[X] Edeldross Adept
[X] +1 pick below

With the news that we have almost 25 Arete saved up, here's my entirely expected backstabbing of Shadowlord!

The Ring might be beyond our safe acquisition at the moment, but you know what isn't? Total Eclipse.

It's also a EFB with enormous future potential, much like the Ring, and I expect it to have enormous synergies with Edeldross.

And unlike those filthy scrub-tier picks like Once and Future, it builds towards a balanced build with an EFB for each artifact, instead of putting it all on Red.
I have you know I will fight to my dying breath for the Ruling Ring!
 
? But what EFB are you saving up for then? Total Eclipse is almost pure potential, and if we aren't stealthing our way through, we'll need firepower.
 
[X] Edeldross Adept
[X] +1 pick below

I think we should get Pillars next, if people are going to still freak out about the ring.

I refuse to get a second sword one, and total eclipse is just... not good with our build at this moment.
 
We'll be at 16 afterwards and then the next EFB we would likely buy is either Once and Future or the All-Defeating Stance, after which we'll have to follow through to get the Blade Special Advancement. If you're OK with that, then it's good.

Yeah if we don't take stealth here it'll basically end up as this (Though I think there's only like a 5% chance we actually get to save for Once and Future, almost guaranteed we're forced into Stance). Not a build path I have much fondness for but it is decent.
 
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Well, I really hope there we won't discover new depths to our salt mines over this choice afterwards. Because to me it's pretty clear that the next Temple EFB would be a Blade one.
 
It seems the line has collapsed, huh.
It's interesting that SAVEgang has suddenly lost support now that you guys have a lot of Arete. There's been a considerable amount of fanwork since I last reviewed so you're probably not that far off from buying Once and Future during an appropriate Experience spending point, or even snap-buying All-Defeating Stance! Something to consider.
For me it's the fact that I don't want to buy three Blade EFBs; so getting closer to that is actually a negative outcome. To avoid that, spend Arete now; get an EFB when we are ready for Ruling Ring!

You're at 18.1 Arete!
Ahh, why must you drive us away from Ruling Ring Rihaku!?

Stealth is helpful, yes. But when we're infiltrating we're not, like, sneaking in. We're pretending to be someone we're not in order to betray them.
Also really really think about the time expenditure. We have to spend another day farming money, there's travel time to consider, and then actually gaining information is going to take some time. Probably more than a day! Because, you know, if I was in charge of processing potentially deadly hires I wouldn't trust them faster than I can get certified to scuba dive.
Nah, if get stealth we can abadon the social path! Much less risky by word of Rihaku himself!
Oh god damn it we are so close to 24

sigh I just want to give Evening Sky love but Edeldross is cheaper

[X] Edeldross Adept
[X] +1 pick below

needs must, and I was okay with either one's effects anyhow
Getting three Blade EFB's is the very opposite of giving the Evening Sky love! Think of the poor thing, neglected for so long!
With the news that we have almost 25 Arete saved up, here's my entirely expected backstabbing of Shadowlord!

The Ring might be beyond our safe acquisition at the moment, but you know what isn't? Total Eclipse.

It's also a EFB with enormous future potential, much like the Ring, and I expect it to have enormous synergies with Edeldross.

And unlike those filthy scrub-tier picks like Once and Future, it builds towards a balanced build with an EFB for each artifact, instead of putting it all on Red.
I think we should get Pillars next, if people are going to still freak out about the ring.

I refuse to get a second sword one, and total eclipse is just... not good with our build at this moment

No, That's terrible strategy! Total Eclipse is pure potential when we are lacking immediate power now. If we have enough for an EFB it's at a terrible disadvantage! If you don't want another Blade EFB, spend the Arete now! Same for Pillars, it's pure utility! We gotta spened it now if we want the balanced advancement!
 
Ring would be hella neat too, but from how votes have gone so far, I suspect it can't get past all the scaredy-cats afraid of the primacy contest. I'll certainly vote for it if it seems viable, though!
Primacy miramacy who cares, we are on the road of freeing a ring from the temple and potentially using it. Which will probably involve us with Primacy shenanigans anyway. Plus we should get it as soon as we can as it will evolves our options.

Not to mention Apoc Curse, when it activates again, will be weakened by our enormously increased control over reality.
 
It's true that Shadowlord is expensive, but any option that offers such a great lateral expansion in your capabilities will inevitably have opportunity costs. Even if you buy it, you'll still have 11 Arete in hand for other purposes. I wouldn't necessarily say that an EFB-equivalent is better than a 7-Arete pick in every situation - for example, something that makes you incredible in direct combat can still be minimally useful in situations where combat is unacceptable! Ambushing an Armament pilot outside of their mech is a lot more viable than trying to go toe to toe with the Ereadhihr directly, even if you did have a power-type EFB right now!
 
It's not a question of saving, it's what capabilities we'll need. If we can't steal, we'll have to fight for it. Potential-type options aren't much help there, since we're on a timer.
 
Ironically Pillars's biggest boon aside from the fact that it can always make worthy opponents is that it also takes zero time in the real world for the 7 days inside to pass. "Once a month vanish and then come back the moment you left with 7-14 extra picks" is utility that's always immediate power simply due to the purchasing power of "oh hey I'm Stranglethorn/Septuple Echos stronger now"
 
It's not a question of saving, it's what capabilities we'll need. If we can't steal, we'll have to fight for it. Potential-type options aren't much help there, since we're on a timer.
I suspect we'll be getting in a fight either way. I just suspect shadowlord will let us take out some of our nastiest opposition before they can fight back.
 
Don't you think it's a bit early to be unleashing Hunger's Final Form?!

Going straight from Hunger's wrath form to final form doesn't make any sense. It'd be like if Goku went straight from Great Ape to Ultra Instinct. I know form of rage was sacrificed, but aesthetically it was necessary that we have an additional form building hype for our final form. We need a penultimate form.

Proper anime rules say that sacrificing the form of rage should be the unlock conditions for a new, even better super secret special form. He sacrificed his rage, and in its place comes something new. Like a form of clarity, where Hunger is icy cold and methodical, or form of transcendence, with themes of Buddhist emotional emptiness.
 
There's quite a significant difference between being able to purchase two Stances and only purchasing one. I can't really say much regarding preferences but choosing Power-types in such a dangerous circumstance is likely our best chance at surviving.
Getting power and safety in the form of Shadowlord would help our survival immensely as well and doesn't commit us to a single path EFB wise. It's the safest option outright. even. We can even buy that and a stance if necessary.
But that would require yet more time and I'm sure the Apocryphal would rub its hands gleefully at the idea of letting loose while Hunger is still in the Temple. At this point, Bearic has likely outscaled Verschlengorge's current state by quite a bit, which means we can't afford to spend our days engaging in an extended campaign of sabotage or we might come back to find Gisena and Letrzia dead.
We chose Infiltration dude, one less day isn't enough to make sure Apocryphal doesn't come back, we will be spending a great amount of time inside anyway. We can't just give up and decide to Onslaught, we have to live with what we previously voted. And Shadowlord makes infiltration much smoother in that regard.
 
Ironically Pillars's biggest boon aside from the fact that it can always make worthy opponents is that it also takes zero time in the real world for the 7 days inside to pass. "Once a month vanish and then come back the moment you left with 7-14 extra picks" is utility that's always immediate power simply due to the purchasing power of "oh hey I'm Stranglethorn/Septuple Echos stronger now"
It's also good for Hunger's mental health and keeping our companions up to stuff, since they'll be able to come with us.

And it's a good place to make a first impression on someone powerful. Tyrant is weakened to 1/3 power, and we are in our place of power.
 
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