Hmm, seeing as I missed the vote due to spending literally half the day in one meeting or another...
Might as well poke at the update itself
"Well," Li Suyin said, recovering easily from the change of subject. "The next several formations are.... Unsavory at best, so I've put them aside for the moment. The next useful one is the… Black Loam Gargant," the blue haired girl grimaced a little as she looked down at the pages, which held an illustration of a vaguely humanoid mass of bones, dirt and stone standing next to a sketched humanoid figure which barely rose to its ankle. Of course the illustration seemed to indicate that the creator was meant to ride inside it?
"...I'm not sure where we get that many bones, but that seems pretty great," Ling Qi said, studying the text around the illustration. "What's the catch?"
"The upkeep costs would be unsustainable," Li Suyin sighed. "Without the… sacrificial methods, described in the rest of the book, it would take roughly fifty yellow stones just to activate for a minute or so… I am also quite certain that it would take a third realm cultivator to control at all."
Damn, those things would be expensive to run even for a noble.
And we DEFINITELY should do that sect mission, since thats clearly a Gargant, so whoever is operating it either has a trick, is doing blood sacrifice or is crazy rich. In two cases we want to copy it, and in one we need to put a stop to it.
...it'd be pretty hilarious if someone came kitted out for Ling Qi being sneaky and hard to hit, and she turned up in a giant zombie robot ninja though...
Breaking through began much like normal cultivation, with the gathering of energies within ones dantian and the cycling of those energies throughout the channels of ones spirit. The difference was one of magnitude. Reaching the peak of a realm meant finding the limit of energy which ones spirit could sustain, and attempting to cultivate further felt much like trying to stretch a muscle too far. That metaphor did not quite match the feeling of painful… stretching that breaking through brought on, but it was the closest one she could think of.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to liken it to trying to fit into a too small gown, but Ling Qi didn't like the implications of that one. Still, the feeling of her spirit straining against the confines of the second realm was unpleasant to say the least It was thus immensely satisfying to feel something of the barrier inside of her give way.
Excited, she pressed on, cycling her qi furiously as she pushed out against the the weakened boundary, the qi in her dantian flaring brightly in her senses. This time though, as her will and energy slammed into the barrier, it held, flexing only slightly. Immense pain struck her as she was slammed back into her body, her meditative state shattered. Her head throbbed with agony and Ling Qi blinked groggily as she felt something wet dripping from her nose and tasted copper on her lips.
She tried to sit up, only to fall back to the floor with a whimper as her dantian burned in a way it hadn't since that first night with Meizhen. Pain spread throughout her entire system of qi channels and kept her immobile for a time, breathing raggedly.
She took it slow this time, where before she had cycled quickly and surged forward, eagerly seeking to break her limits, she now instead focused on gathering a bit more energy at a time. Each time she breathed in, taking in qi, she held it tightly in her channels, not allowing it to escape as it was naturally inclined. Slowly, she began to once again test her limits, and this time, her slow focus paid off.
There were, for lack of a better word, cracks, almost imperceptible ones, in the barrier which separated her from further cultivation. She allowed her qi to seep into them, spirit and will probing for weakness, and in what seemed like no time at all, the cracks widened, expanding until they consumed the barrier in its entirety.
That sounds a lot like she just broke out of her soul like it was an eggshell around her. The backlash is failing to break through the shell and hurting the inside.
So lets look at our inner realm:
As her awareness was subsumed entirely into her pulsing qi, she found herself within a vision. In it, she sat on a high cliff overlooking a lake. Below her stretched a misty vale, silent under the light of the moon. The vale was a lively place, with a lush wood at its shore, she could see a bonfire under it's eaves, and she was sure her friends were waiting. A little village sat at the opposite shore, the tiny lights casting long shadows, and in the center of the lake sat an island, tall, narrow and mountainous, stretching high toward the clouds as if to grasp the silver moon, from it came a familiar tune.
Ling Qi found herself standing, looking over the vale, and was filled with the urge to move.
Where did she go?
[] The little village, full of little people and shadows that would keep her safe.
[] Toward the moonlit peak and its unseen players, calling her to join the serenade.
[] Into the forest, full of life and joy. She did not want to leave her friends waiting.
[] Into the sky, unfettered and free, to visit where ever she wished, at the time she wished.
-Ling Qi's point of view is from the perspective of Argent Mirror, a Cliff(Mountain) overlooking a Lake. This makes sense because Argent Mirror is her sole perception art and thus her perspective of cultivation is tied to it.
-Her World is a Vale, as defined by her first and most significant Art. Unlike before, its no longer silent and alone, it's a world full of things.
-The Light of her world is the Moon, now bright and clear in the night sky. This is her Patron and occupies a major role despite not having any Arts for Moon outside of EPC.
Then the options:
[] The little village, full of little people and shadows that would keep her safe.
This is Darkness as embodied by Abyssal Exhalation and Forgotten Vale Melody, in it's aspect of summoning and safety through deception. Here the light(Heaven) casts shadows.
This should be the Illusion focus of her Domain. Heaven in it's aspect of Imagination and Creativity, Darkness in it's aspect of Deception and Beckoning. So it uses both light and dark in opposition to make very good lies.
So summoning based perhaps.
Narratively the focus on Safety and thus by implication, fear. It emphasizes paranoia and preparedness, presenting layers and layers of deception(not unlike Renshu) to protect yourself from the world.
These are all good things in the world of Cultivators, if a little sad.
[] Toward the moonlit peak and its unseen players, calling her to join the serenade.
The Moon lies at the center ahd the Music is clear. Yet it's at the middle of Mountain in the middle of a Lake. This is an odd one if you think in terms of individual elements, it doesn't quite fit that cleanly at first glance.
So lets zoom out a bit:
Moon and Music at the center, on a mountain, on a lake. Around the fringes of the lake lies all the elements of the world.
That sounds to me like the core is Moon, but it's framed in terms of the Argent. So an emphasis on Moon phases and Music notes influencing or substituting the Imperial Eight perhaps.
Narratively this focuses on the brighter side of life. On music and pleasure, on doing things that aren't just another grind towards power.
This would of course, complicate things a bit here and there.
[] Into the forest, full of life and joy. She did not want to leave her friends waiting.
This was quite popular(SV does love our Friendship), but Ascension is supposed to be an inherently lonely path as you ascend away from common humanity, your bonds strained by how your Element and Way skews your perspectives, such that you can't truly comprehend them anymore.
The element here is quite clear. Fire and Wood is mainly represented by Zhengui, Argent Current(Fire, Aka Teamwork Attack: The Art) and Thousand Ring Fortress(Wood, Aka Teamwork Defense: The Art).
So put a spin on it, how do you get around this as you ascend?
By taking friends bound to you in spirit. Mortals die. Cultivators grow apart. Your Spirit Beast will be with you all the way until you become a Great Spirit and they become a Sublime Ancestor.
So I suspect this bonus has to do with either binding spirit beasts more effectively(i.e. a discount on spirit beast bonds in general) or using group support arts better.
Narratively the focus here is pretty straightforward. Cherish your bonds. The fire is warm and the trees are full of fruit.
[] Into the sky, unfettered and free, to visit where ever she wished, at the time she wished.
And back to the core. Freedom and Wind. The choice to not make a choice, to always be free to abandon and return. While its not common, and not exactly a Sage, the choice to not have to choose, to avoid specializing is itself interesting(though our optimizers will be tearing their hair out at the talismans and drugs being a freaking mess).
If its a hard bonus, I'd say it goes into
movement or
cultivation. Something that rewards and encourages never being tied down.
It would, narratively, make all the allegiance choices more difficult as it doubles down on Ling Qi's concerns losing freedom. Being tied down and swearing to a noble house or even the Sect would be a little uncomfortable down this route.
She would need to reconcile the two.
And then holy shit the bonuses:
Qi Bonus: +10 Bonus Qi
Meridian Bonus: Additional Heart, Spine, and Arm Meridians opened(Does not affect target number)
General Bonuses
Perfect Success Bonus: Begin Early green with 100 successes.
These aren't too complicated. They're free cultivation actions pre-invested. All handy. Especially the bonus meridians, since we'd be having lots of arts open up to use them with, even if Leg would be more convenient.
Spiritual Bonus: Auto successes to spiritual and qi increase to 5
Wind: Wind arts require fifteen fewer successes per level after initial mastery,
Imperial Eight Bonus: +5 auto successes to training imperial element arts
Training efficiency bonuses are going to pay amazingly down the line. Rock solid foundation benefits here.
The Imperial Eight bonus(pity we missed the Argent Arts and the Classical Five bonus) makes picking up utility arts much easier, especially considering they'd be some of the most common art elements for the future.
Wind: Initiative bonus increased to +3.
Dark: Ling Qi receives a two die bonus against all attempts to dispel darkness arts. Ling Qi receives a 2 die bonus on all offensive clashes using darkness arts
Wood Bonus: Gain one additional health box
And the combat bonuses. The Darkness bonus is especially impressive, but expected, since both our two best quality and fully developed Arts are Darkness based, before slapping Abyssal Exhalation in.
It makes AE really nasty while we catch it up.
