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

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New Good Seed and Omake Rule Updates
  • Threadmarks
    • 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!

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

    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.
     
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    Ninth Prince - Ninth Prince’s Spear
  • Sidestory
    • Mochinator said:
    GG, i cannot tell the tone of that " fun " is it a Fun as in horrible fun or Fun cus epic stuff is happening? But man, the Ninth Prince's presence sure adds some spice to the Trials!
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    The latter
    This is gonna be epic

    Anyways, did some more art in hopes of getting enough omake bonus to not die.

    BEHOLD: THE NINTH PRINCE'S SPEAR

     
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  • Sidestory
    • Achille Adeptos 8 - Treeline Shadows
  • Sidestory
    • 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

    ---
     
  • Sidestory
    • Mildgyð Galene - Good Seed Background
  • Sidestory
    • Good seed submission

    Mildgyð Galene 30 years old.

    Mildgyð is a master alchemist. Or as much as any mortal can ever hope to be which well much more than most cultivators will credit is still not that much in the grand scheme of things. Still Mildgyð was content. He had seen the trials and if that was part of the price of cultivation he wanted no part of it. However, fate had other plans for Mildgyð Galene. Well he was preparing a hair tonic a rat that got in spilled something else into it. Causing it to burst into a cloud of smoke which knocked Mildgyð right out. When he awoke he was a 1st heavenstage cultivator. What a stroke of "luck"! He has somewhat mixed feelings about this. On one hand he does like his new strength, but he fears all the prices that might come with. However, right now he is completely focusing on trying to replicate the recipe that got him to 1st heavenstage at a stroke. If he can replicate it fame and fortune will be his. The ingredients were not even that expensive after all he was a mortal alchemist.

    Current focus : replicating the recipe that got him to 1st heavenstage.

    Cool thing: Alchemist with inspiration on how to make the "First step elixir".

    Current cultivation 1st heavenstage.

    I figure that even if the elixir has side effects like crippling future cultivation it would still be an amazing find.

    All turn 5 trial turn omakes Why we can't have nice things, Blood debts, Waste not want not, inexpensive alchemy All into more alchemical skill.

    Turn 6 Omakes cultivation boost Part 6, MacGyvering alchemist competition (Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest] Original - Fantasy)
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Mildgyð Galene 1 - Why we can’t have nice things
  • Sidestory
    • Why we can't have nice things

    "Why won't you allow me to publish the First Step Elixer? Or at least sell widely. The materials are cheap. With it we could raise almost all the mortals in the realm to first heavenstage! I realize that doesn't add much to clan strength, but the quality of life improvements alone!" I was ready to pound my fists in frustration. This was the product of years of my life. I had barely slept or eaten all was consumed by my obsession with perfecting the elixir.

    Elder Diokles however was unmoved. "Yes we could. And then we would have a realm where almost every mortal is a weak cultivator with almost no fighting experience at all. The first blood path artist would tear right through them and gain even more from it then they already do. It would like placing a lump of gold in the guts of every citizen of the realm. Waiting for it to be torn out by the wicked."

    I spat blood. Years of hard work all for nothing. Or close to nothing. The heavens are so cruel.

    I found the problem with my idea. If this Omake is worth a bonus. Increase Mildgyð Galene's skill in alchemy further.
     
  • Sidestory
    • shortnmad said:
    Why we can't have nice things
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    Only a small percent of mortals can cultivate in the first place. If the elixir can expand that amount, however slightly, that'd be invaluable.

    The point on everyone being a cultivator making Blood Path more effective is true, but that's an impossibilty.

    Nice omake, though, and welcome to the thread.

    (BTW, please remember to add your Good Seed and this turn's omake bonus to the spreadsheet. It's so Occipitallobe can find them easier when they write out the Good Seed Report.)
    mastigos said:
    This ... this might be worth invoking our Soul Severing Ancestral Will
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    We have a Late Nascent Soul Ancestral Will, not a Spirit Severing Ancestral Will.

    But yeah, that'd be worth using now for sure. Even with our Nascent Soul ally in the Flood Dragon Gang, we'd be at a disadvantage without it.
     
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    ReaderOfFate said:
    We have a Late Nascent Soul Ancestral Will, not a Spirit Severing Ancestral Will.

    But yeah, that'd be worth using now for sure. Even with our Nascent Soul ally in the Flood Dragon Gang, we'd be at a disadvantage without it.
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    We don't have them with us. Given the flood dragon gang's natural heroic inclinations and the fact we knew the trials were coming I've no doubt we told them to stay the hell away until they were over (and they could guard the border), lest we worry about losing another nascent soul due to inability to restrain themselves.

    Anyway, I'll just be over here gibbering in terror because these results are either going to be amazing or really, really bad.
     
    Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't it possible for all mortals to become cultivators?

    The limit set in place was due to lack of resources available. The golden Devil Territory was the size of 75% planet or something, and they could only support X amount of people.

    The flood gang is repaying us by guarding or border from opportunist. They won't interfere.
     
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    Nordlending said:
    Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't it possible for all mortals to become cultivators?

    The limit set in place was due to lack of resources available. The golden Devil Territory was the size of 75% planet or something, and they could only support X amount of people.
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    occipitallobe said:
    Thinning Bloodline (Clan ONLY) - Your bloodline is thinning, and many clan members are born without the aptitude to cultivate. For now it is not a major issue, but it gets worse with each passing generation...
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    This disadvantage implies that aptitude to cultivate isn't something inherent in every single person. I think I could find more proof which states the matter more directly, but give me a bit longer to do so.

    EDIT:
    occipitallobe said:
    Usually around one in one hundred mortals cultivates - though this has more to do with resources than aptitude.
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    So, this is the thing I believe you were talking about, right? So, while resources plays a larger role in the fact that only 1% of mortals cultivate, aptitude is also something that plays a role. We do not know how large of a role it plays, but it is not a negligible one given that the Thinning Bloodlines Disadvantage was a choice in the first place, and presumably a Clan would be flush with resources.
     
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    ReaderOfFate said:
    This disadvantage implies that aptitude to cultivate isn't something inherent in every single person. I think I could find more proof which states the matter more directly, but give me a bit longer to do so.
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    I assumed this meant that they could become cultivators, but that their ability to cultivate was shit. Like they could only advance to 4th at best.
     
    Nordlending said:
    I assumed this meant that they could become cultivators, but that their ability to cultivate was shit. Like they could only advance to 4th at best.
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    Usually, something like that would be described as born with low talent, not born without the aptitude to cultivate. The first implies what you said above, the second implies the lack of ability to cultivate in the first place.
     
    [Fake] Fifth Sea Interlude: (Un)sustainable farming practices:
  • Sidestory
    • Please note that the below is COMPLETLY NON-CANON should therefore not be taken as accurate in any possible way.

    [Fake] Fifth Sea Interlude: (Un)sustainable farming practices:


    Gulvinda was a cultivator of the Ishvara Splitting realm, which in the land he now inhabited would be called spirit severing.

    He had been assigned to be one of the overseers of the contest of Karma. In theory a great honour, but everyone knew that in truth, it was a punishment duty.

    This place was dry of prana. For an Ishvara Splitting cultivator, it was an effort even to exist here. The air was so dry that the very world itself sucked away at his strength. Theoretically, this was a dangerous duty. The inhabitants of this land bore no love for the Demons of course, but they were greedy, as were all barbarians. With the prana dryness of this land, theoretically a native team of atman manifestations might be able to kill him. Such a thing would propel his killers vastly forward, bringing them riches beyond the wealth of this pathetic realm.

    However, nothing of the kind had ever happened, and the Karmic rewards for the guard duty of Ishvara splitting cultivators like himself were thin indeed.

    Instead, Gulvinda was left to wait, unable to advance or even fall into a meditation trance, desperately clinging on to every scrap of his Prana even as this world tried to greedily drink it up. Unable to cultivate, it was all he had to prevent his own cultivation from beginning to degrade in this harsh alien sea whilst contending with overseeing this trial's allotment of pathetic brats.

    Gulvinda knew exactly why he had been assigned this duty. He had dared speak the obvious truth to the greedy fools who were in charge. Many centuries ago, this realm had provided great challenge and great rewards to Atman manifestations. Now they no longer bothered sending Atman manifestations at all lest the realm disappear entirely, and it had regressed enough that there were barely enough demons to provide sufficient challenge for Dharma shaping.

    Gulvinda had no love for the demons, but the truth was obvious. They had overstretched this realm. Either they must let the contest lie fallow for some cycles to allow the demons to replenish or end it and hope the karmic rewards for completing the task were sufficient to make up for the loss. The current half measures were insufficient and wasteful.

    Suddenly, he felt a change within his senses. Multiple Atman Manifested! Not of this small sea but of the great fifth sea. Who would dare! By agreement, no Atman manifestations had been permitted in this contest for centuries! He would smite their sprits from their flesh and flense them for this! He would-

    His body abruptly chilled/ He felt the press of fate about him, a noose around his neck.

    -do nothing. The laws of Karma despised the demons, but it had its rules. If he broke them, then Karma's wrath would fall on him more greatly and terribly than a lesser could ever envisage. He would be lucky if he was only struck with the lightning of enlightenment of such strength that awaited him at the end of his realm. That would at least be quick, but Karma also had far more insidious methods of punishing those with poor karma.

    Stewing in his own rage, he bent his every sense upon the intruders. There would be consequences for this. Once he returned to the fifth sea and was free of these accursed restrictions he would ensure it.

    =============

    AN: Honestly I'm not sure about the quality of this omake. I wanted to get into the head of a possible opponent. Gulvinda is what I came up with. He's not a good person. At all. Yet, he vehemently disagrees with the current course of the 'Contest of Karma'. Not for any moral reason of course, but because he sees it as wastefully destroying a hidden realm that could be much more sustainably managed. He is a horrible person who literally sees the Golden Devils only through their value as resources, he just thinks those resources are being poorly managed.
     
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  • Sidestory
    • TheDuke said:
    Sounds pretty definitively like, at least in terms of raw power, they're superior to Manuel. We might outclass them in combat experience and have a home field advantage, of course, but it doesn't exactly sound like the odds are in our favour regardless.
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    Well, shoot. Lets hope they're here for some sort of complaint then?
     
    ReaderOfFate said:
    This disadvantage implies that aptitude to cultivate isn't something inherent in every single person. I think I could find more proof which states the matter more directly, but give me a bit longer to do so.

    EDIT:

    So, this is the thing I believe you were talking about, right? So, while resources plays a larger role in the fact that only 1% of mortals cultivate, aptitude is also something that plays a role. We do not know how large of a role it plays, but it is not a negligible one given that the Thinning Bloodlines Disadvantage was a choice in the first place, and presumably a Clan would be flush with resources.
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    Broadly, everyone can cultivate.

    This is somewhat different from most cultivation stories with spiritual roots and the like.

    This is in theory, however.

    In practice, to cultivate you need a cultivation method suited to your physique (among other things). This is why demihumans suffer so much - they're all born differently so they'd need a unique cultivation method each. This is why a Bloodline is such a powerful thing - the Blood of Bronze means you can cultivate Clan techniques and methods, and so strong Blood of Bronze means you're taking advantage of methods honed over countless millennia and perfected for you.

    Most people have to find a cultivation method that suits them, and suits them well enough to keep advancing. Something with only moderate compatibility might only get you a few Heavenstages at best. Not to mention if your method isn't right for you but is right enough to let you progress a little along the path of cultivation, the resource consumption will be astronomical.

    So in theory everyone can cultivate, in practice they can't.
     
    occipitallobe said:
    In practice, to cultivate you need a cultivation method suited to your physique (among other things). This is why demihumans suffer so much - they're all born differently so they'd need a unique cultivation method each. This is why a Bloodline is such a powerful thing - the Blood of Bronze means you can cultivate Clan techniques and methods, and so strong Blood of Bronze means you're taking advantage of methods honed over countless millennia and perfected for you.
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    Oh, neat. And I guess the highest compatibility would be a straight up clone.

    A line of clones throughout millennia, perfecting techniques for that specific individual... Impractical, but could be interesting.
     
    What kind of freaks were the first cultivators who worked out this stuff for themselves? Or were they multigenerational things.
     
    Matthew Gates said:
    What kind of freaks were the first cultivators who worked out this stuff for themselves? Or were they multigenerational things.
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    Half and half, usually a monster would make a few based on their experiences, and it would get refined by the next decent cultivator until to you get a good one, then the ancient sect would be destroyed and it's techniques spread around for everyone to refine on their own
    At least that is how it works in most
     
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