Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus Pt. 14- No Hands, No Problem-

Magnus was in pain. A bright, purple, endless pain that can from the memory of his hand and the poison tormented his hands in their last moments. Even months after trading them to kill a Core Formation Expert, he still felt an ache where they should be. Its a good thing that Qi can be used to do simple things like pouring wine and picking up a cup. Otherwise, he could not drink his Stardust Memory Wine in honor of his hands. He only stopped drinking long enough in the first month to send a barrel to Manuel, he probably needs it to deal with the loss of most of the council, and also a barrel of Fire Wine for the headache of replacing them.

Magnus had the option of looking for this pill forging master to make a regeneration pill to regrow his arms, but he decided to improve over restore. He scoured the old techniques from the clan's library. These ancient scrolls held knowledge from before the clan fell from its great heights. Here, Magnus found the Hecatoncheires Hundred Hands Production and Usage Skill Scroll. Named after the fabled giants who had a hundred hands and guarded the deepest parts of the underworld. This Skill showed the the reader how to make specialized puppet arms that will be connected to the user giving them a hundred different arms and weapons to fight with. It was separated into the 4 stage, one for each great realm from Heaven Stage to Nascent Soul. The truly unpopular part of the skill was that the user was required to replace his own arms with puppet arms. Luckily, Magnus already lost his arms, so this fit him perfectly.

Magnus quickly scanned the first stage called Gegenees. Magnus read that the limits of Heaven stage only allows his to use 6 arms to start with. The main replacement arms need to contain a spacial treasure to hold the hundred arms when not in use. Magnus designed arms based on his work with puppets and had them made out of special metals to allow his metal Qi to better control them.

Magnus, true to form, had his main arms made as atomically correct as possible. The Bones were made from Corrosive Copper, the muscles were Gilding Gold, and the skin Mystic Bronze. Corrosive Copper is special metal that poisons other metals causing by stealing their qi energy and growing stronger. The tips of the fingers have some of this copper peaking through so finger stabs can weaken weapons it hits. Gilding Gold is one of the few metals resistant to the Copper. The gold is also very flexible and can handle great tension like nature muscles making it the perfect material to connect to the Copper bones. Lastly, Mystic Bronze is a warm bronze the glows with its own inner light. It can mimic the feeling of human skin, while still being reasonable strong.

The other four arms were made of various Spirit beast parts. The first 2 arms had whips in the arms made from the tongues of Thunder Toads Magnus hunted in the desert with the help of Amaranth and 2 juniors. The Arms contained the thunder energy of tribulations, allowing them to shock someone's Dao stunning them longer than normal lightning. The other 2 arms were made hollow out of Armored Razor-Back Alligator Skin. They are extra tough, equipped with built in shields, and hanging off his shoulders.

Magnus had his arms back and all he needed to do is train himself in their use. Maybe it was time to finally visit a Secret realm, he had heard some stories from the other Thirteen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@Kaboomatic @Alectai @BungieONI This is a short one for Magnus to heal his crippling. Is the Spreadsheet for 6 turn up yet? Also, its time for him to visit a secret realm at last. When I have time to write more, the long waited Restaurant will finally be here, maybe

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus Pt. 15- It's Finally Done, but There is Still Work to be Done

It took far longer than it should, but it was finally done. Magnus had yet again branched out to another business, and build a restaurant/inn/tea house on a decently large piece of land. His brother was at the grand opening and teasing him about being adopted from a merchant clan. Magnus responded that they were twins and if he was adopted then so was his brother. That shut his brother up.

Magnus looked that the 10 story building that was an investment of most of his money. The first basement floor was his personal wine brewing room and the floor beneath that was his storage room. The ground floor was set up as a reception for all the businesses in the building. The second and third floors were set up as an upscale tea house with fine decorations and many windows for a wonderful view. The next five floors were rooms for guests. Each standard guest area would have their own room, bathroom, living room, and meditation room. The top 2 floors and roof, had the new restaurant Dark Gold.

He had invited a few spirit chef journeymen to work at his restaurant. They were his follow apprentices and had trained together before Magnus left to learn wine brewing. They had stayed with it and now made such delicacies like Thunder Lion Head Meatball Stew and Flying Pig Pork Buns. One of them, Mei, had gained some inspiration from Magnus and branched out to tea brewing. She had great talent for it, and it was because of her, Magnus had changed his idea of making a bar to a tea house. It took him an extra year to wait for the Feng Shui master to adjust everything to the new design.

Magnus was not happy with just one building and business, he was preparing to build 13 more buildings. One to represent each of the members of the thirteen and one building to serve as sales and an auction house. His second Building had already begun construction. It will be his poison tower. Magnus will practice his most dangerous work here and possible teach students one day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I finally truly understand all the author complaints about writers block

@occipitallobe @Alectai @BungieONI so short this time, but I just want to have this out before the next turn

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus pt. 16- A few years of Rampage-

'This is what happens when you attached a treasure to your nervous system made from an ancient technique unused for millennium.' Magnus thought to himself as he lay in bed. The injuries from the Spider-Body Cultivator aching.

After making the first 2 arms, Magnus in his rush to have arms again, attached them without proper testing and the new puppet spirit immediately took control of his body. The first thing they did was finish the other arms Magnus had been preparing to make and use them to run off with Magnus' body killing anyone in the way.

Magnus lost all control of his body, but he still could see and feel everything. He watched unpassionately as his new arms tore through treasures, cultivators, and spirit beasts alike. Watching every move, every swing, every block, and every cut. He observed how his arms were great at weakening and breaking metal swords with few lasting more than 5 blows. Only weapons made from animal parts like leather or weapons made from beast bones could stop his arms. Spirit Beast as well seemed to take less damage from his main arms. Magnus noted how his metal puppet arms did worse against those materials than normal metal weapons. His Lightning Tongue Whip arms did great damage against the beasts and humans, but they failed to do serious damage to any weapons or armor. The arms holding the whips were also too easily damaged. Only the shoulder shield arms worked with no obvious problems.

Magnus spent the next 6 years like this, analyzing how his arms worked, the locations of various beast that his body came across, and planning how to torture the puppet soul that took his body for a joyride. He kept his mind busy for all 6 years before the puppet soul ran into the Spider-Body Cultivator.

The Spider-Body Cultivator wielded a weapon in each of his six arms and kept the puppet arms at bay. The cultivators higher level of experience allowed him to out fight and slowly accumulate damage on Magnus's body. Eventually, the puppet soul was forced to retreat into the arms and Magnus was freed. Magnus was too disoriented to dodge the last blow from the Spider-Body Cultivator, but survived with just moderate injured before using his escape talisman to get away.

Magnus was stuck at his inn doing minimal work until he healed up, but he did isolate the puppet soul into the right hand of his main arm. He looked at the soul squirm in his palm as his poisonous Qi slowly entered the soul again.

Loud, inhuman screams were hear from his room for the rest of the day. Business coincidently was also slow that day.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@TehChron @BungieONI @Alectai @Kaboomatic @ReaderOfFate another done, Magnus's mind is growing more sociopathic so not sure if that is good or bad for this place

next time, some base building, and new wines

[X] Manuel Lectures Juniors

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius​

Magnus Pt. 17 Getting ready for another War

Magnus sighed to himself as he rebuild his combat puppets. He was still injured from the last war and now a new war against the Blood Cannibals was set to go off as soon as the truce ended. To top it all off, he had barely finished wrestling control of his body back from an infant puppet soul. Magnus's body and soul were still damaged and needed many more years of recovery. He needed was an advantage, something to push him ahead of his enemies what the fighting began. Magnus decided to head for the Qiguai Secret Realm. This was a trip Magnus had put off for decades. There was always another line of research to pursue or a battle to fight. He didn't have a chance to do and test his luck like the others of his generation. He didn't expect heavens breaking luck like what Rina had, but he hoped to find the last push he needed to safely cross the tribulation and enter FB.

Magnus moved to the window and looked over his base. The Dark Gold Restaurant was doing good business as many cultivators wanted to get a few last good meals before they went off to fight. The tea and wine shops were also doing well and many wanted to treat themselves. Magnus also treated himself, he took the money his base had made while he was "detained" to build a new building for his base.

He got the foundations of a grand Pill Forge Complex started. It would have one central furnace able to make high grade Foundation Establishment Pills. That would connect to 6 lesser furnaces, that were still at Early Foundation level, in a Hexagon formation, with ever expanding rings of lesser furnaces all the way to apprentice level. The Complex would for a large hexagon building with an array set into the base to suppress explosions and strengthen the walls. It would still take years for the building to finish, and Magnus promised himself he would survive to see the base be finished.

Magnus sighed to himself again, and left his home to head for he sect. He need to report in and get his assignment. If he was lucky, the Confusing Illusion Talisman he has his eye one would still be there. It should confuse any beast trying to eat him in the secret realm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@Kaboomatic @TehChron @Mochinator I had this up to about here for the last 2 weeks, but with deadlines looming I just put this out.

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius​

Magnus Pt. 18 Breaking Under Pressure

Siege Year 1

Magnus had reached a level of calm only available to a person so angry, they had gone full circle to full calm again. He was so close to finally breaking through to the Foundation Establishment. His brother had chosen to go into the 11th Heaven Stage, but Magnus knew his talent was not as great as his brother and had to breakthrough now before his lifespan ran out. He had been training for almost 200 years going through great up and downs, from killing a Core Realm cultivator or losing years because of a puppet spirit. He was sure he was ready, and even had a Tribulation treasure he found decades ago ready for this very moment. So how had it gone so wrong?

Magnus had been assigned to Three Frog City. It was a small city, just far enough off the main trade roads to be unimportant, but close enough to need protection. He was allowed to be stationed here to breakthrough in relative peace and safety. Yet, that is not what happened.

Magnus looked at the swarm of Blood Cannibals outside the walls of the city. "Seriously, just now bad can my luck be?" Magnus asked the Heavens. "I know our clan is hated by the heavens, but how is my personal luck so much worse? I mean, why else would a Core Realm show up to kill us during the Hundred Years Trial, or losing my arms to kill them, or losing years of my life under the control of a stupid puppet soul. Now I have to deal with a Heaven's Damned Blood Cannibal Siege, while I'm still recovering. Damn! The! Heavens! I know this is your fault. Just you wait, I'm going to become greater than that fool of the chef who ruined this sea and then I'm going to rip the blasted Heavens to tiny, broken, dust!!"

Magnus continued to grumble and curse as his puppets dug new traps under the invading army. All the stores of explosives and fuel for this fire puppets had been moved to strategic locations to cause as much confusion as possible when the battle starts.

"I'm going to need weeks to make more fuel for my horse puppet to be a decent threat at range." Magnus continued to grumble as the near by guards ignored him.

Siege Year 3

"WAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Magnus screamed like madman. His puppet horse and last surviving puppet, was crushed under him.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Magnus lost himself to the bloodlust as his six arms literally ripped his enemies into pieces.

Siege Year 7

The Cannibals had been attacking the city in endlessly. There had been a few breaches here and there, but the defenders had been able to beat them back. The problem was the Cannibals didn't seem to have an end to their numbers. Magnus's Puppets were long gone, but they killed dozens and the poisons they fought with killed dozens more, but there were always more. More to take the place of the dead, more tear away another break in the walls, more to drag the defenders down with seer numbers. Magnus attacked again and again, but he couldn't make a dent in the numbers.

Siege Day 10

Magnus had moved off the frontlines after running out of stored poisons, bur rather them making more poisons to get back into the fight. He was asked to use his pill forging skills to make healing pills. The city was such expected to be a low priority for attack that many of its war supplies were delayed so the expected major battlefronts could get their supplies first. Fires burned nonstop in the Pill Halls of the city as anyone who could make anything useful had been call in to restore the city's war supplies.

Siege Last Day

"Zzzzzz" Magnus snored dead to the world. With the end of the siege, he could finally relax and he knocked out almost as soon as he did. He was so deep into sleep, he didn't hear the tribulation clouds thundering as they started to form above his head. Magnus dreamed about his first pillar for his Dao of Poison.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I kind of got my muse back, can you guys mark it @BungieONI @Kaboomatic @TehChron

@occipitallobe what would help my guy breakthrough at this point? would another Tribulation Treasure be good, or should I just go with a Cultivation boost? I don't want another LST since he should still have 2

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus Pt. 19 - And Then There was Peace?

---Day Before the Last Day of the Siege---

The assaulting army was once again trying to break through the large, spirit steel reinforced gates. The Blood Cannibals had somehow created a large crystalized blood battering ram and it was putting a very large dent in the doors. The warriors used their Qi to power the monstrous weapon while purple clouds of smoke ended up concealing them rather than killing them. The worst of them only had mild coughs.

Magnus had run out of most materials to make more poisons months ago, not that it had mattered much. The Blood Cannibal Cultivators had begun building up resistances to all the simple poisons he could make with his now limited supplies. All of the stronger ingredients had been reserved for healing pills and Magnus's own supplies had dwindled enormously since the start of the siege.

He added this experience of weakening poisons as power of adaptation in biological creatures to outside stimuli. Using this as another stone in his slowly forming Dao pillar.

His puppet arms fired the last few "normal" poisons into the crowds with little effect. Magnus signed in disappointment for a moment before a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes. "Well, I guess it's time to use the last of the fire whiskey. Too bad, I was hoping to drink it later." Magnus grumbled, before taking a glass bottle and throwing it over the edge.

*BOOOM*

The smashed glass container released the whiskey which then self ignited. The poison, after losing its killing potential, was mixed with an black powder that released its energy explosively. The area in front of the gate became a raging storm of death and fire.

Magnus watched this with a small smile on his face and a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes.

Magnus himself had yet to realize how adapted to war he had become.

-----------------------------------------

Super short, but I wanted add a little to Magnus's newfound love of killing things.

@TehChron @Kaboomatic @BungieONI

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius​

Magnus Pt. 20- Breakthrough, and Aftermath
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus was sitting in the courtyard he was given in the Three Frog City. He felt it in his non existent arms, the tribulation was coming. Magnus sighed, he had thought of his moment many times over the years. His brother had broken through years ago and at a higher level of Heavenstage. Markus was a true genius unlike Magnus. At half the age Magnus was currently, Markus broke through to Foundation at the 11th Heavenstage. Not that Magnus could really complain, his brother's strength was partially Magnus's work. His first real original pill formula was made to save his brother from a serious poison. The pill forcefully sped up the body's adaption to poisons. Thanks to the how long Markus was poisoned and how strong it was, Markus got a huge boost to his cultivation and a good resistance to other poisons. The pain he went through allowed great gains. This cemented Magnus's belief that his first pillar must be Adaption.

Magnus sighed again as he continued to think of the rest of his family. His sister, Maxima, had reached 5th pillar and was a true battle junkie. She spent most of her time moving from battlefield to battlefield to temper her Dao of Battle. The bloody aura around her growing thicker and thicker with every pillar she formed. When Magnus was young, he could not understand her love of fighting or bloodlust. Now, after a trial and this siege, Magnus had gain his own bloody aura. After so many battle, he had begun to enjoy to madness of the fight. To lose himself in the motion, of action and reaction where the slightest hesitation means death. Truly, if one could survive, they could adapt to anything.

Magnus then delved into his own experiences. His first century, learning anything that caught his fancy, from poison, to pills, to puppets. He learned and grew, and then the trials happened. He became a member of a group of exceptional talents known as the Thirteen. Each member was a great talent in their own right with broken genius existences like Rina and Minervina. At first, Magnus was truly jealous of Minervina, a commoner who even started cultivation after him. Yet, she produced miracle after bloody slaughter. She turned her own body into a cauldron to brew a poison able to kill a Core Realm in 4 steps. Then after the war, her body changed and became stronger for it. Now all new poisons only make her stronger.

Magnus himself lost his hands delivering the poison to kill the Core cultivator and in doing so release a demon from his heart. He understood that even if he could not catch up to Minervina yet, he could be strong in his own way. So, instead of just healing himself back to the way he was, he looked for a new way to grow stronger. Using he puppet skills, he make new hands and arms using an old manual he found. After a few setbacks(getting possessed by his own hands), Magnus did grow stronger. A puppet spirit had grown out of his arms and Magnus understood a bit more about the will to survive.

The air was charged as the Tribulation lightning started building above his head. Magnus quickly pull out the Three-Pronged Lightning Rod and set it up next to him. This tribulation treasure could absorb some of the Tribulation's power and slowly release it later. This increased the duration of the tribulation, but greatly reduced the strength as well. Magnus had gotten this years ago thinking he would be safe at his fort, or in his family mansion, but the Heavens still hated the clan and things were never that simple.

BOOM

The first bolts gathered together and smashed into Magnus. The tribulation energy rushed through his veins and and straight into his Dantian. There in his inner sea of Qi, the lightning struck. At first, it seemed like nothing happened, but slowly a mound of goo seemed to be pushing itself up. If one looked closely enough, they would see trillions of bacteria forming together to make that mound.

Then the second bolt hit with even more power. The small mound lit up with energy as the goo quickly multiplied in size, and looking up close, one could see the cells connecting together.

Before Magnus could look more, the third bold hit and was partially absorbed by his treasure. This mound grew again forming what looked like a large pile of mold. Unlike before, the continuous release of tribulation energy from the treasure caused to the mold to grow at great speed slowly turning into a plant. A simple purple plant that grew slowly from the tribulation energy.

The next few bolt came in rapid succession. The fourth bolt caused Jellyfish to appear in the waters around the plant that appeared to be the core of Magnus's pillar. The Fifth bolt seemed to cause to jellyfish to squeeze their bodies into more compact shapes like worms and shellfish. Finally, the sixth bolt created various fish in the waters.

While this was happening, the treasure continued to siphon the power of the Tribulation in feed it into the plant that had become a towering tree. Then the next bolt struck the tree and many new creatures like insects began to fly up into the tree's branches.

The last few bolts created even more strange and bizarre creatures with the last of the power creating 3 words on the trunk of the tree. Dao of Evolution.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the end of the Tribulation, Magnus returned to the walls to fight again. With his new strength, he carved a bloody swath through the foolish Blood Cannibals who tried to stand in his way. Still there is only so much a single person can do, therefore, to get some time off from the walls, Magnus created his first new poison in some time, the Meat Qi Rot Poison. This poison was weak, compared to the realm leaping poisons he made before, but it was cheap and easy to make. Only needing corpses and a poison master's Qi, this poison could be made in any battlefield and could be considered a valuable resource. Thus earning a new Title of Corpse Poison King.

After getting a break, Magnus would enter his Dantian to look at his new pillar that was so different from anything he had heard of. It was a giant tree that bleed poison sap from the words Dao of Evolution and constantly growing and change shapes and colors. Surrounding it was flying, crawling and swimming creatures of all kinds, some poisonous others highly resistant to poisons. The only thing that they all had in common, was that they were constantly changing, growing, adapting, or dying. The Dao of Evolution can be summed up as Grow or Die.

-----------------------------------

Threadmark please 1.1k words, that is a lot for me, I want another cultivation boost

@Kaboomatic @TehChron @Alectai

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus Pt. 21 - Expanding Base, Extra Arms, and Stealth Mission

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus had been have a good decade, for the first time in a century. He had solidified his 1st Pillar after years of work and his business that had fallen by the wayside due to losing control to his new arms and the following war, had done well for itself. It had nearly been 80 years since the loss of his arms, and the grand opening of his Inn/Restaurant/tea house the Dark Gold. So far, it had developed a passable reputation as a decent inn, a good restaurant and an excellent tea house. The Tea Journeywoman Magnus hired decades ago, Mei, had become a Master on the edge of reaching Grandmaster. Thanks to her, the tea house was renovated to include areas for the 4 arts, Painting, Calligraphy, Music, and Go. Masters showed off their arts with students eagerly surrounding them. Now the Tea house alone had paid for the whole building 3 time over. Not that the Tea House was the only part that grew.

The Restaurant at the top of the Inn also gained a good reputation. The Head Chef, Soma, had also broken through to the Master level, but he only reached it a decade ago. It was thanks to the new higher quality materials Magnus could now bring in that Soma could breakthrough himself. Since the breakthrough was so resent, the word of his new skill had yet to spread. That also meant that the upgrades to the Kitchen were ongoing. Luckily, snacks and other food delivered to the Tea House help boost its income and reputation. The inn had also received some upgrades over the years, but its reputation was over shadowed by the much more successful businesses around it.

Even after all the upgrades and changes, Magnus had twice the money he started with before building the Dark Gold. It was time for Magnus to finally expand his base. His original idea to work with the other Thirteen to make a base together fell through as many of the others were either too busy recovering from the trials or had their own clan homes to use.

Magnus redesigned the base and build up a poison pill hall next. It was shaped like a 8 pointed star, with a central building and 8 hall coming out of it. Each hall was represented with Yin, Yang, Fire, Metal, Water, Earth, Wood, and Apprentice, while the Central Building was for Private Work Rooms and Magnus's personal work space. Each hall had their own Qi gathering formation to allow stronger pills and poisons to be formed for each element. The Central Building has the 5 Elements in Yin Yang Balance Formation put in. It mixed the bleed over form the 7 main halls and pure Qi from the Apprentice hall to make a stronger purer Qi for the Central Building to use.

The full construction of all the halls would take years, but the Central Building and more importantly, Magnus's personal workroom, was finished in a year. Magnus finally got a chance to start making more puppet arms for himself. After reaching FB level, Magnus could now control 18 arms. For ease of use, Magnus made his arms in sets of 4.

The first set he made, looked more like several bats with spikes coming out of them than arms. These are control arms that let him better control and direct his other extra arms. No matter how formidable a cultivator's mind is, it can't split itself a dozen different ways without a very specialized cultivation technique. To avoid over specializing, these control arms with bound puppets souls would help control the arms for the cultivator. These control arms used to maimed and mangled puppet soul that dared to use Magnus's body as its own puppet. And since this puppet had controlled Magnus for a time, it had much higher compatibility with Magnus than other puppet souls.

The next set was made for high levels of control and precision. They were almost useless in battle, but were excellent in the labs. Magnus had signed up for an infiltration mission to sabotage a spirit stone drill and with these new arms, he should be able to make even better poisons.

His final set of arms were designed for long range combat. During the siege at Three Frog City, Magnus realized that he really didn't have many long range options. Most of his ranged abilities depended on his throwing arm or were medium range at most. Thus, he build a pill launcher in the arms that would send his poisons huge distances into enemies. The small size of the pills and the pill's design to burst on contact meant that even if an enemy could spot and hit the pill, the poison would still spread. While these were not as useful on this mission, they could help him escape if things went wrong.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus knew this next decade would not be as nice as the first. He could not believe he was working for Minervina in his own private lab. They were going on the same mission to sabotage a Jingshen spirit stone mine's drill. And Being the only 2 poison masters on this mission, they would have to be the ones to actually sabotage the drill. Magnus personally was conflicted with working with her again after how it ended last time. On the one hand, he did manage to kill a Core Realm Expert, on the puppet hand, he did lose both his hands. Still, he did learn a bit as he watched her brew Memory-Hole Poisons, Forget-My-Name Poison, and Confusion Concoctions. Magnus spent most of his time making the Qi-Burning Poison they would be adding to the drill. And thus a few years pasted in the blink of an eye.

Magnus and Minervina had made it into the city by splitting up. A merchant caravan having 1 FB expert pill maker was possible if rare, but 2 was out of the question. Magnus with his long history of making pills was sent in with the caravan while Minervina snuck in on her own using many of her mind altering drugs to avoid detection. Magnus was able to easily walk through the front gate laughing interally at the thought of Minervina having to work so hard to sneak in. Later, Magnus, in his undercover disguise, actually heard tales of Memory-Thieving Spirit at the local tavern. It looked like Minverina was not the most skilled at stealth work and had to adjust the memories of almost a dozen people. It ended up scaring the townsfolk so much many of them stayed indoors at night, making it harder for Magnus to have an excuse to sneak around at night. Soon afterward, rumors of a ghost hissing " Baaaaaarrrrrrrrddda" would sweep through the town.

*Magnus POV*

'Damnit Barda, Did you have to scare half the town? The Guards are actually paying attention at night.' I thought to myself and I had to hide form the diligently patrolling guards. "Baaarrrrrrdddddddda...." I hiss in annoyance once again.

I carefully and so very slowly moved in the shadows towards the mine and the stored drill. The guards at the mine were no less vigilant, or at least they were on the surface. To the average observer, the guard appeared to be no different then normal, but to my trained eye it was obvious they were hit with a memory wipe. The guards had glazed looks in their eyes and were looking at nothing.

'Looks like Barda's work. She really need to learn a stealth technique that isn't terrible. It could save her a fortune on materials for mind altering poisons.' I thought please that I didn't waste money on this.

Still, it did make infiltrating much easier as I only had to follow the path of dazed and confused guards. I finally made it to the drill to see Barda finishing up with the second layer of poison for the drill. I was tasked with the final outer layer for the drill. I knew Barda was a stronger poison master than me, so if I added the outer layer, the Jingshen clan fools might see my work and not think there was more to it.

I nod to Barda as she move to the side to let me get to work. Taking out my new arms, I began adding my layer of poison to the drill. My new arms let me work several times fast than a normal person, and that is why I could see Barda leaving the foreman's office. As soon as I finished, I rushed into the office myself to see it searched with only 1 Core grade spirit stone left. I didn't know how many she took at the time for I was too happy with such a find. It was only after I got back that I found out she had taken the lion's share and made a huge jump in cultivation again.

"Baaarrrrrrdddddddda......"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@Katana1515 congrats your now my Dinkleburg, also I left a lot of conversation out, I'm bad at it, you can write it in

@Kaboomatic

I want a LST, I'm heading into the Secret realm too and I want to stock up before I go

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus Pt. 22 - 2nd Pillar, More Base Building, A new wine, and the 3rd Pillar

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus had been working with Minervina for some time on the Qi-Burning Poison. The fire element in this poison along with Minervina's own Pillar of the element of Fire had allowed Magnus to increase his insights by leaps and bounds. The poison itself used Qi as fuel to burn, and the Qi from a cultivator as the spark to ignite it. The poison would race through anyone foolish enough to use the tainted stones, burning the reserves of the cultivator until they were a mortal again. This would obviously kill anyone who had cultivated past a normal mortal's lifespan, but it would also linger in the body making any attempts at healing the victim a waste of Qi. This also made it difficult to remove the poison from anything as well. There are few techniques and processes at that do not use Qi, and the Jingshen Clan may be forces to build a new drill if they cannot find one in a short period of time. The biggest flaw with this poison, was that like fire, it burned bright and the poison itself was rather easy to spot. At most, Magnus and Minverina hoped to destroy the cultivation of maybe a dozen people if the Jingshen Clan were foolish enough not to check their drill carefully. Still, still the spiritual nature of this poison had opened Magnus's eyes to a new side of Poison he has never seen before. That, along with observing Minervina's mastery of the physical flames in her work, gave Magnus the push he needed to form his second Pillar.

The Pillar of Fire in Magnus' Dantian was a pure dancing flame tower. It took on the appearance of the fires Magnus was most familiar with. It was a mix of the bright bluish-white steady fire from when he made poisons and pill, the low reds of the fire boiling his alcohols, and the merry yellow-red of the camp fires at night during his travels. There pillar had a core of white flames that were almost too bright to look at. It was solid, steady and ever burning. The outer layer, was a calm and cool for fire deep red. It was almost lazy in how it barely flickered and stayed steady. Though occasionally, yellow flames would escape out. The middle layer was the happy yellow and dancing between the confines of the white core and the red shell. The yellow layer looked like fire spirits dancing from between the 2 extremes and sometimes mixing in and through. The Pillar was fire itself, from the controlled work of humans to the wild nature of it.

After Magnus had formed the Pillar, he promised himself that after the mission he would not let pride get the better of him and he would ask for her help again. But, before the mission ended, he could move a few things around the caravan he set up and force Minverina to sneak into the town on her own. He needed to get his fun in before his promise kicked in.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus POV - 1 month after the returning from the mission. (Did some rolls because I couldn't think of how many people I should have show up, slowed my writing my days)

'Well, making Minervina sneak in on her own backfired spectacularly. Not only did she find her way in, she raided the best stones and left me with scraps. There is no way I'm going to her for help. I would rather fumble in the dark alone that ask that witch. She had to have found at least 5 more stones, maybe more in that mine. If the rumors of her forming her 7th pillar is correct.'

I looked to his spacial bag holding the 1 Core level Spirit stone I had gotten from the mine. Thinking about the old saying about treasures turning into sins if your not strong enough to protect them. I started the construction of an Auction Hall/Treasure Hall next to my Poison Hall as soon as I got back from the mission.

I may have spent the last of my money on this Treasure/Auction Hall, but I could feel it in my bones. This would make all my money back and then some. With the Core Level Spirit stone as the center piece of my first Auction, I should be able to start a decent bidding war and improve the reputation of my brand. I had already gotten some RSVPs for auction...

Qi-D100 => 73
FB-D100 => 43

Core-D100 => 96​

Surprisingly, I received notice of several Core Formation Elders coming for the auction. Apparently, Core level Spirit stones are extremely rare right now thanks to all the effort of the clan to replace the lost Elders from the last Trials. The clan's reserves are low enough that even one stone on this level is attracting a lot of attention

>The Night Of the Auction<

I was sweating through my formal robes. Out of the 24 Early core Elder and the 6 Mid core Elders, somehow Ever Single Last ONE had shown up for this Auction.

D30 => 30 (I originally used the 17 from the front page and I rolled a 16, before I looked at the new spreadsheet, now I kind of wish I stuck to the 16)

It seems the shortage of stones was worse than I first knew. All the extra work the clan put into helping the Stork clan get set up in former Blood Cannibal territory really put a strain on the clan's finances. It wasn't even that the Core Formation Elders lacked the funds to buy the Core Level stones for themselves, but that no one was selling. Most would just use a stone at that level for themselves. Even FB experts like myself, or Minervina, would use them to jump cultivation levels. Then there was the fact that the Trials were coming soon, and everyone was scrambling to find any edge they could get.

I just happen to have gone against normal traditions of the desert and cultivated as a Poison Beast Core cultivator, make spirit stones far less useful to me.

Still, I now had 30 Elders who could each send me to the middle of a hellhole battle line or the middle of nowhere is I insulted them or spoke out of turn to them. The Early core Elders all had just entered the new level and who knows which ones had gotten a bit out of control with power.

D100 => 50

Thankfully, the more out of control personalities were corralled by the sheer numbers of Elders in attendance.

The Auction started somewhat subdued and no one wanted to act up with all the lower ranked Elders here. The Qi level artifacts were the most abundant, but really only went for a few dozen to maybe a hundred low-ranked spirit stones. I double my money on most of those as the Qi cultivators fought over the semi-rare items, but in the end the items weren't worth much. The FB artifacts were much fewer in number, but with similarly low numbers of FB cultivators here, I barely broke even. Then some of my personally made wines, including the new Icy Water Wi Wine I just finished came up. I had just finished this Wine by taking dozens of rare fruits that grew underwater in a frozen lake. It was both strong in water and yin energies. Both energies are known for improving a female cultivators appearance. The battle over the bottle was joined by all the female cultivators and some males hoping to buy a good gift, and blood was just barely not spilt this night.

(Last Roll for how much I made)

D100 => 100 (HAHAHAHAHA, I kid you not I didn't expect this, I rolled 3 more times to see if it was messing with me, and I all single digits)

Then came to highlight of this Auction, my High Tiered Spirit Stone, and yes even in my head it deserves capitalization. I thought I knew how rare this item was, I thought I knew how much the Elders wanted it, I thought the battle over the wine would be the most cutthroat, I was WRONG. The first bid jumped the bid to twice it's official price, not that anyone had ever bought one at that price. The lack of supply usually raised the prices greatly from the official 1000 FB level stones. The bids just got crazier from there.

I think I went into shock or something, because the next time I was lucid was when the announcer was calling for a winner. I only found out a little later that I had made back all the money from building the Poison Hall, Auction Hall, Treasure hall, Inn and Restaurant and made enough to build the next 2 building in my fortress. I think I fainted after that. All I knew was that I woke up in bed and that I had enough to buy a enough Poison Beast Cores to reach the next Pillar.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus's 3rd pillar was based on the element of Metal. What most of the clan think of when they think of Metals are the Bronze in the bodies and those in weapons and armor. For a poison master, toxic Metals are slow and dangerous poisons that can take years to affect a person. They can be used to poison the land without seriously affecting the plants so your victims wont know they were poisoned until too late. Magnus's Metal Pillar looked like a semi-solid tower of mercury. It would shift back and forth memorizing the looker, but occasionally shifting enough to show a solid core of an unknown metal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last part was short but I ran out of ideas for the pillar

@Katana1515 Magnus felt like burying the hatchet then the core thing happened, I figure it was the best way for the one sided rivalry to continue

@Kaboomatic @Alectai can one of you also add that Magnus wants to go for the 8th pillar, and that he is going for the Secret realm this time

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius
​

Magnus - Wine Menu - Price per cup/bottle - MQS=Mid Quality Spirit Stones - LQS = Low Quality Spirit Stones

Cultivation Boost-

Star Dust Memory Wine - Made with several rare grapes containing Qi from the stars, this wine invokes the feelings of the endlessness of life and death. The wine holds the energies from the birth to death of stars making the drinker feel both the hope and joy of life and the inevitability and emptiness of the end. Aged for 120 in special treasure. It gives a small boost in training speed as the drinker has felt the flow of the universe and has their mind opened, but this effect does wear off somewhat quickly. - 5MQS/25MQS

Fire Wine- The first wine Magnus made in his Elemental series, it uses nectar and juice form the Fire Flower Cactus to make a strong wine that lights itself on fire in open air. It give a boost to Fire Qi and resistance when drunk. - 20LQS/80LQS

Metal Wine - 2nd Elemental wine, this was made from various fruits containing metal Qi, specifically what is in bronze and blood. This wine boost not only metal Qi, but minorly helps the clan's bloodline, though so little that only those with almost no blood in then can feel it. - 20LQS/80LQS

Water Wine - 3rd Elemental Wine created by Magnus. It is a careful mix of Blue Riverweed, 7 Lakes Lotus flowers, Blue River Watermelons and Clear Water Cranberries. This wine has a great cleansing effect, able to help fight off infections and poisons in the body and provides a small stream of Water Qi for cultivation. - 20LQS/80LQS

Wood Wine - 4th in the Elemental wine series. This wine comes from 3 Hours Jade Life Bamboos. The Bamboo will shoot out of the ground and go through an entire life cycle in just 3 hours, but stops growing as soon as it leaves the ground. This wine takes the shoots from the first minute of growth, mixed with the flowers of the second hour, and mash of mature stalks from the third, to make a strong Wood Qi Wine. In addition to the boost in Wood Qi, this wine can also greatly accelerate a plants growth, with 1 bottle equaling about 5 years of growth. - 20LQS/80LQS

Earth Wine - Final wine in the Elemental Series. This wine combines Golden 2 eyed Potatoes, Granite Skin Carrots, and Seedless Stone Strawberries. This wine can fortify a body making it more resistant to physical damage and providing a good boost of Earthen Qi. - 20LQS/80LQS

Yin Wine - Wine flowing with Yin Qi. This rare and exquisite wine is made from various Yin attribute fruits and flowers like century old Icy Omphacite Lotus and Azure Moon Rose Petals. It is aged in barrels made from the wood of special 12 hour Palm trees that are grown over night and never see the light of day. This wine can also boost one's soul energy and physical beauty making a favorite of women. - 5MQS/20MQS

Yang Wine - Wine flowing with Yang Qi. This rare and exquisite wine is made from various Yang attribute fruits and flowers like century old Nephrite Lotus and Crimson Root Orchids. It is aged in barrels made from the wood of special 12 hour Palm trees that are grown over the day and never see the light of the moon. This wine can also boost the strength in one's muscles and longevity making it a popular item with men. - 5MQS/20MQS

Taiji Wine - A perfect balance of Yin and Yang Wine. This careful mixture is made by combining the Yin and Yang wines drop by simultaneous drop. The energies by be equal the entire time, or the mixture will be ruined. Too much Yang energy and it will violently explode, too much yin and your soul could be damaged. Due to this, only a few bottle are made each decade. The wine itself tasted like the universe, as even a sip will produce great epiphanies. - 10MQS/shot - 50MQS/Glass - 300/Bottle

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cant think of any adventures so I'm adding some wines since apparently Magnus is some kind of Alcohol making meme. I've been lazy in ready the discord and other posts and was told whenever someone need an alcohol of some kind Magnus made one in their stories.

@Kaboomatic @ReaderOfFate

Also, This turn Magnus is going to the Yuan Clan secret realm, so I'm picking up another LST