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

[ninjastar]

Achille Adephos VIII
Treeline Shadows

@occipitallobe you forgot to threadmark my last omake.

---
Achille narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath, then without hesitation he jumped off the rock, and into the unknown world, he had just found himself in.

His legs impacted into the rough rock below, the force absorbed by his knees. Achille grunted, stung by the pain. It seemed that it would take some time to get reacclimated to the body of a mortal.

Achille once looked around, assessing his position. The massive, curved pillars of rock were entrapped in a dense jungle, left only a few dozens of meters of space before the thick foliage took over. A dark river of bubbling black liquid ran through the jungle.

Achille steadied his shaking knees, making his way towards the forest. As he advanced deeper into the rainforest, the crimson glare of the sun was drowned out by deep, pervasive darkness that blanketed the realm. The air temperature sharply declined, from a harshly warm desert heat that Achille could tolerate, to a bone-chilling freeze that caused him to shiver uncontrollably.

Nevertheless, he pushed forward, moving deeper into the forest. The ground was covered in thick foliage that scraped against Achille's exposed skin uncomfortably.

As he forged onwards into the depths of the forest, the darkness thickened. It was as if a blindfold had been placed atop his eyes, rendering him blind.

Frustrated, Achille turned around, heading back the way he came. Exploring the forest would simply be a waste of time if he could not perceive anything due to the darkness.

Thus, Achille returned to the mountainous region he had only just vacated. The difference in temperature was starling, Achille's shivering body immediately buffeted with sweltering heat.

With nothing else to do, Achille sat down on a rock, sighing. The sharp rock pressed against Achille's bottom painfully, forcing him to stand up.

Had he been so weak as a mortal? Unable to even handle a jagged rock?

Achille shook his head disheartened. He lay down on the rocky ground, sighing.

For hours he stared at the sky, observing the shifting patterns of black and crimson, gazing as viscous, rotting fluid gushed down from the bleeding sky.

However, slowly an unfamiliar feeling rose up from Achille's throat. It was
like sandpaper scraping at the back of his mouth.

Thirst

Achille had not felt the sensation in decades, and he could barely recognize it. Immediately, the man jumped to his feet.

He had been a cultivator for so long he had nearly forgotten the sensation of true thirst.

Achille had still needed to eat and drink and sleep, but at a much-reduced rate than a normal person would. He had never gone hungry or thirsty since that fateful day when he first joined the legion.

"I'll need to secure a source of food and water if I planned to survive this place," Achille frowned.

The silently gushing river of bubbling black fluid drew Achille's attention. He silently walked up to it. He picked up a rock, throwing it into the river. It immediately sank, with a ripple that seemed no different from a river of normal water. Achille leaned down, poking a finger into the fluid. He immediately retracted the digit, letting loose a primal scream of pain.

A horrible searing pain erupted from the digit, along with a startling numbness around it.

Achille looked down, suppressing his nausea at the sight, White bone poked out of his index finger, black-red fluid dripping out of angry red exposed flesh that bubbled and seared.

Achille rapidly waved his hand, flipping droplets of blood and the black water across the sandy ground as he desperately tried to clear the fluid off of his flesh. Achille jumped to the ground, stabbing his finger into the sand and scarping it around roughly.

The course sand scraped away the fluid, along with small bits of flesh and skin. Achille bit his lips as he suppressed his screams of pain.

Eventually, he drew his finger from the sand, inspecting the mangled flesh. The pain still flared angrily, but the burning fluid was gone.

Achille stood up, shaking slightly.

He walked on those shaky legs, back towards the huge mountains of stone that lay in the center of the forest. As Achille walked, the world seemed to dim, darkening at the edges of his vision.

Achille's knees collapsed as he fell to the floor unconscious

---

 

[ninjastar]

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

Run your own Xianxia faction! Offend old monsters! Raise good seeds! Face heavenly tribulations! And remember, always support your Young Masters, no matter who they offend.

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

I'd like to request a life-saving treasure for this collab omake, and as that my good seed be assigned to the bandit mission

 

[ninjastar]

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

TURN 12, OMAKE 9 [Lipita] Lipita Delphi 24: Achille Adephos & Lipita Delphi - War Material War! The word spread throughout the legions of the Golden Devils racing outwards from the Dawn Fortress to more distant outposts. War with Jingshen! Rumor had already spoken of increased tensions with...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

I'd like to request cultivation boost for this collab omake, and as that my good seed be assigned to the palace mission

 

[ninjastar]

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

Run your own Xianxia faction! Offend old monsters! Raise good seeds! Face heavenly tribulations! And remember, always support your Young Masters, no matter who they offend.

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

I would like to request Achille Adephos be assigned to the yuan secret realm and stay till the end, and receive an LST.

 

[ninjastar]

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

TURN 14, OMAKE 2 [Lipita] Lipita Delphi 36: Achille Adephos & Lipita Delphi – One... Two... Three Heads Singing In A Choir Corpus shifted atop his seat and felt the hardwood of the high stool creak in response to his movement. The Junior Mechanikos stifled the urge to yawn, keeping his focus...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

I would like to request a cultivation boost for Achille Adephos.

 

[ninjastar]

Achille Adephos 8.2 The Mortal Realm

This is a continuation of the story in Achille Adephos 8 when Achille was wrapped in the Snow-Eyed Desert Foxes Illusion for a subjective century and is set before Achille Adephos 9
----

"Aaaaaagh!"

Pain flared through Achille's shoulder as the fox's razor-sharp teeth sunk through the flesh of his leg, scraping against the hypersensitive nerves of his bone.

A moment later a visceral cracking noise filled the air as he slammed his makeshift club downwards. He watched in disgust as the fox's entire head split open in half, deforming gruesomely

Blood and bone and other effluvia splattered with the force blow, splashing Achille and the already stained and torn rags that barely covered him.

The Adephos grimaced, barely holding in a scream as he stepped backwards. The fox had been doggedly hounding him for hours, waiting for him to slip up so it could feast. Bereft of the speed and power of a cultivator, or the materials or tools to make an array, he felt he could only bait it using his own body to kill it off desively. Once he would have scoffed at the idea of such a risky plan-would have forced himself to come up with something more clever.

But once was not now, and Achille was simply tired of it all.

The beast was dead now, and Achille was 'safe'. At least for now. The thought gave him no satisfaction. Safety never lasted long in the jungle. Everything he had done to kill the fox was simply going to repeat again over and over and over the next 'day'.

Achille did not know how long it had been since he had awoken powerless and mortal in this twisted realm. At least weeks, if not months. It was hard to track the time given the lack of any sun. He looked up instinctively and grimaced once more at the horrifying sight that greeted him.

Rotting black blood poured from wounds in the sky, twisting nebulous of chaos dancing where the Heavens should be. So far as he could tell, Achille very well may be in hell itself.

Wincing in pain, the boy began to limp backward. He'd created a series of notches in the trees which served as a basic guide back to the tiny cave he had taken up as home.

He dragged the fox's bleeding corpse behind him, too tired to ever bother with concealing his trail. Across his form, dozens of aches and pains flared up. Tiny thorns lodged in his hands. An old, slowly scabbing slash mark on his upper right thigh. A gangrenous cut on his left cheek that throbbed even now.

Even after all this time, he had yet to acclimate himself to life as a mortal again. The power that ran through him, the surety and confidence that came from his cultivation, was torn away, leaving him feeling constantly vulnerable. He had never really understood just how he took those things for granted until now.

Having to sleep every night or feel totally exhausted was terrible, but the constant need for food, water and the... bodily functions were even worse.

After what felt like hours of agonizing walking, Achille arrived back at his cave and collapsed bonelessly to the ground as waves and waves of pain assaulted him from his torn open leg.

'Why is this happening to me? What is even the point? I spent so long cultivating, braved so many dangers... and now it all amounts to nothing. I am going to die here, feeble and alone like a nameless ant. What was it all for?'

Achille felt darkness tingle at the edge of his eyes. For a moment, he was certain death was going to take him. A cold, comforting chill. The pain faded. But...

'This is absurd!'

A sudden rage overtook the boy. He could not give up. Not after everything he had been through. Overcoming the disdain of the Adephos clan, proving his worth as a Mechanikos to his superiors, being acknowledged by the Prostrator...

What happened to his dream of mastering an array as mighty and beautiful as the Shattering Glass Spear Array? Was all of that just the feeble joke of a child too stupid to realize the futility of his life?

For a moment, the boy sat and pondered, mind dazed and yet racing with thoughts. But try as he might, tempted as he was to simply give in to the comforting embrace of nihility...

It was not all for nothing.

Achille would not let it be.

With a roar of mindless rage, the array worker forced himself to his feet, gritting his teeth as agony roared through his torn leg.

"Screw this shattered world and this feeble body! Screw everyone who ever doubted my genius! Screw the Heavens themselves if they think they can kill me like I am nothing! Screw everyone and everything in my way! I am not dying here!" he roared.

He did not know what he expected. Perhaps a dramatic bolt of lightning, or a sudden deluge of rain. Only silence and the dull echoing of his own voice resounded as finished his declaration.

Achille snorted. He did not need any sudden natural wonders to prove it. From within the very depths of his heart, he knew he had just declared his own Dao.

Forcing himself to ignore the pain, Achille stumbled over to the barely smouldering embers of his fire. First things first, he would need to cauterize these wounds, lest they get infected.

After that, the next day.

But Achille would be ready for whatever happened. He was going to get out of here. He was going to become the greatest cultivator the Adephos had ever seen. And he was going to one day make an array worthy of being cemented in legend.

There was simply no other option.

---

Achille awoke. Something was wrong. His body ached and protested as he forced himself to roll off the mattress of crunchy leaves that made up his bed.

He heard rustling coming from the mouth of the cave. Immediately his hand gripped the comforting heft of his club- a thick haft of wood with a stone tied to it with twine and plant adhesive.

Achille stood, walking forward. Thereupon he was greeted by the sight of a massive grey-furred wolf, teeth gently tearing into the corpse of the fox-like animal he had been far too tired and ill to cook, preserve of butcher.

The whole seemed to almost ignore him as it feasted. Just a day ago, he might have winced in despair at the food he had risked his life for being stolen. But the Acholle of today was in a place beyond despair.

He simply jumped forward and swung his club with all of his might. The wolf reacted quickly, rearing its head backwards. His club barely missed it, swishing through the air. The wolf growled, baring its fangs, but was unprepared when Achille's other hand jabbed forward, his long finger, covered in ash and dry blood stabbing straight into its left eye like a knife.

The canine howled in agony and leapt backwards, blood and eye fluid leaking from the torn and ripped organ. Achille gave it no quarter. He charged forward, swinging his club downwards.
The wolf tilted sideways and ran towards him, unhinging its jaw to reveal row after row of razor-sharp black teeth oozing with foul liquid.

Achille stood still for a moment, letting the wolf believe he was open to attack, before swiftly raising his leg and stomping down with all of his might upon the top of its head.

His heel cracked in agony as it slammed into the wolf's skull. The beast tilted to the side, stunned from having its head knocked so roughly. It did not have much longer to suffer before Achille Club smashed into the side of its face and finished the job.

Slowly, a bizarre grin grew on his face.

"I wonder what monstrous wolf meat tastes like. I'll have to tell Father about this when I get out of here. He just loves these exotic foods."


---

I would like to request a tribulation treasure for my seed Achille Adephos.

 

[Timewarriors]

I have adopted Achille with Ninjafish approval.
Back Story:

Spoiler: Ninjafish section

Achille was the born son of an unimportant Foundation Establishment Cultivator. By blood, he was the Great-Great grandson of the Protostrator, but his family lived a rather humble life compared to the other members of the extremely wealthy Adephos lineage. Achille's father Barak Adephos had lacked talent, and as a result ended up losing the support of the family, living with his wife Meline and son on the outskirts of the Adephos family land.

Achille Adephos was not good at talking. He had trouble understanding people. People were irrational, emotional, unexpected. Arrays were not. From the moment he had been able to talk, he had lived, breathed and spoke formations. Arrays were not like people, they would never change, never act unexpected, they followed clear and sensible rules.

Ever since he had been born, he had been able to understand Arrays. They just clicked with him. He could look at formation, feel it's Qi and read it like it was a book. Much like musicians could be born with perfect pitch, the ability to hear and decipher notes by ear, Achille had the ability to understand Arrays in a way no one else could understand.

From a young age, he had played with arrays, designing and creating small formations to clean his room, to keep his dinner warm when he was out and to warn him when his parents were near when he should have been asleep. It was only when he grew older, becoming twelve he realized other people could not do what he did, could not see the shimmering and delicate hands of arrays and decipher them.

As such, he had grown apart from the other members of his clan, those who were different from him. That was okay. More time to work on arrays. He had grown arrogant and unbridled in his isolation. Until one day, one his thirteenth birthday when the Prostrator had shown him the Glass Spear Array that covered the entire clan. Achille had never seen such majesty and beauty. An array so large and complex he could barely understand it. It was at that moment he felt his love for the clan reignite and he realized he was not alone.

Achille would later join the Array-Engineer Corps, quickly achieving the rank of a Junior Mechnaaikos and gaining a reputation as a genius. On his first mission outside the clan, he aided in preparing the Blood Path Detection Array of the Shen Kingdom, which allowed King Shen to find and kill a Great Circle Foundation Establishment Blood Path soldier who had been hidden in Shen Dou, the capital of the Shen Kingdom.

During a routine mission to repair an irrigational array on the edge of the clan lands, he was ambushed by a group fo bandits and left comatose for nearly twenty years. It would have been longer, but at that point, the Adephos family opened their treasury and ensured he received the best treatment possible.

Once recovered, he headed out into the desert to breakthrough to the tenth heaven stage, only to be ambushed by a Snow-Eyed Desert Fox and be sucked into an illusory world. Unlike most who would die, it only helped strengthen Achille's Will and his Dao of Rebellion.

Once he escaped, he broke through to the tenth heaven stage and aided in fighting off the Devil Bee invasion, creating an Array that killed hundreds of Devil Bee's.

In between missions, Achille Adephos takes place in competitive fishing tournaments, earning him the title of 'The Youths Heaenly Fishing King' and a Will of Albatross Flying Fish Pill, among other things.

Where once lay a talented junior now lie a seasoned Elder, Achille stand ready to command the forces of the clan against their enemies and bring victory as one of the Imperial Optimatoi newly risen Cores

The Adephos Family:

Spoiler: Ninjafish section

Founded by a talented but low-status man named Geourgus Adephos who ended up marrying the daughter of the Prostrator and creating a powerful lineage. Due to Geourgus's smart investment and rapidly expanding business, the Adephos are one of the wealthiest lineages in the clan, but due to their young age and short inheritance the feel they lack status. Thus the Adephos pour a monstrous amount of wealth into sponsoring talents building libraries, schools, hospitals and other things that will increase their fame and prestige.

With Achille rise as a core elder the Adephos family status and wealth has never been higher.

Overall High Concept: The descendant of the Prostrator, Achille is extremely intelligent. Born with the unique power to understand arrays on a deep level, he seeks to master the art of Array-Crafting and uncover the secrets and mysteries of the art. Achille is an 'overheard' character, with the ability to throw out huge amounts of wealth at his problems, and so overprepared he has an array for every situation.

Spoiler: Ninjafish section

All Turns:
--Turn 1: :Exceptional talent in cultivating. Reached the 8th Heavenstage in 20 years. Was sent to Shen Kingdom to assist in repairing Blood Path Detection Arrays, King Shen offered his eldest daughter's hand in marriage after this helped catch and kill a Blood Path Foundation Building cultivator in the Great Circle. Advise we do not allow - an Adephos is worth more than a mere Shen.

--Turn 2: Reached 9th Heavenstage. Was ready to break through to Foundation Building, but was building a new array, and was attacked by bandits mid-construction. It collapsed on him, wounding him badly. He was comatose, and was estimated to spend most of the next 20 years recovering. Originally estimated 40 years to recover wounds fully. However, the Adephos branch of the Clan spent wildly on him, and managed to heal him to a degree. He is merely badly wounded, and will spend only 20 years to recover from his wounds fully.

--Turn 3: Achille Adephos [1 turn from breaking through]. Remains at 9th Heaven stage. Fortuitous encounter, meeting a Snow-Eyed Desert Fox. Such creatures are known for their powerful dream realms, in which cultivators often waste and die, dreaming forever under their glare. Achille managed to survive, and used the subjective century of time within the dream realm as experience to solidify his Dao. He is close to breaking through.

--Turn 4; Achille Adephos
Omake reward - Obtained the Will of Albatross Flying Fish Pill as a reward for his victory in a fishing contest. This has strengthened his Dao-Heart and firmed his will.
Fate - Excellent. Built an array to assist in the south, allowing almost one hundred additional Devil Bee cultivators to be caught and killed. Rewarded with an Array Scribing Anthive, a hive of ants capable of using miniature tools to follow cultivator instructions in building and repairing arrays.
Cultivation - Reached the 10th Heavenstage of Qi Condensation. [4 turns from 11th]. [8 turns from breaking through] [2 treasures from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Current Status as of Turn 16 End: Core Formation Misty Core(Early)

Age: 360
Items: 2 Lifesaving Treasure, Array-Scribing Anthive, Stone Fiddle
Health: Healthy
Willpower: Permanently boosted by Will of Albatross Flying Fish Pill
Dao: Rebellion

Starting Perk: Array Whisperer, the ability to read and understand arrays on an instinctual level

Completed Omake; Total Word Count: 40,820 Words

Spoiler: Ninjastar omake

Turn 1Achille 1: Unbridled and Unbroken: 3.9K words: Omake Bonus = Cultivation Speed Boost
Turn 2:Achille 2: Outwards and Inwards: 2.1k words: Omake Bonus = Fate Bonus
Turn 3:Achille 3: Decisions and Discovery: 1.4k words: Omake Bonus = Lifesaving Treasure;
---------Achille 4: Blood and Bethrohal: 1.1k words: Omake Bonus = Fate Bonus
---------Achille 5: A cliche Xianxia tournament... of fishing?: 1.5K words: Omake Bonus = Fate Bonus.
Turn 4: Achille 5.1: A cliche Xianxia tournament; tensions rise!: 1.8K words: Omake Bonus = Permanent Willpower/Daoheart Bonus
-----------Achille Adephos 6: Thesis I: 1.2K words: Omake Bonus = Fate Bonus.
-----------Achille 7: A World of Death and Desolation:1.1K words: Omake Bonus = Fate Roll
Turn 5: Achille 8: Treeline Shadows: 710 words: Omake Bonus: Life-Saving Treasure
---------Turn 16: Achille 8.2: The Mortal Realm
Turn 6: None
Turn 7: None
Turn 8: None
Turn 9: None
Turn 10: None
Turn 11: At the Feet of the Master Collab: 1570 words: Omake Bonus: Life-Saving Treasure
Turn 12: War Material Collab: 1850 words: Omake Bonus: Cultivation Boost(Changed to Healing Treasure)
Turn 13: Ending and Beginnings Collab: 20515 words: Omake Bonus: Life-Saving Treasure
Turn 14: One... Two... Three Heads Singing In A Choir Collab: 1655 words: Omake Bonus: Cultivation Boost
Turn 15: None
Turn 16: Achille 8.2: The Mortal Realm: 1322 words: Omake Bonus: Tribulation Treasure

 

[CuriousRaptor]

Ajax Tripedes

Backstory: Born to a family descended from the Oasis bandits into the Blighted Lands now held by the Golden Devils. The Family itself holds no ties to their overlords, but the Qi Condensation Cultivator took a thematic name in a gesture of goodwill and obedience before settling down in the blighted lands nearly 75 years ago with several of his compatriots, in an effort to live out the remainder of their years in relative peace and prosperity.

Ajax himself was a large lad, who tended the sheep outside his village, knowing nothing but his home and living with his family, The village elders and founder having passed away in the intervening years, leaving only a small hardscrabble but somewhat successful herding village in the Blighted lands. That all Changed when the Blood Mists that preceded the announcement of the Great Era erupted and drove the village mad in an orgy of cannibalism and horror. Bonds of family and friendship doing little to limit the ravenous hunger and madness of the people Ajax had known all his young life.

When a Golden Devil patrol came to the village two days later, all the found was the burnt-out ruins of several building husks, multiple graves, and a teenaged boy who had managed to break through into the first Stage of Qi condensation out of desperation burying yet more of those he once knew. Given his circumstances he was adopted into the clan. For the past five years he had been put through remedial training for the Clan, as though physically he was adequate for the most part, his skills were lackluster, and his mind was in severe need of mending. He was, at the time of his adoption wholly unable to read, compute sums past one hundred, and his awareness of the world outside his village and cultivation lore were so abysmal that he had to actively unlearn several topics to start anew.

He has been notably averse to fighting in most situations, but once roused rarely can those even a stage above him out last him, his endurance beyond the already high limits of what the clan's bloodline allows. This is tentatively termed as a mutation called Enduring Colossus Constitution, as a reference to his abnormally large size and hardiness. While he was been trained with all the requisite formations and weapons of the Clan, he tends to prefer heavier weapons, such as an Axe or Club, as his mass and endurance allow him to simply batter down peers with repeated heavy attacks that can be deceptively fast in his hands.

Overall High Concept: Someone who is very much on the outside what the Righteous powers see when they think of the Golden Devils. Big, strong, Tough, Brutish looking with only a bare training in etiquette and topics beyond smashing things. That said just because he is unlearned does not mean he is stupid....


Current Status as of Turn 14: 81 years old, First Pillar in Foundation
Additional Impact: 4 Blood Jellying Snuff +13 (Hitting 10th and 11th stage ion Qc before hitting FE)
Life-Saving Treasures: 1, Made this turn, form TBD
Special Treasures: None
Tribulation Enhancements: None, The Spite rebuking Lantern was used to allow him to break into Foundation
Starting Perk: Enduring Colossus Constitution, Ajax is a large lad, moreover, he's a tough lad too. He doesn't seem to get tired, at least not in any reasonable way since he awakened, the stamina of his body and efficiency of Qi usage allowing him to stay in fights and strenuous tasks far beyond what most Golden Devils could do except under do or die levels of strain. Given his questioning by experts about the circumstances of his now defunct village, it is likely this mutation awoke in his blood when he became a cultivator and melded with the Blood of Bronze upon his adoption, boosting it even further.
Cultivation Goal: 9th Pillar (Emperor's Pillar)
Plot Coupons: None

Omakes and Word Count - 44190 Words
Turn 13
No Glory -873 Words
Research Material Collab - 1271 Words
Sheild of a Legionnaire -1311 Words
Mountain Bell Expedition Part 1 - The Chase - 2090 Words
Ajax Tripedes in Mountain Bell Expedition Part 2 - Heart's Desire - 2403 Words
Ajax Tripedes in Mountain Bell Expedition Part 3 - Into the Depths -2433 Words
Ajax Tripedes in Mountain Bell Expedition Part 4 - Where the Serpent Sleeps - 4069 Words
Ajax Tripedes in Mountain Bell Expedition Part 5 - Climb the Summit - 5403 Words
Turn 14
To Make a Light - 1482 Words
Collab with Bungie Oni/Cerina - 1932 words
Turn 15
Vignettes From the Bathmother - The Third Guest: Ajax Tripedes Collab w/ Katha 6164 words
Examining a Light 1301 Words
Assault on the Flesh Tenderizing Bandits. -3169 Words
Ajax Tripedes 14/Cerina Polya 10 -2890
Weapons Testing -2464 Words
Doubts - 1025 Words
The Thumping - 1782 words
----
Extra
Old Gold Fact Collab - 574 Words
Annoying Bosses - 1654 Words

 

[CuriousRaptor]

Ajax- No Glory

"Legionnaires! Reform!" One of the Prefects barked out blaringly loudly as yet more blood path cultivators streaked towards the Golden Devils. It was at this point Ajax knew things had gone wrong somewhere. Not horribly wrong, yet anyway, as the legionnaires were still fighting and racking up a bloody toll despite the lines being broken up by some sort of technique preventing them all from taking up a strong formation and just blending the enemy to bits. Lesser Versions of the formation, with less legionnaires in it, still reaped a bloody toll regardless, even as the legion's core formation leader battled overhead with the accursed blood path core above them. The issue was, that because of the walls this little ambush lead with, he was cut off from the rest of the Golden Devils. Sure, he could climb the walls, if he dropped his weapons and presented his back to the ravening cannibals. No. The second options bashing his way through the walls, which still meant turning his back to the Blood path cultivators bearing down on him. Nope. He had to hold his ground, hope that not too many or too strong came his way, and really hope none of them could move through the earth to get a shot at his back. Lovely.

Not a moment after he had rapidly come to this conclusion, a blood path cultivator came screaming towards him with a spear of crimson lightning. Ajax interposed his shield between the electricity wreathed point and his body. The two metals met, and with a screech the spearpoint started to punch through, slowly overwhelming the shield with the momentum and electric energy behind it. Even as Ajax's muscles attempted to tense and spams from the unleash lightning course through his system, a technique intended to debilitate the enemy for easy capture and consumption, his spear, shorter but very much within range, punch through the throat of cultivator attempting to make a meal of him.

Ajax dodged a spear of bone that was once his father's arm by throwing a table in between the two of them, buying him a few moments.

From there complex thought was not something that could be easily sustained any more, Ajax fighting more by instinct, training and experience hard one over conscious thought. Another attack from the side and was met with the edge of his shield even as his spear struck out catching the gut of another coming from his front, forcing him to drop it as it was stuck in the foe. Ducking the attempted overhand slash at him by an axe even as he grabbed his club, he counters by slamming the tip of the head into the now over extended Axman's gut, preparing to finish him off when an explosion of crimson flame sends him flying off his feet.

Ajax ran through the village from the malefic gaze of his former crush, her two eyes joined into one crimson orb which set the blood of any she glared at to boiling, killing anything unfortunate enough to be the way...

Rolling quickly and coming up he threw his club at the gesticulating spellcaster breaking into a charge using his shield to bull through the cultivators in front of him until he closed bowling the stunned man down before stomping on his skull hard enough to cause it to explode in a mess of fat and blood like an overlarge pimple. Something latched onto his back, sharp claws attempting to sink into his eyes or throat through his helmet. He grabbed that the thing with his shield arm, slamming it onto the ground in front of him, before lifting his club and channeling Qi into it. [Earth Shaking Blow] slammed into the offending bestial cultivator, squashing it into the ground where it scrabbled weakly in the dirt, before Ajax channeled his qi again and finished it.

Ajax felt a pain in his ankles, looking down only to see an infant child biting into it with teeth far too sharp.

Suddenly Ajax was thrown to the side into one of the earthen walls, cracking it even as the force of the blow made him rebound of the earthen barrier. Turning to the Cultivator who had struck him, Ajax quickly transferred his club to his unbroken arm and prepared to fight once more. Only for a Golden spear to penetrate the cultivator and end his life is a single strike.

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

Ajax sitting down, letting the medic tend to him. He knew from prior experience telling them he was fine did nothing and resisting their efforts was worse. So, the bandages with foul smelling salves were applied to his body. "You're to be on light duty for a few days till your body heals up Legionnaire, thankfully you have more than enough qi to help expediate the process despite that furball you were in," The Medic said dismissing him and sending him on his way. Some of his Fellow Golden Devils saw him leaving the tent, offering to buy drinks to the 1st step Cultivator who had covered himself in glory killing several Blood path alone when cut off. He accepted, but inside the only though he had was, There was no glory here.


873 words for the first omake. Not super Happy with it, but I needed to start somewhere. LST for my bonus please. @Alectai @ReaderOfFate @no.

 

[CuriousRaptor]

Ajax Tripedes 2: Ajax and Auspicious Nine - Research Material

Auspicious Nine was in high spirits after the success of his intervention with the city-spirit of Pleuron. Athena was satisfied that he hadn't managed to blow everyone up and actually improved the spiritual energies of the entire city. The dawning of the Great Era had brought a rejuvenating shower fall of qi to the wasteland of the Organ Meat Desert and now Plearon was optimized in drawing on that provision. There was certainly more that could be done but it would have to wait for the recent changes to propagate fully and fix into place. Most likely, the city was looking at another couple of decades before they could improve upon the foundation he'd laid. Nonetheless this had emphasized even more Pleuron's status as the most prominent waycastle in the locality. It was the greatest Clan holding along the final exit to Golden Devil territory, the open road that allowed the trade to and from the pass held by the Sorrowful Blacksmiths to the rest of the region and desert.

***

Ajax thought that such an auspicious place would be more impressive. For all the legends of this place over the last two Hundred-Year Trials, one would think that such a place would have some sort of grand architecture and immense and awe-inspiring gravitas to it. Nope, it still looked much the same as its sibling waycastle cities. Cut not only from the same cloth, but more or less woven from the same sheep's wool. For a place where Heaven had gotten kicked in the throat twice in less than a millennia it did not look different, didn't even feel different, at least not to his admittedly dull spiritual senses.

Still it had all the standard amenities a waycastle had, and Ajax would happily take advantage of being rotated through the area while his Legion was preparing to go to one of the battles happening on the Great Battlefield. Being able to rest with a roof over his head instead of a tent would be nice. It was with these thoughts that Ajax was stopped by a Prefect.

"Tripedes! You've been asked for, by name, to go to the current residence of Auspicious Nine," The prefect barked, getting his attention. Even as he stopped and turned she handed him a small note of paper with an address. "Here's where you need to go, don't keep them waiting, Legionnaire."
To think that today had been going so well too.

***

The most senior member of the Demonic Tree Dozen, as Four was calling them, hummed to himself as he checked on the experiments progressing in his workshop. Athena had graciously given him an unused space in the Pleuron estate after he discovered that Three and Seven had jointly co-opted his old workspace and transformed it into a dance studio of all things. He'd just recently finished equipping the new laboratory, taking delivery of a pill furnace on loan, stocking up on standard research equipment and filling his cabinets with reagents he most likely would use. He didn't have much of the material he needed to progress on most of his long term research projects, the Fierce Yang Scorching Beetles were still in the care of Bok Than back in the Dawn Fortress - he gleefully anticipated making her live up to her wager when he returned -, the Contribution Board in Pleuron was decidedly off limits to him after an unfortunate incident that had truly been an accident not worth fussing about and his progress in internal alchemy was momentarily stalled as he worked on his foundations there. However he did have one subject easily pursued from his current circumstances, the variant physiques of the Blood of Bronze. Seven's constitution had improved much from her earlier struggles but she was still frailer than any of her siblings despite showing clear markers of having similar levels of the Bronze within her system. Figuring out just how the mutated constitution that he and his siblings had inherited would be a great help in resolving her weakness.

Thankfully Pleuron's status as a major hub along the Scorpion Road and the recent deployments to the Great Battlefield meant that he'd had a lot of subjects to work with, both controls with the typical Bronze and those with variant physiques. In fact he had one such subject set to arrive just about now.

Indeed a few minutes after that, there was a knock at the door to his workshop and a Legionnaire entered. The clansman was a large figure standing a head above Nine's own frame despite Nine not being on the small side. Nine noted that he was wearing thicker than normal armor with ease. Physically strong then for a junior but nothing of note. His cultivation could barely be considered such, firmly within the 1st Heavenstage.

"Welcome, welcome, please come in." Auspicious Nine greeted, trying for a warm welcoming smile. First impressions were all too important. He didn't want a repeat of those earlier subjects who'd run off after he'd invited them to recline in the examination chair. Maybe it was the straps or the unfortunate stains where Four had thrown cherry juice around as Nine had chased him out of his sanctum.

Ajax stepped into the room proper, keeping his face schooled up in a neutral position as he looked at the Treeman's makeshift lab. Furnace of some sort, check. Assorted things that he didn't know much about but were probably rare and expensive, check. Treeman smiling at him showing far too many teeth, check. He had heard a lot of rumors about Auspicious nine. Rarely ones that made this seem as anything but an unpleasant idea at best, but orders were orders and he had no recourse but to come here. Ajax was really hoping that he wasn't about to get tied down and cut open, that would be a bad way to end the day. Regardless, "Legionnaire Tripedes, reporting!" He said, saluting the superior Expert and stood at attention.

Auspicious Nine waved away Ajax's ramrod stiff posture. "Please there's no need to stand on formality. I'm not your prefect or optio. Relax, this will go much easier if you're not acting as though you have a pole up your backside."

Seeing Ajax relax with his permission, he continued, "I find that these things go much better if I'm direct in what's going on. Your prefect will most likely have sent you to me telling you that you were requested. The reason for that request was that I wish to obtain your permission to examine your body, studying how the Blood of Bronze expresses itself in you. Per standard Clan law, I lack the rank to order you to submit to this examination but I am prepared as consideration for your agreement to transfer to you a healthy sum of Contribution Points sufficient to speed up your climb through the Heavenstages. I believe you would most likely have heard from fellow legionnaires who I similarly entertained so my word should not be in doubt."

Ajax somewhat relaxed, at least he was getting asked, "Truthfully I wasn't given anything but rumor and hearsay about you. It wasn't flattering at all. I wasn't told anything about all this except you asked for me by name and where to go to find you As soon as possible. What are you expecting to be doing with me? I don't handle lots of blood, especially my own, well." Ajax wasn't going to turn an offer in good faith down out of hand, but he didn't actually remember the earlier times he got poked and prodded for the irregularity in his blood of Bronze. Which given he was in a real bad way prior to his induction and still not much better after means he had no idea what to expect.

Nine chuckled briefly, "Not flattering I see. Some shy away from the demands of expanding knowledge but to denigrate those who seek where they falter is utter hilarity. Never mind that. As you will surely be aware of, the Clan keeps track of the various constitutions among the Legions. This is mostly done with the Aspirants at induction, though particularly interesting, examples are tracked afterwards after their enrollment into the Legions. Truthfully the quirk of expressed Bronze you possess isn't particularly remarkable. Enhanced stamina and strength already forma part of the baseline of the usual bloodline activated in the average clansman. Unless you happen to have vastly exceeded the performance recorded in your observations? Matched an Expert or overcome someone three small realms above you using physical ability?"

Ajax shook his head in denial. Auspicious
Nine continued, "Expected but a bit disappointing nonetheless. All I wish is to put your body through its paces to try and decipher how the Bronze we share results in a greater limit of physical ability for you."

"I'll be honest with you," Nine said quite frankly, "My interest in you and the wider subject of deviations from the norm of the Bronze bloodline is not purely motivated by intellectual curiosity. My younger sibling is quite sickly and I'm looking for a means to improve her strength. She is in no danger of dying but I want to give her the ability to truly come to love her body's ability to engage the world around her. We were all born with the Blood of Bronze, my siblings and I, so rather than dally with novel treatments I seek to reinforce what is already there to the potency it is well known for. So there will be blood drawing, physical exercises and other tests. I can unfortunately promise that many will be uncomfortable but none truly harmful to you. You will leave my care none the worse for the wear and certainly richer for your participation. So what do you say? Are you in or out?"

Ajax didn't have to think about it. "In." He said with certainty, nodding his head. If some minor discomfort could make someone's life better? Small trade.

Auspicious Nine grinned in response and turned to pick up diagnostic tools he'd had waiting. As he did so he called back to Ajax asking, "By the way you don't happen to know if your reported hardiness extends to your reactions to pill toxicity?"

A hesitant denial followed from Ajax. Nine returned back to the junior Legionnaire and smiled ruefully. "Well in that case I apologize in advance for the distress I will have to subject your gastrointestinal tract to."

Seeing the look of regretful questioning that came over Ajax's face, Nine quipped, "Who knows, it might not be all bad. I had a junior under my supervision who made remarkable gains after ingesting the experimental materials. You might just turn out the same."

Pausing to reflect, he amended his statement bringing no comfort to Ajax, "Well, probably not likely. He did have a boar's constitution and gastronomic capacity."

Striding within reach of the towering junior, Nine instructed with far too much cheer in his voice holding a menacing syringe, "Please strip to your underclothes for me."

As Ajax reluctantly peeled off the protective shell of his Legion issued armor, he wondered if perhaps he'd been a bit too hasty in giving his assent to having this eccentric investigate his body.

***

True to his word Auspicious Nine pushed Ajax to the very limits of his physical ability. The first part of the inquiry had been an embarrassingly thorough examination of his physiology to establish a baseline. Ajax was left feeling after the fact that most experiences of such intimacy had at least come accompanied with more pleasant company and distinctly more enjoyable activities.

Then had come the poking and prodding Ajax had been wary about with an extra helping of pricking and pinching just to make it more fun. He had hair pulled out, skin samples carefully excised for biopsy, blood drained, other less salubrious fluids and substances sampled. He was made to demonstrate his flexibility, lung capacity, pain sensitivity, perceptiveness and more. Soon Nine had exhausted the limits of the inspection he could accomplish in his lab and the examination was moved to the larger grounds of the estate where there was more space to test physical ability. In a prepared section of the grounds, Nine had Ajax run a physical course several times increasing the intensity. Ajax was later trounced in combat drills against Nine, the Expert utterly dominating the larger man with his advanced cultivation.

In the middle of this, Ajax had wondered if Nine had been mistaken about the threat to face his stomach. The dedicated researcher has not in fact misspoken. After an initial assessment of his athleticism on the grounds the scientist had cheerfully fed Ajax an absolute atrocity of a concoction, that made Ajax grimace downing it. His countenance when it unapologetically demanded exit was less sanguine. An utterly wrung out Ajax stood with Nine at the gates of the Pleuron estates, well after dark.

Haggard from the strain of the day's exertion, Ajax paid little attention to Nine's words until a snippet at the end caught his attention. "...no need to worry about your prefect. I've gotten it squared away for you to be available as long as needed. See you tomorrow bright and early."

As he staggered away back to his quarters, Ajax wondered if there truly was enough compensation for the torture he was about to experience.

It took weeks of trials and tests for Auspicious Nine to be satisfied with his investigation of the Enduring Colossus Constitution. As they met for the last time in Auspicious Nine's lab, Ajax relaxed in the now familiar seat, heedless of the straps. He'd produced too many fluids of multiple colors in this very room to be apprehensive in it any longer.

Auspicious Nine stood before his junior, holding a jade slip. Handing it over to the other man, he said, "Thank you for upholding your side of the bargain to the fullest. Honestly, I thought you'd flake out in the earliest parts. That slip contains as detailed an analysis as I could make of your bloodline. It includes a regimen for body cultivation that should easily compound on your advantages with the funds you now have available to you. Alright that's me done, you're free to go. Your Contribution Points balance should already reflect the payment for your time."

***

Ajax sighed contentedly as he relaxed back into the tub of water. Oh, did he need something like this. When the plantman had said it would be uncomfortable, he was not fooling. Surely some of the other Legionnaires might have said that such exercises, experiments and bodily fluid withdrawals for such a prolonged period of time would be torture. They'd not be far from the truth in that regard in all honesty. Still while he would not want to do such a thing again, examining the slip held in his hand, the rewards were everything the treema- Auspicious Nine promised. Now was a time for easing his aching muscles, roiling stomach, and half empty veins though, not for complex thought.


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2542 word collaboration between me and @Insane-Not-Crazy for a Training Juniors collaboration. We get 1271 each.