 Praxis + 1 ordinary pick; Requires Affection of the Broken) - A technique whose prime goal is to overcome - or rather, work in spite of - one of the major weaknesses of the Praxis, that being its relative absence of fluency in matters of renewal or restoration.
A cylinder of floating, whirling runes manifests around the practitioner, and he adjusts them, plucking a sigil from here and placing it there, moving a section of writing from one sector to another, letting a string of runes flash-manifest into a line, and making another few disappear into nothingness. As this ritual process is completed, taking an hour of casting time, the caster finalizes his choices by sending the runes out into the world like a ring-pulse of eddying script-energies, permanently altering the world in accordance with his changes.
As its basic effect, this technique allows the practitioner to resurrect or repair a single person, location, concept, or thing. It must be no loftier than the practitioner himself on the Infinite Singularity Husk, otherwise, the drain of this technique increases hyper-exponentially. Even the resurrection of an otherwise normal person on the relative level of a baseline mortal can be a deed of moderate exertion for a demigod caster. An ally may be resurrected partially depowered, with the possibility of regaining their might, in order to make this technique more palatable.
Alternatively, the caster may 'fix' a single concept or function of the universe that he thinks works incorrectly. The actual result of this effect is broad: he can make gravity stronger on a universal level by a factor of two, make the stars more luminous, insert alterations that somewhat alter and counteract the course of entropy, and similar effects of great puissance, becoming more draining the more widespread and powerful the change is. Even fate or metaphysics can be adjusted in this manner, to an impressive degree. It's indeed a technique that shows the quintessence of that 'administrative privilege' that Praxis users often mention - overwrite the real with the ideal.
Moderately draining to invoke, shouldn't be done multiple times in a short span.
[ ] A Heaven of Your Own (7 Praxis + 1 ordinary pick; Requires Unbroken World Reformation) - A technique in which the practitioner utilizes painstakingly-detailed calligraphy in order to inscribe a scathingly brilliant rune, an expressive letter that when read or spoken aloud means, "Heaven," "Perfection," "Eternity," and "Infinity."
It represents the ultimate wish of the Accursed, to ascend into the highest stratum of omnipotence and create a world where every man, woman, and child may live in eternal happiness and without complaint, where tragedy is merely a stepping stone to greater self-understanding, and greater self-understanding merely a step towards greater joy.
As soon as this technique is realized, it overwrites the current world - up to the practitioner's range of personal influence, affecting multiverses or spectrums of ontological infinity should the practitioner be mighty enough - with an idealized and objectively better version of itself. Although its effects are unpredictable, given the changes are objective, they will always be something that is superior to the previous form of the universe: all of those who died unfairly and unwillingly are resurrected into paradisical lands to live among their children and fellows, the villains and criminals are reformed and understand the error of their ways in order to seek self-betterment or peace, the realm's guardians are empowered and much happier with their duties, and so on. Anything is possible, but the lens of that possibility is the improvement of the world.
All of these changes are instant, painless, and may include alterations to memory or memetic-cognitive legacy of the universe in question if such is deemed necessary in order to render the world a better place than it was yesterday.
All beings equal or greater than the practitioner on the Infinite Singularity Husk are fully immune to these alterations, only noticing them by the chain of sudden changes they leave behind. All beings that are less than a half-step under him are highly resistant to these alterations, likely retaining some amounts of their memory and original form.
As draining to invoke as it looks - highly and fiercely.
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- Location
- Italy
I'm going from a hopefully 70 to 110 years lifespan (unless they come up with a solution for aging) to a near-certain quintillion years of bliss, after which I'll hopefully have prepared for the "after" by learning a large variety of magics in my leasure time.
Quintillion-years-from-now Pittauro will hopefully understand. I kinda sorta understand my 10-years ago Pittauro, even if I acknowledge he made plenty of mistake, and the stakes were much lower than this.
THIS heaven is effortless and has a near-certain lifespand above my current comprehension. A self-made heaven is uncertain, of uncertain lifespan and DEFINITELY not effortless.
Most people would go for the path of least effort, it's that simple. I remember you mentioning at some point that you'd very much enjoy a life of constant struggle like the one in Rihaku's quest (I think you actually said you'd enjoy living under Apocryphal, though I might remember wrong), but I think you're the exception in that case