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

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

Firstly, if you have questions about Good Seeds and the like please read here. If that doesn't answer your question please ping me in thread, or on Discord.

If you write a new Good Seed, or write an omake, please update the spreadsheet if you have access.

If you do not have access, please ping a collaborator (Swordomatic, Alectai, Quest, TehChron, Insane-Not-Crazy, Humbaba, ReaderOfFate, Kaboomatic, no., BungieONI) letting them know what you want and they will update the spreadsheet here. To gain access, you will need a gmail account of some kind. Throwaway emails are fine (I'm using one for the spreadsheet), but to gain access it's as simple as sending me either your email via PM, via DM in Discord, or just in Discord's #spreadsheet-requests channel.

This is mandatory. If a Good Seed does not record their omake by pinging collabs (or just requesting access and editing things themselves - this is the preferred option), I won't give out awards. If a new Good Seed is not recorded here, they won't advance. By doing this it makes the whole thing manageable for me - it's gotten pretty unwieldy!

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

Omake Link, which is just a link to your first omake for the turn. This makes it easier for me to read them as I do the update - without this it's tough to know off the bat which omake were written this turn, and to properly

Requested Bonus, which is your requested bonus for your omake. You can leave it up to me if you like. You can see more info in the Good Seed infopost here.

Cultivation Aims. For those following unorthodox paths - higher than 9th Heavenstage or later than 7th Dao Pillar paths. Please put in what you are aiming for before you break through. I have left it as 'default'. If you do not edit it, I'll go with that.

Turn Notes - Do you want to do something specific? Enter a Secret Realm? Help the Clan out in some way? If you have something specific you want to accomplish on this turn, put it in turn notes so I can adjust your Fate around it.

All other fields are for QM use to record character information to properly run the flow of the game.

 

[occipitallobe]

I always love Manuel musing on how his subordinates are doing their job.

Only one goof.


Possibly incomplete sentence.

Click to shrink...

Hah, I usually do those when my brain isn't doing the job.

If I can't find words for a sentence I leave it, and promise myself I'll come back and fix it later.

Then sometimes I forget.

 

[BungieONI]

Hah, I usually do those when my brain isn't doing the job.

If I can't find words for a sentence I leave it, and promise myself I'll come back and fix it later.

Then sometimes I forget.

Click to shrink...

I do this sometimes to so I completely understand.

 

[Liliet]

Manuel is such a wonderful and adorable old monster.

 

[TheDuke]

Phew, that year 79 post gave me a damn heart attack, thought I'd missed my window.

COMING IN OFF THE TOP ROPE, IT'S OMAKE NUMBER THREEEE!

Feel like I might've packed a bit too much into the last couple seconds of the fight there, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of grammar and spelling errors to correct when I wake up in the morning, along with some general improvements to the writing quality to be made, but otherwise relatively satisfied with how things played out. Criticism is, as always, appreciated.

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Hundred Armed Giant
Castor Tyndaridae


Castor grimaced internally as he weaved out of the way of another Guandao swing, returning the favour with a punch that caused his opponent's head to snap back. The shock of the blow wore off almost immediately though, and Castor leapt out of range, sucking in his stomach to narrowly avoid a sweeping blow that would have cut open his stomach, had it connected. Even as the Guandao swept by Pollux dove in, capitalizing on what Castor had correctly observed to be an overextension on his sparring partner's part. The Guandao user backpedaled in panic, trying to bring back his weapon to ward off the approaching Automaton, but it was too little too late.

With a full two meters to go Pollux's arm snapped out in a blow that, had it not been for some recently installed modifications, wouldn't have reached nearly far enough. As he now was, though, the arm stretched onward, doubling in length as bronze segments of skin came unlocked, exposing the stringy tendons and bronze-wire muscle underneath as the fist sped forward before smashing into the cultivator's exposed face with barely-restrained force.

Poor Remus went down like a sack of Dawn Cries. He was a dab hand with his Guandao, probably one of the best fighters in Castor's sparring class. Against the team of Castor and Pollux though, there was no way he could keep up. As the two clasped hands in acknowledgement of the spar's results and left the ring, though, Castor's mind was in turmoil. Just like his last spar, he felt he could go…further. His strikes were unsatisfactory. Honestly, facing off against Remus without the backing of Pollux, he probably wouldn't win. Still, he wasn't going to try and futilely match the strength and durability of the likes of core families. He knew his limitations. The blood of bronze ran thinly in his veins indeed.

Yet, it galled him to let Pollux do all the heavy lifting while he himself served only as a distraction or annoyance to enemies. He needed to find a purpose in combat, a way to complement Pollux's heavier, bronze-sheathed strikes with his own. This called, he reckoned, for a trip to the clan's archives.

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The archives were, despite their name, no mere glorified library. A towering spire within the clan compound, built from carefully sculpted sandstone and topped by a massive bronze bell, the archives codified and stored almost every piece of written knowledge the clan possessed, great shelves of scrolls and manuals detailing formations, martial techniques, arrays, clan lineages, and everything in between. The archives were tended to at all times by multiple Foundation Establishment members of the clan, with the Head Archivist position occupied by one of the clan's precious Core Formation cultivators. Knowledge was, after all, considered by the clan to be a deadly weapon in and of itself, a sentiment Castor wholeheartedly agreed with.

After presenting his Mechanikos seal to the archivist guarding the tower's entrance, Castor swept past the first five floors, which contained much of the clan's recorded history. What he needed wouldn't be found there, he was sure. The sixth to tenth floor he bypassed as well, though somewhat more reluctantly.

These floors contained the clan's collective knowledge of arrays, and he'd spent many an hour here himself, perusing the shelves in search of some dust covered scroll or tome that detailed an array mostly lost to time. He was sorely tempted to join the other Mechanikos he passed, browsing the shelves at their leisure. Still, he had a different purpose to his visit today, and he wasn't planning on being waylaid.

Finally, he arrived at the eleventh floor, and his destination: The clan's collected martial techniques, both those developed by themselves and those collected from wandering cultivators and, in some cases, even tortured out of enemy cultivators. He'd heard rumours that the archives even contained some Blood Path martial techniques, learned in an effort to understand their enemies, though those were supposedly concealed on the fiftieth, and final, floor of the tower, the so-called "Forbidden Records", which were administered to be the dour Head Archivist himself.

Here, he hoped, he would find a technique or method that would allow him to discover his niche in combat with Pollux. Five floors, devoted to martial techniques in thousands of different styles, for hundreds of different weapons. He'd need to narrow his search quickly, if he didn't want to spend the next century poring over manuals and scrolls. He dismissed styles primarily focused on a weapon out of hand. All of his training up until this point had been in hand-to-hand combat. He had neither the time nor inclination to reconstruct his entire skillset around the sword, spear, or whatever esoteric weapon styles could be found in these shelves.

Martial techniques from outside the clan, too, he mentally dismissed. There might be some technique that he could make use of, but the number of foreign martial techniques far outweighed those of the Golden Devils, and thinly as it might run, the bronze blood flowing through his veins was something he'd be remiss not to take advantage. Good, that was a solid four of the floors taken care of. Still, he wanted to narrow his search just a little further. Fist strikes had always been his forte, so techniques of that nature would be preferable, and techniques that were well-suited to fighting alongside allies were vital, if he wanted to implement the technique effectively alongside Pollux.

That would do it for specifications, he was pretty sure. The next step would be finding an archivist that tended to this floor, a fairly easy task. Many of the archivists on duty were assigned to these floors, he'd heard, as it saw some of the greatest volume of foot traffic in the entire archive, more then multiple quieter sections combined. After a moment of wandering the shelves, passing cultivators ranging from his own level to the vaunted level of Foundation Establishment he located an archivist, a portly older man with a neatly trimmed, graying goatee and a completely bald head, emphasized by his bronze skin. Judging from the Qi fluctuations the man was giving off, he had to be in Foundation Establishment. A lucky find, he'd likely be a much better source of information then an archivist in Qi Condensation. He was already speaking with someone, though, so Castor leaned up against a shelf, waiting for the two to finish conversing.

After a minute the cultivator clasped his hands in thanks to the archivist before striding off towards whatever the archivist had suggested. The archivist turned his attention to Castor then, favouring him with a quiet smile as he approached him with calm, measured strides.

"My greeting, junior brother. What brings you and your automaton to this section of the archives today?" The archivist's voice, despite his considerable bulk, was sibilant and smooth, every word spoken with quiet deliberation. A Dao of Silence, perhaps? No no, couldn't let his thoughts drift. He related what he was looking for, the silent archivist absorbing his words. After Castor finished relaying the specifications he had in mind the archivist stood stock still for a moment, the rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was still alive. Then, abruptly he spoke.

"I can think of eight, possibly nine books that would fit those requirements. The Bronze Crane's Beak manual, found on the seventeenth shelf of section five, the Harmonious Scrolls, found on the sixth shelf of section four, the…." Castor committed the different locations to memory as the archivist rattled them off. Only a couple of them sounded even tangentially related to his desires, but in his experience, martial techniques were nothing if not obtuse in their naming sense, and there were fewer sources of information more trustworthy then an archivist. After clasping his hands and thanking the archivist, who simply returned the gesture with a genial smile on his face before making his way over to another cultivator that had been waiting for him to finish his conversation Castor set off in search of the manuals and scrolls that had been suggested. Hopefully they'd have what he needed.

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Castor sat at one of the desks that were peppered throughout the different floors of the archives, eyeing the spread of manuals and scrolls in front of him. He'd given them all a cursory skim, and at least a few of them interested him. The Bronze Crane's Beak, for example, had been developed by a Core Formation Golden Demon three centuries past who, like him, had only the slightest trickle of bronze blood flowing through his veins. This Core Formation cultivator had, through a great deal of trial and error, found a way to manipulate the bronze blood that flowed through his veins, directing and concentrating it at the tips of his fingers. Where the rest of his skin had simply been a light bronze, his fingertips became a dark, solid bronze instead, harder then even the normal metal itself. Redirecting the bronze blood from the rest of the body did away with any natural defenses it might offer while the technique was in effect, true, but for members of the Clan such as Castor and the technique's originator the defenses their thin blood offered were paltry at best, barely better then that of the average cultivator. A technique like this would certainly give his attacks more punch then they'd had before.

On the other hand, though, the Harmonious Scrolls called to him in a different way. From what he could infer, the scrolls had been illustrated by a pair of twins five hundreds years back in the clans history, two Foundation Establishment cultivators who, if his memory of notable cultivators was anything to go by, had learned how to fight foes a full Great Circle above themselves when fighting in tandem. Rather then writing, the scrolls related, through beautifully illustrated images, a series of combination attacks and their accompanying footwork, which allowed two cultivators to attack in perfect synch, the strength of their attacks building on one another. Castor might have to alter some of the footwork just so, to account for his need to direct Pollux, but the new combat method the scrolls represented, multiplicative in it's use of two fighters in comparison with the swapping fighting style Castor had been using with Pollux up until this point which seemed so simplistic now, couldn't be understated.

And even beyond these two, one final manual called to him. The Nine Point Acupressure Fist. He had no idea who'd written it. It had no recorded author anywhere in the manual itself, and no matter how he wracked his brain the fighting style it taught was a match for no notable Golden Demon clansmen he could think of. The attacks it related seemed, at first, to simply be some sort of acupuncture. The further he delved into the manual, though, the strangest the points seemed to get. Points to paralyze an arm, send a leg into convulsions, and concluding in the titular Nine Point Acupressure Fist, a high speed succession of precise strikes at nine different parts of that body that, if carried out correctly, would supposedly reverse the Qi channels in a cultivators body, horrifically crippling them at best.

Truth be told, all three of them appealed to him in different ways. The Bronze Crane's Beak would lend his strikes the potency they needed to really matter in a fight. The Harmonious Scrolls, on the other hand, offered possibilities of a level of synchronization with Pollux he'd never even considered, and the Nine Point Acupressure Fist….well, he wasn't really sure what about it was calling out to him, exactly, but call out it did. He was torn about which of the three he ought to select.

Then, the pieces clicked together in his head, like the last part of the puzzle. He'd been looking at this all wrong. He didn't really need to select any one of them, did he? All three of them played to his strengths in different ways. The best option was, clearly, all of them. It'd be a herculean effort, he had to admit, wiser minds then he had devised all three of these techniques. Still, however slim his chance of success, if he could weave these three techniques into one coherent style, it'd suit him perfect.

Eye ablaze with light, mind working feverishly, Castor flipped open the Bronze Crane's Beak manual, beginning to read through it in earnest. Now, how could he integrate Beak Spears Frog with the Flowing Dioscuri Strikes and a strike to the Jin-chen acupressure point? Perhaps if he…..

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The Bronze armoured training dummy screeched in protest as, finally, Castor's finger punched through the two-inch thick plates. He grinned in exhilaration. It'd been the work of months, and his contribution points had dropped dangerously low in the meantime, but he'd finally refined his new style to what he considered an acceptable level. Acupressure points had been rolled into spear-like jabs with his bronze-tipped fingers, which had in turn been rolled into simultaneous strikes with Pollux. He'd finally found the niche within which he could fight alongside his automaton. Where Pollux was a hammer, he was now a chisel, capable of widening and splitting open the cracks in an opponent's defenses that Pollux's powerful blows created.

All he needed now was the finishing touch, to put a capstone on the first iteration of his personal combat method. And a name, he supposed, but that could come later. He needed to temper it in the fires of battle, against a foe that could truly push Castor to his limits. He'd used a technique or two he'd been working on sporadically during sparring classes, if only to observe how well they worked against a live target, but none of those sparring partners had been a difficult opponent. If he needed to drive himself to his limits, he had just the person in mind….

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"The great young genius, Castor Tyndaridae, challenging someone else to a spar? Have gates to the Hells opened in the skies and demonic beasts trapped my mind in some infernal illusion?" The mocking lilt echoing across the field forced Castor to suppress a grin. He never changed.

"Shut it Briar. You know I hate it when people call me that." He was the only one that dared to call him that to his face, after all. His elders didn't want him to "get a big head" supposedly, and most of his peers only whispered the words behind his back.

"That's exactly why I'm using it, cousin." His relative's face was split open in a big, mocking smile, though there wasn't a hint of malice in his eyes. Briareus Tyndaridae was probably the closest thing Castor had to a friend. He'd never let his energetic kinsmen get too close to him, but still, on dark nights as he lay in bed, Castor had truly come close to deciding to confide in him, even if he never went through with the act. Alone out of all his family, Briar hadn't begrudged him his decision to devote himself to Pollux in the slightest. Whatever the reason was, whether it was simply his accepting nature or his own rather unorthodox use of Automatons, that had long since stuck with Castor. He'd long since tempered himself against the criticism, and risen above it, but he'd never forget the one member of his family that'd stuck up for him.

Shared past aside, though, Briar was the perfect candidate to push Castor and Pollux to their limits. They'd sparred only a few times in the past, but every bout he'd shown improvement as fast as Castor's own, every victory was a near thing. He could think of no one that would be capable of stoking the fires in which he'd temper his new personal style hotter.

"Hope you're ready for Gyges." Briar slammed all six of his fists together. Ah yes, his cousin's automaton. It'd been a Hecatoncheires model, before Briar got his hands on it and started his retrofit. Unlike any other Tyndaridae, even Castor, Briar had no interest in fighting alongside an automaton. Instead, he clad himself in what could best be described as animated armour, his two natural arms sheathed in bronze such that they looked like triplets to the extra sets of arms Briar had installed above and below them.

He wasn't sure exactly what the mechanism behind his cousin's control was, but he suspected that he controlled them through pulses of command Qi, allowing his arms and legs to react and act at the speed of his thoughts. It was a potent combination to be sure, and one that'd given Castor plenty of trouble in the past. He didn't begrudge others their use, but Briar himself didn't believe in secret weapons or sneak attacks. With every iteration of his automaton he simply tempered his physical body further and further, his arms and legs reacting with less and less margin for error. Castor was sure that this time would be no different, and no less challenging.

"You ready to get started, cousin?" Briar's call echoed across the field, tinged with excitement, as he entered his ready stance, both feet tensed to send him straight towards his target. It was stance as straightforward as his personality. Castor entered his ready stance too, which he'd taken to calling the Shifting Sand, tensed on the balls of his feet, one foot just slightly in front of the other, ready to propel him in whichever direction he needed to travel. After a pregnant pause, Castor called his assent, and the fight began.

Briar surged forward, crossing halfway across the field in an instant. He'd gotten faster, though Castor had expected that. With a quick command to Pollux his Automaton stepped up, snapping a probing jab across the remaining distance towards Briar.

Castor saw his cousin's eyes widen for an imperceptible instant as Pollux's extending fist rocketed towards him, but with a harsh clang his two central limbs slammed together, catching the jab scant inches from his face before hurling the arm to the side as he closed the remaining distance. Castor ducked and weaved the flurry of blows, working overtime to avoid the sixfold attack as Pollux's arm snapped back into place.

"A neat trick cousin, but not enough this time!" As Castor leapt back out of range Pollux tagged in, directing a quick one-two at Briar's head. Two arms were all he needed to divert both strikes before Briar pushed onward though, continuing to pursue Castor. One punch, two punches Castor was able to block, though his arms groaned at the strain. The third and fourth punches though, slipped both over and under his guard, burying themselves in his cheek and stomach respectively. Castor coughed in pain, desperately backpedaling and almost falling to his knees. He was pretty sure he'd felt a rib break under that punch, and as he spat out a glob of blood a tooth went with it. Briar certainly wasn't pulling any punches, and he had a lot of them to throw.

"I'm wise you're your tricks, Castor! You're a clever cultivator, but cunning can't win you every fight, and I don't intend to lose again!"

Briar was right, he knew. Just as he'd suspected, he could see the spectre of defeat looming if he continued to rely only on old tricks and tactics, on Pollux, and refused to evolve himself. Now was the time, backed into a corner by a superior opponent able to push past his usual tactics and injure him. It felt like years since he'd experienced pain in a spar, he'd always kept his opponents far. A year ago, before the trip, before the ape, if Briar had pushed past his defenses like this he probably would've panicked. He supposed Helios might've had the right idea, much as it galled him to admit it. Well, now was the time. Either he'd sink, and lose his position as the "great young genius" (heavens he hated that title), or he'd swim, and continue to rise to even greater heights.

As Briar charged in again, probably expecting to finish the fight, Castor rose to meet him, and, fingers tipped in bronze, he jabbed them into his cousin's throat. Deep, but not too deep to piece. The effect was instant, Briar's eyes bulging in shock as his bottommost hands broke off from the attack, clutching at his flattened windpipe. He maintained the presence of mind, though, to continue four of his attacks, two fists aimed high, at his head, and two low, at his stomach.

All according to plan. Just one finger pointed out on each hand this time, he whipped both arms up, burying the hard bronze points in the Fao-xian pressure points of the joint connecting Brair's upper arm to his lower. Briar boggled again as his arms, his real arms, dropped limp, two neat holes drilled through the armour that'd been protecting them seconds earlier. They wouldn't be moving for a few minutes at least. Still, two arms were speeding towards his head. If they landed, it'd be lights out. Had the command been too slow?

His instant of concern was assuaged as, from behind him, two arms zipped past, even faster then the oncoming fists, catching and clasping on to both. He saw Briar try desperately to dig in his heels as he understood was about to occur, but Pollux's grip was inexorable as his arms hummed past, bringing Briar with them, and with all five fingers presented to form a bronze spear, Castor drove the point into the Jin-chi point, located in Brian's sternum, the combined momentum of Castor's attack and Pollux's retracting arms hitting with the force of a cultivator many stages above their level.

Briar dropped soundlessly, looking to all the world as if the soul had been knocked from his body, and after a moment of tension Castor relaxed, sitting down and waiting for his cousin to wake back up. He'd need to thank him for helping to push his growth further.

 

[Humbaba]

I hope this is mostly up to standard. My muse has been running dry and then I sat down to write and this came out in one session. It's not the omake I originally wanted to write this turn as it's another training/musing one, but hopefully I can still write about events that happened this turn in the next (@Mochinator maybe Snaga next turn).

Spoiler: AN

For the purpose of cultivation, when does an ecosystem become a nervous system? I don't know but I find the idea of entire forests being a single cultivating entity quite interesting. This was originally going to be a training make. Then I thought that meditation should consider deep questions and it was going to be about "if the will of heaven was externally imposed, could we have a will of nature?" thing but my muse wandered down a slightly different path halfway through.]

Meditations beneath a poison tree

Beneath the leaves of the coconut faeces tree, surrounded by a pattern of spirit stones, Wei Feng meditated.

He breathed only occasionally, and shallowly at that. With great effort and training, mere mortals could hold their breath for minutes at a time. For a qi condensation cultivator, a single breath could last far longer.

Yet no matter how shallow, every breath allowed more particles of the poisonous scent into his body. Slowly, he drew out the power of the spirit stones and circulated it within his body, reinforcing and cleansing himself. Each rhythmic pulse of qi was guided into himself. He concentrated on his kidneys, reinforcing his body's natural defences and ability to filer out poisons and impurities. At the same time, practicing this circulation of qi would naturally force impurities built up from mortal life from himself. By recognising the impurities that came from the faeces coconuts and using his qi to remove them he hoped to improve how easily he could identify and remove other types of impurity.

It was a difficult balance. If he circulated his qi too slowly, then he would become overwhelmed by the poison. Too fast and at best he might expel the poison too fast, for no benefit. At worst, he risked losing control of his qi and the improper flow could cause injuries that would be difficult or even impossible to heal. It was a test of will as well as control.

A weak will would be deadly on the path of cultivation but to Wei Feng this was not the greatest test he had faced. His own body cultivation method required he virtually boil himself alive regularly. What is a mere stink to that?

So Wei Feng had thought on his first day.

Now approaching his twenty-fifth day Wei Feng had realised that he had failed to see mount Tai. His will had been strong, but brittle. For his cultivation method had never demanded such a length of concentration and focus. Concentrating through short burst of terrible agony had not prepared him for long weeks of lesser but still potent suffering. Yet he persevered. Every day, he breathed a little more deeply. Every day he dealt with more poison, never letting his concentration waver.

Beneath the faeces coconut tree, Wei Feng let his mind wander, seeking enlightenment. He came to think on the nature of nature.

Does nature have its own will? If so, is it separate from that of an individual plant or animal?

Take the tree he now meditated beneath? Could it have its own will? After all, were there not tales of plants cultivating across many lifetimes and eventually attaining enlightenment and mortal form?

If so, could you classify the tree as evil? After all it spread a poisonous miasma across the land. Yet, could it not also be classified as good? For the miasma is marked with a thick and obvious scent and is not fatal until approached closely.

Such thoughts might be absurd. For even if the tree might one day have a will and reason, at present all it could strive for was to grow and live. It is foolish to ascribe morality to a tree for growing, or a lizard for eating flies.

Yet the thought remained. Could nature have a will, not as a single tree or animal but as a whole? Mortal humans are, after all, made up of many individual living parts that could act but would not be said to think.

If even a single plant could, across many years, develop a will and gain enlightenment, then could a glade, or a forest?

Wei Feng looked out at a desert full of buried and crystallised qi. And pondered what might be.

 

[Mochinator]

"I'm sending you off to quite possibly die alongside me. Its the right thing to do. I've already had this talk with Optio Kafatos, and Tessarians Augustan and Rongnu. Tell your trainees to settle their accounts, say goodbye to their families, then go. Do what you need to, you're strong enough." He said quietly, hands clasped in his lap as he sat in a chair across from her, leaning forward as his tea sat half drunk on the table between them.

Ferenike nodded and set down her half finished tea. They'd need to finish this drink when the war was over. She stood. He rose to match her and saluted. "Don't die until you can stand next to me again." He ordered.

She saluted in return. "I'll be back sir." She promised.

Click to shrink...

I like the tone of this. The understanding that they might just lose the whole legion and yet releasing the troops without fear that they will desert. Really speaks of the sense of duty that instilled to the bones of the Clan.

"I've trained you for years. You are some of the best I have ever seen. Against the Abyssal Devil Bees, you will die, ignominiously, if you fight alone. Remember the words of the Legion!" She said, the wind carrying her voice to them as she watched them. Their faces were hard, confident. They knew what they were supposed to do. They were each alone a grain of sand, weak. Together they were still weak, but the bronze she had made of them together would hold, and those who did die would die with glory and purpose.

"Unity!" They cried.

"Unity!" She shouted with them.

"Duty!" They bellowed.

"Duty!" She bellowed with them.

"FOR THE CLAN!" They roared, Qi flaring and sending the wind into a frenzy.

"FOR THE CLAN!" She roared with them, the furnace heat of her voice blasting their faces.

Click to shrink...

Same with the above, except that this is more dramatic because they know that they're the cannon fodder and that they dying for mortals. The same mortals that they could have ruled over with an iron fist if it wasn't for their sense of duty. Very Poignant

"You're distracted. Are you afraid teacher?" Katerina asked bluntly.

Ferenike caught her kick on a forearm and countered with a punch to her extended hip, speaking as the girl dodged away. "... yes." She said.

Katerina backpedaled, making space as she looked at Ferenike in subtle shock and curiosity. "Really? Are you afraid of dying?" She asked, seeming incredulous.

Ferenike nodded. "Yes. Some for myself, but mostly, for my students. The Heavens will kill them if they are weak and they give them no time to become strong."

She looked meaningfully at Katerina.

"Even me, huh." She said thoughtfully as they circled each other.

Ferenike nodded.

"You got friends who can help?" She asked.

"Hah! Yes, I do. We'll do our best." She said with a smile.

"Don't fucking die out there teacher, you need to live so I can beat you eventually." Katerina said with a grumble.

"Oh? Like I'd just sit still for you to wallop me over the head! Silly girl!" She shouted as she leapt through the air and kicked Katerina in the gut, propelling her out of the array with a whoosh of displaced air.

"You still need to learn how to dodge!" She shouted as she chased after her student.

Click to shrink...

Hmm, the relationship here is interesting. Less the formal Teacher and Student relationship in Xianxia/Wuxia fiction and more the Mentor system found in Western fiction. Quite interesting to see the western values/ideal in a Xianxia.

It came with a boom of thunder.

With a terrible shriek the pillar behind her was ripped into a sandy whirlpool, a lashing stinger piercing her horse clean through. And then the eight footed thudding that haunted her dreams came, as the horse was flung into the gnashing circular furnace maw of the creature. Ferenike leaped away from the distracted beast at a dead sprint. Not a moment too soon as she heard the thunk of a gigantic spear sized stinger slam into stone and the hiss as that stone evaporated into red hot dust.

In her heart she laughed as she beheld the killer of her master.

It was twenty meters long, each leg the size of a small pillar, each pincer thrice her size, its flesh a scintillating crystal glass, and at its front over its rotating maw of glass blades it had eight eyes and pedipalps like a long mustache flexing around it. Scoring across five of its eyes was a massive scar, pulping them and leaving deep cracked craters in half of its face. The other three were green faceted crystals that stared at her with hatred. Its shell was thick and crusted with scars, and she could see the dark shadows of its firelit organs through it. And up on its top was the craters of spear blows she remembered well.

"You! Human whelp! I remember you! I, Old Jingzhi, shall savor your eye flesh for what your master did to me!" An old, hissing voice echoed through the plaza as it paused and stared at her.

Click to shrink...

Oh wow, it's SMART. That makes it way scarier then just a dumb powerful beast.

"Foul damnable demon child!" He howled as he wriggled on his back and flipped back over, hissing as his barbed stinger, a black and evil looking thing loomed above his enormous body.

"Now!" Ferenike shouted as her spear manifested in her hand and she brought up her shield, her glass armor bubbling into being.

Two golden blurs joined her on either side and then there was a thrumming boom as the Hoplite surged into existence, casting its shadow in her light.

Their shield caught the spear-stinger of the Scorpion with a clang. Lashing again and again and again, faster than the eye could follow the clever old beast sought out their weaknesses. But Ferenike was the Hoplite and so were her friends, and together their eyes saw the truth.

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Monster Hunter Time! No xianxia duel for vengeance here, just good old fashion Monhun tactics. I only regret the lack of a flash bomb

"Hah! Foolish!" He barked and then dozens of house sized stones erupted from the dust cloud left in his wake. Ferenike saw him picking them up and throwing them with his great pincers, each nearly half as large as he was.

Gallius's hand helped guide hers as Fuxi watched for further trickery, and the Hoplite's glass infused spear stabbed forward three dozen times. Gigantic stones were split cleanly, the cuts glinting in the sun as the rock melted under the heat of her blows, instantly rendered into a clear glass.

All around them Ferenike could see the battlefield becoming molten from the heat of the combatants. Mortals would be dead now, boiled alive by the heat.

Then they were upon the old Scorpion and he clacked his pedipalps in glee.

Then his mouth seemed to swell, and glow, and then there was a rush of superheated glass and flame from his maw. There was no thought as Ferenike reacted, drawing on the Qi invested into the Hoplite and forcing it into her own throat. She screamed in return, the sound drowning out the roar of the Scorpion's own blast as her stream of molten glass and heat slammed into his. For a moment the two blasts mixed, Qi struggling against Qi until with a huge thunderclap her own flaming breath overwhelmed the Scorpion's and slammed into his face.

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Honestly, this conjures up Kaiiju vibes. Breath Weapon against Breath Weapon. Now i kinda wanna see Ferenike's Hoplite Atomic Breathing the Devil Bees.

Her Qi enhanced eyes pierced the darkness, and within it she followed the glint of her enemy's head. Slowly a pile of things was revealed, the head leaning against its base.

Bones, glimmering gold, swords, and books of all things bound in metal. She looked down at the giant skull, staring vacantly up at her from the shattered pits she had made of its remaining eyes.

She sighed.

The wind brushed lightly against her cheek, and then was gone.

She said goodbye, a final time.

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Ah, the climax of the backstory! I'm kinda regretting setting my own backstory's foe to such a high level since at this rate i can only go confront it in like 20 turns if the rolls are nice.

Now, we head to war, with all of our loose ends from her origin wrapped up once and for all, as a marker from her transition from girlhood to womanhood.

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This would be the end of Vol 1 of the Xianxia story. From Mortal to Cultivator, next volume will be the rise to legend.

Take it as a snippet before I do the Good Seed update tomorrow.

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DUN DUN DUN. Moment of Truth.

She had even paid for wives to come north. While cultivators fought heedless of gender, mortals were more limited. If you could not cultivate Qi, a man was stronger than a woman, just as a tiger might be stronger than a lion. With Qi, all things changed, but the mortal conscripts of Hua Empire - usually armed with crossbows and fielded en masse to try and slow down enemy Qi Condensation cultivators - were nearly all men.

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Hmm, this is interesting. At this rate i can see us assimilating the Hua Empire so that they're not subordinate but part of us.

Her hands were held behind her, clasped tightly together as a tightness in her chest tired to spread.

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Tried ?

EDIT: Aii 2 more omakes appeared!

 

[Raron]

So we are getting Good Seeds soon. The Rewards are getting distributed.

Here is a spoiler:

Spoiler

Some characters have a under "Reward Given").

 

[moon-llama]

Training days

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@occipitallobe

Sorry about the bother but I think my omake got missed?

 

[BungieONI]

Tried ?

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Yep, thank you for catching that!

I was a little unsure of how to sell the whole deal with Dragoumis letting her go. Since on one perspective, its one cultivator, who is powerful and talented being sent off to possibly die in some vengeance gambit. However the reasons I tried to give that convinced him it was a good idea, was that she was powerful, had powerful friends, and that he genuinely likes her see the previous discussion with Rongnu.

Same deal with the Trainees, though it was less difficult since I had it in mind for the most part and once I got past the "how do I excuse Dragoumis letting her go" dilemma there were far less sturdy obstacles in my path. And you're right, I'm trying to sell the idea that, yeah War is serious. Especially for weak flames like Ferenike.

They could die. Just. Boom, that's it. She's likely to survive because of her Lifesaving Treasures, but we saw how that worked out for her other friends. She knows this.

And yes Monster Hunter! I was definitely keen on MonHun vibes vs Jingzhi.

Honestly, this conjures up Kaiiju vibes. Breath Weapon against Breath Weapon. Now i kinda wanna see Ferenike's Hoplite Atomic Breathing the Devil Bees.

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Will admit I was thinking that the sound of her breath weapon sounds like Shin Godzilla.

Spoiler: Video

The mentor thing is something that just sort of popped out and I was like "Eh, fuck it, I like it!" and went with the magic.

Her backstory I'd set it up this way because I want to move from Ferenike's enemies to the Clan's enemies that she can fight and grow the scope of her story.

 

[Mochinator]

Truth be told, all three of them appealed to him in different ways. The Bronze Crane's Beak would lend his strikes the potency they needed to really matter in a fight. The Harmonious Scrolls, on the other hand, offered possibilities of a level of synchronization with Pollux he'd never even considered, and the Nine Point Acupressure Fist….well, he wasn't really sure what about it was calling out to him, exactly, but call out it did. He was torn about which of the three he ought to select.

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This is so Wuxia, I love it! The idea of using Fingers + Inner Qi was awesome enough, but now you have some Real Steel shadowing as well. I Like It! It's similar to how i attempt to write my Good Seed who's ideal is Man and Mount. Except that as a puppet, tactics like stopping a blade or even booby trapping a limb is possible.

"Hope you're ready for Gyges." Briar slammed all six of his fists together. Ah yes, his cousin's automaton. It'd been a Hecatoncheires model, before Briar got his hands on it and started his retrofit. Unlike any other Tyndaridae, even Castor, Briar had no interest in fighting alongside an automaton. Instead, he clad himself in what could best be described as animated armour, his two natural arms sheathed in bronze such that they looked like triplets to the extra sets of arms Briar had installed above and below them.

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This is freaking cool. I see a machamp. But oof, the palm strikes would hurt! Especially if the robot arms have tricks in them.

Does nature have its own will? If so, is it separate from that of an individual plant or animal?

Take the tree he now meditated beneath? Could it have its own will? After all, were there not tales of plants cultivating across many lifetimes and eventually attaining enlightenment and mortal form?

If so, could you classify the tree as evil? After all it spread a poisonous miasma across the land. Yet, could it not also be classified as good? For the miasma is marked with a thick and obvious scent and is not fatal until approached closely.

Such thoughts might be absurd. For even if the tree might one day have a will and reason, at present all it could strive for was to grow and live. It is foolish to ascribe morality to a tree for growing, or a lizard for eating flies.

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Hmm, i think this would be something that is more prevalent in the South. Since in most Xianxia settings, the plants gaining enlightenment naturally is like over the course of millennia. But it would be interesting to see a Spirit plant with rudimentary intelligence/cunning.

So we are getting Good Seeds soon. The Rewards are getting distributed.

Here is a spoiler:

Spoiler

Some characters have a under "Reward Given").

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Oh Dammn!!! Gonna have to check once i'm done with this

I was a little unsure of how to sell the whole deal with Dragoumis letting her go. Since on one perspective, its one cultivator, who is powerful and talented being sent off to possibly die in some vengeance gambit. However the reasons I tried to give that convinced him it was a good idea, was that she was powerful, had powerful friends, and that he genuinely likes her see the previous discussion with Rongnu.

Same deal with the Trainees, though it was less difficult since I had it in mind for the most part and once I got past the "how do I excuse Dragoumis letting her go" dilemma there were far less sturdy obstacles in my path. And you're right, I'm trying to sell the idea that, yeah War is serious. Especially for weak flames like Ferenike.

They could die. Just. Boom, that's it. She's likely to survive because of her Lifesaving Treasures, but we saw how that worked out for her other friends. She knows this.

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Huh. I got the impression that he was actually confident that she could beat it and more worried that she won't be present if the Legion needs to be suddenly mobilized. Like it might be due to the quality of the omake + the perspective involved, but i see her as the protag level so this is all coming across as something she will overcome instead of something with actual risk.

Her backstory I'd set it up this way because I want to move from Ferenike's enemies to the Clan's enemies that she can fight and grow the scope of her story.

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I wished i had that foresight. I was going to go all out for vengeance but then realized that i lack the ability to build up the narrative to support it and so made a hasty change in Dao in Turn 2 to supporting the Clan.

 

[BungieONI]

Huh. I got the impression that he was actually confident that she could beat it and more worried that she won't be present if the Legion needs to be suddenly mobilized. Like it might be due to the quality of the omake + the perspective involved, but i see her as the protag level so this is all coming across as something she will overcome instead of something with actual risk.

I wished i had that foresight. I was going to go all out for vengeance but then realized that i lack the ability to build up the narrative to support it and so made a hasty change in Dao in Turn 2 to supporting the Clan.

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Yeah that vibe you get is intentional, since she is powerful. He is pretty confident she could kill it herself, but then she'd likely be wounded for longer than it takes for the Legion to make it to the front and would thus be useless and a drain on healing. He wouldn't have let her unless she had friends to guarantee it, basically as a principle of husbanding his available resources is what I settled on.

Honestly, lack of foresight can be a boon as it leads to character arc shifts that can be easily sold as a genuine but valuable surprise if done right so don't beat yourself up about it too much. It flowed naturally for Xiao Yi when I was reading it.

 

[Humbaba]

Not sure. Expect the Good Seed Report out probably tomorrow, maaaybe today.

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Headless chicken noises.

Have mercy on us Bungie! You're eating all the good fortune!

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You are in no position to talk!

So we are getting Good Seeds soon. The Rewards are getting distributed.

Here is a spoiler:

Spoiler

Some characters have a under "Reward Given").

Click to shrink...

Huh. Guess my omake delivery was just in time for the report then. Glad I didn't wait to post what I have until I worked on something for the war.

Hmm, i think this would be something that is more prevalent in the South. Since in most Xianxia settings, the plants gaining enlightenment naturally is like over the course of millennia. But it would be interesting to see a Spirit plant with rudimentary intelligence/cunning.

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Yes... but hear me out. Secret realm untouched for thousands of years with an entire forest that's self aware and cultivating as a whole. Wouldn't that be cool?

 

[TimEd]

Hah, I usually do those when my brain isn't doing the job.

If I can't find words for a sentence I leave it, and promise myself I'll come back and fix it later.

Then sometimes I forget.

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Sounds like you just need a placeholder piece. Journalists use TK, which can be easily seen at a scan or doing an automatic find in page.

 

[Olivebirdy]

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
― Martin Luther King Jr.

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Juturna Cerintha wishes to follow her father's footsteps in the Dao of Peace. Believes that if peace doesn't solve all conflicts, one simply hasn't worked hard enough. Doesn't believe in the trap of 'if your dao is peaceful, you are a victim of those that focus on strength.' Extremely industrious, indefatiguable to the point where she sweeps the streets even while asleep. Weapon is a broom.

Age: 100
Effective Cultivation Years: 117
Culltivation: 10th Heavenstage Qi Condensation
Health: Healthy
Cool Thing Bonus: Impossible work ethic.
Techniques: Feet Stilling, Palm Opening Sutra: Dull All Edges (+1 Impact)
Personality: Solemn, stubborn, blink-and-you'll-miss it desert-dry sense of humor.
Impact: 1
Appearance: Spindly, skeletal. Long fingers and piercing blue eyes. Bronze hair in thirty-six long braids. Carries a broom as a weapon.

History: "Trained in the legions well, fighting with her broom in unison with others. Following her Dao of Peace, served as liaison to diplomats to various minor powers in Clan territory."

Her father's Dao of Peace was broken by a conceptual attack.

"A Mediocre Fate, though better than most under the circumstances. Young Juturna declined to defend her fellows against the Hunters. She declined to strike back at them. Instead, in the midst of slaughter and death, surrounded by the slaughter we are visited upon each century...She swept. Not from cowardice, but conviction, Juturna spent the Trials meditating and developing the building blocks for her own Dao of Peace, with an eye towards the future beyond the Trials even as she in turn desperately struggled to survive the interest of the Hunters. At the end of it, she developed her own unique application of Qi - a Sutra which inverted the laws of the world that declared that which is to be cut shall be cut. Of limited effectiveness for now, but perhaps in time...?"

"Juturna was another beneficiary of an elder, a mercenary seeking to show good faith with the Clan while they were weak. With her mentor's guidance, she rose drastically, gaining what would have taken others three decades. Her own cultivation and efforts slackened some, but such is the effect of powerful friends."

"Quietly building up a small business empire - no notable encounters or major events. Cultivated most diligently, using her profits to propel herself into the 10th Heavenstage."

 

[Mochinator]

Honestly, lack of foresight can be a boon as it leads to character arc shifts that can be easily sold as a genuine but valuable surprise if done right so don't beat yourself up about it too much. It flowed naturally for Xiao Yi when I was reading it.

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Thankee kindly for the praise! I'm glad that the shift managed to came through smoothly.

Yes... but hear me out. Secret realm untouched for thousands of years with an entire forest that's self aware and cultivating as a whole. Wouldn't that be cool?

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That honestly sounds horrifying for the poor sods who explore it. The forest always watching them.

But it be cool if some cultivators choose to become part of it's ecosystem for the protection. I can very easily see it being treated as a deity and worshipped. Hmm, is it considered blood path for plants if they use the bodies of their foes for fertilizer ?

[X] Plan Both Sides

Does this work for a good seed?


Juturna Cerintha: First Heavenstage. Wishes to follow her father's footsteps in the Dao of Peace. Believes that if peace doesn't solve all conflicts, one simply hasn't worked hard enough. Doesn't believe in the trap of 'if your dao is peaceful, you are a victim of those that focus on strength.' Extremely industrious, indefatiguable. If there's a Cool Thing, it's in service to that character trait. Weapon is a broom.

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All are acceptable! But i would suggest you make your Unique Point for the good seed something more passive like able to use speech to reduce aggression ?

 

[Olivebirdy]

All are acceptable! But i would suggest you make your Unique Point for the good seed something more passive like able to use speech to reduce aggression ?

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I'm amused by the idea of sleep-street-sweeping, can that be a cool thing? It's not exactly dragon-blood, but it'll probably help create a cultivation or martial art?

 

[Nordlending]

Yes... but hear me out. Secret realm untouched for thousands of years with an entire forest that's self aware and cultivating as a whole. Wouldn't that be cool?

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Sounds like something that needs to be chopped down with extreme prejudice

 

[Mochinator]

I'm amused by the idea of sleep-street-sweeping, can that be a cool thing? It's not exactly dragon-blood, but it'll probably help create a cultivation or martial art?

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Sure, why not something like

Unique point: The Dao Of Peace and Juturna's acts of humility have caused the Heavens to overlook her, less difficulty when transcending.

AKA, the heavens is so used to fighting that it got a blindspot about peaceful stuff

 

[Marlin]

The Scorpion Road had been built up, more guards and better arrays, supplies, and so on. Trade was flowing smoothly, along with the relentless movement of cultivators coming to the new Jingshen Oasis.

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That's nice, but also kind of confusing me.

Is the build up of the Scorpion Road something that got done without being part of the main plan for the turn?

 

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed Report, Part 1

If you put your details on the omake reward sheet, congratulations!

I didn't feel like doing the entire Good Seed update tonight. Instead, I decided to just do a part of it. As to which part, well. The fairest way I felt to choose would to be reward everyone who had updated the spreadsheet!

I'm likely to do this in future, as well. I find the first Fates I write are more interesting, and as I get tired the end-of-the-alphabet characters suffer lack of detail. With so many Fates to write I'm likely to make the Good Seed report a two-part, two-day thing in future.

I'm trying a slightly different format - let me know what you think of it as well.

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.

Amaranth Castellanos:

Omake reward - Obtained a simple Infernal Eagle Pendant, allowing him to summon a massive fiery eagle to escape upon..
Fate - Entered the Qiguai Secret Realm. Upon first entering, was challenged by a 10th Heavenstage cultivator, who promptly beat him badly, robbed him of his gains and Wounded him. He managed to find an excellent treasure. An ancient Battle-Trained Thousand-Tongue Toad found him, drawn by the aura of his magical boots. It gifted him with a Sticky Toad Saliva Droplet. A powerful treasure allowing him to stick and slow down anyone in the same realm, and would even allow him to temporarily fight an enemy in Early Foundation Establishment. After this, a series of other cultivators chased him, Badly Wounding him, willing to kill a Golden Devil for the luck boost. They hunted him down like an animal, and at the very last were about to kill him. Without his Infernal Eagle Pendant, he would have surely died, but at least managed to escape from the Qiguai Secret Realm with his life, losing his Pendant.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. [3 turns from breaking through.]
Health - Currently Badly Wounded. 40 years to fully recover. (Fun note. Without a Fate bonus this would've been a crippling.)

Aristoteles Kalokagathos:

Omake reward - Golden Deva's Immortal Body Art. One of the strongest in the 9th Heavenstage.
Fate - Sent to war. In the south he was part of the great retreat, where so many died. In the retreat his cohort was surrounded, and half died. Aristoteles did not, but came close. A great poisoned stinger gouged into his intestines, leaving him permanently Crippled by an irremovable poison, and unable to progress his cultivation. He has not yet managed to find a method to resolve this.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. 2 turns from breaking through - unable to progress while crippled.
Health - Currently Crippled by Poison. Will require Heavenly Treasures to recover.

Castor Tyndaridae:

Omake reward - Gemini Battle Arts? (Not sure about this one - is it the fusion art Castor created in the omake?)
Fate - Patrolling more dangerous grounds due to other cultivators being sent south. Attempted to kill a Throne-Building Desert Beaver for the valuable hair fibres for use in mechanical puppets, but was badly wounded by the creature. Mildly wounded.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage. Spent his time recovering from his wounds, unable to advance this turn.
Health - Currently healthy.

Chrysanthos Krimta:

Omake reward - Flying Token, a lifesaving treasure (as per omake).
Fate - Not especially unlucky. Managed to progress his cultivation a little, trading for a decent supply of Spirit Stones. Advanced well.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage advanced to 5th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Demetrius Ceres:

Omake reward - Black Leather Armor. For reasons to become apparent, this is a Lifesaving Treasure.
Fate - Entered the Secret Realm. The Poison-Spraying Apple Tree hidden there stood against Demetrius, guarding a magical Apple of Life. He slew the monstrous tree (as is becoming his habit), and the apple granted him Lifespan. Forty more years of life. On top of this, he was able to harvest a vial of Poison Apple Venom, a powerful venom that could kill anyone in Qi Condensation, and drastically harm those in Foundation Building. However, his Black Leather Armor was apparently proof against poison, absorbing a massive death strike from the tree. This dissolved it into mere shreds. Without his armor, and the poison suppressing his Qi temporarily, Demetrius left the Secret Realm.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. 3 turns from breaking through.
Health - Currently healthy.
Lifespan - +40 years.

Eirene of Nowhere:
Omake Reward: Gathering Qi with her music.
Fate - While wandering outside, heard a fragment of ancient music. This led her up a great mountain, and into a cave, where the ghost of a long-gone Golden Devil was playing the flute. His music enlightened her, and drew in Qi from across the mountains, granting her a powerful legacy, shattering all barriers in front of her cultivation. He taught her the tiniest fragment of his Dao, so that she might too draw in Qi with her music. No use for cultivation, but certainly of use to recover a little more Qi than usual.
Cultivation - Rose from 1st Heavenstage to 9th Heavenstage. 4 turns from breaking through.
Health - Currently healthy.

Ferenike:
Omake Reward: Bloodline boost to combat as per omake. Fights as the 10th Heavenstage.
Fate - Sent south to the war. With her group of trainees, she was involved in the disastrous defeat where the Elder of War was killed. Wounded, she managed to shepherd most of her trainees into a southern city, only to find it under siege by the Devil Bees. After months of siege, the city of Guo Wo fell, and the remaining garrison of the city were driven out. They were rescued by a column of relief troops, but Ferenike was Badly Wounded, trying to save what little remainder of her command. The only bright point in her past decades was her ability to break through cultivation-wise prior to heading south.
Cultivation - Rose from 8th Heavenstage to 9th Heavenstage. 3 turns from breaking through. Cannot advance further while Wounded.
Health - Currently Badly Wounded. 40 years to fully recover. (Fun note. Without a Fate bonus this would've been considerably, considerably worse. Ferenike's Fate bonus was big.)

Fierce Fang:
Omake Reward: His new Flying Fish movement technique. As a creature of the sea, he can leap into the air and escape.
Fate - In a great moment of failure, did not manage to integrate his new technique properly. He found a magical Technique-to-Flesh-Fusing Pill in the Sand Whirlpool Tower Secret Realm, allowing him to integrate a technique with his body more fully, enhancing it beyond measure. However, he failed, and the pill enhanced his failure tenfold. Now transformed into a hideous half-fish half-man, he is Crippled until he manages to resolve this horror. He is far weaker, and requires constant water running over him to remain alive.
Cultivation - Remains at 7th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently Crippled by Transformation. Will require Heavenly Treasures to recover.

Keiros Cole Emendator:
Omake Reward: His new Book of Ten Thousand Eyes. It can look at an item, and pull knowledge from the Earth to identify it, writing information on itself within.. Also works on enemies. Difficult to use mid-combat, but can help resolve traps, tame monsters, and identify herbs.
Fate - After his duel, managed to win a game of chess with an opponent, winning a Book of Ten Thousand Eyes. It had been thought a mere nothing, an empty book. This allowed him to identify a useful pill, the Meridian-Cleansing Bone Hardening Pill, allowing him to advance a little further than he might have otherwise.
Cultivation - Went from 1st Heavenstage to 6th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Peta and Wajo
Omake Reward: Lifesaving Seeds. (Lifesaving Treasure), as per Omake.
Fate - Entered the Qiguai Secret Realm. Had a fortuitous encounter there with an old Bear-Headed Scorpion, a creature born half of trust and half of betrayal. It stung her with its valuable poison, rocketing her into the 9th Heavenstage. Afterwards, it guided her to a clan of Flipper Bears, bears living in the gravity-reversed sea and islands in the sky of that realm. They were massive and gracious, and had the flippers where other bears had paws. They taught her three things. Firstly, an art allowing her to swim through all things temporarily, whether it be stone, sand, sea, or air. The All-Swimming Art was a potent boon, but for Wajo they granted him a great Bee-Slaying Slap art, allowing him to kill bees and their ilk in a single blow. Lastly, as she left the oldest bear guided her out, and instructed her on the ways of the Flipper Bear Dao, bringing her closer than ever to breaking through to Foundation Establishment.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. [1 turn from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Wei Feng
Omake Reward: Bronze Life Bell, a Lifesaving Treasure.
Fate - Fought again and again, furiously in the south. Responsible for saving thirteen villages and one small town, and killed eight enemies in his own level. Trapped an enemy Foundation Establishment cultivator and arranged to have her killed in the early phases of the war, and rewarded with tremendous sums of Contribution Points. Bought a Bronze Life Bell, and many cultivation treasures.
Cultivation - Reached 9th Heavenstage. [4 turns from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Xiao Yi
Omake Reward: The Axe-Fragment of Hell-Sender
Fate - Entered the Qiguai Secret Realm. Managed to find an ancient fragment of an axe, named Hell-Sender. This fragment alone could be infused with a droplet of blood, and would fight temporarily on the cultivator's side. Further found an ancient record in a temple, finding a small warped realm of time, spending nearly fifty years without aging in some mad dream, a fragment of a piece of a dream a Spirit Severing cultivator once cast off. Managed to break through to Foundation Establishment, but could not summon the tribulation while in a Secret Realm. The dream itself followed him and tried to kill him on escaping, forcing him to sacrifice his Core Formation Will Sliver to survive. After leaving, he managed to break through.
Cultivation - Transcended the realm of Qi Gathering. Now stands as an Early Foundation Establishment Expert.
Health - Currently healthy.

Yan
Omake Reward: Tournament Arc victory, the Life-Hiding Spiderweb
Fate - Engaging in tournament after tournament, he found his strength to be excellent, but not superlative. Against those in the same Realm, he tended to win, but found himself sometimes coming up short against the young masters of other powers. His cultivation continued normally, and he was able to win one tournament, winning a Life-Hiding Spiderweb. A fairly ordinary set of decades.
Cultivation - [2 turns from 11th Heavenstage]
Health - Currently healthy.

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

Acis Drivas - Dead. Sent south to guard supply caravans in a safe zone of the war while crippled. Weak, and unable to advance his cultivation, he was ambushed by a Devil Bee raider and killed.

Ambrus Nike -
Fate - Ordinary. Sent south to the war, but mainly guarding caravans. Slew a few bandits beneath his level.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. [2 turns from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Aretaphila Myia -
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. Found an Magical Calligraphy Slip, written on it 'All Are Friends Under Heaven'. By infusing her Qi into it she can force all enemies in the area (as well as herself) to cease violence briefly.
Fate - Ordinary. Cultivated well, was employed in keeping the Scorpion Road safe. No notable encounters, excepting an encounter with a peculiar old man who wrote her a slip and tore it off, giving it to her.
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. [3 turns from 11th]
Health - Currently healthy.

Constans Herculius -
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. Forged a magical Bronze Effigy.
Fate - Fairly ordinary, though he gained lessons in the Clan's forging methods. Managed to forge a pair of Burning Bee Wings, a treasure capable of giving him extremely limited flight.
Cultivation - Below par. Only reached 3rd Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.

Daedalus Khimaira
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. After the below Fate, managed to purchase a Burning Sun Chariot, a tiny treasure that can activated once, allowing him to flee any danger. Not usable for those without his sun bloodline, it was gained cheaply.
Fate - Capable - managed to save a small town as the sun rose from a far northern Devil Bee raid, using his powers to hold them off for a few hours until a nearby Clan patrol rescued them. Given the extreme danger to his own life, gained considerable Contribution Points.
Cultivation - A truly solid talent. Reached 6th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Damien Silver
Fate - Challenged an enemy to a duel, losing badly. Badly wounded, stuck at 8th Heavenstage.
Cultivation - 8th Heavenstage.
Health - Badly wounded [40 years recovery]

Diogenes Aparámillos
Fate - Poor. Mildly wounded in combat before the war began, unable to contribute much. Spent the full 20 years in recovery.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage [4 turns from 10th]
Health - Currently healthy.

Diomedes Cestus
Omake Reward - Cultivation Boost
Fate - Poor. Managed to overcome no luck to cultivate well, making excellent use of scarce resources and few Contribution Points.
Cultivation - 5th Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.

Dmitry Kascheev
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. 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.
Cultivation - 6th Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.

Festus Sarantapechos
Fate - Obsessed over his blacksmithing arts, forging himself a Thousand-Rune Lamellar Armor. Made of a thousand interlocking plates, each with a single-use rune carved upon it. Neglected his cultivation badly, but can fight one Heavenstage above his own.
Cultivation - 2nd Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.

Hektor Sarantapechos
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. During the war placed in command again, and given a Vial of Sand Cat Speed as a temporary measure. After the below, was given it permanently.
Fate - Remained in command after his previous poor showing, in part due to his family name. After the disaster in the south was the highest-ranking cultivator in the defense of Little Jian, one of the two smaller cities that survived the Devil Bee attack. As such, he was in command. Six times the Devil Bees attacked, and six times he repulsed them. Unwounded and undaunted by this, it was on the seventh attack that came that he was truly worried. In a heroic effort, he slew three Early Foundation Building Devil Bees, gaining an Insight into the Impenetrable Shield. Able to defend others more effectively, and block attacks from any direction with ease, his shield skills stand in the Mid Foundation Building level, even if his personal strength does not.
Cultivation - Early Foundation Building (2nd pillar)
Health - Currently healthy.

Ilias Barallis -
Fate - A brave spy, sent into the lands of the Devil Bees to try and espy their troop movements. An act of great sacrifice, as it turned out. He was caught as he retreated with information, his left and right arms torn off completely. Crippled beyond measure, he managed to reach the Night Devil Fortress days before it was attacked, enabling the heroic defense early in the war.
Cultivation - 5th Heavenstage. Unable to advance while crippled.
Health - Currently crippled. Honestly I'm not trying to be cruel to poor Ilias! He's just immensely unlucky!

Juturna Cerintha
Fate - Trained in the legions well, fighting with her broom in unison with others. Following her Dao of Peace, served as liaison to diplomats to various minor powers in Clan territory.
Cultivation - Reached 6th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Lihua Kokkinos
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure as per omake.
Fate - Reached 9th Heavenstage, but was drafted into the war towards the end of hostilities. Did not see major combat. Lost a series of minor friendly duels to local sects.
Cultivation - Reached 9th Heavenstage. [4 turns from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Lin Fan
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure - A single piece of Congealed Blood Stone, capable of being smashed and filling the air with a confusing Blood Mist.
Fate - Sent south in the war. Like many others, wounded after the great disaster. Ended up in recovery for the remainder of his time these two decades.
Cultivation - Remains at 8th Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.

Magnus Centenius
Omake Reward - Cultivation Treasure (-4 turns to breaking through) - A Three-Pronged Lightning Rod, capable of attracting and storing some of Heaven's wrath, allowing a tribulation to be lengthened but reduced in intensity.
Fate - Somehow became the Wine Quartermaster for the Night Devil Fortress, shamelessly using the resources his position to concoct new poisons. As Wall 2 fell in the initial siege, he managed to refine his Bloody Death Bacteria Smoke Bomb to work on Devil Bees, eating away at their wings. Thousands of them were thrown into the air, forcing many Devil Bees to the ground - their comrades turning on them. Rewarded with the above treasure for his work.
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage [3 turns from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Minervina Barda
Omake Reward - Cultivation Boost
Fate - In her defense of the Night Devil Fortress, managed something special. Ground up many bee organs, and created the Bee-Weakening Hive Killing Powder, a powder that when scattered on a Devil Bee corrupted its Qi, and even spread the effect to another 10 or 15 bees. Before the Devil Bees realised what was happening, Minervina had slain nearly a thousand of them in Qi Condensation. This was an immense boon to the Clan, and her Bee-Weakening Hive Killing Powder has now been listed as a Clan Recipe, to be used in great supplies in the east. Her contributions were massive, and she gained enough points and resources to build a second Dao Pillar.
Cultivation - Early Foundation Building [2nd Pillar]
Health - Currently healthy.

Mograine -
Omake Reward - As per omake.
Fate - Managed to advance to the 9th Heavenstage, following his Dao. One encounter of note - talked to a great Betrayal Scorpion who endowed him with a fragment of enlightenment of its Dao, and then attacked him, leaving him for dead. He managed to struggle out of the desert, and used this encounter to advance well.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. [4 turns from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

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

Nicovas Ceruleus -
Omake Reward - None listed. @Rockeye did you have a particular Omake reward you wanted?
Fate - Somehow finagled a position as a supply reviewer, searching out corruption in the records and discovering incompetence and malfeasance. One minor vassal had paid in damaged Spirit Stones, which would have been useless to the war effort and could have caused difficulties for several cohorts in the south. Duke Yangshen of the eponymous duchy sent an assassin to try and kill Nicovas and silence him before the report reached the headquarters of the Golden Devils. He escaped, and the conspiracy was revealed, ending Yangshen Duchy and seeing its lands seized for the Golden Devils. Only thirty or so thousand people, but Duke Yangshen held a reasonably valuable Spirit Mine. For his services Nicovas was given a Medium Grade Spirit Stone, a nothing reward for a Foundation Building Expert, but for a Qi Condensation lad a massive reward. He managed to break through bottlenecks and the like with pure Qi, ending in the 8th Heavenstage.
Cultivation - 8th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Ninth Prince -
Omake Reward - First item in Fate.
Fate -

Ventured deep into an abandoned Spirit Mine, seeking snakes to tame. Managed to dodge a Late Foundation Establishment Bronze Ghost Rattlesnake, but managed to find a shed fang, laden with poison enough for a single strike. The fang of such a rattlesnake would allow the Ninth Prince to challenge even those in Early Foundation Establishment if he could envenom them. After this, he entered the Secret Realm.

Here he found himself drawn to the sea above. There he encountered and befriended an Eight Hundred and Eighty Year Rainbow Sea Snake, an ancient, gentle, but highly venomous creature. It is a weak snake and must be kept in water, but the potency of its venom is tremendous, allowing the Ninth Prince to more easily threaten enemies above his level.

Between the sea and the ground, a beam of light shot through, around it eternal twilight. This place consumed those who entered it, never to be seen again. Going into to rescue a junior from the Clan, he managed to find a moment outside of time, outside of space. A twilight where no movement was possible, no growth and no death. Those within had the colour bled from their voices, and spoke eternally of their regrets, consumed by them. No longer able to look forward, only to look back.

The Ninth Prince felt regrets that he could not voice, and was unable to be trapped by memories he no longer possessed. He managed to leave, carving off a piece of the twilight. This Twilight of Regret he managed to bottle. Such a weapon is a fierce treasure, able to temporarily incapacitate anyone, leaving them immortal but regretful, invincible but unable to act for several minutes. It could easily save his life against any below Nascent Soul.

Thirdly, he came on a camp of Righteous cultivators, and traded with them for various things, coming out a little behind in terms of wealth. However, he was able to discover the location of a possible treasure, but found it empty.

Lastly, before leaving, he entered a cave in the sky, twisting and turning into the sunlight of another world. A barrier prevented him from leaving. He found the Jade Blood Beauty Puppet, a human-sized puppet carved from rare red Spirit Stone in the shape of a beautiful woman. While consuming massive amounts of Qi, it could temporarily fight in early Foundation Establishment though at a significant cost to wealth - it could be shrunk and carried, but the Ninth Prince did not have enough Qi to power it alone. By pushing vast quantities of Spirit Stones into it, he could temporarily power it, but such an empowerment would come at a significant cost of the resources he used for his cultivation. (The Puppet can serve as a massive boost to fighting strength, but will cost the Ninth Prince approximately 20 years worth of cultivation in terms of treasure to use)

He found few cultivation resources, however, and only maintained 10th Heavenstage. [2 turns from 11th Heavenstage].
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. [2 turns from 11th Heavenstage].
Health - Currently healthy.

Rina Callista - Some truly obscene rolls here.
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure
Fate - Rina enters the Qiguai Clan doorway, and is perhaps the luckiest to have ever entered it in millennia. Six hundred and eighty thousand years ago, a Spirit Severing Cultivator of the Imperial Optimatoi entered here as he was dying. Attacked by enemies at his level, he could only flee, during a major war of expansion for the Clan, one of the wars in which they would nearly seize the entirety of the Third Sea. He lured four enemies in the same realm in here, killing them all by unravelling part of the realm, making it only suited to Qi Condensation cultivators.

His enemies were trapped here and died of old age. Before they did, they imprisoned his soul to be tortured in order to punish him, and to prevent him from entering the cycle of reincarnation. Over time he had loosened those bonds, but waited for the right opportunity to shake them free entirely.

On meeting Rina, he decided that the last fragment of his will was best spent here. The final remnant of one of the ancient Kallistoi - an ancient name for a family of which the Callistas are an offshoot - would live again, in a sense. Upon meeting his descendent, he infused all of his remaining power into her, raising her to the 11th Heavenstage of Qi Condensation in a moment.

He gave her a guide to other useful locations within the secret realm, allowing her to navigate with ease.

She met two Qiguai Clan cultivators and exchanged pointers with them, seizing a useful number of spirit stones and a Meridian-Strengthening Bat Blood Pill from them, allowing her to use her new cultivation more easily.

She followed the guide her ancestor had given her, jumping upwards into a great whorl of reversed gravity, into a deep sea in the sky. Bubbles of air constantly moved through it due to the peculiar gravity, allowing her to swim through and breathe air at need. Escaping Spirit Beasts as diverse as sharks, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, carnivorous giant fish, and even a massive sea snake, she eventually reached a hidden island that was above the sea - or below it, depending on your perspective.

Here one of her ancestors enemies had died, and hidden part of her legacy there. A magical Cauldron, the spirit of whom was named Muqin Guo, which one could ride around in, flying through the sky in a great black greasy pot. It could be infused with the cultivator's Qi and used as a defensive tool, allowing one to resist endless against those in the same realm, simply by hiding within it. It speaks, however, and is a wary magical cauldron, constantly urging Rina to be more careful and avoid danger in motherly tones. It can be shrunk down to the size of a small pot and hung from the waist, though resizing it takes a few minutes due to Rina being a mere Qi Condensation cultivator.

As she was leaving, she encountered an abandoned forge, in which sat a magical Forge Spirit. With some enticing it agreed to live inside the cauldron with Muqin Guo, and could be used to allow the Cauldron to forge things put inside it - trapping an enemy inside the cauldron, even one in early Foundation Building would allow Rina to kill them, though it would be a tremendously risky endeavour to do so. If she caught such an enemy by surprise, though...

After this, she simply left. No-one under Qi Condensation could face her, and years of trials had been enough. The door out opened, and even though other cultivators looked at her cauldron greedily, only one poor junior in the 9th Heavenstage thought to seize it from her, and was quickly dissuaded.

Cultivation - 11th Heavenstage. [1 turns from breaking through]
Health - Currently healthy.

Savvas Nicolidis -
Omake Reward - Life-Rending Heart-Crushing Thousand Needles Poison - upgraded to a Fighting Across Realms Bonus as opposed to a cultivation one only..
Fate - Seeking insight into poisons, he descended into an ancient cavern, many li beneath the surface of the sands. Here was a vial of poison, a sentient poison - the Life-Rending Heart-Crushing Thousand Needles Poison. Conversing with it, Savvas managed to arrange a deal. If he could bear the poison for a year, it would give a droplet of itself over to him, a weapon beyond compare. He meditated in that cursed cavern for a year, and befriended the poison. It seared his veins, scorched his meridians, and brought him to a greater height of cultivation. As he endured, it sent a single droplet of himself, living harmlessly within him. He could spit it out at any time, and it would kill any in Qi Condensation, or even bring great harm to a Foundation Building Expert.
Cultivation - 8th Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Su Cheng -
Fate - Somewhat disadvantageous, Su Cheng was largely dedicated to opposing the Cannibal Sect, who were at peace with the Clan at the moment. He took missions preventing their raids and fighting them, but they did not pay as well as those related to the war, especially for lower-level cultivators. Advanced a little less than he might have done due to lack of resources.
Cultivation - 3rd Heavenstage.
Health - Currently healthy.

Tasos Basilakes -
Omake Reward - The Sovereign Arrow.
Fate - Being deployed as part of a kill-team, Tasos found himself often away from the front lines as such, but never far from battle. Often Devil Bees would be lured out from their army, coming to slaughter villagers, or attack caravans. Minor things in the scheme of things, but allowing for Golden Devil irregulars to damage them to some degree. It was after saving a small village Tasos was rewarded by the village elder with their precious treasure, the Sovereign Arrow. Sovereign in flight, it will always strike true - nobody below Core Formation can avoid it. Foundation Building Experts would be wounded or even crippled in the Early stages, and it would kill those without protective treasures of their own in Qi Condensation without fail. While not being used, it has a small but beneficial effect on mortals who venerate it, granting small benefits to health, lifespan, and even crop growth.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage [2 turns from Foundation Building].
Health - Currently healthy.

Telios Treces - This was actually meant to happen last turn. I had a note to do it and everything, due to Leon replacing his Good Seed
Fate - Sent south, and the luck of the Clan seemed to focus on him specifically. First wounded in a battle, then wounded twice. A third time, and hunted down by Devil Bee cultivators after the disastrous battle there. Tortured to death outside the walls of a siege to demoralise the defenders.
Health - Dead

Tie Jin -
Fate - Performed poorly in the war, though not wounded at least. Remains at 8th Heavenstage.
Cultivation - 8th Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.

Zhousi Dun - Merely poor Fate, but a crippled cultivator who continues to walk their path often dies. Without treasures to heal and resources to strengthen, such cultivator are far too often subject to death. A crippling often leads to death, and so it is for Zhousi Dun. Challenged by a boy of the Clan in the 5th Heavenstage over a perceived slight, an accidental strike with a spear shattered what remained of his ailing meridians, and he lost his cultivation in a single blow. The impetuous challenger struck again, not realising what he had done, and with his superhuman strength killed the now-mortal cultivator.
Health - Dead

 

[TheDuke]

Omake reward - Gemini Battle Arts? (Not sure about this one - is it the fusion art Castor created in the omake?)
Fate - Patrolling more dangerous grounds due to other cultivators being sent south. Attempted to kill a Throne-Building Desert Beaver for the valuable hair fibres for use in mechanical puppets, but was badly wounded by the creature. Mildly wounded.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage. Spent his time recovering from his wounds, unable to advance this turn.
Health - Currently healthy.

Click to shrink...

Damn, bad luck, but it is what it is. And yeah, it's the fusion art Castor developed in the third omake.

 

[occipitallobe]

My fiancee drew a picture of Manuel, presumably mid-battle. I thought I'd share it with the thread!

Spoiler: Picture of Manuel

 

[Raron]

2 Cripplings, 2 Heavy Wounds and 2 Foundation Establishments.

Just in first part.

Interesting times indeed.

 

[Mochinator]

Xiao Yi
Omake Reward: The Axe-Fragment of Hell-Sender
Fate - Entered the Qiguai Secret Realm. Managed to find an ancient fragment of an axe, named Hell-Sender. This fragment alone could be infused with a droplet of blood, and would fight temporarily on the cultivator's side. Further found an ancient record in a temple, finding a small warped realm of time, spending nearly fifty years without aging in some mad dream, a fragment of a piece of a dream a Spirit Severing cultivator once cast off. Managed to break through to Foundation Establishment, but could not summon the tribulation while in a Secret Realm. The dream itself followed him and tried to kill him on escaping, forcing him to sacrifice his Core Formation Will Sliver to survive. After leaving, he managed to break through.
Cultivation - Transcended the realm of Qi Gathering. Now stands as an Early Foundation Establishment Expert.
Health - Currently healthy.

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Oh thank crap my Good Seed made it! Although slight yikes at the thought of facing the Trial as a Foundation Establishment still surviving the will of a Spirit Severing Cultivator is relieving! If my interpretation is correct, thanks to being in the Secret Ream, Xiao Yi managed to transcend without having to go through the Tribulation. Nice!

Pretty decent run, of the 4 rolls looks like I got 3. Hmm, really considering the Yuan secret realm now. Gotta get some stuff since my good seed will be facing Foundation Establishment cultivators.

My fiancee drew a picture of Manuel, presumably mid-battle. I thought I'd share it with the thread!

Click to shrink...

I won't want that cleaver flung at me!

 

[Liliet]

Eirene of Nowhere:
Omake Reward: Gathering Qi with her music.
Fate - While wandering outside, heard a fragment of ancient music. This led her up a great mountain, and into a cave, where the ghost of a long-gone Golden Devil was playing the flute. His music enlightened her, and drew in Qi from across the mountains, granting her a powerful legacy, shattering all barriers in front of her cultivation. He taught her the tiniest fragment of his Dao, so that she might too draw in Qi with her music. No use for cultivation, but certainly of use to recover a little more Qi than usual.
Cultivation - Rose from 1st Heavenstage to 9th Heavenstage. 4 turns from breaking through.
Health - Currently healthy.

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Hell yeah There'll be another omake tonight~