History's Most Mediocre Cultivator (Xianxia Quest)

[Sickul]

The current strategy I'm pursuing is to snap up the alliances in the first week while nobody else has them yet. Getting to know an Elder via working under them is part of that. With our Talent raw facebeat will be strongest in the initial time and weaker as time goes by because basically everyone else will be shooting past us.

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The thing is you can mostly pursue this strategy and cultivate all you are missing is the Elders assignment. At some point we have to get stronger and fight, we aren't talented but we aren't nothing, we are mediocre for a noble. So if we have to make use of our strengths and smartly use what we have, not throw Hail Marys hoping to hit a jackpot.

The Elder Assignment is a Hail Mary. We know nothing about it except that it takes 4 weeks, involves Spirit Arts testing, and gives 30 Sect points. There's no guarantee we befriend the Elder, no guarantee he makes some new Spirit Art and teaches it to us. The only reward we're sure of is 30 points.

If we do this medicine is going to be limited in effectiveness for the next 4 weeks, as one of our actions will be taken up with this testing and we will lose out on bonus dice from the medicine.

Defense Cult and StoneSkin more than doubles our defense rolls. If we get up to muscle Cultivation we get a huge increase to Attack because of our high natural strength. We can fight and do well if we utilize our medicine right now and win favor that way.

 

[veekie]

The thing is you can mostly pursue this strategy and cultivate all you are missing is the Elders assignment. At some point we have to get stronger and fight, we aren't talented but we aren't nothing, we are mediocre for a noble. So if we have to make use of our strengths and smartly use what we have, not throw Hail Marys hoping to hit a jackpot.

The Elder Assignment is a Hail Mary. We know nothing about it except that it takes 4 weeks, involves Spirit Arts testing, and gives 30 Sect points. There's no guarantee we befriend the Elder, no guarantee he makes some new Spirit Art and teaches it to us. The only reward we're sure of is 30 points.

If we do this medicine is going to be limited in effectiveness for the next 4 weeks, as one of our actions will be taken up with this testing and we will lose out on bonus dice from the medicine.

Defense Cult and StoneSkin more than doubles our defense rolls. If we get up to muscle Cultivation we get a huge increase to Attack because of our high natural strength. We can fight and do well if we utilize our medicine right now and win favor that way.

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But getting to know an Elder and potentially earn his respect is quite worthwhile? Its not automatic, but its an opportunity. All the sect missions are actually opportunities, which you can see our fellows don't recognize and consider drudgery.
The points alone make the action quite good, but getting to know an elder is huge as a total newbie!

Also anyone who realizes it would snap up the job. It's unlikely to be offered again.

 

[Sickul]

The points alone make the action quite good, but getting to know an elder is huge as a total newbie!

Also anyone who realizes it would snap up the job. It's unlikely to be offered again.

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Or the Elder treats us like a test subject, hardly talks to us and we get nothing from him but the 30 points. It's possible it's just what's stated on the tin.

I don't dislike taking a mission that puts us in contact with an Elder in general. But the downsides are so huge here and the benefits so nebulous. The path of rising in the ranks has clear benefits, seems foolish to throw it away so early to meet with an Elder we know nothing about.

 

[Nevill]

Edited my vote in favor of the Elder assignment.

It pursues the same strategy we chose with Elder Li, using the one thing that isn't subject to Talent - our mind - to make an impression. If we prove ourselves a halfway competent assistant with a studious streak in him, that could be our distinction from the rest of the year.

I'd probably go for it even if it paid less.

 

[veekie]

Or the Elder treats us like a test subject, hardly talks to us and we get nothing from him but the 30 points. It's possible it's just what's stated on the tin.

I don't dislike taking a mission that puts us in contact with an Elder in general. But the downsides are so huge here and the benefits so nebulous. The path of rising in the ranks has clear benefits, seems foolish to throw it away so early to meet with an Elder we know nothing about.

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If it does we still have enough points to last a month of Heaven Flower without more jobs. Its a CHANCE, but:

It pursues the same strategy we chose with Elder Li, using the one thing that isn't subject to Talent - our mind - to make an impression. If we prove ourselves a halfway competent assistant with a studious streak in him, that could be our distinction from the rest of the year.

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This, basically. Noble children with humility, courtesy and diligence in one package are pretty rare, and since we monofocused Ghost Eyes for a while we have an advantage in that we can learn a bigger spectrum even with our lower talent.

 

[Valder]

[X] [Minor Action] Check up on Suyin. You didn't get a chance to talk to her at the sect so far, and you're also curious to see who she's rooming with.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xu Kuo. You could be on better terms, and it also might be a good idea to give him some tips on etiquette.
[X] [Minor Action] Meet Zhao Jinhai. The Honored Elder did say to be respectful toward him, and it might be a good idea to be on good terms with a member of his family's allied clan

I could be persuaded to drop Suyin. Sickul is correct though that we have 2 weeks grace to shore up our cultivation before challenges start. I'd rather use up the Celestial Lavender than allow it to be stolen from us because we lacked the skills to defend ourselves.

[X] [Major Action] Physical Cultivation x3
[X] [Medicine] Use Celestial Lavender

Too busy to run the math. Will edit it in in a bit.

With then Celestial Lavender, each cultivation action gives Ann expected 24 success return. 2 Physical cultivation actions provide a good chance of doubling our defense dice. Stone Skin is worth finishing off, but I feel like that can wait for later when.

 

[Bozwevial]

[X] [Minor Action] Meet Zhao Jinhai. The Honored Elder did say to be respectful toward him, and it might be a good idea to be on good terms with a member of his family's allied clan.
[X] [Minor Action] Meet the princess. It wouldn't hurt to formally greet the princess and get to know her. She's unlikely to be that important as princesses go and is probably far down the line of succession since you've never heard of her, but she is still a member of the royal family.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xu Kuo. You could be on better terms, and it also might be a good idea to give him some tips on etiquette.
[X] [Major Action] Work on a sect assignment
-[X] Research Assistant – Elder Wu is developing new spirit arts and has requested an assistant over the course of four weeks. Upon completion, the student will be awarded 30 sect points.
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Qi Transfusion (10/45 successes)
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (55/60 successes)
[X] [Medicine] Use Heaven Flower Elixir

 

[Crustle]

[X] [Minor Action] Check up on Suyin. You didn't get a chance to talk to her at the sect so far, and you're also curious to see who she's rooming with.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xu Kuo. You could be on better terms, and it also might be a good idea to give him some tips on etiquette.
[X] [Minor Action] Meet Zhao Jinhai. The Honored Elder did say to be respectful toward him, and it might be a good idea to be on good terms with a member of his family's allied clan

[X] [Major Action] Physical Cultivation x3
[X] [Medicine] Use Celestial Lavender

 

[wingstrike96]

[X] [Minor Action] Meet Zhao Jinhai. The Honored Elder did say to be respectful toward him, and it might be a good idea to be on good terms with a member of his family's allied clan.
[X] [Minor Action] Meet the princess. It wouldn't hurt to formally greet the princess and get to know her. She's unlikely to be that important as princesses go and is probably far down the line of succession since you've never heard of her, but she is still a member of the royal family.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xu Kuo. You could be on better terms, and it also might be a good idea to give him some tips on etiquette.
[X] [Major Action] Work on a sect assignment
-[X] Research Assistant – Elder Wu is developing new spirit arts and has requested an assistant over the course of four weeks. Upon completion, the student will be awarded 30 sect points.
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Qi Transfusion (10/45 successes)
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (55/60 successes)
[X] [Medicine] Use Heaven Flower Elixir

If we play the power game we'd just lose slowly due to Talent.
Try another angle

 

[Crustle]

We've average cultivation talent, right? I'm assuming there a lot of other average cultivation talents out there as well?

 

[Timewinders]

We've average cultivation talent, right? I'm assuming there a lot of other average cultivation talents out there as well?

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The average noble has a cultivation talent of 4 or 5, and most of the commoners at the sect have a talent of 4. There are a handful of 6s and a couple of 7s. So Shaohuo's talent of 4 makes him about average, a little below average for a noble. None of the commoners have a talent of below 4 since they were recruited, but there are some nobles with a talent of 3.

 

[Nicklance]

[X] [Minor Action] Meet Zhao Jinhai. The Honored Elder did say to be respectful toward him, and it might be a good idea to be on good terms with a member of his family's allied clan.
[X] [Minor Action] Meet the princess. It wouldn't hurt to formally greet the princess and get to know her. She's unlikely to be that important as princesses go and is probably far down the line of succession since you've never heard of her, but she is still a member of the royal family.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xu Kuo. You could be on better terms, and it also might be a good idea to give him some tips on etiquette.
[X] [Major Action] Work on a sect assignment
-[X] Research Assistant – Elder Wu is developing new spirit arts and has requested an assistant over the course of four weeks. Upon completion, the student will be awarded 30 sect points.
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Qi Transfusion (10/45 successes)
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (55/60 successes)
[X] [Medicine] Use Heaven Flower Elixir

 

[Valder]

I can't wrap my head around people being willing to throw away 50 dice from the Celestial Lavender. Is this just not understanding the mechanics here?

Losing 10 from the Heaven Flower Elixir is understandable at least.

 

[Crustle]

I can't wrap my head around people being willing to throw away 50 dice from the Celestial Lavender. Is this just not understanding the mechanics here?

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Yeah, actually. I'm a little lost on the mechanics here.

 

[Nevill]

There are 3 votes for using the Celestial Lavender, including yours. All containing three physical/arts cultivation actions.

What do you call 'not understanding the mechanics', and on whose part?

 

[Crustle]

There are 3 votes for using the Celestial Lavender, including yours. All containing three physical/arts cultivation actions.

What do you call 'not understanding the mechanics', and on whose part?

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Ok, so if we use the Celestial Lavender, does are 50 auto-successes carry over to the next rank of whatever we're training in, or is it lost?

 

[Nevill]

Okay, first things first - it does not grant auto-successes. Just extra dice, of which we get approximately a third as successes:

Celestial Lavender obtained, enough to make one dose of Celestial Lavender Tea. Provides fifty additional dice to all cultivation rolls over the course of a week.

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Second - yes, extra successes do carry over, as was the case with every art we trained so far. For example:

Ghost Eyes Level 1 * 5 + Talent 4 *5 + Heaven Flower Elixir 10 = 35d10 = 3, 4, 9,7, 9,1, 2,10, 8, 1, 7,4,5,3,4,2, 5,5, 5, 6, 6,7,9, 5, 10, 9, 4, 2, 1, 2, 5, 2, 7, 5, 8. Number of successes: 10.
Progress 400/400. Ghost Eyes Orange Reached.
Progress 4/800 to next level.

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The 4 extras were carried over.

I assume we might encounter a situation where an art can not be explored further, in which case the extras will likely be carried over to some generic cultivation stat. But we shouldn't hit any kind of ceiling for a while, since we are currently at the bottom of the art tree.


Valder likely refers to the use of medicine in conjunction with an Elder action (which would waste from 10 to 50 dice worth of cultivation depending on a drug), but I don't think anyone votes for those two options simultaneously.

 

[ChildishChimera]

[X] [Minor Action] Meet the princess. It wouldn't hurt to formally greet the princess and get to know her. She's unlikely to be that important as princesses go and is probably far down the line of succession since you've never heard of her, but she is still a member of the royal family.
[X] [Minor Action] Spend time with Xu Kuo. You could be on better terms, and it also might be a good idea to give him some tips on etiquette.
[X] [Minor Action] Meet Zhao Jinhai. The Honored Elder did say to be respectful toward him, and it might be a good idea to be on good terms with a member of his family's allied clan.

[X] [Major Action] Spear Mastery
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Qi Transfusion (10/45 successes)
[X] [Major Action] Cultivate Stone Skin – a red-level earth element art that increases defense (55/60 successes)
[X] [Medicine] Don't use anything

 

[veekie]

Valder likely refers to the use of medicine in conjunction with an Elder action (which would waste from 10 to 50 dice worth of cultivation depending on a drug), but I don't think anyone votes for those two options simultaneously.

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Correct. We're using Heaven Flower, which is FAR more common, since it's not so huge a waste and the Elder action pays for the drugs anyway, to get the relatively minor boost.

The Lavender really only should ever be used on a full cultivation week.

 

[Umi-san]

@veekie Agreed on the cultivation lavender, though... @Timewinders Will it lose its potency?
We should send the elder a letter next week maybe.
And we should do the military training stuff at some point, because we're going to be fighting soon and that's sensible.
And while the spirit herb cultivation & office assistant jobs are unimpressive, the skills they offer are seriously useful later. Knowing how to cultivate herbs might allow us to do that to help enhance cultivation later (or perform alchemy?). Becoming familiar with bureaucracy will help with ruling, later, and more immediately with dealing with imperial departments and leveraging sect staff connections.

 

[veekie]

@veekie Agreed on the cultivation lavender, though... @Timewinders Will it lose its potency?
We should send the elder a letter next week maybe.
And we should do the military training stuff at some point, because we're going to be fighting soon and that's sensible.
And while the spirit herb cultivation & office assistant jobs are unimpressive, the skills they offer are seriously useful later. Knowing how to cultivate herbs might allow us to do that to help enhance cultivation later (or perform alchemy?). Becoming familiar with bureaucracy will help with ruling, later, and more immediately with dealing with imperial departments and leveraging sect staff connections.

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Hence why the other Noble at the job board is missing the point. He thinks these are menial busywork used to save a bit of money, but anyone who's actually RUN anything would know that you actually LOSE money when you leave such work to be done by whichever student has the time, because they do it poorly and unreliably. These are ways to reward the students for seeking out learning and expanding their skills.

 

[Timewinders]

@veekie Agreed on the cultivation lavender, though... @Timewinders Will it lose its potency?
We should send the elder a letter next week maybe.
And we should do the military training stuff at some point, because we're going to be fighting soon and that's sensible.
And while the spirit herb cultivation & office assistant jobs are unimpressive, the skills they offer are seriously useful later. Knowing how to cultivate herbs might allow us to do that to help enhance cultivation later (or perform alchemy?). Becoming familiar with bureaucracy will help with ruling, later, and more immediately with dealing with imperial departments and leveraging sect staff connections.

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Google tells me dried flowers stored in glass jars can last for a couple of years, so they shouldn't lose potency any time soon.

 

[Umi-san]

Google tells me dried flowers stored in glass jars can last for a couple of years, so they shouldn't lose potency any time soon.

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I'm uncertain as to what you mean by "dried flowers," simply the appearance?
You might better compare the potency of the lavender flowers to tea.
But considering that tea can last at least a year, bottled, to my knowledge, I suppose it truly doesn't matter in the short time range we're discussing.

 

[Timewinders]

I'm uncertain as to what you mean by "dried flowers," simply the appearance?
You might better compare the potency of the lavender flowers to tea.
But considering that tea can last at least a year, bottled, to my knowledge, I suppose it truly doesn't matter in the short time range we're discussing.

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As long as it's not decomposing whatever chemical is in it that causes the medicinal effect is not going to go away. I mean, it's a fictional chemical compound that I haven't even given a name or thought much about really. Even if the flower gets stale and produces a tea that doesn't really taste good, whether it's still potent or not probably depends on the particular active ingredient and its chemical structure. Spices last for a couple of years, teas last for a couple of years, and most medications last well beyond their expiration date since they're not necessarily "edible" to microorganisms and are usually kept dry. I mean you get stuff like this where drugs are still effective years afterward and many are still potent after decades. So I'm just ruling that as long as the flowers are intact then the drug works.

 

[Sickul]

If we play the power game we'd just lose slowly due to Talent.
Try another angle

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We can't just cultivate and expect to win long term, I agree. But we have herbs we took a risk to get, we can use those to catapult us farther than our talent could alone.

The Elder option would be palatable if it was for 1 week, it's for 4. If we go with the suggested plan of using the points from the reward to buy more Heaven's Elixer than we are still not getting much because we are using our current Elixers suboptimally. 3 weeks of doing the Elder assignment and using the Elixer and we are throwing away 1 while Elixer.

If we instead learn Stoneskin, Firebolt and physical cultivation we are set up to do well in fights and most of the way there to being able to do the difficult sect mission for 20 points a week.

I would be 100 percent ready to go that path and get some great tutoring while trying to form an attachment with an Elder of our choice that way. It's less reliant on chance and gives us a strong foundation.