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

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New Good Seed and Omake Rule Updates
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.
 
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Gaius Antonius 6: The Scorpion Saga: Preparation
Gaius Antonius Omake #6: The Scorpion Saga: Preparation

In the desert, the most common thing is sand. The second most common, Gaius mused, might be scorpions. So many countless species of scorpion, each species with so many members. Not just the common variety but the spiritually gifted type as well. Of all species of Spirit Beast which make their home in the Organ Meat Desert, approximately 38% of them are some variety of scorpion.

He supposed it made sense; the scorpion simply had a body shape exceptionally suited for the desert climate. Arachnid legs specialized for crawling along granular surfaces, a powerful stinger that made for a powerful and highly visible weapon, useful both for killing prey and scaring off predators. A body that lay low to the ground, allowing it to easily bury itself. Potent venom, so that if prey escapes, it can chase it across the wide open sands until it collapses. Indeed, out of all the creatures of the earth, the scorpion is one of the most well-adapted of all.

And so, it should come as no surprise that today, a Golden Devil was fighting some variety of big scorpion. There most likely hadn't been a single day in the past hundred-thousand years where that didn't happen.

Gaius dodged again, then again, warding off the frenzied beast's attacks with a crude bone knife - his original having long since broken on this mission. Weaving to the side of yet another stinger attack, he finally managed to wrap his arm around the appendage and plunge his knife into a gap in its exoskeleton. One clean slice, and the venom gland was severed, spilling paralytic neurotoxin into the beast's own flesh. At that point it was all over.

Revolution Scorpions. A species of arachnid spirit beasts with near-human intelligence, Individually weak, but notable for their oversized dantians and high talent in cultivation. Due to their short lifespan and high birth rate, they fought amongst themselves viciously over cultivation resources, leading to rapid evolution. Hence, wiping them out whenever they were found was paramount.

It attempted to bite him, pinch him, grab him, even burn its own cultivation base for more strength, but when your muscles just won't do what you tell them to, you don't have a choice. Once the scorpion's movement had sufficiently slowed, Gaius charged in and pummeled the monster's head, killing it in just a few punches.

Seven feet from end to end, not including the tail. Sub-arms with humanlike hands folded up beneath the pincers, which allowed for high manual dexterity and the use of tools. A ball joint at the base and end of the tail, allowing the stinger to be swung like a blade. An enlarged head compared to the typical scorpion bodyplan, to allow for a larger brain. These were the telltale signs of a Qi Condensation level Revolution Scorpion. Looking at this one's mutations - an unusual coloration and extended jaws - Gaius concluded that this one was close to ascending. Most likely this colony's monarch.

He continued to stalk through the caverns, roughly hewn into rooms and halls. Not a one could be allowed to escape. He passed one particularly colorful room, the walls painted with all manner of murals and portraits. An art gallery, most likely; Gaius hardened his heart before he could ponder this any further. One crafty bug leapt at his back from behind a stone pillar encrusted with various raw gems and painted in bright colors. Fourth Heavenstage; he swiftly ended its life with a roundhouse kick before continuing on his way. Ten years ago, that scorpion would have given him the fight of his life. It was, after all, ten years ago that he fought Herod. Much had changed since them, even if many other things did not.

Now, he was at the Ninth Heavenstage, the point at which the path got much rockier. The tenth was very far away indeed, to speak nothing of the ones after that. He needed more points, always more points. More pills, more spirit stones, preferably middle-grade rather than low, more beast cores(that reminded him, he needed to snack on that monarch within the next hour before the qi started to leak out). And so, he took the most dangerous Qi Condensation missions he could find. The kind that would be given to early Foundation Building, had they not been preoccupied with the jobs of mid Foundation building, and the mid with the jobs of late, and so on. The shortage of elders got a tiny bit better with each passing decade, but it was still quite a problem indeed.

What this meant, in practice, was that Gaius was taking jobs he probably shouldn't be, ones that pushed him to his limits. This colony in particular had taken him four months of guerilla warfare to wear down before a direct assault was feasible. All of the weapons he brought were long-gone, as were his cloak and hat. His leather armor was tattered, battered and torn, he had multiple fractures in his ribs, left leg and left arm, and he was on the verge of overdosing on antivenom pills.

All in all, nothing too serious.

Ah, there it was. Gaius slunk through a side-passageway which went much deeper into the earth than the others, producing a small, qi-powered lantern in order to see. The tunnel soon opened up into a large, circular chamber, with disturbing, slick sacs, each bulging with dozens of eggs, stuck to every available surface on the wall and piled up in the center. The nursery.

The Seeker retrieved a cast of oil and raised the hand in which it was clutched, suffusing it with a powerful deluge of qi. For a moment, he hesitated pondering the situation in which he found himself. "You're spirit beasts. Smart, about as smart as a monkey, but still, just beasts. You expand rapidly and eat humans to advane your cultivation. You're no better than the Blood Cannibals." Gaius said, calmly explaining himself to the babies still waiting to hatch. "So don't hold a grudge on me. I'm not even refining your bodies. Pass on quietly."

His heart properly hardened once more, Gaius blasted the cask to bits, producing a spray of sparks which set the eggs alight, creating a blaze which rapidly filled the nursery. Not a proper technique, no need to go that far and try to dignify this butchery like it was a battle. It was dirty work, but he had always been prepared for that. Gaius walkes the longest, hardest path; of course it was dirty sometimes. His mission completed, the Legionnaire left the colony, doing his best to block out the unspeakable sounds behind him.

He then began the work of harvesting the venom glands and dantians of every scorpion which still had intact ones, of which there were about fifty. A far cry from their full numbers when he started this little war, but this was about the limit of what he could carry anyways. He filled up an enchanted scent-blocking burlap sack with the grily spoils, then helped himself to the monarch's dantian. It wasn't a true beast core - most spirit beasts didn't develop those until Foundation Establishment - but due to being so overdeveloped, eating the dantian of a scorpion only a single Heavenstage below him would still be quite good for his cultivation.

And so Gaius returned from beneath the earth, holding a sack full of organs and eating another one like an apple. But suddenly, out here in the open, something seemed wrong. He began Seeking in earnest, extending his perception to its fullest extent - ah, a Runner. Looks like he missed one.

In a flash of motion, Gaius was off, dashing at top speed after the distant beast. A cloud of sand was kicked up under The Seeker's feet as he ran - he would need to slow down once he got close enough for the scorpion to see, lest it bury itself in the sand. Gaius sighed; this would take a while.

Runners were a major pain. A caste in every colony intended to capitalize on the rate at which they bred, these cultivators focused all of their techniques and development on maximizing their endurance and running speed, so that should the colony fall, they could grab a huge load of eggs and flee, digging into the sand to sequester the eggs away, so that the babies could build a new colony once they hatched. Catching every single one was paramount if one wanted to destroy a Revolution Scorpion colony, catching every single runner was paramount, so that a new one wouldn't pop up after a single generation.

After three days of careful tailing, only moving closer under cover of night, Gaius was finally close enough. Sprinting at top speed up a hill, he quickly gained on the monster, and it clearly noticed him. It sped up, reaching top speed in seconds and beginning a chase for the ages. Four hours later, Gaius leapt off a cliff as hard as he could, breaking the stone under his feet and drawing his arms down to his sides to reduce drag. Like a spear, he launched at the beast, which was madly scuttling with an eggsac nearly twice its size held over one shoulder, clutched tightly in its sub-hands. Landing with an impact that badly shook his legs, The Legionnaire pushed off, dodging the Runner's stinger by inches and tackling it to the ground. With a quick flash of his hands, he gripped its head and wrenched it to the side, severing its spinal cord and ending its life.

Rolling off the monster's body, Gaius collapsed onto his back, gulping massive quantities of air and just laying there for half an hour. He didn't quite throw up, but it was a very close thing. After an hour or so had passed, Gaius resigned himself to the very long run back. Hopefully he'd buried the organs deep enough back in the colony that nothing had come along and eaten them.

----

Gaius, for his part, felt really embarassed. He'd nearly bungled the whole mission at the end there. That Runner had enough eggs to start up a fairly large colony in less than fifty years. He would definitely leave that incident out of his report.

Thankfully, such things were behind him now, as up ahead was the town of Three Hills. The rendesvoux point was in here; he could turn in this extremely valuable sack of organs and stop looking over his shoulder for bandits and thieves, and then he could prepare for the third and final mission he had accepted.

Three Hills was one of those towns that spring up around a military base. Nestled in a fertile valley next to three large hills, the 211th Legion used the area as a staging ground and built a small fortress there, a sizeable workforce of mortals had been sent to help run the place, and from there it grew into a community all its own. Squat, simple buildings made of sandstone bricks and smoothed over with mortar, a ten foot wall to deter small-time bandits, many small farms and a monastery a few miles from the town's limits, that kind of thing. And attached to the side of the town was the far more impressive-looking fortress, towering over its architecture and warded with all manner of arrays. Gaius made for an odd sight as he strode into the town's gates and slipped into an unassuming house. Two days later, a caravan with several Cultivator guards arrived to pick up the goods, hand off a sizeable down payment and leave, buying some mundane odds-and-ends in the town's marketplace to justify their presence.

After a month of closed-door cultivation in the house's sub-basement to make up for the lost time in his missions, Gaius emerged, his down payment used up, trying to remember where the meeting place was. The mission was clear: the third and final target was larger than the others, and would be a collaborative effort with two other legionaires on the Ninth Heavenstage. Splitting the payout was disappointing, but he figured the joint effort had been mandatory for a reason.

But none of that would matter if the team never even met up, and wouldn't that just be a mess? Gaius walked all around town for a whole day, asking everyone he could find if they'd seen two others "like him" recently. But considering how the mortals of this town lived right next to the 211th, people "like him" passed through all the time, so that was a wash. For three days, he found himself dashing through Three Hills' every nook and cranny, looking more nervous and annoyed with each passing hour. They were going to make fun of him, weren't they? Theywere probably hanging out someplace obvious that had somehow slipped Gaius' mind fifty times. Damn it all, how had he even forgotten the place!? He was such an idiot!

Slipping into a mid-sized, unassuming bar to drown his sorrows, he threw several electrum coins over the counter without bothering to count them. "Gimme... I dunno man, whatever. Un-diluted wine. Or just something really strong and fancy." He said to the man behind the counter without thinking about it."

A chuckle rang out in response. "Rough day?"

"Rough couple of days. There's some people I'm supposed to meet with but I can't remember where I'm supposed to find them."

"That so? Sounds difficult." The bartended responded, sliding over a cup of some mixture Gaius didn't recognize, but which smelled pretty nice.

Still not looking up, the legionnaire threw it back without a second thought, and nearly fell backwards out of his stool. Holy shit. "Ffffffuck! That's good stuff! What'd you put in this?" Asked Gaius, finally looking up to look the bartender in the face. It had hit him with a heavenly impact, with a taste that was sharp, smooth, dry and just a little bit fruity. The aftertaste still lingered on his tongue and in his throat after several seconds.

The other man laughed again and got to work preparing another drink. He has very handsome, with well-proportioned features, almond-shaped eyes and long hair swept back and tied up in a ponytail. "They say that the line between good medicine and good poison is paper-thin. The same's true for a good drink, in my experience. The best alcohol is one that eases pains both physical and mental, and fortifies the soul for hardships to come."

"I'll drink to that." Replies Gaius with a smile, his usual aniety already melting away under the drink's phenomenal powers. Before he knew it, another cup was in front of him. This time he drank it slower, and noticed something else buried underneath the other flavors. Something subtle which he couldn't quite name, but which he suspected provided the drink's impressive sharpness. "I'm impressed you have something that can affect a Cultivator of my level this much. Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty strong."

"Strong?" The mysterious man questioned with a smirk. "Strength is a silly word that doesn't mean a thing, it's all just chemical reactions in the end. There's plenty of ways to circumvent the brute force of a Cultivator's liver when you come to understand this." With those words, a realization hit Gaius.

"You! You're one of the other agents! Why didn't you alert me!? Why are you working in a bar!?" Gaius sputtered, face red as he pointed an acusatory finger. His countenance only changed to a deeper shade as loud, harsh laughter erupted behind him.

"Alcides, you dog! You're so mean!" Laughed a burly woman with strange makeup, slapping her table merrily. "I was wondering how long we could string this guy along!"

Face darting between one companion and the other, Gaius groaned and slumped down into his seat.

----

Once that bit of good-spirited bullying was over, the three cleared out the bar and began to speak in earnest, introducing themselves and bringing all the intel they had forth.

The woman was named Emilia. Unsurprisingly, she and Alcides were friends, and had collaborated on missions many times before. For a little while Gaius was worried they would conspire to cut his share of the points as much as possible, only to quickly conclude that Emilia was incapable of any sort of conspiracy more complicated than a prank. She specialized in... well, beating things. More specifically, she used a peculiar style known as the Opulent Diptych, one which traditionally asked its practitioners to paint their faces, dress in bright colors and fight with loud, whopping battlecries. Needless to say, she often acted as the loud, dangerous distraction whilst Alcides used poisons and traps to bring down the enemy.

Alcides, in turn, was a promising poisoner, but was also skilled in the medical arts, and could brew all sorts of fortifying concoctions to keep his allies alive and healthy. He seemed very devious... but then, what poisoner wasn't? Well, Gaius could think of one well-known example, but that was the exception which proved the rule. He'd watch out for Alcides, but honestly, the man seemed very good-natured in general, so hopefully everything would be fine there.

"So they've got between 100 and 150 combatants and around 400 non-combatants, right?" Asked Emilia, smoking an ornate pipe.

"Yes, but with their infighting and explosive breeding, these numbers can fluctuate. Really, it could be anywhere between 70 and 200 combatants by my estimation." Alcided replied, looking over a diagram of the typical colony's structure.

"Don't forget that these things are born Cultivators; the laborer caste are still all between the First and Third Heavenstage. Writing them off as civilians is dangerous." Gaius spoke up from experience.

"Mmm, good point. Better to not make the distinction, then. So, between 250 and 600 inhabitants... that's very big. Taking them down a few at a time just isn't practical." Alcides continues, scribbling down some notes off to the side. "Poison gas is our only real option. Blast an opening, smoke them out, kill the Runners first and then hunt down the stragglers."

Emilia leaned back in her chair, bored but attempting to pay attention. "Can we really catch 'em all though? Like, say we're unlucky and we only kill half of them with gas. That's like, at least a hundred, probably a lot more. If they get into a dozen groups and run in every direction, at least one's gonna get away."

"No, they won't make such small groups." Gaius corrected, brushing his hair over his ear. "Even for a highly mutable species like Revolution Scorpions, too much inbreeding is dangerous. A new colony would need genes from at least ten males and thirty females to keep the blood from getting too tainted, and even that few is pushing it. That's what Runners are for, they mix eggs from ten to twenty different clutches and then run off." He internally winced at just how much he'd come to know about this specific breed of monster. He probably shouldn't have taken all three missions.

"And groups of forty aren't hard to spot on the move. These are intimidating numbers, but in the end they're just animals, barely smart enough to be barbaroi. We can do this." Alcides nodded firmly.

"So how much prep time are we looking at to get everything ready, then?" Drawled Emilia, taking another long drag on her pipe. "A month to scout them out and capture one without getting seen, another month for you to analyze its body and concoct a poison?"

"Something like that." Alcides replied. "No need to rush. We'll exterminate them calmly and cleanly, with no unnecessary risk."

----

"Is that so? The time is already coming? Never a dull decade, is there?"

Far from that sleepy little town was a hole in the ground. This hole could be considered a town as well, of a sort. It has a name, though not one any human would know: Sudberj. Deep within this hidden sanctum, a meeting was taking place. It concerned a crucial piece of intelligence: news of a coming attack by Golden Devil cultivators.

A bizarre creature coiled upon a raised dias. Ten feet long from the head to the base of the body, with a tail of the same length, ending in three wicked stingers. sixteen-legged, four-armed, two ending in serrated pincers and two with clawed human fingers. All culminating in a head far more humanoid than the typical sorpion, albiet with the usual mouthparts. This hideous creature was King Derrick. He scowled, or did the approximation of such one does with mandibles. "The other two colonies in this region descended from the same ancestors as ours. Not that it matters much, but I can't deny that I'm angry."

The hall was dead silent as he paused in conemplation for a moment. "But... Just Qi Condensation, are you sure?" asked the monarch, to which a scout nodded in confirmation. Derrick chuckled. "Then they've miscalculated. We've developed just a little bit faster than the humans thought we would, haven't we?" He asks, not only to himself, but to the two generals behind him, who were already beginning to mutate themselves.

"Yes, Kaiser." said general Adelina to his left, as if she hadn't been preparing to ascend and kill him for a year now. Ah, the ambition of youth. "If we begin mobilizing now, we will be able to relocate sixty to seventy percent of our population and build ten new colonies. Should we kill all of the hunters before they can bring word back, that will buy us the time we need. This colony will be doomed once we get the Devils' full attention, but our numbers will multiply greatly in the next century." She analyzed coldly, holding a roll of parchment scrawled with various schematics and statistics.

"A frustrating step back though, I must admit." Retorted general Chloris to his right with a growl, ferociously open with her emotions as ever. "A colony takes at least four generations to start producing Foundation Establishment Cultivators. We're throwing away our accomplishments now for a future we'll never see! It's so frustrating!" She ranted and seethed, as was her nature.

"Chloris. You should know well by now that this world is not a just one. Under the cruel eyes of heaven, potential is the most valuable thing. Ten newborn colonies will collectively hold far greater potential than ours. The cause is eternal." the King explained in a soft, grandfatherly tone.

For her part, Chloris seemed about ready to start a fight right now, but backed off at the last moment. "As you command, Kaiser." She said with a curt bow.

"Now, begin the gathering!" commanded the Derrick as a guard to his side banged on a large, crudely-forged gong, calling every scorpion in Sudberj to the great hall. Within an hour, all were gathered, filling the chamber to the brim with over three hundred bodies. Several dozen more were forced to listen from adjacent rooms or halls.

"Brothers. Sisters. A time of great strife has come to us once again. We have been found, and it is time to make our stand." The Kaiser's words echoed and rippled through the hall, causing a few hushed murmurs, which soon died out as he raised a pincer. "Believe me, it brings great pain to deliver this message to you all. The capricious heavens once more test our people. We must not be found unworthy, or we will be destroyed. We must be austere and resolute, so as to fling a light into the future again."

Grim solemnity descended upon the hall, as the gravity of the situation began to set in. "We know now that we are not the chosen people, we are not the heroic tribe who shall unify the desert, but we must pave the road for them. Today, forget your jobs and duties and enjoy yourselfs, for tomorrow The Great Exodus begins once more."

The scorpions cheered one and all in a great clamor, banging spears on shields, clapping pincers together, striking their tails against the walls. They made a defeaning noise by any means they had on hand, screaming their defiance against the heavens that would see their cursed people wiped out, declaring once more their intention to fight on forever. Soon, scorpions of all castes reveled together throughout the colony, drinking their best wine, feasting on the cured meat of beast and human alike, singing songs of valor, love and battle, even mating out in the open, behind columns and in cramped alcoves. They squeezed every bit of joy they could out of this day, so that they might die without regrets.

Leaving his subjects to their revelry, Derrick scuttled back to his personal chambers, back to isolation. A simple cell, very spartan, containing only a bed, a chamber pot and a pool for bathing. It was clearly made for one attempting to leave worldly desires behind, it looked nothing like what one might picture should they imagine the bedchambers of a king. Indeed, the old scorpion had tried festooning himself and his possessions with glittering gemstones and lustrous gold before; it just didn't suit him.

He would need to return to cultivation in about 25 minutes - he was currently on a schedule of about 20 hours of cultivation per day - but until then, he knew just the way to pass the time. Pulling a lever by his bed, Derrick activated a mechanism which groaned and whined, opening a secret passageway in the wall. Slowly and thoughtfully, the scorpion walked down a long, winding tunnel, running his hand along its walls, feeling history in every groove. This place would be abandoned soon. Left to be held only by a third of their number, so that when the Devils sent real firepower and killed the inhabitants, they might think they got them all and call off the hunt. Buying time. Building numbers. Hiding. Waiting for a miracle, some heaven-sent talent or miraculous treasure that would transform one lucky colony into a mighty Clan. That was the fate of his kind.

He hated it.

A chunk of the tunnel wall broke off, held tight in his fist, which crushed the stone into pebbles. Reaching the end of this passageway, Derrick pulled another lever, opening another hidden door and allowing sunlight to stream in. He squinted for a minute as his eyes adjusted, then walked out into the light. Climbing up to the top of a large dune so that he could gaze out into the distance, Old Longbody coiled himself into a spiral and tucked his legs in, the equivalent of sitting for a body like his.

How foolish he had been, ten long years ago, how hubristic. He mutated into this shape so that he would look more like a dragon. All he'd really done is become a centipede. He laughed and then sighed, letting his perception spread out across the desert, dancing on the heat haze as it shimmered through the air.

"No one truly loves the desert. Scorpions most of all." He spoke, to no one in particular, laying bare his bottled emotions for heaven alone. "True, the right kind of sand can be softer than any pillow, and the warmth of the sun is a wonderful companion, but the distance... I think we all lose something to it. To that endless expanse, looking at it every day."

Derrick scooped up a handful of pure, yellow-white sand and let it fall through his fingers. "Looking out there every day, we are never allowed to forget how small we are. Perhaps that is why my people cultivate, a vain attempt to overcome that feeling." He let out a long, bittersweet laugh. "For all my power I am just a bug. Just a terrified little bug, trying to live a little longer before something eats me. One amongst many. Amongst countless generations."

He smiled. Despite the pain in his voice, despite the seemingly infinite size of the desert seeming to crush him beneath its weight, the crafty old bug smiled. "It won't be me. I won't be the one who strides across the world as a conqueror. Hopefully it will be one of my descendents, but I will be lost to time, another grain of sand. Perhaps I can at least win some more glory while I'm here." His smile grew wider, wilder, fiercer. A challenge to all who would oppose him; a challenge, perhaps, to the world itself.

"Come to me, Devils. Come here and die."

And here we are with the first chapter of this arc, at 4,794 words. Getting this one to work was frustrating, and there's still some stuff I'm not fully satisfied with. I had to re-do certain parts and re-arrange the sections multiple times, so I really hope I didn't miss any mistakes. It finally feels pretty good, so I'm posting it now. This is my first foray into actually writing Gaius into a larger narrative with like... themes and shit. I've got the story all planned out, at least in the broad strokes sense, and I'm looking forward to writing more of it.

Chapter 2 might not come out for a while, since I may end up being part of a crossover omake depending on what mission Gaius goes on, we'll have to see.


@Alectai Threadmark, pls. And for my turn 9 bonus, I would like an LST. As much as I want to keep pumping the cultivation, having that buffer is crucial, and I'd like to have two of them when I go to a Secret Realm.
 
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Theoron Strophios 3: Convoy Guarding
Theoron Strophios: Convoy Guarding

Heat and desiccation had baked the earth into dry crisps. They popped and snapped underfoot, sounding to Theoron's ears much like dry insect shells being stepped on. Memories of tossing such husks at his sister and his childish glee at her screams of fear drifted through his mind. Mixing and muddling with the screams of the dying.

Guarding convoys was not Theoron's idea of an ideal mission. Convoys were the lifeblood of the clan, but a blood that moved with sluggish vigor. An ox might be an apt comparison, Theoron thought as his face stung from an arrow's kiss. Strapped to the plow an ox hardly seemed to move, yet the land was plowed at the end of the day, was it not? Such were the caravans and convoys of the clan, slow plodding things of wood and flesh, doing otherwise impossible tasks daily.

Ducking under a savage blow, Theoron dashed forward, sword hilt striking a throat as he passed. That bandit would die, choking under a clear blue sky. His clarity was in rare form today if he could ponder about the nature of caravans. Stepping aside a wild blow he flicked his blade out and sliced through the back of a bandit's knee. That bandit would die, trampled by the melee. Since convoys were so vital it made sense that they would be strictly controlled. Another arrow slammed into his vest, weak enough to be stopped, strong enough to hurt. Convoys stopped when ordered, and moved when instructed. No leeway, no grace.

Such things were why Theoron loved search and destroy missions. Moving under his own power, dashing under clear skies. Blood fouled his next step sending him stumbling to the ground, his heel lashed out breaking the knee of a bandit seeking to take advantage of his stumble. That bandit was already dead, head landing on an ax blade wedged in the corpses. Search and destroy missions, Theoron thought as he hauled himself up with trembling legs, was where it was at. Nothing like this happened on search and destroy missions. If an enemy was too much to handle, just retreat and report it. Engaging in such lopsided battles was never an experience one wanted to repeat. Orders were orders though and so here he was.

Corpses littered the road, providing freely to the earth their blessing, and the earth drank it up greedily, struggling to contain everything given. They would hold, Theoron thought as his eyes scanned the fight during his respite. They would hold, but barely. An arrow that left a scar instead of slicing open a throat. Far too close for any sort of comfort to be had in the victory. His eyes swept the field again, even as his feet strode forward without an input, a titan among the gathering carrion birds. There. Five bandits trying to flank around the main fighting.

Bodies and bones broke beneath him as Theoron surged forward, blade already drawn. A choked gasp erupted from the bandit Theoron impacted, his sword punching through the man's body where the heart should be, driving both to the ground. With grace unimaginable to his mortal self, Theoron flipped off the body, blade withdrawn straight up. Curses filled the air as the rest of the bandits turned to address his rude interruption of their plan. Theoron frowned as he assessed the strength of those around him. They were much stronger than the rabble he had been dealing with. Each was with a realm or two of his own strength. Fighting here would be at the very edge of his ability, if not beyond it. Theoron grinned, this was perfect.
"You don't stand a chance." One of the bandits said, his ax gleaming with wet blood under the sun. "You might've taken out Xin, but that trick won't work again."

Nodding Theoron slowly turned with the other bandits, keeping as many in front of him as possible. "I might not be able to, but that doesn't mean others can't." He flicked his eyes past the bandit on his right.

That bandit cursed, spinning around to defend against an attack not coming. Dry earth cracked further as Theoron seized the chance and dashed forward. His blade swung in a beautiful crescent, intent on biting deeply into the bandit's side. An ax blow forced Theoron to pivot, turning a killing blow into a grazing one. Theoron clucked his tongue, that was unfortunate. He had been hoping for a quick kill there.

"Keep your head in the game, Jin!" The apparent leader of this little group said, ripping his ax free of the earth. "This kid ain't got anyone to back him up."

"Pretty much yah." Theoron said, nodding his head. "Always first into the fray, always last to leave, that's me."

"That's gonna get you killed sooner or later." The bandit said, his smile, ruined by missing teeth, stretching wide. "Very soon."

"Before we find out, may I know your name?" Theoron said, his sword gently tapping the earth.

"Oh? An honorable sort are you? Why didtcha kill Xin like that then, hmm?" The bandit said, even as the group slowly split, encircling Theoron.

"Honor?" Theoron said, bringing his sword to rest on his shoulder. "Why should I care about honor? Death is the only thing that matters on a battlefield, but afterwards there are the bounty boards. Matching a name is so much easier than trying to match rotting heads."

With that the fight started. Growling with rage the spear wielder of the little group struck first, rushing in from left. Theoron pivoted to face the charge, dragging one foot behind him to trip the twined dagger wielding bandit, now behind him, who had waited a split second before charging. Theoron used the blade of his sword to guide him as he slid down the incoming spear shaft. An attack short lived as the sword wielder, Jin, rushed from the side and the spear thrust shifted to drag him towards the others.

Flick. Theoron's blade flashed down even as he ducked under the spear shaft. A scream rewarded his efforts, he must have nicked a hand. With one hand he pushed the spear further away from him, and into the oncoming sword wielder. Then he was forced to roll away as the earth erupted. Disappearing completely into the earth leaving only the handle visible was an ax.

"Tricky fellow aren't you? Well, more where that came from." The ax wielding bandit said, even as he pulled another ax from behind him.

Quickly the battle turned into a deadly dance over a broken land, and under a whole sky. Theoron would see a chance to push forward, only to be driven off by the teamwork of the bandits having dealt only minor blows. Each bandit was nowhere near as skilled as him, but their bodies were strong and the experience they had working together showed. For each wound Theoron inflicted, he would receive two. It was a dance that could only end one way.

Then the spear wielding bandit slipped.

Perhaps it was a piece of bone, or a loose rock. Even a small pool of blood would have done it. In the end it didn't matter. The bandit slipped. And that was that. Theoron barely realized what had happened before his body reacted. Without thought his blade traced the perfect edge of the horizon, right through the dawning horror of the bandit's face. Chin to scalp. A heavy thud signaled another life ended. Now there were three.

A change overcame the remaining bandits. The spear wielder held a much dearer place in the hearts of these bandits than that Xin did judging by how reckless the attacks became. If Theoron was fresh playing off these wild attacks would be manageable. Theoron wasn't fresh; blood from a dozen and more wounds stained his clothes, his hair was matted with sweat, and his bones ached from fighting already done today. Theoron wasn't fresh, and so he smiled, wide and free. Joy was found on the sword's edge afterall. On that smallest of lines that separated earth and heaven, life and death.

One wound for another was the exchange now, as steel hammered into steel. It was the ax wielding bandit that made the next mistake. Even aching and struggling to stay upright Theoron saw the mistake happen. The man roared out his hatred and swung with all his strength. Yet his friends were too far away, driven back by the previous exchange. Theoron fell forward, the ax blade humming over his nape, and earth cracked again as he drew even more power from his sword. In a single step he crossed the distance between him and the ax wielding bandit. His second step drove his sword through the man's heart, and his third drove them both into the ground.

Rolling off the dead man Theoron tried to create distance. It didn't work. Even as he struggled to his knees Theoron saw the oncoming hit. Jin had dropped his sword and rushed forward. Froth filled the bandit's mouth while veins bulged and distorted as he grew larger. Just as Theoron stood up Jin tackled him, driving him back into the ground. Theoron felt his ribs bend than snap, his breath driven out with only pain filling its place. He had managed to bring up his sword in time, if only just. As Theoron blinked the spots and pain away from his vision he realized that Jin was dead. Throat slit in an attempt to bite down on Theoron's shoulder.

"Jin did you finish him?" The last bandit said. "We've got to go! Everyone's running!"

Theoron couldn't move. Jin was still growing larger, whatever vile art had been used didn't care about pesky things like life or death. Even Jin's own blood was being drawn back into the body to fuel its growth.

"Jin?" The bandit took another step closer. Theoron just needed to shift this body. Just a little. That was all he needed to slip his sword free and get a chance to stab the bandit coming closer.

"You know what. No." The last bandit said, turning around and beginning to run. "Eat all you want Jin. I'm not sticking around to get caught." With that the last bandit ran away.

Sighing Theoron finally allowed the nagging sensation in the back of his mind to do its purpose. It was disconcerting, to feel something you've held for years, whose energy has been a constant companion, drain away to nothingness. Bones righting themselves, forcible pushing back against a growing weight wasn't pleasant either. He would need to be better to avoid using such talismans again.

That was how the relief force found him, trapped beneath a horrific mass of skin and blood discussing with a vulture whether he should have stepped right or left after the eighth exchange.

@Alectai
I would like to spend this turns omake bonus as a LST, please.
 
Adhoc vote count started by occipitallobe on Feb 9, 2021 at 2:49 AM, finished with 106 posts and 20 votes.

  • [X] Plan For An Ace Up The Sleeve(?)
    -[X] Take the Loan. Permanent -1 Wealth per turn, +10 Wealth now.
    -[X] Training Soldiers - Raising Disciples to higher Realms is all well and good, but training them to be perfect members of Formations is better. Ensure your Clan is trained and ready for war. Your readiness to go to war will increase significantly, though this fades over time.
    -[X] Prepare to Interfere With Fu Tong if Old Cannibal is scheming anything there, and if the Golden Eye Array Reveals Otherwise, interfere with any other gambits the Cannibals might enact in general.
    -[X] Empower the Golden Eye Array to See Inside Fu Tong (11 Wealth)
    -[X] Build the Ten Thousand Forts (5 Wealth)
    [X] The best defense is a Well-Trained Army
    -[X] Take the Loan. Permanent -1 Wealth per turn, +10 Wealth now.
    -[X] Training Soldiers - Raising Disciples to higher Realms is all well and good, but training them to be perfect members of Formations is better. Ensure your Clan is trained and ready for war. Your readiness to go to war will increase significantly, though this fades over time.
    -[X] Investigate Fu Tong personally
    -[X] Build the Ten Thousand Forts (5 Wealth)
    -[X] Attempt to improve the Technique Palace (14 Wealth)
    [X] The best defense is a Well-Trained Army
    [X] Plan: Better a Palace Than a Fortress
    -[X] Take the Loan. Permanent -1 Wealth per turn, +10 Wealth now.
    -[X] Training Soldiers - Raising Disciples to higher Realms is all well and good, but training them to be perfect members of Formations is better. Ensure your Clan is trained and ready for war. Your readiness to go to war will increase significantly, though this fades over time.
    -[X] Build the Ten Thousand Forts (5 Wealth)
    -[X] Attempt to improve the Technique Palace (14 Wealth)
    -[X] Weaken An Enemy (Blood Cannibals) - Choose a faction, and use your Nascent Soul strength to simply sneak in and do damage. A little underhanded and shameful, but what do you care for the views of the Righteous Path? Potentially dangerous.
    [X] Tehcron


So the votes have swung the other way. No narrowing whatsoever, which makes this easy to call. Missions up shortly (killer headache so I'm going to load up on painkillers and come back to it) in the next couple of hours, after which I'll go collate the stuff I prerolled with Alectai for Aliki and edit it into the Good Seed posts.
 
Contribution Board Missions - Turn 8
Missions are now available on the Omake Rewards sheet!

Select a Mission for your Good Seed (or don't, and get a more generic Fate). This turn we'll be starting out with three, and they're all more generic. For now, if a Legion-leading Good Seed picks a mission, their Legion can just come along. In future I'll look to have specific Missions headed by Good Seeds to really make the story work, but for now it'll be the more basic version.

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

Welcome to the public terminal of the Contribution Points Board, Legionnaire.

Select mission... finding past missions relevant to your present power and skillset for research purposes...

Three missions found. Listing follows. Please note all information is private, and must not be released to outsiders.

Jin Fulong's Caravan:

It was in the early days of the war with the Cannibals that the Southern Caravan Route was set up. Normally the sheer weight of Spirit Stones, array pieces, herbs, pills, weapons and other sundries did not make their way south. With the bulk of the Optimatoi in the south, though,, much more materiel needed to be moved to support the war-front. In the early days of the war, the Clan aimed to build a massive, in-depth front of fortifications named the Ten Thousand Forts. To be able With mobile Legions and powerful cultivators ranging far and wide to protect the caravans, the Cannibals were aiming to break these lines and prevent the fortifications. One caravan in particular, led by Jin Fulong found itself balanced on the precipice of failure. Carrying valuable array-carving tools to assist in the defensive effort, it nearly fell multiple times, until...

The Siege of Three Frog City

Three Frog City. Eighty thousand people, and slightly out of the way. Named after the three Spotted Toad Frogs who were slain near where it was founded, the city was only moderately fortified, and even less important. Used as a training ground for soldiers recruited into the Clan and deployed to the front lines, it was only a minor piece of the Clan's strategy. After all, as it did not sit on any major trade routes nor was exposed to any easy attacks, it was a surprise to the Clan when a major Cannibal force besieged the city. Descending on the city ravenously, they were aiming to crack the walls and consume every mortal within before the Clan could respond. Only a few scattered Clan forces were gathered there, and they held mightily. Still, the numbers did not favour them, and the Cannibals were greedy for the slaughter. The walls were attacked, and...

The Growling Dervishes

Some of the most frustrating forces in the war were the Cannibal irregulars. Oh, they were all irregular in a sense, but those that were trained to strike into back lines, effective at slaughtering mortals, and moving from place to place. It was in the Xin Kingdom that the Dervishes first attacked. Unlike the normal irregulars, the Dervishes were dedicated to a single goal. They destroyed useful arrays, their half-dog forms enabling them to shrug off damage and regenerate at tremendous speed. The Dervishes were deployed against a minor node of the Golden Eye Array. The defense was scraped-together and desperate, for with the loss of that part of the Array the ability of the Clan to accurately aim the Glass Spear at enemies striking deep into Xin Kingdom territory would be degraded. No forces could be shaken loose to destroy the maneuverable enemies. Rather, the Clan would have to make do with what they had. In the end, the array-node was...

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

A reiteration for those who haven't seen it. Missions are the new format in which I generate Fates (to get a number of characters together on a mission and write something that fits them all in, vaguely), and the more characters on a Mission (and the higher their effective cultivation) the more likely it is to succeed. None of these are crucial - a minor city, a single moderately important caravan, a minor node of the Golden Eye Array - but not losing them is definitely better than losing them. Feel free to assign yourself to whatever you find interesting or set up some strategic distribution of Good Seeds, whichever you prefer!

Fates haven't changed mechanically at all, it's just how I write up the stories.

Lastly.

For characters who are of effective strength greater or equal than Late Foundation Establishment (5-pillar) as found here, you have another option open this turn. Help the Clan is something you can write in your Turn Notes. If you do, your Fate no longer offers delightful rewards for rolling well - no more Impact and Cultivation bonuses - but instead assist the Clan in completing the Mission you've chosen. Your bonus increases exponentially as your roll does - rolling a 100 with a 50% Fate bonus from omake is multiples more effective than rolling a 100 with no Fate bonus from omake. That means sacrificing a good roll (especially on a turn with lots of omake) can let you do some crazy stuff. As an aside, Missions are not capped in terms of success. If you over-succeed, your over-achieving Good Seeds will go find some more problems the Clan has and fix them. Aggressively. So there's no way to 'waste' such a bonus.

Any questions, please ask here or in the Discord!
 
@occipitallobe Gaius doesn't seem to be on the spreadsheet for turn 8. Also, can I have permissions to edit so that if I ever want to change a goal I don't have to bug someone to do it?
 
Maria 3 - Belonging
Belonging
Maria Turn 8 First Omake

Ajax knew what sort of day he was in for the instant Maria landed on his back, giggling like a school girl and locking her arms and legs around him. An undignified sort of day. Ridiculous, even. She laughed like a piglet, all snorts and supressed squeals, and to make matters worse she buried her face in the crook of his neck to smother them.

And no. He was not smiling. The twist at the corner of his mouth was entirely coincidental.

"This is not proper legionnaire behaviour," he scolded. Maria shook her head, sending great curling waves of her golden hair into his face as she did so.

"Terrible." Her voice was muffled and twitched with barely constrained levity. "Should be ashamed of myself. Bad Maria. Bad bad bad."

"What would Rina Callista say?"

"Naughty Seed! Bad junior! Thirty laps!"

That broke him. A snort fought past Ajax's lips. He reached back, caught Maria by the collar of her robes, and pulled her off. She didn't resist. Time hadn't changed her much, he reflected. She was still that short, stocky little brat he'd taken off the road. A little taller, perhaps. Her hair was cleaner. And the legionnaire's uniform was a much better fit on her than the ragged robes she'd been in before. Otherwise, she might as well still have been protecting peddlars from wandering thugs.

She was giving him another of those lopsided grins. He tried not to smile back. It didn't work.

"Going to keep me hanging here all day?"

"I was thinking about it. You might make a nice wall hanging."

"Curtain. Keep the sun out."

"Not with skin that pale, you'd blind half the outpost."

Another squealing peal of laughter. He let her go.

"It's good to see you, Maria."

She nodded back eagerly. "Very good. Very good indeed."

It was a nice moment. Of course, it ended almost immediately.

"I have a new assignment for you."

She tilted her head. "Yes?"

"Come inside."

He shepherded her into his office and locked the door behind her. Less chance of being overheard.

"Where?" She asked as soon as he sat behind his desk. "Far end of the road? Near Jingshen? Near the Cannibals?"

She had that spark in her eye the young ones always got when they talked about war. Imperator save him.

"No," he answered. "No. Not the far end of the road."

Maria sat back. Considered. "Up by the mountains, then?"

"You're leaving the road." That made her stop. Ajax barrelled on, before she spoke again. "Not to the frontlines, either. You're going to Three Frog city."

They sat in deep and heavy silence. Then, "where the fuck is Three Frog City?"

Maria's voice sounded like broken glass. Ajax made himself hold her gaze.

"Nowhere important. There's a map."

"And why-"

"Training. We have soldiers there. They need someone to break them in. That'll be you, among others."

"…War. War with the Cannibals. War with the Cannibals very, very, VERY fucking soon. And you want me to teach greenhorns how to hold a spear?"


-----



She felt her fury in two places, as she always did. Coiled in her throat, and her brain. The former felt like gristle and dust, something heavy and rough and right on the edge of painful. She was used to that by now.

The anger in her head was a lot more distracting. For twenty years, she'd learnt to ignore it. Golden Devils were controlled, stoic, disciplined warriors. Anything else broke formation. But the Red Place hadn't gone anywhere, and on moments like this she felt it singing in her brain.

Come, child. Sit by my door. Let my corridors solve... everything...

No. She shut her eye. Bit her lip. Forced breaths into her lungs. I don't need you. Go away.

Ajax was still speaking. Maria forced herself to pay attention.

"…not a question of your skill, legionnaire," he said. Her rank. Not her name. The captain was apparently being *official*. "You made 8th​ in 20 years. That's exceptional. But we're short on bodies and that needs to change. Quickly."

"*I'm* a body," she growled. "Sir."

"One body. You can put hundreds into the field-"

"I want to fight!"

She hadn't meant to shout, or to stand, but she was doing both now and couldn't seem to make herself stop.

"This is *my* clan! MINE! You want me to let cannibal man-eater FREAKS eat us? Let them – fucking –"

She couldn't find the words, so let herself snarl instead, putting anger straight into the air without the need for language.

Ajax watched her, stony faced, for a few long minutes. Then, at last, "you can stop or I can stop you. Pick one."

She hissed.

Growled.

Conceded the point. Stillness didn't come easy, but she forced it on herself until the anger wasn't dragging her around the room any more. Breaths. Deep breaths, and even, like they'd taught at the Fortress. Slow. Careful.

Calm descended slowly, but she got there. Shame came with it. Ajax's stare felt heavy and judging. She looked down at her feet to avoid it.

"…Sorry."

"Sorry, Captain."

"Yes. That. Captain. Sorry."

The silence hung for another second, and then he carried on.

"I am not asking you anything. I am ordering you. This is a legion. I can do that."

"I know."

"And your orders are to train soldiers. Because you're right. War with the Cannibals will start, and soon. Wars are won by whoever puts the most troops in the field."

"I – yes sir."

"So what, legionnaire, is the problem?"

She made herself look up at him. "No problem, Captain."

She felt him considering her. Judging. She must have passed.

"Good. Sit down, will you? Hurting my neck looking up at you."

Normality. Maria released a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding and sat opposite him. When had they even gone to his desk? Too angry. The Red Place had stolen memories, and she hadn't even been in it.

Ajax pulled a bottle of something sweet and alcoholic out of his desk, and poured her a glass. It smelt like peaches and honey. Present from his wife, she guessed – the captain didn't tend to buy this stuff himself. She sipped at it to be polite and watched his eyes. Something sad about him, today. Something tired. Heaven's worthless shit, she couldn't have picked a better time to lose her temper, could she?

"I know it's hard," he said, eventually. "I was young too, once. War looks like glory, to you. Proving yourself a hero. But that's not what it's going to be like, Mar. It's – " And he seemed to grope for the words like a blind man reaching for his cane, for a moment – "it changes you. There's honour in a fight, yes, but a battle… You know I was at Pleuron?"

She shook her head.

"I was. Barely hit 3rd​ heavenstage, but we needed men if we wanted to survive the Tribulation, so there I was. And."

Ajax stopped. Drank.

"Anyway. War is not what you think it is. So don't be too upset. Heaven's cruel enough anyway. You'll find your way there eventually."

Maria said nothing. What was there to say? So she sat, and watched her captain drink his glass, and then they waited in the silence for a while.

And later, years and years later, when she thought of her captain and that war, she'd know that he was right.
 
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Shennong 3 - Newfound Difficulties
Shennong - Newfound Difficulties


"Hah...This is one stressful mission…"


Shennong was once again wondering how he got here. The past half-century had been nothing but a miracle to him. First was his incredible luck in aiding one of the 13 into discovering an exceedingly potent herb, which in turn allowed him to seize a once in a lifetime opportunity to boost his cultivation extraordinarily. Next was his quest to find the fabled Peace Making Blade, which in its legend managed to stop a war between 2 powerful kingdoms merely by being drawn. Unfortunately, by the time he had tracked down the resting place of the fabled blade, it had been long taken. However, whatever greed that had been running through the pilferer's mind hadn't thought to take the sheathe, which was just as potent, if for another reason entirely.

The Peacebound Scabbard, said to sap the strength and will of those who would dare oppose it, so long as the wielder lifted no blade in retaliation. Naturally, Shennong had tested this, and to his delight the powerful enchantment on the sheathe cared not of the fists of the wielder, not the feet or body of them. Shennong had capitalized on this, ensuring that his bare-handed capabilities were strengthened to their highest potential, which had brought him to some minor renown in the clan. Which, of course, led to this.

Because of his newfound notice by the higher mid-powers of the clan, he had to ensure that he was seen to be worth keeping, in order to ensure that he was given the chance to pursue the path he wanted to set out upon: A Grand Alchemist, crafting pills that would bring Heaven-Defying Strength, Lighting-Fast Celerity, and Stability greater than Mt. Tai. He wished to Create, and finding the strength to indulge in his goal was necessary. So, he took this mission and left with the Caravan to ensure he had a home to come to. Shouldn't have been too hard.

Unfortunately, the keyword there was Should.

Ambushes. Landslides. Monsters. Monster Ambushes. Ambushing Monsters. A cursed artifact left by a hostile Great Circle Core Formation Elder. A Half-Nascent Soul Beast on the hunt, which only didn't eat them because they were too thin for the beast's desires. Shennong was convinced that this caravan was cursed. That or Jin Fulong was either a Spy, or just insane. He somehow always managed to find the worst possible routes through danger, and multiple times his advisors had lamented letting Jin have the map. However, he was the one who amassed the truly staggering amount of array resources to build and maintain the arrays for the gargantuan defensive emplacement plan that the grand council had thought up. So, Jin decided he got the map.

This must be some kind of retribution for the good luck he's had recently, isn't it…

Well, there was nothing else to do. He had accepted the mission, so he had to finish it. Plus, it seems that they had reached a quiet point--

CRASH

...He just had to open his mouth...


(AN: This'll probably be part of of 2 or 3, if I can get both the time and motivation to do it. For my bonus, I'm going to request a Tribulation Bonus.)
 
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Gaius Antonius Omake 7: What is this, a crossover episode?
Gaius Antonius Omake #7: What is this, a crossover episode?

What is life? What is mind? Profound questions, ones which have been debated hotly for as long as humans have had the gift of speech. What can be known for sure is that the soul exists, and all but the most solipsistic will agree that all people have a consciousness. It is also agreed that thought first arises from the cognition of the brain, and is then imprinted onto the soul.

But what is consciousness, exactly? Where does it begin and end? Does a baby, too young and unformed to maintain episodic long-term memories, have a consciousness? When you go to sleep and wake up the next day, is that the same consciousness or a new one? And if a person were to be copied, become a second being with a different consciousness that is otherwise identical, is that the same person or a different one?

An agreement on these questions may never be reached, simply because they are so difficult to fully define within the limits of human language. However, anyone who has ever pondered these questions would agree that Jin Muyi makes for at least a fascinating anecdote. A man who, by any medical definition, was killed, only to be preserved and come to inhabit the very demonic vines that took his life. He had become an organism that, while taking the shape of a man, had no brain anymore, instead having his cognition and his consciousness spread out through his vines. His soul was, by all accounts, still firmly in place, still the same souls as he'd had when he was known as Xiao Yi.

Even more fascinating was the change in name; Xiao Yi became Jin Muyi because by all accounts Xiao Yi died, and this new consciousness, this new mind, according to the tree-man himself, was very different from Xiao Yi's. So the questions then became ones at the margins: At what point did Xiao Yi stop existing? How much of Xiao Yi is still within Jin Muyi? In what way does Jin Muyi's altered cognition change his identity and consciousness?

Gaius had pondered on subjects such as these in the past, but upon learning he would be working under that enigmatic being, they came roaring back in full. As one who had followed a Dao since before he even started cultivation, philosophizing came naturally to him. It never came to anything, however, as all such thoughts fell to the wayside when Gaius saw Muyi in person.

Damn, that man was big!

It felt odd for Gaius to actually look up to look someone in the eye. It was rare amongst Golden Devil populations and had only happened once ore twice at all amongst standard Third Sea dwellers. As a rule, the only non-Clan descendents taller than him were mutants, certain kinds of demihumans and Body Cultivators who practiced size-increasing arts. He supposed Muyi counted as both the first and second, but... wow.

He had to be eight feet tall, maybe taller, and from what Gaius understood this was the compressed form the tree-man took to blend in with humans. It certainly left a powerful impression. Muyi, for his part, didn't seem to notice Gaius much - there were about seventy Qi Condensation Cultivators under his command in this mission, after all. The tree-man just looked him over once, face impassive, and continued moving down the line, inspecting everyone under his command. Gaius could hear a faint creaking sound as Muyi passed him, like the boughs of an old oak caught in the wind.

From what Gaius understood, Muyi's Centuria had taken significant casualties in a campaign ten years ago and hadn't yet replenished back to their original numbers, meaning they weren't even working with the fully stocked resources typically at a Centurion's disposal. Gaius was not permanently assigned to any unit yet, and was still acting as a freelancer of sorts, though he suspected that as the war continued, he would at some point be attached to some group for the duration. In general, the upper brass tended to mostly give permanent positions to Cultivators who had already reached their full potential, whilst giving more flexibility to those with more room to climb. And if Gaius had proven anything in the past twenty years, it was that he was just getting started.

As soon as the routine inspection of both the regular troops and the free agents was finished, Muyi began to separate everyone into squads and assign them patrol routes around the perimiter of the node, or watchtower duties near the edge of the territory, or bodyguard duty for important Foundation Establishment Xin Kingdom Cultivators. Muyi's brow furrowed more and more as he went, and he took a little bit longer each time to assign a squad, carefully apportioning the right numbers to every task. Everyone could see the issue plainly: not enough manpower. There simply weren't enough of them to do every job to a satisfactory degree, and the reports had been crystal clear: no reinforcements were coming, this was all they had to work with for the whole war. So, their Centurion had decided to spread them out, to accept some inefficiency in every area rather than fully abandon any of them.

"And lastly... Legionnaire Gaius, Legionnaire Flavius, Legionnaire Zhao. You three will each inhabit one of the Ten Thousand Forts, and come out to launch harrying attacks to the rear and flanks of the Dervish forces if they get within ten miles of the node." Gaius stiffened as he was finally assigned to a task. It was an odd one, to say the least, but he didn't dare question his commanding officer now, in front of everyone.

After the briefing, everyone was dismissed to begin their new duties. Gaius and the other two free agents assigned to the Forts were free to do as they liked within reason for the next day or two, and would be provided with a modest stipend of sultivation materials to use whilst sequestered away, as soon as the supply lines allowed. In general, it was a very unusual posting, to just wait there in a little fortified room, warded from potential scrying, just to set up an ambush later. In theory it was just a more advanced version of burying oneself in the sand or dirt, or covering oneself in leaves and hiding in the trees. Still, sitting around in a room of his own while others were working... it just didn't suit him at all.

Thus, later that day, when most of the Legionnaires were at the mess hall provided by the local Xin dignitaries, Gaius attempted to track down his Centurion. It turned out to be more difficult than he imagined; Muyi had no sense of taste, and his nutritional requirements were different from a human's, so he had left to feed by himself, and evidently didn't plan on having company. It ultimately took him an hour of searching to find the officer, tracking him down to an oasis a few miles north of the Tower of Earth.

There, Muyi seemed to be asleep, his body swelling up with water and blood as his lower half, which had unraveled into a network of vines and roots, finished absorbing the liquefied remnants of what Gaius assumed must have been some huge beast. Beside him dozed a creature as strange as him Qing Yun, a Companion Beast which had once been a Qilin. Due to their linked cultivation base, Muyi's mutations had begun to affect his pseudodragon friend in turn. Its antlers had turned into branches, and most of its scales had become iron-hard leaves. Considering the collective, modular nature of Muyi's body, perhaps pet and master would one day fuse entirely, into some even stranger beast. Gaius gulped, and decided to wait at the edge of the oasis until Muyi was done. He didn't want to know what might happen if he interrupted the tree's feasting.

A few minutes later, Muyi left the oasis, still squeezing himself back into a fully-human shape. The equivalent of trying to put one's belt back on after eating a big meal, perhaps. Gaius stood at a respectful distance and saluted, trying not to stare. "Sir! I have a question about my deployment."

"VvvvVeRy WEll, go ahead, what is it?" said the Centurion, his voice stabilizing as he returned to his fully-human guise.

"Sir, I understand the strategic importance of the Ten Thousand Forts, but I do not believe I am the best fit for that assignment."

"And why is that?"

"Sir, I apologize for boasting, but my best traits are my perception and my intuition. I believe that I would be better suited as a scout, patrollman or bodyguard."

"Is that so? You make a good point. But your line of thinking is too small, you're still looking at this like a free agent."

Gaius blinked, taken aback. "Sir. I apologize, But I don't understand what you mean."

Muyi chuckled and patted his Junior on the shoulder. "It's not just about individual expertise, it's about working as a unit. To truly fight side by side with someone to the greatest possible efficiency, you must know them as deeply as possible. Let us posit, hypothetically, that you have more natural aptitude as a patrollman than any other soldier under my command. Even then, your personal skill is not the only thing that matters." Muyi explained, gesturing idly with one hand. "Communicating with as few words and movements as possible. Seamlessly entering the Hoplite Formation as quickly as possible, should you be ambushed. The instinct to protect your comrades, so that in the worst case scenario someone will survive to bring back a report. All of these things are just as important as good senses."

Gaius looked at the ground, humbled by his Senior's wisdom. "I see. That makes sense, sir. I apologize for wasting your time."

Muyi waved away his apologies and motioned to the Legionnaire to walk with him. Qing Yun huffed and followed after the two, lazily trailing six paces behind. "And on the other end of things, those who become used to fighting in a unit begin to lose the instincts of a solo operator. If I were to send one of my ordinary men into that fort, I'm sure they would perform well, but they'd get too cautious, or too aggressive. The quick, independent problem-solving of a free agent is better suited for that assignment."

"I see. I understand, thank you for telling me this, sir. Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"My reasons for coming to you were more selfish than I admitted. It's not just my own capabilities, I also think I would feel nervous and pent-up if I stayed in that room while the rest did all the work." Gaius admitted, looking down at his feet in shame."

"And what makes you think you're not doing work?" Muyi asked without skipping a beat. "It's like you said. The stress of sitting in that little room, retracting your spiritual senses so as to remain hidden, waiting for a signal to emerge that could come in one minute or one month... I've done something similar, though it was in a cave, not a tiny fortress. It's agonizing, extremely hard work, of a sort, so you're certainly not freeloading."

With that, the two went silent for a few minutes. "You... you're a kid, aren't you?" Asked Muyi. "I should have known from how nervous you are. You're a rookie prodigy who doesn't know how to sit still."

"I-I am, I suppose. I'm thirty-five." Gaius stammered, flushing a little as he struggled to maintain a stoic expression.

"Ha! Well done, well done. Unlike you I'm not a prodigy, so I'm afraid I can't relate." Muyi explained with a short bark of laughter. Gaius wanted to tell the officer just how immensely short he was selling himself, what an inspiration he was to his Juniors, but held his tongue. "You've got a bright future ahead of you, soldier. Just remember to be patient, and that there's always something new to learn. Dismissed."

"Yes sir!" Gaius replied, face beginning to split into a grin despite his best efforts. With his heart and mind clear, his path diverged from his commanding officer's, as he left to stock up on little odds and ends for the coming isolation.

Here's a little side-story at 2,081 words. I wanted Gaius to interact with one of his Senior good seeds, so I selected the mission that Muyi was on so that I could write this and got @Mochinator 's permission. Not much else to say about this.

@Zephias Can I please get this omake and my previous one threadmarked?
 
Maria 4 - The Mirror (Part 1 of 7)
The Mirror (Part 1 of 7)
Maria Turn 8 Second Omake


"It is important," said Kuei, as he gazed off over the open, barren plains of the desert, "to keep things in perspective. Don't you agree? Don't trouble yourself, friend, I see that you do. One can get so… distracted. By foolishness, mostly. Of course we don't realise it at the time, but – years later – foolishness. That's what it was. Silly attempts to be who people want us to be, not who we are. And then there we are, on our deathbeds, regretting every wasted moment."

His companion didn't respond. Kuei forgave him. It wasn't his fault. Things were on his mind.

"It's why I did all this. Spent a long time just… just lying to myself. You know? Didn't realise what I was doing, of course, but ignorance is no excuse. Twenty seven years. Twenty seven years pretending to be a merchant. Because father told me to."

More silence, but this time he felt something… judgemental.

"…Alright, let me clarify. You shouldn't blame him for this. I certainly don't. Good man, my father. Loving, affectionate, kind… but didn't let away with everything. He could be firm when he needed to. He could be a disciplinarian. Much better at it than my mother, she was always a soft touch. Even the merchant business – back to my father, now, friend – was because he wanted me to have an income. Poor men starve in the street all the time, after all. And it let me travel. You know. See the world. And I appreciated that. That he'd considered it. I did. But the truth was… it just wasn't me."

The silence took on an enquiring cast. Kuei nodded.

"Yes. That was why I left Seven Heavens. If you want anything other than coin in your life, then it's not the city for you. The dreams were helpful, of course, but honestly they were just an excuse. You know. It could as easily have been a nice girl or – or a passion for music or something. It's just that the dreams were what turned up. Anyway. Across the desert I went. Had to go a long way, too, so I didn't go near the Waycastle. Thrake. Nice place, but the family are very… controlling. Wouldn't have understood. Which, yes, was the reason I had to avoid the guards. Wouldn't have managed it at all if I wasn't expected."

He sat back for a moment, and this time let the silence sit before continuing.

"I hope I'm not boring you. Sorry, I know I tend to ramble on. Conversation's a very pleasant thing, but they all tend to be a little… one note, these days. Which of course isn't your fault. This is a big moment for you after all."

He turned to look at his companion. The technique was almost finished – he could feel the beginnings of dark, glistening connections in the back of his mind. It was always interesting to see the final stage in action.

The peddler stared off into the distance with wide, mad eyes. His lips were dragged back into an awful rictus, baring his teeth at something only he could see. The bulging veins ran all over him, now, deep and rich and burgundy, pulsing in time with his frantic heartbeat. And underneath…

The connections were starting to blossom inside Kuei's skull. He smiled beneath his scarlet mask. The peddler twitched. Shuddered. Blinked. Died.

The thing that wore his flesh sagged into a bow. Kuei nodded appreciatively.

"So very pleased to meet the real you," he said.

---

Maria hadn't really expected travelling companions. This assignment already felt like a punishment; adding in witnesses seemed cruel.

Not a punishment, though, she chastised herself. An order. Task for the clan. A good soldier is stoic.

Besides. They might be nice.

Ajax had told her to wait for the others in a teahouse a few miles off the road. She'd seen it a few times before on her patrols, but this was the first time she'd ever gone inside. It made her strangely nervous. Too quaint, maybe, or pretty – like a painting of a place by someone who'd never seen it in real life. The place was small, with carefully lacquered wood to keep the sand out, and paper screen doors everywhere painted with scenes from fairy tales.

Heaven's bullshit mercy, she wished they could have picked an inn. Or at least somewhere with a bar.

No. Stoic. Stoic.

There's always-

Fuck off.

The owner had ushered her inside the minute he'd seen her hair. Now he was hovering at her side like a neurotic moth.

"The honourable legionnaire's comrades are in a private room," he said. It was the fifth compliment he'd paid her in the last thirty seconds. She didn't like it. "They have taken some tea already. Shall I make some for your exalted self?"

Maria ground her teeth. "No," she muttered. "Thank you. Which room?"

"Ah, do you not wish for a private room first, lady cultivator? To rest from the road?"

Rest from – she was 8th​ heavenstage, she hadn't needed a rest in months, why –

She caught her temper flaring and stamped it down. "No. Just the room."

The innkeeper fluttered uncomfortably for a second, then bowed and led her deeper into the teahouse. The place didn't grow on her any in the journey, nor did she find the private room itself very charming. More paper screen doors. A low table. Tea and cups all over it.

Six of her clanmates in the room, too.

She didn't recognise any of them. Not off the top of her head, at least. They had the gleaming metallic gold hair of the Optimatoi, though, and the usual armour of combat legions, so at least she'd have that in common with them. Beyond that, they were a study in contrasts. Three men, three women. Some younger than her – one of the boys couldn't have been older than sixteen – most older. The eldest was gnarled and lined like a tree root, her hair pulled back in a severe bun.

And all of them were staring at her.

Maria felt herself blush. New people. Always new people. New people who's opinion she cared about, too. Gods.

" …Hello," she grunted. " 'M Maria. 263rd​ Legion. You – you all going to Three Frogs too?"

There was a pause as they considered that. The old woman's eyes narrowed a little, and the teenager tilted his head. Her accent. Twenty years back among her true family and she still talked like a scale-plains hick. She should explain –

"Yes," said one of the men. He was older than her, but not that much; she'd guess forty. "To assist in training. I am Zeth Castellanos, of the 46th​. A pleasure."

"Alcander Diakos," said the teenager, still staring at her. "Also the 46th​. Why-"

"Letha," said one of the women quickly. "The 115th​. A pleasure to meet you, cousin."

"Yeah, but why-"

"And these," Letha continued, gesturing at the remaining Optimatoi, "are Priam, Kyra, and Adonia." They nodded, except for Adonia, the old woman, who kept staring inscrutably at Maria. "How was your journey?"

Maria gave an awkward shrug. "Okay. No bandits or nothing. Some mortals had a cart with a broken wheel, so. Helped them out. Not really much… else."

"You were able to fix the wheel?"

She relaxed a little. Letha seemed okay so far. "Yeah. Well. No. They fixed the wheel, I just lifted the cart for them. So they could put it on. Saved them waiting for a patrol."

"Is that," asked Adonia, voice quiet and without inflection, "why you are late?"

Letha winced. Maria felt herself starting to blush again. "…Yes," she muttered. "Sorry. Were – were you waiting long?"

"Of course not-" began Letha, but Adonia spoke over her. "Two hours. Two hours that could have been spent travelling towards our objective. Time is a resource like any other, soldier. And you wasted it to fix a wheel that would have been fixed already."

Maria forced herself not to look away. "Said I was sorry."

"Yes. You did."

The room stewed in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Alcander spoke.

"Why is your skin like that? Are you sick?"

Oh good. Her favourite subject. Maria looked at the boy.

"Just is," she said shortly. He didn't get the hint.

"But surely you must know. Your parents must have sent for a doctor, or-"

"No. No doctor." Shit. They all had that enquiring look, now. Alright. Better to just tell them and get it over with. "My family – my mum, she – slaves. We was slaves. On the plains somewhere. No doctor."

The silence was even worse, this time. Adonia had turned her head away, at last, but now Letha was looking at her like she was a puppy with a broken paw, and that was just humiliating. Alcander looked horrified, at least, and Zeth was shooting him the kind of glare that should have left a charred outline on the floor.

This was the worst kind of awful. She needed to change the subject, and now. "So. All here now. You ready to go?"

"Ah – regrettably, cousin, there's still another in our party who's yet to arrive," said Letha. She still had that pitying look on her face, but at least she wasn't trying to talk about it. "A consultant from outside the clan. Apparently very renowned amongst their people."

"Oh. Who are they?"

"I'm afraid I only have a name. Oyster."

"…Oyster."

"Yes. I'm sorry. My superiors were busy with war preparations, they didn't give me much."

"They're a combat specialist," rumbled Priam. His voice was leaden and deep, like a cave just started speaking. Given the man was easily seven foot and broad as a mountain range, it fit the rest of him perfectly.

"Ah!" said Letha, brightening. "You have been briefed more thoroughly-"

"No," said Priam. "Just common sense. Look at us. Fighters. Good ones, but not so good they can't make up the loss. Teaching soldiers who're about to get thrown on the front lines. Anyone else 'll be the same. Specially if they're an outsider."

He paused, then started to say something else, but the teahouse's owner was back again, flitting ineffectually back and forth outside the door. Zeth reached out and opened it.

"Yes?"

The owner bowed again.

"My apologies, esteemed lords and ladies, I do not wish to overstep, so-"

"You didn't. What do you want?"

"Ah – it appears, honoured legionnaires, that a… guest… has arrived for you. I assumed it was a lie, of course, but it had this letter in its possession."

He handed Zeth the letter. Maria watched the older man read it, then grunt.

"Seems in order."

"Ah – really? Well, sirs, madams, I must admit I am-"

"The guest. Where is he?"

"I had it wait outside-"

"We shall meet her there," said Adonia, unfolding herself and rising from the table. "Thank you for the tea." She shouldered past the owner, and the others followed. Maria found herself at the back, and tossed a handful of coins back onto the table.

"For the tea," she muttered. The owner started to babble his thanks. Maria fled before he got worse, darting after Priam's huge retreating back.

Outside, the others had stopped, forming a wall between her and their final member. She pushed herself forward until she saw-

-Oyster.

Well. That made sense of the name.

The mushroom man bowed low at the waste.

"Greetings. This one is pleased to meet your august personages. The Cursed Mushroom clan extends the Golden Devils its respect, gratitude, and joy that such an opportunity has been given to us."
 
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Zeno Angelus 7 - The Siege of Three Frog City 1



Three Frog City. Eighty thousand people, and slightly out of the way. Named after the three Spotted Toad Frogs who were slain near where it was founded, the city was only moderately fortified, and even less important. It´s nothing more than a training ground for the smallest of bronzen lights in our clan. Then why am I being sent there alone? Ugh. This makes no sense.



"Hey Fleetfeet stop worrying! Whatever we will face I am sure it will turn out fine!"



Her nudge on the reigns kept the Camel that pulls our wagon full of supplies right on the barely distinguishable sand path on the way to that suspicious City.



"It´s just suspicious. That´s all."



My resigned frustration must be getting to her, because her fingers dance along the reigns like she usually plays with her spear.



"I know, Fleety" Ah there is that thoughtful look. What a sight to see. "We can only do so much and if your mission killing the Rat at Midnight was any indication you have the instinct to think on the spot, even though paralytic poison coursed through your veins. Your plan allowed us to capture that Rat and don´t you forget it! With that piece said she gave me one of those smiles. Yeah all is gonna be...wait minute.



"Y-You shouldn´t know that! I left the specifications of the poison out of the report." With my whispers getting harsher Alex tries her best to make it seem like normal trash talk between legionares, by focusing on the road and pointedly ignoring my eyes.



"Er...every qi thread weaver searches for...!" My side eye at THAT ridiculous statement shut her right up. "Searches for what kit`er, a bottle of every day rat excrement?"



I am finally getting to her. Though that blush is so cute. It must a new colour unto itself! Wait. *smack* Cute Girlfriend later. Now I need to find out the damage and repair what I can.



"S-Searches for such a cute and kissable guy!"

.





.







.





"What?" I must have misheard that. I kissed a rat, enthralled by it´s noxious fumes, and not Alex. I would remember kissing her, I hope.



"Could you...?" I take over the reigns of our camel, since she seems to need a moment for herself.



"I love you, ok." That whisper of hers. It hurts to see.



"Well I for one am glad!" With a heave I raise my sword, that killed the rat, with a smile on my lips.



"You want to kiss another rat!?" Alex shouted.



"What? No! I meant, I... ah.... I am glad that we share such feelings for another. The sagging of her tense shoulders would be comical, if it wasn´t such an important moment for her.



"That´s good."



"Yes."



Silence between us and the breathing rumble of our wagon is all we hear for a while. The sun is still high and still no scorpion or even a desert hare in sight, while we were preoccupied. Huh, strange.



"So, i guess that´s it, huh." Who could have guessed decades ago that me and Alex would become a pair. While I hand the reigns over to her again I take our my sword to maintain it. You never know when a hare springs out of the road to punch you over a dune.



"Yes, your mother was so impressed with the way you handled the poison she insisted we marry, for some reason."



.



.



.



I should be mad, I should be shocked or even surprised, but I can´t. That is my mother alright.



"That sounds like her, alright. Mum and Dad got together because they survived poisoning by Cannibals after all."



"You´re not mad?!" That shock in her face, heh.



"No. The rat was poisonous. Your depiction of the events no doubt showed your affection." And she is back to blushing.



"W-Well I might have cried while giving them the oral report." I wasn´t insured, so.



"You were Jealous?" I asked with a grin of pride.



"Okay. I was jealous that the rat got to kiss you first! Are you happy now?"



Heh, I kissed a rat so good it made my girlfriend jealous!



"Very, but do you know how you could make me happier?"



"Make you another dress?"



"Not what I thought, but let´s talk about that once we are done in the back."



Now she looks at me like I just wanted to try and prank Old God, a ridiculous thought. Everyone knows his advantage in any prank war is unfair.



"Isn´t it obvious? I want to make up for what we lost in experience earlier." Calling Appendix was thankfully just a thought nowadays



"Oh" Is all that comes out of her cute mouth, as we turn ourselves towards walk-in storage of our wagon. Enough place for the two of us.



"Appendix you what to do." A salute is all I get, before the book ushers me to the back with a smirk on their face.



The rest of the day is spent making up and thankfully no critter interferes with our alone time.



___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ah we are finally there. Three Frog City. A more average City I have never seen. The soft sand behind us, gives way to the more packed sand, found at every watering hole in the desert.

"Even the buildings look disappointingly average." True, kit`er, true.

SO, Fleetfeet. Any Idea what we will do once we are inside?

She looks about as happy as I am. This is gonna be the most boring post, isn´t it? On the upside she is hugging my shoulder. Life is good.

"Nope. Anything after, reporting in like a good legionare is pretty much up in the air."

"Fair. Well, let´s see what they have in store for us."

Before long we hold our Wagon before the gate and wait for the Gate guard to approach. Even his attire is average for a gate guard, With the typical hat and all.

"Gate guard Zhen greets you lovable Ladies, what brings you so far south?" his charming smile falls flat with me as I try to parse his sentence. He thinks I am a woman?

While i stew in my confusion, Alex already found a place to roll in laughter at the insinuation.

"Ha ha." Very funny Zhen. Very funny.

That gobsmacked face. I wish my farsight dance could hold the images in some object forever. I would treasure the rictus of utter confusion I can see on the guard.

"What? Is this some kind of joke? A man wearing silk over his body?" His posture shifts with realization.

"No, but it helps with the ladies as you can see."

Meanwhile Alex uses the timing, perfect as always, to hug me in Front of the Gate guard.

"Oh."

"Indeed."

Zhen takes a moment, but once he gathered his wits he takes our papers and notes our roles.

"Ah, so you are the divination expert we are supposed to expect. Not many to go around."

"Yep, with us at our side they won´t ambush anyone." My silly pose atop the camel must have done the trick, since the guard chuckles.

As mother taught me. It´s always good to leave a good impression on people. You never know when you need info on potential spies.

"Why wear the silks anyway. I can´t imagine them being good for protection." I nod.

"Good question." My nod seems to lighten some interest behind his eyes. "There are various arrays woven into the dress, thanks to my companion to my right."

"Really? Man you are lucky."

As I point towards her, Alex bows, seemingly taking in the praise.

"Don´t worry Guard Zhen. They do more than accentuate his delicious curves. They even help him at his job!"

With her arms wide pointing towards me and a grin on her face she showes some of the more complex parts with a small application of qi.

"Ha, that is good enough for me Captain Fleetfeet. Just report in with the Commander. He wanted to see you as soon as possible." A shout and some qi later, the gate opens. Man I hope the meeting doesn´t take long. Some ricewine would be nice right now.

With that said he ushered us into the City.

______________________

@Mochinator , @BungieONI

Words: 1400 ca.

Preferred Omake reward: Impact Boost (Silk Robes: Dunelit Moons Shadow) [Arrays on the Silk robes helps the qi control of the individual, making Farsight dances easier for the user. The gathered qi around the robes passively improves the users survivability (light armor).
 
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Maria 5 - The Mirror (Part 2 of 7)
I am not entirely happy with this one, but if I don't post it I won't write the next one and I really want to keep going.

The Mirror (Part 2 of 7)
Maria Turn 8 Third Omake

"Really?"

"Oh yes. Just outside the Dawn Fortress. It's where I grew up."

"How wonderful! I wish my own family were as fortunate. My grandfather is master of the Economos Waycastle. A wonderful place, of course, but not as exalted as your estate must be."

Letha and Kyra had been chattering since they set up camp that evening. Maria wished they'd stop. They'd dance between topics like lunatic dervishes, never quite choosing one, and each would be as unerringly boring as the last; books she'd never read, places she'd never been, ways to cut your hair… the kind of pointless frippery she'd never understood.

What was worse, they knew she didn't understand it. Letha had tried to include her in the conversation at the start. It was a kind gesture, but Maria didn't have it in her to appreciate it; the awkwardness of those ten minutes had made her want to bury her head in the sand until they all went away.

Or perhaps admit that runaway slaves don't make good company for the exalted scions of great cultivator clans.

Shut up.

She set her teeth, hard, and glared away into the distance. This wasn't her. It wasn't. She was as much a Dev- Optimatoi as anyone. They just cared about stupid things.

The night had started to fall two hours ago, and they'd stopped to rest the horses. Now they were settled in around a campfire, their tents circled behind them with a watch set. Priam and Adonia to start, then her and Alcander and finally Zeth and Kyra. Which would hopefully mean there'd be less of that mindless rambling tomorrow.

…That was mean. She stopped trying to meditate, slumped her head into her hands, and sighed. None of what she'd thought was fair. It was just her own discomfort and old insecurities niggling at her. She should acknowledge that, at least. Letha was trying to be kind, even if she wasn't very good at it. Better that than Adonia's sharp glances, or thin-lipped little frowns whenever Maria spoke. She should apologise for being so… grumpy. Or at the very least try and be nicer in future.

She should go over now. Do it quickly.

But she didn't. Instead, she rose from her spot at the mouth of her tent and stepped out towards the desert. Too much awkwardness now. Too much embarrassment and self-recrimination. Even if it was entirely in her own head, she still wanted a break from it. The sand dunes, dark and cool and empty, would help her make her brain go still.

She stopped at the edge of the tent circle and squatted gracelessly in the sand. The moon was just starting to wane, a barely visible sliver of darkness squashed against its perimeter, and the world was bathed in its pale light. There was no wind to disturb the sand, either. Just a stillness that stretched out all the way to the horizon, and the distant gleam of the scorpion road.

Maria felt the day's tensions release inside her chest. She breathed out slowly. Peace. Peace was coming to her at last. A smile danced around the corner of her mouth. She loved nights like this.

"Pardon."

She glanced back over one shoulder. Oyster stood behind her with a bowl in his hands.

"I saw you hadn't eaten. Perhaps you might enjoy this bowl of what I'm sure is thoroughly nourishing gruel?"

He said it so calmly that it took her a second to realise he was joking.

"Oh. No. 'm good?"

"Sure? I can promise, from its texture, colouration and consistency alone, that it is certainly food of some variety. Depending on your definition."

She snorted.

"I'm sure."

"Reasonable." Oyster flicked his wrist with a practiced gesture and sent the (alleged) food flying out onto the sand. "I'm sure a scorpion will eat it eventually. Presumably karma will ensure it is an unpleasant scorpion."

Maria couldn't help it. She laughed. "Like a really mean scorpion, you mean?"

"Yes. Rude to its dinner companions, tips poorly at restaurants, doesn't tidy up in the communal scorpion kitchens, that sort of thing."

"Sounds like a real asshole."

"Well, one would hope. The alternative is some poor scorpion innocent would make the same mistake. I can't have that on my conscience. May I sit?"

She nodded. He folded his spindly legs under him and sat beside her, gazing out across the sand.

"You're the first Cursed Mushroom I've met," said Maria.

"I should warn you the others are far less conventionally handsome."

She laughed again.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yes. They have something around the eyes, though. A certain charm."

"I'll look out for it, I ever meet one."

"Do. It'll keep you from staring at their faces. They don't like it."

"That why you're here? Others were all too shy?"

"You would assume! But actually, no. I volunteered for the position. Thought I might enjoy seeing a bit more of the world."

Maria nodded, still smiling, and turned back to the view. Oyster was right. The world was very much worth seeing.



---



"… can I do for you, master Cultivator?"

Kuei blinked, and shook himself back to reality. He shouldn't wander off into his head like that. He'd miss what was right in front of him, and what kind of life would that be? He turned his masked face away from the moon and back to the innkeeper, currently smiling at him uneasily.

"My apologies, good sir. I was distracted by how lovely the evening looks tonight."

"Ah." The man relaxed. Good manners tended to do that. "Yes, my lord, very fine tonight. In fact, our village is blessed with a particularly beautiful view of it."

"Oh yes?"

"There is a hill nearby, on which we have built a pavilion and stone garden. There, you can see as far as Three Frogs!"

"My word! A tourist attraction, I must assume?"

The innkeeper nodded. "We have had the honour of some very fine visitors. The Sarapenchos family sent a representative five years ago!" The man's chest swelled with pride at every word. Honestly, he looked like he was going to burst.

"Such honour! I am most impressed. Sadly, I am merely a humble cultivator of no great renown. Might I still be welcomed?" Kuei pitched it like a joke, and the innkeeper laughed.

"Certainly, sir. Are you here for a room?"

"Please. And a meal, if your kitchen still serves at this late hour?"

"Certainly. My wife and daughters made their famous dumplings, this evening. I shall bring you some. And perhaps some plum wine?"

Before he could answer, Kuei's stomach growled audibly. The two men laughed. The innkeeper ushered Kuei into the dining room, now essentially empty but for the last few patrons polishing off their dinners, and sat him at a table near the fireplace. Moments later, a bottle and a full glass of the wine were placed in front of him. He poured himself a glass and tipped his mask up a little so he could sip it.

Rich. Sweet. The alcoholic burn giving it the gentlest kick. Oh, but he had missed this. Kuei let out a deep, happy sigh, and sat back in his chair.

The innkeeper came back after a moment with the dumplings and a few little dishes for sauce. Kuei nodded gratefully.

"My thanks."

"No trouble, lord cultivator."

"My thanks anyway. Might I trouble you for another favour? it seems a shame to drink and eat alone. I understand of course that you are busy, but if you have a moment might I ask that you join me?"

"it would be my honour."

The innkeeper pulled over a chair and sat. Kuei pushed the bottle towards him. They sat in companionable silence for a moment, and then began to talk.

"I must say," said Kuei, "this inn is very fine."

"thank you," said the innkeeper. "it has been in my family for generations."

"That long?"

"Oh yes. We were lucky. To begin, we were farmers. Then, when the tourists came, my grandfather built this place. It was just a side business, to start, but we gave up the farm last year. More money in this. And more interesting company," he said with a smile. Kuei smiled back under his mask.

"how wonderful to hear of such good fortune. I must commend your grandfather's wisdom."

"thank you sir. I-"

the innkeeper faltered. He seemed to remember, in that moment, how far the Gulf could be between cultivator and mortal. Kuei empathised. Not that long ago, he had sat on the far edge of that divide. There was no need to let the man suffer. He leaned forward and poured another glass of the plum wine.

"I promise you, sir, I do not take offence easily. Especially not with those who served me such fine libations."

Laughter.

"well, if you are sure, I wonder... That is to say, I have never-" the innkeeper groped for the words, then gave up. "might I inquire, sir, what sort of cultivator are you? I know of the Golden Devils and their blood of bronze, and I know of the sorcerers of Xin. I have heard tales of others too, from the Dragon empires of the divided mortal kingdoms, and the mad goat men and their strange magics. "

"you are well read."

"but I have never heard," said the innkeeper, "of anyone who wears such a mask as yours. Might I inquire, is it perhaps to do with your Dao?"

Kuei laughed, tipped his mask forward a little, and popped a dumpling in his mouth. It was filled with a sweet bean paste, and a little chilli powder for spice. He closed his eyes, and revelled in the taste. "I must say, you know more of the many paths of cultivation then I do. Why such interest? "

The innkeeper smiled. "in my youth, I had dreams of cultivation myself. I thought, perhaps, to run away, and join a sect or clan. They say that there is somewhere in the desert, a place where mortals may be bound to the blood of scorpions. I dreamed that I would find it, and there begin my climb. Didn't happen of course. My father stopped me, and then when I was older I met my wife. I am happy as I am, Sir, do not misunderstand. My life is full of little joys. but I suppose I am still..."

"Curious?"

"just so."

Kuei nodded agreeably. "my father was a merchant," he said. "I understand very much. And you are right. I do wear my mask for such a reason."

The innkeeper leaned forward. "your Dao."

"No. No, not that. I am blessed with a little talent, but I have not progressed that far. No, I wear this mask- ah well. You would not believe me."

"I would," said the innkeeper, nodding as if to convince Kuei with sheer force of his own assent. "If there is one truth I have learned in all my years keeping this inn, it is that the world is full of marvels. Should you be another, then I shall bless my luck to have met you, and not insult you with disbelief."

Kuei considered. Well. It couldn't hurt, could it? "You are sure?"

"Yes."

"very well. My path is esoteric. Its ways are... unusual. At its core, the path of the Truthful Mask concerns a simple contradiction- who we are, truly, is a secret we keep even from ourselves. Cultivation, at the higher realms, addresses this through the Dao. One cannot progress if one cannot admit what one truly believes. My path chooses to address this early- from the very beginning of our studies, in fact. Self mastery begins from the very moment we first draw in qi. And mastery of others, too."

the innkeeper's brows furrowed. "Others?"

"oh yes. You see, if you are not your own master, then you are anyone's slave. Would you like a demonstration?"

He did not wait for an answer. In truth, he had begun the instant he entered the inn. With a gesture and I flicker of qi, he sat his path loose on everyone around him. The other patrons. The innkeeper's wife and daughter. The sleeping souls upstairs. Each one, he delved inside, forging wet, red, gristly connections.

Across from him, the innkeeper stiffened. Thick red veins blossomed on his neck, running across his face and forehead like hungry vines. The beat of his heart set them twitching over his skin. Kuei watched as he tried to move, arms straining against themselves, but it would be no use; there was only the path now.

"it's alright," said Kuei. "I know, I know. You're afraid right now. Don't be. I'm going to help you. All those lies you tell yourself, I'm going to make them stop. You can be yourself. Your real self. And even better- you're going to be a part of something wonderful."

he rose. There was a window on the edge of the dining room. Through it, he could see the rest of the village- 30 or 40 houses, a few shops, a tea house, and the Hill and the stone garden.

"You're all going to be part of something wonderful. You'll see."



---



Two weeks later, and they still hadn't reached three frogs. The journey was starting to get on Maria's nerves. To make matters worse, now they were stuck. It was rare to see a rain storm in the desert, but now the Sky was thick with clouds, and the rain came down to beat the sand like it owed it fucking money. They were trapped until the sand dried up enough to ride on. Still, at least they weren't outside.

They had found this place almost by accident- an abandoned building, by the look of it recently. Something about it had made Maria uneasy. Why would anyone leave somewhere like this? Then again, she didn't really know where this was. Maybe people abandoned places like this all the time. It was really just a box, more than a building. Some sort of storage shed perhaps. And it kept the rain off her head. She'd take that.

The others had investigated it within a few minutes. She and Oyster had been set to prepare camp. It hadn't taken long. Now all of them were strewn about in various stages of boredom.

"a full day," said Adonia, glaring at the wall. "Wasted."

"Don't take it so personally," said Alcander. "It's just rain. It doesn't mean to upset you." he smiled. That counted as a clever joke for him. Zeth fixed him with a glare, and the boy shuffled awkwardly. A beat of silence. "I thought it was funny."

"perhaps this is a good thing," said Letha. "It might be good to take advantage of this- train a little. Obviously nothing too strenuous," she said hastily, glancing around the fragile structure they sheltered in, "but I'm sure we could manage something. Formation training perhaps. To get used to each other?"

"no point," said Priam. "not going to be fighting together anyway."

It was hard to read priam, even at the best of times, but today he seemed in a particularly inscrutable mood. He might have been furious, grieving, overjoyed- impossible to tell.

"still," said Letha. "it would be something to do."

"So would be punching a wall."

Beside Maria, Oyster tilted his head to hide his lips from view. "He must be amazing at parties."

"shut up," muttered Maria, fighting down a grin.

"Or perhaps at sporting events. He could start races. Or stop them, rather. "

"Oyster, I swear, if you don't-"

"he could stand at the finish line and tell them it was pointless to even try."

That was too much. Maria snorted as laughter forced itself past her lips. She clamped a hand over her mouth and shook. The others looked at her. When she could trust herself to speak, she looked up. "Sorry," she said. "Thinking of something else."

Adonia fixed her with a glare. "Perhaps you should keep your mind on the task at hand."

Maria made herself nod. Fixed a smile to her lips. Wanted, so badly, to beat Adonia into the ground. "You're right. Sorry."

There was another uncomfortable silence. Those happened a lot, whenever Maria said something. Adonia didn't look away. "you know," she said abruptly, "I think perhaps I agree with Letha. We should take advantage of this time. Sparring."

Priam glanced at her. She went on regardless. "We cannot let our standards slip, after all," she said, eyes still locked on Maria, "not when we will be shaping the future of our clan."

Alcander nodded excitedly. "Yes," he said. "Yes please. Finally some excitement." Zeth looked at him warningly, but it didn't matter. Aldonia nodded.

"It's decided then," she said. "first-"

"Actually," said Oyster, giving Adonia his most bland of looks, "I think I might go first. If it's all the same to you."

Maria jerked. Looked at him. "what are you-"

"I feel I would benefit most strongly from your instruction," he continued, heedless of her interruption. "And I'm sure standards must apply even more strongly in my case, yes? I am an outsider after all. And I will be teaching your clan mates. So much more risk."

Adonias face stilled. She seemed not to hear him. "Maria-"

"Unless, of course, you're afraid," he said very quietly.

That shouldn't work. Maria knew that shouldn't work. A Golden devil was stoic after all. And yet, despite that, Adonia's eyes fixed on him. Her nostrils flared like an angry bull.

"Of course, Lord Mushroom," she said, her voice sneering. "what sort of cultivator would I be if I did not answer so... charming... a challenge?"



Letha glanced back and forth between the two. "I'm not sure-"

"Shut up." adonia snatched up her spear.

A beat. Then, scrambling motion. Everyone drew away from the two of them. Maria found herself standing next to Priam.

"what is she doing?" he muttered to himself.

Good question.

Maria poked him hard in the side. "she'll kill him."

Priam shook his head. "No, she won't." But he didn't sound sure.

Oyster drew himself up slowly, spindly limbs unfolding like some strange puppet, before settling down into a loose stance. Adonia flicked her spear back over her hand, held it steady, stared at him.

"Lesson the first," she said "The weaker cultivator, without exception, loses to the strong."

And then she moved. An explosion of motion. Her flesh starting to gleam with the metallic sheen of the blood of bronze. She brought the spear forward in a brutal stabbing motion. her face contorted in an awful smile...

which curdled as Oyster brought his wrist up and snapped it aside. The momentum carried her forward, but he had already moved, leaving behind only one long outstretched leg To trip her. She stumbled, skidded, caught herself, turned-

A palm struck her in the face. Oyster was on her, then; A frenzy of long limbed blows arcing down over and over. She brought her arms up in defence. He snaked around them, landing strike after strike. Then, with an elegant flick, he cartwheeled back to land in his loose stance, lower this time, hands up to guard his face.

there was a stunned moment amongst the onlookers, Maria included. That had been almost perfect. The kind of unarmed combat you told stories about. This fight was a lot more equal than it had looked.

Adonia seems to have realised that too. She advanced slower this time , spear up, and probed him with three or four quick evaluating jabs. Oyster knocked them aside one at a time, taking little steps back and forth to adjust his stance. He seemed almost bored.

"Far be it from me to tell you your business, Legionnaire, but I think I know this lesson," he said. Adonia coloured, curled her lip, and set about him. This time, her spear snaked out, delivering the blows with care and precision. Long practise made her fast, too, and sent her attacks into the path of his movement- wherever he went, she was already there.

"Ah," said Priam. "There it is. Pity. Thought the little mushroom man had her there for a second." Maria shot him a confused look. He glanced at her, then back to the fight. "That's a glass and iron stance," he said. "Won us more than a few wars, none of them easy. Hard to master. See the way she's driving him back? He can't advance, because if he does she'll put a blade in him. But if he doesn't, she'll wear him down. Just has to wait him out now."

Marias heart sank. It might not have been long, but for a moment she had thought Oyster would shut Adonia up at last. But no. It seemed Priam was right. Adonia had Oyster caught- he couldn't move forward to strike her, only backwards in the face of her assault. The end seemed obvious, now.

...Except.

Except there were holes in her stance. Suddenly they seemed obvious. Gaps that could so easily be exploited for a strike. All Oyster had to do was step into one of them. And was it Maria's imagination, or was Adonia slowing? There was something laboured about the way she held her spear, the way she breathed. But that couldn't be. A Golden Devil, full of the blood of bronze, did not tire from one spear assault.

Except this one apparently did. After a moment, the stance disintegrated. Adonia, gasping for breath now, was left with nothing but great swinging strikes, her spear cutting an arc in the air. Oyster slipped past them with a casual ease. He'd started to smirk.

"Oh, well," he said, "this. This is a fine showing. I must say, when you offered to spar, I didn't realise you wanted to work on the basics..."

Adonia gave a ragged snarl, and pushed forward, her spear lashing out. But oyster had lost interest in playing with her. Something like green light shimmered across his back, down his arm and into the palm of his hand. As Adonia came near him he stepped forward, let her spear cut past his shoulder, and struck her chest. For one second, it seemed like nothing happened.

Then Adonia collapsed like a puppet with the strings cut.

Oyster stepped back, bowed slowly, and returned to the sidelines to stand byMaria.

"Truly, a masterful performance on her part," he said calmly. "I especially liked the bit at the end where she just waved her stick at me."

"What the hell was that?" Priam was staring. Oyster shrugged. "I worked a few things out. That and some good luck. Cultivation. You know."

Maria laughed incredulously. "That was brilliant."

He gave another shrug. "thank you."

"what did you do?"

"well. Since it's you asking. I might have figured out some... new applications to our traditional methods."

Priam breathed out slowly, closed his eyes, nodded. "Curses."

"The difficulty, of course, lies in casting time. Can't get off a good curse if someone is trying to punch you in the throat. But if, say, one were to prepare one's curses in advance? Leave nothing but the activation?"

"Smart. And the hand to hand?"

"I have a gift. Well, bloody mindedness and a great deal of time on my hands."

Priam gave a snort. you could call it a laugh, if you were feeling generous. "Not bad. You won, alright. Undo them now."

Oyster gave him a blank smile. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do." Priam glanced back to where Adonia still lay gasping on the field. "Counter curse, please. Not asking you to like her."

Oyster seemed about to object, but then he glanced over at Maria, back to Adonia, and then at Priam's spear. "Ugh, fine." he gestured, traced out some strange design in the air. Adonia took a deep shuddering breath. "You're lucky I'm generous."

Adonia rose, snarling. "How dare-" she began.

Priam got in front of her. "Good match," he said, tone seemingly friendly until you saw the way his hand was locked around his spear haft. They held gazes for a long moment, until Adonia stalked away, snarling.

Priam turned back, face as unreadable as ever. He looked at Maria. "You and me next."

"…What?"

He shrugged. "Adonia wasn't wrong. Sparring isn't a bad idea. I should have said it myself. Come on." Maria hesitated, something like uneasiness flared in her gut. She forced it down. It was just a sparring match. What could go wrong?

They took up positions opposite each other, spears at the ready, and dropped into fighting stances. She went for something simple; side on to him, her spear raised in both hands, the blade just below eye level. He glanced over it, nodded infinitesimally.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Thud.

She didn't even feel the blow. He'd hit her with the flat of his spear blade, once, hard across the face, and pulled back into his stance before she'd even started to move.

"Don't look ready," he said, voice flat.

Maria's jaw tightened. "Try that again," she growled, and flung herself at him.

---

When Oyster had been freshly awakened, six years old at the most, a kindly elder had taken him to Acrocorinth. It had been part of some diplomatic issue he still, decades later, didn't entirely understand, but he had enjoyed it. It seemed that mushroom, mortal, and Golden Devil alike all had the same reaction to cute kids, and that reaction was "awwww!" He'd come home with so many presents and treats he'd had to give some away from lack of space. It was a fascinating place, too; the Waycastle was bustling with traders, miners, farmers, cultivators of every stripe – a mad collection of every kind of person in the whole world, he was sure.

But for all the spoiling, and all the novelty, what had really stuck with him was seeing Golden Devil spearfighters for the first time.

It had been an exhibition tourney, in honour of the Cursed Mushroom ambassadorial visit. Ten young legionnaires competing for some small trinket and bragging rights. Nothing fancy, the Elder had told him. Don't get too excited.

And then they'd started, and Oyster was in awe.

They fought like gods, he'd excitedly told his friends. Like genius gods trying to kill each other with lethal geometry. The spears traced out lines and arcs as they flew back and forth, so fast he could barely make them out. The fighters themselves had seemed almost irrelevant; their bodies were just fixed points. It was their weapons that mattered.

As he stood in that strange box of a building, watching Maria and Priam, the memory came back to him. Along with it, a realization.

Compared to these two, those half-remembered legionnaires looked like fucking amateurs.

Priam fought like a textbook; thrusts leading into swipes into blocks into shaft strikes into evasions, all flowing into each other and yet each one so perfectly clear you could almost take notes. This was a fighter with decades of experience, and time had bled all weakness out of him until all that was left was efficiency.

Maria, by contrast, was just power. There was technical skill, he could see that; her moves had that same quicksilver fluidity that Priam's had. But behind it was a strength and ferocity that took his breath away. Thrusts lashed out horrifically fast, aimed at heart, throat, head, groin – every defense turning back into attack almost immediately, ruthlessly aggressive each time.

He'd gotten lucky against Adonia, Oyster realized. She'd been angry, and that made her arrogant and careless. If she could have fought like this, then he'd have gone down in moments.

Except maybe she couldn't have. He found his eyes flickering across the faces of the others, finding the same thing each time. Awe. Pure, shocked awe. They watched each blow and counterblow with almost religious devotion, whispering amazed little realisations as they did;

"…skin of bronze, yes, but he's so flexible-"

"-never seen anyone move that fast-"

"-she can't have just learned this, she can't-"

"Who is he?"

"Who is she?!"

These are rare talents, thought Oyster, turning all his attention back to the fight. These are rare talents and I am in the room with them.

I am so glad I fought for this appointment.


But like all good things, this moment couldn't last. He could already see how it would end. For all that she was incredible, Maria wasn't as good as Priam. She should be. She was faster, stronger, a hundred times more brutal and only a touch less skilled. So why, then?

Oyster leaned forward, stared, focused. He had moments, if that, to work it out. He couldn't explain why it mattered to him, only that it did. There was something, some lesson hidden in this fight that he wasn't seeing. Blow. Counter-blow. Block, redirect, strike. Evasion. He couldn't find it.

And then he did.

It was the moments between, he realized, half stunned, half giddy with the realization. That was it. That was the tell. Priam's were smooth and fluid, yes, but they were that way because he knew what to do. No doubt. No hesitation. No thought. He went from move to move with total confidence. Maria was almost there. Almost. But there was always a twitch. Barely visible. Practically non-existent. But as clear and as final as a tombstone. She was stopping herself from following through. Each move was a choice, conscious and worked out, even if she did it in the barest slice of a second. A decision to go against her first instinct.

And that's why she was going to lose. Priam was only fighting Maria. Maria was fighting Priam and herself.

He had that understanding all of an instant. Then the fight was over. He didn't even see the move, just the results. A harsh thwack of wood on skin, and then Maria was on the floor.

Legsweep. Must have been a legsweep.

Priam stepped back, his chest heaving like a bellows. He was staring down at Maria with some cross between respect and exultation on his face. The others were already moving, streaming over to babble amazed plaudits.

Oyster was halfway up to join them when he saw it.

Maria's eyes opening.

A moment of brief eye contact, her and Oyster staring at each other. There was no recognition on her face.

Then he watched those eyes swivel up to lock on Priam.

And her face contorted with rage.



---

...Still really not sure about that last fight. Eugh. Sorry if it came off as me blowing smoke up my own character's ass, I was trying to illustrate where her head's at without just saying it. Also, @Alectai @TehChron @Humbaba , could I have this and my previous two omake for this turn (here and here) bookmarked, please? I've added the first one and my omake reward to the spreadsheet already.
 
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Gaius Antonius Omake 8: The Scorpion Saga: Revelation
Gaius Antonius Omake #8: The Scorpion Saga: Revelation

The three cultivators traveled at a relatively leisurely pace, riding a sandworm so as not to leave tracks. They crowded around a diagram, Gaius leaning over Emilia, who leaned over Alcides.

"It's got to be right here, I think." Alcides explained pointing out a spot on the diagram, sixty feet behind the main entrance. "From there, the gas will billow into the primary chamber and won't leave any routes to the entrance. They'll have to crowd around the hidden escape tunnels, and that will slow them down. The Runners will come out first and we'll split up to chase them down."

"We know. That's the fifth time you've gone over it, I thought you had something new to add." Emilia grumbled.

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared."

"If anything you're far too prepared."

Gaius tuned out the pair's bickering, rolling up a cigarette and lighting it with a little burst of qi. He took a long drag and once more steeled himself for the battle to come.

"I told you both not to smoke while we're on the worm." Alcides complained, waving away the fumes.

"Dude, you work with noxious chemicals every day." His female companion pointedly remarked.

"I work with them safely, I don't huff them like it's nothing. I know better than anyone how bad those things are for you."

"We're cultivators! Tobacco, opium, who cares, nothing sticks. Live a little!"

And so things continued for quite a while longer, Gaius wincing as he scooted farther back to get some space. This was going to be a long ride indeed.

----

Eventually, something worth stopping for came into view: a corpse.

Not the corpse of a human or a beast, but of a place. It couldn't be called a town anymore, hardly even a ruin. Every building had been picked clean and broken down and every inhabitant eaten. Everything worth using or melting down had also been carried off, leaving only the bare, skeletal remains.

The three Cultivators strode through the desolation, weapons drawn as they swept their senses, mudane and spiritual, in search of any scorpions. "I'm shocked that they picked it this clean." Gaius mused, trying to reconcile this with the scorpions he was familiar with.

"What do you mean?" Alcides questioned, poison qi bubbling up between his raised hands. "Isn't this their usual strategy?"

"Not exactly." The tall man corrected. "They're not normally this clean about it; infighting and rapid evolution is their natural state after all. Usually the elites squabble over the best resources, which means some things get missed - a few people get away, some lower quality materials get buried under rubble, and so on. But this town... it's been strip-mined." As he explained, he messed with and twirled his hair, trying to puzzle this all together.

Ultimately, the solution came from the mouth of one not given to thinking. "Maybe these ones just have their shit together?"

Gaius shook his head. "No, no, it's not a matter of being organized, competition over resources, frequent dueling, the monarch being deposed by a new, stronger monarch, it's how they evolve so fast. They wouldn't be so methodical unless..." Before he could finish his thought, he was interrupted by a cry for help. Evidently, there were in fact a few survivors.

Herding them all together was a pain. Most had survived simply by virtue of being too hard to reach, which meant many were trapped beneath rubble or hiding in basements and refusing to come out. Eventually, though, a group of about a dozen(out of what had been a town of 7,000) were brought together and coaxed into a march. It was a detour to be sure, but it allowed the group to learn some important details.

Like how, surprisingly, Many of these scorpions carried metal weapons with a very strange shape. From how they were described, it didn't sound like stolen weapons either, but ones made for them. That alone set off alarm bells, but one terrified woman claimed she had heard two scorpions conversing in human tongue. Possibly a misunderstanding, but unnerving if true. Finally, they were told by several survivors that one of the marauders had summoned a windstorm. This would mean a scorpion had developed a qi technique not based around its own body, and that implied many bad things.

These anecdotes, combined with the abnormal efficiency with which the town had been consumed, painted a very dangerous picture; a colony that, at least for the time being, was working toward a common goal rather than endlessly consuming itself. The reason why couldn't be known for certain, but there was a very good educated guess to be made.

"They know." All three said simultaneously.

"They know we're here and that's why they're not fighting each other." Emilia concluded with a nod.

"Not just that, but they're smart enough to know to make a truce across the whole colony." Alcides adds, brow furrowed in worry.

"And not only do they have a truce, but they figured out how to work together this quickly..." Gaius mutters, fussing with his hair again.

Indeed, this was a problem, the kind where a it's right and proper for a Golden Devil Cultivator to supersede local authority, and that's exactly what they did.

The next town the trio reached, they demanded to speak to the mayor and got a meeting within fifteen minutes. Said mayor, a portly, bearded mortal in fancy robes - or what passed for fancy out in the sticks - happily let them in, honored to be in the presence of a Cultivator at all. The last time one passed through this town was about a century ago, or so he claimed. However, the man's mood quickly soured when the three Devils delivered the terrible news of the scorpion activity to him.

"You need to evacuate the town." Alcides bluntly told the mayor. "Every single person, get them moving to the north in a week."

"That's not possible!" The mortal protested, sputtering. "How are we supposed to organize such a massive undertaking so quickly?"

"I suggest you figure it out fast, because this town is already doomed. If we deal with this colony before they raze the town, then everything will be fine, but we simply can't guarantee that." The poison master explained, calmly and dispassionately.

"This is outrageous! It's not fair! Can the Devils really not send more help?"

"Unfortunately, we're about to be at war again, so no. There's never enough of anything to go around, I'm sure you understand."

Sighing and hanging his head in defeat, the portly man stroked his beard in thought. "Alright, I'll figure out something and do what I can..."

This quick pit stop finally settled, the trio were ready to begin the scouting phase of their assault... if only it were so easy.

----

Gaius triple-checked the supplies, ensuring not a single thing was out of place as the group prepared to leave. Behind them, that mortal once again protested the situation, not seeming to fully grasp the severity.

"You're really heading out right away? Didn't you say we're in danger right now?" The mayor asked incredulously.

"Yes, and we're leaving to go remove the danger." Alcides explained once again with a sigh. "We've done what we can to warn you, we don't have time to babysit you people."

"Yeah, and besides, we're gonna go wipe them out at the source! That basically keeps you guys almost as safe as if we bodyguarded you!" Emilia announced, laughing joyfully.

"You really think so?"

With a blur of motion, Gaius leapt up to a nearby rooftop and turned to face the suddenly-appearing presence. How had he not sensed anything? The others reacted in turn, if not as strongly. Emilia took out her spear and ushered the mortals to get behind her and flee, and Alcides retrieved several black pellets from the pocket of his robes.

Six scorpions stood atop the town's walls, bearing a variety of weapons and implements. One of them carried with it a banner, bearing the image of a burning skull.

"We were sent on a gathering mission, but what's all this?" Says one scorpion in particular, a bit smaller than the others and showcasing a snakelike head, jaw and mouth. "A bunch of Golden Devils, come destroy us no doubt!" Gaius' wariness increased. With that degree of mutation, this one had to be at least Eighth Heavenstage. The others were also fairly high level, each bearing unique variations or features of their own. Two in Seventh Heavenstage, three in Sixth.

"Wow, impressive! I didn't think you'd be able to talk so well!" The Emilia yelled with an enthusiastic grin, taking an aggressive stance and preparing for a clash. "I was thinking more, insane bug screeching, creepy chittering, that stuff."

"You'd compare us to those savages from Ostendorf or Heissland? Idiocy! We are the Inferno Squad of Sudberj! The desert belongs to our king!" Says a scorpion wielding a halberd which glowed from within with a mysterious light, who was seemingly the leader. "You Golden Devil dogs will fall here and now!"

Alcides had his hands hidden in his sleeves, most likely preparing something where the enemy couldn't see, so it fell to Gaius to try and read their motives. The worst, most pressing concern was how he, with his prodigous senses, had been caught off guard so easily. A techniaue or treasure of some kind, perhaps blanketing the area? If so, why waste it on posturing? More coordinated than usual or no, these were ambush predators, they wouldn't just-

Ah, of course.

Taking a big risk, Gaius turned his senses away from the walls and began to Seek, pushing his tunneled senses to their absolute limit and pouring them into a 30 degree cone before him, a metaphysical searchlight to reveal his enemy with brute force. He turned away. One second, two, three passed as he swept across the town in a circle, but sensed nothing he'd associate with a scorpion. The scent of venom, the sound of exoskeletal parts htting each other, the clacking of claws or rubbing of mandibles, the footprints of an arachnid's walking pattern, none of this was present.

Four seconds, five seconds. He was completely unaware of the world outside his searchlight, so hyperfocused were his senses. Something else, somewhere else... Six seconds. Below! Gaius changed the shape of his awareness, pouring it into the ground beneath his feet. There, two scorpions, digging with their claws and approaching the three from behind.

Gaius snapped back to reality to find one of the giant bugs descending on him from above, swinging a pair of heavy sabers. He darted to the side just in time, only to be assailed by a storm of blades as the enemy attacked him with five limbs, all ending in some kind of deadly implement. Drawing his swords, Gaius' arms became a blur, parrying aside each and every attack and slowly pushing his enemy back. The scorpion warrior growled and attacked even faster, but failed to hit anything but a the trailing ends of his flowing dark cloak.

Heat Haze Body

Blowing through the saber-wielding scorpion's guard, Gaius moved in for the kill, only to be forced back by a blast of green fire. Another scorpion backed up the first, harrying him with ranged attacks and stopping him from taking the offensive. At the very least, this stalemate gave him a moment to speak. "There are two more underground, hiding their presence! Be ready to intercept!" the legionnaire shouted. The other two, both embroiled in their own fights, gave curt nods of understanding.

From somewhere Gaius couldn't see, Alcides flung several smoke bombs into the air, producing a noxious cloud which fired off pressurized blasts of liquid poison down onto the battlefield - but only at his enemies, not his allies.

Evil-Smiting Rain

Against this powerful area-denial, both of Gaius' opponents backed down, the sword-wielder ducking behind the fire-breather, who produced a dome of flames to shield them both. In his peripheral vision, he saw Emilia fling her spear(coated in some kind of aura he couldn't identify) at a scorpion from sixty feet away. The weapon blasted right through the beast's body and landed next to Alcides. Then it flashed purple, and a powerful attractive force took hold of Emilia, pulling her to the weapon at great speed, interposing her in front of her friend.

Will-Bound Chain

As Alcides continued to lay down covering fire, Emilia protected him from the techniques and assorted ranged attacks a bow-wielding scorpion seeking to kill the vulnerable poisoner. What she hadn't seemed to notice yet was the scorpion several blocks away, slowly but surely raising an entire small house over its head with a telekinetic field.

Not occupied at the moment, Gaius went into a dead sprint, leaping in front of his fellow Devils and manifesting a circle of green light, rimmed with gold. From it burst forth a dense cloud of spores which raced out to meet the hail of bricks and tiles, eroding them down to pebbles and shards and dust.

Aegis Manifestation: Earth

Then, the remains of the attack reached Gaius, and with his other hand he manifested a dome of force in front of the golden gircle, transforming it into a true, three-dimensional shield of light. One ton of raw materials fell upon and all around the shield, pushing its bearer back and sending him crashing into his comrades, who were themselves swept up in the momentum. Closing his hand, Gaius caused the shield to fold in upon the attack, bringing the technique's qi under his own control. Turning on his heel, the Legionnaire flung the entire huge mass of earth in a wide arc, pelting the surrounding scorpions and throwing up a smokescreen.

Aegis Reversal

Dashing through the dust and sand in a blur, Emilia and Gaius each took an Inferno Squad member's life in a flash, dashing past and cutting them in twain before they could pinpoint the Devils' locations. Three down.

With the cloud technique finally down after Alcides was swept away, the poisoner was forced to spring away as the two mysterious diggers burst out of the ground behind him, nearly taking his life then and there with scythe-like claws designed for tearing through earth and flesh alike. Gaius then had to look away, as the scorpion with the halberd came upon him.

A furious exchange of attacks began, the enemy's swings leaving behind trails of light which physically stopped Gaius' blades. They broke without much difficulty, but this made mounting an offensive nearly impossible. He was forced back many steps, parrying and blocking a storm of blows which threatened to launch him into the air with their sheer strength. This one was at least Eighth Heavenstage, and that bizarre technique made the bug more than a match for Gaius.

"You bastard, I'm surprized you're this strong. But that doesn't matter! On my honor, I will cut you down!" It declared, slamming its blade down onto Gaius, who trapped it in a cross-block. Using this leverage, the Devil wrenched the halberd to the side and attempted to dash in and cleave his enemy's head in two, only for the agile arachnid to leap into the air above him and swing its halberd in a circle, around Gaius, trapping him in a ring of light.

An explosive pulse of qi was sufficient to break out, but that moment was all the beast needed. In a whip-like motion, a sword-sized stinger lanced toward Gaius' heart. The legionnaire interposed his forearm, which was cleanly impaled. With all of his strength, he stopped the appendage just a hair short of his chest, even as burning agony coursed up his arm.

"Victory is mine!" the warrior cried out triumphantly, only to realize it couldn't pull its stinger out.

Gaius clenched his hand with all of his strength, and his arm seemed to ripple, pulling the stinger in deeper and locking it in place completely. "You talk... way too much!"

The muscles of a Body Cultivator are a miraculous thing; even when pierced and torn, every fiber can move independently. Pulling the enemy toward him with all his might, Gaius ducked under a hasty, desperate stab and severed the offending limb, then stabbed downward into the scorpion's head.

Slicing off the end of the tail, Gaius pulled out the stinger and fled from the battle, as crashes, explosions and the clanging of clashing blades rang out behind him. Collapsing behind a piece of rubble, he brought the wound to his mouth and sucked as hard as he could, spitting out mouthfulls of tainted blood several times. He was able to get at least half of it out, but he was still in serious danger. Popping three antivenom pills into his mouth like candies and swallowing them down, the Cultivator got back to his feet and stumbled back into the battlefield.

Things seemed to be winding town. Another beast had died, partially melted into sludge by some kind of acid - Alcides' work no doubt - and the remaining three had broken into full retreat. Emilia flung her spear once more, impaling one of them into the wall as it attempted to scale over the top. With no hope of escape, the scorpion seemed to ponder for a moment and come to some sort of conclusion, launching a massive gout of flame.

Gaius attempted to summon up Aegis again, but circulating qi through his left arm sent a fresh spurt of blood streaming out and made him fall to his knees in pain. The fire washed over the area before the town's main gate in waves, preventing anyone from approaching; the three Devils could only stay back - going all the way around would just be a longer delay. Eventually, the beast's qi guttered out to almost nothing, and Emilia was there in a flash to finish it off.

"Fuck, we lost two!" she said, peering over the top of the walls, scanning the horizon for any sign of them.

"This is... a big problem." Gaius wheezed, getting back to his feet with the help of a mortal - they had begun to leave their homes and other hiding places now that the fighting was over. "We have to find both, now."

For the next four days, the team searched with immense fervor. They roved out in every direction that could make for a plausible escape route, but this being the desert, that was most directions. The sole comfort was that these were not Runners: they did not possess the seemingly impossible speed and stamina for their cultivation level that those frustrating couriers did. They were clearly burying themselves to rest, so there was still a chance.

On the fourth day, Emilia found one and forced it out into the open, running it through after a brief but intense clash that Gaius wasn't there to see. This was the only one that they found, and eventually the team was forced to admit the harsh reality: one member of Inferno Squad had gotten away, with firsthand accounts of all their best techniques, as well as their location and who knows what other information. A disaster, through and through.

"They're so much smarter than I thought, I was wrong about everything..." Gaius hung his head in shame. "I've ruined everything, and it's all going out of control!" He yelled, throwing his hat down on the ground in frustration. Why? Why did something like this have to happen now? He felt on top of the world before!

"Let's just go now then." Emilia concluded, after a few minutes deep in thought. Both men turned to her incredulously. "I'm just saying, if they have this intel on us, then the longer we wait, the more they can use it. We should just attack right now and do the plan before they can plan around it."

Alcides screwed up his face in thought, pondering this option deeply. "Emilia... I don't know about that, it's very risky."

"Those bastards are about to know all about us, meanwhile we know nothing about them! If we give them time to adapt and plan around us, they'll kick our asses!" Emilia insisted.

Gaius hesitantly nodded in agreement. "She's right. After what's happened, the best time to make our move is now, before they can make use of this intelligence. They're far more capable than we predicted; they'll be completely insurmountable to us soon."

Ever taciturn, Alcides looked like he wanted to resist more, but a pleading look from Emilia brought him to heel. "Fine. It's a big risk, but there's just no time anymore, we'll act now before victory becomes impossible." He grumbles, arms crossed.

And so, the three Devils saddled up their sandworm once more and rode off into the distance.

----

The silence was overpowering and heavy as the last surviving warrior of Inferno Squad delivered his report. Besides his own voice, the chamber was deathly quiet, save for a dripping from the ceiling which happened at a rate of precisely one drop every nineteen seconds. Finally, he concluded, and his commanding officer sneered.

"You lost everyone else!?" Chloris yelled in frustration.

"Yes, General. Please forgive me; we, one of the most elite death squads in the colony, were completely defeated. I have no excuses, as an apology, I offer you my head." The warrior replied, despondent, kowtowing in shame.

"Cut the shit! As if I'd waste your life at a critical time like this." The general responded, slapping her subordinate with a pincer. "Besides, if everything you've told me is true, then things are still proceeding smoothly"

"G-general?" The warrior tilted his head uncomprehendingly.

"It would have been wonderful if Inferno Squad killed them outright, but even though you didn't, you drew them here. They're getting hasty and going on the attack now, still thinking us savages who only react, rather than thinking ahead." Chloris grinned sadistically, already imagining her victory. "But tell me, even if you lost, did you at least do some damage?"

"General..." The Junior bug shook with a mix of many turbulent emotions. "You sent us to die? Us, the Inferno Squad? You told us to sortie, knowing we would probably be killed?"

"Of course I did, that's how war works." The general glared imperiously. "Sometimes lives must be spent to gain a strategic advantage. We die in battle to protect our children, to protect the future of our kind. You already knew this, so why are you getting spooked now?"

Silence reigned for half a minute as the last surviving member of Inferno Squad regained his bearings. "You're right, General, I apologize. Please forgive my cowardice. And to answer your question, yes. The big one, the female with the war paint, she recieved a large dose of poison, though she took a pill to nullify it."

"That's perfect." Said Chloria, clasping her sub-hands together. "Then, in exchange for seven lives, Inferno Squad have given us a wonderful gift." Yes, it was all coming together. First these Devils, then Derrick. The time to sieze her future was at hand.

I don't like this one that much. I'm bad at writing "get the characters into position for the next major event" stuff and I think it shows here. I also had a lot of difficulty getting the battle with Inferno Squad to work, especially since I was showing it in limited third person from the perspective of one of the participants, meaning only some of it is seen. Hopefully it's comprehensible.

@TehChron can I get this omake and the two before it threadmarked please?
 
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Jin Muyi 23: [Among Us]
Jin Muyi [Among Us]

Entry 1

In honor of my new position as one of Lord Cannibal's Dervishes, i decided to start a new journal to log down my rise to glory! The squad i'm assigned to consist of ones like me, the cultivators of the Lost Lands. Lords and Rulers who now have to beg and scrape for every drop of blood for our cultivation. Curse that Traitor and the Civil War he sparked! And Bless our Lord for the chance to take it all back!

If i play my cards right, not only will i regain our ancestral lands, but i could even double them as long as i obtain sufficient merit.


Entry 2

We snuck into the Lost Lands today. I couldn't help but feel nostalgic at the sight of the setting sun dyeing the cliffs a bloody red. Of course in the past the red was the remnants of the slave bodies that were disposed there, but i'll take what i can get.

According to our seers, the Bronze Devils had a pretty bad run for their Clan Tribulation this round leading to a loss of manpower that forced them to open up holes in their defenses. That in combination with some of the local knowledge of the terrain make sneaking in a breeze!


Entry 3

We decided to probe the Bronze Devils' defenses as well as replenish the Qi spent on infiltrating via raiding one of their Mortal Farms. It was interesting...

Shockingly, there was no Cultivator ruling over the Cattle. Instead when asked to meet the one in charge, one of the Cattle presented himself and offered his home for us to stay in. We beheaded him for the sheer effrontery of not knowing his place of course. The Bronze devils clearly do not know how to train their mortals if a simple beheading cause them to panic. I must admit that their attempts to flee did make wiping them all out more time consuming that expected.

All in all, we managed to replenish our Qi and leave just as a troop of Bronze Devils appear to stop our raid. We did leave Lin Gan behind, but he deserves it for staying back to mate with the Cattle instead of just replenishing our Qi and leaving like what we planned.



Entry 4

Lin Gan must have broke. Since that last raid where he got capture nothing has been going well! What few successful raids we had only allowed us to replenish minsucle amounts of Qi before the Bronze Devils appear to drive us off. Less said of the Farms that are now hosting groups of Bronze Devils!

A message from some of the other Irregular Squads indicates that they're not facing as stiff a resistance, Lin Gan must have revealed our plan and raiding targets to them. Thankfully his idiotic bloodline will no longer pollute our glorious empire, news of what Lord Cannibal did to them for his betrayal brought smiles to all our faces.


Entry 5

Things have gotten worse. The lack of resources is causing our cultivation levels to dip.


Entry 6

We now stand lesser in number but stronger in spirit! The sacrifice of our weaker brethren to allow us to retain the strength to hurt the Bronze Devils will be rememb- HAHAHA, i can't continue.

I have no idea how Li Zhu managed to say that with a straight face! It did work though it calming down the weaker peons after we used some of them to replenish our Qi. Man, Li Zhu sure changed since we came here.

I've never knew that he had such a cunning mind!


Entry 7

Today was a disaster. Ba Tu that idiot decided that by virtue of being the strongest among us he was the leader of our squad and drunk with the replenished Qi decided to counter-charge the Bronze Devils when they appear on our next raid. The idiot forgot every single thing we learned about the Bronze Devils, that we should force them into one on one fights where our superior skills could take effect.

He charged with his cronies and he died. Crushed like a bug beneath the hooves of the horseman construct the Devils called up. Thank the gods for Li Zhu, if it wasn't for the sudden Qi deadening mist he called up we would have been caught by the Devils.


Entry 8

Li Zhu died today. I have to say, i think i'll miss him. Ironically, he died not to the Bronze Devils but to one of the many pests that roam the land. Gu Ci was the one who found the body and mentioned that it seemed to be filled with poison strong enough that it was already decomposing and no longer something we could use.

Without Li Zhu, we find ourselves stuck in another stalemate on what to do. I think i'm going to throw my support behind Gu Ci since he has the most knowledge of the dangers of the desert. His suggestion to head for a oasis and hunker down till the Bronze Devils lose vigilance seems better then all the other options.


Entry 9

We decided to split into 3 groups. Those of us who support Gu Ci will seek out a oasis to set up and secure a supply point while the other 2 groups will continue Lord Cannibal's mission to raid the Devils. Clearly we made the right choice, we soon got news that not more then an hour since we split one of the groups stumbled into some kind of poisonous mist that dissolved them into white bones in a matter of seconds.


Entry 10

We got news today about the other group. The " soft " target that intelligence pointed out to them was a hardened fortress with layers and layers of sensory wards. They got less then 5 li towards it before they were detected and crushed with the full might of the fortress's siege arrays.

Our original group of hundred has now dwindled to just the ten of us who followed Gu Ci. The new plan is to bunker up into the Oasis and request for reinforcements to replenish our numbers so that we can fulfill our mission.


Entry 11

We had a long day today. A Oasis was spotted early in the day but the journey to it was more perilous then expected. Two of the scouts we sent out disappeared right in front of our eyes to a Ravenous Sandpit Worm.

Their deaths did help us establish that the Oasis was surrounded by dozens of the weird creature and we spent the rest of the day gradually making our way through them one by one. Took us till dark to get into the Oasis thanks to yours truly! I will confess, i only managed to claim the credit for detecting the entrance of the Oasis via stumbling into a tree trunk. Thankfully, it was too dark for anyone to know how i did it.


Entry 12

Gu Ci is Dead. Murdered to be exact. His body was found strung up onto a branch of the huge tree in the oasis utterly drained of blood. It seems that one of us has decided that Gu Ci has served his purpose by bringing us safely to the Oasis and thus used him for cultivation.

FOOLS! Do they not realize that this brings us back to the same issue of non of us having sufficient knowledge of the dangers of the desert? One thing his death did was to get all of us to split up, digging out a lone resting place and guarding it as a individual.


Entry 13

There was a scream in the night. We found Yi Ro dismembered in his chosen spot near the Great Tree. His wards were still intact. My guess is that he shared his ward arrays with a friend who used it to murder him and seize his blood for cultivation...


Entry 14

There is a Killer among us. Admittedly, we're all killers but we do so in moderation! This killer is striking out without regard for our mission, killing to grow strong at the mission's expense!

Bodies have been turning up... each one utterly drained of blood and yet we can find no traces of how THEY WERE KILLED!


Entry 15


...It's been gods knows how long since i wrote here. It's every cultivator for themselves, we've all closed up behind the thickest defenses we can throw up to wait for the reinforcements to arrive. They will find out which of us is the Killer, I CAN SENSE THEM STALKING ME, WHISPERS FOR MY BLOOD!


Entry 16

...It's quiet. So... quiet. Am i the only one left? Has the killer left the oasis? Should i leave? But what if it's waiting for me to come out? NO! MY BLOOD IS MINE!


Entry 17

I can't get out. I can't get OUT, I CAN'T GET OUT!! My wards have been turn into the bars of my cage and i lack the Qi to break them! LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT.....


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"....LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. That's all that is scrawled on the rest of the pages of this journal Milord."

"Excellent work Fa Lo. You're right to bring this to me. You will be given a fifth of the spoils from the next town we loot. " With a wave, Guan Cai dismissed the grateful babbling cultivator and once more focus his sight on the Oasis before him.

No more was it the lush oasis surrounded by Ravenous Sandpit Worms described in the journal. Under Guan Cai's command, waves of Qi Spells burned them out of existence while slaves and the junior cultivators were sent in to investigate every inch of the ground to discover the last remaining trace of the first scouting wave of Irregulars.

And now, with the discovery of the journal and it's contents the mystery was revealed. It was only a matter of time before the slaves recovered the bodies of the first group and from there, the traitor that put themselves over the mission given by Lord Cannibal would be exposed.

Guan Cai couldn't help but let out a smirk at the idea of asking the traitor some sharp questions. Gazing out at the bustling sight before him, a thought sprung to mind.

Didn't the Journal mention a tree? The Oasis before my eyes only has a wide lake? Is the tree some walking plant that moved before we arrived?

"Milord! Milord!" The shouts of a approaching messenger broke him from his introspection. Turning towards the messenger and giving him a glare that promised torment unending if the interruption was for something minor, Guan Cai waited for the messenger to speak.

"Milord! We found Fa Lo's squad dead! They've been utterly drained off blood like the bodies we found of the first wave! The killer is still around us!"

"Don't be a fool! Fa Lo is right there! Can't you see hi-.." Guan Cai's rebuttal died with a grasp as the Fa Lo standing next to him started giving off a wide smile, a smile that grew and grew until it was too wide for his head before his body burst open into tendrils of green vines that lashed out and caught him in a cocoon, turning the world dark.

As Guan Cai struggled to free himself from the monstrosity that had taken Fa Lo's shape, he heard the shouts of horrow and shock as well as the faint sounds of combat die off and turn into the sounds of screams and begging which itself faded into a all encompassing silence.

Oh.... So that's what happened....
It was a infiltrator......
Everything is going dark........


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In a reversal of roles, Muyi found himself the one now gazing out over the crater filled landscape of what was once an oasis as he recovered from the exertion of his ambush on a whole squad of Cannibal Irregulars.

A slight nudge from the side broke Muyi from his ruminations and turning his head to the source, Muyi found himself looking at Qing Yun who had been nudging him with his horn. Upon catching Muyi's attention, Qing Yun gestured with his head to a small scroll that he dug up from one of the corpses of the dead Cannibals while Muyi was in a daze.

"Ah, looks like laying a trap for the Cannibals paid off. All the ones we eliminated in the first wave managed to self-immolate before we could search them."

Picking up the scroll and running a quick scan with his Qi to ensure that it was safe, Muyi opened it up and took a look at it's contents.

In the name of Lord Cannibal,

Move and assist the Growling Dervishes with their assault on the Golden Devils' vassals and supplies. This scroll will act as a Command Talisman that will allow for the requisitioning of other squads of the first wave to come under your command.

DO NOT FAIL THE LORD.

The open declaration of all-out war mentioned in the scroll bought Muyi a sense of relief. There would be no more border raids and chases stymied by the border, now was the time for the reforged Legion entrusted to him by the Clan to prove their worth in the anvils of war, his debut as a Legion Commander, that the trust bestowed to him despite his low cultivation was worth it.

"Let's Go Qing Yun, we'll drop this news to the Clan and muster our men. In the words of our new Legion, WE RIDE!"

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

Finally got the Omake out. It's very much a collab of the past few fate rolls for Muyi. The Oasis ambush + Blood draining from Turn 6, The mention of Muyi's legion finding some news of the enemy's movement in Turn 7 and the new Mission Addition.

It definitely took me a while and has a wee bit Tell elements since i wanted to make sure the picture in my head of an stealthy ambush Among Us style was conveyed.

@Humbaba Ping for the SS index. And incase i forgot to update the Excel sheet, aiming for another LST on this
 
Gaius Antonius Omake #9: Another Place, Another Time, Another World
Gaius Antonius Omake #9: Another Place, Another Time, Another World

[X] Plan From Humble Beginnings
-[X] Clan
-[X] Body Cultivating
-[X] Array Carving
-[X] Righteous
--[X] Advantages:
-[X] Spirit Stone Mine (Lesser) -2
-[X] Obedient -2
--[X] Disadvantages
-[X] Impoverished +1
-[X] Badly Injured +1
-[X] Paying Tribute +3

----

Alright, let's start this from the top. My name is Ankhbayar, and I am a warrior of the Fierce Horn Clan. Most of my life these days revolves around cultivating and helping my clan pay the endless fucking protection tithes. Some people might ask why I would put up with a clan that's teetering on the economic brink, why I wouldn't leave them for some sect. It's called respect, something we of the Fierce Horn blood are taught from birth.

Besides, even if it's like helping move a sand dune one grain at a time, I'm The Seeker. I could use the practice, to get used to infinitely long tasks. I gotta kill my father one day, after all. He disrespected the clan, and I gotta make up for that, so until I'm strong enough to undo that shame, I help pay the bills. Any way, any place, any time.


----

"Get in the black."

Were one to ask Ankhbayar what the most common phrase of the Fierce Horn Clan was, that would be his answer, for indeed, over the past couple centuries, their struggle had been one to stay afloat under the endless pressure of their overlords, so that they could build strength despite the grinding oppression.

It was said they descended from a nomadic people to the northwest, and indeed they had the look typical of those people, a bit harsher in its lines and with more fat in the cheeks. But that was millenia ago, and though they kept some traditions and practices of their ancestors, the Fierce Horns were very much people of the Virtuous Flipper Region.

That said, their ancestral ways of war had served them well in the Hard Shell mountains, Ankhbayar thought as he deftly guided his spirit horse across a rocky path that would injure some lesser steeds. Zaya was a spirit beast which was a mix of horse and goat, with long, flexible legs, spiralling horns stronger than iron, and incredible balance and leaping power, allowing it unparalleled agility and traveling speed though the mountains. Up ahead, the warrior gazed down into the valley in which his target resided. The soil was extremely high-quality, with several rivers running through at various points which flooded a few times a year, providing bountiful harvests which provided for several large cities that called this place their home.

More importantly, this valley was the home of the small, newborn Heavenly Crescent Sect, subordinate to the Magic Oak Sect. This fledgeling organization was founded by a wandering Cultivator about ninety years prior. Within their extremely fertile hidden valley, they grew spirit herbs which were then refined into pills, many of which were traded to fund their rapid early development. Hardly worth mentioning at this point in time, but still a source of valuable resources, if one could reach it. These soft, crop-growing ascetics had grown complacent, assured that no one would ride this far out just to bully or raid them; they were wrong. Circling in a roundabout path until he reached a relatively level cliff, Ankhbayar took a moment to survey the sect from afar.

The most immediately apparent feature was its three cocentric walls, each surronding buildings larger and more grand than the last; one around the sect as a whole, one separating the Inner Sect from the Outer Sect, and one around the Grand Elder's sanctum, a luxurious palace within which sat a room containing rare magical Tidal Stones, which drew Qi directly from the sea via a rift in space, allowing one to cultivate with greater effectiveness, especially below Foundation Establishment. These were not Ankhbayar's target - going after those would get him killed, and the moment a raid was detected the strongest disciples would be sent to guard the room. No, he would be satisfied stealing from the Inner Sect.

His clan would not even use these resources. They would be siphoned away by the Jingshen Clan, who ruled over them from the southeast. No, this was just to help pay the tithe - the more easily they could pay each decade, the more they could devote to their own strength, and every single spirit stone or beast core was crucial. After all, on an individual level, they were very strong, so long as they could be nurtured.

Ankhbayar retrieved his bow, eight feet long and strung with the refined sinews of a Silver Auroch, and nocked an arrow the size of a sword. Indeed, his clan, his blood, was very strong. With steely muscles, he fired off half a dozen of these arrows, which flew over to the western gate. When they landed, they produced a cacophanous sound of explosions, hoofbeats, roaring soldiers and roiling qi, and the final one projected an image of a quickly-growing inferno. Someone on his level might see through this illusion, especially is they speialized in those arts, but someone on his level wouldn't be doing guard duty for such a puny sect. This would buy him twenty to thirty minutes, if he was lucky.

----

As the attention of the guards shifted to the other side of the city, the mounted warrior descended down into the valley unseen. His target: the southern gate. Zaya bounded from one rock to another, flitting through the shadows. Five minutes to reach the gate running at full speed. ten minutes to get in, smash and grab. Ankbayar would smash through the Outer Sect, then quickly rush through the Inner Sect, stealing whatever cultivation materials he could find and hopefully a treasure. That left five more minutes to get out and run as far as he could. From there, it would be his own skill at navigating the mountains which would make the difference between escape and death.

For a single Qi Condensation Cultivator to raid a sect, even a tiny one with a single Foundation Establishment Grand Elder, was madness. Obvously he wouldn't stand a chance in a direct fight - a lightning-fast raid was his only option. Ironically, this sect was the same as his own clan, a group trying to survive under the subjugation of a more powerful oppressor, quietly building strength as times passed. Nevertheless, the Fierce Horns did not have the luxury of sympathy.

Firing an arrow wrapped in a shaped-charge array, the mounted warrior blasted a hole in the gate and leapt through, shooting the two remaining guards as he went. That was step one - things would get tricky now. The Outer Sect, taken up mostly by the housing of the lesser disciples, training areas, servants' quarters and so on, did not interest Ankbayar in the slightest; there would nothing of worth here, so he charged through straight ahead, toward the higher wall that marked the divide between the Inner Sect and Outer Sect.

As the target approached, the horse-archer fired more flaming arrows, these ones casting actual fire, creating more distractions to cover his advance. It was here that his first true obstacle appeared: a group of six Cultivators, bewildered and panicked expressions on their faces showing how hasty this defense was. The impromptu squad clearly hadn't expected to run into trouble here; that bought him a few more seconds with which to approach.

One at Seventh Heavenstage, possibly what passed for an Elder in this weak place. The rest at Fourth or Fifth. They performed a synhronized kata, the undeniable stirrings of a formation beginning to appear around them. He was twenty meters away - the technique would go off just before he reached them. Ankhbayar planted his feet on Zaya's saddle and stood up straight, unbothered by the drag of a spirit steed at full gallop, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as he considered his options. He needed a better view to figure this out. What kind of formation would this be? If he guessed wrong, he was probably dead, either right now or in a few minutes.

The Heavenly Crescent Sect specialized in formations, right? Mainly out of necessity, being brand new and still quite weak, so this was ideal for defending themselves against Foundation Establishment level spirit beasts. With that in mind, doing some quick mental math... this attack would hit with the power of Tenth or Eleventh Heavenstage. Bad. Those flowing, light, circular movements, that stirring in the grass around their feet, that probably meant a wind-based attack, right?

Ah, of course - they would summon a windstorm to blow away him and the fires at the same time. Troublesome, and especially good at wasting his time, but he could think of a way around it. "Wall!" He commanded, and his companion obliged, channeling qi into it front hooves and leaping into the air, bringing them down with a stomp five meters away from the budding formation. A large spike of earth, larger than the horse and rider combined, was disgorged from the ground, as in the same moment powerful gust of swirling wind was sent hurdling toward the two.

Mountain-Raising Step

This wall stood up against the formation for a couple of seconds, but that was all Ankhbayar needed. The ever-agile Zaya bounded onto the chunk of rock and leapt further skyward, just clearing the upper edge of the vortex. Turning backwards and raising his bow once more, he felled three enemies, then turned away, that group already forgotten. They no longer had enough power between them to use that formation again, and they wouldn't be able to catch him while he rode.

And there was the Inner Sect now. He checked his mental clock; seven minutes to go. The daring thief retrieved a substantially-sized blasting array from within his saddlebag. This thing along cost him nearly a third of what he expected to bring in should he succeed here - failure was not an option. Shooting one arrow into the wall and sending another arcing into the sky, as far away as he could possibly shoot, Ankhbayar activated the array and flung it at the wall.

A silencing spell radiated out from where the arrow had landed, muffling the vast majority of what should have been a deafening boom. He then heard the sound play out far in the distance, projected into his other arrow. A mere parlor trick, this Echo Theft technique was only good for causing momentary confusion in a one-on-one fight, but it made for a fantastic diversion. Zaya leapt through the hole smashed near the base of the wall. Time to loot.

----

In the end, Ankhbayar's escape was a very close call. The Grand Elder had come within 300 feet of him, hanging back only to save a sizeable group of Juniors from a collapsing tower - just as planned, of course. Research is crucial when performing a job like this, and he knew that Wan Xichen was an honorable and deeply compassionate man, who had founded this sect to protect the mortals who called this valley their home. An admirable trait, to care for one's comrades. He wished he could have met the man under circumstances other than this.

Zaya climbed up a nearly-sheer cliff in long, graceful jumps, laden down with saddlebags filled with assorted pills and high-value herbs. Ankhbayar's hand drifted toward them hesitantly; he so dearly wanted to swallow a few right now. Having so much strength right beneath his hand and giving it away, not even to his clansmen but to the Jingshen, boiled his blood. Those layabouts hadn't done a damn thing to earn these!

He took a deep breath, trying to calm down so as not to agitate his steed. He could set aside a few for himself once he was far enough away and was certain he had no one tailing him. Skimming a bit off the top was expected, almost everyone did that. But significant corruption was punished very harshly. In lean times like these the Fierce Horns had to operate at 95% efficiency.

As steed and rider descended into a small, hidden alcove to make camp, already 100 miles from the Heavenly Crescent Sect, Ankhbayar spent several minutes laying there on his back, everything aching. He had ridden for far too long, and come sunrise he would rise for several days more. So much work for what, one percent of one percent of a tithe? How humiliating.

Oh well. The road was long, so very long. No distance was too much for him, for The Seeker must Seek.

Decided to do something simple and fun as a break from that larger narrative. I tried to force out more content before I was ready to do it and that led to that disaster of a chapter, so I'm gonna wait until I'm ready to put my heart into that story. Until then, I'm gonna work on these little Elseworld snippets.

In this one, I decided to go with a Mongolian influence, to give it a unique style. No real reason for it, I just thought it would be fun, and I want each AU Gaius to feel distinct.

I decided to open them with those little Spiderverse-inspired monologues, to help get across some of the characterization and exposition without having to awkwardly insert it where it doesn't belong.


@Humbaba can you please threadmark this as well as the last three I wrote?
 
I've spoken with Occipitalobe, and am putting Anuka Vatatzes "up for adoption". If anyone feels like writing for her. Otherwise she will "retire" from the good-seed pool, becoming a background cultivator of little to no importance.
Anuka Vatatzes
Omake Reward - N/A
Fate - Many stood out in the past century, potential experts that diverge from the mold and walk their own path--to greater or lesser effect. Anuka was not one one of them--their cultivation has come slowly and with great effort, and they lack any particularly noteworthy feats or incidents to their record. Nonetheless, it is not unusual for some cultivators to start slowly before the right opportunity arrives.
Impact: 0 -> 0
Cultivation -
1st Heavenstage -> 2nd Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 28 Years (+7)
Health - Healthy -> Healthy
A Breakthrough
Anuka Vatatzes
Omake Reward - Cultivation Boost
Fate
- Anuka sought out her own strength in the form of boosted bloodlines. It was a single piece of Cursed Bronze, a peculiar piece struck by the Heavens during a tribulation that allowed her to incorporate a piece of the Cursed Bronze Bloodline (+1 Impact). Not a true bloodline, but a mere sliver of one. However, it allowed her to strengthen her own blood of bronze in peculiar ways, the most obvious being the ability for her strikes to be imbued with minor curses that could slow or sap enemies. She leapt from the 2nd Heavenstage to the 6th on the back of this ability, being deployed to hunt down several bandits above her own level with other squads in preparation for the war to come.
Impact - 1 (+1)
Cultivation
- 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 47 years (+19)
Health
- Healthy -> Healthy
 
Maria 6 - The Mirror (Part 3 of 7)
This damn series keeps getting bigger. I figured if I didn't post this is would end up being, like- just too big, so here it is. @Kaboomatic @TehChron @Alectai may I have this ridiculous thing bookmarked, please?

The Mirror (Part 3 of 7)
Maria Turn 8 Fourth Omake



Before the Legion – before the clan, in fact – Maria had never really remembered being in the Red Place. Her rages were like falling asleep; she'd open her eyes with a head full of dreamlike half-memories, fading even as she went through them. It never really mattered. But time had passed, and training and cultivation had strengthened her mind.

She didn't have the luxury of sleep or forgetfulness, now. She knew damn well what the Red Place looked like.

It wasn't really a place, of course, but she supposed her mind had to process this lunacy somehow. When she couldn't hold it any more, she'd find herself… here. A maze of marble corridors and stone floors, dimly lit. Cold slate rooms. Cavernous halls. No windows, though. No way out. Just the halls and corridors, stretching on and on forever and looping back on themselves over and over, in ways that made no sense. All cold. All hard.

And all red. Not blood red, nothing so obvious, but dark, muddy reds – rosewood and carmine and mahogany. Sullen reds. Brooding reds.

She tried not to think about what this particular hallucination implied about her. It opened doors she'd carefully locked a long time ago. Instead, she buried it as far from her thoughts as she could manage, and avoided its mocking voice, grating like broken glass and disappointment.

Until it built up too much, and she found herself here.

Maria set her teeth again, closed her eyes, fought down a snarl. This was bad. The sparring match. She remembered the sparring match. Priam's spear, sweeping through the air with textbook-perfection, and her own ever-growing frustration. Then-

Here.

Oh shit.

She opened her eyes again, awash in cold panic. What was she doing? What would she find there, when at last she fought her way back to reality? What awful thing would she have done?

The Red Place filled with mocking, twisted laughter.

Oh Child. So foolishly afraid.

She felt the snarl tugging at her lips again. "Let me out."

No.

"Let me out, you bastard."

Or what?

She growled. Her throat was starting to roughen with that grating burr from the pens and the fighting pits.

"Or I'll find a way to kill you. Some bastard out there has a mind path. Pay them to cut you out and put you in a bottle. Shit on you whenever I'm bored."

Oh, Maria. We both know you'll never do that.

She gave in, at last, to the feral roar building in her lungs. "Fucking watch me," she shrieked. Her spear was in her hand, suddenly – no idea where that had come from – and she let herself hack and stab at the walls, no thought of form in her head, only the raw ferocity she'd built up over decades.

That laughter again. Drove her crazy. She felt her lips draw back over her teeth, her hands tighten on the spearhaft till she heard the wood creak. Attack. Again and again, attack. Her enemy was beyond her reach.

And yet.

Attack.

She lost track of time, a hazy concept at best in this place, and found herself plunging down the yawning halls of the Red Place, destroying anything she found. But it meant nothing. When at last, her anger burnt itself out and she stood, hunched over, lungs heaving, in the ruins of some empty vestibule, everything was the same as before. Still trapped. Still tired. Still exhausted.

"Fucking… bastard," she gasped

I could say the same of you. You think your mother was married when she whelped you?

"Don't you fucking talk about her."

Why not? You don't.

There was something resentful and angry in that. Maria turned, slammed the haft of her spear into the ground, and pulled herself upright.

"So?"


So, growled the Place, one of the two reasons you survived that place, the only one who ever loved you, and you pretend she doesn't exist.


That stung, but she was too tired for fury. She spat, instead. "Not true."

Oh? So you remember her when I'm not looking, is that it? She protected you.

"Fat lot of good it did me," muttered Maria.

The Place –

Roared.

It was like a hurricane had spun up in a heartbeat, right in front of her. The force of that fury flung her from her feet, into the nearest wall, and sent hairline cracks of agony running through her. The scream of pain it tore from her lips might as well have been silent, though, for all that she heard it; there was nothing but that bellow, that howl, that screech of sheer, tormented rage.

YOU LIVED.

YOU LIVED.

IN THAT PLACE, WITH THOSE PEOPLE, IN THOSE CHAINS, YOU LIVED.

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE DONE, IF THEY FOUND YOU ANY YOUNGER THAN THEY DID? NO USE TO THE FIGHTING PITS THEN.

YOU'D HAVE DIED.

YOU'D HAVE DIED SCREAMING IN SOME ALCHEMIST'S CRUCIBLE AS HE MADE PILLS FROM YOUR BONES.

IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YEARS.

AND YOU PRETEND THAT'S NOTHING?!

EVERYTHING


EVERYTHING

YOU HAVE GOTTEN SINCE

YOU HAVE BECAUSE SHE GAVE YOU



If this was real, Maria knew with sick certainty her eardrums would be shredded by the volume. As it was, her head rang like a beaten gong. But she couldn't pay attention to that, because there was something else too.

For a moment – less than a moment – there had been a flicker. Not much, barely anything, but enough.

A flash of the world outside. Her spear clutched in both hands, swinging down point first into Priam's guard.

She knew how to get out.

"Not very good at hiding me, was she?" she gritted. She couldn't hear a damn thing, but it didn't matter – the Place would know. "Six. Fucking six. Suppose you can't expect better from a slave."

The roar got louder.

SHUT UP YOU UNGRATEFUL

"Great plan, too. Mud. Mud in my hair. Sheer genius."

LITTLE BITCH SHE SAVED YOUR LIFE

"No. I saved my life. And she's dead."

LYINGLITTLEKILLYOUKILLYOUKILLYOUKILLYOUKILLYOU

She felt the room start to come apart before she saw it – the sudden staccato snap of cracking stone behind her back, digging into her spine. Then watched those cracks run across the walls and roof and floor, hairline thin to start with, then widening until she saw light gleaming through them, and hints of movement.

The Red Place was still screaming, ranting obscenities and hatred at her. She smiled with bloodstained teeth.

"Just me," she whispered.

Then the Place came apart.

She breathed deep on real air, gasped with joy at the sensation. It was perfect for all of one second before a fist cracked against her skull and she saw only blackness.



---



She woke up in the dark, but a different kind this time. There was a staleness in her mouth, and the dull copper taste of old blood. This was real. She blinked, eyes crusted with sleep, and tried to focus. She was outside, if the cool breeze was any judge, and the air had that clean feeling it got after a long rainstorm. Something solid was at her back. She tried to turn her head. A stone. A big one.

And her wrists were chained.

She gave them an experimental tug, and quickly learned two things:

One- they were strong enough to hold her.

Two- Someone had pressed the tip of a blade against her jugular.

"Don't," said Priam.

Maria closed her eyes for a moment. Oh good. She had in fact escaped from bad, and landed in the comforting arms of worse.

"Alright," she said, and relaxed her arms until the chains jingled a little against the stone. The spearpoint didn't withdraw. "Can I turn my head?"

There was a silence. Then the spear withdrew a little, just enough for her to move. She slowly shifted until she could see him, and winced in guilt at what she saw.

Priam's face was a mask of bruises. More of them, paler and less pronounced, ran down his neck under his armour, and little dark spots on his wrists and hands showed the extent of their reach. That, in itself, was a bad sign; Cultivation burnt through that kind of damage like it was nothing. She must have hit him *badly* if he was still healing.

"I do that?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Priam said nothing, didn't move, but for a second the speartip pressed a little harder. That was probably a yes.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, lowering her eyes. "Didn't – I'm-"

"What in Tartarus' guts was that?" he asked. His voice had a guarded quality to it. No anger, but… something. Something she didn't recognise, and didn't like.

"I- It's… complicated."

"We're not going anywhere," he said.

Well, he had her there. She let out a tired snort and closed her eyes.

"There's this. Thing I do. Since I was a kid. If I get too angry, I go to the Red Place."

"The Red Place."

"'S what I call it. Don't really go anywhere, though. More like… like I go away, and someone else takes over. Hurts whoever I'm fighting. Kills them, if it can manage it."

Priam said nothing. She waited for a moment, to see if he'd change his mind, and when he didn't she went on. "Before I got to the clan, it helped. Got me through a lot of fights. Not so useful now, though. Getting angry like that, it-"

"Disrupts formations," he said. "Breaks discipline. That's why you're here, isn't it? Only explanation."

She had to stop herself bristling at that. "Don't know what you mean," she said eventually.

"You're what, 37?"

"Thereabouts."

"And Eighth Heavenstage. That's impressive. So why let a cultivator like that stay off the front lines? Because you can't use her. She could snap at any moment. That puts her at risk. That puts her unit at risk."

"Hey," Maria snarled. "I don't-"

"So it's never happened during a formation?" Priam asked. She fell silent, but he wasn't done. "Or during training? That was just a spar, and you lost it then. That can't be the first time."

She avoided his gaze. He leaned forward. "Answer me."

The speartip was cool and unpleasantly sharp. She felt her kin starting to give. "Not for years."

"Liar."

"No," she growled. "Truth. At the fortress, spent years learning to control it. Keep it locked down. Works, by and large."

"So why-"

"You're good. Too good. Haven't had a fight like that in a while. So you-"

"Then why are you here?"

She went to answer him, and realised she had nothing to say. There was no good reason for her to be in Three Frogs and not on the front lines, or at the very least back on the roads. And yet here she was, on the way to a meaningless city to teach recruits how to hold a spear.

Something like betrayal welled up inside her. She turned her face away.

There was a long moment of silence. Then the speartip withdrew. After a moment, she felt the chain shake a little, then go slack with the click of a lock opening. She glanced up, surprised. Priam didn't look back at her as he brushed by to work on her other wrist.

"Adonia's idea," he said gruffly, shaking the chains at her. "After she got her lucky shot in, I think she wanted to… assert her dominance." He snorted.

"You're letting me go?"

"You still a legionnaire?"

She nodded.

"Can't keep you bound up then. Obstruction of your duty. Get my head kicked in by the Centurion. Come on. Others are ready to get moving already. Just waiting on you."

And he started away from her. After a moment, she followed.

---

Three days, Letha marveled. Three days since the sparring match, and not once had Adonia ceased her ranting.

"She could have killed you," she snapped. Priam, settled on the far side of the camp fire, sharpening his spear, didn't respond. "Or at the very least, she could have injured you. Badly."

"She didn't," he answered, still not looking at her.

"Through sheer luck! What if she'd been fighting someone else? Alcander, say? Or Kyra?"

"She wasn't."

Adonia actually screamed in frustration. "You cannot actually be this stupid! She is a liability!"

"On the front lines, yes. These aren't the front lines."

"That is *not* reassuring! Imperator's shit-stained raiments, are you telling me you want to expose her to juniors? Say it happens again? How many do you think-"

"I think she got orders, like the rest of us, and she's here. I *think*, unless you want to start complaining to her captain or legate, that she's going to teach at Three Frogs like the rest of us."

It went on like that for a while. Letha turned her attention back to the stew in front of her. Rabbits, some vegetables, and a handful of herbs that Zeth produced from somewhere. It might not be the sort of food she'd grown up on at the Economos waycastle, but it was a lot better than patrol rations. She gave it an experimental stir, then started ladling it into bowls.

"Supper's ready," she said. Adonia stopped for a moment, shot Priam a venomous glare, and stalked over. The others formed up into a queue behind her. Letha counted them off in her head – Alcander, Zeth, Kyra, Priam…

No Maria, of course. She hadn't joined them at meals since – well. Since that. Letha would have worried, if she hadn't noticed the leftovers going missing each evening. Zeth had seen her foraging, too, which was something, at least.

But it wasn't enough. Not even nutritionally, either. Maria had been on the edge of things since they'd met. It wasn't entirely unusual – those raised outside the clan could find the culture-shift very disconcerting – but the degree of it was… excessive.

Adonia had started up her rant again. Letha watched Priam for a moment, his face still impassive as he spooned the soup into his mouth. He'd brought Maria back afterwards. That didn't suggest a grudge. But he hadn't done anything about her… withdrawing, either.

She should do it herself. That was the answer, obviously. Just pick up her bowl and bring it to her clanmate's tent. Easiest solution.

Just pick up the bowl.

That's all. Reach down, and pick it up, and put the stew in.



And don't think about Maria's voice raised into an awful, raw bellow of fury, her spear a savage blur as she moved through the air for Priam's throat.

Gods damn it.

Letha closed her eyes and reached for calm. That wasn't fair to Maria. Whatever had happened clearly hadn't been intentional.

But it didn't make that memory any easier to shake, either.

A polite cough drew her back to the present. Oyster gave her a crinkly half smile.

"Do you mind?"

He gestured to the stew.

"Oh. Yes, of course," said Letha, and doled out a portion for him. "I was under the impression Cursed Mushrooms didn't eat human food?"

"Most of us can't. My lineage is a little different. Lord Shiitake was experimenting."

"Ah."

"I can't help but notice an absence at dinner," he said, his voice casual but his back to Adonia. Letha winced.

"Yes. I, uh… I suspect she's-"

"Perhaps embarrassed?"

She nodded gratefully. "Yes. Embarrassed. Yes."

"Hard to come back from a… faux pas."

"That's a very good way to put it."

"Thank you. I was going to say 'oopsie' but I felt it lacked a certain gravitas." He took a bite of the stew, and smacked his lips with every sign of enjoyment. "But I must say, this truly is exceptional."

"Oh. Thank you."

"Yes. Perhaps I might trouble you for a second bowl?"

Letha's brow furrowed. That was definitely not how rations were given out. But then she saw him tilt his head slightly towards Maria's tent, and understanding dawned.

"Oh… yes. Yes, of course," she babbled, quickly (and surreptitiously) passing him another portion. "That- yes. Excellent."

He smiled again. "Thank you," said Letha, realising she meant it. " Very much."

He gave one of his odd rolling shrugs. "Surely, I should be thanking you."

And then he was gone, wandering away from the fire.

---

Maria opened her tent flap before Oyster could knock, or more accurately cough politely. She'd been listening. He raised an eyebrow (or brow ridge, she supposed), then slipped in after her. He was uncomfortably good at expressing himself like that. Maybe it was a Mushroom thing.

He passed her a bowl of stew. Smelt fantastic, she had to admit. Her stomach rumbled.

"Letha sends her compliments," said Oyster.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yes. Adonia less so, of course, but then that's not surprising."

She laughed, sharp and low. They were quiet for a long moment. He was spooning the stew into his mouth when she finally broke.

"Just- ask. Yeah? This – the silence, this is worse."

He swallowed another mouthful. Put the spoon down.

"It seems obvious enough," he said. "Anger. Yes? Lots of it. To the point that you – cease to be part of the decision making process."

"…Yeah."

"I would assume it's happened for a long time?"

"Since I was a kid."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"So what are you expecting me to ask?"

Maria sat back, at that. She realised there wasn't an answer. Oyster gave her another considering look. "You were good," he said eventually. "When you fought Priam."

"Yeah, well-"

"Better after you snapped." She glared at him, but he went on, ignoring her. "Much better, actually. You weren't fighting yourself so much."

"I was trying to kill him."

"Very effectively, yes."

"I- fucking-"

"Why aren't you trying to control it?"

This had to be a tactic, or something. Bombarding her with questions from angles that made no damn sense. "I am trying to-"

"No. You're trying to supress it. Stop it happening. And I really can't understand why."

"Because it's not how Golden Devils fight!" It came out as a shout. She caught herself, bared her teeth in frustrated anger, dragged her voice down. "No stoicism. No control. Disrupts the formation. Golden Devils is all *about* formation. Can't just pretend like- like-"

She couldn't find the words, and gave up looking, burying her face in her hands and groaning in frustrated fury. Oyster patted her sympathetically on her shoulder.

"Ah," he said. "But you are a Golden Devil. And you berserk."

And that, she supposed, was the core of the problem.
 
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Gaius Antonius Omake 10 - Multiversal Tall Tales
Gaius Antonius Omake #10: Multiversal Tall Tales

[X] Plan Perfected Body
-[X] Clan
-[X] Body Cultivation
-[X] Physician
-[X] Righteous
-[X] No shinies

---

Okay, let's do this right. My name is Bai Cao, I belong to the Sacred Blood Sect and I'm trying to find my brother. Twenty-five years ago he told me he'd be waiting for me "at the gates of time" and never came back, and I hate being kept in the dark. So let's just say I got a little bit obssessed. One thing led to another and here I am, on the path to immortality.

Some people tell me "Oh Bai Cao, you idiot, by the time you get good enough to find him he'll be dead." And to that I say phooey. Big bro's the most capable guy I ever knew, there's no way he's living out his days as a mortal. If anything I'm probably chasing his afterimage. Still, I'm nothing if not filial, so I'm gonna get the power I need to find him at the gates of time!

Besides, Sacred Bloods are pretty good guys once you get to know 'em. A bit fuddy duddy, but boy do their arts work. So now, day in and day out, I cultivate, I work out, I get sent all over the place to treat the sick and the wounded, and sometimes I get to kick ass. It's a simple, slow life, but I'm not in a rush. I am Bai Cao, The Seeker, and I will never, ever stop.


----

Bai Cao meditated on his Dao as he rowed his little rowboat through the Ten-Spear River, continuing to move southward. He wanted to just go in and kick ass, but Zi Hong, the Senior who sent him, was all like 'You dumbass, they'll stab you with swords and stuff.' He made a funny face as he mocked the older Cultivator. If that guy was so particular about how to get it done, why didn't he just do it himself? Besides, this situation had only happened because that jerk didn't guard the packages well enough, and now Bai Cao had to clean up his Senior's mess before the screw-up was discovered.

Ah, but here was the place! The beautiful seaside city of Great Veins, a city built at the intersection of multiple rivers and known for its great food, fine wine and beautiful art. Bai Cao rowed his tiny craft into a strange lane of water that ran alongside a street and noticed a small group of young people staring at his rippling, muscular torso. What was the big deal? It was very hot, rowing is hard work, of course he took his shirt off. So why were they looking at him like they wanted to eat him? A local taboo perhaps? Bai Cao waved hello to the locals, and one of them seemed about ready to faint. See? Heat stroke is dangerous, he was right to take his shirt off!

But before the Cultivator could get back to his search for a port, a chubby old man with a long, drooping mustache and expensive-looking robes came running up to him, flanked on either side by what seemed to be mortal soldiers.

"Stop, stop! That's enough, you've been congesting boat traffic through this channel all day!" The old man bellowed, red in the face from what seemed to be a long run chasing after him.

"Stop? But it's only this one lane. If I turned back I'd have to paddle for miles all the way upriver!" Bai Cao protested, confused by this very rude man(probably an official or something, right?) and his very silly demands.

"Well what am I supposed to do about it? I can't let you congest traffic." the official retorted. "Of course you can't just row your own boat in here, this is for public transportation."

"Well yeah. I'm a member of the public, and I'm using it for transportation. What's the problem?" Bai Cao inquired, cocking his head to one side.

"I mean that it's for people who offer boat rides for money." The man sighed, already looking exhausted.

Bai Cao screwed up his face in thought. "Okay, so... I do have money, I think? Uh, you guys take jade talents, right? So I'll just let someone ride for free, and I'll say that I got this money from them."

If anything the official looked more baffled than before, but decided to not push the issue, and stormed off in annoyance. Having overheard the conversation, a tall man with a well-groomed beard and fancy earrings stepped forward.

"Hello there, I heard you were offering free boat rides?" The man said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Haha, I suppose I am." Chuckled Bai Cao, beckoning the stranger onboard. The bandits he'd been tailing had definitely stopped in this town, he could afford to lose an hour if it meant not drawing attention. "Where to?"

"The Pewter District." The 'customer' ordered, and Bai Cao(after asking which way that even was) began rowing without a care in the world. It was a simple, enjoyable rhythm. Good for quiet contemplation, and building mental discipline. For nearly ten minutes, the two settled into a comfortable silence.

----

Indeed, it was around the ten minute mark that the little boat reached a long stretch with no people in sight. The man across from Bai Cao finally spoke up. "The city's beautiful, isn't it? A real gemstone of a place."

"It's gorgeous. I wouldn't mind taking a vacation here sometime." said Bai Cao, watching the sunlight dapple off the water. "But unfortunately, I'm here for work."

"Is that so?" the large man asked, leaning forward a bit. "And what kinda work is that?"

The Cultivator's eyes narrowed. "I'm starting to think you know."

"Oh do I?" Responded his passenger, gaze growing hard.

"Yes. I'm repossessing something. Something that was unlawfully taken."

"Really? How fascinating; I'm here to protect an important acquisition."

Bai Cao wasn't sure how much time passed after that. He continued rowing in silence as the two of them locked eyes, tension building to an unsustainable peak, waiting for something to set it off. A bead of sweat slowly rolled down his face, trembling on his chin before finally, slowly separating and falling. It hit his hand with a tiny, almost imperceptable splash.

There was flurry, a storm of motion, as both men flashed to their feet and the bandit - for clearly that was what he was - swung a wickedly curved dagger with impressive speed. Bai Cao dodged once, twice, three times, then threw himself down onto his back, kicking up into his opponent's wrist and knocking the dagger into the river. The bandit responded by attempting to stomp the doctor, who shrimped to the side and hooked the offending leg, sending its owner falling as well. Bai Cao attempted to get back to his feet, but the back-and-forth fighting was rocking the little boat something fierce, making him stumble and nearly fall off the edge.

The first exchange over and all measure of surprise lost, both men slowly, carefully rose to their feet, mindful of the unsteady ground on which they stood. Bai Cao threw a kick, his opponent a jab; both feints. The boat rocked again, dangerously, aborting another exchange before it could even begin.

Neither one wished to go on the attack with footing like this, especially when the distance would force them both to out-box. Taking advantage of the lull, the bandit reached for something behind his back, spurring the doctor into action. Stomping on the prow with superhuman force, Bai Cao turned the whole boat into a catapult, sending the bandit up into the air above him.

Reacting to his sudden airborne status as best he could, the bearded man finished drawing the saber sheathed at his back and slashed down at Bai Cao. Rather than contest him directly, He took the simple route and stomped on the back of the boat as it hit its peak, sending the prow slamming into the bandit's face. The pendulum motion began to reverse as his enemy was thrown backward, and so Bai Cao moved to the prow of the boat as it sank below the water and the back raised up.

The bandit landed on the back in a heap and reversed the seesaw motion even further, catapulting Bai Cao above his head and behind him. Before his thoroughly befuddled opponent could react, Bai Cao pinned the man's arms to his sides with his legs and constricted his neck with a rear naked choke, knocking the larger man out cold in seconds.

crack

Oh dear.

Bai Cao threw the unconscious man onto the street, followed immediately by his bag, then leapt off himself, before watching the boat he'd taken all the way to Great Veins fall to pieces and sink. That was going to be a problem.

"Ah well, I'll figure it out, probably." The doctor shrugged, attempting to regain his usual carefree attitude. Dragging his defeated opponent into an alleyway, the doctor dug around in the cluttered confines of his bag before retrieving a pair of black iron manacles with a fine, precise array carved into them. Theoretically these were meant for uncooperative patients, but really, they were a fantastic multi-purpose tool. It was time to get some information.

This one got longer than I expected so I decided to split it into two parts since I couldn't get the first and second halves to play nice with each other. Decided to go for more of an action-comedy feeling this time around. Sort of a Jackie Chan vibe, with a himbo protagonist and slapstick elements to the fights.

@ReaderOfFate got another one hot off the presses for you.
 
Zeno Angelus 8 - The Siege of Three Frog City 2

Man getting water sucks. Why is the well in the middle of the city. I have to, uff, carry that heavy bucket everywhere. Ugh. At least I am not living beyond the border. As mother always says: "Dear, some pure thoughts a day will keep the cannibals away." Nice saying mom, if it could only lower the volume coming out of your rooms at night.

Life in Three Frog City is certainly better than under the thumb of a Cannibal Lord, if grandmas stories are any indication. I mean, they killed people for cultivation, real people and that sucks major hare ass.

*Snort*.

Thankfully mother can´t read my thoughts or she would scold me for hours again, before randomly finding another aquaintance to bring home. Ugh. Her aquaintances stink of blood and guts. not even the kind father butchers and prepares for the market. So disgusting! Thankfully I won´t have to live in such stench for much longer, oh yes! I will-



*Splash*



"Oh no!" uff my arms. No, no, noo! So embarrasing! I threw water at noble. Maybe if I clean it up quickly. Ah there is my rag, hopefully it´s enough.



"What do you think you are doing?" that boy, no man demands. "I-I wanted to apolo-apologize."



This is bad! He has a spear and worse, he doesn´t wear the town insignia. He´s definitely one of those people mother warned me about!



"First, raise your head girl, here is your rag and kindly explain, please." Did he mean that or is it one of those games mother plays with her suppliers?

"Strange smell and Jittery as a hare. Maybe formality works?"​

"Eh-hem. I am Sub-Commander Phaidron. Who do I have the pleasure of talking to?" he underlines this pomp witha short bow I have seen the city officials do. Maybe if I play along he shows mercy.



"G-Greetings Sub-Commander Phaidron. I am the daughter of the local butcher Zhao of Three Frog City." I even did the bow correctly for once. Small victories!



"Good. Good. And why did you walk around a corner with two far too full water buckets on you?"



"This daughter only knows that our mother needed more water for chores at home." That eye. "You don´t believe me?!"



"I do and that´s why all of it is suspicious." I really wish I could massage the oncoming headache.



"Then why do you think I am a suspicious person. What, because of my smell?!" This is just ridiculous! There are butchers in every city!



"Well, yes." that flat tone. He is serious.



"Please follow me to Captain Fleetfeet and we will clear your smell right up.



Ugh, as you wish.



___



Why is this happening? Why am I being brought in for my smell of all things?! That´s so unfair! Thankfully that stiff, grumpy and no doubt wall-lady pecking guard doesn´t comment on my expression and just pushes me forwards.



For once devil stiffness is useful, if only to give me some time to think while we walk through the windswept alleys the Free Frog City. Every single wall in the outer districts look like chewed up bunny leftovers. "Why are the wall smeared in that way anyway?



"They are defensive arrays layered over every building, protecting all mortals from the predations from the Cannibal horde." Yeah right, soo safe.



"Really, then why do so many filthy slaves come in and get work as every normal, proper citizen? Why mother said they spread that were inflicting us with the shakes last fa-."

*Thunk* Ow. "Silence child! Such words are worth an investigation alone!"



"What? Who cares about the fil-?" As he raised the butt of his spear again I raise my hands in defeat.


"Ok. I get it. New people from Blood cultivator lands are not filthy." That seems to have placated the devils ire. Phew. "Why, tho?"

"All who respect our way of live are worthy of living in the domain of The Golden Devil Clan!" Such conviction. That stick must be further up his behind than I suspected.

Seemingly satisfied with his answer the guard, no, Sub-Commander Phaidron leads us out of the outer district up the hill, where all the fancy people with auth-, authuro-, uhm power live.

After we are past the huge bronzen gate, seperating us filthy and powerless from the shitty and powerful, our journey continues. Man, does he never tire? That hill was steep! I could roll down with a cart, that would be fun! Hmm. Oh, maybe I can even get payed for it by the cart maker? Oh, that sounds nice.

"We are here" Oh already? "But this is a shitty hovel with rusty doorhinges." That constipated look on his face! Priceless!

"Wipe that grin of you face!" That look is no longer constipated. Why is everything so heavy? And where is the shitty colour? I need to lay down. Yeah, maybe I won´t feel so small there.



"STOP!"



With that command alone the door is open the next moment and a lone figure wrapped in blue silk and an equally expensive looking sword at his hip appears before us. Are there feathers around his shoulders? No, no. I must be hallucinating. Not even the corrupt guards would wear feathers of all thing. They couldn´t boast about their manliness towards their drink-partners otherwise.

"Are you alright young lady?" yeah, no. Not accepting help from them, like mother taught me. "I think so, yes."

That seems to do the trick and that weird being stands up without touching me. Ugh, now I am sweaty and dirty, but I am alive and no longer suffocating on land. I can, no, I must work with this.

"Remain here, please." How can such politeness sound so, I don´t know, dangerous? Anyway Focus Mia. Moms lessons prepared you for interactions with cultivators, even the strangely caring ones, maybe.

"O-Of course milord!" There, formality observed. He´s finally not focusing on me.

"Phaidron, explain yourself. Why did I find you pressuring a young child in front of my office?" Wow, you´re finally getting it now! Yeah, karma!"
"I would like to know that aswell." Great, another ass approaches this gathering of asses.

Strangely no crowd of strangers forming in the fancy district. The guards and their wives must be working overtime on grifting the stalls in the street we passed then.

"This young child is a known troublemaker, but surely doesn´t deserve such a treatment." And he moves slightly in front of me. That condescension is more what I prepared for. Now just look meek and observe as they backstab each other or plot. Same difference, really.

I´d rather look at Lord Silk Pants. At least he tries to wear more than brown and grey, though Orange is a strange colour for accents. Lin's rants about textiles taught me that much.

Why is the ass smiling at me like he just did me a favor? Thankfully mothers life lessons included looking calm, even when I feel anything but calm. Seriously that smile is weird.

"Phaidron, what`s the reason of transport?" The human-on-a-stick, of course, quickly moves to answer the command of his master.

"Traces of human blood found on the suspect."

"I am afraid that is enough for us to at least consider investigation Commander Gaidaros." The potbellied man seems to take that particular statement in stride.


"Maybe she got cut while playing in the slums. It happens." Silk Pants nods understandingly.

"That is certainly a possibility, but I would reckon we can find more asking her where our young lady is more comfortable." At that statement, a blood red-haired Lady in Silk and leather steps unto he threshold and beckons us inside with a smile on her lips.

"Ah Lady Alexandria, what a pleasure to see you once more!" Yeah, try it potbelly-ass. Her and Silk Pants are clearly engaged. Anyone without a snake down their trousers could see them ravaging each other with only their eyes.



At least the Commnder acts accordingly and tries to flirt with the pretty lady. This allows everyone to take a seat on a surprisingly cushy chair in this small and cramped hovel. A pretty lady carefully cleaned me, I got some nice tea, and a place to rest my sore feet. How heavenly!



"While I, as the Captain, am flattered by your nice words for our platoon members. We also strive to back them up with actions." Wow corny, but he somehow makes it work. If I wasn´t so comfy, I am sure that would have fired me up. Go Silky!



"Of course Captain Fleetfeet. Enthusiasm for the cause is always appreciated, haha! That laugh sounds so stupid. You can do it Captain Fleetfeet. Show him! Heh, sounds nice.



"Alexandria, what are the test results?"

"The blood on her right ankle seems to be from an array the cannibals typically use to enthrall mortals for their own gain, Sir." That bow is professional, the ones in the market definitely can´t compete. Unsurprising, they are outsiders after all.

Wait. "I have what!?" Lady Alexandria arrests my movement before I can even begin to move my ankle.

"A blood array by a Cannibal Lord." How can someone be so calm about this?

"Why so alarmed? Don´t worry we would have done anything in our means to save you if it was dangerous!" That smile. So nice.

"Really?" With my question asked I feel a small tingle on my right ankle, As I raise my pants, the scraggly lines vanish before my eyes.

"See, nothing to worry about." With that said lady Alexandria helps me back into a comfortable position and gives me some glazed nuts in a bowl to munch on. Yummy!

"Where is it?" You can´t just make something not exist like that! "It´s in this bottle, dear" and on her hip can be seen a small see-through bottle half full of a dark liquid. Wow.

"Cultivators are awesome!" If that thing could just move so quickly from place to place. What could I do, should I-, no, once I learn that?!

"It truly is dear, but shush now, please. I am afraid this is important for all our safety." I simply nod and try to relax again.

"Moving on, can blood really be used for that? I mean, young lady, it´s just blood right?" That look the captain is giving her. Wow, Pot-ass must have hit a nerve.

"I am afraid not Commander." Capatin Fleetfeet answers with finality in his tone.

"Really, explain?" I am sure he tried, but man sounding commanding with that stature sure is a challenge.

"Of course, commander. Alexandria give us a quick rundown of the difference between typical blood and the ones cannibals use for this array." And the fat ones attention is right where it started, under her neckline.

Men, ugh. Mother was right.

"Typical blood used for arrays is treated with scorpion venom, which the array uses as a catalyst fort he enthralling effect on their victims and surroundings. Getting the consistency oft the treated blood right takes time and effort most cannibals will never bother. Intelligence from the Dawn Fortress indicates that only a few families bother with it."



"So that blood is special, captain. I can see how the running of the blood is strange as you said, but is it really that strange? We do have some lesser, not deadly ilk running around in the lower districts." That smirk of the old man sure looks satisfied.

"Normally her lack of a wound would a source of joy for all involved, true, but we received concerning news, as you surely recall, about the many missing pods of their more deadly variant in the area." The belly-ass recalls many things captain. The beads of sweat indicate that this small detail escaped him.

"Of course, Captain. That is most perceptive by your platoon. I had hoped someone would find some small hint about this mystery." Liar, liar pants on fire!

"Thank you for your gracious understanding milord. Would that interest of ours allow us to investigate the family responsible for this young ladies possible enthrallment?" Wow, Captain, you are laying it on thick there. Heh, that won´t happen. Mom controls his stinger. Nice try, though.

"No, I can´t allow that!" And he shot up like a firework. Mom will love the report later.



"Are you sure? Respectfully, we don´t know where the blood array net begins or where it ends, Sir." Oh, Captain can assert himself, nice! Too bad, mother can´t let him succeed.

"Hmpf, My family lived here long before the devils arrived here young one. They wouldn´t bother with such a useless mortal family." The Commander finally rises. That seems to have given him energy.



"Surely the missing scorpions should be investigated, Sir? They are missing as you said earlier, after all." Using his own admittance against him, smart.


"O-of course. Keep up the vigilance good captain! Divination won´t run as smoothly without your experience I am sure!"



"Ah thank you. That praise is more than I deserve." So he can blush, cute.



"And you girl follow, I will deal wih you personally." Ugh, ok. Wha-.



"Stop dragging me I can walk!" The nerve!



"Be thankful little girl you would be dead for this impudence just over the border!" That look, scary. Nothing on the stick-in-the-mud, though. Puts this parasite into perspective.

"Ah, thank you for advising us so promptly on this important matter, Sir." Even the Captain giving a bow at the end. Belly-ass really doesn´t deserve it. Mom will wring him tonight, heh.



"Of course, at ease." With that said, that mountain of a man walks.



And I am dragged out of the comfortable home. Man the walk down is going to be annoying!
_______________________________________________________

"So what do you think de-?"



*Thunk*



"THIS IS ABSOLUTE BLOODRIDDENGARBAGE!" If anyone asks, my desk always looked parted. Nothing some weaving and an array won´t be able to fix. But, oh, so satisfying.



"We are on the border to Cannibal territory." Thankfully the room is big enough for some aimless wandering. Only just, but enough.



"And, importantly, the blood cannibals want us D.E.A.D, Dead! Of course they would try to subvert our own!" Why does that damnable, fat and most importantly rotten Commander not see the danger?



"I know." Oh do you now. How nice.



"Shit, we could be doing the same if our new spymaster wasn´t such an obvious beginner at anything that even resembles subtlety. No wonder Old God had to use his valuable time to do clean up duty!"



"I know, dear. He simply has different priorities." Her hands on my arms feel nice. I should not shout at her.



"Then, then what can even be done without approval of higher authority?" Ugh, I wouldn´t have that goal conflict back at the dawn fortress.



"Simple, we prepare the stage for his inevitable doom." That sounds incredibly cliché.



"Oh wipe that look off your face." Now she can see my facial expressions behind my back, great.



"Knowing you, you already thought of the people you need to screen for outside influence and who to order around once it´s time."



"Are you buffing your nails while you hug me?" Seriously, the woman in my family. They act like getting peak sexiness is some side mission they desperately need to archieve.



"Yes, It takes time and effort to look this good, you know!" Again? "Yes, yes we went over this many times already, I know."



"Stop buffing your nails, you already look great." Why iss he smirking now?



"And what if I wanted some more wood in front for a more polished figure, dear?" Oh no, father warned me about such a question. Abort conflict!



"T-that would be great. I am sure you would look lovely, but well how?" Man, she already feels nice, I don´t see why she wants more, but if it satisfies her it can only help her way.



"Well, your mum was really helpful once I mentioned some ideas for a potentialy spicy topic we are invested in."



"Your Icebreaker?" What else would it be with my mother? "Of course!" Yeah, that´s her. Never change in that regard, never change.



"Conditions?" That kind of change can´t be cheap. I wonder when Phaidron comes back to report?


"Foundation Building, and the necessary herb for the ritual is only produced by one family living in the Xin Kingdom." So difficult is an understatement then. Fair enough.

Phaidron will just knock once it´s appropriate



"I will see what I can do." Obtaining it can only become easier with time.



"You´re the best!" Heh, always good to hear. Man she has some lungs.



Wait!



"Why did nobody barge in?"



"Silence array once the door is closed." What a simple answer, but where-?



"Your father was nice enough to gift it to me!" Figures, if it´s not mother, it´s father.



"Oh" What now?



"How about some mushroom soup, I am famished!"



"Sure, but I am cooking, while you notify the troops to let me know once the wildcard we need arrives!"



"Right-O, Boss! Our trumpcard will be there before you know it, I promise!" and back to cheeky optimism. once she is excited for something.


"Sure, now get going, the guard shift is in an hour." And she is out the door.



Now, where did I put my paintbrush and where is the list of the guard shift in this mess. Wait. I have Phaidron. Better, "I have minions!" Good, the door is open.



"Phaidron, get in here at once!" nothing like people following a command and not obstrctin survival of the clan to raise my spirits.



Shortly after he bows as the rules of formality demands he gets to the point. "What can I do for you, Captain?" Hmm, what to do first? "First, find me the list we talked about yesterday, then gather the troops in the courtyard. Make sure everyone brings some vegetables. Lastly you will repair the desk, understood?"



"Yes, Captain!" Good.



"Dismissed, Soldier." Yes, that should be a good way to bring others into my dance. Now, How do I make my enemies trip up? Well, nobody told me I can´t consider that while cooking.
_________
Words: ca. 3000 words

@Mochinator , @Humbaba another Omake for the Omake throne.

Note: If I did my job right, you should be able to guess who the true perpetrator is.

Edit note: Should you find any more "wrong" quotations, don´t worry their natural in any german text and don´t bite. just notify me and I will change them so you can recognize for what they, a valuable part of any text! :D
 
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Wow, the Zalgo text is completely messing up the page. As in, the actual page is going weird. Lines of texts are appearing where they shouldn't be, and it's just generally fucked and the best/only way to deal with it is to refresh the page multiple times and hope that that fixes it.

@BadAtScreenNames your post is making the other posts under yours unreadable. Can you please remove all the Zalgo text? It's literally wrecking the other posts under yours! Just... use red bold text or something please.
 
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