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History's Most Mediocre Cultivator (Xianxia Quest)

How should the remainder of the five months prior to joining the sect be handled?

  • Same as usual (i.e. 5 more updates similar to the last 2)

    Votes: 10 43.5%

  • Vote for a cultivation plan for all 5 months at once and then having a training montage

    Votes: 4 17.4%

  • Vote for a cultivation plan for all 5 months and then have updates with character events and RPing

    Votes: 15 65.2%

  • Continue as usual, but with shorter, more frequent updates until the five months are up

    Votes: 6 26.1%
  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .
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I think that we should develop our build with our absolutely trash cultivation in mind. Our diplomancy is good so we can use that for having allies and getting more resources, but we should think about Theft!

If we steal enough shit then we could bullrush our Eyes into Yellow and increase our cultivation roll number by a fair amount.
 
Rikimaru said:
I think that we should develop our build with our absolutely trash cultivation in mind. Our diplomancy is good so we can use that for having allies and getting more resources, but we should think about Theft!

If we steal enough shit then we could bullrush our Eyes into Yellow and increase our cultivation roll number by a fair amount.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Like what? Treasures? We haven't seen any yet, so that might not be thing in this setting. Other people's cultivation? Likewise, that might not be possible here.
 
Theft is a strategy used by a high growth low resource candidate against a low growth high resource candidate, because the perception/Stealth arms race is very much in favor of the fast grower.

We aren't going to be nearly state of the art on the stealth/perception game.
Our best play is probably Politician/Socialite/Protected Artisan IMO, since these are semiindependent of our weak talent.
 
Connections are everything. Sealing ourselves off in a cave to achieve peak application of our meager potential may be less advantageous than cultivating the ties to the better cultivators.
 
Okay those are excellent points. It's not like we would be able to maintain stealing from people for very long before their higher cultivation allowed them to overpower our sneak rolls passively.
 
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Chapter 3.6 – A Modest Entry into Sect Politics (Week 2, Part 2)
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    • Chapter 3.6 – A Modest Entry into Sect Politics (Week 2, Part 2)​

    The next evening, Shaohuo strode to their group's dinner table with brows furrowed by an unusually dark mood.

    "Hi, Shaohuo!" Xiaoli said as he drew close, turning away from her conversation with Yang Mi to face him.

    "Hello." He said, giving her a curt nod. He set his rice bowl down on the table, and sat down next to Suyin and Princess An, who greeted him as well and then returned to their conversation. From what little he overheard, they were discussing politics in the capital. Since Suyin was considering following her sister into administration, it made sense for Suyin to get An's advice on the matter, and in time perhaps even future political support.

    Xiaoli tilted her head and squinted at his face, which no doubt still held an unpleasant expression. "What's eating you?"

    "It's nothing important. Elder Wu's research is just more complicated than I expected." Shaohuo said. He began chewing his rice mechanically, chopsticks moving from bowl to mouth at a precisely even pace.

    "Um, does that have anything to do with your robes?" Suyin asked, glancing at his sleeve, which was now burnt black.

    He scowled. "Let's just say that Elder Wu's armor is a work in progress." It had been his favorite set of robes, too. He looked dashing in red. At least, that's what Mother said. He supposed he should consider himself lucky that the burn just left his skin pink and sore for a few seconds until his qi healed it rather than doing any lasting damage.

    "Do you mean the lightning-resistant armor?" An said, laying her tea cup down daintily, somehow making even such a simple movement look graceful. "I must admit that Elder Wu's research sounds fascinating, but could he not test it with a straw dummy or such rather than a student?"

    His lips curled into a wry smile. "That would be a good idea, but I don't think Elder Wu would agree. A dummy can't give feedback after all. He could wear the armor himself and have another elder test lightning arts on him, but I think he prefers this arrangement."

    "If you ask me, you should tell him to fuck off and find some other sucker to do it. You wouldn't see me put up with that." Xu Kuo said. He nodded, as though pleased at how tough he was. Sadly the only tough thing there was his thick skull.

    "No, but a more tactful approach tends to work better," Shaohuo said, shaking his head. He was tempted to mention how the blunt approach hadn't worked on Hou Lian, but he had only told Xiaoli about that and it wouldn't accomplish anything other than piss him off. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. There's only another two weeks left until the assignment is finished so I'll just put up with it until then. Hopefully Elder Wu's next project will be less explosive. But enough about me, what have you all been up to?"

    "I've been doing sword training!" Xiaoli said with a grin. "Ziyi says I'll be pretty good with it in a couple of weeks. Although, I should probably try to get a tutor or something eventually."

    Xiaoli stroked the sword hilt on her hip lovingly. As far as Shaohuo could tell, she never went anywhere without it. He was glad she liked his present so much, but he felt a little nervous seeing her with it sometimes. From how Yang Mi was eyeing Xiaoli's sword hand next to her as if ready to bolt at a moment's notice, she probably agreed. With Xiaoli's great fortune perhaps she would succeed in learning to refrain from waving the pointy end at things she didn't want to ruin.

    "You should do some sect assignments then, and get some points. How about you, Suyin?" Shaohuo said.

    "Oh, nothing interesting really, just cultivating on my own mostly." Suyin said, ducking her head.

    "But you also prepare breakfast for us before you leave in the mornings as well, don't you?" Yazhu said from her seat next to Xu Kuo, brows scrunched in apparent confusion. "I don't think anyone else has been leaving me omelette rice in the mornings, but since you leave before I wake up it could have been someone else. Was it you, Xu Kuo?" She said, turning to the boy next to her.

    "What? Are you trying to say I look like the kind of thug who'd break into a girl's house uninvited?!" Xu Kuo said, crossing his arms.

    "So it wasn't you?" Yazhu said, looking even more confused. She raised a hand to her chin as if thinking very deeply, her dress's loose sleeves dangling on the table.

    Yang Mi smiled, seemingly enjoying this comedy routine from her front-row seat between Xiaoli and Yazhu. "Heheh, well, probably not the breaking in part at least, right Yazhu?" but Yazhu looked as confused as ever. Xu Kuo's eyebrow twitched.

    "Ah, no, I was the one making the omelette rice." Suyin interjected hastily. "I was just practicing cooking, that's all. I never needed to when I was at home, but here it's not like we can just ask the chefs to make whatever we want."

    "You can do that, actually, I tracked down one of the cooks yesterday and got him to make me some sweets!" Xiaoli said, nodding as though sharing great wisdom. "You need to speak up, Suyin!"

    Shaohuo sighed and resisted the urge to rub his forehead and ease the headache rapidly developing there. He could already envision Xiaoli hounding a chef with repeated requests for food until he finally gave in and bought her silence with sweets.

    "Xiaoli, don't bother the cooks. You don't honestly expect them to spend time cooking special dishes for individuals after also cooking for the whole sect too, right?" Shaohuo said. Xiaoli looked unmoved. "Right?!" but Xiaoli looked back toward Suyin as though she hadn't heard him.

    Yang Mi giggled. "Aw, Suyin, you're just too cute. Look at you trying to be all modest and stuff."

    Suyin's face turned bright red. She looked down and fiddled with her chopsticks though nothing was left on her plate. "A-ah, please, don't tease me."

    "Humility is a virtue, but to succeed one must make their achievements widely known." Princess An said between sips of tea. "A difficult balance to be sure, but something to bear in mind for the future. I do admire your dedication however. I must renew my own cultivation efforts if I am to keep up with you."

    "U-urk." A strange sound came from Suyin and then she was very still. If not for her still blushing red cheeks, one might think she was catatonic.

    "Is she okay?" Yang Mi said, looking at Suyin with concern, and then back at Shaohuo.

    "Suyin has a hard time dealing with praise in high doses." Shaohuo said wryly. If anything that was an understatement. "Give her a little while and she should recover."

    "Ah, I see." Yang Mi said, looking over Suyin once more. "There, there." Yang Mi said, patting Suyin on the head with a matronly air.

    "Your friends are quite lively." Princess An said, a smile gracing her lips.

    Xu Kuo snorted. "More like, y'all are c-raaazy. The folks back home'll laugh their asses off once I tell them about this place." Shaohuo scowled at him. So rude, crude, and to a princess too! He would have to double, no, triple Xu Kuo's etiquette lessons from now on.

    "Rude! And it's not like you're not a cultivator too, Mister home invasion!" Xiaoli said, putting her hands on her hips. Well, Shaohuo wouldn't have put it quite that bluntly, but he nodded nonetheless. Xu Kuo scowled and looked like he was about to say something when he was interrupted.

    Princess An giggled and waved her hand. "We are among friends, are we not? I have noticed it takes a rather peculiar mindset to cultivate effectively, and there are some talented cultivators among our group. But what I meant to say earlier was, thank you for inviting me here, Shaohuo and Xiaoli. I think I might join you more often."

    "The honor is ours, believe me." Shaohuo said, smiling.

    "Yeah, what he said!" Xiaoli said, giving her a thumbs up.

    "Even so, I must apologize for any uncouth behavior you have seen, though I am glad it hasn't bothered you," Shaohuo said.

    "Hey, I'm not that bad!" Xiaoli said, waggling a finger at him.

    "I didn't even mention your name…" Shaohuo said, looking at Xiaoli closely. Did she do something while he wasn't paying attention?

    Princess An chuckled. "Yes, I do believe I was correct."
     
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    • Hi all. Sorry for the very long delay. I've been busy with real life stuff. Often I don't have the time to write and, perhaps more importantly, often I don't feel inspired. I wanted to get some writing done this winter break which I'm glad I was able to. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up the pace but I can't guarantee anything. I do appreciate any readers who do stick with me. Believe me, I also hate it when quests I read go unupdated for months/years/forever. This chapter is a bit short but this one scene got rather long and I wanted to post something so here it is. Next update will be the minor action with Hou Lian.
     
    One of the only pieces of xianxia I can enjoy! It's really hard to find a story in this type of setting where I don't wana either strangle the MC or dope slap the setting itself for bending backwards so the MC's right even if he really shouldn't. i just love this MC and that he's just average and doing his best for family and friends.
     
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    I didn't believe my eyes at first. Loved this quest to death; it has a great cast.

    Alas, I seem to have forgot most of the details besides the main characters. I remember Shao-Shao's childhood friends; the rude peasant he got for a roommate; Princess Song and Yang Mi, and even Wang Shen for how much of an ass he made out of himself, but I have no clue who the rest of the characters are. I only recalled who Yazhu was by looking at the rest of the group and recognizing it's a gathering of close friends and their roommates. And Zoidberg Song.

    Maybe we need a Dramatis Personae to keep track of our social connections.

    Anyway... I may not be the most invested in the cultivation part of the game, but I quite enjoyed the social one, and am pretty thrilled to have this back.
     
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    I already abandoned hope that this will be updates but seeing just makes me happy. It is the 3rd day of 2019 and i am already loving it.

    I have been following the quest, from the beginning. Back on the days were I was still a lurker. This quest is the one that motivated me to create SV and SB accounts.


    Also our Casanova is probably the env of the rest of the student cultivators. His table, got to be dubbed as the "Popular Kids Table", with the princess and Xiaoli there
     
    Nice to see this back from the grave!

    But seriously that Elder should compensate us better or he losses his best test dummy.
     
    Nevill said:
    Alas, I seem to have forgot most of the details besides the main characters. I remember Shao-Shao's childhood friends; the rude peasant he got for a roommate; Princess Song and Yang Mi, and even Wang Shen for how much of an ass he made out of himself, but I have no clue who the rest of the characters are. I only recalled who Yazhu was by looking at the rest of the group and recognizing it's a gathering of close friends and their roommates. And Zoidberg Song.

    Maybe we need a Dramatis Personae to keep track of our social connections.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Yeah, to be fair Yazhu was recently introduced and only had like two lines in the chapters prior to this one anyway. But yes, I think I'll make a post for Dramatis Personae for people to refer to. If anyone has images they think suit the characters' physical description then I'm willing to include those as well.
     
    Anyone else imagining Hundreds of Years in the future when Suyin is a high ranking cultivator and she still hasn't gotten over her problems with praise. Some villain compliments her on stopping his evil plot and she just completely breaks down.
     
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    Dramatis Personae - The Four Rivers Province
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    • Dramatis Personae - The Four Rivers Province
    ​
    The Four Rivers Province is small but rich and densely populated due to its agricultural fertility, temperate climate, navigable rivers, and its central location on the Empire's east coast far from barbarian lands. Its capital city is Xichang and it has been governed by the Li Clan since before the Sage Emperor created the Empire itself. It is bordered by the Plum Forest province to the north, the capital district of Shenjing to the south, and the Storm Mountain Province to the west.​


    The Li Clan, Governors of Four Rivers Province

    Our protagonist, currently 16 years old. He is a cultivator of mediocre talent and heir to a county in Four Rivers Province, currently governed by his father. His primary weapon is the spear. He enjoys socializing, playing board games, and reading books, both nonfiction and romance novels.
    Description: Short auburn hair, silver eyes, about 6' by the time he's 16

    One of Shaohuo's childhood friends, and daughter of the current heir to Four Rivers Province. She and Shaohuo are third cousins. Xiaoli is highly talented at cultivation, but has a carefree and mischievous personality. She resents the restrictions of her position and at times has difficulty sticking to proper etiquette, though she tries to act properly while adults are watching. She enjoys sweets and likes reading romance novels and action adventures. She is skilled with the use of knives but prefers swords. She likes using fire and shadow element arts.

    Description: Like all Li Clan members, Xiaoli's long hair is auburn in color and she has silver eyes. She is slightly tall for a girl at 5'8". Fiery red aura. Wears the gold and jade necklace bought by Shaohuo.

    The current governor of Four Rivers Province, he is Shaohuo and Xiaoli's great-great-grandfather. Born into the Li Clan before the ascent of the current emperor, he began his clan's feud with the Hou Clan after winning the love of a woman who the current Hou patriarch, Hou Jie, was interested in centuries ago. As a violet cultivator he has reached 828 years of age, outliving his wife, children, and grandchildren. He is highly dedicated to his clan above all else, but still a fair ruler. Neither scorned nor praised, his rule epitomizes the saying "no news is good news." However as with all of the highest tier of cultivators the moment of his passing cannot be predicted with certainty. He could rule for another hundred years or just thirty, and so he seeks to make sure another violet cultivator will be ready to take his place not too long after. He has taken a degree of interest in Shaohuo as well, and while he has not trained him personally he does exchange correspondence with Shaohuo fairly regularly and given him advice on his training.
    Description: He is a tall man with grey hair and silver eyes with a neatly-trimmed beard. Aside from his aura, he does not look 800+ years old.

    Shaohuo's father. A green cultivator, he governs a county in Four Rivers Province. He became good friends with Ma Wei during their military service together in Xiongnu. He met his wife soon afterward, when she nursed him to health not knowing at the time that he was from the Li clan. He hopes to tie his and Ma Wei's families together one day by encouraging Shaohuo to woo Ma Suyin.

    Shaohuo's mother. Born into a branch family of the Hou Clan, she married into the rival Li Clan after caring for Li Jun's wounds, not knowing his true name at the time. She enjoys playing the harp.


    Shaohuo's younger sister. She is currently 11 years old, and rather precocious for her age. She and Shaohuo are fairly close, and Shaohuo has promised to send her letters while at the sect. She enjoys reading and is friends with Ma Suyin's younger sister, Ma Shu.
    Description: 11 years old with auburn hair in pigtails. Silver eyes.

    Li Zihao: Xiaoli's father. He is the current heir to the Four Rivers Province but he is a blue cultivator and due to his current age, average talent, busy schedule, and lack of true passion for cultivation he is unlikely to reach violet by the end of his life. Like Elder Li Lee, he is working to prepare Xiaoli to inherit.

    Xiaoli's mother. She is very strict when it comes to Xiaoli's training and especially her etiquette.



    The Ma Clan of Four Rivers Province

    One of Shaohuo's childhood friends. She is smart, a hard worker, and fairly talented at cultivation. She is also very shy and has difficulty asserting herself. She gets embarrassed easily when praised. She has older siblings who will inherit her father's land. She hopes to obtain a noble title of her own by becoming a blue cultivator, but is also considering working for the Ministry of Justice like her older sister. She uses the ax in combat and like her father uses water and earth element arts. Her mother died of an eclamptic seizure following her little sister's birth.

    Description: brown hair, bangs in front of her eyes. Short at 5'1". Light blue aura.

    Ma Wei: Suyin's father. He is good friends with Shaohuo's father as they served together in the military and now both are governors of counties in the Four Rivers Province. He sports an impressive moustache and has a boisterous demeanor. He supports his friend's idea of encouraging Shaohuo and Suyin to get together.

    Ma Ju-Long: Suyin's older brother. He is Ma Wei's heir.

    Ma Biyu: Suyin's older sister. She works in the Ministry of Justice as an Imperial inspector. Suyin looks up to her.

    Ma Shu: Suyin's younger sister. She is friends with Shaohuo's sister Meiling.

    Others

    Chin: One of Shaohuo's childhood friends and the son of one of the bureacrats who works for Shaohuo's father. He plans to be a correspondent one day so that he can travel and meet women.

    Fang: One of Shaohuo's childhood friends and the son of the captain of Shaohuo's family's guards. He is joining the army like the rest of his family in the past, but is unsure about his path in life afterward. He loves cracking jokes.

    Daquan: One of Shaohuo's childhood friends and the son of Shaohuo's dad's accountant. He is training to follow in his father's footsteps as an accountant. He is fairly quiet much of the time, but quite talkative with his friends and has a good sense of humor.

    Wang Shen: Heir to a county near Shaohuo's. Infatuated with Suyin and is very persistent in pursuing her despite her clear disinterest. Holds a grudge against Shaohuo for intervening during one such incident.
     
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