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Even Further Beyond [Complete]

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[X] Don't Spend a Beyond Point
[X] Xiaoling Cultivaton Boost.
[X] Seek Cultivation Materials

I will profess to not being super thrilled that a Xiaoling buff is exclusive with synergy and situational upgrades though.

Blech.

Still, strengthening our Second comprehensively is probably worth it. Reality Forming monsters are big game even for us.
 
And Yet
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There were many times where she just couldn't believe it.

Kong Suizhen couldn't believe he was real. That this Nameless, mysterious boy was real. He had come out of nowhere with a forgotten Art from an age long past. And, as she recently learned, so much more than that. Thrice-Great. He has the power to shake the foundations of the Cultivation world; to upheave the Empire.

And yet…

Her lord was no boy. She felt this. She knew this. Though her Eyes of Kong were renown far and wide as the legacy Kong Zang left his descendants it was his eyes that were noteworthy to her. They seemed … old. Older than they ought to be. Truly his power and his maturity both made her role as his personal bodyguard seem laughable.

And yet…

Now they were staying in an inn room. Her lord was currently sleeping on one of the two beds. She sat in a chair by a window – bare steel in her lap. As she polished it, moving a sodden rag up and down its face, she stared at the slumbering form of Nameless.

Like this Suizhen could finally appreciate how young the boy was. When he was awake his wizened eyes would bore into her, but now as he slept he truly looked to be the same age as her. Young. Almost … frail. Like –

A familiar face flashes in her mind's eye.

Suizhen stamped down on it.

She closes her eyes and let the image fade. When she opened them she saw Nameless right where he was before, she felt the crisp, cool air in the room tickle her cheeks and the heat from the fireplace in the corner warming the room up – warming her up. The sounds from outside, the quiet noises of the night, did not reach the inn room – still though the silence was shattered when Suizhen stood up from her chair, slid the sword in her sheath and approached Nameless' bedside.

She looked at the boy. At his form beneath the sheets, just a lump really, at his locks of hair that clung to his brow. At familiar features of a stranger She looked upon it all and her own face began to soften. She outstretched her armored hand slowly (she was still fully suited after all. Prepared in case there's any danger in the night – she had insisted that at least she should guard her liege as he slept), her fingers twisted in the air as if to grasp something immutable and unknowable. She knew exactly what she wanted to do.

But her hand stopped – freezing in midair.

It fell to her side, then Suizhen curled her hand into a fist – she nearly felt the flesh of her fingers beneath the metal.

She turned her head to the side. She spoke – her voice a whisper in the night.


"I'm sorry, sir".

I know you're not him.

….

A/N: So another short snippet.

The thought process for this was "What if Nameless looked like one of the people Suizhen lost during the Event where she lost her fief?" Specifically, I chose her younger brother but it could be anyone.
 
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Jesus fuck people, just get Cultivation+Migration. We took Archsmith over Truthseeker for a damn reason - wasting our time chasing rando Liches is not that reason.
 
drake_azathoth said:
I think we need to consider whether we're aiming for yet more Diagram Magic or whether we're going to try to make serious progress in going for Philosopher King. If the latter, conserving Beyond Points and collecting treasures is the right choice.

We can actually finish the first three stages of cultivation and get the 'True Alchemist' synergy bonus pretty quickly with just two Beyond points and dedication. Chances are excellent that will provide serious further cultivation bonuses.

'Prodigious' treasure amounts and +30% chance of 'Priceless' treasure is nothing to ignore.

It is certainly tempting to go Beyond for Potentiation, but even without that option it increases the potential time acceleration to X5 and has other benefits. I have to ask- is it actually necessary or just something we want, and if the latter how often will we trade good enough for perfect and forestall some of the really game-breaking stuff?

The issue I see is that Diagram Magic is not really inherently suited to assisting cultivation and it DOES obviously take a lot of time to learn. If we waste time learning zombie spells or emotion manipulating spells we can't afford to go Beyond on, we'll run out of time quickly.
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I think spending a bp on potentiation is probably worth it due to increasing just about everything, which makes it's overall effect far more than the most obvious benefit of an extra couple subjective years. However, I think that other than it, we should refrain from spending bp on spells in favor of philosopher-king and truth.

While I want to meet a lich, learning new spells and not spending BP on them is kinda inefficient at this point compared to cultivation materials. Xiaoling's cultivation provides only a pretty minor boost to her combat power (0.25 stages is nice, but not anywhere near the o.75 it seems like), but the loyalty could be invaluable.

I'm very tempted to go with

[x] Spend a Beyond Point
[X] A Fierce Migration
[X] Seek Cultivation Materials

for now, because that increases our treasure options, but I'm worried about whether Xiaoling's loyalty might be a better option. She hasn't had any reason to be particularly happy yet, while suizen has. If we do increase Xiaoling's loyalty, though, we don't have a great option to pair it with.
 
[X] Don't Spend a Beyond Point
[X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
[X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold

On further consideration, spending a Beyond Point on Potentiation here would be unwise. One of the main benefits of trading with and/or robbing the lich outpost is that they'll have spells we can use, things they've spent thousands of years honing to a razor's edge. We can take their knowledge, and then Go Beyond it. Potentiation is an amazing spell, especially for a pseudolich, but we only have one BP in the tank and can't rely on this rate of BP generation to persist. What we do have is the Forge of the Nameless One; our improved version cost us 3 BP, but one of the primary benefits of having the Fate Sign is that we can control what we craft. Not to the degree of specificity that Baenlixnaire's Eyes allowed, but being able to just forge something to replenish our blood is a unique ability of ours, one that we paid dearly for. Save the Beyond Point, let our build do the heavy lifting it was designed to do. We lose some time, but the opportunity cost just isn't worth it. There's an app Artifact for that.
 
Right, I want philosopher-king, and I want to commit hard. Go on without me, brave voters!

[X] Spend a Beyond Point
[X] A Fierce Migration
[X] Seek Cultivation Materials

Choosing not to buff Xiaoling, in order to master Kleinvarr's Greater Refining. I'm a bit leery of choosing a Fierce Migration, because of the time lost to fleeing.
Very simple, gotta go fast.

Edit: on the other hand, there's not much support for refining, so second choice it is!
 
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[X] Spend a Beyond Point
[X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
[X] Seek Cultivation Materials

I don't know anymore. Let's not let Xialoing die I guess.
 
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Don't forget, we're still under the effects of A Charmed Life, which means the dice will be in our favor if we go treasure/monster hunting!
 
Guys. Think of the scam potential. If Nameless and Xiaoling hit Absolute Ego Barrier, people will think it's replicable. We can charge an incredible fortune to teach it to people's kids, and if they fail blame their lack of talent.

Alternatively, we can get a massively temporaly accelerated realm, acquire a harem of elves, and breed up an army of superior cultivators.

Which is more fun?
 
Mellithae said:
for now, because that increases our treasure options, but I'm worried about whether Xiaoling's loyalty might be a better option. She hasn't had any reason to be particularly happy yet, while suizen has. If we do increase Xiaoling's loyalty, though, we don't have a great option to pair it with.
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Yeah, this zone isn't really well suited to her... sometimes, that's just the way the world turns! You can't try to synergize everything with everything, just as you can't please everyone. Play to your strengths or shore up your weaknesses - but choose, and act decisively, rather than spreading everything out.

So far despite highly contested build votes you guys have managed a fairly tight focus in your build towards acquiring Philosopher-King. All elements of your build support a three-pronged, Cultivation-focused program of self-modification. You could take the straightforward route and seek to maximize the number of Cultivation multipliers you have in order to attain as much of Philosopher-King as possible before the Heroine awakens. Or you could branch out for more versatility in the hopes of getting a truly substantial multiplier and/or exotic attacks to use against the Heroine. Perhaps you want your Cultivation and Artifacts to support the Diagram rather than the other way around. But trying to do both that and get Philosopher-King might be stretching your BP budget too far.
 
Tally incoming
Adhoc vote count started by Conjured Blade on Mar 22, 2018 at 5:40 PM, finished with 112 posts and 39 votes.
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[X] Spend a Beyond Point
[X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
[X] Seek Cultivation Materials

Man, I can already feel the salt in my veins. Why the hell did we even make Xiaoling our second instead of Suizhen only to loop around and literally only take options that make Suizhen more loyal? Once again, voter distraction of their previous commitments is making me very annoyed. We could have made the same choices we have been making and be benefiting form a Cultivation increase. I just don't get this.


Anyway, my vote, a direct trade of a Beyond point for more time and power. We already will need quite a lot of it to properly trail the Path of the Philosopher-King, a path hungry for essence and Beyond points. Xiaoling option so that we can stop delaying actually gaining the loyalty of the person we mad our Second. Potentiation is a great spell that improves 2/3 of the entire Diagram, gives us for more years, partially compensates for not mastering Greater Refining, makes Mordant Fire somewhat relevant again and is just all-around good. Then we actually do the thing we (supposedly) came here to do, but votes always push the voterbase in quite many directions. Still, this does let us acquire some form of battle experience, give us a great amount or resources for our own pursuits, and makes our minions more useful, a flexible choice. The lack of greater migration is less than ideal, but it is something I'm willing to pay. A very solid vote, in my opinion.
 
Rihaku said:
Yeah, this zone isn't really well suited to her... sometimes, that's just the way the world turns! You can't try to synergize everything with everything, just as you can't please everyone. Play to your strengths or shore up your weaknesses - but choose, and act decisively, rather than spreading everything out.

So far despite highly contested build votes you guys have managed a fairly tight focus in your build towards acquiring Philosopher-King. All elements of your build support a three-pronged, Cultivation-focused program of self-modification. You could take the straightforward route and seek to maximize the number of Cultivation multipliers you have in order to attain as much of Philosopher-King as possible before the Heroine awakens. Or you could branch out for more versatility in the hopes of getting a truly substantial multiplier and/or exotic attacks to use against the Heroine. Perhaps you want your Cultivation and Artifacts to support the Diagram rather than the other way around. But trying to do both that and get Philosopher-King might be stretching your BP budget too far.
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Question. If Migration and Material collecting win, and we get a priceless treasure, do priceless treasures have a scale of how good they are compared to each other? Like, if we roll what the original roll required for Priceless treasure is rolled, would it be stronger than it would have been for not selecting Migration?
 
Tally by plan incoming just because.
Adhoc vote count started by Conjured Blade on Mar 22, 2018 at 5:45 PM, finished with 115 posts and 40 votes.
  • [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold
    [X] Don't Spend a Beyond Point -
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [x] A Fierce Migration
    [X] Seek Cultivation Materials
    [X] Don't Spent a Beyond Point
    [x] A Fierce Migration
    [X] Seek Cultivation Materials
    [X] Don't Spent a Beyond Point
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] Seek Cultivation Materials
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] Hunt Forbidden Cultivators
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] Seek Cultivation Materials
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [x] Master Kleinvarr's Greater Refining
    [x] Seek Cultivation Material
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [x] A Fierce Migration
    [X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold
    [X] Don't Spent a Beyond Point
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] Hunt Forbidden Cultivators
    [X] Don't Spend a Beyond Point -
    [X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [x] Master Kleinvarr's Greater Refining
    [X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold
    [X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
    [X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold
    [x] Spend a Beyond Point
    [X] +1 Mastermind Point
    [X] Seek Cultivation Materials
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Wolfy said:
Jesus fuck people, just get Cultivation+Migration. We took Archsmith over Truthseeker for a damn reason - wasting our time chasing rando Liches is not that reason.
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Jesus fuck Wolfy, just get Xiaoling+Cultivation. We chose Second: The Noble Lady for a damn reason - getting her killed fighting rando Reality Forming tier monsters is not that reason.
 
My current goal, such as it is, is to try an get Alchemist up and running before to long. For that we need two BPs, which are just about at hand, unless we burn one for Potentation, and two Artifacts. Artifacts are bigger issue here - it's likely that we'll have to get to Peak of Dao Cleaving to get Soul Chrysalis one, which will take a ton of effort.

Still, with Cultivation+Migration combo, we might just accelerate fast enough.
George said:
We chose Second: The Noble Lady for a damn reason
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Because other two options were shit and the overall bonus is all but irrelevant?

Truth died for this vote to happen. Do not fuck it up. Don't waste a ton of time walking around when our main path of power is all about spending as much of time as humanly possible Cultivating in order to get as much Artifacts as we can.
 
George said:
Jesus fuck Wolfy, just get Xiaoling+Cultivation. We chose Second: The Noble Lady for a damn reason - getting her killed fighting rando Reality Forming tier monsters is not that reason.
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Xiaoling already has a .5 stage cultivation boost from her elfiness. In terms of combat ability .25 stages is not make or break it either way, and the Migration text specifies that Nameless can fuck off if a Reality Forming beastie comes along, that presumably includes getting our weaker companions out of squish range before we engage if desired.

Prodigious treasures and +30% chance of a priceless treasure is a big deal in comparison. They don't call it priceless treasure for nothing.
 
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George said:
Jesus fuck Wolfy, just get Xiaoling+Cultivation. We chose Second: The Noble Lady for a damn reason - getting her killed fighting rando Reality Forming tier monsters is not that reason.
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What reason? I missed that vote.

Note that I'm not insulting it, I'm actually curious because I genuinely don't know what the reason was, and I'd rather ask than comb through the discussion looking for it.
 
Yeah, buffing Xiaoling plus aggressive adventure should give us a good stable of experts to take greater risks with later.

Suizen will naturally grow faster, Xiaoling should focus on quality instead.
 
No good shinies without some degree of sacrifice.

[X] Don't Spend a Beyond Point -
[X] Xiaoling Cultivation Boost
[X] [The Ring] Seek the Lich Stronghold
 
beowolf said:
What reason? I missed that vote.

Note that I'm not insulting it, I'm actually curious because I genuinely don't know what the reason was, and I'd rather ask than comb through the discussion looking for it.
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Other two choices were Seconding Suizhan(which we didn't wanted because Hero) and Mastermind Point(you'd notice that we never pick those). So it was least worst option among the three, so to say.
 
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[x] Spend a Beyond Point
[X] A Fierce Migration
[X] Seek Cultivation Materials

Better cultivation for everyone rather than slightly better cultivation for a single person that already has a bigger boost
 
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