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

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

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

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

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

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

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Alectai]

Rina Callista
The Measure of the Day
​

Rina had thought she would be entering the Clan's fortress for the sake of mastering the path of Arrays, or archiving, or something that could be expected from a smart little girl without much in the way of martial training. It was the expected path--humble, but safe and well suited to her abilities.

She was finding out here, face-first in the sand--that life wasn't nearly that fair, and what you thought were your best abilities aren't necessarily what your instructors think is the best.

"Time!" The voice called out, and Rina mewled her acknowledgement as she pulled her face from the particulates of the training pit, her opposite number looking at her sympathetically--but most certainly not regretful at the pasting he had dished out. He at least had the decency to help her up as she adjusted her glasses.

New ones too--her old set kind of burst into splinters in the first full contact sparring match when she ate a training staff to the face, and after a very uncomfortable week squinting, tripping over every little obstacle, and plenty of headaches from having to read things by shoving them up into her face, she was finally able to save up enough Contribution Points to purchase a new set! Self repairing! Capable of resisting incoming attacks! Designed to remain situated exactly where they needed to be even under fire!

Of course, they didn't really provide any advantages so much as corrected a modest flaw in a way that wouldn't fly to pieces at the slightest provocation--but it was good to be able to see again.

Not that it entirely salvaged her lifestyle of course. For all that her 'Natural Traits' made her a shoe-in for the Vanguard, most of those who also qualified to be the 'Face' of the Clan in the regular challenges and duels that helped limit conflict had been prepared for that role from an early age. Raised with spear in hand and taught to hunt beasts of growing malice and might! Taught military tactics and special martial arts to pave a rock solid foundation that Essence turned into an inassailable fortress!

Not, you know, a girl barely touching five feet in height who could--at best--flail a sword at someone if all else failed.

"You have much to make up for, if you will succeed on this path." One of her instructors said in those early days. "Your cultivation speed, and the strength of your blood offer much promise--but your skills will ever be a shackle should you allow them to be."

And so she got to learn the best and most efficient way possible--joining the drills, and then getting pummeled by more experienced aspirants as she tried to figure out what worked. Six hours of sparring a day, three hours of formation drill, four hours of academics, three hours of Cultivation, and four hours of sleep--with meals and chores filling the remaining four hours into a long and seemingly endless haze of trial after trial after work after work.

Looking herself in the mirror at the end of the day, she sighed--she didn't even have the luxury of looking all sculpted like a lot of the other young men and women in the Vanguard program did--she was getting stronger of course--but she didn't pack on muscle despite all of her best efforts. The doctors apparently said it was something about her blood concentration reacting to exercise by increasing its penetration into her muscles instead of building more of it--the rare 'Radiant Muscles' stage that all who bore the Blood of Bronze dreamed for but few ever touched.

Ah, the Bronze--the trademark of the Golden Devils and the greatest contributor to their durability. Most bore the 'Bronze Touch', hair gaining a metallic shade and shining in the light. More elite members also bore the "Copper Skin" which had the concentration of their blood effect the surface of their skin--hardening it against the elements and blades alike and granting greater surety of arm and confidence to survive.

Even less common was the 'Gilded Bones', when the Bronze reached into the bones and coated them, granting them resistance to being broken and empowering the marrow. The regenerative properties expanded accordingly, as it is said that those with Gilded Bones could fight for seven days and seven nights without tiring. Any who bore the Bronze to that degree was always seconded to the Vanguard--and it mostly only appeared in the descendants of previous great experts.

But here she was, with the 'Once per Generation' Shining Muscle, where the cords and levers of the human body drunk in the power of Essence, turning from mere flesh and blood into unrivaled physical power. It is said that one with the Shining Muscle could tear a palace from its foundations and strangle immortal beasts with their bare hands. Throwbacks to the ancient times of myth, when the Golden Devils were at their height.

Nobody with the Shining Muscle had the right to refuse training, and for all that she wasn't ready for this business, that didn't mean she was going to do anything less than her Best either.

It wasn't as though she was a hopeless case either--she reached for the slip of white stone that was provided during one of the Grand Elder's lectures--a single word inscribed upon it.

"ADVANCE"

It took her a while to figure out what it was getting at--as it just a statement not to give up? She thought that might have been it at first--but that didn't quite ring true, it was the obvious answer that anyone could have given her--not a piece of profound wisdom by the greatest expert of the Clan.

She mulled the word over through the next weeks, being toppled again and again in sparring practice. Always and forever did she lose--and was that not to be expected? Even as she steadily learned the art of combat, so too were those who joined her in practice. They had a head start to begin with, and would not simply stop training so she could catch up.

Movement was... Relative she thought--the important thing was not your actual position, but that you continue moving forward on your own path.

That felt right--it wasn't about being the strongest today, it wasn't about gauging her performance with others--because everyone started in different places and were all going in different directions. What was important was that she advance, that she build up her skills and strengthen her momentum.

Because if everyone was in a different starting place, and everyone was going in a different direction--it meant others would intersect with her own path. She couldn't simply change course then, could she?

Just move on, steadily forward. She could win as long as she stuck to that mindset.

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

The next day proceeded much as those before her--wake up, get breakfast, and spend the next hour or so running errands for Contribution Points. The sparring pits were the next--and as she had expected, it was a long and drawn out drubbing.

But something felt different about it this morning. She spent just as much time face down as she always did, but perhaps she found herself getting up a little bit faster than before--back and ready for another round despite her ears ringing and her forehead throbbing from the 'Killing' blows that laid her low. Perhaps she spent more time experimenting, and trying out something new for advantage--and these experiments often resulted in failure, as one would expect.

But Rina never stopped that day, never spent time trying to sneak a moment's rest in between the beatings. Her heart pounded, her throat went dry, and her head hurt more and more.

She scored her first victory that day--accepting a ringing blow to her wrist in order to step into her larger opponent's guard and drive her stave into their navel--a crippling blow in exchange for a merely wounding one.

And for the first time, Rina thought that she might have a knack for this.

 

[TehChron]

Aretaphila Myia
The Pitch​

Two slips of jade.

Both equally weighty, in their own ways. Equally weighty for her Way.

In one hand was the first slip generated by an ancient Technique Scroll, mysteriously waiting at the foot of Aretaphila's cot, deposited by means or person unknown while the young girl had been busy with her first morning drills since becoming an Aspirant. The rolled up sheet of of bronze had been blank at first look, but Aretaphila had heard enough stories to know that this was probably a puzzle of some kind. A Fortuitous Encounter that would help her get started on her own path to finding her place in the world.

---​

The days in the first month passed quickly. Awakening at Dawn to begin cultivating their Physiques, preparing their Qi circulation to survive the advent of the Golden Demon Clan's inheritance. The sole exception had been those judged to be likely to awaken the Clan's bloodline upon reaching the first or second Heavenstage, and had been sequestered into a smaller, more accelerated group that would better prepare them to take advantage of their superior talent.

And then there were the weirdos, those who had already awoken to their Physique. The Drillmasters had assured her and the little waif that even though it was uncommon, the Clan's history was long enough that a curriculum had long been in place to drill them in adapting to their changed bodies. Aretaphila had watched the paragon get carted off - quite literally - while she had been brought to a different instructor entirely; the aged Centurion that had overseen the Reception Determining Ritual for her Contubernium. Whom she had been considerably surprised to discover was the active Legionnaire of his rank to possess experience with training those who possessed the Clear Summer's Bell Constitution.

"Aspirant." The patina-covered cultivator said by way of greeting, "You're quite fortunate to receive the personal attention of a Foundation Establishment cultivator to guide you so early in your journey."

A sensation of old resentment rings out from deep within Aretaphila's breast, quickly smothered by the memory that, unlike anyone else, the older man's expectations were of her, rather than the Myia. The feeling settled, and the girl ponderously steps towards the Centurion. Where once her steps had been light and sure upon the ground, reinforced by the strength borne of long practice and constant use, Aretaphila now felt the heavy weight of her limbs to be an alien thing. If she had been any less rambunctious, she may have wound up like that silly little waif, needing to be carted from place to place until she could circulate enough Qi to reinforce herself properly.

None of that shows on her face, however, as Aretaphila turns a confident smirk to her apparent trainer, hand lifted in salute.

"You have trained well as a mortal," The Centurion says in response, his expression unchanging, "And created a physical foundation that can survive the transition to your own awakened state." He takes a single, large step forward and for the first time the younger girl truly feels the weight bound within that single limb, the act of planting their foot causing a reverberation that travels and resonates along her body, "But those were a mortals movements. A mortal's skills. A mortal's steps." The second leg lifts up, swinging forward to set itself down at shoulder width apart from it's twin, and a second echo of the older cultivator's weight ripples through the packed earth of the exercise ground and into the Myia girls very core.

There is a third impact, as a weighted bronze staff slams into the dirt, kicking up dust.

"It is time for you to unlearn the wrong lessons you have learned. Much like the instincts of crawling from your time as a babe were of little use as you came to stand on two feet, so too are your experiences as a mortal worse than useless as an awakened member of the Golden Devil Clan." The Centurion's wrists flick with a slight grinding sound, and the bronze stave blurs.

Aretaphila attempts to get out of the way, but her weighted limbs do not obey their old instincts. As the weighted end of the weapon approaches her skull, two bronze limbs cross in an attempt to ward off the strike.

A loud bong sound echoes through the training area, and for the first time in a long, long time the Myia girl is tossed through the air, dropping back to the earth with a massive impact against packed dirt and gravel.

"It is possible for those of our lineage to evade the strikes of our foes," The Centurion calls out as his charge coughs and wheezes, "But that is a feat born of mastery in the subtler arts. Even the swiftest among us shall only ever be of average speed compared to a peer in Cultivation, and thus I ask you Aspirant; how do you escape that which you can not outrun?"

Aretaphila spits out dust and grime, mixed with the taste of copper, "How should I know? How are you supposed to be faster when you're always slower?!"

The Centurion nods, "Then this lesson shall continue until it's meaning is successfully imparted to you, Aspirant. Prepare yourself." With weighty steps that shook the very dirt, the older Cultivator marched towards his charge at a steady, implacable speed. Each time he would close the distance, the bronze staff swung through the air, the whistle of it's passing launching the Myia girl through the air to crater the earth at the opposite end of training field.

And then the cycle would begin again. An unending thump thump thump clang thump thump thump clang that continued endlessly as the sun slowly crept through the morning sky. At first Aretaphila had attempt to flee again, taking advantage of the distance to drag her heavy limbs through the dirt. But with just the muscles she had trained over the course of her mortal life, she was unable to truly bear the weight of her heritage. Eventually, she ceased attempting to flee.

As the sun climbed ever higher, the Myia girl abandoned mobility, seeking defense time and time again. The pain was lessened, but as Aretaphila only had her forearms to block, and little fighting experience, all this managed was for her instructors strikes to dent and bend her limbs with the impact of his repeated strikes. Until the sun reached it's zenith, and the young girl noticed the reflection of the sun's rays on her metallic skin. The next few clashes she experiments, attempting to get the angle right, the trick correct, even as the sun continues it's journey. It is early afternoon when Aretaphila feels confident enough to ply her trick on the Centurion, the white beam of light flashing straight into his eyes. Green Patina-embossed eyelids shut instantly, the bronze pole catching the beam of sunlight and casting it back at his charge. Aretaphila winces, looking away before she can be blinded, and in that moment of distraction is sent sailing through the air once again.

"A clever idea Aspirant," The Centurion calls out as the dust cloud clears away, "Normally it takes a few days for someone to attempt to use their lineage in such a way, but you are still fundamentally missing the point." The younger girl glares at him silently, "You are considering the traits of your new body, and this is good, but you are still thinking of it as a tool to be used, not an intrinsic part of yourself." The elder cultivator steps forward, closing the distance between himself and Aretaphila more quickly than she can even react, a green-colored finger poking into her chest, "This is not a weapon," The bronze stave taps her on the head, "This is."

There is a moment of silence as the shorter girl stares at the far taller soldier, before the Centurion nods, "That will conclude our training for the day, Aspirant. You have done well for your first day, but be ready; your training on the morrow will push you far, far harder than the gentle taps you've experienced thus far."

"Yes..." Aretaphila begins, before wincing from the dents and forming bruises on her metallic flesh, "Sir."

The Centurion remains still, waiting silently as the moments pass. With a growl of frustration, the exhausted Myia raises her warped arm up in a salute.

"Dismissed."

---​

The training does not become any easier. True to his word, as the days pass into weeks, the Centurion's strikes become harder. Faster. Sharper. Each day Aretaphila awakens, drags herself out to the training yard, and spends most of the day being tossed through the air to the long familiar beat of thump thump thump clang thump thump thump clang. Endlessly repeating, her teacher maddeningly silent save for the sounds of his limbs and weapons impacting against the earth and against herself.

Each day she feels her body become lighter. Movement becomes easier. And every time progress is made, Aretaphila hopes that this is the day that her growth will let her close the gap between her own speed and that of the Centurion teaching her. But no. Maddeningly, the older cultivator matches her progress perfectly, and as the weeks close in on the Grand Elder's first lecture she finds herself wanting to break the silence and scream her frustration into the open air.

Even as the gap between the Aspirants movements and those of the Centurion remain constant, Aretaphila eventually gives up on the concept of running. As Aretaphila remains unerringly light as a feather before the older cultivators strength, she tosses aside the idea of blocking. The only way to avoid getting thrown through the air is to not get hit. Yet she can not flee.

But she can still move. Her body is heavy, but her instincts remain. It still moves the same way, simply heavier is all.

It is on the 24th day that Aretaphila Myia realizes she can track her teacher's movements. She always could have, the flexing of muscles and positioning of the bronze stave as obvious as can be. Finally used to her new body, the young girl puts this knowledge into practice, and as the Foundation Establishment Cultivator goes once more into that same, unerringly sharp and precise swing Aretaphila this time sets her legs apart.

And then she dodges, shifting her upper body so that the stave swings besides her rather than into her body.

There is a screeching sound, like a sharp cry.

But the only thing to go flying is bright red blood, flowing freely from a gouge torn by the wind pressure of the staves passage.

The Centurion's praise afterwards filled Aretaphila with a strange and warm pride, and as she returned to her cot to meditate on the lessons she had learned, a droplet of blood fell upon the aged bronze scroll she kept upon her person at all times. When the Myia girl awakened from her meditation, a slip of Jade awaited. Two techniques inscribed within:

The Clear Note. A single, beautiful Demonic Note that fortified the Dao-Heart of one's allies, purging them of malign influences and dispelling base fear.

The Brown Note. A high pitched, inhuman Demonic Note that resonated with the impurity found in all living creatures, setting it to rattle within the flesh of those it targeted and forcing the body to try and purge the materials as a physiological response.

With a feeling of satisfaction, Aretaphila found herself looking forward to the Grand Elder's lecture. Her journey was already looking bright!

 

[NotteBoy97]

Good Seed Submission.

Fierce Fang​

The one who would later be known as Fierce Fang was born in an ordinary mortal village the kind of which could be found anywhere. Similarly so too was Fang's family being mere peasants of no real skill or linage. But the one who would be called Fang was never an ordinary child despite this humble origin.

For Fierce Fang's birth in this world wasn't his first like it is almost all others. Fang was born with the memories of another life the so called rebirth of the soul that is often the subject of stories. Though calling it memories might be an exaggeration for it was more a series of impressions than something he could consciously recall. So Fang learned no hidden techniques, secret recipes for god like medicine, or supreme and unrivaled techniques of cultivation. What he gained is something harder to put into words.

You could call it experience for the man who Fierce Fang was had lived a violent life filled with near death experiences and battle. You could call it determination as his previous life had to suffer pain and cruelties and had overcome them with an iron will and determination. You could even call it desire as the man had both suffered great injustices and unfairness but also had times of peace and happiness all the more important for how fleeting they were and a desire to have more of the latter moments and less of the former.

All together these impressions would give Fierce Fang a fierce daoheart that would give him his name. For Fang due to his previous life he would remain undaunted and unafraid even when facing seemingly certain death pulling through by calmly and accurately reading the flow of battle. This is important to note since tempering one's daoheart is a major part of a combat cultivators training cause those with a weak daoheart would find it difficult to use even a third of their normal power in an actual life or death battle.

Talent wise Fang is rather average as good seeds go as such a standard even has an average. His specialty in cultivation lies in the body since even as a mortal Fierce Fang had a strong body that healed faster than normal. This combined with his determination means that Fang can fight even when his limbs are broken if at reduced effectiveness obviously.

As for how Fierce Fang got noticed by the Golden Devil Clan one must first review his childhood. As a kid was a normal, if very mature, child like any other in his village. One unlikely to ever leave his place of birth much less become a cultivator even with his past memories. But this all changed due to the 100 years trial.

For such an event was noticeable even to mortals far away from where the main fighting was taking place. It would be here that a generation of cultivators would be inspired and traumatized by visions of talents of all levels from the lowest Qi Condesor to even those at the peak of the land. How could any youth not long to have such powers one day? But what really changed Fang's fate was random chance as a stray attack from one of the foreign cultivators reached the village instantly killing half of small town and leaving the rest gravely wounded. Such a casual display of power from a mere miss would forever be a part of Fang's dreams.

That his life could easily be snuffed out without an enemy even realizing that his entire village ever existed was a wake up call that he sorely needed. For previously he was content to just live his life peacefully never picking an actual fight or practicing the long arduous task of cultivating. But now Fang realized that if he wanted to live a good life without having it suddenly being taken out of nowhere he needed power since he couldn't trust luck to be on his side again for it is an ever fickle companion.

And so Fang left the ruins of his village and begun the harsh journey of a cultivator. It was difficult especially at first for even with his past memories he didn't know how to even begin the process of cultivating even with his talent for it. Eventually by hunting enough beasts of both the mortal and lowest cultivation stage by being an even more ferocious beast thereby earning the name Fierce Fang he manged to earn enough to buy the barest instructions of how to cultivate which Fang would take to like a dune fish to sand. This talent was eventually noticed by the Golden Devils Clan who gave him a generous recruitment offer.

It was a very tempting offer especially for an outsider for despite being the enemy of Heaven and a shade of their former glory the clan was still very powerful and could offer a tried and true path to the top of the realm if one had the effort, talent, and proven them self to the Clan. But while Fang definitely had the first two requirements met in spades it was the last one that he had issues with. For the Golden Devils were a strict clan that required every member to follow orders and train to be in a formation. Neither of which sit really well with Fang since he was naturally a free spirit who likes doing what he likes and dislikes being forced to do things. So even though joining the clan could help make Fang more powerful he declined the offer.

This is not say Fierce Fang completely rejected the Golden Devil's clan for while they would not welcome Wandering Cultivators in as equals to clan members like some powers do they could recognize their use and so could welcome friendly Wandering Cultivators as guests. This would mean that the deepest secrets and resources of the clan would be forever out of Fang's reach but he could still do jobs and missions to earn some benefits that would help his cultivation. It also helps that the world the Golden Devils wish to create is one Fang would like to live in.

Character Concept and Cheat: A reincarnation with no super secret techniques or whatever. What he does have is is impressions of death and battles enough to give him the ability to be keep calm and plan for victory even when fighting opponents more powerful then him. Inspired about Long Chen's Daoheart in Nine Star Hegemony as I really like how just being prepared for death let's him beat opponents who could kill him in one hit.

A/N: Man this took a while to right up since I felt I kept having to add more and more. Hopefully this isn't too much out there. Anyways @occipitallobe here's my good seed

Goals:
Short Term Goal: Get some Lifespan increasing treasures.

Mid Term Goal: Get enough Tribulation treasures to advance to Foundation Pillars.

Long Term Goal: Gain enough power in order to not feel helpless again so he can then focus on enjoying life. This would be Great Circle Core Formation level with some treasures to help him survive the rare encounter with a Nascent Soul.

List of Treasures and Techniques:
Deep Sea Starfish Body (2 Impact)- a Body Cultivation art the focuses on healing and endurance. Let's Fierce Fang punch 1 heavenstage harder as well as heal injuries mid battle. Worth 2 impact

Starfish Regrowth Death Denial (LST)- A Life Saving treasure that will allow the user to revive if killed provided that there is at least a limb semi intact to regrow from and the attack wasn't esoteric or targeting the users soul.

Ghost-Banishing Mirage Salt (1 Impact)- A powerful salt that can banish spirits. Worth 1 impact

Flying Fish movement technique (1 Impact) -" As a creature of the sea, he can leap into the air and escape". Did not integrate technique properly despite using a Technique-to-Flesh-Fusing Pill. This failure crippled Fang making him much weaker and require constant water to survive. Worth 1 impact

Blue Dragon Reverse Scale (LST) Can be used to summon a ghostly dragon once to save his life from certain death.

2 Lifespan Extending Treasures (+ 80 Years total)
Completed Omakes:
Turn 2 The Hunt- Fierce Fang hunts a Coyote as a mortal. Asked for a body cultivation art that focuses on healing and endurance.

Turn 3 Deep Sea Starfish Body- Fierce Fang find and unlocks a box that gets him a body cultivation art and life saving treasure. Requested a life saving treasure for reward.

Turn 3 Cultivating the Breath of the Heavens- Fierce Fangs cultivation art and some thoughts about cultivation in general. Also smokes a cigarette

Turn 4 The Birth of Fierce Fang- Details Fierce Fang as a mortal child who experienced the barest glimpse of the 100 year trial's battle and nearly died due to it. Resolved to gain power in order to never feel so helpless ever again. Asked for a Movement Art focused on running away and a secondary focus on dodging. Also said would be entering the Sand Whirlpool Tower Secret realm for a fun experience.

Turn 5 Mirage Salt Lake- Describes Fang's fateful encounter on turn 3 about running away from a ghost, entering the Mirage Salt Lake, meeting the Mysterious Sage inside, getting the Ghost-Banishing Mirage Salt, and finally getting rid of the ghost. Requested getting a treasure to fix Fang's crippled fishman transformation.

Turn 5 Dragon Remnant Golden River- Fang goes to the legendary Dragon Remnant Golden River to get valuable materials to afford a treasure to fix his crippled transformation. Gets chased by an eel and climbs a waterfall which helps fix his transformation. Might get ruled noncanon

Turn 5 Dragon Fear- Fierce Fang experiences the last moments of the dragon who created the Golden River he had just traveled and the infamous Demonic Soup Chef. During this dream when the Demonic Soup Chef has overpowered the dragon by breaking its will and it can only cower Fang somehow breaks the dream by using his Daoheart to make an attack on the Chef. After this Fang wakes up in a mental realm where the remaining Fear of the Dragon lived forever cowering in a palace. After explaining how he just couldn't understand why people would cower before death instead of fighting the Dragon seemingly enlightened leaves the mental realm destroying it leaving Fang back in the River which he now knows is urine.

Turn 6 Blood Covered Demon- Fang gets into a fight with a youth from the 5th Sea. Fang proceeds to terrify the youth into fleeing much to Fang's displeasure . Requested a Life Saving Treasure for omake bonus.

Turn 7 Soup for the Soul -Fierce Fang hunts some ghosts got ingredients for a special Soul empowering soup. Requested a Lifespan Trasure

Turn 9 White Rooster of Purity -Fierce Fang finds a White Rooster of Purity for use in a special soup to ascend to the 12th Heavenstage. Requested a Lifespan Treasure.

 

[Mochinator]

Short Omake. Just thought that it's interesting that the Grand Elder is essentially offering his personal guidance/insights to the Juniors.

Xiao Yi [Guidance]

Panting from exhaustion, Xiao Yi attempted to catch his breath and focus his senses on the slight presence the Grand Elder had being leaking out since the Lecture begun. Wishing that he was allowed to bring Qing Yun with him, Xiao Yi couldn't help but curse under his breath as he realized just how dependent he had become of always having Qing Yun by his side.

Hearing what seemed to be faint shouts and cries in the distance, Xiao Yi let out a sigh of relief at the fact that the Grand Elder seemed to be far from his current location. Closing his eyes and reaching deep within himself, Xiao Yi brought back his memory of being hunted, of the need to keep utterly silent to prevent the bandits from finding and killing him.

As he opened his eyes, Xiao Yi couldn't help but let out a sharp cry of surprise as the sight of the Grand Elder's bronzed index finger jabbed at him. Falling over from the shock, he rolled to his feet as quickly as he could only to find an empty clearing before him, with a Jade Slip sitting at where the Grand Elder should have been.

Picking up the slip and slipping his Qi within, Xiao Yi couldn't help but be astounded by the single word that appeared in his head:

戰 ( zhàn )

Fight. With 單, to surround, to be individual and 戈, the Halberd. Of the choice of this word for Fight and it's Origin, that of working as a group to become ONE to Strike with the Strength of Harmony.

Dropping to his knees, Xiao Yi kowtow in awe at the Grand Elder's Wisdom and Knowledge, remaining in the position until the calls for Disciples to return started to echo in the forest.

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

Well. I finally managed to put my grade school knowledge of Chinese to good use with help from Google lol. A Singular Chinese Character can contain a multitude of meanings since it originated from pictograms. I'm 100% sure that my interpretation of 戰 is wrong, but my faint memories + google agreed that what could have been inferred was perfect.

Basically, i'm trying to convey that what Xiao Yi took away from the word was that he had to overcome the idea of cultivating alone or just with Qing Yun. That the best way to fight is as a group working together and that he needed to stop differentiating between the Golden Devils and His Old Clan and instead just see himself as

Xiao Yi, Junior Cultivator of the Golden Devils.

Of course, he got a hint on how to advance as well. Which was to see himself and Qing Yun as one, hence motivating Xiao Yi and Qing Yun to start working their Formation Experiments from the perspective of One Individual instead of two Individuals having to resonate their Qi to get something to happen.

Bonus if this Omake Counts: Personal Formations for Qing Yun and Xiao Yi

Hoplon Formation: A Hoplite Formation branchoff where the User and his Pact Beast channel their Qi to make themselves like the SHIELD OF THE HOPLITE increasing the defenses of Armor worn by the User And the Scales of the Pact Beast

Dory Formation: A Hoplite Formation branchoff where the User and his Pact Beast channel their Qi to make themselves like the SPEAR OF THE HOPLITE increasing the attack power of the Weapon wielded by the User and the Claws of the Pact Beast.

TLDR incase the fluff for the above formation is too unclear. 1 to make them tankier together and 1 to make them hit harder together.

@occipitallobe

 

[ninjastar]

Oof.

Painful blow, but not a critical one unfortunately. We win some, we lose some, and this is the nature of the world we rail against.

The surprising thing, of course, is that Corpse Gulper did not get fucking eaten by the other elder, which is telling in its own right, as it suggests an unusual degree of internal cohesion for what looks like a bunch of frothing savages. In every other incident they've apparently shown a self-destructive degree of "Hammering the Defect button in a Prisoner's dilemma", but when offered a peak level prize and an opportunity to gain advantage at the expense of a weakened peer, the other Nascent Soul Elder...

Chose not to Defect.

That is concerning. Because it suggests a higher power who isn't so short sighted is capable of tard wrangling them. That their infighting will not rise to the point of actually impacting their strategic threat because there is a line that the most powerful (And sort of by definition, most depraved) will not cross despite being willing to transgress in literally every other case.

It'd be one thing if the guy just ganked our dudes in secret, but he made a big show of it for three days, being visibly crippled, and he did not get shanked for being obviously in one place for days while vulnerable.

Even if we assume they're internally coherent, nobody else took a swing at the guy despite these guys apparently being Public Enemy Number One. He also managed to specifically identify his target as the son of who he thought fucked him up. That's not just a random flailing, someone pointed him this way, someone who knew enough about our operations that they picked up on a clandestine deployment and could pass that information on to a Blood Cannibal, while also making sure nobody else noticed a regional menace in a bad position sitting publically in one place, away from his fortresses, isolated, and wounded. for three fucking days.

It suggests we've got an intrigue motherfucker who's puppetting the Blood Cannibals, and the Heavens putting their thumb on it simply meant that it came to the attention of the guy we specifically fucked up a short while ago first, so he did it personally instead of a murderball of 'Regular' Blood Cannibals rolled in.

Click to shrink...

It is certainly possible that some intrigue type individual is puppeteering them, but 'The simplest solution is often the correct one'
It seems perfectly likely that there are simply unwritten rules that they follow out of self-interest, maybe something along the lines of 'infighting is okay, but we stop before weakening ourselves to the point that outsiders can destroy us', and perhaps killing one of their own Nascent Souls is beyond that point, as it would leave them greatly vulnerable.

 

[Alectai]

It is certainly possible that some intrigue type individual is puppeteering them, but 'The simplest solution is often the correct one'
It seems perfectly likely that there are simply unwritten rules that they follow out of self-interest, maybe something along the lines of 'infighting is okay, but we stop before weakening ourselves to the point that outsiders can destroy us', and perhaps killing one of their own Nascent Souls is beyond that point, as it would leave them greatly vulnerable.

Click to shrink...

This is blood path, literally the definition of "Do what you want who cares about the price" with a foundation literally constructed on "Devour the weak and vulnerable for power". These are people who rose to the top off of the back of "Devour people for power if they're weaker than I am".

This guy sat, publically, out there for three days, visibly crippled, and the other Elder didn't even consider so much as probing him to see if it wasn't a bluff. A guy following a Dao of consumption decided not to consume a crippled rival.

And even setting that aside, nobody else considered taking a poke at a visible crippled elder of a troublemaking clan.

I mean, you're right in that "It might just be that nobody else was paying attention in that three days" or "Nobody actually gives a shit about what a Nascent Soul Blood Path elder does as long as they don't get stuck in with your core territories", but the way it was framed did not suggest "Buddy stumbled across them by dumb luck". He knew precisely who he was going after apparently.

The result was bad, and we know it the Bad Luck pushed it from a nasty failure to a disaster, but it was framed as "The other guy was waiting for our guys as a reprisal for getting wounded." Which suggests it was less "Our guys fucked up" and "Somehow there was an information leak, and the bad luck made sure the recipent of that leak was a guy we had personally fucked up".

 

[Molyneux]

Well, this'll be my Good Seed contribution

Ilias Barallis

If there was one word that could be used to accurately encapsulate every aspect that is Ilias Barallis it would be large. He's a large man who is a head taller then most and an equally large build, possessing large hips, shoulders and a large gut. Its not just his imposing figure that makes him so large, he also has a large smile and a large booming laugh to match. To find Ilias laughing and entertaining others is a common occurrence, for he a jolly man by nature. He possesses a talent to make others feel at easy in his presence in a way such large men often are unable to do.

Ilias is a man born of two worlds, possessing the bronze lineage of the clan but with the appearance of one of this lands original inhabitants. He couldn't trace his lineage back unbroken to the time the clan first came to this land like others, indeed his blood ties to the core clan family's were faint. Even so, his blood was strong enough to ensure he received the strength of bronze just like those with an undiluted lineages. It's also affected the clans curse of ill fortune, as he has often been blessed with good luck. As such he is an avid gambler.

What his family lacked in a prestigious history he could make up for in diversity in his bloodline. He was not only the descendent of a prince of an desert spanning empire, but also of wagon drivers, cobbler, merchant, a general and one particularly adventurous traveling cultivator who was said to have stolen the hearts of so many maidens throughout the lands that if he'd gather all his children together he'd be able to rival the largest sects. Ilias' has even heard that this cultivator is still around and up to the same old tricks.

With his large build Ilias was first though to make an excellent body cultivator of the clans bronze techniques, despite his lack of pure clan heritage. And indeed he was capable enough in learning the clans techniques, however he never took to the strict discipline and regimented lifestyle expected of him. Ilias much preferred good food, sweet wine and sweeter women to hard work and hitting people in the face. He was a natural charmer with a silver tongue and was often able to sway people to his way of thinking with but a few we'll chosen words, a drink and a laugh.

What Ilias truly excelled at was singing and playing the ruan. Often he'd be found traveling throughout the clans territory or beyond, stopping at cities and towns to play his songs. In his many travels Ilias has made many friends who are happy to share stories and tales of what's happening with him. Naturally he'd relay any good stories back to his family and friends in the clan. He has also been known to drop the odd bit of information to his friends which has helped them out of their own problems. It's only what a good friend would do.

Due to Ilias, or Lian as he's otherwise know while touring, not looking like the typical clansman he's able to pass throughout the lands without others knowing his true identity and lineage. This allows his to travel and be welcomed in areas where others of his clansmen wouldn't dare to go. He is a talented spy with a thriving network of informants that he has built and regularly maintains.

With his voice and ruan Ilias is a skilled demonic tuner, being able to weave his melodies and control whole battles. Given his natural strength and acceptable skills in the clan techniques he doesn't suffer the weakness of other demonic tuners of fearing physical confrontations.

Ilias is a 28 year old 3rd Heavenstage Qi condensation stage cultivator.

 

[uri]

This is blood path, literally the definition of "Do what you want who cares about the price" with a foundation literally constructed on "Devour the weak and vulnerable for power". These are people who rose to the top off of the back of "Devour people for power if they're weaker than I am".

This guy sat, publically, out there for three days, visibly crippled, and the other Elder didn't even consider so much as probing him to see if it wasn't a bluff. A guy following a Dao of consumption decided not to consume a crippled rival.

And even setting that aside, nobody else considered taking a poke at a visible crippled elder of a troublemaking clan.

I mean, you're right in that "It might just be that nobody else was paying attention in that three days" or "Nobody actually gives a shit about what a Nascent Soul Blood Path elder does as long as they don't get stuck in with your core territories", but the way it was framed did not suggest "Buddy stumbled across them by dumb luck". He knew precisely who he was going after apparently.

Click to shrink...

Well first of all he wasn't as visible as you make him out to be, you can't just look at a province and tell were a nascent soul realm cultivator is, they aren't that visible even when they are using their full power, even our elder Manuel (a mid realm nascent soul) only found Child Corpse Gulper by sheer luck on our territory.


I mean the Child Corpse Gulper was fully convinced that he can sneak into our territory and sack a city before anybody of a comparable power level could responded in a meaningful way and we only avoided that outcome by luck.


And even if they were visible enough for somebody else to go poke at hi, who would actually go and do that, they don't know he is wounded or that he used two of his emergency treasures and even if they do find out about it and go kill him (no easy feet even if he is wounded) they will then need to deal with the likely vengeance of the other elder because he wouldn't be able to show weakness, so why bother if he doesn't do anything that harms you.


As to the other elder of the battel blood cannibal sect, we shouldn't assume he is that simple minded, he might understand that killing his fellow elder will mean the weakening of the sect overall and that with the number of their enemies it isn't a wise course of action or alternatively he is just preparing to kill him with as little damage to himself because even wounded and with two treasurers down I would be surprised if Child Corpse Gulper didn't have other treasurers and contingencies or a way to spite his killer.

 

[occipitallobe]

Magnus Centenius Building Pillars, and starting Biological Warfare AKA Turn 1

@occipitallobe

Magnus received the greatest birthday gift possible, he broke through the next level of cultivation. Now at 50 years old, he finally reached the 7th heaven stage level, but he was not depressed that his speed slowed. He knew that finding poisonous beast cores would be difficult, so he focused on understanding and building his Dao.

Originally, Magnus thought his true Dao would be of Poison and he would only focus on this until he reached Core Formation. Poison was his passion, his method of battle, how he would make his mark upon the world, but he was not a genius like his brother. Magnus knew he would not be able to form his Dao with just one pillar and so he spent the next year thinking about what his first Pillar should be.

It all changed when Elder Manuel held a special lecture. Magnus had heard of the legendary lectures by the last Elder of the Clan, but had never been able to afford it before. This time, his recent work on the Poison Absorption Pill had giving him just enough for the special lecture. The lecture was nothing like he ever experienced. The students were forced into a game of hide and seek with the Elder who gave each of them a slip with a single word. Magnus's word was "Adapt".

At first, he believed the Elder was telling him he needed to adapt to the changing situation the Elder was putting them all in. Then it hit him like a Heavenly Tribulation. The first Pillar for him would be Adapt. It represented how poisons could be adapted to harm and help. How any creature could adapt to the poison to become stronger. Poisonous animals could adapt to new poisons and make their own stronger. Even his personal pill recipe was about adapting the body to poisons.

Thus, Magnus spent the next 9 years turning his work to studying adaptation and how things adapted not only to poisons, but how to make poisons that can adapt to defenses. At first, all the poisons he played with only changed when he did something to it, but was not able to change itself. He discovered some organic poisons known as "bacteria" from an ancient book from before the Clan entered this world. This "bacteria" apparently was he cause of sickness in most mortals and when it didn't kill the patient, the patient would adapt and grow defenses to it. Just like how a person would become resistant to poisons they had been exposed to before.

1D100 => 83

Magnus removed many samples of bacteria from various sick mortals using his Qi, saving them in the possess, and tried to make one that could harm a Cultivator. He exposed these samples to various dosed of his own poisonous Qi to see if he could make them stronger. Large quantities of Qi killed all the bacteria before any of the samples could adapt, this is probably why most cultivators didn't get sick. The ones exposed to low doses did not show any effects. Magnus believed that it didn't cause enough change from the Qi in Heavens and Earth to affect the bacteria. It was the moderate doses of Qi that caused the changes he wanted. These bacteria were partially killed, but the survivors were able to adapt and use the Qi as fuel to grow stronger and multiply. It took the next 2 years for Magnus to find the perfect level to encourage growth while not killing to many of the bacteria to slow growth.

This new bacteria proved able to resist much higher levels Qi then before. When tested on some simple animals, it killed them in bloody and gruesome ways. Magnus' parents actually worried he was trying to use Blood Cultivation because of his recent slow growth. Fearing his new creation, Magnus bought a several weak heaven stage spirit beast and gave them various doses of his Qi bacteria to see if it could adapt to this and grow stronger.

1D100 => 9
1D100 => 96
1D100 => 80

The first one died such a horrific death that Magnus wondered if he could use this as a mass death weapon against the Blood Cannibals. The third subject received the smallest dose and only developed a small bloody nose for a few hours. Later examination showed that it had created defenses that stopped the Qi-enhanced Bacteria from surviving, even with larger doses injected later. The really interesting success was the second subject. It started screeching almost as soon the bacteria was introduced and bleeding from every orifice. Magnus was ready to call it dead when it suddenly woke up after an hour. Upon close inspection, he found that the beast's body could not fight off the bacteria so it somehow ate it and is using the bacteria to produce Qi for it. How it did this, and if he could use this for a cultivator Magnus didn't know. He would need some captured enemy cultivators to experiment on. Thus, he went off in search of the Elder that set him on this path hoping he could help...

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

Yeah, I turned my seed into a mad scientist type with a possible bioweapon, next update will show it can only hurt Qi cultivators and below. Kind of want to see Elder's response
So, since our OP is rolling dice for our good seeds, I figured I could do it too. I'm not really a writer so let me know how it is.

edit: I just noticed that I was making this about my seed finding his firstDao pillar, but I side tracked into genetic engineering, my mind is so strange

Click to shrink...

@LordEdric

A quick note on this. Everything else is fine, and if you find rolls to be helpful in writing, that's a-ok.

There are only two things I'm fussy on in terms of Good Seeds omake.

One is Cool Stuff. If you want a cool artifact or a new technique, you need an omake (or a good roll), usually. It's fine to write in a cool new thing you've learned in your omake as your bonus, though, I'm very flexible on that front.

Two is cultivation progress. Given cultivation realms are the measure of power, it'll be rolls behind the scenes that determine your cultivation realm each turn. Everything else is fine, but cultivation realm advancement is pretty much the only thing I'm not flexible on and will only hand out as a QM.

How would you describe breaking into the 1st Heavenstage? @occipitallobe

Also what would be an expected result of a person beginning to cultivate around 14 instead of 16. For a slightly above average person.

Click to shrink...

Usually a lot of gunk coming out of the body, taking days to fully wash off. More symmetrical face, a little taller, clearer skin, etc. Just a beautification process, plus a boost in strength. Internally, it's circulating energy for the first time.

Of course, given that the dice are sapient, what that means is we had an opportunity to gank a powerful enemy only for us to stumble onto the classical blunder of attacking to wound, rather than kill. Which is fine in its own right, since this gave us a way to make reads on the presence of a Nascent Soul-level Intrigue spec Elder being involved in the Cannibals affairs. Had we continued on our previous route their existence would have been a nasty shock to us since a string of successes would have gotten us too used to the ideas of the Cannibals being unthinking, rabid savages.

Click to shrink...

A note on this - attacking to kill is really hard. It risks revealing killing intent, and Manuel has no auto-kill weapons that can hurt Nascent Souls (those are high-tier heavenly treasures worth as much as the Clan entirely). It also relies on luck a lot more - if the enemy shifts or moves in some expected way, he wounds at best and the Heavens in his experience tend to fuck him like that.

A risky kill versus a certain crippling is, to his mind, a much better prospect. The Heavens probably can't stop the latter.

What level was the core formation expert we lost at, it is the big loss and I want to know how bad

Click to shrink...

Mid Core Formation.

This is blood path, literally the definition of "Do what you want who cares about the price" with a foundation literally constructed on "Devour the weak and vulnerable for power". These are people who rose to the top off of the back of "Devour people for power if they're weaker than I am".

This guy sat, publically, out there for three days, visibly crippled, and the other Elder didn't even consider so much as probing him to see if it wasn't a bluff. A guy following a Dao of consumption decided not to consume a crippled rival.

And even setting that aside, nobody else considered taking a poke at a visible crippled elder of a troublemaking clan.

I mean, you're right in that "It might just be that nobody else was paying attention in that three days" or "Nobody actually gives a shit about what a Nascent Soul Blood Path elder does as long as they don't get stuck in with your core territories", but the way it was framed did not suggest "Buddy stumbled across them by dumb luck". He knew precisely who he was going after apparently.

The result was bad, and we know it the Bad Luck pushed it from a nasty failure to a disaster, but it was framed as "The other guy was waiting for our guys as a reprisal for getting wounded." Which suggests it was less "Our guys fucked up" and "Somehow there was an information leak, and the bad luck made sure the recipent of that leak was a guy we had personally fucked up".

Click to shrink...

As an aside, information leaks don't necessarily mean traitors. Plenty of weird magics around to target a person - or their bloodline.

 

[occipitallobe]

Whew. Posts responded to, omake indexed. Next up is a short snippet about the Good Seeds (few hundred words of story, max) and aaaaallll the Good Seed rolls and the outcomes thereof.

This will take some time.

Also, as a bonus to my early questers and writers who have dealt with me revamping systems, (though primarily to make future bookkeeping easier on myself), all future Good Seeds will start at the

1st Heavenstage of Qi Condensation

Excluding those who had previously PMed me Good Seeds to look over but hadn't yet posted in the thread - you're fine.

 

[TehChron]

an aside, information leaks don't necessarily mean traitors. Plenty of weird magics around to target a person - or their bloodline.

Click to shrink...

Knowing Alectai this is likely more what he'd meant anyway

Pinpointed strikes like that with that timing means we have a foe who can obtain that information and use it to best effect

 

[Alectai]

As an aside, information leaks don't necessarily mean traitors. Plenty of weird magics around to target a person - or their bloodline.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. As hard as this sucked, it was educational as well--and if we can figure this shit out, Manuel can probably do it even better.

And I'd much rather have this surprise blown on what amounted to being a preliminary probe than an attempted deathblow. Losing a Core Formation and a crew of Foundation Establishment stings. Getting mousetrapped by everyone dogpiling Manuel when we thought we were getting a killing blow? That would be fatal.

Notably, we established that the source of this leak doesn't even need a blood sample of the target to scry their bloodline apparently. He just needs a name. That is horrifyingly potent.

 

[occipitallobe]

Google Docs fun: 'Rather, it came down to him sensing something peculiar in the heavens, the shadowy will that he had long followed casting not it's gays[.]com but rather a measure of protection upon these people.'

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure if it's the Australian accent, but 'gaze comma' gets me gays dot com every time with Google Docs. Just a fun tidbit when it comes to dictating.

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

If you ask Manuel what the price of cultivation truly was he would tell you it was pain. The process of cultivation was not one that he - or anyone sane - enjoyed by any means. As a Nascent Soul, his cultivation method was simple. He simply drew the soul away from the body, constantly, achingly drawing the soul away from it's natural home. This is excruciating pain that never ends, for all but a few minutes of his days. He had long since left the need for sleep behind, and so cultivation was a torture one inflicted on oneself.

A light one, in Qi Condensation. In Foundation Building, a torture of self, the pain of understand who one truly is. In Core Formation, a torture of steadfastness, holding onto that truth of self no matter the cost to yourself, or even those you love. In Nascent Soul, one was back to pain again. Simple, unadulterated pain. For all it was maligned, he personally found it easier than the past two stages. Pain was a mere sensation, a punishment from the Heavens. If one did not have the will to bear it, how would you even condense a true Core?

He chuckled, and remembered once when he and Alexios had dealt with the question of what the pain was most like, seven or eight hundred years ago.

Alexios argued that it was more like having a fish hook superheated and dragged through one's guts. Manuel on the other hand had considered it to be more like a hot poker repeatedly stabbed into the stomach.

They had gotten drunk on some especially fine White Lotus Scorpion poison wine that night, and in their foolishness had decided to test this hypothesis out.

It has not made them popular with the Grand Elder the following morning - the blood and guts everywhere had earned them, well... they had needed Heavenly treasures used to restore their bodies, months of cultivation wasted, and several severe beatings from old Elder Constantine. Six months of cultivating in the stocks with their crimes of foolishness and wastefulness written in front of them for every cultivator to see. Still, it been a moment of levity in a life that it been seen constant decline on the part of the clan, constant loss of territory and what seemed like a never-ending fall into misery.

Manuel sighed deeply. He truly missed Alexios nowadays. Here, he had to make every decision himself, consider every single outcome, every means that could be used against him - every possible ending. It was Alexios who had been his back stop. Alexios had been a man who would constantly and always considered the possibilities more deeply and more wisely than Manuel, to allow Manuel to make more foolish, more aggressive choices that he could not make today.

Alexios had been a father, a teacher, and a best friend all rolled into one. And now he was dead.

Manuel knew that he was to have the clan continue to thrive, or at least survive that he must be the Alexios to some new... he shook his head, It was such a peculiar thought... some new version of himself.

Many in the clan were wondering why he paid so much attention to these new juniors entering the Qi Condensation stage. It was not that he had gained a particular new interest in teaching - he had long been a teacher, and known for his lectures. But rather it was a simple fact that he felt it. Some shadow of the Heavens, a spy in the darkness whispering its secrets to him. There needed to be new talents in the clan, new cultivators to rise, and if he did not find them then the clan would cease to be. The Heavens no longer bothered overmuch with the Golden Devils as they were all but finished.

He looked over the many reports on his desk. there were twenty new cultivators he had his eyes on. He had no particular methodology for choosing these, he had to admit. Rather, it came down to him sensing something peculiar in the heavens, the shadowy will that he had long followed casting not it's gaze but rather a measure of protection upon these people. Almost if they were in their own way veiled from the malignant will of Heaven itself, at least a little. He couldn't explain precisely why he thought that, or where this sense of resonance came from, exactly.

Still, it was his Dao and he would follow it to the end of the path. If these juniors were part of it...

He looked over one of the reports on the desk and his eyebrows raised. Impressive.

He let out a satisfied hmmph, and spoke quietly to himself.

'This junior is a good seed.'

----------

One thing about Manuel is that despite being a cunning old monster, he's also a decidedly lonely man. Bear in mind that the next oldest person in the Clan was born after his 500th birthday. He has no contemporaries, nobody to truly share his struggles with. One of his treasured memories with his best friend and teacher occurred before almost anyone in the Clan was born, and there might be only 1 or 2 people alive today who remember him being punished.

 

[Alectai]

Brace yourselves, RNG is coming.

Soon, I will know the futility of my labors!

 

[ReaderOfFate]

Alexios argued that it was more like having a fish hook superheated and dragged through one's guts. Manuel on the other hand had considered it to be more like a hot poker repeatedly stabbed into the stomach.

They had gotten drunk on some especially fine White Lotus Scorpion poison wine that night, and in their foolishness had decided to test this hypothesis out.

It has not made them popular with the Grand Elder the following morning - the blood and guts everywhere had earned them, well... they had needed Heavenly treasures used to restore their bodies, months of cultivation wasted, and several severe beatings from old Elder Constantine. Six months of cultivating in the stocks with their crimes of foolishness and wastefulness written in front of them for every cultivator to see. Still, it been a moment of levity in a life that it been seen constant decline on the part of the clan, constant loss of territory and what seemed like a never-ending fall into misery.

Click to shrink...

Bro, what? Why?

I guess Cultivator wine must be some serious stuff if they willingly stabbed themselves with white-hot fishhooks and then a hot poker just to test the difference in pain. But I guess, when you're a cultivator, you can get cocky and feel like you're invincible, which probably played a part here. I'm just wincing at the thought, but I guess when your body has been refined tenfold this is less of an issue.

He let out a satisfied hmmph, and spoke quietly to himself.

'This junior is a good seed.'

Click to shrink...

Title drop.

 

[Kaboomatic]

Ah crap
I haven't posted my omake yet
This one's been split up into two parts, so I guess here's part one
The other is going to follow in a few hours or so:

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

Ninth Prince
Facades and Reality, Part One​

Death. Pain. Heartbreak. Suffering. These were the terrible fates that awaited the mortals who were being menaced by a few members of the Battle Blood Cannibal sect. They were going to have their essence extracted in the most painful of ways, because they were weak and the strong had a use for them.

The key word there was 'were'.

For he, the Ninth Prince of the Naag (no matter how useless the title currently was) had accepted a mission from the Contribution Points Board to save these mortals from the villains who were even now running amok among the populace. Thus, their safety was assured. The Ninth Prince was going to save them.

CUE DRAMATIC POSE!

Of course, he wasn't going to actually strike a dramatic pose. Such a thing would be both disastrous for morale if one of the Clan's Qi Gathering (How quaint! Qi Gathering! He could barely imagine calling Prana 'Qi', but, as they say, when in Hyderabad..) cultivators saw him do something so silly, as well as completely out of character for him. Which was ...mildly worrying, come to think of it.

It was most likely a result of the curse affecting his thought patterns, rewinding them to his teenage years. What made it worse was that he had no memory of anything beyond his 16th year of life, only vague impressions telling him how to feel about certain people, places and things. For example, he knew he absolutely despised tea with a burning hatred normally saved for the cursed dogs of the Singh, but he had no idea why. Most of his memories about tea were pleasant, but apparently something changed.

Still, now wasn't the time to brood about his lack of memories. His designated brooding time was finished about an hour ago. Now was the time for GREAT JUSTICE!

Also lunch.

As the Ninth Prince made his way back to the Auxilia Ultimatus buildings, reserved for those who were effectively clan members but still technically not clan members, he noticed something strange. People were avoiding him. Other Qi Gathering cultivators, all true members of the clan as seen by their pale skin, light hair, and tinge of bronze, stepped to the side as he passed, refusing to meet his gaze, and generally just staying out of his way.

It was almost as if they were afrai- Wait, no, he was being silly. The Ninth Prince knew exactly what was going on here. These fellow cultivators must have heard of his deeds of protection and heroism, and were naturally deferring to him, as was proper. This wasn't fear, how could he have been so blind. This was respect.

Finally, after many trials and tribulations utterly unbefitting of his station, the people around the Ninth Prince were beginning to show him the respect he deserved! Today was certainly a great day! The Ninth Prince even felt happy enough to allow himself a smile!

Titus Varius shivered in fear as the inhuman monster known as 'The Ninth Prince' walked towards him. It wasn't just his appearance that scared Titus, though his slightly too narrow face, inhuman black and yellow eyes, clawed arms, and patches of dark green scales certainly were unnerving. Titus wasn't that shallow, and besides, worse had been said about those of the Bronze.

No, it was the way that 'The Ninth Prince' looked at others, as if they were nothing but fat mice, and he was a hungry snake ready to gobble them up. As if he was a predator and everyone else was naught but prey. Frankly, Titus had no real idea why the elders allowed 'The Ninth Prince' into the clan, it seeme-

Titus' brain stopped for a moment, as he noticed 'The Ninth Prince' doing something incredibly frightening; smiling. Something that obviously malevolent couldn't be classified as mere smiling though, instead being more akin to a baring of teeth, as the snake-man's face was split with a horrifying grin, long canines, more like fangs than anything else, exposed and dripping a pale green liquid.

This was much more than Titus' poor mind could handle, and just as 'The Ninth Prince' walked past him, Titus Varius fainted.

As the Ninth Prince made his way to his current home, deftly dodging other cultivators, both Auxilia and Bronze as he sprinted through the fertile fields, he realized something. Something important. Something important enough that it could potentially kill him.

He forgot to stock up on giant rats!

While this might not seem like a large problem, or really, a problem at all to most, what those poor, foolish people were forgetting was that the Ninth Prince lived in the same house as three snakes, one of which was five times as large as him, one of which could spit corrosive venom and venomous acid, and one of which commanded a few hundred other snakes.

No giant rats was a big deal for his contracted beasts, especially since if they couldn't find their favorite food, they moved onto their second favorite food, humans.

Ah well, he'd just have to feed his partners some Battle Blood Cannibal Sect members. He was already going to kill them, and it seemed like such a shame to let their bodies go to waste.

It appeared as if he'd have to complete this mission more quickly than he'd planned. Snakes didn't have to eat much or often, but they still needed to eat, and Spirit Beasts needed more food than the average animal.

As the Ninth Prince pushed open the door to his humble hut - It was barely even two floors high, and made of mortal materials - he saw scales on the floor.

Now, this wasn't normal, even living with three Spirit Beasts and a few hundred mortal snakes. The ground floor was his, with the upper floor being the domain of his beasts. The Ninth Prince had very few rules for his contracted beasts, but one rule that he would not budge on was that his floor (HIS) was to be clean at all times.

Unfortunately, even with the help of the Orb of Shesha, the Scaled Mindweb was unattainable until the later stages of Qi Gathering, meaning that he had to speak to his beasts, like a PEASANT, instead of just using telepathic communication.

Right before the Ninth Prince was about to yell out for his beasts (like a PEASANT), he looked once more at the scales on his floor, and realized that there were more scales on the floor, that perfectly matched the previous scales.

Oh.

One quick glance at his own scales confirmed it. These weren't his Contracted Beasts' scales on his floor. They were his.

Well. This was embarrassing.

Still, right now, cleaning up his floor was unimportant, especially since there was GREAT JUSTICE to unleash on the evildoers of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect. The Ninth Prince attempted to whistle to get the attention of his snakes before realizing that he couldn't whistle.

Instead, he just yelled. "COME MY BEASTS, IT IS TIME, TIME TO HUNT!" Yes, that should do it.

As usual, the Ninth Prince was proven right, as, not a minute later, his three contracted beasts slithered down the stairs.

Ulo, as always, was the first to arrive. A python twenty feet long and two feet wide, his skin was as strong as mortal steel, as evidenced by the many, many times Ulo had run into wooden and even stone objects and just shattered them.

Kha, Li, and Ya were the second down the stairs. A spitting cobra born with three heads was incredibly rare, but the Ninth Prince had the luck to find them when he was a young boy, and they'd been both an invaluable weapon and a close companion ever since.

Raj was the last of his snakes to arrive, mainly due to the fact that while Ulo was twenty feet long and Kha, Li, and Ya were three feet long, Raj was barely a foot long, and thus couldn't even get down the stairs without struggling. His strength however wasn't in his own physical power, but rather the hundred plus mortal snakes that he could control.

Right. Now that the crew was assembled, it was time to get to work. Technically, the step after assembling the crew was explaining the mission, but seeing as his crew was comprised of snakes, and nonsapient ones at that, explaining what was going on wasn't really needed. After all, he was the brains of this operation. No matter what some of his brothers might thin-might have thought.

That particular thought could be saved for next week's designated brooding time. Right now, he had evildoers to punish!

The Ninth Prince grabbed his forked spear (Really more decoration than anything else, while it was a good weapon, it wasn't as if the Ninth Prince was a spearmaster), and, in a feat of daring and skill that would have been impossible for anybody of a lesser caliber, took only 3 tries to hop onto Ulo's head, settling into a slight crouch that his sister Aavatri had once called a 'surfer's stance'.

Unfortunately, since the Ninth Prince wasn't about to admit to his little sister that he didn't know something, to this day, he still has no idea what a surfer is.

Still, that wasn't important. What was important was looking like an absolute badass as the Ninth Prince rode a giant snake, with a three headed acid snake curled around his left arm, and a King Cobra wrapped around his forehead like a crown, all while being followed by over a hundred snakes.

Now, imaginary person in the Ninth Prince's head, you may be asking how exactly the Ninth Prince is able to direct Ulo without speaking. Well, the Ninth Prince is glad you asked! The answer is a mixture of months of training, subtle changes in the position of the Ninth Prince's feet, and pointing his spear in the direction he wants to go. Mostly that last bit.

As the Ninth Prince rode his snake out into the lawless desert outside of the clan compound, there was only one thing on his mind. JUSTICE! And to get justice, for the poor mortals who have almost certainly already been killed by the vile villains of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect, there was only one way to do it, and that was gathering information. And then killing the villains, but that was implied.

And, as he had learned during his time with the Flood Dragon Gang, the best way to do so was to ask the local villages. The Ninth Prince recalled that there was a village not a two hour ride from here that had an inordinate amount of information gathering specialists.

And with the Ninth Prince's charisma, these villagers would be falling over themselves to offer him what assistance they could. This was going to go perfectly!

Zhu Bhujie was happy with the life he lived. Sure, he wasn't a cultivator, somebody who could kill grown men with a single flick of the finger. He was just an ordinary man.

But as the leader of Laogai Village, he had quite a bit of money, much more than the average village leader. For, you see, Laogai Village was not the average village. It was a refuge.

Specifically, for those who were ...differently employed. The people who didn't always play by the rules. Those who lived on the wrong side of the river. Criminals.

And as the leader of a village full of criminals, Zhu Bhujie was wealthy indeed. Being under the aegis of the Golden Devils meant that, as a Demonic Clan, criminal activities were cracked down on just a bit less. The Golden Devils seemed to fancy themselves as protectors of the law, but even then, the desert was large and the cultivators' time valuable. Crime was nearly unpunished in the small desert towns.

As Zhu Bhujie surveyed his domain from his tower-like office, he noted with a smile that all was well. The residential district was clean, orderly, and above all, calm. The various bars and taverns were already cleaned up, with no sign of any drunken brawls or particularly violent hangovers. The less legal venues of Laogai were also cleaned up, a few dozen fake shops or houses or bars covering up gambling rings and money laundering schemes and black markets. The dark skinned man riding a giant snake was headed straight for his tower, looking ready to murder somebody. All in all, a normal da-

Wait. Man riding a giant snake?

Something that odd meant one thing and one thing only. Cultivators.

And that was in no way good for Laogai Village. If he was lucky, it would only be a servant of the Golden Devils, or a member of the Flood Dragon Gang, just passing through. If he was unlucky, it would be a member of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect, here to kill everyone in the village.

Zhu Bhujie's panicking was interrupted by one of his underlings frantically dashing up the stairs to his office.

As the man fell to his knees, panting and out of breath, he barely managed to wheeze out "B-boss… Cultivator… Wants… Speak… You… Now"

Well shit.

At least this meant that the cultivator probably wasn't here to suck out their souls and use them for power. It did however mean that if something went wrong, he'd be the first to die.

Zhu Bhujie walked down the stairs with the air of a man going to the headsman's block. This was not going to end well.

As he exited the tower, Zhu Bhujie was immediately standing no less than five feet away from the cultivator, and by the gods this was one of the more frightening examples he'd seen.

Discounting the twenty foot long snake the cultivator was standing on, the snake wrapped around the cultivator's head like some barbarian crown, the three snakes curled around his left arm, and the few hundred snakes following him, all of which were fucking terrifying, the cultivator himself was unnerving. His eyes were orange orbs with small black slits in the middle, his arms were clawed, there were scales just scattered around his body, and his face was just somehow off in a way Zhu Bhujie couldn't place.

Also he was pointing a forked spear straight at Zhu Bhujie's eyes. That was a pretty big factor in the whole fear thing.

And then the cultivator opened his mouth (by the gods he had fangs) and began speaking. "You are the leader of this town." It was not a question.

Zhu Bhujie frantically nodded his head, then, realizing he was still standing, dropped into a kowtow. "Y-yes honored cultivator. This one is the leader of this humble village."

"Good. This makes my job easier."

Oh gods, oh gods. This was it, wasn't it? He was going to die here. He had so much left to do, so mu-

And then, with yellow eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul, the cultivator spoke once more. "There are three Battle Blood Cannibal Sect cultivators in the area. A heavyset woman with an axe, a thin, hunched man carrying multiple vials, and a serene man with a gem in his forehead. Where are they?"

Information. All he wanted was information. And easy information at that. Only the fear of being killed if he made any sudden movements prevented Zhu Bhujie from falling to the ground and laughing. He was safe! Laogai was safe! All he nee-

"You do not know what I am talking about. Pity."

Wait wait wait no. "H-honored cultivator! This one knows of those you seek. They were last spotted two hours ago, and appeared to have been heading to the south." Zhu Bhujie desperately explained.

The cultivator appeared to mull this over for a second, and then, mercifully, turned his snake around, and sped off towards the south.

It was over.

They were safe.

And with such joyous news following such deep terror, Zhu Bhujie could and did do the only thing possible. He fell to the ground and laughed and cried in equal measure.

Well. that went well. The mortals were quite cooperative, if a bit jumpy, most likely intimidated by his status as a cultivator.

Still, as the Ninth Prince sped through the desert, riding a snake like a badass, he realized something.

"This is not south."

Shit.

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

A/N: Yeah, this is part one of my omake, with the actual fighting bit going to be up in a few hours or so. I'm not exactly how I turned the Ninth Prince from somebody who was supposed to be kind of an ass but also dedicated to protecting the weak to an unintentionally terrifying himbo, but it happened I guess

 

[occipitallobe]

Halfway through the Good Seed Report.

@Kaboomatic can I just say I love the flamboyant nature of the Ninth Prince...

and so do the dice

 

[Alectai]

Alas, I suspect I'm going to get dunked on, it is my nature to get screwed by the RNG the more I care about it.

 

[Kaboomatic]

Halfway through the Good Seed Report.

@Kaboomatic can I just say I love the flamboyant nature of the Ninth Prince...

and so do the dice

Click to shrink...

Thank you!
I was originally kind of concerned about the unplanned direction the Ninth Prince was taking, but @TehChron advised me to just run with it, so I did
Gotta say, I'm loving the results

 

[uri]

Alas, I suspect I'm going to get dunked on, it is my nature to get screwed by the RNG the more I care about it.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately such is the nature of life and RNG, you always get a Nat 1 on the thing you care the most about.

 

[occipitallobe]

The reports were as followed.

(NB - These aren't inherent talent or luck when the report says 'poor talent, excellent talent, etc'. This is just the report on Manuel's desk describing what happened and ascribing reasons which may or may not be right. Also, I may have missed rewards or discussions - I'm still working out a system to make these easily accessible. My current thought is to have everyone put reward requests edited into their Good Seed Background/character sheet. If I have, let me know.)

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

Ambrus Nike. Excellent talent. Reached 6th Heavenstage. Just overcame his bottleneck in the 5th. Sent to Divided Mortal Kingdoms as part of bandit hunting crews. Managed to assist in killing a Qi Condensation Cultivator in the 5th Heavenstage while in the 4th. Recovered a Soul Waterskin, a magical drinking bag that had stored several souls, allowing him to more quickly advance his cultivation. In future, he will be able to store souls of his enemies in the Qi Condensation stage within it.

Aretaphila Myia. Great talent, peculiar luck. Reached the 4rd Heavenstage - was sent as part of a team to hunt minor bandits, practice teamwork. Ambushed and badly wounded by a Foundation Building bandit. Fled into an underwater grotto, finding a magical gong carved from bronze fish scales, along with a scroll of gong cultivation techniques. Still stuck at the 4th Heavenstage due to recovering from serious wounds, but should break through shortly.

Aurelia Xu. Ordinary talent. Broke through to the 4th Heavenstage a year ago, through her bottleneck. While on a mission to assist farmers in the core territories, found a magical ox-bone that can absorb three attacks from a Foundation Building enemy.

Cheilas Apion. Seemingly poor talent. Bottlenecked at the 3rd Heavenstage. Took on many spirit herb hunting missions - poor luck? Found nothing of interest.

Damien Silver. Ordinary progress, just broke through to the 4th Heavenstage. Fateful encounter with Old Bronze Hammer Ghost, a spirit of forging when assisting in the guarding of caravans. Gained a magical bronze sword that can parry the first blow in any combat.

Fierce Fang. Ordinary progress, just broke through to the 4th Heavenstage. Sent with Damien Silver to guard caravans. No fateful encounters or major events. Differing luck?

Hektor Sarantapechos. Truly excellent progress, as expected as the son of an Elder. 8th Heavenstage reached. Was sent out to assist a city beset by ghosts. A Blood Path cultivator ghost attacked him, and nearly killed him. His mother rushed out to save him, exorcising the Blood Path ghost. Badly wounded, will take years to recover.

Ilias Barallis - Sent to spy on Cannibal Sect after failure of first major mission. Cultivation progress almost non-existent due to what follows. Caught and tortured by Cannibal Sect for two years, escaped. Badly scarred, fell back to 1st Heavenstage. Investigation shows no use of Ilias to infiltrate the Clan. Managed to re-attain the 3rd Heavenstage.

Lin Fan - Remains at 4th Heavenstage, minor crippling has slowed progress drastically. Took on many bandit hunting missions. Facing an enemy he was ambushed and lost three fingers. Investigation shows use of Blood techniques - but only on acceptable targets.

Magnus Centenius - Attained 5th Heavenstage, bottlenecked. Took on a mission to assist a small mortal city beset by a non-magical plague. Managed to derive a cure of some sort.

Minervina Barda - Cultivation ordinary at best, reached 4th Heavenstage. Poison arts exceptional. Took mission to gather spirit herbs, and ambushed and killed a Foundation Building bandit who had killed three members of her four-person team. Bandit had a dimensional storage bag large enough to storage perhaps the contents of a small room. A truly Heavenly Treasure for a Qi Condensation Junior.

Ninth Prince - Utterly exceptional cultivation talent. The 'Prince from another Sea' lie we had simply accepted may have a grain of truth. Reached the 9th Heavenstage in a mere two decades, talent beyond any other junior we have seen thus far. Sent to defend a city from bandits. Against all possible odds, managed to frighten off a Core Formation Cannibal Sect elder who had been sent to raid and pillage the city. How? Rewarded with a small town of 5,000 mortals near a Qi Condensation Spirit Snake Pit to govern.

Peta Condos and Wajo. Truly great talent. Attained 7th Heavenstage. Spirit Bear was wounded in a dispute with merchants who refused to pay their toll and attacked the toll-collection crew she was assigned to.

Rina Callista. Peculiarities. Only reached 4th Heavenstage, would expect much more from her bloodline. Constant difficulties in cultivating, using many more resources than others for lesser results. Peculiarities in size and Qi? Not sure. One of the Callista Nascent Soul Wills awoke briefly seemingly solely due to an interest in her, and touched her - somehow impacted her bloodline. Bloodline has advanced exceptionally. Tin Tendon stage already. Seems implausible, almost impossible. Equal bloodline strength equal to your own when you broke through to Nascent Soul, Elder. Combat strength is closer to a cultivator in the 7th Heavenstage.

Telios Treces - Good talent. 6th Heavenstage reached. Has found and tamed a new Qi Condensation Spirit Beast in the 6th Heavenstage while hunting dangerous Beasts to protect mortals.

Tie Jin - Unlucky under Heaven. Only reached 2nd Heavenstage, constant backlashes when attempting cultivation. Trying to fuse Metal into his Bronze bloodline constantly, not working. Sent to hunt bandits - no notable encounters.

Xiao Yi - Poor cultivation progress. 3rd Heavenstage. Obsessed with fighting in formation, excellent leader. Possible future centurion? Led group of Qi Condensation cultivators into battle against rebellious Sandy Sect in Hua Empire, did not lose a single cultivator, held off Foundation Building expert long enough to ensure they all lived.

Yan - Decent progress. 5th Heavenstage. While adventuring in the Thousand Sand Caves, found a magical Drunken Spider Filament Cloak that can be used three times, gaining complete invisibility against anyone in Foundation Building or below for an hour.

Zhousi Dun - Ordinary progress. 4th Heavenstage. Took many missions to save villagers from disaster, a truly worthwhile seed who understands the Clan's ideals. Low rewards, but saved fifty children from the flooding of Zhoushou Dam in the Core Territories when it wiped out Zhou Village.

 

[occipitallobe]

Alas, I suspect I'm going to get dunked on, it is my nature to get screwed by the RNG the more I care about it.

Click to shrink...

One of the worst cultivation rolls. One of the best Fate rolls, though.

Looking back, the only person with better Fate was the Ninth Prince. Literally the worst Cultivation roll of anyone, actually. Your entire cultivation progress this turn is pure Omake bonus.

 

[Alectai]

Rina Callista. Peculiarities. Only reached 4th Heavenstage, would expect much more from her bloodline. Constant difficulties in cultivating, using many more resources than others for lesser results. Peculiarities in size and Qi? Not sure. One of the Callista Nascent Soul Wills awoke briefly seemingly solely due to an interest in her, and touched her - somehow impacted her bloodline. Bloodline has advanced exceptionally. Tin Tendon stage already. Seems implausible, almost impossible. Equal bloodline strength equal to your own when you broke through to Nascent Soul, Elder. Combat strength is closer to a cultivator in the 7th Heavenstage.

Click to shrink...

What the hell kind of devilish rolls produced that?

 

[ninjastar]

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

Click to shrink...

My boy Achille doing well, let's hope the good luck keeps up.

 

[Kaboomatic]

Ninth Prince - Utterly exceptional cultivation talent. The 'Prince from another Sea' lie we had simply accepted may have a grain of truth. Reached the 9th Heavenstage in a mere two decades, talent beyond any other junior we have seen thus far. Sent to defend a city from bandits. Against all possible odds, managed to frighten off a Core Formation Cannibal Sect elder who had been sent to raid and pillage the city. How? Rewarded with a small town of 5,000 mortals near a Qi Condensation Spirit Snake Pit to govern.

Click to shrink...

Right
My original fight omake was going to be against three qi gathering cultivators
Looks like I'm gonna have to switch some things up
Out of curiosity, what roll produced something like THIS?