I am really okay with the mechanics the way it is.
You say that attack alpha gives too much advantage? I say this is what happens in real life. How many MMA fights were defined by the first to give a punch that goes through the defense?
Unless the adversary gets a critical hit, or they are undoubtedly above the first combatant, the first to hit a good punch is the one to win.
But seriously, did you ever seen an MMA fighter receive the first good punch and win in a long run?
Even at avg phys cult 3 (a long way away) one full unblocked attack is enough to reduce us to half HP, which probably ends a spar. Speculation: If ambush mechanics exist that negates the opponent's ability to dodge or defend they would be overpowering.
During our spar Suyin was at avg phys cult 1.75. She had 210.3 HP, slightly more than double our HP pool.
That works, though it strongly incentivizes maintaining the strongest attack and defense boost we can afford before considering the other types. I'm still all for wind and earth really.
For ambushes, they would negate the ability to dodge but not the ability to defend since the defense roll is more about the physical toughness of the defender's body, generally permanently enhanced by physical cultivation (though obviously your buffs wouldn't be up). But before that, the ambusher would have to pass a stealth check. I was planning for it to be something like this:
Stealth roll vs perception roll. Stealth roll = stealth stat + art bonuses + qi dampening bonus if applicable. Perception roll = perception stat +art bonuses + Ghost Eyes level^2.
If they did pass the stealth roll then they might be able to get a pretty devastating first hit in, but I don't see a way to balance that while still being realistic since it makes sense for stealthy attacks to be dangerous.
Stealth roll vs perception roll. Stealth roll = stealth stat + art bonuses + qi dampening bonus if applicable. Perception roll = perception stat +art bonuses + Ghost Eyes level^2.
Weekly dice:
1 week = 3 actions.
1 month = 800 coppers.
1 cultivation action = (Ghost Eyes 2 + Talent 4)*5 = 30 dice.
1 spear training action = 7 dice.
1 Father tutoring = 10 dice cultivation or 13 dice spear training. Once a week.
Medicines, 1 per week:
Spirit Herb Pill. 300 coppers each. +5 dice to all cult actions for 1 week (15 dice).
Elemental Spirit Herb Pill. 500 coppers each. +7 dice to all cult actions of a particular element for 1 week (21 dice).
Heaven Flower Elixir. 800 coppers each. +10 dice to all cult actions for 1 week (30 dice).
Celestial Lavender. Collect every other month. +50 dice to all cult actions for 1 week (150 dice).
Completed Techniques:
Elemental Qi Control: Can use elemental Qi.
Qi Dampening: +4 dice to Stealth rolls for 5 Qi for short period.
Still Waters (red): +3 Balance for 10 Qi for short period.
Soundless Step (red): +4 dice to Stealth rolls for 20 Qi for short period.
Stone Skin (red): +3 Defense for 30 Qi for short period.
Masteries:
Earth 1: 28/100
Water 1: 22/100
Shadow 1: 30/100
Red-level:
Boosts: 60 successes. 95% at 237 dice. 2.5 weeks.
Offensive arts: 45 successes. 95% at 182 dice. 2 weeks.
Red-level techniques that we can currently learn. Divided by elements:
> Fire
Fire Bolt – Offensive art. 0/45.
> Wind
Air Blade – Enhances a weapon's sharpness, attack boost. 0/60.
Air Step – Speed boost. 0/60.
Four Winds – Offensive art. 0/45.
> Water
Frost Spike – Offensive art. 0/45.
> Earth
Steel Strike – Strength boost. +4 Strength for 20 Qi for short period. 0/60.
> Lightning
Spark – Offensive art. 0/45.
> Shadow
> Light
Flare – Reduce enemies' attack rolls for a brief period of time. 0/50.
Second Sun – Illuminates a wide area for a few minutes, aiding Perception rolls vs. foes using Stealth, at the cost of reducing one's own Stealth. 0/45.
Medicines, 1 per week:
Spirit Herb Pill. 300 coppers each. +5 dice to all cult actions for 1 week (15 dice).
Elemental Spirit Herb Pill. 500 coppers each. +7 dice to all cult actions of a particular element for 1 week (21 dice).
Heaven Flower Elixir. 800 coppers each. +10 dice to all cult actions for 1 week (30 dice).
Current Cultivations:
Ghost Eyes 2: 323/400. 95% at 298 dice.
Avg Phys Cult: (flex 1 + muscle 1 + def 1 + ?? 1)/4 = 1
- Flex Cult: 2: 19/70. 95% at 204 dice.
- Muscle Cult 2: 0/70. 95% at 273 dice.
- Def Cult 2: 0/70. 95% at 273 dice.
- ?? Cult 2: 0/70. 95% at 273 dice.
Elemental Qi Control: Completed!
Qi Dampening: 11/60. 95% at 197 dice.
Qi Transfusion 1: 10/45. 95% at 145 dice.
Spear Mastery 3: 9/600. 95% at 1239 dice.
Martial 5: 8/800.
Still Waters 1 : ??/60. Probably 0.
Red-level techniques:
Boosts: 60 successes. 95% at 237 dice.
Offensive arts: 45 successes. 95% at 182 dice.
Red-level techniques that we can currently learn. Divided by elements:
> Fire
Fire Bolt – Offensive art. (0/45 successes)
> Wind
Air Blade – Enhances a weapon's sharpness, aiding physical attack rolls. (0/60 successes)
Air Step – Increases speed. (0/60 successes)
Four Winds – Offensive art. (0/45 successes)
> Water
Still Waters - Increases balance. +3 balance for 10 Qi. (??/60 successes)
Frost Spike – offensive art. (0/45 successes)
> Earth
Stone Skin – Increases defense. (0/60 successes)
> Shadow
Soundless Step – Eliminates the sound of one's footsteps, aiding stealth rolls. (0/60 successes)
> Light
Flare – Reduce enemies' attack rolls for a brief period of time. (0/50 successes)
Second Sun – Illuminates a wide area for a few minutes, aiding perception rolls vs. foes using stealth, at the cost of reducing one's own stealth. (0/45 successes)
> Gravity
Heavy Punch – Aids physical attack rolls. (0/60 successes)
No need to keep it updated. I'll probably end up making one myself later on, though it will likely only be a list of known arts since I include the stats at the end of every chapter.
This is my first quest, and it's a xianxia quest inspired by Forge of Destiny, though with some major differences to the worldbuilding and cultivation system. Feel free to let me know your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, etc.
I like the basic concept of piloting a middle-tier cultivator. I also like the worldbuilding and the characters seen thus far. I do have two concerns.
(1) What's the plot?
Shaohuo seems pretty comfortable with his life. He's set to follow in his father's footsteps. He doesn't have the talent to compete for the clan heir position but he gets along well with the upcoming heir. He doesn't have any childhood rivals.
I'm having a hard time imagining a future plot hook where he'd have a lot of agency. Like, if the elder's life expectancy drops to decades or years instead of centuries, or he falls out of favor with the Emperor... Shaohuo will pretty much get crushed along with the rest of the family. Maybe some kind of Romeo and Juliet thing with Hou Lian? I don't know.
Put another way, it's hard for me to imagine an antagonist that will start shit with Shaohuo that will not be able to stomp Shaohuo into the ground. This ties into question 2...
(2) How brutal is the talent/power curve?
It looks pretty damn brutal.
Shaohuo's at Talent 4 and we're putting all of our eggs in the delayed gratification basket. Meanwhile, let's suppose Suyin is Talent 6 (any higher and I assume somebody would have noticed and her father wouldn't be trying to set her up with us). If Shaohuo puts 10 actions into training Ghost Eyes, each action will get 25 dice and will lead to 7.5 successes on average, giving 75 expected successes total. If Suyin spends 8 actions training other stuff and 2 actions training ghost eyes, each action will have 35 dice and generate 17.5 successes on average; the first 8 will therefore generate 5.83 ghost eyes successes on average, giving her 81.6 expected ghost eyes successes on top of the 140 expected successes for whatever else she's training.
We can try to close the gap with pills and tutors. She has access to those things too, though, and even if we somehow got to dice parity things get worse for us the more dice are being thrown around. That's not even getting into the point that talented people tend to attract more investment.
Unless something very surprising happens, that spar Shaohuo had with Suyin is the closest fight he'll ever be able to give her.
Are there meaningful ways to affect the world that don't involve cultivation? We haven't really seen any so far, and in most xianxia settings there really aren't any. Under the Forge of Destiny framework, cultivators can outdo all but the very best mortal experts even on tasks where they're basically untrained.
I don't have a problem with piloting a weaker character but it's hard to get too invested in what in Forge of Destiny terms would be Fan Yu, the quest: watching helplessly as all of our acquaintances vastly outdistance our abilities and we grow more and more irrelevant to ongoing events.
If your opponent is stronger than you in one area, challenge them where they are weak. If they are weak in no category, then construct a circumstance in which they are. We're not the best cultivator about, which means that we should think hard about ways to resolve conflicts in our favor that don't involve doomed bouts of wrestling. I see a great future in more bureaucratic/mercantile realms to focus on, one of my favorite moments in treave's excellent wuxia work was when Xu Jing put skills learned from his master and his business acumen together to devise and mass produce a revolutionary form of condom in partnership with a brothel. Made him scads and scads of cash for the rest of the CYOA and honestly that ended up being more impactful probably than almost anything else he'd done with respect to martial pursuits until the end of the CYOA for society at large.
I like the basic concept of piloting a middle-tier cultivator. I also like the worldbuilding and the characters seen thus far. I do have two concerns.
(1) What's the plot?
Shaohuo seems pretty comfortable with his life. He's set to follow in his father's footsteps. He doesn't have the talent to compete for the clan heir position but he gets along well with the upcoming heir. He doesn't have any childhood rivals.
I'm having a hard time imagining a future plot hook where he'd have a lot of agency. Like, if the elder's life expectancy drops to decades or years instead of centuries, or he falls out of favor with the Emperor... Shaohuo will pretty much get crushed along with the rest of the family. Maybe some kind of Romeo and Juliet thing with Hou Lian? I don't know.
Put another way, it's hard for me to imagine an antagonist that will start shit with Shaohuo that will not be able to stomp Shaohuo into the ground. This ties into question 2...
(2) How brutal is the talent/power curve?
It looks pretty damn brutal.
Shaohuo's at Talent 4 and we're putting all of our eggs in the delayed gratification basket. Meanwhile, let's suppose Suyin is Talent 6 (any higher and I assume somebody would have noticed and her father wouldn't be trying to set her up with us). If Shaohuo puts 10 actions into training Ghost Eyes, each action will get 25 dice and will lead to 7.5 successes on average, giving 75 expected successes total. If Suyin spends 8 actions training other stuff and 2 actions training ghost eyes, each action will have 35 dice and generate 17.5 successes on average; the first 8 will therefore generate 5.83 ghost eyes successes on average, giving her 81.6 expected ghost eyes successes on top of the 140 expected successes for whatever else she's training.
We can try to close the gap with pills and tutors. She has access to those things too, though, and even if we somehow got to dice parity things get worse for us the more dice are being thrown around. That's not even getting into the point that talented people tend to attract more investment.
Unless something very surprising happens, that spar Shaohuo had with Suyin is the closest fight he'll ever be able to give her.
Are there meaningful ways to affect the world that don't involve cultivation? We haven't really seen any so far, and in most xianxia settings there really aren't any. Under the Forge of Destiny framework, cultivators can outdo all but the very best mortal experts even on tasks where they're basically untrained.
I don't have a problem with piloting a weaker character but it's hard to get too invested in what in Forge of Destiny terms would be Fan Yu, the quest: watching helplessly as all of our acquaintances vastly outdistance our abilities and we grow more and more irrelevant to ongoing events.
Well, the setting is a bit different from Forge of Destiny. Here cultivation isn't quite as powerful. It's good for fighting and some other things, but it doesn't make you a good politician, a good administrator, or a great general. It definitely doesn't make you a trustworthy ally, confidant, or subordinate. So it's not the only way to affect the world. I do have a few potential plot hooks in mind and Shaohuo does have agency, the same as anyone in the real world, but he's definitely not the chosen one. The themes I had in mind for this story as a whole were basically: Is cultivation worthwhile? Is the competition worthwhile? Is being one of the strongest people around important? Is 'keeping up' with your peers important, especially when you can live for centuries? What is actually important in life, and how do you define success?
As far as talent is concerned, while 5 is the average talent level of a noble, there are very few people with higher levels of talent than that and talent levels of 9 and 10 practically don't exist. Shaohuo won't be able to keep up with those people in terms of versatility, but he can focus on learning just the arts and elements he needs. And while others will progress along Ghost Eyes faster than Shaohuo, leveling up Ghost Eyes has diminishing returns and at higher levels it takes years, decades, and even centuries to reach the next level, which gives Shaohuo time to catch up there if he makes the effort. There are also some important abilities which make fights easier but don't require cultivation talent. The martial stat for example is important but cultivation arts can't teach someone fighting technique. The same is true for weapon mastery. And, of course, the option of avoiding conflict is always there.
About the plot, I'm going to quote a response I made to a previous post.
Yeah, I was partly inspired by one of the omakes on the Forge of Destiny thread about a Han Jian quest, where you start as a somewhat talented noble rather than a plucky street urchin.
Long term plans depend partly on what direction readers want to take the quest in, but (assuming I'm able to keep the pace up) I don't intend for the sect to take up the entire story, though it will be a large chunk of it. In this setting people generally go to the sect for about two years so they can spend some time dedicated to cultivating and at least get through the first couple of cultivation levels and learn some arts. I'm guessing this will take around 100 updates or so? Though I might use time skips or updates that cover entire months like I'm doing now if I think it's necessary. After that, commoners who couldn't afford the tuition serve in the military and nobles go home and cultivate on their own using their own clan's resources when they're not busy with other duties. Since Shaohuo's family is able to afford tuition, what he does after the sect is mostly up to him. His dad's around sixty or so but he's still not dying anytime soon (average life expectancy even for commoners is around 120 years or so) so there's some flexibility if people want Shaohuo to spend time adventuring, join the military, work in one of the government ministries in the capital, help Xiaoli, etc. Of course if there's a major war then Shaohuo could get drafted into the military. I have a general theme in mind for the story as a whole, but exact plot lines are hard to say in advance.
Personally, I truly enjoy the fact that Shaohuo has limited agency and a responsibility to become a decent heir.
I look forward to doing what benefits our clan and how we can best manage our estate and etc., if this quest lasts long enough for us to have the opportunity to do that.
I'll probably want to do some adventuring mixed with government work. Since we're not particularly close to a border military work sounds less advantageous.
Personally, I truly enjoy the fact that Shaohuo has limited agency and a responsibility to become a decent heir.
I look forward to doing what benefits our clan and how we can best manage our estate and etc., if this quest lasts long enough for us to have the opportunity to do that.
I'll probably want to do some adventuring mixed with government work. Since we're not particularly close to a border military work sounds less advantageous.
Yeah definitely true, I just meant as far as long term benefits go we're not likely to be attacked, armies are not likely to be stationed near our land such that military connections can be of great advantage (other than maybe a preference for our goods), and so forth.
Comparatively, adventuring provides cool items & government work provides contacts we can leverage if political issues or something arise.
[X] [Letter] Of the responsibilities of higher social ranks. You are curious regarding what the Elder does.
[X] [Minor Action] The tutor's patience with Meiling has been wearing thin, and Father has promised to pay you if you spend some of your free time helping Meiling with some of her tougher lessons. (+200 coppers).
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Chin, Fang, and Daquan – they are good friends, and you'll be leaving soon. It couldn't hurt to spend time with them.
[X] [Letter] Of the responsibilities of higher social ranks. You are curious regarding what the Elder does.
[X] [Minor Action] The tutor's patience with Meiling has been wearing thin, and Father has promised to pay you if you spend some of your free time helping Meiling with some of her tougher lessons. (+200 coppers).
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Chin, Fang, and Daquan – they are good friends, and you'll be leaving soon. It couldn't hurt to spend time with them.
As far as talent is concerned, while 5 is the average talent level of a noble, there are very few people with higher levels of talent than that and talent levels of 9 and 10 practically don't exist. Shaohuo won't be able to keep up with those people in terms of versatility, but he can focus on learning just the arts and elements he needs. And while others will progress along Ghost Eyes faster than Shaohuo, leveling up Ghost Eyes has diminishing returns and at higher levels it takes years, decades, and even centuries to reach the next level, which gives Shaohuo time to catch up there if he makes the effort. There are also some important abilities which make fights easier but don't require cultivation talent. The martial stat for example is important but cultivation arts can't teach someone fighting technique. The same is true for weapon mastery. And, of course, the option of avoiding conflict is always there.
Forget the 8+ people. What I meant by the system being brutal is that somebody at 6 will inevitably experience a virtuous cycle that will send them spiraling far out of Shaohuo's league very quickly.
The automatic successes going to ghost eyes and qi mean that there's no such thing as somebody neglecting fundamentals or Shaohuo gaining an advantage by focusing on fundamentals. Even a talent 5 cultivator can keep up with Shaohuo's pace on ghost eyes while putting up 60 other successes per 10 weeks by splitting their time evenly between ghost eyes and their other cultivation. A talent 7 cultivator will outpace Shaohuo on ghost eyes even while ignoring ghost eye cultivation completely.
The existence of bottlenecks might let Shaohuo reach parity briefly, but the more talented cultivator will break through the bottleneck much faster. There will never be a moment when Shaohuo is comfortably ahead on ghost eyes and can leverage that advantage to catch up on the successes he's missing out on with the "all ghost eyes" strategy.
The brutal part is that Shaohuo's optimal cultivation strategy quickly falls behind other people's even moderately decent cultivation strategies even in the area he makes his focus. Unless there's some narrative rubber banding to come it's almost not worth learning fighting arts.
Well, the setting is a bit different from Forge of Destiny. Here cultivation isn't quite as powerful. It's good for fighting and some other things, but it doesn't make you a good politician, a good administrator, or a great general. It definitely doesn't make you a trustworthy ally, confidant, or subordinate. So it's not the only way to affect the world. I do have a few potential plot hooks in mind and Shaohuo does have agency, the same as anyone in the real world, but he's definitely not the chosen one. The themes I had in mind for this story as a whole were basically: Is cultivation worthwhile? Is the competition worthwhile? Is being one of the strongest people around important? Is 'keeping up' with your peers important, especially when you can live for centuries? What is actually important in life, and how do you define success?
Well, the young eldest son of a minor noble inherently doesn't have a lot of agency. The xianxia genre promises an escape hatch from that by way of raw physical power in a feudal setting. Shaohuo's not pulling that off. The apparent stability of the empire rules out a Temujin route. Shaohuo really needs to acquire some kind of burning ambition or get knocked out of his comfort zone (or both) to be interesting, and I have a hard time imagining how that can happen to a guy like him in a xianxia setting where he's not just immediately crushed.
Per your quote, we're in for 100 chapters of getting Shaohuo's nose rubbed in to the fact of his glaring lack of talent.
Like I said, the writing and characterization are more than good enough to be worth following. I'm just worried that over the long term success in the world is so talent-dependent that Shaohuo's not going to fit into an interesting plot.
Well, the young eldest son of a minor noble inherently doesn't have a lot of agency. The xianxia genre promises an escape hatch from that by way of raw physical power in a feudal setting. Shaohuo's not pulling that off.
I don't know what to tell you except that this is not the kind of story where Shaohuo is going to be the most powerful cultivator around who brute forces his way through every problem. All I can say is that it is possible for him to become a white cultivator with enough effort.
[X] [Letter] Of the responsibilities of higher social ranks. You are curious regarding what the Elder does.
[X] [Minor Action] The tutor's patience with Meiling has been wearing thin, and Father has promised to pay you if you spend some of your free time helping Meiling with some of her tougher lessons. (+200 coppers).
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xiaoli – Now that she's sixteen she should be able to cultivate soon. It might be a good idea to keep an eye on her, if only to make sure she doesn't burn down the entire province.
Chapter 2.6 – A Fairly Favorable Favor
Ice 27, 12053
Shaohuo continued cultivating his Ghost Eyes for the next few weeks. The initial tedium of looking at the world through his qi sense for hours on end had become near mind-numbing boredom. However, this had driven him to take up sketching as a hobby. Paying attention to the surrounding plant and animal life and reproducing them on paper forced him to focus on details and strained the limits of his vision.
One third of successes to Qi Cultivation: 23.
Progress 23/4
Qi: 37/37 > 40/40
Progress 11/5
Qi: 40/40 > 42/42
Progress 1/5
He could sense that he was very close to advancing to the next stage of Ghost Eyes cultivation, but he still felt a bit frustrated. He'd put so much effort into building his foundation, yet his progress was still slow, and he'd hoped to have reached the next stage by now, if not a week or two earlier. It wouldn't matter in the long run, but sometimes he wished cultivation didn't feel like such an uphill struggle.
Shaohuo had agreed to help Meiling with her lessons because he really needed the money, but he quickly came to understand the tutor's frustration.
"I don't wanna read anymore, Shao-Shao," Meiling said. She slumped in her desk chair and laid her head down on top of the philosophy book she was supposed to be studying.
"Look, I know it's not the most interesting thing to study, but you do need to read it. It's very important," Shaohuo said without much enthusiasm. In truth, he'd hated the philosophy classes himself and doubted it was useful for anything.
"But it's stupid, and it doesn't even make sense," Meiling whined, with her head still resting on the book.
"Come on, get up." Shaohuo said, tugging on Meiling's shoulder, but she resolutely stayed with her head down on the table. "Okay, how about this? I'll read the book and explain it to you."
"Okay…" Meiling mumbled. He tugged on the book, and Meiling reluctantly sat up so he could take it.
"Hmm…" Shaohuo said, skimming through the chapter Meiling was reading. "You're learning about the Heavenly Path, right? What didn't you understand?"
"I dunno, lots of stuff," Meiling shrugged. "Like, what does enlightenment mean?"
"Oh, that just means being really wise, you know?" Shaohuo said, not sure how to answer. "They say that people who become enlightened ascend to the heavens, so you better work hard on your studies, okay?"
"What about people who aren't enlightened?" Meiling said, tilting her head.
"Well, if you're a good person then you go to a lesser heaven when you die," he said. It was a question he'd wondered about too when he was younger, but it wasn't like people came back from dying or ascending to tell about it.
"But I thought only cultivators go to heaven?" Meiling said, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Well, that's the way people usually become enlightened. White cultivators usually ascend after a while." Shaohuo said, "Like the ancestors at the main clan's shrine."
"But what if a cultivator is a bad person? Do they still go to heaven?" Meiling asked, still looking confused.
Shaohuo was about to answer, but then paused, remembering the conversation he'd had with the Honored Elder years ago. And, well, implying that a supposedly enlightened white cultivator like the Emperor could be a bad person or not endorsed by the heavens...
"That couldn't happen, Meiling. Only good people can reach white," he said, and he reached a hand out to pat Meiling on the head. "Now, why don't you start studying history?"
"Ugh," Meiling whimpered, and laid her head down on the table again. "But it's so boring, Shao-Shao!"
Shaohuo sighed. And he'd thought he'd been making progress too. It was time to resort to extreme measures.
"I have some sweets I can give you if you read it," he said.
Meiling shot up in her seat. "Really?"
"Yes, but only if you read the whole chapter today," Shaohuo said.
When Meiling returned to reading her books diligently, he sighed quietly. He'd been looking forward to eating those himself…
Shaohuo made sure to accompany his father on his next trip to the main clan compound, knowing that Xiaoli must have started cultivating by now. The thought of it filled him with both curiosity and dread.
After their fathers gave each other the customary greetings and went inside, Xiaoli's stoic expression immediately twisted into a devilish grin.
"Come, Shaohuo! I've started cultivating!" She said, and sprinted off towards the training grounds.
Shaohuo quickly started jogging to at least keep her within sight. He didn't understand how someone could be that energetic, especially since the early spring was still quite cold.
When he caught up, Xiaoli was already standing in fighting stance, one foot behind the other and hands formed into fists. Seeing him approach, she waved at him.
"Look! I learned a fire art!" She called out. She turned back to face the ground straight ahead of her and said, "FIRE BOLT!" A spear-shaped mass of flame materialized, shooting into the sky straight in front of her for a fair distance before fizzling out, leaving just empty space. Xiaoli grinned at him, clearly expecting praise.
"It's pretty impressive that you learned that already. You've only been cultivating for two weeks or so, right?" Shaohuo said.
"Yup!" Xiaoli said with a smug grin. "Father and the Honored Elder kept telling me to spend more time on cultivating Ghost Eyes, but I thought it'd be too boring if I didn't learn at least one art first."
"But did you really have to yell the name out loud when you did it?" Shaohuo said, raising a brow.
"It's not like anyone's watching. Except the guards, anyway." Xiaoli said nonchalantly.
Indeed, the guards, having surreptitiously followed them, were simply watching them with stoic expressions, seeming unfazed by Xiaoli's antics.
"Well, if you've been neglecting Ghost Eyes then do you want to practice that now?" Shaohuo said.
Xiaoli shook her head with an expression of great disappointment. "Shaohuo, why would we do that when we could be practicing with our actual arts? We can cultivate Ghost Eyes on our own any time, but we can't throw fire at each other from our homes, can we?"
"First of all, that sounds like a terrible idea. Besides…" Shaohuo looked aside, slightly embarrassed. "I actually don't know any combat arts yet. I've been focusing on reaching orange with Ghost Eyes first."
Xiaoli's mouth hung open for a moment, and then she abruptly closed it.
"Okay, before we do anything else, we need to fix that," she said, suddenly serious. "Shaohuo, I know you're really responsible, but are you seriously telling me you did nothing but cultivate Ghost Eyes for months?"
"I'm not talented like you are," Shaohuo said, matter-of-factly. It wasn't something he liked, but he was used to it. "I need every advantage I can get. Besides, I did other things too, I was there for your birthday and I'm helping Meiling with her lessons."
"Yes, but you must have still been spending hours doing nothing but cultivating Ghost Eyes. Which is the most boring kind of cultivation you can do." Xiaoli said.
"I don't see what the problem is," Shaohuo said, "Yes, it's boring. But it will be useful in the future."
"But if you spend all your time doing what you're supposed to do rather than what you want to do, don't you think you will regret it?" Xiaoli said. Her expression was strange, looking almost pained. "You're preparing for the future, but what if that future doesn't come? There's no guarantee that you or I or anyone will still be there. There could be a famine, or a war, or you could get sick. Anything could happen."
Xiaoli sat down on the ground, twisting strands of grass with her fingers. Shaohuo sat as well.
"I could say the same thing to you, couldn't I?" He said, realizing what the problem was. He was careful not to say more in case the guards were listening.
"The difference is that you have a choice." Xiaoli said quietly. "You don't even have to take over for your father if you don't want to, when Meiling could do it. You could even have a kid ready to be the heir by the time your father retires."
Shaohuo blinked. Kids, huh…he wasn't ready to think about that yet.
"I suppose. But really, you don't need to worry about me," he said, making sure to look Xiaoli straight in the eyes, "I really don't mind that much."
Xiaoli bit her lip. "Maybe, but you should at least mix it up a little…okay, how about this? If you promise to spend some time cultivating anything other than Ghost Eyes for at least a few weeks, then I'll give you one of my Heaven Flower Elixirs."
"I can't take that, it's too much. Those things are very expensive," he protested. Besides, he didn't want to make Xiaoli feel like he was using her.
"Not as expensive as a sword," Xiaoli said, smiling. "If you insist, you can think of it as an early birthday present."
"My birthday is almost a year from now," he pointed out, but his resolve was crumbling.
"So what? Besides, we're friends, and friends look out for each other."
Outside of cultivation, what does Shaohuo spend his time on during the next month? Pick three.
[X] [Minor Action] Gather the spiritual herbs that the Honored Elder spoke of.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Wang Shen – He seemed like a very unpleasant individual, but he's still a fellow noble of the Four Rivers province. Perhaps some conversation could clear the air or even get him to learn that no means no. Well, it didn't sound believable even in your own head, but it might be worth a try.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xiaoli – Now that she can cultivate, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on her, if only to make sure she doesn't burn down the entire province.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Father – You do spend quite a bit of time with Father during training and some social events visiting subordinates. But outside of duty, you could still get to know him better as a person.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Mother – obviously, you know Mother well, and you get along well too, seeing as she dotes on you almost as much as on Meiling. Still, you could always spend more time with her before heading off to the sect.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Meiling – Soon you will be gone and will rarely see your sister for two years. It might be good to spend some time with her now.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Suyin – the daughter of one of your father's closest friends and a minor noble in her own right, Suyin is good company and an intelligent conversationalist when you can get her to speak. Though that would mean putting up with Father's teasing.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Chin, Fang, and Daquan – they are good friends, and you'll be leaving soon. It couldn't hurt to spend time with them.
Due to the complexity of the following three votes, all votes must be by plan. The previous vote on minor actions doesn't need to be by plan.
Over the course of the next eleven weeks, Shaohuo can spend up to 33 actions cultivating and training. For this vote only, at least one vote must be spent on something other than Ghost Eyes. Vote for the options you would like. You can spend more than one action on the same option such as by choosing Ghost Eyes x2 or Ghost Eyes x4 or Ghost Eyes x12, etc. You can spend less than 33 actions if you like, which will lead to another vote later on.
[X] [Cultivation] Ghost Eyes
[X] [Cultivation] Physical Cultivation
[X] [Cultivation] Sparring – practice using a mix of hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and arts to fight. (raises martial with one third of successes to spear mastery).
[X] [Cultivation] Spear Mastery
[X] [Cultivation] Qi Dampening
[X] [Cultivation] Qi Transfusion
[X] [Cultivation] Still Water – a red-level water element art that increases balance (0/45 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Air Step – a red-level wind element art that increases speed. (0/60 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Four Winds – a red-level wind element offensive art (0/45 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (0/60 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Flare – a red-level light element art that can reduce enemies' attack rolls for a brief period of time. (0/50 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Second Sun – a red-level light element art that illuminates a wide area for a few minutes, aiding perception rolls vs. foes using stealth, at the cost of reducing one's own stealth. (0/45 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Soundless Step – a red-level shadow art that eliminates the sound of one's footsteps, aiding stealth rolls. (0/60 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Heavy Punch – a red-level gravity art that aids physical attack rolls. (0/60 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Air Blade – a red-level wind art that enhances a weapon's sharpness, aiding physical attack rolls. (0/60 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Fire Bolt – a red-level offensive fire art. (0/45 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Spark – a red-level offensive lightning art (0/45 successes)
[X] [Cultivation] Frost Spike – a red-level offensive water art (0/45 successes)
For the next month, what does Shaohuo's father help him learn? Choose 11 actions, but you can vote for the same option multiple times i.e. Ghost Eyes x2 and Spear Mastery x2 or Ghost Eyes x4, etc. If an option is chosen then it must have also been chosen for the cultivation action.
[X] [Tutoring] Ghost Eyes
[X] [Tutoring] Physical Cultivation
[X] [Tutoring] Sparring – practice using a mix of hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and arts to fight, with a focus on improving martial prowess.
[X] [Tutoring] Spear Mastery
[X] [Tutoring] Qi Dampening
[X] [Tutoring] Qi Transfusion
[X] [Tutoring] Air Step – a red-level wind element art that increases speed.
[X] [Tutoring] Four Winds – a red-level wind element offensive art
[X] [Tutoring] Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense
[X] [Tutoring] Flare – a red-level light element art that can reduce enemies' attack rolls for a brief period of time.
[X] [Tutoring] Second Sun – a red-level light element art that illuminates a wide area for a few minutes, aiding perception rolls vs. foes using stealth, at the cost of reducing one's own stealth.
[X] [Tutoring] Soundless Step – a red-level shadow art that eliminates the sound of one's footsteps, aiding stealth rolls.
[X] [Tutoring] Heavy Punch – a red-level gravity art that aids physical attack rolls.
[X] [Tutoring] Air Blade – a red-level wind art that enhances a weapon's sharpness, aiding physical attack rolls.
[X] [Tutoring] Fire Bolt – a red-level offensive fire art.
[X] [Tutoring] Spark – a red-level offensive lightning art
[X] [Tutoring] Frost Spike – a red-level offensive water art
What medicines does Shaohuo purchase? Note that medicines do not aid in weapon mastery training or sparring.
[X] [MedBuy] None
[X] [MedBuy] Spirit Herb Pill (+ 5 dice to all cultivation rolls for one week. 300 coppers each).
-[X] Number of medications
[X] [MedBuy] Elemental Spirit Herb Pill (+ 7 dice to all cultivation rolls of a particular element for one week. 500 coppers each).
-[X] Number of medications, types of elements
[X] [MedBuy] Heaven Flower Elixir (+ 10 dice to all cultivation rolls for one week. 800 coppers each).
-[X] Number of medications
What, if any medications does Shaohuo use, and for which types of cultivation? Due to drug interactions, only one medicine can be used safely per week.
[X] [MedUse] Write-in
A/N: The Elder's letter will be in the next update.
I don't know what to tell you except that this is not the kind of story where Shaohuo is going to be the most powerful cultivator around who brute forces his way through every problem. All I can say is that it is possible for him to become a white cultivator with enough effort.
I thought I had made it pretty clear that I feel there's a happy median between curbstomping everything and getting curbstomped by all possible opposition. Neither extreme is particularly interesting to me.
[X] [Minor Action] Gather the spiritual herbs that the Honored Elder spoke of.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xiaoli – Now that she can cultivate, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on her, if only to make sure she doesn't burn down the entire province.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Suyin – the daughter of one of your father's closest friends and a minor noble in her own right, Suyin is good company and an intelligent conversationalist when you can get her to speak. Though that would mean putting up with Father's teasing.
[X] Plan Heavy Hitter
-[X] [Cultivation] Ghost Eyes x4
--[X] Cultivate until next stage, then put remainder towards Physical Cultivation
-[X] [Cultivation] Physical Cultivation x8
-[X] [Cultivation] Spear Mastery x11
-[X] [Cultivation] Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (0/60 successes) x5
-[X] [Cultivation] Heavy Punch – a red-level gravity art that aids physical attack rolls. (0/60 successes) x5
-[X] [Tutoring] Spear Mastery x11
-[X] [MedBuy] Spirit Herb Pill (+ 5 dice to all cultivation rolls for one week. 300 coppers each).
--[X] 6
-[X] [MedUse] Heaven Flower Elixer - Physical Cultivation
-[X] [MedUse] Spirit Herb Pill - Physical Cultivation x6
Going to take a bit of a risk here. The herbs would jumpstart us, but risks death. But with our low talent I think we're going to need to try some of the risk. Though its not tied to the plan.
Plan wise, I'm building towards Earth/Gravity heavy melee attacker/tank, leveraging our spear mastery(which is Talent agnostic) to make up the gap. We'd only be good at the one thing however. We can't grab whatever element clicks to our eye, so we'd need to specialize early. Earth and Gravity makes for a very strong defense with solid offense, but not much mobility(though both aren't entirely unable to do it, they do wallwalk and burrowing after all)
And since nothing else helps with spear, FULL daddy training there once we break through. 2 Ghost Eyes should achieve that.
[X] [Minor Action] Gather the spiritual herbs that the Honored Elder spoke of.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xiaoli – Now that she can cultivate, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on her, if only to make sure she doesn't burn down the entire province.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Suyin – the daughter of one of your father's closest friends and a minor noble in her own right, Suyin is good company and an intelligent conversationalist when you can get her to speak. Though that would mean putting up with Father's teasing.
-[X] [Tutoring] Physical Cultivation x10
-[X] [Cultivation] Spear Mastery x11
-[X] [Cultivation] Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (0/60 successes) x5
-[X] [Cultivation] Heavy Punch – a red-level gravity art that aids physical attack rolls. (0/60 successes) x5
-[X] [Tutoring] Spear Mastery x11
