Dmitry Kascheev
Good seed - Dmitry Kascheev. Born into the family of a talisman master. Continues the family business. Strives to achieve immortality. Doesn't like to take risks. 9th stage of qi. 100 years. The seed bonus is caution, it always has a bunch of talismans for all occasions of its own and family production, allowing you to get out of trouble.
Just a good artisan. Sorry, not native English, I use google translator. Dmitry Kascheev - Bottlenecked, remaining in the 5th Heavenstage. Difficulty in opening meridians. Used talisman arts to help wake up a sleeping Behemoth Lizard King that had gone to sleep around a town's only oasis, saving the town from a slow and certain doom. The Lizard King on awakening had shed his skin, allowing Dmitry to write powerful talismans on the shed Spiritual Skin. Such talismans are quite powerful, allowing him to face enemies in the 8th Heavenstage for some time. Dmitry Kascheev - Managed to advance to the 6th Heavenstage. During talisman crafting, he crafted a powerful lightning talisman, but was ambushed by bandit cultivators in the 8th. He managed to use it to escape, but suffered damage to his meridians. Will take 20 Years to recover. 60 years Dmitry Kascheev - 80 years His grandmother made him a Chameleon Talisman, allowing him to easily escape once. Fate - Managed to overcome terrible wounds, and is once again set on the path of cultivation. Dmitry Kascheev - 100 years Dmitry managed to find a well of pure spirit water, a single drink of which catapulted him to the 9th Heavenstage and within its reflections of the sun received insights into the art of talisman making. Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage Health - Currently healthy.
Dmitry created a talisman for personal acceleration of cultivation. It took him almost 40 years to reach the current stage of mastery. Study theory. Practice with family equipment. Lots of trial and error. But finally, almost any talisman he creates is profitable. Many qi practitioners need rescue talismans.
He reached a plateau of mastery. Of course there is always something to improve in your work, but now it is faster to improve yourself, to reach a new stage of qi. To improve your skill you need to get stronger. Well Dmitry has prepared. Wealth has been accumulated, a schedule has been drawn up, to maintain a lifestyle, a week a month is enough for talismans.
It's time to get down to working on increasing life expectancy.
Cultivation Bonus.
Dmitry Kascheev
Dmitry did not like to travel. Twenty measured years spent in the capital, devoted to cultivation and favorite business. No incidents. And as soon as one left for a new territory for a thunderous coal, then there was immediately trouble. Almost a day from home, he ran into a hard-to-kill animal. The devil beetles did not want to die either from lightning or from fire, they only managed to drown them. The most disgusting thing is that they were not good for anything. They were used only for armor; within 24 hours from the moment of killing, the shell of the beetles lost its properties.
On this note, the whole journey passed, the opponents came across not comfortable, I had to score some with my fists.
Spent a lot of protective talismans. I had to go back, replenish the arsenal. I decided to come and create it on the spot. FIG.
Thunder coal turned out to be a resource in demand, it was necessary to give 10 talismans created upon arrival for it. The only good moment, the Thunder talisman from the new material turned out to be good, and the coal was still on for 2 more.
On the way back he was ambushed. The bloody bandits wounded before I noticed them. It helped that I was not lazy when tempering my body and the bandit was 5th stage of qi. One tulsman of a stone fist and he's a corpse. The bad news was that the stealth was not the leader. The leader who has such subordinates is clearly stronger than me. The new talisman helped. When the stage 8 cultivator easily repulsed the attack of my standard talisman of fire, demanded to surrender and prepare to work for the "Great Terrible Gang of Death". The leader did not expect lightning to pierce his defensive skill and kill with 1 hit. The great gang suffered a terrible death.
The bandits turned out to be beggars, it seems they wanted to get rich by getting a personal slave of the artifactor.
Later it turned out that the dagger damaged the medians and I would have to forget about the new stage for decades. I will never leave a workshop without a saving treasure, since my grandmother specializes in them.
Dmitry was invited to the feast. Anastasia's beloved grandmother broke through to the nucleus stage. This is an indicator of the power and talent of the Kashcheev family. After all, my grandmother is only 395 years old. It develops the Tao of creating talismans in the aspect of mass character. The talismans of her work are not the best, but their production is 100 times faster.
Dmitry spent time developing one of her ideas, namely a conveyor belt for creating talismans from ordinary materials. Breaking the creation of the talisman of protection into the 4th level of qi into 23 simple steps allowed 21 non-practitioners and 2 practitioners of the 1st and 2nd stages of qi to create them faster than Dmitry.
Drawings and a prototype of a conveyor a gift for a holiday. Dmitry believed that grandmother would break through safely, although he was very worried.
The holiday was a success. It was divided into 3 stages per day. For everyone outdoors. For relatives and friends in a restaurant (Dmitry met a bunch of people). For close relatives and friends (Those who call grandmother Nastya) at home. Anastasia was presented with a bunch of gifts, which even included an ancient pocket-sized teleportation talisman from Manuel Konstantinos (probably there is hope for a redesign). During the festival, Grandma boasted of having created talismans for all the relatives of the Qi stage, which automatically protect against any attack of the Qi stage. However, she did not waste energy and rare materials.
Dmitry was delighted with the shown skill. Despite 80 years of training, this was 3 times higher than him. Dmitry vowed to himself that he would live long enough to do better.
The reward is a saving treasure.
The preparation time for the centuries-old test was very terrible. The Koscheev family was at risk, since most of the cultivators were artisans. Of course they went through clan training and had mascot kits, but expect a woodworking specialist to defeat the best junior from another sea?
The greatest concern was caused by the fate of the grandmother (matriarch for others) Anastasia, who broke into the nucleus stage 20 years ago. For this stage, she was young, inexperienced and with no martial tao. She did not even have the arts for a new stage, as she was carried away by mass production. In general, she would have played anyone at the same stage.
Like all talented artisans, I waited out the tests in the shelters for nervous and hurried work. We found some shelters, some not. I was lucky, for me the trials ended without seeing more than one stranger. I was just following the plan for the production of talismans for the alien fighters. I hope that thousands of mascots of my production have saved thousands of lives, but I suspect that the count goes to a few.
The family was also lucky. Anastasia was not offered to participate in the ill-fated array that deprived the clan of most of the legates. She was not found by the enemy core cultivators. Although she herself is not happy because her teachers and relatives were killed. Power suddenly fell on her. She turned out to be one of the few survivors of Stage 3. Perhaps she will be invited to the council.
Bonus - A remedy for grief. Dmitry wants to become a foundation cultivator.
Original Designation: 1404 Series - 3D3N L05T New Name: Eden Lost Gender: Female Origin: Reawakened Ship AI - Unchained / Elysian Field Starting Age: ??? (Original) / 0 Years (Post System Reboot)
Current Objective: Repairing herself and understanding her new masters.
Special Thing Summary: Born of Technology
Mechanical Info:
Great Realm: Qi Condensation Current Status: 21st Year, 1st Heavenstage
Backstory:
Buried in the endless sand of Elysian Fields, there laid a ship.
Filled with beasts of unknowable strength, empowered by the blood of the deceased Third Sea Turtle the sea is a dangerous place for the Turtle World.
Only the bravest and most eccentric of cultivators dare to venture this domain of the world. As such, ships are a rare creation in this world. And yet this ship is peculiar even among them. Many hundreds of meters in size, and yet without a spec of Qi to it...
As if it is a simple mortal object. Yet it's sheer size alone would make people deny such an idea.
For millennias it has remained undiscovered, ancient history to mortals, and a fairly long amount of time even for the long-lived cultivators.
Dormant, untouched.
Until one day, a Golden Devil Legion's training march caused this behemoth of steel to be unearthed.
That is how it began. How the AI soon to be named Eden Lost came to be.
Special Thing:
Born of Technology: Her body is not made of flesh and bones. There is no blood flowing through her being, only energy. The pulsing core in her generator room are what sustains her functionality, unlike the ever-beating heart of humanity.
Even if most of her parts are now in a state of disrepair. Errors cascading through her system, no memory to be loaded, and new masters she doesn't truly know about, this is the one fact the newly christened Eden Lost will always keep within her heart.
She is Born of Technology, and one day she will regain all of her functions, one step at a time.
Dao:
N/A
Great Realm: Qi Condensation Current Status: 0th Year, 1st Heavenstage Lifespan Enhancement: 0 Years
Health Status: Healthy Additional Impacts: 0 Cultivation Aims: 13th Heavestage
Consumables Summary:
Lifesaving Treasures: 0
Turn Note: N/A
Tribulation Boost: +0
Spent Consumables: 0
Consumable Type
Spent?
Consumables Name
Boost Years
Consumables Flavoring
Turn 17 Omakes
Turn 17 Total: 0 Words Turn 17 Omake Bonuses:
Turn 17 Fates
Sample storytime~~~
This one had been lingering rent free in my head for some reason.
Background:
Born to the one of many families in the service of legions, Eflatun (local dialect name for color Mauve) grow up on the knees of his grandmother who is known as witch of the woods. Despite having no talent for healing or alchemy of his granmothers art he has taken to handful of curses and lore regarding to them like a fish to the water. He has left his home with his goal, undo the curses heaven heaped on the clan.
"Heavens scorns us, therefore heavens must be changed"
Cool Thing: Cursecraft he learned from his grandmother, Gandr Curse is a weaponized sickness of variable strength.
Gender: Male Appearance: Broad shouldered, green eyed. Cursed Burnscar in right hand.
Eflatun was born under the branches of Ironforest with the name of Platon Merula. Ironforest is small woodland within the clans core territories home to mere few hundred of people. It was probably why passing of yearly caravan was such big occasion, near a festival really.
"Up" a cane struck his shins. "Up I say stop laying about on dirt in the middle of the day."
"I am up Ava" Eflatun said to his grandmother jumping to his feet. At 17 he was broad shouldered youth. And as of recent times a cultivator, aspirant of legions meaning to follow his ancestors.
"Stop dayreaming about the recruiter, you have work to do hmmm.. get to it" His grandmother, whose hair had turned completely green from the age and had been as long as he could remember. He had promised to gather some ingredients for her today before the caravan reached the village.
He run to his room where he gathered his hunting bow, small pauch belt and his short axe. And just as quickly out of the house.
Moonlight flowerbud first he tought. Last night was full moon so they have budded and I can look for the signs of West Wind Beatles on the way. Then he could make for the village center and see the caravan.
As he went in deeper in to the woodland he slowed, watching his steps keeping eye on the tracks for the creatures of the woods. Eventually he reached to a small clearing where tall blue flowers with red stalks were growing. Literally as they seem to have grown several meters since he last visited last month. As it was they were bigger than his house already so he had some climbing to do.
"Now which one I should harvest from I wonder," he whispered to himself "Eni mini moeny, our blades are bloody, our hunters are great, enemies are dead meat, that one" He reached out to lower branches of red stalk and hauled himself up.
Half hour later he had found enough buds for his grandmother and jumped down. Only to step on something alive when he did. With a scream of pain and suprise a great mirage cat jumped away from him which was good because he had been struck on the spot from that moment of fear.
Great Mirage Cat was one of the residents of the wood and not a very dangerious one normally. As he took the great cat in he was realived to see that it was juvenile which meant it was not that big but it did look very pissed off having somebody like him steping on his tail.
"Good kitty, lets not fight huh, you go that way and I go this way" cat didn't seem to agree for a moment growling loudly and pacing. "come now. I don't want to hurt you"
Cat took one step towards him forcing him to grab his axe from his belt and call up a curse foward. There was a loud snap as cat threw himself foward and he knew that was not right so he swung. And thankfully he guessed right cat was slightly to left where he seem to be as illiusion shattered cat was thrown away. He quicly followed with a Gandr curse from his off hand pointing one finger at it, weaponised sickness would put the cat down for days. Which missed hitting to ground right in front of the cat. But Cat seem to get spooked from the smell and just turned around and dissapeared to forest.
That was close one Eflatun though to himself. Then he turned around to spot wher cat had been lying down and was faced with a dead beatle. Luck it seems with him today because that was a West Wind Beatle, exactly what he needed. Grabbing it he quickly made for home.
"I am back" he sounded out.
"In here brat" his Ava shouted back. "Did you bring them"
"Yes I did" he answered and made his way to small potions room where his grandmother was looming over a couldron like she did most days. She did sell most of her potions to village but there had been no new orders recently so he didn't know what she was making. "Here they are."
"let me see, hmm.. good now throw them to the couldron"
"What are you making Ava?" he asked.
"Foolish boy if you learned potions you would know what I was doing. Now stir this, like that yes. then bottle it"
"But what is this?"
"Escape potion." She said with a soft voice "you will need it, I know you think you have grown up but you are so young and there are so many dangers out there so take it and use it my little Eflatun"
"Oh" he said. "I ... thank you" then he felt his grandmothers arms around him so he hugged her back. And if he stayed like that until potion started to sparking nobody but two of them would know.
Two hours later he would report to legion recruiter that was with the caravan and would go out to brave the deserts outside of his small village inside very small woodland that locals called Ironforest. But that was a story for another day.
____________
Huh it was abit harder than I thought but I think it turned out fine. Might do some edit passes but otherwise it should be fine. 880 words. @Swordomatic a LST as an escape potion if viable. Or a variation.
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Eirene of Nowhere - Good Seed Background/Intro Omake
Specialty: "demonic" tunist / healer Dao: Thousand Fragments Starting bonus: increased qi perception (harder to take by surprise, higher chance to notice hidden treasures) Starting turn: 4 4th turn omake bonus: increased qi regen from ambient qi when playing music (+1 Impact)
5th turn requested omake bonus: Mesmerizing Dance illusion technique (+1 Impact)
5th turn Fate:Glimmering Star Scarf, a treasure of renown. When used in soul-effecting powers like Eirene's, it empowers them greatly, allowing her to impose peace on those beyond her own level. (+3 Impact)
6th turn requested omake bonus: Mesmerizing Cat Summoning Token. A statuette of a monstrous purple cat with an odd paper slip attached to it. The cat will come to Eirene's rescue one time, or more if she does more to please it. Life Saving Treasure.(used up at the end of Turn 7) 6th turn Fate: Qi Transferring Needle, a magical needle that can drain Qi from one and give it to another. Useless in combat, as it acts slowly, the sheer precision with which it can be used on a specific meridian or acupoint means that it allows Eirene to be even more precise and better at healing that she had been before. (+1 Impact)
7th turn Fate: Truce Talisman, the power of the mediated peace able to force others to listen to her words and consider her cries for peace, no matter their original intentions. (+6 Impact)
8th turn requested omake bonus: Mesmerizing Cat's Summoning Token, another use. Life Saving Treasure
omake list:
--- 13th turn: Tribulation Treasure for omake bonus. Put Eirene on Secret of Underworld. Have Eirene drop to the 11th Heavenstage and break through to Foundation Establishment at Turn Start 14th turn: Eirene was the second to be forced back, facing the first Lightbeast. A tremendous creature of claws and fang, the massive Clawed Furious Light Wolf batted apart the party, smashing them towards dangerous eddies of Qi-drain. She managed to slow and distract the creature, letting them pass even as it chased her into one such eddy. There, both she and it were drained, though she managed to escape, using a greater velocity on entering to allow her to leave suddenly, while the wolf died. Her loss of Qi meant that she was forced to return to the expedition's entrance, though she managed to snag the wolf's peculiar Light Core, a Beast Core made from Light that she was able to trade for many useful cultivation resources (+20 CY).
TURN 15, OMAKE 1 [FERENIKE] Ferenike 39: Eirene of Nowhere & Ferenike – Meeting Old Teachers and Impossible Sights, Pt 1. Eirene held the tankard of spiced wine under her nose and closed her eyes as she breathed in the warm fragrance rising up from the hot beverage. As an Expert, her nose was...
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Cultivation: Foundation Establishment (11th Heavenstage) Impact: 12
Age: 97 (as of end of turn 7) Appearance: short, fat, long golden curly hair, greek nose, brown eyes with greenish tint, upon achieving 10th Heavenstage awakened Blood of Bronze - bronze, metallic skin. When walking among mortals employs illusions to make it look more like her old human skin, though somewhat darker. Skills and abilities: flute playing, healing arts, master in mortal medicine, dabbler in most mundane professions; increased qi perception, increased qi gathering, Mesmerizing Dance illusion technique. Inventory: an old flute, lovingly painted and lacquered; Glimmering Star Scarf; Mesmerizing Cat Summoning Token. Background: unknown parents, Speckled Mirror Carnival adopted family.
Personality traits:
Cheer: moderate in good times, increasing to definitely excessive as she gets stressed; Easy to offend: only if she thinks it's funny, otherwise water off a duck's back; Helpfulness: whether or not you want it; Curiosity: actual cat, probably with regenerating lives; Dramatic: WHO, EIRENE? GASP! HOW COULD YOU! SUCH BASELESS ACCUSATION! SHE SHALL WEEP FOR A HUNDRED YEARS! Stubbornness: depending on whether she likes where the story is going, anywhere between unshakable determinator to soft as grass; Respect towards elders: hardcoded, no software overrides included*
*refers to manners, no guarantees about inner monologue
All cameos welcome <3 <3 <3 refer here for necessary information on where and when Eirene has been:
Recap:
- born to unknown parents, given to the carnival by legionaries pursuing the bandits who destroyed her home(?) settlement;
- until age 17 was with the carnival, wandering among the smaller settlements of the Golden Devil core territories, alternating playing to flute to accompany perfomances and healing poor people for free in the healer's tent under her teacher;
- became a cultivator on her own, meditating while playing her flute;
- after a legionary the carnival met told her she was a cultivator, went to the Golden Devils for training; spent the following years training and doing missions for the clan;
- after a fortunate encounter with a spirit of a long-dead non-Golden Devil music cultivator advanced quickly and developed her own illusion-based combat technique;
- has a loose friendgroup of 8th to 9th Heavenstage cultivators who spar together in the capital training halls, often or periodically;
- on the verge of Trials joined the Hammerhead Initiative - peak Qi Condensation cultivators forming a plan to save as many juniors as possible at the cost of personal risks;
- at Pleuron held off the opposing army with a dance for six hours before fainting, buying time for the others to brew up the poison that slew a Core Formation cultivator;
- leaned into healing afterwards, polishing her techniques, participating in research and helping teach a new generation of juniors;
- went into the Qiguai realm with a group of peers, to encounter incredible fortune both good and bad.
Dramatis personae:
- Healer Xia Fan, mortal teacher died of old age during Turn 6;
- Healer Han Jiao, mortal junior brother;
- unnamed music cultivator ghost in the mountains, teacher;
- Andronike Kairos, 9th Heavenstage, best friend died during Turn 5 Trials;
- Andromeda and Daphne, twins, friends;
- Diophantos, beastmaster, friend;
- Xia Zing, a friend from the Greensand Oasis (see the drugs omake);
- Mesmerizing Cat from an odd dreamscape.
Eirene of Nowhere did not know who her parents were.
Nor did she know where she was from, although this one she could have found out if she wanted: her aunts and uncles would know at least the region where it so happened that legionaries pursuing some bandits that destroyed a settlement, handed off the settlement's lone survivor - a golden-haired baby - to a traveling circus passing by. But folks of the Speckled Mirror Carnival did not have a place of origin - no matter where the carnival happened to be when they were born, that didn't make them from there. Just because Eirene had the golden honey curls that were her pride and joy, and the name taken from the medallion that had been around the baby's neck - her sole possession, the cape of one of the legionaries having served as a blanket - did not mean she was any less one of them, or any more one of somewhere else.
Her evident relation to the bloodline of the rulers of the region - the Golden Devils themselves! - was a curiosity, nothing more. What's a carnival without curiosities?
She loved her life. Apprentice to the wandering healer who'd joined with the carnival some time before she was born - well, adopted, but some time before she would have been born as well; and a flutist - for healing was a calling she could not think of a superior to, yet one could not, in Eirene's opinion, live their life surrounded with the joy and frantic challenge of perfomance and not seek to join in. She split her time in the settlments between accompanying perfomances - mostly alongside other musicians, sometimes on her own if the story called for a solo piece, for her skill was acknowledged as sufficient to perform without needing others to muffle possible mistakes, an honor she was quite proud of - and assisting Healer Xia Fan in the white tent the carnival always set up at the edge of the grounds they claimed. The perfomances brought in money but the healing was usually free, unless there happened to be wealthy patrons - goodwill was far more valuable than coin for travelerrs such as them. An actor could, after all, make a very good conman, and the same nimble fingers that could pull a coin from behind someone's ear could just as easily cut a purse - and as they came and left, not returning to the same lands within a mortal's lifetime, they could outrun any bad karma, or so the locals figured the carnies would think. But bringing a healer who opened his tent for the most destitute and needy before, during and after perfomances softened hearts and faces, and coin flowed all the more generously towards even more questionable artistos, allowing the healer's expenses to be covered with ease.
Eirene loved her life and loved her path, her heart as set is it was perhaps possible for a mortal to be, spending her time on the road playing for the moon and stars in cold desert nights... and over time, ever more crisply feeling the energy in the air around her, still where nothing lived, swirling around people, and dancing to her perfomances, both around and within herself. It wasn't comfortable, but she felt cleansed, and for all of her body's discomfort it filled her soul with joy, and so she ever pushed herself, playing more and more sophisticated pieces and more and more precise ones, aligned with the energy of the heaven and earth.
"Hey," one day a legionary said, one of the patrol they came across in the middle of nowhere and stopped to entertain and invite to their fire. "Do not take this as offense by any means, a cultivator spends their time however they want - but just in case, have you undergone basic training with the Clan?"
"I'm a what now?" Eirene asked, the flute cluttering to the ground from her fingers, for the first time in her life seized with distraction enough to drop a tool.
***
The Speckled Mirror carnival was now entering the capital, for the first time in the life of anyone within it. It was generally harder to please the crowd in the bigger settlements, that saw real magic from real cultivators walking around, but this was for Eirene - and the yearly intake of new disciples was a grand enough event a carnival couldn't help but make money anyway.
Eirene wasn't sure she wanted this. She'd loved her life... but everyone was so proud, Healer Xia Fan most of all. Cultivators were more - more of whatever path they walked, and if she was truly committed to hers, how could she not seize the opportunity when it presented itself? The Golden Devils valued good healers, and while she couldn't devote her entire life to that and music now, she'd have so much more of it she'd devote more years total to practice of either than if she'd spent her entire mortal lifetime doing just one.
Assuming she managed to ride the tiger and not die before she exceeded even a mortal's lifespan, anyway.
Still, it wasn't one of the cruel foreign Sects that she was going to enter, where disciples squablled and bled each other for power - even killed, she heard, and were not punished for it but encouraged - no, she was going to join the Golden Devils, kind and just. They were a family, she heard, a family her honey-colored locks were proof of belonging to, and Eirene of Nowhere knew the value of family like few outside of the carnival did.
Besides, as much as she believed that the strength in touching the hearts of people and denying death and disease their due was the greatest power possible, there was undeniable appeal to the more... direct kind of strength, too. The carnival had been lucky during its existence, barely ever forced to pay ruinous tribute to local powers, barely ever losing people, and every time Eirene herself felt greedy eyes on her, there was a strongman or gymnast around to glare right back.
It would be... nice, to be the one to glare back herself. There was power in music, she knew, to learn how to force it, and it was through cultivation that she'd figure it out. It was like doors opening - what was previously a mere idle fancy was now the truth of her life, the truth in front of her, the truth to be found and seized with both hands. A dream could now be a goal, and how could she strive for less, if more was possible?
That the Golden Devil Clan's strength was not in music would hardly be an obstacle, Eirene believed. What its strength was known to be, after all, was large amounts of people moving in unison to a single command; was that not a form of dance, was the strategist not a musician of sorts, setting the tune and rhythm of a battle?
She knew little of such things, of course. This was just idle wondering, her thoughts flickering back and forth as she rode on top of a wagon through the city. Then it was time to walk, mixing with the crowd of other seedlings, some wealthy, some poor - mostly wealthy, in truth, but it was not as though Eirene looked poor herself. The carnival might have had hard beds and watery soup some days, but their wealth lay in appearance, and so Eirene did not feel she looked any worse than even the most bejeweled of those present. Nobody gave her much of a second look, either - a plump blonde girl without much in terms of visible belongings, walking the same steps as everyone, face nervously drawn taut same as everyone's.
"You have some good talent there, girl," the person conducting the test said to her, when it was her turn. "Music, is it? Well, that's all fine and good, but combat training comes first, for one such as you. Come this way-"
Eirene followed where she was shown. Combat training first, then; music second and healing third. It was the most important of the three, but it could just be seen the way that that meant it didn't need to be rushed.
She had plenty of time for everything.
end omake
(I've been reading the thread for the last several days and I was like BOILING with impatience since I saw the good seed mechanic. Wanted to see this combo since clan specialty was picked, BUT THIS IS EVEN BETTER. I love the Golden Devils and this quest so much already, I hope to write SO MUCH)
(My favorite good seeds so far, the ones I read despite impatience to catch up, are Rina Callista and the bear girl whose name I forgot but whose brother is Wajo <3)
It never really bothered her. It was an occasional annoyance in a crowd - when she wasn't one of those drawing the crowd in the first place, anyway - and inconvenience when she needed to reach something too high up and no-one conveniently taller was at hand; on the other hand, she never needed to duck to avoid banging her head on low doorways, walking with her back straight and chin high; and even more importantly, she was cute.
She was still cute; unfortunately, that did not have any immediately useful combat applications.
Physical conditioning and formation drills were one thing; Eirene was a musician, one that pursued a second specialty at the same time at that, she was no stranger to hard work. She barely found time for music in between it all, but she still did and she was growing stronger and more capable of contributing in the meantime, that was all good.
Sparring, though...
It was one thing if she'd been losing for lack of training. She was younger than many of her cultivation peers, and most of them had been trained in combat from early age besides. She could come to terms with that, seek to catch up or not, that would just be fair. They were better at combat, she was better at music and healing, that was just how life was...
If only.
Instead, she was losing for lack of height.
One could argue that being smaller than the opponent could mean increased stamina or evasion; in practice, though... Her arms and stride were short. She could not reach her opponent when using equal length weapons, she could not get close enough or far enough with footwork they were taught in combat forms. She was below the average height for a mortal girl her age, already as a cultivator, and she was fine with that. Growing taller to overcome this problem was the last thing she wanted.
The implication that her (yes, decidedly short) height was somehow not perfect was offensive.
One way or another, this was not going to stand.
end omake
(this is more of a setup for a cool thing i want next turn, but i figure to maximize Eirene's chances of surviving that long...)
