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

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New Good Seed and Omake Rule Updates
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    • 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.

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

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

    Omake Writer Instructions:

    There are four fields you need to fill out.

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

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    All other fields are for QM use to record character information to properly run the flow of the game.
     
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    • Is it possib
    Falconis said:
    What an adventure we had. Pleasure working with you Juugo.
    🙌
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    If you guys are interested, you could develop the idea of Golden Devils working as a unified synergy as a means of recovering the Sea Conquering Army's March Crescendo that came up in one of @Alectai's omake. Could be an interesting project, leaning into Command and Service, and Formation work. That reminds me, the Clan should have access to an Oasis Formation as a Clan reward from Ferenike's omake designed to add dice to our juniors survival rolls in the Trials. @occipitallobe is that still a thing?
     
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    Xiuying Ten Jiang 23 - Will To Cultivate
  • Sidestory
    • Xiuying Ten Jiang 23 - Will To Cultivate

    The Grand Elder was holding lectures.

    It had been about a month after Xiuying had broken through to tenth heavenstage when Huoying suddenly barged into her kitchen during opening hours to bring her the news. According to her friend, the last time the Grand Elder held lectures was over a century ago. Some of the best and most well-known clansmen had gone to these lectures and experienced great breakthroughs and epiphanies thanks to the Grand Elder.

    "Xiuying, we have got to get into these lectures!" Huoying, much like Xiuying, had managed to break through to 10th heavenstage through her own efforts. Huoying had gained and used a large number of contribution points to get where she was now through steady efforts and relentless work ethics.

    "Can anyone go or are there restrictions?" Xiuying asked. While not enthused about these lectures as Huoying was, Xiuying was interested in what the Grand Elder had to teach.

    "Only Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment can take the lectures, but you have to pay a lot of contribution points to attend," Huoying answered before grimacing as she recalled what she would have to pay in contribution points to enter the lecture.

    Xiuying nodded. That sounds about right. "How much?"

    Huoying told Xiuying, making the noodle girl gape in horror.

    "I-Is that even possible?!" The amount of contribution points required to enter the Grand Elder's lecture was horrendous. She couldn't even begin to think how many bowls of noodles she'd have to sell to make that many points.

    "Oh, it definitely is, Xiuying. If we want to enter the lectures, we're gonna need lots of contribution points and to get those points, we're gonna need to do way more missions than we usually do." Huoying explained before pulling out a folded piece of paper and opening it out in front of her. "I've worked out the most efficient missions that we can do before the lectures start and how long it will take us to do them. If my calculations are correct, by the time we're done, we should have enough points to pay the entry fee. Are you with me on this, Xiuying?"

    Xiuying looked at the hand that her best friend offered her for a moment before taking it and giving it a firm shake. "You have my sword, Huoying."

    "Fantastic! Let's get started then."

    = = = = =

    It had been a close thing. Xiuying and Huoying had pushed themselves to the limits to earn enough contribution points to pay for entry into the Grand Elder's lectures. With barely any downtime in between the missions and tasks that the two girls had taken, the two girls had to be creative in how they managed their time and recovery. More often than not, Xiuying had to resort to sharing a bowl of Thousand-Year Heavenly Noodle Soup with Huoying for the two of them to get through the day.

    Despite the incredible taste of the magical soup, if one was to eat it every day, even those heavenly flavours would grow numb to the tongue. Xiuying could only grit her teeth and slurp down the noodles and get through whatever mission she was on as fast as possible. Sleep was a luxury that Xiuying and Huoying could ill-afford with their plan schedule and only the Thousand-Year Heavenly Soup could help them regain their energy without resorting to shady drugs and expensive pills.

    In the end, the two were successful in obtaining enough contribution points to enter the lectures. Though there was a little hiccup where Xiuying discovered that she had been awarded a considerable amount of contribution points for her actions in Fire Duck Town. Xiuying had spent some time screaming into a pillow in frustration since the award points would have made Huoying's mad plan to earn stupid amounts of contribution points a lot easier on the two of them. After a minor freakout over that, Xiuying and Huoying exchanged their contribution points for the lecture tickets and headed to Dawn Fortress where the lectures would take place.

    = = = = =

    Over a thousand people had come to attend the lectures and one of them was Xiuying Ten Jiang. The noodle vendor swordswoman could only recognise a handful of people out of the crowd of eleven hundred aspiring students, most of them being regulars at her noodle stand. Huoying, being a better social butterfly than Xiuying and thus more in the know about who was who in the clan, had separated from Xiuying to go chat with some of the more famous members of the current generation and maybe grab a few autographs as well.

    With all the people gathered in this courtyard waiting for the lecture to begin, there was bound to be lots of chatter and noise as many attendees made small talk, engaged in debates, or anything to keep their anxiety and boredom away. However, when the grand elder - the Archgetes descended from above, all chatter died down before the presence of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Archgetes Manuel Konstantinos settled in the air in the lotus position, completely in defiance of gravity and physics.

    The Archgetes was all so very different from Master Jiang. While Master Jiang looked to be in the peak of health and youth, Archgetes Manuel Konstantinos was a skinny scarecrow of an elder who looked like he had one foot in the grave. Their disposition also couldn't be more different as well. Whereas Master Jiang was practically bereft of any authoritarian air when he wasn't teaching, the Archgetes' presence exuded a gravitas that provoked awe and fear from those that were before him. Even though Master Jiang was of a Great Realm higher than the Archgetes, Manuel Konstantinos had a far more imposing presence.

    With all sound in the immediate area completely silent, the Archgetes spoke.

    "In a little over a decade, the Trials put before us will arrive. I do not doubt that one in five of you who stand here today will be dead after them, for all your talent. You are ill-prepared, though better prepared than we were a century ago."

    Xiuying knew little of the trials beyond what was taught during training. Her village had only been created a couple of decades before the last trial and with how far out it was in the backwaters of the clan's territories, no fifth sea invaders had ever intentionally visited that small dinky village that she lived her childhood in.

    "You will have heard tales. A few of you will have lived through those times. The Clan suffered, and then came the good times. Conquest and growth, new mines and new talents rising up. New relationships with the Righteous Path. Some of you have even travelled into the Great Battlefield, and not been killed on sight for the colour of your skin and hair. The Optimatoi suffered greatly so that you could rise."

    Xiuying could only nod at the Archgetes' words. She was one of these supposed new talents, after all, one of many amongst the generation that had appeared after the last trials. She understood somewhat that despite how bad the Trials supposedly were for the clan, new growth had appeared for the clan after the initial suffering. New opportunities, new bonds, and new hope. The clan suffered but it would survive and perhaps thrive after the trials.

    The Archgetes then descended to the ground, giving all that were present a reassuring smile, the same kind of smile that Master Jiang gave her before he had thrown her into some horrific training of some kind. Xiuying then remembered that the lectures for some reason had been given a Five Star Danger Level.

    Oh dear.

    "Now you will suffer so that the Clan may rise."

    Suddenly, coming to these lectures didn't seem like a great idea after all.

    = = = = =

    The first lecture began with an explanation on the trinity of Body, Soul, and Dao, and how they were connected by Qi. The Archgetes went on about how Qi was the building block of the universe and was the energy of all things. How Qi was important and stuff. The Archgetes then moved onto the main topic of the first lecture which was on the Body and its place in cultivation, about how the body's ability to channel and use qi was super important. And that getting rid of the impurities in the body was very important or else you wouldn't be able to handle the Qi needed to break through to Foundation Establishment.

    Xiuying listened carefully, doing her best to burn into her memories every word that passed the Archgetes' lips and out into the courtyard full of listening juniors. Xiuying listened as the Grand Elder spoke of the fine line between the limits of one's power and self-destruction. Xiuying listened when the Archgetes told them that he would show everyone their absolute limits.


    "Circulate your Qi. Slowly increasing from your normal amount, you are to fill your dantian to bursting, channel as much as you can through your meridians. Continue increasing the amount. You will feel pain, you will feel as though you are about to shatter and die. If you stop before I stop you, you will be dismissed from the lecture and may not return."

    Xiuying did as she was told and settled into position before flaring up the Flame Immortal within her dantian, urging it to burn stronger and fiercely, and spread throughout her meridians. With each breath she took, the flames flowed faster and stronger, the heat growing increasingly uncomfortable. The sensation of pins and needles began to make itself known, along with a burning sensation that Xiuying had grown accustomed to using as the threshold of her limits. This time, however, Xiuying continued to keep the fire of her life burning throughout her body. The horribly uncomfortable sensations that she was feeling in her body grew stronger, mutating into a bizarre feeling of pain and pressure that was pushing and pulling all over her body, inside and out.

    As the Grand Elder commanded, Xiuying did not stop the Flame Immortal within her. Her nerves were burning. Her blood was boiling. Her flesh was being cooked. The pain was becoming unbearable but yet she persisted. Just as she had willed herself through the pain of shaving off every strand of hair from her scalp with a rusty sword, she willed herself to withstand the burning pressure of her cultivation as she continued to push it beyond what she thought were her limits.

    And just as she thought that her meridians and dantian was about to rupture from the sheer pressure, Xiuying felt a command reverberate throughout her very being.

    "Stop"

    Xiuying stopped, the circulation of her qi frozen in place, her qi channels and dantian just on the edge of eruption. Despite the pain, Xiuying instinctively knew that she had suffered no true injury or wound to her cultivation. The only thing that she had suffered was the pain of being pushed to the absolute limits of her very being.

    "Again. Once I stop you, begin again, but closer to the limit I stopped you at. If you stop before I stop you, you will be dismissed from the lecture and may not return."

    For six hours, Xiuying forced herself to push her Qi circulation to the utmost limits, gritting through the pain of her burning meridians and nerves without faltering even once. For the sake of obtaining that very slight edge that could one day mean the difference between life and death, Xiuying suffered agony by her own hands and by her own will.

    Xiuying was one of eight hundred attendees that remained when the Archgetes called an end to the day's training. Three hundred had failed to endure the pain of reaching and maintaining the limits of their full power. Eight hundred were left to take on the next lecture which Xiuying had a feeling would also involve more suffering.

    The first lecture was focused on the suffering of the body in order to become stronger.

    Xiuying could not help but wonder what the suffering of the soul would be like.

    = = = = =

    "The next lecture is simpler. The Soul is the thing that understands and comprehends, the thing that understands the Dao and pursues truth. It does not obey physical laws for the most part, and once coupled with sufficient understanding of the Dao and Qi can exert its will on the world. The thing we tend to think of as the Soul, though, is the connection between Soul and Body. If broken, the body is killed and the Soul goes elsewhere, though I cannot say where. This is the truth of the Nascent Will. It snaps the connection between Soul and Body, leaning on the understanding a Nascent Soul has of that same connection."

    Xiuying knew a little about the nature of souls. She had been taught by her master that all souls contained a spark of the Flame Immortal, the pure essence of Divinity, and were filled with the awful head of Will, that the soul was flames, and that the separation between an individual soul and the oversoul of the Flame Immortal were fundamentally illusory - that they were one and the same.

    A lot of what her master taught her didn't really fit with what was common knowledge in the Third Sea. Her master did say that there were significant differences in how the laws of heaven worked in the Third Sea and wherever her master came from. Her master however never did touch on the connection between the body and soul so the Archgetes' second lecture was quite interesting.

    "For our second lecture, I will be strumming on that connection, as though a string on a lyre. Your job is to try and replicate that feeling after I do so. It will be unpleasant and dizzying. For those with the patience, even a Qi Condensation disciple can develop that feeling into an effective suicide art to prevent interrogation. I will disrupt the connection between soul and body three times over three weeks. At the end of the month, if you cannot replicate the feeling, my experience has taught me you are unlikely to do so. If you can succeed, we will proceed to the final lesson."

    Xiuying grimaced. That did not sound like a good -

    *Twaaaaaaaaaaannnnng*

    Xiuying was glad that she had skipped breakfast today. That said, she still puked out stomach acid as her body (and soul probably) recoiled from the utterly unpleasant sensation of the soul-body connection being played with like a string on a lyre. Wiping away the fluids with her sleeve, Xiuying took a moment to recompose herself. She was gonna have to learn how to mess with her soul-link herself after all.

    Though Xiuying could see the wisdom in having a technique that prevented enemies from effectively interrogating you through traditional means, Xiuying did not plan on committing suicide any time soon. There was probably some kind of secret technique related to this madness but for now, she would do as the Archgetes commanded, and play with her soul-link like a bard on the lyre.

    Taking a deep breath, Xiuying visualised the link between her body and soul before reaching out and -

    *Bwaaaaangguu*

    Xiuying stared up at the sky, numbly aware of more stomach fluids drying on her chin. Okay, this exercise was going to be horribly unpleasant for everyone involved. This training exercise was going to be less reliant on her will and more on whether she can play the soul string right. Will power was still a factor since she couldn't really imagine anyone willingly doing this to themselves on purpose outside the theoretical situation whether death was preferable to torture-induced betrayal.

    And she was going to have to do this a whole bunch of times if she was going to get it right.

    This was going to suck.

    = = = = =

    It took the near entirety of the three weeks that the Archgetes had given to the remaining attendees for Xiuying to finally and consistently strum the soul-connection in the right way. A lot of puking had been involved and she even closed up shop a couple of days just to recover from the nausea of messing with the link between soul and body but she managed it just in time for the last lecture that the Archgetes would be giving.

    Far more people had dropped out during this time, leaving only a little over two hundred attendees - no, disciples for these were no mere lectures but special training for those brave and foolish enough to take up the Archgetes on - to continue suffering for the sake of the clan.

    "You now know how to manipulate the connection between your soul and body the tiniest amount. For those who have stepped through the twelfth Heavenstage, your connection is many times stronger, a pure link between soul and body. This is why you mastered this art in hours instead of weeks. Some of you may have come to it on your own."

    Xiuying couldn't help but feel a slight bit of envy towards those who had broken through to the heights of the twelfth Heavenstage but only a little. She heard that it took even more time to get to just eleventh Heavenstage than it did to reach tenth. For those who sought the lofty heights of the unorthodox path, time was a precious resource. A few days ago, she heard that a twelfth heavenstage cultivator, some bear tamer or something, had recently passed away from old age. Despite the benefits that the higher heavenstages gave, it also meant far greater difficulty in breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Xiuying was an idiot but not a moron and she had already passed the ninth heavenstage where she was supposed to make her breakthrough originally.

    She did not dare to dawdle any further. Only the threat of the trials kept her from attempting the breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. It was easier to survive the trials if you were powerful within your current great realm.

    Xiuying snapped out of her thoughts when the Archgetes continued his speech.

    "Now we come to the simplest truth. You who remain are among our greatest talents, and recent events have shown me that you are not immune to the assault of a Nascent Soul. While you cannot hope to survive a serious attack without protection, you might preserve your life for a few key seconds, or perhaps resist a mass-scale attack on an army. To assist you with this, I will be bringing your soul-connections to the breaking point. This will challenge not only your manipulation of your soul as previously taught but also your will. Without sufficient will to persist, your connection between body and soul will shatter, and you will die. I cannot teach you to resist such attacks without truly threatening you with death. My blows will be at the absolute limit of what you can endure, and if you are not confident in the strength of your will, simply leave. I will not hold it against you."

    Xiuying gulped as she listened to the Archgetes. This was the true reason for the risk level that had been given to the lectures. The first two lectures were to winnow out all that would no doubt die from what the Archgetes was planning to subject them all to. However, despite the dangers, Xiuying stayed, along with a hundred and forty-nine others.

    Seeing those that remained, the Archgetes nodded in acknowledgement of their choice before he slowly raised his hand towards them all.

    Xiuying took one last deep breath before bracing herself for what was to come.

    The Archgetes clenched his fist.

    And then Xiuying's world was consumed by pain.

    = = = = = = = = =

    In the end, Xiuying survived the harrowing experience that was but the tiniest sliver of Nascent Soul cultivation.

    Her Blade of Want, crude as it were, had barely survived the experience. It was cracked - no, shattered, but barely held together by Will. It was only through Will that she had held on instead of just succumbing and allowing herself to fall into oblivion.

    Xiuying understood now that her master's lackadaisical nature and more optimistic views on cultivation was born from a single fact. Wherever the hell her master came from, cultivation in that realm did not bring with it pain. It did not force cultivators to subject themselves to pain and suffering for the sake of cultivating.

    Wherever her master came from, cultivation there must be a joke compared to the harsh painful experience that only those within her universe could experience.

    Xiuying aspired to reach the same height as her master. However, was she truly willing to put herself through such insanity, such oppressive pain, all for the sake of power?

    The pain that that man had subjected to her and the others was beyond imagining. Several people had actually died and some had broken, becoming mad and insane. Xiuying could barely comprehend just why the Archgetes did the things he did to them all. But her body could only tremble in terror at the mere thought of the monster that had inflicted a world of pain and agony upon them all.

    She would get over it in time, a bowl of noodle doing wonders for calming Xiuying's nerves.

    In the end, Xiuying knew full well that if she was to one day meet with her Master once again, she would have to endure much suffering to do so. The Blade Of Want would restore itself quickly according to her Will. She would need to simply continue tempering the Blade of Want until she could just cut away the pain.

    Existence and the act of combat are absolutely no different, and the essence of both, the purity of both, is a singular action, which is Cutting Down Your Opponent. That was the lesson that she had been taught by her master.

    For Xiuying Ten Jiang, there was very little else that would serve her as well in this entire cursed world.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Paulus 12 - Touchstones
  • Sidestory
    • Paulus 12 - Touchstones


    The dream changed.

    I don't know if it was the first time it's happened or if I've just forgotten the previous times. This one is less clear than the dream of Father's death and it feels in a way like I'm observing the entire thing while submerged in deep water. The sounds are echoey and the sights waver strangely, but I can still make out the lines of a small, open courtyard amid the trees. I sit there on a comfortable cloth laid out under the shade of a big leafy plant, the echoes of anticipation ringing clearly in my mind as I gather my bearings.

    A natural spring bubbled up a few meters away and formed into a stream that flowed out of sight. The air was cool and crisp and filled with the calls of birds and wildlife simply going on about their lives. Across from me a woman in flowery robes crouched over a strange iron cylinder capped at one end that she rotated over a flame. The smell of buttery corn and the sound of popping kernels joined the cacophony of the small wooded area and made my stomach grumble audibly.

    The woman looked over at the sound and smiled wryly, communicating with her eyes that the treat would soon be ready and true to her promise she was scooping out popped corn into an extra large bowl less than a minute later.

    The scent attracted a smiling, bald headed and clean shaven man from where he had been standing guard and the man, my father, took a seat behind me and scooped me up into his lap with one hand while he accepted the bowl from the woman, my mother, with his other hand.

    She snuggled up beside him and they shared a brief kiss as I dug into the treat held before me, completely ignoring my parents.

    "Bah, hold on now boy. If you move that quickly there will be none left for your Mother and I." comes the rumbling voice from above my head. He adjusts the position of the bowl so that it is held between all of us and grabs a hefty handful of the treats in a single motion. Mother giggles and takes some for herself and for a while we just sit there in silence, enjoying each other's company along with food.

    It can't last forever.

    Father broaches the topic with audible discomfort but it's not enough to stop him from saying the words.

    "It's time I headed back." he rumbles, and we all know he doesn't mean his guard work.

    Mother shifts slightly and does something I can't see, but she doesn't say anything. Still, father replies as if she'd argued for him to stay.

    "You know I cannot, as much as I want to. The trials are almost here and they will come for me. The enemies of heaven don't get to hide."

    Mother sets the much diminished bowl of popcorn aside and I tumble out of her lap in hot pursuit of the dregs. She lets me go as she turns more fully to face father.

    "No. Even with their sick and twisted games I am still afforded some protections. If I bought you along...you would have no such thing. I cannot defend you from them - no I cannot. I might barely be able to defend myself and the boy."

    A few moments pass in silence after his declaration before he speaks again.

    "I...will not take that risk. It is too early for us to tell if the boy has the gift, but if there is the slightest chance their hunters will come looking here, to you, it is unacceptable. I must take him with me. And...should the worst happen I would not condemn him to a life away from his clan. There are only two fates for us out here, a protected tool to access our stolen heritage or someone else's fortunate encounter. You know this to be true."

    This time, young-me hears something in father's voice and turns just enough to see the two staring at each other. Father's face might as well be cast from iron, but he can't hide the sadness in his voice. Mother doesn't speak - can't speak without breaking her oath - but father understands her all the same. Maybe that's why he's father and not just some guard.

    "I have already stayed too long. If I run I should be able to make it back before they catch me out of the defenses. I will return once these trials are over." He says and then flashes her the most forced smile I've ever seen, "Besides, that should give your Matron some time to cool off once she discovers what happened here. I'll be gone no more than a decade."

    She rolls her eyes at him, a brief smile breaking across her face before she sashays over to me and picks me up. She takes a long, silent look at me and then kisses me on the forehead. It's warm and cool at the same time and spreads across my entire body like a hug, and she follows it up with an actual hug!

    "Well now, if there was a hope of hiding it before there certainly isn't one now. That Matron of yours will throw a fit when she comes here and finds you've already used the blessing. Any chance you have another one for me?"

    Mother walks over and places me firmly in his hands. Father smiles and bends down to kiss his wife one last time. Then the dream ends.

    And this time, I remember.

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

    I limped back to Golden Devil lands after twenty years of hiding, sneaking, observing, and acting interspersed with brief periods of extreme danger and more than one near death experience. One of them even managed to finally break Filia's defensive charm, so I was in need of a new life saving measure after all these years. The result?

    Two Jingshen Scions, dead. Their plots, ruined. Xin Kingdom, free of Jingshen smuggling operations...for a little while. The entire thing blew up much further than I ever expected. Somehow my investigation dovetailed with some major clan moves against the Jingshen and I once again found myself working with dozens of people out of sheer necessity despite orders to the contrary.

    I wonder how far in advance Strategos Merida set me up. I'd have to buy her a fruit basket or something.

    All told this was the busiest twenty years of my life so far, and that was saying something given what my life has been like, and the only thing I could about was how tired I was. My body was still full of energy - I don't think I've slept more than a day per month, or needed to, since I hit the 10th heavenstage - but I was still tired. Cultivation isn't everything.

    Phantom pains plagued me, whatever it was those Jingshen bastards did to me I was still paying for it even now. Bruises and wounds long since healed by cultivator tinctures and secret techniques pained me as if they were fresh even with my body visibly unblemished. My left leg sometimes failed to obey commands which left me limping across the desert all on my lonesome trying to get home. Flight was...unwise if you couldn't trust your stance.

    I'm tired.

    I wanted nothing more than to find a nice inn and relax for the next decade but that wasn't in the cards. A paper crane found me the moment I crossed back into Golden Devil lands and it contained an invitation I wouldn't refuse. That was how I found myself in the middle of nowhere with nothing around but sand, stone, and a squat building made entirely out of the latter. It was the only thing around for hours of travel, and that was quite a bit of distance at cultivator speeds, limping or not.

    It wasn't very large, just a few steps over a shack and very crude in appearance, but it was built to last with array script worked into the structure and I spotted the beginnings of an array system in the surrounding grounds. This place was definitely approved by the Clan or it wouldn't be allowed out here, even in the middle of nowhere. A sign made of pressed sandstone read 'Sultan's Bar and Grill'.

    Lines of gleaming array script sprung to life on the sturdy stone door as I raised my hand to push it open. The proximity array registered the motion and the door swung open on silent hinges before I could so much as touch it, giving me full access to the interior of.

    The bar itself was a small place; Cramped would be a generous descriptor. It only had five stools nearly rammed together in front of a counter made of polished stone which separated the narrow seating area from an equally confined back bar space.

    It was the kind of place I would have walked by even as a mortal street rat and as a cultivator I would have done the same if it wasn't for its occupants.

    A massive mountain of flesh and muscle in the shape of a man had squeezed in behind the bar counter. His big, meaty fingers moved with uncanny dexterity as he prepared a cocktail of some gleaming blue liquid. The man wore puffy maroon pants with a belt of golden silk holding it up and little else by way of clothing, save for vambraces and an Usekh collar made of polished bronze. He looked up as I entered and nodded stoically in my direction, pausing only to flick his eyes at an empty seat before returning his attention to his work.

    Spiros hadn't changed a bit.

    He slid a plate of perfectly crisped Pebbleback Boar Bites in front of me as I all but collapsed onto the stool and pointed at the corner with his eyes where a bundle of blankets covering something in the vague shape of a human was curled up.

    "Leto." he whispered, confirming my suspicions, "She's been working on the array schema all by herself. Finally got her to take a break."

    I nodded in understanding. You didn't own anything lasting in this desert if you didn't have a quality city array to act as a foundation. If left to its own devices the desert would reclaim any structure, regardless of the size, within a few decades. That may seem like a long time but to a cultivator it really, really isn't. Case in point, my last ten to fifteen years could count as one single outing.

    "Do you know where her designs are? I've gotten pretty good with the formations so maybe I can help."

    Spiros reached under the counter with one hand and pulled out a fancy looking jade slip while he poured the drink into a tall, narrow glass with the other, then he slid the pair over to me with a flourish. The drink had transformed slightly in creation. What was once a brightly glowing - if uniform - blue was now a layered gradient of light to dark starting from the top. Every now and again a blob of darker liquid shaped like some kind of beast would swim through the lighter layers before dipping back into the layer that matched its shade and vanishing from sight.

    "The Hidden Depths." Spiros announced as I took in the weirdly active drink.

    "What does it do?"

    "Gets you drunk." he said with a shrug.

    I rolled my eyes and took a sip as I tapped the jade slip on my forehead. Diagrams and array schema unfolded in my mind and...I couldn't understand any of it. I didn't recognize a single part of this entire setup from all my years working with formations. Some of those lines looked like they might be for carrying qi but - no I have no idea what that spiral is or why it has zig-zag squiggles on it.

    I slid the jade slip back across the counter and Spiros tucked it away with a commiserating nod.

    "She understands that?" I asked.

    "She made it." he replied factually.

    On one hand I felt like an idiot for not understanding what was on the slip, but on the other hand? Pure pride for Leto.

    "I always knew she was a genius."

    "Mmm."

    I stared at my multilayered drink in silence for a full minute as Spiros put the jade slip back where it came from and started working on another two drinks, one a vibrant green and the other a deep magenta. A navy blue three-ringed saber-shark barely avoided a sky blue flood dragon as it retreated into its layer and vanished. I took a sip, cutting into the flood dragon's territory with impunity.

    "Filia? Korina?"

    Instead of replying, Spiros pointed at the door with his elbow seconds before it opened up and admitted the two in question. If I thought Korina looked old before then she was ancient now. Her hair had gone fully grey and her skin was leathery and wrinkled, but even so she stood tall as she walked and radiated an inner youth that convinced me she had several good years left in her still as she walked in wearing a simple magenta sundress.

    Filia was...almost the same as the last time I saw her. She was a little taller and cultivation had firmly extinguished any of the signs from living on the streets by now. Her hair was in a long braid and she had lost an eye at some point, judging from the scarring around the eyepatch it was a long time ago. She, like me, wore Legionnaire armour and carried a spear with her, but she had some kind of green shoulder cape slung over one side.

    Filia noticed the sleeping Leto first and tapped Korina on the shoulder, stopping her shout of joy in its tracks. The two instead walked over and exchanged hugs with Spiros and I before slipping into their seats, just in time for Spiros to hand slide over their drinks.

    "For Filia, Emerald Throne," a syrupy thick green liquid that seemed fit to climb out of its glass and fight somebody, "and for Korina, Sunset Hues." Another multi layered drink but this one in reds, blues, and purples one would find in a particularly spectacular sunset. Another two platters of Pebbleback Boar Bites joined them and Korina began chowing down with gusto.

    For a full minute everyone just ate and drank and the only noises were sounds of appreciation and the clinking of glass on stone. If this was how it was going to go then maybe I'd get away wi-

    "So, Paulus. " Filia began

    Crap.

    "It's been a while since you came around. We were starting to wonder if you'd died on the front lines when you didn't answer our letters." she continued, jiggling her glass around and watching the slimy liquid suffer.

    "Ah, well you know how it is. I just -"

    "If it wasn't for that nice Legionnaire, Atria wasn't it? Why we'd never have found out where you went." Korina said with a smile, sipping on her transforming drink.

    "Guys, please -"

    "But you made it to the wedding didn't you? Conveniently after the rest of us left?" Filia cut me off again.

    "Do you really think I planned-"

    "And after that you vanished on undercover work without coming to find the rest of us or say you'd passed through or anything" Filia rolled her eyes and interrupted.

    "Look, I'm sorry."

    The two finally stopped interrupting and watched me expectantly. Spiros had just kept cleaning behind the bar silently the whole time as bartenders seemed to do whenever you weren't directly looking at them. He was going to be no help in defending myself, and to be honest I owed him an explanation too.

    "I'm… I'm sorry I just - I'm guessing you heard about the snake." I paused and received nods of affirmation from Korina and Filia, so I continued, "Yea well I thought that was it for my career and well, I was ashamed to come talk to you guys alright?"

    The three around me exchanged a silent look and then turned back to me. Then as one they slapped my upside the head.

    "OW! What the hell?" I was pretty tough now but I can't say I expected to be hit by my friends! Not even a super cultivator would be fine getting hit by a rock if it was a surprise.

    "By the Bronze, Paulus. You really don't change, do you?" Korina asked while shaking the pain from her hand.

    "After all this time you're still the same guy that tried to leave us back in Singing Beast Town." Filia sighed with exasperation.

    "Hey, excuse me for trying to save my pride." I grumped

    "Please, I've seen you run through the street naked while being chased by sand lizards." Filia countered. Spiros pulled a weak healing treasure from under the shelf and pressed it on Korina's wrist as we spoke. What the hell did he have down there?

    "That was one time!"

    "You didn't have any dignity left for a second pass."

    "Ugh." I slammed my head into the cool stone bar. They were right, I knew they were right. I should have depended on them and not been an idiot, but my heart just wasn't in it. A meaty hand clapped me on the shoulder and I looked up to Spiros' commiserating look.

    "Boss. It's okay to be weak sometimes."

    RUMBLE

    The beat on Paulus hour stopped abruptly as everyone looked up at the sound of thunder overhead. It was a deep, rolling sound like the beat of a thousand war drums in the distance. The faint scent of ozone filled the very much sealed room. Crap.

    "...that wasn't me. Was that you, Boss?" Spiros asked, looking at his ceiling thoughtfully.

    "...yea I think so." I replied. My breakthrough was coming, and it was closer than I expected.

    "Better get moving then. We just built this place." He smiled as he said it but nevertheless gestured urgently to the door.

    I leapt up from the seat and made my way over when a hand grabbed the edge of my armour and I looked down to see Filia staring at me with her good eye.

    "Hey. You better come back here once you're done or not even heaven will save you from what's coming." Her iris glowed with emerald light and for a moment I saw the illusion of a distant throne in a palace of green gems before she released me and it faded.

    Heaven wasn't usually in the business of saving Golden Devils but that display just reminded me that I still hadn't felt Filia's cultivation and illusions from pressure were a very rare phenomenon. So I kept that retort sealed deep in my chest.

    I was stopped again by the sound of cloth rubbing on cloth as Leto stood up from the corner, still wrapped in a sheet. She focused two bleary eyes on me and stumbled over to press her forehead against my breastplate with a (rather painful sounding) clonk.

    "Don't run away next time. Dummy." she mumbled into my chest.

    Ugh. Dammit this girl really knew my weak points.

    I mumbled a promise to return and gave her a kiss on the head that she waved away tiredly before staggering back over to her corner and curling into a sheet ball.

    My friends, my family, still had my back.

    Now it was time to prove myself worth it.

    -----------------
    -----------------
    Wordcount: 3277

    Ladies and gentlemen that brings the total to 40,006 words. It's time for my boy to break through.
    @TehChron @no.

    pls
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Aliki Floros 11 - In the Thick of It
  • Sidestory
    • Aliki Floros
    In the Thick of It
    ​
    The Hundred Year Trials--a centennial calamity that befalls the Golden Devil Clan, bringing low their best and brightest at the hands of heartless and wicked cultivators from beyond the Third Sea--each bearing power far beyond all but the best of the best the Clan could offer. They had nigh unlimited resources, Dao Protectors of horrifying power enforcing horribly one-sided rules--and most importantly, they were just so nasty in general!

    Aliki could see why nobody liked them! The really bad Trials were before her time, but this stretch? Rotten people end to end really!

    Her claws sunk deep into the foe who face her--bronze-tipped razors slipping past their wards and soft-armor to plunge deep into their chest. She shuddered as Blood Essence began to pour into her body, filtered by the [Tree of Death] into new reserves of Ichor before the Fifth Sea Hunter's token burst and they were pulled off of her impalement. She settled to the ground, tendrils of black and red folding back into her arms and put her hands on her hips, pouting. "How rude!" She sniffed. "All of that funny talk and they didn't even stick around for lunch."

    The sound of clashing steel and magic arts continued to rage behind her--but she pivoted in a twirl of loose fabric and hair to view the battle behind her. Qi Condensation fighting Qi Condensation! Foundation Establishment fighting Foundation Establishment! All holding their ground and giving as good as they're getting, as any proper fair match needs to be.

    Oh sure, the Golden Devils were getting their arses handed to them in general, but the legendary vitality of the Clan allowed them to keep getting back up, and eventually even lucking out to hit the Tokens and eliminate their opponents! It was a courageous act of heroism that was definitely not being cheated in some fashion.

    Because Aliki had read the stories as the Trials came up! Taking advantage of her new authority as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to get into the better records, and she found that apparently seniors healing juniors? Well, it didn't count as interfering beneath your level--there was that evil Core lady from the last trial and she didn't get eliminated after all!

    Of course, it's ludicrous to rule against that--why would you need to? Healing medicines are the only effective technique in the middle of battle, and why eliminate something that you held all of the advantages on?

    Aliki licked her lips--and the jungle that was her hair rippled--tiny strands flickering with clear qi as she channeled another strand of Ichor to the most injured. They didn't count on her body being special though! It was Aliki's First Original Technique! The [Lifeweb Binding!] Oh sure her hair was supposed to be used to grab onto anything that got too close to her and wring their blood out for easier consumption while keeping them at bay--but what goes one way can go two ways! All she had to do is run the Divine Ability in reverse and she could send Ichor over to anyone. As a universal blood replacement, that meant she could use the [Art of Transfusion] all that she wanted to stimulate and galvanize the Blood used by other members of the Clan!

    That she also floated a bit and radiated clear light as the technique operated also made her look very scary and very cool--even her eyes glowed a bit in that state! It made the bad guy seniors come right at her, babble things in their funny language and then jump at her--and then swish! boom! She got good meals and could share with everyone else so they could handle their bad guys!

    It was a brilliant strategy that couldn't fail! Her cultivation base after all was just barely in Foundation Establishment--not even worth a moment's notice by the real super elites, and the ones who thought they could punch down?

    Hehehe, they found themselves very surprised! Mister Spoon got a couple, and she got a couple more, and there was always stuff to hand out to the growing band of Legionnaires that seemed to think following her around was a good idea. Did this mean she was making friends? Is this what it was like to have lots of friends?

    Who knows! But she liked the feeling, she liked the validation, and she liked people calling her Lady Aliki because it was flattering! She was important now and people liked and respected her! No more being the creepy girl with big hair and a burning stare!

    She hummed a little tune as the last of the Fifth Sea Hunters were Eliminated or retreated, her hair gently letting her back down to her feet as she pulled back on the strands that bound her vitality with the others--the ones who were only slightly injured left to recover on their own while other strands intensified on the more badly injured ones--until they could get back on their feet.

    "So!" Aliki clapped her hands together and smiled--remembering to keep her teeth hidden this time!--"We're making great time and keeping our losses down, do we have any idea of where a good place to move towards is?"

    There's a rumbling of noise from the little Legionnaires--and one raised a hand, a smart looking young man with a pack full of array-tools and communication receivers. "We've gotten word from the Network that there's some lunatic Super Chosen flying all over the place and headhunting our Foundation Cultivators." He explained. "It's a big winding road, but it looks like the Shining One's moving to take the fight to Pleuron--so we should avoid that place if we don't want to be collateral damaged."

    "Wasn't someone making a stand there?" Aliki wondered, getting a bunch of shrugs from the group. "Well, I'm sure it'll be just fine if we avoid that path of destruction! We're just a small bunch, right?"

    "We're bigger than we started..." Another fellow mentioned. "And more come for every fight we intervene on--we're becoming a bigger target."

    "Well, that's just natural!" Aliki lets a little teeth show this time. "The more bad guys that fight, the better my healing magics get! If enough of them come in, I can just go." She makes a snapping gesture with one of her hands. "Shnick Shnick and then everyone does even better!"

    "What happens if you run into someone too tough to handle that way though?" The first fellow asked--and Aliki shrugged. "I guess we die then? But I mean, maybe we'll live, and you can't just act assuming you're going to die the moment you try to do something good!" She crossed her arms and puffed herself up. "We're the good guys here after all, and that means saving as many lives as we can while breaking as many of the bad guys that come for us! If we just run and hide, doesn't that mean the bad guys win?"

    She shakes her head, hair billowing like an ebon cloud. "So nope! We're going to beat the bad guys by letting me turn their cultivation into healing magic!" She pumps a fist in the air. "So just follow me and I'll do my best to keep everyone in one piece!"

    There's cheers... Of a sort anyway--it wasn't one of those big booming 'Yeahs!' you heard from a fully organized Legion on the march--but that was okay! These were people she had saved, and she didn't need enthusiasm to do her job anyway!

    She had taken on the path of the [Red Queen], and any Queen needs a Kingdom, right? This is just the first step in her rise to become a great heroine!
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Paulus 13 - A New Dao
  • Sidestory
    • Paulus 13 - A New Dao


    What does it mean to be weak?

    This is what goes through my mind as I sit on a lonely peak in the middle of nowhere.

    Okay so the peak is more like a big rock but it was the best place I could find far away from everyone else before the sky started rumbling too much for me to feel comfortable pushing on. So now I sat cross legged on a random boulder jutting out of the sand circulating my qi as I 'Ponder the Dao'.

    Back in first heavenstage Titus, my squad medico, had asked me what my Dao was and I didn't really have an answer. For a while I thought it might have been understanding people but that doesn't really fit.

    What does it mean to be weak?

    As I grew in strength some things became clearer to me. Like why I was so driven to join the Clan, or why it had taken me so long to break through from the first heavenstage.
    Or what happened to my Father.

    RUMBLE

    Yea yea shut up heaven I'll get to you in a sec.

    I've only taken two really serious injuries since I broke through the first heavenstage. I'm not talking anything you can heal in a couple weeks with some medicine and bedrest, I'm talking real problems that would take decades of work to really get over. The first was a blood attack from a foundation level cannibal back under Strategos Merida that wiped out everyone in the group I was with except me. The second was a soul attack from that Jingshen punk.

    I was still hurting from that one.

    But funnily enough both of those big hurts knocked something loose. The blood attack swept out some kind of artificial block in my meridians that, once removed, shot me up from sixth to ninth heavenstage in one go. The soul attack...well that one just let me remember the Dream. I remembered what he said, and realized why that part of the dream always came back around. The first thing I asked him every time.

    "Dad, why are we running?"
    "We run because we are weak, child."

    RUMBLE

    Weakness was a constant presence in my life.
    I was weak, so Romanallis tried to step on me.
    I was weak, so the Clan brats tried to push us around in training.
    I was weak, so the Blasphemer Beast saw us as a snack.
    I was weak, so I hid after my failures.
    I was weak, so now heaven was trying to smite me down.

    RUMBLE

    "Take no offense young Captain, I do not mean it as an insult. When I say you are weak, I mean that you are skilled in weakness."

    But that was right too.
    Because I was weak, I pulled one over on Meathead and got my family out to a better life.
    Because I was weak, I taught my squad to dance to help them master the Hoplite.
    Because I was weak, I recognized what the Beast was doing and ruined its plans.
    Because I was weak, I beat (well, tied with) Merida in Ludus and got a second chance.
    Because I am weak, heaven will not strike me.

    And it's okay to be weak, right Spiros?

    The thunder rumbled in an incredulous way and the shadows around me deepened as the cloud cover thickened. Tribulation clouds built and built until I couldn't see anything in front of me. The wind picked up until I was deaf. Ozone filled my lungs and the static tingle of imminent death surged over my skin. I could see nothing else, hear nothing else, taste nothing else, smell nothing else, and feel nothing else. Tribulation was imminent and I sat down to wait for it.

    I wonder what would be jostled loose next.

    The rumbles paused. The sky hesitated.

    The truth of Weakness rung in my head, separated from the world, from everything.
    The desert was weak.
    The ocean was weak.
    The clouds were weak.
    I am weak, and will forever be weak, but like the rest I would endure whatever came my way.

    So don't keep me waiting you bastards. I'll take everything you can dish out and make it my own strength.

    RUMBLE

    The storm hesitated, crackling with Tribulation. They knew it to be true, what I could become, but could not stop. Tribulation, once called, could not be turned away. But it could be changed.

    The clouds thinned, and I could see.
    The thunder grew quiet, and I could hear.
    The lightning grew weaker, and I could feel.
    The wind blew freely again, and I could taste my victory.

    I looked up and there were still clouds overhead, a fraction of what they could be and the least threat they could manage. It wouldn't dissipate - It couldn't relent completely and keep me here forever - but it would drag it out as long as it could. The trials were soon, a Tribulation of another sort was coming, and I already felt it in my bones that the bums up in heaven would wait for the absolute worst time to join forces and knock me down a peg.

    I blinked and the insights slipped away like sand through my fingers and I was just Paulus again.

    I was already Foundation Building, I could feel it, but it was a miniscule improvement. The power that was mine was slowly trickling into me in drips and drabs instead of the torrent I knew to expect, but it was coming. I'd broken through.

    Now there was only one thing left to do.

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

    I swept the flap of the war tent aside and stepped through still stinking of ozone and with electric streamers jumping through my hair.

    "Nabu! I've come to bargain!"

    The man in question was seated by an extra large Ludus board with a hundred lines each way and an entire second board sitting above it on stilts that only had core formation pieces on it. The bronze toothed man glanced up at me as I entered before turning back to his game and shifting a core formation piece from the upper board to the lower board where it took out a duo of formation building experts that had been threatening his position. His opponent clicked her tongue and moved her own core formation pieces across the upper board, threatening his ascent with a pincer formation.

    "Ah, Paulus. I was wondering when you'd get here. Your armour is over there." he said distractedly, gesturing at a corner of the tent.

    A shiny new set of armour stood on a rack in said corner, looking subtly different from the normal Legionnaire armour with a few extra plates and tight array script lining each one. The helmet sported a tall red crest and more robust cheekguards as well as the symbols of higher office. It was Centurion gear.

    "What?"

    "What what, Centurion? I thought the situation was very clear." Nabu muttered in his strangely resonating voice, still focused on the board in front of him.

    "Is that all you have to say?" I spluttered.

    "Do you expect me to say something else?"

    "IT'S BEEN SIXTY YEARS!"

    "Yes you certainly did drag your feet, didn't you?" Nabu replied evenly.

    His opponent glanced over and the honey gold eyes of Strategos Merida met my own for the briefest instant before lightning jumped off my arm and struck my nose, forcing me to look away.

    "Ow." I complained in a manly fashion.

    "Just take the promotion Paulus." She chuckled, turning back to the game.
    "You were in on this too, huh?" I still couldn't look at her, but I swore I heard the smile in her voice as she replied.

    "Oh yes. We take bets on how standout talents are going to do and after you entered my service, why Nabu couldn't hide your potential any longer. You almost lost me quite a bit of savration."

    A million complaints ran through my mind in an instant, but instead of saying any of them I just threw my hands in the air and stomped over to gather up my 'new gear'.

    "Fine. Whatever. It's always some hidden shadowy stuff in the upper ranks. You guys better hope I don't surpass you or it's gonna be like this all the time." I grumbled.

    "Oh I quite hope you do, Paulus." Merida murmured as she refocused on her game, "You'll lose me quite a bit more otherwise."

    Nabu clicked his tongue, a weirdly metallic sound, and Merida quieted down with a chuckle.

    "Get out of here, boy, before your friend here gets herself disqualified for affecting the results."

    I shook my head and headed for the tent flaps with the new armour bundled under my arm. This wasn't exactly the triumphant return I'd expected but I'd take it. I took half a step outside and was immediately met by the sound of one hundred pairs of feet snapping to attention and the roar of fists on breastplates.

    "Century salute!"

    A wordless roar erupted from a hundred mouths and blasted me with sound as my new century apparently gathered to greet me in front of the war tent. How the hell would they have known?

    "Oh and Centurion?" I turned to find Nabu standing right behind me, a devilish grin plastered on his face.

    "Welcome back."

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

    Word Count: 1560

    Put this one out in a hurry. The last of the omakes that I'd really envisioned before trials. I'm glad I got it done in time.
    Finally got to put Paulus' Dao out there. The Dao of Weakness is one I've been excited about since maybe two turns in and I'm glad that everything ultimately came together as I'd hoped with the breakthrough by the trials after he arrived.

    Time to see if it was a good decision. Time to save some Juniors.

    Next up is trials stuff, centurion stuff, Dao stuff, and the first real long term arcs.

    @TehChron @no. Pls
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Yang Fangxu 3 - How to Prepare For Lunatics Descending From the Sky (Part One)
  • Sidestory
    • Yang Fangxu 3: How to Prepare For Lunatics Descending From the Sky (Part One)

    Years after his first encounter with the foul-mouthed barbarian chef, Aristophanes was confused out of his fucking mind.

    Oh, things had definitely been difficult. Despite his initial relief at the end of that very long day serving a bowl of (admittedly extremely delicious, if not miraculous) fried rice to tired soldier after tired soldier, it turned out that when the Centurion had informed the two of them that the noble scion of Sarantapechos was to be assigned to her command for the duration of their cultivation period, he meant it. From then on, Aristophanes had been assigned to her squad for every single training exercise. From then on, Aristophanes had been forced to master what he had previously deemed to be work beneath his station, under the strict and foulmouthed eye of a barbarian girl a full head shorter than himself!

    Even his lone hope for getting out from under such an insult of a command, his beloved father, had been forced to let him be. Apparently, several figures from higher up in the Clan hierarchy really found potential in Fangxu's supposed culinary cultivation, hoping that the spread of her teachings would coincide with a transformation in the Clan's ability to maximize its supplies. And who better than someone of the trusted line of Sarantapechos to serve as a role model in guiding an outsider through the finer ways of the Golden Devils? Quietly, his father told him of the favors and the permitted considerations given to his struggling family in exchange for the placement of his only son. Slowly, Aristophanes read between the lines of what his father didn't--couldn't--say.

    His family didn't think that it was worth fighting on his behalf. It found that these meagre benefits outweighed the sole, singularly-paid cost.

    He just...wasn't a good enough seed in their eyes.

    ...some days, he wonders if his family was right.

    Yet even these small considerations were heavenly compared to the hell that stood in the form of that girl.

    That. Girl.


    "Alright, so I     didn't actually catch your name yesterday. If the Centurion says you're going be sticking around me for the time being then I might as well hear what it is sooner than later."

    "I assure you, chef, there is no chance of me 'sticking around' for any longer--someone from as noble a line as     I am is meant for more than something like simple cooki--"

    "You really want me to call you copper-ass all day?"

    "..."

    "You can bet that I'd fuckin' do it too. Gab it out."

    "...very well. My name is Aristophanes Sarantapechos of the noble Sarantapechos line, one of the oldest and most respected--"

    "Wait wait wait, hold up. A-ri-what?"

    "Aristophanes Sarantapechos."

    "What the fuck, that's around a bajillion syllables. My name is three fucking syllables long. How do you people even get anything done?!"

    "IT'S WORKED FINE FOR US OVER THOUSANDS OF MILLENIA!"

    "A-ris--A-ri-su-to...A-ri-su-to-fan--fuck it I give up. Yeah, I'll just call you Fan-fan."


    THAT FUCKING GIRL.

    Fine then,     he'd thought at the time. So he was being forced to learn a trade that was actually a lot harder to master than he'd previously thought. So his esteemed family had given up on him. So he was stuck with a pet name so far beneath his station that it genuinely cracked his pride every time someone referred to him as such.

    (Fan-fan.     Really.)

    This was all fine.

    He'd prove them wrong. He'd prove all of them wrong. Was he not a scion of the Sarantapechos line? Was he not a member of one of the most ancient, most noble, and most powerful families of the Golden Devil Clan? So what if his family was on the decline? So what if even they themselves thought that he hadn't the aptitude, nor even the will to succeed?

    He'd show them--he would cultivate--he would shed sweat, blood, and tears until his instructors were forced to acknowledge his ancestral birthright. He'd outpace whatever meagre attempts at true cultivation that his supposed "leader" could muster until the Centurion was forced to acknowledge that he was meant for command!

    After all, Aristophanes had already taken Aspirant Yang Fangxu's measure--abrasive, constantly furious, and single-mindedly devoted to her craft. Yes, he admitted that her genuine skill in that area was worthy of respect. He could even admit that her ability to derive delicious dishes into serving as heaven-defying elixirs and panaceas in spite of what were thought to be the limitations of her ingredients was truly a sign of a genius in that field. But what about the cultivation of the body and of the gathering of Qi? How could someone so enamored with the "culinary arts" shine in this aspect? Yes, logic said that he would outpace an Aspirant dedicated to a life of support, and shine in sheer comparison to an outsider...

    Except.

    Except that girl stayed ahead of him every step of the way.

    2nd Heavenstage a whole week before his own. 3rd Heavenstage an entire month ahead of him. He didn't understand--rings had been forming under his eyes from staying up in search of opportunities to fund his own cultivation, from dedicating sleepless nights to small step after small step of advancement up the ladder of cultivation. He had been giving it his all, abandoning everything, anything for the sake of his ambition. He had even given up visiting his family compound for years now, the parties and eventful occasions of his youth mere memories...

    What had shocked him even more were the rings forming under her own eyes. Slightly unscrupulous spying revealed to him that after long days of constant cooking and scrounging Contribution points were followed by painstaking cultivation just as exhausting as his own, accompanied only by the rhythmic sounds and the long stretching shadows of the night. Just as driven, just as disciplined as any true member of the Clan......and just as desperate as his own.

    It shook him to his core.

    He didn't understand. What was driving her so? Simple ambition? A sense of duty to the Clan that she constantly ridiculed and dismissed? A sense of responsibility to her parents, her relatives, her family?

    ...did Fangxu even have a family?

    ......could it have been the coming Trials? No, Aristophanes thought. That couldn't be right either. After all, he and the rest of the poor souls consigned to learning her teachings well knew what she thought--when one younger boy had asked the chef if she had been worried for the coming invaders during a short break, the girl had simply snorted and mentioned her supposed "secondary plan" of simply hiding under a rock and breaking some teleportation slip she was able to purchase if she really needed to. Really, that girl was foolishly fearless at the thought of danger...

    He didn't understand. Days passed, and as he watched the leader of his squad continue as she had done before, he just...couldn't understand. He thought he had understood her. He was so confused.

    .........and then suddenly, coming out of the blue, Yang Fangxu approached the young scion privately, and with an uncharacteristically pleading expression on her face, formally requested his assistance.



    ??????????????????????????????



    ---

    Poor Fan-fan sure has it rough, huh? What's Fangxu's deal?

    (I'd like an LST please.)
     
  • Sidestory
    • Gaius Antonius 51 - Earthly Ties
  • Sidestory
    • Gaius Antonius Omake # 51: Earthly Ties, Part 1

    Flumenus was a rare jewel of a city in the desert, built alongside the Laughing Father river. Its ability to grow bountiful crops without the aid of constant array maintenance made it an important breadbasket for settlements all across western Golden Devil territory. Off this crucial role, the city had grown fat, swelling up like creepers of ivy and growing farther down the river in both directions. In the modern day, it had a population of 200,000.

    Flumenus was not the kind of city that got menaced; it was too important for that. Over a dozen Centurions lived within its walls, ensuring it was protected from any and all normal dangers.

    What was happening today was not, generally speaking, normal.

    Deafening roars shook the foundations of every house, and powerful gusts of wind swept over the city again and again. The mortals hid in their houses, completely helpless, and the cultivators stood at standby, preparing to fight back should things escalate. It would, after all, be foolish to start a fight with a dragon if you didn't have to.

    Those of a more pedantic persuasion would tell you that the furious beast flying in circles above Flumenus, blasting fire into the sky and sweeping up the wind every which way, was not a dragon. Rather, it was a dragonfish, a Core Formation level being which held the potential to become a dragon.

    Its body was long and muscular, but lacked the sinuous qualities of a true dragon, instead being proportionally thicker in the torso and bearing large fins on its sides, head and back. Its mouth retained some piscine qualities, but this was distorted by the large and prominent fangs which filled it. The scales of the beast's body were a vivid red, and is spiny fins were green.

    No, this was technically not a dragon, but if you were to say that, almost no one would care. To the people of Flumenus, this was a dragon in any way that mattered, a furious beast with the power of a natural disaster. Divine punishment incarnate, but punishment for what? What had these people done to warrant such a display of wrath?

    In a mid-sized house in one of the outer districts, Qiu Mei gazed out the window at the obscenely rare sight, overcome by a strange mix of awe and sadness. She could not put a finger on why, but something about the beast's bearing seemed to indicate a heavy sorrow, the type that comes straight from the heart and not the belly. The old woman clutched the windowsill tightly, which made her fingers faintly ache.

    "Mother, it's too dangerous! Close the window!" A voice called out behind her. A handsome middle-aged man with droopy eyes and a small pointy beard put his hands on her shoulders and gently coaxed her away from the window, before closing and locking it. "We must keep the doors and windows shut against wind like this, or they'll be blown off their hinges. You know that."

    Qiu Mei sighed. "Oh dear, I'm sorry; I should know that. I suppose that big brute had me mesmerized."

    "I understand what you mean, it's an impressive sight. But I'd rather keep all of us safe, even if it means we miss the view." her son continued to gently chide her, leading her down to the basement.

    ----

    After a few hours, the mysterious assailnt left, having done relatively little damage. A few houses of particularly shoddy construction had been blown away, and some others had been damaged by debris, but no one was killed by the event. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the dragonfish could have massacred the city, caught unprepared as it was, and yet they lived. There could be only one conclusion; the dragonfish did not wish them dead.

    For what reason, then, had it put on such a terrifying show, such a harrowing display of power? Many rumors circulated through the city within a day. A stolen treasure, an ancient sin, a warning from heaven, all this and more was bandied about by the paranoid and awestruck citizens, both mortal and not. While the events of that day had been a thing of indescribable magnitude, the crops still had to be grown and goods still had to be traded.

    Not so the second time. Once more, the dragonfish, brimming with anger and aglow from within with a mysterious light that shined outward from between its scales, menaced Flumenus. This time, it was not so gentle. It released waves of power which shook the earth, causing houses to crumble. It burned their crops, but suddenly stopped a mere tenth of the way through. It summoned far greater windstorms to flatten a small district, but only after half an hour of roaring, scaring away the inhabitants and sparing them the fate of their homes. And then, once more, the beast left.

    This time, there was no debate: this was a warning. The dragonfish wanted something, and its attacks would grow ever more brutal until it got it. An Armageddon in the making would soon come if Flumenus could not appease the beast.

    ----

    In remarkably short order, the Dawn Fortress responded. Losing such an economically important city, this close to the Centennial Trials? Absolutely unacceptable, and immense resources would be spared to save it. Two legions, the 245th and 323rd, arrived at Flumenus within two weeks; an absolutely absurd pace for an army on the march. Even for the superhuman speed of a Cultivator, Mei didn't understand how they could have possibly covered such a distance in that time. The ways of immortals remained, as ever, mysterious.

    The purpose of these legions' presence went without saying; to investigate the reasons behind the dragonfish's attacks, and to slay it if it could not be appeased. To kill a draconic spirit beast was a severely taboo act, thought to spell doom upon one's entire family line, but in times like these, economics trumped superstition.

    The 245th, as Mei would later learn, was made up of around 4000 Cultivators, and the 323rd of around 4500. Over eight thousand immortals had come to Flumenus, an unbelievably high number. In such droves, the individual feeling of unearthly power that marked them seemed to fade away, melting them into a single, impossibly mighty force. But among their gleaming ranks, two stars stood out immediately.

    Legates. In theory, Mei knew that such people existed, but it was a word that meant nothing to her before that day. Legionnaires were strange and exceptional beings, and above them stood the Centurions; extrordinary heroes, each and every one worthy of reknown. With her limited understanding of Cultivators, she didn't even have the language to describe what a Legate would be. Supposedly, for every one hundred Legionnaires there was one Centurion, and for every one hundred Centurions there was one Legate.

    The first of the two was a stoic man with an immense build and close-cut hair. His face was oddly thin and delicate-looking in contrast to his thick muscles, and there was a serpent-like quality to his features. This was Elder Icarus.

    The second of these transcendent beings was A woman with impossibly long hair, at least twelve feet of it, tied up in an incredibly intricate braid which brought it to waist-level. The coldness in her face was palpable, sending shivers down the backs of anyone who looked her way. This was Elder Ateia.

    While those two were the most impactful sight of all, the massive number of immortals in town brought an immediately apparent change to the city even when they weren't around. Things felt more important, more far-reaching. Even a simple trip to the market was a daunting thing, in front of this many Cultivators.

    Mei still went to the markets, of course - it simply had to be done. But the friendly atmosphere of the trip was gone. A fundamental dourness seeped into every conversation and transaction. Everyone's words were colored by the weight of how dangerous the situation was, and how important the coming days would be. It really was true what they say: no one wants to be a part of a historical event.

    That was when she saw him.

    Tall enough to stand out in a crowd. Lean, though no longer gaunt like he was as a boy. His hair still long and fluffy, and still carrying that timid consideration in every movement, like a cat eyeing something unfamiliar warily. It was Gaius.

    For just a moment, the old woman stopped and hesitated; was that really Gaius, or was it someone else who looked like him? If she was wrong and bothered an immortal, things might get bad depending on this man's temperament. Furthermore, if that really was Gaius, then who was to say if he would even wish to be acknowledged by someone from his old mortal life? Indeed, it was known that many mortals who rose into the ranks of a great sect would endeavor to leave all of their old memories behind forever. Had Gaius spurned the boy he once was, ashamed that he was ever so weak?

    ...Oh, to hell with it. If the boy she once knew would do something like that, then he wasn't Gaius anymore, but something else. Mei would risk it. She carefully approached the man, staying out of his direct view, but not so far behind him that it looked like she was sneaking. "Excuse me, my lord. Please forgive my rudeness, but... would you happen to be Gaius Antonius?"

    The Legionnaire turned around curiously, and... oh, wow. What in the world had happened to make him so... pretty? There really wasn't any word for it; every feature on Gaius' face, from the convex curvature of his nose to the prominent cheekbones to the slight cleft in his chin, worked together to produce a face like a work of art. It was undeniably the same face, but it had gained some kind of otherworldly quality that Mei struggled to quantify. "Hello there, I am. Can I... help..." His voice trailed off as he studied the old woman's face. "Sorry, you reminded me of someone, but... no, your name couldn't be Gao Mei, surely?"

    He did remember! Her face lit up with an expression of true joy. "It's Qiu Mei now, actually. To think, I thought we were saying goodbye forever that day." A few tears ran down her wrinkled face. "It's been... sixty-three years, I believe, yes?"

    This was not supposed to be released as its own thing, but I found a way to cut this brief arc down into a few smaller chapters and found that it improved the pacing. Is it ridiculous to begin yet another unfinished arc? Yes, but I also wanted to get my wordcount up just in case my fate roll comes today. So... I'm sorry, I guess.

    Anyway, I wanted to write a little story about Gaius meeting a mortal who he knew before he started Cultivating, and ended up putting together a story around it, one I'm very fond of. It's set during the first year of turn 10, while Gaius is still healing from his injuries in the Qiguai realm. In addition to having a lot of interesting stuff thematically, this story also lets me write about dragons, which is fun. Though no fully-fledged dragons are showing up in this story; they're just too dang important, being Nascent Souls and all.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Aretaphila Myia X1 - Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down, Tumbling Dooooooown
  • Sidestory
    • Aretaphila Myia X1
    Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down, Tumbling Dooooooooooown​


    Welcome, Legionnaire.

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    The time for the Heavenly Trials approaches once again! With the centennial struggles coming, Archegates Konstantinos has prepared a series of three lectures on cultivation for those who would be considered the Clan's most promising talents of the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment Great Realms.

    Purchasing a ticket for the Archegates Lecture Series?

    Limited Number of Spots Open. Tickets are less than 1 year old. One costs 3 Thousand Contribution Points.

    Your current Points Balance is 10.5 Thousand Contribution Points.

    Ticket (1) Purchased.

    It's been two hundred years now.

    "Heh, am I really getting that old?" An amused huff rang out, a weathered, worn ringing that carried ever so slightly through the Garrison at Waycastle Myia. An innocuous jingle rang out from the Contribution Board, reaching the ears of the attentive Golden Devils that crowded around it.

    Several legionnaires turned to look at the source of the ear worm, their eyes passing over something they found utterly beneath their notice. The only thing standing out being a low humming of an inconspicuous tune. Unseen, one of the Indomitable Thirteen slunk back into the depths of the barracks, already planning to charter a ride to the Dawn Fortress for the first time in nearly a hundred years.

    …​

    The past hundred years had been good to Waycastle Myia.

    As early as shortly before she was born, the land it sat upon had been a relatively unimportant junction in the Scorpion Road, where foreign herbs and supplies and soups had been brought in from the north, while spirit stones had been brought from the Golden Devil Clan's southern territories to be funneled into the Clan's core territories bordering the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect. Not truly on the frontlines, and thus unable for its commanding officers to accrue merit, and too far away from vital trade arteries to truly attain the profitability of prime real real estate closer to the resource nodes of the Scorpion Road.

    Then, the Clan's territories had expanded into the Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds, and though Aretaphila's memories of the Molds were all too bitter, she still held pride for pacifying those untamed lands so that the Clan's settlers could arrive to populate the land and bring with them prosperity.

    That they inevitably would pass through Waycastle Myia during their journey had just been a more than fortunate coincidence.

    Then, the 9th Battle Blood Cannibal War had come, and Blood Cannibals had broken upon the teeth of the Optimatoi, culminating in the siege at Three Frog City and the Battle of Shadow-Over-Sun. Though that rascal, Ju-Shui Yú had not been found, Aretaphila was certain that her family's old enemy still prowled the world. Likely joined with his master as he traveled to the Devil Bees in order to subjugate them.

    With their defeat, the Cannibals former lands was partitioned between the Golden Devils and the Jingshen, and even as the Hong Xuan had been granted the majority of the Burnished Crags, that simply meant that Waystation Myia became the primary artery for caravans to travel from the Clan's core territories to it's new holdings further east.

    Yes, the past few centuries had been indeed good for her family.

    Enough that, in spite of everything, they could afford to maintain simple, stubborn ambition that the Myia's final daughter still clung to, despite the losses they had endured. After all, the Myia had never shied away from risk and danger for the sake of glory and saving their own.

    The burden no longer weighed quite as heavily upon her as it once had, now that Aretaphila had nearly reached the stage for her first great ambition. The first step towards raising the Myia back up to their position in the light of the Dawn.

    One last Keystone to go.

    From atop the caravan she had ridden with, Aretaphila watched as the Indomitable Peaks clawed over the horizon. Aretaphila knew how dangerous it would be to ascend past the 13th Heavenstage, and she had read The Princesses reports on her own experiences ascending to Single Pillar Foundation. Aretaphila lacked Rina's own depth of resources and had taken a singularly more sedate approach to her cultivation, but in exchange for those treasures and opportunities...the Myia had gained something that was equal to it:

    Raw determination, and an understanding that would not lose to the nascent would-be World Lord.

    …​

    A single lecture hall had been reserved for the lessons within the depths of the Dawn Fortress. An arrangement which struck the Myia as deeply odd, recalling that for her own first lecture the Archegetes had expressed a preference for providing his lessons out in the open air. But the information on her ticket had been precise, and none would dare use Old Gold to set up a scam on the Contribution Board.

    Aretaphila's doubts were answered, however, when she discovered that the building was merely the processing center for Aspirants seeking to register for the lectures. Which made sense. They were receiving these lectures at the Archegetes' pleasure, so it was only natural that they would be gathered up first for his convenience.

    What did strike her as odd, however, was the rail-thin man accepting the tickets. An aura at the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment, the man was covered in a thick layer of patina that did nothing to hide how deeply pale he was. Aside from him and Aretaphila, two others were in the hall at the time, one of whom was a young woman that was waved into a heavily arrayed doorway, the man doing so poorly suppressing a tremble in his limbs as he did so.

    A young Qi Condensation Junior, in their 3rd or 4th Heavenstage looked on in terror before his golden locks were sent tumbling with a shake of fear and denial. He fled from the hall, his eyes screwed shut and mouth whimpering as he did so.

    "What's with the kid?" Aretaphila asked the attendant, thumb pointed in the direction of the fleeing junior.

    "Didn't have enough points to pay for Old Gold's lecture, I guess." The patina covered clansmen replied with a shrug.

    Aretaphila's eyes narrowed, "You saying there was a way to get in without paying through the nose?"

    "Sure was…" The Foundation Establishment cultivator trailed off, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

    The Myia smirked, arms folding across her chest as she met the older man's inquisitive gaze with her own smirk, "Sure do." A thumb pointed over her heart, "You're looking at the enigmatic Praiseworthy Hawk!"

    He snorted, stressed demeanor relaxing for a fraction of a second before control reasserted itself, "Heh, okay then Junior. Ticket, please." The token of jade was handed over, "No need to be a smartass about it...Eximo Tesserarius Myia?"

    He paused, and Aretaphila ignored him as she continued looking around the hall while the man processed whatever thoughts he was going through.

    "Myia as in Indomitable Thirteen Myia?"

    "That's me," Aretaphila confirmed with a serious nod.

    "Oh, well...Don't worry about the other door then, it's not meant for folks like you."

    A soft ringing filled the air, Aretaphila leveling lidded eyes at the man a full great realm above her in power, "Who is it meant for, then?"

    "Old Gold's orders," He replied, "Those who couldn't afford the first issuing of lecture tickets are to be tempered in a trial. Twelve hours in a pit with Skin-Scouring Searing Fire Ants, and those that managed to pass get into the trial anyway."

    The Myia scion nodded, the pain those creatures inflicted on their victims was noted to have been enough to kill a cultivator in the early stages outright. The physiological impact of such concentrated agony often enough to break a cultivators mind, driving them mad.

    Then again, it had been a long time since Aretaphila had been able to temper how her mind perceived outside sources of pain at such a level. Not since the 4th Heavenstage, over a hundred years ago in fact.

    "Let me give it a shot." The 12th Heavenstage woman replied with a winsome smile.

    "I'm sure you don't have to do this, Eximo Tesserarius Myia. Your accomplishments are already enough to justify you participating in the lectures and I'd really rather…"

    "It's fine." A note of warning in her voice,

    The Foundation Establishment expert sighed, before gesturing her in. An offer Aretaphila had no intention of letting go to waste.

    Behind the array-inscribed door was the sound of agonized, drawn out screaming. A series of hastily dug out pits, arranged in neat columns to contain dozens of individual Legionnaires.

    "I'll need you to take this." The pale, shaking clerk handed over a paper slip with the number "400" written upon it, "And then wait, Eximo Tesserarius. Once your number is called, then you will enter your assigned pit. Until then you are not allowed to leave, unless it is to forfeit the challenge and thus your place within the lectures."

    "Understood."

    ...​

    And so Aretaphila waits. Hearing the wailing and begging of her fellow clansmen. The screeching of a cacophony, each voice ran through lungs shot through with veins of bronze, lending their cries an ominous, forlorn quality.

    Why?

    What is the point of such cruelty? For this exercise is not simply about enduring pain, it is about enduring the pain of others. For those who had come later to listen to the agony of those who had come before, waiting for their turn to suffer.

    The sea of her qi churns, a harmonious note slipping out from the core of her being and in a moment of perfect clarity she understands. The reason why those who had proven themselves with the immense wealth of Contribution Points had had no need to endure this test. There was no mercy in this test for the simple reason that there was no mercy for the Golden Devils, a fact that those amongst Aretaphila's generation had come to learn more and more as time went on. Suffering, yes. Loss, yes. But also the chance at something more, at the other end.

    So long as one endured and resisted, opportunity would always come. Mayhaps not for you, but for the Clan absolutely.

    400 was called, and resolutely Aretaphila dropped into the nearest open ant pit.

    She fell, like a stone, and for a wonder she wondered if her landing would be cushioned by the death of any of her soon to be tormentors. It mattered not, in the end. Scurrying pain awaited her all the same at the conclusion of her descent.

    Scrabbling agony latched onto her, not fresh body (you were only as old as you felt!), but they scrabbled all the same. Though at the Waist Tierce stage of sounding, Aretaphila's body had never been something exceptionally hard when compared to those who cultivated the primary Blood of Bronze.

    Not that it mattered. Even if the mandibles of the legion of insects had nothing beyond their pain-dealing properties, Aretaphila's flesh still gave way to their bites. The inherent qi or venom or whatever the mechanism was doing its cruel work thousandfold. Endless tiny channels were filled with the fires of data, channeling the sensation of "pain" to her mind, and between one instant and the next…

    Aretaphila merely blinked.

    Agony? Is that what this was?

    Aretaphila cast her mind to her childhood, the feeling of bleeding out desperately beneath the sands. Only held alive by the barest bits of good fortune, and unceasing stubbornness fueling a refusal to die. The nightmare of fleeing through the desert, still bleeding heavily and nearly dying before being returned to civilization.

    That was pain.

    Ten years, in flight and terror. Barely able to retain the merest scrap of strength, and desperately hammering and reshaping the body through pure, mundane sound to render it more pliable to her efforts. Every day, she did it. Until the pain came as naturally as breathing, and when she returned from that journey the outpour of Qi into her abused meridians and dantian had been euphoric.

    That was agony.

    Twelve hours passed in meditation, not a sound having escaped the Myia's lips all the while. At the end of it, the Foundation Establishment clerk had returned, his expression when looking upon her terrified.

    "I guess some people are just born different," He said.

    "Not born; forged." She answered.

    ...​

    Weeks passed, and the hopefuls for the lectures arrived as their schedules allowed. More, presumably, took the ant test and passed or failed as was their wont. But eventually, the day which they had all arrived for came to pass, and it was on that day which all stood outside the Dawn Fortress, gathered by the Archegetes.

    Sitting cross-legged in the air above, he looked down upon them imperiously.

    "In a little over a decade," He began without preamble, "The Trials put before us will arrive. I do not doubt that one in five of you who stand here today will be dead after them, for all for all your talent. You are ill-prepared for them, though better prepared than we were a century ago."

    His head tilted towards them, revealing his sky-blue eyes.

    "You will have heard tales. A few of you will have lived through those times. The Clan suffered, and then came the good times. Conquests and growth, new mines and new talents rising up. New relationships with the Righteous path. Some of you have even traveled to the Great Battlefield," And here Aretaphila was sure she imagined a slight lilt of incredulity, "And not been killed on sight for the color of your skin and hair. The Optimatoi suffered greatly so that you may rise."

    Blood staining cool, blue flagstones. The sight of mortals tearing themselves apart as they danced in ways their bodies simply could not keep up with. News of shock and horror from a far off war she had been spared from. Two young boys, left behind in her cowardice...And the horror that was the weight of responsibility. Of duty.

    And Pleuron.

    "Now you will suffer so that the Clan may rise."

    Always.

    Against the cruel heavens, all predations are suffered so that they may stand back up from the muck which the world seemed determined to grind the Clan into.

    "Body, Soul, and Dao. The true trinity of things, connected by Qi. These are tiresome truths which you should know already, but I lecture on them merely to frame what is to come. How are the three interlinked? Nobody I have ever met knows the full truth of things, but an old man's ramblings might shed a little light."

    From the ground, bent forward with a genteel smile upon his face, the Archegetes gaze turned skyward, as if plumbing the very heavens for the verbage to express his experience in a way they could all understand, "Qi is of course the fundamental building block of the universe, as we all know. Heavenly tribulation is opposed by Qi, bodies are strengthened by it, souls are enhanced, Dao-arts are made possible. Qi is the energy of all things, and the motive force that drives reality. It is formless until given form, shapeless until carved into shape. Without it nothing is possible, but with Qi alone nothing can be done."

    Aretaphila's eyes narrowed, the musings left behind in that gong's scroll of techniques an eerie match for what the Archegetes had elucidated for them.

    Like Qi, motion is formless save for how it affects form. Holds no shape save what it forces upon others. If a tree falls in a forest and none are able to hear, did it truly make a sound? So too is Qi. At its most fundamental level, it is the Dao which observes and determines the form that it takes. As like is to like, so too can one do what the other is capable of!

    "Firstly we come to the truth of the Body. The Body is the physical, the thing formed and shaped by the Law." He paused, then, as Aretaphila suppressed a gasp.

    Such profundity! Both Old Gold and whomever that ancient expert had been!

    "Each of your bodies obeys gravity, for the most part. It falls to the ground when lifted into the air. It is constantly pulled down by gravity, and obeys many other laws. You cannot simply will your body to move."

    To punctuate the statement, the Archegetes rose into the air in defiance of those very same laws!

    "There is a reason that cultivation is the path that it is. First, the body. Then, building the Dao, then forming the Dao, then discarding the Dao and then comes the soul. Other paths may differ, but no path I have ever heard of ignores that the body must come first. The ability of the body to channel and use Qi is the heart of all things. If you do not expel impurities, your meridians and dantian are full of muck and are useless. If you cannot clear your acupoints, your body cannot bear a thousandth of the Qi you will need to advance into Foundation Establishment. If you do not open your meridians in truth, you will never amount to much. Aligning the body with Qi is the first step of any cultivator."

    The body must manage, if not true mirroring, then at least resonance with Qi before harmony can be striven for.

    Old Gold's words filled Aretaphila's mind, once more bringing clarity and revelation to the language she had struggled for over a century to truly grasp the profundity of. Within the ocean of her dantian, the near-bursting reservoir of Qi rippled ever so evenly.

    "I cannot solve all of your problems," Manuel Konstantinos continued as he descended, "Nor do I intend to. Still, one of the greatest problems for any cultivator is exploring where the true limits of your body lie. The hairsbreadth between where you exert your maximum power and your meridians burst, leaving you crippled and mortal. For most, they simply excavate nine-tenths of their power, and eventually another nine-tenths of what remains. Today, we will be reaching your absolute limit. It will be a small increase in power, but a real one."

    A shiver ran down the Myia's back, a thrumming sound filled her body in anticipation of what was to come.

    "Circulate your Qi. Slowly increasing from your normal amount, you are to fill your dantian to bursting, channel as much as you can through your meridians. Continue increasing the amount. You will feel pain, you will feel as though you are about to shatter and die. If you stop before I stop you, you will be dismissed from the lecture and may not return."

    Aretaphila began, circulating her Qi into her dantian. Unbidden, memories of breaking off pieces of her body to turn into fuel for the sounding came to mind, the methods if not the limitations applying to some small degree. Endure the agony, circulate, focus on the exercise. The woman descended into a fugue state, the flow of Qi into her dantian and then out through the meridians pumping to an unheard rhythm, resonating ever so closely with her mortal heartbeat. The pain arrived first, but it was the burn of strong effort and practice. Long unused flesh, cracking open as blisters and callouses were painstakingly wrought upon her Physique.

    The Clear Summer Bell's Constitution groaned and creaked, stresses it had not undergone in some time teasing out the new limits of the 12th Heavenstage. Pure Qi and Pure Body aligned with a Pure Soul, beating together with a haunting synchronicity.

    "Stop," A patient, firm voice brought back her waking mind, "Again. Once I stop you, begin again, but closer to the limit I stopped you at. If you stop before I stop you, you will be dismissed from the lecture and may not return."

    Aretaphila nodded at the Grand Elder, her eyes catching a familiar bun of golden tresses and glasses. Rina Callista stood near the front of the group, orbited by other Formation Establishment Centurions, her burnished skin bright and trembling with exertion. Panting heavily in exhaustion.

    Princess needs to work out more, if just one of these is enough to tire her out. The Myia smirked knowingly to herself, a sense of competition flaring up along with the familiar burning of the body being driven to the brink.

    Six hours passed in this fashion, the burning eventually giving away to true agony. Limits that Aretaphila had not sought out before now newly discovered, and it was like the years after Ju-Shui Yú come again; her body feeling lighter and more capable than it had been before by orders of magnitude.

    As Aretaphila headed back to her temporary quarters, she found herself wondering how much of this changed state was the result of the Grand Elders profundity, or the exercises that he had walked her fellow clansmen through.

    ...​

    The next day, the lecture group was lessened by several hundreds of people. Aretaphila could not help but scoff. If they would willingly run from that, then surely they harbored no illusions that the Fifth Sea jackals would be any kinder in only a few more years?
    Eight hundred Clansmen and women stood at attention before the Dawn Fortress in the crisp morning air, awaiting their Grand Elder to grace them with his wisdom. They faced an empty sky until a lone cloud passed, obscuring the sun and casting a shadow for the briefest instant.

    In its passing was left the Archegetes, hovering in the air as he looked down upon the gathered disciples.

    "The next lecture is simpler. The Soul is the thing that understands and comprehends, the thing that understands the Dao and pursues truth. It does not obey physical laws for the most part, and once coupled with sufficient understanding of the Dao and Qi can exert its will on the world. The thing we tend to think of as the Soul, though, is the connection between Soul and Body. If broken, the body is killed and the Soul goes elsewhere, though I cannot say where. This is the truth of the Nascent Will. It snaps the connection between Soul and Body, leaning on the understanding a Nascent Soul has of that same connection."

    Aretaphila frowned, her thoughts going back towards the notes of that unnamed master. Like yesterday, this seemed connected to the concepts expounded upon in that scroll.

    "For our second lecture, I will be strumming on that connection, as though a string on a lyre."

    Aretaphila was thunderstruck. The choice of wording may have been a mere coincidence, but still! If the connection between the Soul and the Body could be manipulated like an instrument, plucked like a string and made to vibrate then this functionality would be key to what that nameless master had meant when drawing the parallels between Demonic Tunes and Dao-spells. The true reason why Demonic Tunes had such an easy time affecting the Soul of a Cultivator had little to do with strength, but entirely because the arts touched upon that same mechanical principles that Soul Arts functioned by in the first place!

    "Your job is to try and replicate that feeling after I do so. It will be unpleasant and dizzying. For those with the patience, even a Qi Condensation disciple can develop that feeling into an effective suicide art to prevent interrogation. I will disrupt the connection between soul and body three times over three weeks. At the end of the month, if you cannot replicate the feeling, my experience has taught me you are unlikely to do so. If you can succeed, we will proceed to the final lesson."

    A merest sliver of will reached out to Aretaphila, utterly unnoticeable save in the evidence of its passage. With a careful ease, there was a force exerted upon that vaguely defined core that the Myia had always associated with her Soul, if for no other reason than the way it had seemed to resonate with her Demonic Tunes and attempts at crafting true song and soul arts. For the strain placed upon it by her greatest art, taught by that Mountain Bell almost a century ago.

    There is a twang that is captured by her Physique, echoed harmoniously within her body, and in that moment Aretaphila comprehends the exercise in its entirety. Easily, she replicates the note herself, for to do anything less under these circumstances would be outrageous as one who pursued the mastery of Arts such as this even unto the path of the Four Olympian Keystones.

    All around Aretaphila, the sounds of retching and vomit fill the air, the acidic stench as nothing compared to that awful memory from her childhood. She hummed, the notes traveling through her body and back on to the connection, Pure Body transmitting Pure Qi back through that link, on the other end of which was her Pure Soul. A new instrument added to the Myia's repertoire, and within the depths of her soul ocean a mass began to congeal beneath the sea of her Qi.

    By the third time, when the Grand Elder reached out to her soul, Aretaphila met the approach of his intent with open arms. The mere strumming he played upon the string of her connection was easily taken back, and turned into something new; a series of notes that further aligned the Duality of Body and Soul, bringing them forth into a deep harmonious resonance as they shared Qi via the same emanations. All that was necessary was the completion of the 4th Keystone, and the preparation of the Dao.

    But here and now, Aretaphila felt that she could finally grasp the shape of her Dao Pillar, all that was left was to solidify it so completely as to withstand even the immense tribulation she knew would await her at the 13th Heavenstage.

    One more step to reach the Dao Purification Heavenstage.

    On the fourth week, a mere two hundred and thirteen remained. Among them some of the new talents that had arisen in the past century, Aretaphila herself, and naturally Rina Callista as well.

    "You now know how to manipulate the connection between your soul and body the tiniest amount," The Archegetes began, "For those who have stepped through the 12th Heavenstage, your connection is many times stronger, a pure link between soul and body. This is why you mastered this art in hours instead of weeks. Some of you may have come to it on your own."

    For a moment, Aretaphila allowed herself to imagine that the Grand Elders gaze drifted upon her as he said so before continuing.

    " Now we come to the simplest truth. You who remain are among our greatest talents, and recent events have shown me that you are not immune to the assault of a Nascent Soul." Aretaphila felt her eyes, along with those of many others, drawn inexorably towards a certain Princess who had the good grace to appear sheepish for a mere moment, "While you cannot hope to survive a serious attack without protection, you might preserve your life for a few key seconds, or perhaps resist a mass-scale attack on an army. To assist you with this, I will be bringing your soul-connections to the breaking point. This will challenge not only your manipulation of your soul as previously taught, but also your will. Without sufficient will to persist, your connection between body and soul will shatter, and you will die. I cannot teach you to resist such attacks without truly threatening you with death. My blows will be at the absolute limit of what you can endure, and if you are not confident in the strength of your will, simply leave. I will not hold it against you."

    It may have sounded childish, and arrogant of her. But as over sixty of her fellow Golden Devils heeded the Grand Elders warning, Aretaphila could not help the scowl that formed upon her lips. She wasn't...a child any more. But somehow, seeing that this latest bunch of lectures had been brought about because of the Princess again, the warning that perhaps she wasn't good enough had ignited feelings that the nearly 200 year old woman had thought had been long left behind in the tempering of her youth.

    Somehow, the thought of backing down had never occurred to Aretaphila Myia. The very idea was foreign, incompatible somehow. Submission...was impossible.

    A sea of qi, reflecting a clear summer's day in its mirror like surface, is set to rile with vibrations and revelation.

    Aretaphila stretched open her dantian, presenting the finely-tuned string that connected Body and Soul, and for a moment she felt like she could feel the Archegetes will coil around it.

    The sensation clenched.

    For the first time in nearly two centuries she screamed, the body and soul she had taken such pride in nothing before the agony brought about by this avenue of attack so much more than she ever possibly could have imagined. Her roiling soul ocean heaved, the delicate balance and filling utterly ruined as the channels of Aretaphila's body were wracked with power running amuck, her finely honed and shaped flesh refusing her mastery, the damaged link connecting her self and her physical form yanked painfully loose, no longer able to send commands over as efficiently as it had been.

    The sensation of being cooked from the inside out, the buzzing and vibrating of her Qi thrown into utter and conflicting dissonant notes clamoring and clashing and creating a cacophony that none heard save for the loud screaming which filled the courtyard.

    Aretaphila had fallen to her side, body insensanate as her limbs jerked like a stunned and dying insect. But even through the haze of agony, the Archegetes words still carried through:

    "I will return in three months. Those who truly wish to follow down this path, come see me then."

    The taste of bile and metal filled her mouth as her jaw clenched in raw spite.

    Not even you, Old Man! Not even you, will put a stop to this Aretaphila Myia!

    Over three months, Aretaphila descended deep into cultivating. Pouring through a goodly amount of her remaining Contribution Points as she spent her waking moments playing upon that connection which Old Gold had so brutalized. Repairing the damage done by the Grand Elders callousness. Taking her lesson on her limits to play with them time and time again, bringing herself to the brink of agony, tempering the all-too-fragile string connecting her Body to her Soul.

    For three months, the Myia tempered herself, and at the end of those three months she marched alongside sixty-four of her Clansmen, standing defiantly before Manuel fucking Konstantinos.

    "Final chance to leave."

    None among them said anything, though from the back of their ranks Aretaphila proffered the Grand Elder the most noble and appropriate salute he was deserving of.

    All vanished. All sensation disappeared, far beyond what had been afflicted upon her three months prior. Her body simply could not process any sensation beyond the purest agony afflicted upon it. The senses shut off not because they had been supernaturally sealed, but because in sheer animal panic those senses had been hijacked by the body in an attempt to express the sensation inflicted upon it. Sight was the blackness of exquisite agony. Touch the impermeable fog of purest pain. Smell had been replaced, a myriad of different sensations associated with the worst experiences of Aretaphila's life, those scents painting lurid and crushing thoughts of that past, only desperately magnified. Touch was an unending education on the realities of sensation; there was only suffering, all else was but falsehood. The soul did not resist, that tenuous thread shrinking back in a desperate, animalistic attempt to claw away from the danger that spilled over into Aretaphila's true self.

    An exquisite torture that touched upon the sacred and the unviolable. Utterly beyond the scope of the imagination, let alone the ability for words to describe the hell that the woman's body desperately wished to convey to its true self, if only to serve as a warning as was the wont of the evolutionary purpose of the sensation of "pain" in the first place.

    Yet, deep within the haze of utter agony, the restored and tempered ocean of Qi remained steady, reflecting the phases of the moon and stars.

    ...​

    She was among the first to wake up, afterwards. Four had died, the Elder had been true to his, Aretaphila observed bitterly.

    Two went mad in the medical hall, babbling and giggling inanely. Broken, by Konstantinos' ministrations.

    Two others were less broken, but still were in their own little ways. A violent extremist turned even moreso. His target? The Grand Elder himself in revenge for the perceived damage.The last merely turned to endlessly referring to himself in the third person.

    When the rest had awoken and been declared fit to leave by the nurses that had looked over them, the Archegetes appeared before their remaining number one more time.

    "This will assist you in resisting soul attacks in the future." He smiled at them, bereft of the geniality which had been his chosen face during these lectures, "You have experienced the tiniest sliver of Nascent Soul cultivation. If you truly seek to climb the heights to immortality, this is the price you must pay."

    Aretaphila scowled at the man, even as he flew off to do whatever it was a Nascent Soul did.

    She could sympathize with what he said, and why he did it...But for now, she felt she would strike out at him had the circumstances been any different.

    Nearly consumed by her anger, she looked off in the first random direction she could think of. Only to somehow...inexplicably, by pure coincidence, lock gazes with Rina Callista, who was staring right back at her.

    A.N.: Wooooow, this is the biggest omake I've done yet for this quest! Genuinely intimidating in a way, but it didn't feel right to leave this particular nugget on the side of the road to remain unclaimed after seeing the prompts Manuel doled out to us writers. I'd only been expecting it to get to two thousand words at most, but then it was a hairs-breadth away from six thousand. Aw well, at least that'll help with pushing Tribulation next turn, and hopefully this along with the collabs Im gonna work on with Alectai and Kaboom might prove to be enough to push me into breaking 10k words in a single turn. Aw well, here's to hoping!
     
  • Sidestory
    • Maria - Maria and the Three Masters(Part 6)
  • Sidestory
    • Maria and the Three Masters (Part Six)
    Maria Turn 10 Sixteenth Omake​

    Maria woke up to the worst headache she'd had in years, pounding behind her eyes. Plural. She hadn't had the other one since she was twelve, and yet she could definitely feel it right now, pulsing with pain. Somehow worse, though, was the desert-dry expanse of her mouth, and the awful, ravaging thirst that tore at her chest.
    Gods. Gods. What had happened? Last she remembered was…
    Shit.
    Something about the sky? Or… a fight. There'd been a fight. Hadn't there?
    Gutless, worthless, heartless heaven, she hurt. Alright. Nothing to be done. She opened her eye. Stone ceiling – tight brickwork said the fort. Window, but with a curtain over it – thin one. That meant day. Soft bed. That meant –

    Shit.
    That meant she was in the medic's wing, again.
    What had happened?
    There was water besides the bed. She tried to sit up, but her body decided to reiterate its many complaints, and the aches pushed her back into the pillows. Fuck. Okay. Try that again. Slowly. She came up by inches, pushing herself back along the mattress with her feet until she was settled into a sitting position. Then she reached for the water.
    Joy, she thought, as the glass pressed into her desiccated lips. Pure, cool, liquid joy. Maria had to force herself to swallow slowly and not guzzle it down. Even then, it was over too damn soon. She coughed, harshly. More. Needed more.
    "Hey," she said. Or tried to. The broken-glass burr in her voice was thicker and rougher than it had ever been, grating her words into an unintelligible hacking growl. She coughed, harder this time, and tried again. It must have worked, because the door opened. Letha stook her head around the door, saw Maria, and froze.

    "Leeth," Maria rasped. Her friend blinked, face still frozen, then leaned out the door.
    "She's awake!"
    Then she came, hesitantly, to Maria's bedside.
    "What happened?"
    "I was about to ask you that question," murmured Letha. "What do you remember?"
    Maria tried to think. The fight. She remembered that, she thought. Beating on… something. Burning something?
    "Patrol went wrong?" she hazarded. Letha nodded.
    "An attack. In the same damn place as last time. Heavy skirmisher unit. Interesting alterations."
    "…Armour. And… fishflesh?"
    "We haven't finished autopsies yet on the bodies we recovered. I don't think we'll find much in any case. There's usually some form of safety measure."
    Maria nodded slowly. A thought had started spinning up in her head.
    "The squad-"

    At which point, Book-of-Names, Nameless, and Healer Aesklepios entered. The healer had his usual disinterested, cynical expression on his face, but something about his eyes suggested real anger. The others hung back, careful not to crowd them.
    "Can't keep you out of here, can I?" asked Aesklepios. He passed her another cup of water. All thoughts immediately fled Maria's mind as she greedily drained it dry. "How're you feeling?"
    "Shit," Maria admitted.
    "Good. Might teach you not to be so fucking stupid again."

    "Healer-" began Letha, but there wasn't much point in continuing. Aesklepios had a full head of steam up, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop him venting it.
    "You have any damn idea how much damage you did to yourself? Ballpark figure."
    Maria shrugged, guiltily.
    "You nearly cooked your damn brain. Which, clearly, wouldn't have been a great loss. You never use it.
    "I'm-"
    "And then there's your meridians. Fire qi in excess of three times your natural balance, and a body temperature so high I could have used your chest to fry eggs. So of course, you managed to poison yourself. Very impressive. The Slaughter of the Sands couldn't have done a better job."
    "Sklep-"
    "I have dropped enough fucking ice pills into you to deplete a glacier, legionnaire. I spent two days with an acupuncture needle the size of my arm and a damn hammer undoing the damage you did to your dantian. If your chakras hadn't shut you down when they did, you would be dead. Do you understand? I'd have sent you off for smelting. The only reason we wasted so many resources on your dumb ass is because you're good at cultivating and stupid enough to keep banging your head against a brick wall, so you might – might – hit single pillar. That's all."

    There was a long silence. Maria couldn't meet his eyes. Worse, she couldn't meet Letha's either; her friend had an expression between heartbreak, fury, and disappointment. But her thoughts had spun up again.
    "My squad," she muttered. "What happened?"
    Sklep's glare softened a hint at that. He shot Letha a look.
    "Sergeant Draconis took over after you collapsed," said Letha. "He sent Priscian for reinforcements. Georgy, Nikolas and Tasia withdrew after him with you. The remainder held out until Liming's unit arrived."
    There was a pause.
    "Sergeant Draconis was wounded."
    Maria felt the whole world freeze.
    "How badly?"
    "He's stable," said Sklep. "Lot of internal bleeding. His cultivation closed the wounds, but the blood was still in there. Went bad. I took it out, purified the wounds, but… well. We'll see."
    "He's asleep, still," said Letha. "We'll let you know when he wakes up."

    The room filled with heavy silence. Maria tried to process what she heard, but her brain just… wouldn't. Eventually, Sklep grunted.
    "Stay in bed," he muttered. "No training until I say so. Or cultivating. Or fucking moving, quite frankly." He left, head down, muttering about the idiocy of his clan. Letha fidgeted.
    "The sergeant has survived worse," said Nameless, awkwardly. Book nodded. "I am sure he will recover."
    "Tough bastard," agreed Book. "Not going to let this stop him."
    Mari made herself nod, but that was all she could do.
    "Leeth-"
    "This could have been avoided."

    Letha's face was taut. Book winced.
    "Letha-"
    "I love you, Maria," went on her friend, relentless. "I do. You're like my sister. But this was – you could have died."
    "I know," tried Maria. Letha didn't stop.
    "No. You don't. Or you wouldn't have done it."
    "I had to- the squad-"
    "I am not arguing that. It was an appropriate tactical decision. I am arguing you leaving a weakness in your core combat technique, ignoring the solution presented to you, and allowing that weakness to be exploited. You. Could. Have. Died. The trials are in thirty years. We will lose enough of our clansmen without you THROWING YOUR LIFE AWAY!"

    Letha hadn't meant to shout. Maria realized, pinned in place by guilt and shock, that she'd never heard it before. The room was silent again.
    The Economos heir turned away, sharply.
    "I apologise for shouting," she muttered. "I- my temper…"
    "S'okay," said Maria, staring at the bedclothes. "Leeth. I-"
    "You should rest. I'll have them send you more water."

    Letha left, quickly. Nameless and Book shot each other a glance. There was a moment of silent communication. Then Nameless went after Letha, and Book sat by the bed.
    "Rough way to wake up," he said.
    Maria nodded. She found, suddenly, that she had nothing to say. Book didn't seem to mind.
    "She's worried about you. Letha, I mean. That's why she's so mad."
    "I know."
    "Good. You're not alone. This'll pass."

    Maria clenched her fists into the bedclothes and nodded.
    "It's the trials being close," she muttered.
    "It's you getting hurt," he corrected, gently. "Real bad."
    "I get hurt a lot."
    "Yeah. You do."
    She winced.
    "Walked into that one."
    "Little bit, yeah."
    She felt his eyes studying her face for a moment, flickering back and forth along her jawline.
    "Can I ask a question?"
    She shrugged.
    "Why didn't you learn that- mirror purify thing?"
    Maria felt a sharp laugh come unbidden.
    "Reflected Purities?"
    "Sure. That."
    "It's not a hard name."
    "It sounds like a poet got particularly pretentious."
    "No, Book. Don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel."
    "Fine. You're cute, you're crazy, and you're avoiding the question."

    …Well, that floored her.
    "Cute?"
    "Oh yeah. Great legs, good hair, homicidal – completely my type."
    "I - fucking – you pick up a lot of women in hospital beds?"
    "I'm a Flood Dragon. My parents met in a hospital bed."
    She laughed again, full-throated and shockingly, uncomfortably loud. It immediately disintegrated into coughing. Book patted her back as gently as he could.
    "Here."
    He passed her his canteen. She drank. Something cool and sweet rushed down her throat. She kept drinking for a moment, then handed it back.
    "Pear juice?"
    He nodded.
    "Why?"
    "I like it," said Book, shrugging. "Everyone always has water. No-one has pear juice."
    "Gods."
    "Yeah. So… you going to answer the question?"

    She sighed. The tension was flowing out of her, now. In its place was nothing but sad grey guilt and regret.
    "Because… fuck. Look. You're a Flood Dragon."
    "Yeah."
    "This won't make sense."
    "Yes, because we know nothing of the Golden Devils, truly, we are as strangers to each other."
    "Yeah, but- your sect doesn't… Fuck."
    "Try again?"
    "…I… I'm not Devil enough."

    Book shot her a searching, confused look. She sighed again.
    "Most Devils are either born into clan families, or they're born in the desert. I… I was born on the great plains. Third Sea mum. No idea who my dad was. Spent most of my life in slave pits. When I finally got here, I thought – cool. Family. But then I went to the Dawn Fortress for training, and… I'm just- I mean, fuck, Book. You've met other Devils. I strike you as typical?"
    He shrugged.
    "Sometimes some of them can be more formal."
    "Some of them? Try all of them."
    "Now that is not true," said Book, firmly. "And you know it's not true, don't you."

    It wasn't a question. Maria nodded.
    "I do now. But – I mean I was a kid. Being dumb about this shit is normal, then. And it digs its fucking hooks in, too. I'm still out of my fucking mind about it, some times. Even when I know the clan sees me as a good cultivator. Even when- it's still there."
    "So… Reflected Purities?"
    "One of the techniques they teach you in the fortress. I could never get it. That, plus my Blood not being very strong…" she shrugged.
    "Aaaah. Brought it all back."
    "Yeah."
    He nodded.

    "…So. You already know this. But that's all bullshit."
    "Yeah."
    "That healer just dropped fucking *all* the damn pills into you. You're very clearly a Devil."
    "I – Yeah, I know."
    "Right. But this shit's getting in the way of that."
    She sighed.
    "…I just fucked up real bad, didn't I."
    Book shrugged. It was very clearly a yes.
    "Way I see it, you have two options. Stay here, miserable, embarrassed, and wait for this shit to blow over. Or…"
    She felt his hand brush against her thigh. She looked up, shocked, but he'd already withdrawn – leaving something in her lap.
    "…You can fix it."
    He rose.
    "Anyway. I have patrol. See you 'round."
    She stared after him, and then at the door after he'd gone. It was only after the shock cleared that she looked down.
    He'd left her a manual for the Reflected Purities technique.
    ---

    The eyeballs were relatively fresh, but not as chewy as he liked. The jelly inside had softened into a fluid. That was never as pleasant. Still, waste not want not. Lung-Slice plucked one from the cold tray in front of him and popped it into his mouth.

    The courthouse had been a hive of activity for the last two days, but now it was quiet. Shu Cangquiong must have been starting to finish up her latest batch of surgeries. He wondered, idly, how the results would turn out. Horrifying, most likely. But effective. The rank and file had offered themselves up willingly, when they saw what the results were last time.

    He didn't entertain the thought long, though. There were other questions to consider.

    Lung-Slice wasn't a stupid man. You couldn't be, if you wanted to do well before the Altar. It required a very specific sort of mind; pitiless, certainly, but also one unobstructed by arrogance, stupidity, or malice. Far too many in his sect saw their path as license to indulge in their darkest impulses; to torment and murder any they saw. It made them dangerous, certainly, but it also made them predictable, and easy to manipulate. He didn't subscribe to such self-indulgent weakness.
    Instead, he preferred to think of things as a calculation. Power, after all, was essentially a question of capability; the ability to achieve one's goals in spite of opposition. Understanding what opposition was surmountable, and what wasn't, was the first step on the path to mastery. Knowing how to re-evaluate that without ego blinding you was the second. Now, in particular, felt like a time for re-evaluation.

    He'd joined Shu Cangquiong, to start with at least, because she was an obviously good bet. Clever, ambitious, and far more likely to come back to the Alliance with successes than anyone else. More than that, she clearly actually thought things through. Too many of his compatriots just acted. It had been pleasant to meet someone who used their brain. For most of their partnership so far, he hadn't had cause to question that judgement.

    The most recent plan, however… worried him. That his compatriot in the Noble Knowledge sect had such a single-minded focus on this Maria woman was disappointing. He'd ignored it to begin with, because after all, no-one was perfect, and he wasn't about to throw away something good because it wasn't exactly how he'd dreamed. But now it was starting to dominate everything. The two previous skirmishes were dubious at best. Losing troops to the Fearless Line was commonplace enough that he'd be able to hide it if questioned, but – well. He hadn't liked it. The only real value add were the augmentations she'd provided his strike team with. That armour was excellent, but it wasn't what had really caught his eye. No. That had been the regeneration capabilities. The result of additional mouths, she'd told him, and a kind of symbiotic flesh golem that cultivated mindlessly from ambient qi and then fed its flesh to the host.

    He ate another eyeball. Blue. He liked those.

    But now, he carried on in his head, she was going to try something immensely risky. A direct assault on the Fort. They had no foundation experts; he'd managed to make it to the eleventh heavenstage off of Thousand Child Devourer, but that was all. The Fort, by contrast, was staffed by soldiers of four different sects, and led by masters far beyond them both. She wouldn't hear it.
    "She's alive still," she'd growled. "We proved that the concept works, but the prototypes weren't strong enough."
    "She will not be the only one there."
    "The rest we can handle. We just need to keep the Foundation Experts busy, and by the time I'm done with our troops, we'll breeze through every other bastard they put in front of us."
    "And how," he'd asked, careful to keep his tone the right balance of supplicatory and inquiring, "will we justify this attack to the Alliance?"
    "Grab some fucking treasures from their armory. We'll manage."

    It wasn't impossible to pull off, he thought, starting on another eyeball, but it was pointless. Petty revenge. The problem was, he couldn't see a way to withdraw. Shu Cangquiong was proving herself to be very, very willing to dish out punishment if she felt threatened. He'd been with her long enough to be sure she'd kill him if he betrayed her, and she was far stronger than he was. There was no escaping that way.
    But staying…

    Lung-Slice frowned. He chewed. He considered. He felt Shu Cangquiong come up behind him, and stilled his thoughts, rising into a polite bow.
    "Elder," he said, smiling warmly. "How go the preparations?"
    She smiled at him. There was genuine affection in it.
    "Proceeding apace. We'll be ready in a few days. But I thought we could talk about you instead."
    He tensed.
    "Oh?"
    "Yes."

    She pulled a sheaf of papers from her robes, and opened them. They were… schematics? No. Surgical documents. Plans for something new.
    "I decided, since your seniority over the rank and file should be acknowledged, to pull the stops out a little bit. These are a rather special set of augmentations."
    Lung-Slice shot her a puzzled smile. Then he read on, and it shifted into something gleeful.
    "…Oh. Oh, elder, this-"
    "You like it?"

    The calculation shifted in his head. Risk vs reward. Well. This simplified that.
    "Oh yes," said Lung Slice. "Very much so."
    "Good. We'll need to start as soon as possible."
    ---

    The days had bled together, after a while. The boredom was brutal, but she managed as best she could. Sklep had eventually – grudgingly – allowed her to cultivate again, as long as she was careful, and allowed them to monitor her. It had taken some of the edge off. She wasn't losing her cultivation base by inches, at least. But there'd been no news on Draconis, and the squad hadn't visited. They'd tried, but Sklep had sent them packing before they got to her door. He'd done the same to Shanshu when she tried to show up. Even the Sibling hadn't been let through. Medic punishment, she thought ruefully. The sharpest, most carefully delivered kind.
    Her one escape had been the technique manual. Even that, she'd had to be careful about. Sklep was still on the warpath. If he caught even a hint that she was thinking about training, they'd never find her body. She hid it beneath pillows whenever he came back in. Only at night, after she heard him clock out, did she let the paranoia subside and read without fear.

    Well. Initially it had been read. Then it had gotten a bit more… involved. The orders about no training had stuck, certainly, but nothing had been said about more theoretical pursuits. And if she was honest, reading over the damn thing, theoretical pursuits were going to be an issue for *quite* a while.

    The problems were manifold. From a mechanical standpoint, the Reflected Purities technique was too complex to use alongside anything else barring formations. It co-opted vast swathes of the Meridian circulatory system for its closed circuits. The reactives were even more excessive – they had to be to magnify the effects of the Blood of Bronze. All of which meant that trying to do anything else, at all, was essentially impossible. To make matters worse, the results were still variable. The strength of the Blood dictated how good the results would be. Maria knew her own blood was weak – strong enough to give her the clan's traditional metallic hair, but that was about it. To get anything at all, she'd need to amplify what was there. All of which was followed by even bigger issues later on, because she then had to figure out how to alter her fire techniques and the Black Bull's Dance to make do with decreased mobility, or she had to *get that mobility back* somehow.

    She'd spent hours banging her head against the problem, until a solution dawned. It wasn't a great one, she knew, but it had potential. Her fire techniques worked off of fire qi; she pushed her natural elemental balance heavily in its favour and fired it off. The pushing, for want of a better word, happened by cycling her qi against itself and using her emotional state to draw the fire out of the resulting friction. The Xin used their handseals to limit the resulting heat backlash, and avoided body cultivation anyway, but what if she went the other way? The two way qi flow wasn't a million miles off of the closed meridian circuits of Reflected Purities. And she could guarantee the results would be stronger; she'd spat enough fireballs by this point to know how much power she was generating. It'd amplify her Bronze a hell of a lot, and she should still be able to use the qi for fire techniques. Heck, she knew her pressure points well enough too; if she used them as exit points, she could vent the excess fire she was generating through them to compensate for the speed loss, which meant she could keep the Black Bull Dance as is. It even diminished the need for the reactive sub-techniques; increasing the stimulation would lessen the need for a full-body amplification. The blood would do it on its own.

    The downside to this breakthrough, of course, was she'd be cycling fresh fire-qi directly through her blood and bone-marrow, and thus set them on fire. That had rather dampened her enthusiasm. But she'd gotten this far. She couldn't stop now.
    How the hell could she even-

    There was a cough.
    A polite cough.
    A polite, furious, cough.
    Maria looked up in dawning horror. Aesklepios smiled back.
    "Now, what do we have here, hmm?"
    "…Sklep, look, I realise-"
    "This appears to be my patient. Not sleeping. Despite being told she should."
    "I did. I just also woke up a little early."
    "And decided to… what?"

    He advanced. She tried not to flinch. Gods, this was not good.
    "Just- read. Make some notes. You know-"
    "Read what?"
    "…Fiction."
    "Really."
    "Yes."
    "And the notes?"
    "…I… think. I want to write a novel."

    The resultant silence was leaden with disbelief.
    "Would you like to try that again?"
    "It- I – I could! If I wanted to!"
    "Do you?"
    " Yes!"
    "Give me the damn book."
    "No, Sklep, it's not-"

    But the medic had stepped forward to snatch the book out of her hands.
    "The Reflected Purities technique," he said, flatly.
    "Okay, look-"
    "I think I was pretty clear about *training*, Captain."
    "Very. I-"
    "So why do you-"
    "TO MAKE SURE I DON'T COME BACK HERE!"
    As tactics went, screaming at him wasn't the best she'd ever picked. But if she knew one thing about Aesklepios, it was that there was no stopping him once he got on a roll. She had to deal with this now.

    "You said I was stupid last time," she said, in the brief pause she'd bought herself. "You were right. I fucked up. Badly. I'm trying not to make the same mistake again. And I'm not training. I'm just… doing the working out. Look, you can see."
    He stared at her. Then he went back to the notes, reading through them more thoroughly. After a moment, he sat down on the chair beside the bed.
    "…I feel compelled to point out," he muttered, eventually, "that your current method of not overheating requires you to set yourself on fire."
    "I'm not finished yet," she responded, nettled despite herself. "It's still rough."
    "I'm getting that, yes."
    He finished reading – damn, he was fast – and looked at her.
    "I've seen worse ideas," he admitted, grudgingly.

    She blinked.
    "Did- did you just-"
    "I am capable," he said, irritably, "of being nice."
    "…Right."
    He grunted, still reading over her notes.
    "…Chakras," he said eventually.
    "What?"
    "Chakras. Solves your self-immolation problem. You need to filter out the fire qi as it's converting. Your chakras are near enough to your circulatory system to get it out quick enough and filter it into your meridians. Anahata in particular should do the job. Filter it back up through Ajna, too, get it out cleanly. You'll burn hotter as the technique's activating, but you should convert fast enough to keep from overheating."

    Maria blinked. Once. Twice.
    "…You just- solved the whole thing," she said, carefully.
    "Yes," he said, brusquely. "Well. I don't want you coming back here either. Don't much like having patients doing the same stupid thing over and over. Not a perfect solution, of course."
    "Why not?"
    "You've met Amaranth, yes?"
    "Yeah."
    "He almost scorched his bloodline clean, after Pleuron. You're risking the same thing. Not to the same degree, but…"
    He shrugged.
    "Your blood will change one way or another."
    She considered.
    "…Shit."
    "Yes."
    "Well. I can keep working. See if I can fix it. I've got time, at least."

    And then the explosion went off. In hindsight, she should have guessed that would happen.

    The two of them, with the ease of long practice, immediately dropped into the best cover they could find. Maria rolled off the bed into a crouch as Asklepios ducked down beside her. Fluidly, they heaved the bed onto its side and put their backs against it. Not a bad spot, all in all.
    "You had to tempt Heaven, didn't you."
    "I know, I know, I head it as soon as I'd said it."
    "Who is it?"
    She looked over the edge of the bed. The window had been blown in by the blast. She hadn't felt any form of qi in it – either it was cloaked or someone had worked out a new trick. Neither of which were good. Still, right now it gave her a better sense of what was going on.

    She thrust her head out of the window, quickly. It looked like the walls had been hit. Something was coming through, she thought.
    No. Not something. Lots of somethings. Huge, chitinous black shapes, stalking through the smoke. Qi blasts smashing into them over and over, but nothing was sticking – the wounds were closing over as soon as they appeared.
    She hissed in furious recognition. These fuckers again. Only now they were bigger, and some bastard had given them blades now, too – she could see them arcing out of their forearms and chests. Shit. SHIT.
    Alright. Scan. Who was in charge? They were moving in tight formation, which suggested good discipline and an actual leadership. She squinted. Where?
    There. The little one. The others were hitting seven or height feet easily, but this one was the height of a man. It's chitin was notably sleeker, too, graceful in its whirling shape, rising up from its body in gleaming peaks and blades. The damn thing was even wearing a robe over it – a blood-spattered but still elegant silk number that caught in the wind and danced. It seemed to be giving the orders, looking at how it was gesturing.
    Except… every now and then, it'd stop, and cock its head. Listening to something. But there was nothing there except the smoke.
    …No.
    Not smoke.
    Mist.

    Maria cursed, and ducked back inside.
    "Shu Cangquiong," she snapped.
    Aesklepios glared at her inquiringly.
    "Noble Knowledge sect lunatic. Heaven's perfect bitch. She wants shit inside my head, and she has brought friends."
    He cursed.
    "Yeah."
    "So what, then?"

    She snarled.
    "Don't damn well know," she grated. "She's fucking… her troops. They're tough. IF she's made more, they'll be tougher. The Foundation Experts will get them eventually, but it'll take them a while. And that's without the fucking – tough ones. And her."
    "Poisons?"
    "And drugs of every fucking stripe."

    "Maria."
    The voice was thin, ethereal, and insane. She recognized it immediately. The Mother of Mists had clearly not gotten any saner since their last meeting.
    "Maria. Come out, come out, wherever you are."
    Closer now.
    Damn it. DAMN it. She could see how this would go. Shu Cangquiong would use the troops to hold down everyone still in the fort, while she wandered about looking for her. And she'd kill anyone she ran into. The bitch could do things that she just shouldn't be able to. The only alternative-

    Maria stopped. Her notes were scattered on the floor. She stared at them. Then, slowly, turned to look at Asklepios.
    "…Anahata, then back up through Ajna, right?"
    The healer's face contorted. She watched him bite back his first response as the situation shifted in his head.
    "Damn it," he muttered. Then he thrust a hand into his pockets and dug out a pill. "Take that now," he snapped. "Should handle your qi reserves. Keep the excess in Ajna, it'll filter back into your dantian more slowly."
    She nodded.
    Stood.
    "Here goes fucking nothing."

    And burnt.

    It started, as she should have expected, with pain. Sharp, hot pain, running through her veins. Heat, too, searing through every inch of her great rolling waves. For a brief second, Maria thought that this was how she'd die – some terrible, poorly executed almost-technique, burning her to ash from the inside out. But no. No, damnit. That was not how this shit was going to end.
    She reached into herself, took hold of the fire, and yanked.
    The first draught hit her heart chakra like a sledgehammer. She gasped. Gods. The HEAT of it. Not hurting any more, but Imperator's grace, still there, still-
    No. No time. Up. Up into her third eye. Catch it there. Twist it back through.
    She felt the heat scorch her forehead for a moment-
    A spark spitting through her skull-

    And then, suddenly, gone.
    She blinked.
    Looked down.
    Her skin was shimmering with a metallic sheen. The Bronze. She'd activated the Bronze. Except the colour was wrong. Pale and flat, closer to silver. Damnit, she mustn't have done it fast enough, there'd been damage-
    FUCK. No. It worked. Go with it.
    She nodded at Asklepios.
    "The pill," he said.
    She nodded. Swallowed it. The qi hit her system in a soothing wave.
    Now for the hard part.

    Maria turned to look at the window. Quickest way out, she guessed. She dropped into a sprinter's crouch, and bolted, venting short bursts of flame from her pressure points as she went for speed. To the window. Onto the window ledge.
    Out.
    Soaring. Steel-clad.
    Screaming.
    "SHU CANGQUIONG!"

    The mists were thicker over the gates, now, and spreading tendrils out through the camp. Gods. Bitch must be enjoying herself. Maria could make out fighting in the depths of it; the huge chitinous soldiers and their skinny leader had engaged the rest of the forces. In the camp. How long until the patrols got back? Damnit damnit damnit-
    But the mists were thickening, now. She could see a figure pulling itself together in the heart of it. Something flowing and grey.
    Shu Cangquiong.
    "Maria," she said, smiling with malicious glee. "That was very quick. I thought I'd have to kill some of your friends first."
    "Come and try," Maria snapped. She punched the excess fire out of her pressure points for emphasis. The Mother of Mists raised an eyebrow.
    "New look? Very… interesting. Not very interested in fashion, myself."
    "Burn and die."
    "Oh, come on. Don't you want to talk anymore? Given what you stuck in my fucking head, you owe me a little conversation."

    There was a flicker on her face at that. Hate, Maria realized. Genuine, intense hate. For her. What did she-
    No. No, it didn't matter. Shu Cangquiong had threatened Maria's friends. That was enough.
    "How dare you," she said. "You come to this place. You bring those things. You kill. You destroy. Here, and everywhere you have ever gone, making nothing, giving nothing. You monster. You… fucking BLIGHT of a person. HOW DARE YOU."
    The fire was sparking hotter now, somehow, blue-white and intense. She could feel her jaws spreading open, her teeth bared like a wolf.
    "You want me so bad? Alright. Here I come."

    Hotter. Hotter.
    GO.
    The jets roared. The Red Place roiled up into place. She lunged-

    And fell into raging stillness.

    ---



    Close.

    Yes. Tries to pull away. Didn't expect you to be so fast.

    Silly little witch.

    Hit her.

    Hit her again.

    Hit her again-

    She comes apart, body gone to mist.

    Doesn't matter. Hit her again.

    She's all around you. She's the mist. You're the flame.

    Spark the jets in every direction, searing plumes scorching the air clear.

    She screams from everywhere at once.

    Music. Music. Sweet music.

    Keepburningkeepburningkeepburning

    Metal flesh scorches under the heat, but holds, flesh knitting together, body reinforcing itself over and over. No overheating now, bitch.

    Mist condenses again.

    Flare.

    Jump.

    Hands close.

    She has tricks too, now. Shifts herself back and forth, mist and meat – doesn't bother with guards or blocks, just shifts into flowing smoky torrents under your blows.

    But she can't     hit you back, can she?

    Ha.

    Too hot. Too hard.

    Thank you, bitch. Never would have thought of it if it weren't for you.

    Keep going. Pressure on her. Watch as she shifts.

    Seems like –

    Yes. The mist. She shifts into it, but not as fast.

    Running low on steam.

    Hit her     HARDER.

    Hit her FASTER.

    Speed and power, speed and power, speedandpowerspeedandpower beatherbeatherbeather

    YES

    Can't shift fast enough – takes a glancing blow – all you need. She screams again.

    SUCH. SWEET. MUSIC.

    Keep going.

    More strikes.

    Then she's gone.

    Well. It doesn't matter. Doesn'tmatterdoesn'tmatterdoesn'tmatter.

    She brought so many friends.

    Bolt back and forth as the mist retreats. You're not a person any more. You're a weapon. You're a burning, screaming, ripping, tearing weapon, and these bastards are in YOUR PLACE.

    First one breaks. Second one breaks. Third one breaks.

    Good.

    Keep going.

    Fourth one breaks. Fifth one breaks. Sixth one breaks.

    Try to heal.

    FUCK THAT.

    *VENT*

    Great scorching rain burning from your every inch

    Death and steel and fire

    That's you

    That's fucking you

    BURNBURNBURN

    But oh, oh she's a clever bitch isn't she?

    You can feel it now

    In your lungs

    Clevercleverclever

    Little poisons doing their work.

    You're healing fast, but they'll slow it.

    FUCK THAT.

    Stop.

    Spread your arms.

    VENT.

    Flames go out. Flames go in. Down your throat, like honey and molten gold.

    Hit your steel lungs and scorch them clean and fresh

    Vomit them out again.

    "TRY HARDER, BITCH."

    And burnburnburnburnburn.

    Time loses meaning.

    Space loses shape.

    There's only the heat.

    There's only the screaming.

    There's only this.

    "HOW DARE YOU."
    "HOW DARE YOU."
    "HOW DARE YOU."

    And then you're

    Just

    F

    A

    L

    L

    I

    N

    G



    ​

    You return.​

    Yes.

    Why?​

    I do not know.

    …



    A truth.

    In the heart of all things, there lies a mirror.

    It shows their heart its opposite.

    Thus, a shadow and a light are brothers.​


    Maria came to a few minutes later. It took a second to realise where she was – on her knees, in the ruins of the fort's wall. The dead were everywhere, but almost all of them were the chitinous things. And she was…
    Laughing.
    Crying.
    Both, at once. The happy, joyous tears of one who had at last found their way back home, after a long absence.
    "Maria?"
    She turned. Letha was there, battered but alive. Staring.
    She knew, at least, what to do next.
    Bowed at the waist.
    "Master."

    Letha saw her friend's silvery metal flesh. Her face shifted into something… confused. Happy.
    "…Do you trust me now?"

    Maria nodded.
    "Yes."
    ---

    Aaaaaaaaaaay it's done! Special thanks to @Falconis for letting me butcher his Reflected Purities Technique. I don't have Letha made up in Heroforge, but I do have Maria's new look here and the same but using the heavily altered Reflected Purities Technique here. Been sitting on these for a while - really good to get them out. @Alectai @Kaboomatic @TehChron , may I have a threadmark please!
     
  • Sidestory
    • I always enjoy reading about Maria. I can't imagine how you'll incorporate her new Impact, two of her will make Letha's head explode from frustration. What metal did the Reflected Purities transform the Bronze into?
     
    Jin Muyi Interlude - Gui Hua 3
  • Sidestory
    • Jin Muyi Interlude - Gui Hua 3:

    The Descendants of Fianna​


    The interrogation had been exhausting. By virtue of being the only Human around, Gui Hua found herself dragged into a series of meetings and reports on how they discovered the Traitor, step by step accounting of what they did upon finding out and stern lectures on not bringing the information to the Clan's Internal Affairs division.

    Her one minor attempt to defend herself via claiming that she didn't know if she would be believed was immediately countered by the counter-point of how she would have been believed purely based on the fact that Uncle Qing Yun would have vouched for her. And considering he was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator in his own right, while he might not have been immediately believed, it was still grounds for a investigation to be conducted and in which case the proof would be found.

    The entire experience left her totally drained to the point that the moment she got back to the room assigned to her in the Fortress, she threw herself facedown on the bed and just enjoyed letting her body go limp. From the corner of her eye, she could see Nau that traitor enjoying his hobby of reading the scandalous Bucephalus Times and it's attention grabbing headlines. Oh the articles were good. That she would reluctantly agreed all though nothing would ever make her say it out-loud.. And she did enjoy the few articles of Father's exploits that were printed....

    Her tired musing on the validity and trustworthiness of The Bucephalus Times was interrupted by a call from Nau who sounded strangely bemused.

    Hey Gui Hua? I know you don't really like The Bucephalus Times, but i think you need to read the latest Edition.

    "i'm too tired to move now Nau, no news in that Rag would be worth the effort of me getting up from this very comfortable position on my nice soft bed."

    Yeah....I think this Edition would do that. You really need to read it, it has mentions of you and your Father.

    "Me? Almost no one among the Clan knows of me. I done nothing that would attract any attention beyond our latest adventure and considering how sensitive the whole thing is, i don't think the Clan would let the news be spread."

    No, it isn't about what we did. It's mainly a piece about how 3 Qi Condensation Cultivators stopped a Mid-Foundation Establishment Beast from destroying a town till reinforcements could arrive to put it down. The Bucephalus Times interviewed each of them separately and they kinda all mentioned you and your Father.

    "What. Aargh, Hand me the Rag." Groaning slightly from the effort, Gui Hua rolled herself on her back before slowly lifting her heavy body up and stretching out her hands to catch the paper Nau threw at her. To the lack of surprise of both of them, Gui Hua exhausted body missed her catch by a beat and only caught it after it bounced off her face.

    "Now, lemme see what's all this about." Opening the paper, Gui Hua found her attention caught by the big picture showing a Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly being pelted by streaking balls of light launched by a Cultvator from what she recognized as the Bow constructed by the Kataphraktoi Formation while another cultivator seemed to be somehow flying towards it with his sword slashing up on wings of what she recognized as identical as the wings used by the Two-Headed Eagle Formation. Below on the ground, a lone cultivator stood clad in the Hoplite Formation which was drenched with the blood of what appeared to be larvae among a sea of blood.

    A summary of the entire thing was like what Nau had mentioned to her. The Sandstorm Dragonfly had attacked a Town and 3 Cultivators that were within it's boundaries at the time stood up to face it in accordance with their duty and while doing so earned epitaphs from the act and from the way they did so. The usage of the Clan's Formations as Enhancement Spells but yet with enough power as if they were in a Formation. A aspiring poet from the Town even included a catchy little poem to immortalize their deeds.

    Damage done to the dragon shaped beast,
    too massive to compare.
    Balmung of the Thunderous Sky,
    Orca of the Bloody Sea,
    Albireo of the Shooting Stars
    together they faced the Calamity as duty bid
    In the depths of our despair,
    your deeds brought us life.
    You are none other than the descendants of Fianna.
    ​

    "Huh. I recognize those names. Balmung, Orca and Albireo. I played with all of them till they grew big enough to enlist in the Legions. Wow, that takes me back, especially for Albireo. I played with him about 80 years ago, with Balmung about 60 years and with Orca about 40 years ago. Nice to see they're doing well and achieving great things especially considering the lack of support they had being Orphans, Belonging to a Fallen Clan or being descended from a mortal family with no active Cultivators."

    Wait. You knew all of them and played with them when they were kids?

    "Yep! I even showed them some of Father's notes and musings on the Clan's Formation once i knew they wanted to join the Legions! Looks like they helped if they were able to achieved so much stuff with just the Formations. Especially since they ran them as Enchantment Spells which according to Father are when they're the least efficient in terms of Power to Qi Cost."

    Oooh. Some of the Interviews are starting to make more sense now.

    "They interviewed each of them? And what did they say to make you go all smug. That is never a good thing. NAU, TELL ME!"

    Hmmm, i don't think i will. Why don't you go read the Interviews instead? It'll give you the answer because I sure won't!

    "Grrr..." Growling in frustration, Gui Hua quickly flipped through the paper, skipping past the damage reports of the Town, the interviews with the townspeople and even the glowing praises from the Centurion who lead the Century that took the Beast down. In a manner of seconds, she found what she was looking for. The start of the interviews with her childhood friends which The Bucephalus Times had helpfully captioned as THE HEROES SPEAK.

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

    Thank you for taking the time to speak to us Mr Orca!

    - No worries! With the amount of Spirit Stones you guys are offering me, i'll be a fool to turn down the request! That's enough Spirit Stones to last me till i hit Foundation Establishment if i encounter no bottlenecks in my Cultivation.

    We at The Bucephalus Times are always more then willing to aid the young talents of our Clan achieve their full potential! Now to get down to business. Have you seen the poem composed in you and your fellow heroes' honor? And the title they gave to you of " Orca of The Bloody Sea" ?

    - Oh yeah! I saw that memorial they put up with the poem inscribed on it. It makes me blush a bit since i was mainly doing what every Cultivator should be doing and what my Teacher would have done. The name is really cool, but i think might give people the wrong impression of me. Calling me "The Bloody Sea" makes it sound like i killed enough foes to make a sea out of their blood when it's really more of me stopping the larvaes from reaching the town.

    They're weren't that dangerous to any cultivator, only Mortals could be harmed by them. It was mainly just killing them nonstop on my part to prevent them from reaching the Town. I'm just thankful that there was someway i could help especially since i lack any methods to reach the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly.

    You mentioned a Teacher, did he only teach you the Hoplite Formation? Wasn't that taught to all Clansmen? Did he teach you a trick to make the Hoplite viable as a Enhancement Spell?

    - Oh no. I call him Teacher but i doubt he knows of me! I was friends with his Daughter as a child and she generously allowed me to take a look at her Dad's notes on the Hoplite Formation and how it works. The notes helped me greatly with my practice of the Spell and allowed me to fine-tuned it so that it works as a Enchantment spell fitted for me. You could say that it allowed me to obtain Mastery of the Spell.

    Mastery Of the Hoplite Formation is a very bold claim, could you perhaps tell us what you meant by that and what counts as Mastery?

    - Oh sure! But just to note, the Mastery here is based on what's mentioned in my Teacher's notes. Basically, on the base level a Hoplite Formation will without a doubt summon a Shield and a Spear right? Further refinement of the Formation allows the Cultivator to turn the indistinct silhouette into a full construct clad in armor of Gravebronze.

    Most Cultivators stop at this point, but my Teacher noticed that when the Hoplite Formation is done by a Storied Legion, something interesting happens. Beyond the Construct clad in Gravebronze, fine details also appear on it. The shield, Spear and Armor it wears is engraved with fine designs with each one pointing to a particular storied moment of the Legion's history.

    Teacher theorized that part of what makes the Hoplites of the Storied Legions so strong is these history. Each mark is a act of glory for the Legion that each member learns of upon entrance to the Legion. That lends weight when they help in calling up the Hoplite because they want to make their own mark on it's it for the later generations. This belief in turn strengths the Hoplite by ensuring that all within it are of one mind and one intent.

    Based on this, Teacher theorized that to master the Hoplite Formation, the Cultivator should be able to do the same thing. To trust and believe in the Hoplite Formation at a strong enough level that their achievements are written on their panoply, allowing them to become so in tune with the Hoplite Formation that usage of it is as easy as breathing and requires just as much effort. Where a cultivator's first reaction to danger is to instantly call up the Hoplite Formation and not let it fall until the threat is gone or when they return to a place of refuge.

    That's incredible, and it sure does sound like Mastery! Have you already achieved that stage? And as a Qi Condensation Cultivator to boot? What a achievement!

    - No no no. That's just Teacher's theory, i haven't achieve such instinctual usage of the Hoplite Formation yet. My usage of the Hoplite Formation as a Enhancement Spell is more or less due to a trick. Namely that the most important thing behind having the Hoplite Formation is having the Will and Intent to remain focused, the sheer act of belief so to say.

    That's confusing Mr Orca, you're using it as a Enhancement Spell. How much can you increase your Faith in the Formation? Did you hypnotize yourself?

    - Not exactly, It's more along the lines of me making used of the traits of Gravebronze. As i'm sure you know, Gravebronze is the final gift a Clansmen can give to the Clan and how the Clansmen died can affect it's properties to a certain extent. So what i did is make use of that. I sought out the Seniors who were dying of old age after retiring from a career of frontline service and paid for a small bar of the Gravebronze made from them.

    I used all that Gravebronze to forge my Shield and Spear! And that's mainly how i did it!

    I'm not sure i understand? How does that help?

    - Oh okay, i'll break things down for you. Firstly, most of these Seniors retire after a career of combat to die at home right? And what is mainly used by our Legions in Combat?

    The Hoplite!

    - Exactly, so these Seniors have great faith in the Hoplite, it never let them down and ensured that they lived long enough to retire and die peacefully, something which is rare for a Cultivator. To them, the Hoplite was both the best Shield and Spear and this intense Faith in it is all collected in the Gravebronze made from them. Now, most of the Gravebronze used for the Equipment issued to us is made from a mix of cultivators. There are those who died from old age and those who died on the battlefield as well as a million other causes.

    What i did was ensured that my Spear and Shield remains pure in terms of the belief instilled in the Gravebronze. The Faith of all the seniors in the Hoplite Formation, it's Shield and Spear and how it can and will protect those within it from harm empowers my Faith when i call upon the Hoplite. It's a combination of the belief of thousands and thousands of seniors aiding me when i Call Up the Hoplite Formation.

    My goal is to constantly refine my spear and shield with such Gravebronze and let the faith of all my Seniors lend me the strength to protect the Clan and achieve my Dream! And if i ever do reach Mastery, i'm sure the Faith and Will of the seniors will aid in ensuring my Shield remains like a mountain and my Spear strikes like a rockslide.

    That was very inspiring! Before we end the interview, could you tell us your Dream as well as the name of your Teacher and friend?

    - No problem! My Dream is grow strong enough to be able to aid and protect my Childhood Friend from all who seeks to harm her! I will then confess my love to her and ask her Father for her hand in marriage!

    My Teacher is the esteemed Jin Muyi whose theories on the Hoplite Formation aided me in all my endeavours thus far and his daughter Gui Hua is my best friend who supported me in my cultivation and allowed me to achieve such heights with her generosity! One of the reasons i agreed to this interview beyond the Spirit Stones is to tell her that i'm working hard and that i won't let her down!

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

    "Huh that brat. I mean he's right that it was neat to know he's working hard and that i didn't snuck out Father's notes in vain. Although i did already do so before for Balmung and Aibero so i guess i got used to it. Still, he really grew up well! To think that when i first met him he was snivelling after being bullied by some of the other Clan Kids for his goal to become a Cultivator.

    I hope remembers to invite me to the wedding when he grows strong enough to confess and protect his Love! Might be akward though considering i'll likely still be a child among all his friends. But i bet i'll make a pretty awesome Flower Girl! What do you think Nau?"

    I...I got no words. Do you genuinely not see it?

    "Not see what?"

    You know what? I'm not going to say anything till you're done with all the interviews, i mean you might as well finish reading them all right?

    "Oh good point Nau! Let's see... Looks like Balmung's interview is up next! This would be interesting."

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


    Welcome Mr Balmung!

    - Ser.

    I beg your pardon?

    - Ser Balmung. It is the custom of my House, and i hope you respect what little of it is left.

    Very well, Ser Balmung thank you for taking the time to participate in our Interview!

    - It was no trouble. I remain stuck here until the Centurion gives me permission to depart. I might as well use my time in a productive manner such as being paid Spirit Stones for participating in this interview.

    Regardless of your reasons, we are still pleased that you are willing to speak to us! Have you seen the poem composed in you and your fellow heroes' honor? And the title they gave to you of " Balmung Of The Thunderous Sky" ?

    -     Yes, i saw the poem and i feel proud that they deemed my deeds worthy enough to chisel in stones as well as giving me a rather fitting Epitaph. I feel challenged by it and will do my best to ensure that i remain true to those words, to always strike like Thunder.

    We have to say that it was incredible watching you fight against the Giant Sandstorm Dragon. The way you dodge it's blow before countering with a thunderous strike was mesmerizing.

    - Thank you for noticing, there was no way i could trade blows with it. The Beast's greater size and cultivation meant that any blow it struck me with would have been fatal. My only solution was to stay close to it and turn it's size into weakness by dodging it's telegraphed hits and countering at the few spots i could reach.

    I am thankful that the Centurion arrived when he did, i was unsure on how long i could drag the fight out.

    That brings us to the Giant Scorpion in the room. You were flying as a Qi Condensation Cultivator, an act that is usually only possible thanks to powerful artifacts like Lady Rina's Cauldron or special spells that are usually only good for short spurts and not the prolonged combat you were involved in.

    - Ah, i now see why you were so generous with the offered remuneration. Very well, since i have accepted the Spirit Stones, i will answer your question the best that i could.

    Firstly, it is not exactly a unknown spell that i was using. It is the one known spell available to all of the Clan as long as they have a strong enough connection to our bloodline. I am of course talking about the Twin-Eagle Formation.

    The Twin-Eagle Formation? As far as we know, it comes under the category of Special Spells mentioned earlier about only being good for short spurts of flight? Just enough for the Clansmen in question to flee.

    - Ah, yes. That is a misunderstanding of the Formation, but a understandable one. I myself only know more due to my Master's notes that Milady was willing to share with me.

    Let me share the information as it was shared with me. Firstly, what is known about the Twin-Eagle Formation is that it requires the Blood Of Bronze for it to function, that without it a Cultivator would be unable to get it to work correct? Some have deemed it to be due to the Formation being too proud to allow non Clan to use it, but my Master has another theory.

    To explain it, I need to diverge a bit, i do hope your readers bear with me. It has long been known that for Cultivators to be able to persist in high-speed combat, they need a body firm enough that it can cope with the speed and vigor of such combat, which is why the stronger a Cultivator is the faster they get. Shortcuts can be taken to obtain a body capable of such burst via Physical Cultivation, to forge a body able to withstand the vigor of such speed.

    But no matter how much a Body Cultivator works, it's rare for them to be able to maintain such speed constantly until they advance their cultivation where their limit increases. Now why is that so? My Master theorizes that this is because most Body Cultivation works on strengthening just the body of the Cultivator and not their Internals.

    While there are a few Body Cultivation techniques that do so, they generally are rarer and harder to train. Whereas when a Cultivator advances, their entire body is made stronger, including their insides hence allowing them to withstand better the vigor of high-speed Combat.

    This has been interesting, but how does this apply to what you did?

    - Patience, i'm just about to explain my Master's theory and how it all connects. The main gist of my Master's Theory is that the Twin-Eagle Formation does not work for the non-Clan because their bodies are physically unable to handle the sheer speed of the Formation and the stresses it will put on their bodies.

    While as members with the Blood of Bronze, our internals are just as fortified as our bodies allowing us to handle the stresses of such speed. Even then those with weak traces of the blood are able to use the Twin-Eagle Formation for a shorter period of time then those from the Houses whose veins flow pure with the Blood Of Bronze.

    In my case, i'm the last member of my House. A House who can trace their roots to when our ancestors first arrived here. The Blood Of Bronze is strong within me and reading my Teacher's notes brought a thought to my head. Namely, does this mean i could use the Twin-Eagle Formation for a longer period of time then the majority of me peers?

    AH! So that's how you did it! But won't it drain all your Qi to maintain the Twin-Eagle Formation for such a long duration?

    - That was very insightful of you. But let me first continue my last point, which is that yes, i was able to use it for a longer period of time. So I found myself using it as often as i could and training my self to be able to function with the heighten speed and reflexes that the Formation grants me.

    That however brought me to a new problem the limiting factor to my usage of the Formation wasn't due to my body being unable to handle the speed and sharp turns i put on it, it was due to my Qi being unable to fuel it.

    So i practiced. I found myself following in my Master's footsteps in learning how to direct my Qi to certain parts of the Formation and gradually i found myself refining it such that i only called froth the part of the Twin-Eagle Formation that i needed, which was the wings.

    Still doesn't that require the majority of your Qi and concentration? How were you able to land such heavy blows on the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly?

    - My House has it's roots in Sword Cultivation. Even before we start cultivating, we practice the Sword. That was how i met Milady, she was willing to pit her Sabre against my Sword and help me in refining the Swordplay i learned from my Clan's manuels.

    I had no one left to teach me since all my Kin fell to either the Trials or the many conflicts we were involved in. Without her aid and generosity in showing me Master's notes on the Twin-Eagle Formation, my House as a Cultivator Bloodline would have died due to my failure in being a cultivator. I am forever grateful to her for her help in preventing that.

    That is incredible information that we're please you're willing to share! But it still doesn't answer the question of how you were able to land such blows?

    - Ah yes, That was due to muscle memory as well as my Ancestral Blade.

    Could you perhaps elaborate on that?

    - Very Well. Part of Sword Cultivation and swordplay in general is the repetition of moves to build muscle memory in wielding the sword. It's something that i have literally being doing since i can walk and allows me to use those moves on a instinctual level. In short, i require no concentration to use my sword and can instead focus my attention on using the Twin-Eagle Formation.

    The downside of such swordplay of course is that the cuts are "light" since the muscle memory for those moves were on cutting training posts or the air as i practiced. My Ancestral Blade however aids me with that problem. I won't reveal to much of it beyond that it is forged of Gravebronze and is able to store and release Qi.

    Thank you for what you gave, we understand your position, lets bring things to a close with one last question. Could you tell us your Dream as well as the name of your Master and the friend who aided you with your Swordplay?

    - Of course, My Master is Commander Jin Muyi who stood against the Invaders to defend Pleuron before the 13 arrived. I had members of my Clan who rode with him when they sought to delay the Invaders. Running to his daughter, Milady Gui Hua was a fortuitous encounter and the notes of his she kindly showed me aided me on my Quest to rebuild my House.

    As for a dream? I don't have one. Instead i have a Vow i must fulfill. Milady has given me her Favor indicating my Status as her Knight and Champion, as such it is my Duty to save her from her Curse with my Blade. This Ribbon she bestowed on me is her Favor and the sign of the Vow between us of a Lady and Her Knight.

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

    "Oh wow, that's kinda embarrassing! To think he prized that Ribbon i gave him when he asked for a token so highly! I never knew he thought that it was a charge to save me from my curse. I should write to him and tell him that there's no need to do so. In fact, he should take a page from Orca's book and find a nice girl he can romance and marry to rebuild his House."

    Wow Gui Hua, you want to kill the poor guy?

    "Why would telling him to marry and rebuild his House be killing him? I have you know that the dream he didn't tell the Interviewer was to rebuild his House and strengthen it so that none will fall to the Trials. I'm just encouraging him to get started on that instead of wasting his time on his Quest. After all, Father is still searching for a cure and Father has vastly more resources as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. It's just common sense.

    Damn. Gui Hua that's cold. I'm not a living thing but i can feel the chills from your words.

    "Haha. Very funny Nau. Don't make fun of my friend and his dream please, I know the effort he put in for it. I was the one who helped him in practicing his Swordplay and the one he confided his fears in."

    Oof, those poor chaps. Erm, VERY WELL! I shall stop my mockery! Why not read that last interview?

    "Thanks Nau, and yep, lets do so!"

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


    We greatly appreciate you doing this for us Mr Albireo!

    - It was no trouble. I would have done so even without your generous payment. I'm a big fan of The Bucephalus Times and how it helps greatly in providing news to the Qi Condensation Cultivators. Reports on the Contribution Board are generally emotionless affairs and do not help as much as the Times does in terms of giving an understanding of the situation.

    We're very grateful for the praise! But this Interview is about you, so let's start things off with have you seen the poem composed in you and your fellow heroes' honor? And the title they gave to you of "Albireo Of The Shooting Stars" ?

    - Haha yes, i have seen it and I am very flattered by the high regard the Town sees me in when i just did my duty as a Clansman and as a Cultivator. I feel that greater praise should go to my Juniors who stood up to assist me without hesitation even though Clan Rules state that only the Strongest Cultivator in the area is needed to defend the populace.

    They could have fled under the excuse of gathering aid, but they stayed with me and honestly? Without their aid i don't think I could have lasted long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. And while being being known as The Shooting Stars is neat, i'm more honored to be labeled as a descendant of Fianna.

    Is that suppose to mean something? I must confess we've never run into that name before.

    - Haha! No worries, let me give a little history lesson for you and your readers. this Town has only ever produced 1 group of talented cultivators. They cultivated extremely quickly and make their way into Foundation Establishment in 50 years and was on the verge of breaking into a Core in a mere 200 years.

    Unfortunately, before they could do so, the Town came under attack by a horde of Spirit Beasts and they all gave their lives defending the Town, sacrificing their promising future for the sake of Mortals. They were known as the Fianna, and no matter how talented any future cultivator of the Town was, none were deemed worthy of being bestowed with that title.

    It could have been due to the parallels between the end of the Fianna and our fight, but for them to be willing to grant it us? I sure am proud of it!

    Astonishing! How did you know that? It sounds like a local tradition or legend.

    - Well, it's no big news, but my parents came from this Town and the Saga of the Fianna was one of the last few memories i had of them. In fact, my main reason for visiting the Town was to see if i had any kin left here who could tell me of my parents.

    Ah..That sounds like a incredibly personal event, so We'll bring things back to the fight against the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly. What little we caught had you sending balls of light streaking towards the beast from your Bow which appears remarkably like the Qi Construct bow the Kataphraktoi Formation calls up?

    - Well yes, it represents the Bow used by the Kataphraktoi Formation mainly because i was using it to launch attacks at the Beast.

    That is shocking news. The Kataphraktoi Formation is known for the devastation behind it's charge, the arrows it can fire are generally not used at all or used to facilitate a disengagement from the foe. Currently all usage of the Kataphraktoi Formation focus on the Charge, even the variants used by the 1st Mobile Infantry Legion work in the same fashion.

    - Funny that you would mention the 1st MI. The roots behind my take on the Kataphraktoi Formation are the same as that of the 1st MI, all thanks to Senior Muyi and the nosy scamp he calls a Daughter. Upon learning that i was an orphan, she befriended me and forced me to show her around Pleuron and when i mentioned i wanted to be a Cultivator like my Parents she snuck away Senior's notes on the Kataphraktoi Formation and showed it to me

    Looking back, i can see how the theories in the notes could lead to the variants the 1st MI are using> But at that time, i had more trouble with trying to absorb as much of the notes as i could in the span of a single day while copying as much as i could do. Gui Hua's reaction when i was doing so was pretty funny, she looked like she was on the verge of crying and jumped at every little noise as if it was Senior out to catch her.

    Still, i'm thankful for what she did.

    That..was both unexpected and expected. Both of your Juniors appeared to have similar interactions with the Legate's daughter and his notes. Still could you expand more on how those theories aided you in doing what you did?

    - HA! So that's why i thought they felt familiar! I mean yeah, the way they were using the Hoplite and Twin-Eagle Formations were new and at the same time eerily familiar to what i was doing. I just wasn't able to ask them in the midst of battle. But if the roots of the techniques to turn the Formations into effective Self-Enhancement spells are all are from Senior's notes and theories, it would all make sense.

    Okay, getting back on track on on your question. So the main thing mentioned in Senior's notes about the Kataphraktoi Formation is the division of Qi. The Qi used on the Formation is split into many parts. We have the Qi used for the armor, the Qi used for the Mount, the Qi for the Lance and the Qi for the Bow. The Power behind the devastating Charge is very much due to the Qi for the Mount interacting with the Qi for the Lance in a explosive reaction at the moment of impact.

    So the less Qi needed for any of these parts, the more can be directed to the other parts. And what the 1st MI does so well is outsourced most of the Qi needed for the Mount to their Spirit Beasts who are already used to using Qi to enhance their movement. This allows the Cultivators in the 1st MI to focus their Qi on the Lance, the armor or the Bow depending on the situation.

    Erm...Is it ok to be outright revealing the Legion's trick to everyone?

    - No worries, I'll take the blame if Senior needs a target! I'll rely on my good buddy Gui Hua to save me from her Father! On a more serious level, i hope that this explanation might aid our Clansmen during the Trial be it via making it easier to flee or enhancing a final blow.

    Getting back on topic, my focus on the Kataphraktoi Formation differs in that i'm using it mostly as a lone Cultivator and so i don't really need the power of a massed Calvary charge. So, the parts of the Kataphraktoi Formation useful to me are the Qi used for the Mount, the Qi used for the Lance and the Qi used for the bow, and instead of making a Formation that can activate all 3, i decide instead to make 2 Formations, 1 for when i'm in Melee combat and the other for when i need a Ranged option.

    Using just the Qi for the Mount and the Qi for the Lance, i have a Self Enhancement Spell that allows me to move in short brief bursts via small Charges all of which build up momentum that combines with the Qi for the Lance channeled through my Halberd allowing me to crack armor and cleave rocks with a single blow. When i choose to swing that Heavy Blow is up to me, so even while trading blows, i can wait for the perfect moment to blow pass the enemy's guard and bury my halberd in their sides.

    Using just the Qi for the Mount and the Qi for the Bow, i have a Self Enhancement Spell that allows me to keep away from my foe while firing arrows backed by the amount of Qi used in the Lance. In fact, while i can use that Qi to fire multiple arrows, I had much better success with using all of the Qi on a single arrow each time, allowing me to overload the arrows so that they fly like comets!

    That was what i was doing against the Giant Sandstorm Dragonfly. I was prepared to go in close with my Melee enhancement to prevent the beast from hitting the town, but thankfully little Balmung did that job!

    That was enlightening! But we do have reports of you firing multiple arrows at the Beast? Does this mean you decided that it was more important to keep attacking it over having intervals where it could attack while you were reapplying the Spell?

    - Nope. I was using all of the Qi in a single arrow for each shot. I just am able to call up my take on the Kataphrakoi Formation in the brief intervals between each shot. I've being working on the 2 Spells for the last 60 or so years, i have them pretty much ingrained in me now.

    Ah Mastery! Like what Mr Orca said during his interview!

    - I won't really call it Mastery honestly. I can feel that there is more i can do with my spells. Not to mention on how they can be used when i hit Foundation Establishment and so on. For now, i'll just say that it's usable in a combat scenario.

    Well then, thank you again for participating in our interview! Do you have any final words you like to say?

    - Yeah, i do have some. It's to my good buddy Gui Hua and it's about the promise we made. Hey Gui Hua! I hope you're reading this interview of mine! What do you think? Not too shabby for a orphan from the backstreets right? I still remember our promise to go traveling together when you're healed! I have a whole list of interesting places in the desert I can show you!

    And when we're done, you can take me to the plains and show me all the nice places your mother took you too! So do you're best to get your pesky problem resolved! I'm ready anytime to do my part of our promise!

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

    "Albireo that cocky punk! That was the first time i was sneaking stuff out of the house! And i just met Father at that point, of course i was worried i would get caught! That jerk! Instead of praising me as a super excellent friend he only remembers how funny i look! JERKFACE."

    Oh come on Gui Hua! You cannot be this dense about the whole thing

    "Yeah yeah Nau, I know. Albireo was just joking with me like he did way back. He was always ready to step in to protect me from the bullies when i first moved in with Father. It was what he did for me that inspired me to do my best to do the same for Orca and Balmung."

    Not really what i was talking about you dense noodle! Haha yeah, i can tell he's a jokester from the Interview! Still there were traces of his true self buried within it like when he mentioned aiding the Juniors for the Trial.

    "Exactly! He's nice and caring like that. Still it's pretty incredible that he understood Father's notes well enough to create to customized variants of the Kataphrakoi Formation considering he only had 1 night compared to the other two...It was also nice that he remembered our promise and my stories about the memories i had with Mama.

    He only mentioned showing him the places i went with her, but i could tell that he still remembered how i burst into tears at the mention of her during our time together and that was his attempt to console me like he did back then by making me remember the good times. Stupid caring jerk. I hope he stays safe. I hope all 3 of them stay safe in the Trials."

    So erm Gui Hua. From what i can tell from the interviews, you snuck out your Father's notes on the Clan Formations for all 3 of them. Doesn't that kinda make them his disciples? Since they achieved what they had due to his teachings?

    "Yeah kinda. But it's fine, i told them each before they left to enlist in the Legions that my Father was Ok with them learning from his notes and to not mention it to him if they see him since he doesn't want to be pestered by other juniors begging to see the notes."

    Ah, so he knows of the 3 of them and is ok with them using his notes then. That's pretty nice of him considering how they could be the foundation to a whole new cultivation spell series based around the formations...Gui Hua, why is your face turning white.

    "I kinda lied to them. My Father definitely did not know i did that and he might kill them if he ever finds out? He's really Plainslike in some things and i have no idea if Cultivation Arts are one of them?"

    Ooooh, that's gonna cause some big trouble. They just announced to everyone in the Clan via this paper that your Father's theories were the main reason behind why they were able to do what they did. If he ever reads this, won't he know what you did?

    "I gotta go! There is only 1 way out of this for me now! I need to bribe Uncle Qing Yun onto my side so that he can help convince Father not to hurt them and maybe even take them in as official disciples! BYE NAU, I GOTTA GO!"

    With those parting words, Gui Hua dashed out of the room despite her tired body leaving both the paper and Nau flying in her wake. With a grumble, Nau righted himself and with a light flare of Qi had the scattered paper gathered together once more before placing them securely on the desk in the room.

    A younger junior working to become stronger to better protect her. A Knight who she gave a Token of Affection to without knowing what it meant and A Childhood friend who help her fit in and listened to her sorrows. Man oh man, this is gonna be a big mess since i'm sure they all thought at this point that they were the only ones seeking her affection when she got cured from her current status.

    It is going to be pretty exciting for me to watch though! And based on what she told me about her Father, he'll probably spot what I did as well. His interactions with his 3 disciples all purusing his daughter's hand would be amusing as well especially since he would do his best to make sure she doesn't realizes the whole thing...

    Hehehehe. What a show i have to look forward to!

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    (7027 words)

    This was the Omake i had in mind before i requested for the Early Fate. So i guess this will go to Turn 11's rolls. Pretty shocked that i did in in a day. This whole thing started life as a expansion on the 3 Clan Formations and my theorizing on how they work and how they could be improved as a Self Buff over that of being a Formation.

    As i wrote the cool stuff i thought up on how they could be used, i realized i needed a way to explain it without being too dry hence i decided to turn it into a series of interviews. Which in turn needed me to come up with a Why for the Interview and at that point i remembered my childhood and dragged .hack characters into this.

    I've never played the .hack series, but i did consume alot of the media for it such as the LNs and Mangas. And the one thing i remembered the most strongly from it was the phrase " Orca of the Azure Sea and Balmung of the Azure Sky"

    So i started from there and added in the Warrior with the Eyes of Stars Albireo to make my third. Next i needed a way to introduce the subject, so i brought in Gui Hua and somehow it turned into a Romcom starring Gui Hua and her childhood friends who she all met when young and who all grew up into cultivators at different intervals. One of the curses of being a unaging child.

    This also allowed me to tie stuff back to Muyi's skill with Formations, so i'm pretty satisfied with it as a whole. @Humbaba can i have a threadmark for this?
     
  • Sidestory
    • Abel Angelus 25 -The 555th Legion Welcome, Aspirant.
  • Sidestory
    • The 555th Legion
    Welcome, Aspirant.

    This is a public terminal of the Contribution Points Board. You may request items, a total of your points, recommended tasks for Legionnaires with your skills, or record fulfilled tasks here. Please infuse a sliver of your will to access any function. If you are unable to properly separate a fragment of your will, you may use the Board further down. Please note there is a wait of approximately 8 hours to use the other Board at present. Note that at 4 bells bells past midnight this terminal will be taken down for maintenance. Please finish any business you have by the first bell.

    Will accepted.

    Purchasing an essay on the 555th Legion?

    Recommended: An excerpt from the text "The Rolls of Honour: An Accounting of the Grand Legions" by Chronicler Eratos Phylarchus, considered the essential guidebook for Aspirants considering future career opportunities. This section was updated only 2 years ago. It costs 1 Contribution Point.

    Your current Points Balance is 283. Warning class 7 sandstorm is expected to pass though this area today. No one with cultivations below foundation level should go outside today on pain of having your bronze flesh sanded off your bones.

    Essay purchased.

    Please note you have gained access to the excerpt for the next two hours. After that, access will reset. If you would like to purchase the excerpt permanently, you may do so for 3 Contribution Points. Access to the entire text is available for 300 Points for temporary access and 1000 for permanent access. Information contained is considered 'Sealed to the Blood' and should not be replicated via mortal means.

    - - - - - -

    Legion Name: The 555th Legion, commonly referred to as the 'Five Element Painters.'

    Lineage: The 555th was formed in the first millennia after the arrival of the Sea Conquering Army. It was first founded by Elder Veniamin Salliades, an Array Master famous for her skill in arrays of illusion and mystery.

    Legate: Legate Auxiliary Yuri Maras. A Great Circle Expert who has taken on the mantle of Legate in the absence of a Core Formation candidate. Known as the Painter, he is renowned for his ability to make beautifully arrays that double as works of art, he is often requested to make the outer defensive arrays of major cities that wish to impress all that look upon them. Within the legion he is more famous for being a very excellent salesman that manages to not only keep commissions coming, but pick out ones that legion members find interesting to do.

    Sigil: 5 paintbrushes each dipped in a different color ink to represent the 5 elements forming a 5 pointed star.

    Motto: de hoc mundo in aeternum "From the eternal to the world"

    Territory: The 555th Legion does not hold territory, but every hundred years right after the trials it will move to be hosted by a new region. The founder felt that remaining just one place too long makes one become stale and that "if the legion has not managed to finish arraying everything in their territory to full capacity in one hundred years then they were too busy sitting on their asses or our hosts are cheapskates" - Direct quote. For this reason they are now one of the major forces moving into Apoikía Bucephalus.

    Headquarters: Still under construction in Apoikía Bucephalus. It generally considered a point of pride in the legion that their new headquarters should always be better than their old one. Their last one was a giant tower made of hardened multicolor stained glass named "Desert Color". This time the legion is renovating a large cave complex that they found. They plan to name it once they are finished. Going by the last time this might take about 50 years or so. At least the high price they got from selling their last headquarters means that the 555th is flush with resources. This is also something of a pattern. In fact many of the clan's fortresses that are used for war and not the trials are former Five Element Painters headquarters.

    Composition: At the time of writing the Legion has 6655 Qi Condensation Disciples and 96 Foundation Building Experts. The Legion's only Core Formation Elder in recent history, Array master Matthaios Panagellis, was slain during the trials of 100 KM. Yuri Maras has been heading the legion since and is expected to make a breakthrough soon.

    Description: The Five Element Painters despite their artistic tendencies is a very tightly organized and regimented legion. Every member is expected to meet a quota of array commissions and legion standing is largely based on customer satisfaction. Whenever they move into a region it is to be expected that everything that can be usefully arrayed will be before they leave. For this reason it is not uncommon for there to be bidding wars after the trials as different regions compete for the right to host the Five Element Painters.

    During the trials the Five Element Painters make use of hundreds of tiny forts in their region that they have made in the last century. These forts tend to focus more on being hidden than defense and are useful resting places for clan members to hide between attacks.

    Outside of an expectation to remain proactive in fulfilling commissions, members are expected to maintain a reasonable Cultivation schedule, a positive Contribution Point balance as well as advancing their craft.
    Socially, members of the Five Element Painters have a reputation as eccentric artists.

    Since, outside the Trials, members are rarely found on the front-line of conflicts they have something of a reputation as a sinecure for those who fear direct combat. This rarely goes beyond friendly ribbing between Clan-Mates though considering how many clan members own their lives to Five Element Painter fortifications.

    Trivia:
    The Dawn fortress was one of their earlier work in the desert and reportedly many members of the 555th look upon their old work with horror at how many mistakes were made. However, when asked to detail them no one outside the legion seems to be able to follow the explanations.

    At meetings where only 555th members are present, the Legionnaires will often rank themselves not by cultivation, but by customer satisfaction score.

    It is said that the five paint brushes found on their banner used to be treasured implements of the legion capable of enhancing the elemental potency of arrays. They were lost in the move to the desert and are currently in the hands of the Sorrowful Blacksmith. Unlike many other cases where similar artifacts were lost, the 555th claims not to be bothered by the loss and that they have made better ways of enhancing arrays since.
    ________________________________________________
    @Alectai, @TehChron, @Humbaba, @ReaderOfFate, @Kaboomatic A last minute Omake to help Abel Angelus. Was originally planning on this being his legion, but I think I might have him be part of the Casia Zimisce's former legion.
     
    Last edited:
  • Sidestory
    • Hehe. Gods, I love the omake avalanche. Nothing marks the end of a turn so wonderfully as panicking writers flinging text by the paragraph at the thread.
     
    Last edited:
    BadAtScreenNames said:
    Hehe. Gods, I love the omake avalanche. Nothing so clearly marks the end of a turn as wonderfully as panicking writers flinging text by the paragraph at the thread.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Yah, yesterday I thought I was doing fairly well then suddenly everyone has like 50k words. The trials really cause a bump. And big saving junior collab isn't even half finished yet.
     
    Matthaias Outi 6 - Arts and Crafts
  • Sidestory
    • Arts and Crafts

    Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong.

    Six times the bell was struck in the morning, and struck well, and with it, the Dawn Fortress was open for the day, greeting its namesake.

    Shops began selling goods in the markets, ready to make coin and deals.

    "Get your fresh fruits here, fresh from the Magic Oak sect! Nothing but the plumpest, juiciest, crunchiest apples here—if you're lucky, you may even advance your cultivation!"

    Forges blew smoke near the armories, crafting and smelting and the other vagaries of metalwork, making the countless arms and armor that girded the might of the legions.

    "Boy, what kind of dog shit fucking pig iron are you making! You've fucked it! Fucked it entirely! You sell this, I'll have your fucking head—you could fucking kill someone with this sort of shoddy workmanship!"

    And naturally, the Contribution Board and its associated offices began operating.

    Matthaias walked up to it, hefting three bags half his size again with one arm, and a bundle of papers in another. Ninth Heavenstage had its advantages, and well, the contents weren't that heavy in the first place.

    "Senior Sister, I've come to turn in some missions," he said politely, his head bowed and looking at the ground. Manners never hurt, and his pride never really was all that important in the first place.

    "You've got to fucking stop doing this damn shit, Outi," the sharply-dressed woman retorted sharply. "This is going to bring up your gathering missions to an even ten thousand, if that bundle of paper you've got there is any indication. And fucking give me them already, I don't have a lot of goddamn time today, the way things are going."

    Ah, well. It was going to be one of those days, huh?

    "Whatever do you mean, Sister Strakou? I'm simply turning in some missions for contribution points." Matthaias lifted his head up, squaring his footing and looked the glorified office worker in the eye, as he handed over the mission papers.

    Well, to be fair, you couldn't really say that Polikseni Strakou's job was glorified, either—managing the drudgery of being one of the many bureaucrats handling the contribution board wasn't really all that much of a job, especially of a woman of Strakou's capabilities—he had seen the seemingly-demure young woman hold off six Blood Path bandits on her lonesome with some reinforced paper and a ruler—but the woman enjoyed her work for whatever reason. It's not like he could begrudge the girl her own enjoyment—many looked oddly at him for his choice in missions, just as he was being questioned right now. Although, this was something new—he'd never been stopped by the disciple before turning in his materials—questioned, for sure, but he and Strakou had an understanding—he would ensure the requested materials would be clean and sorted, and Strakou would pass on to him anything that might be relevant to his interests.

    "You're fucking cleaning out the simple gathering missions in the area, for the love of whatever you hold dear's sake, and that's been fucking around with what the disciples who don't want to get drugged or clean or scavenge for scrap metal and shit like that. Hell, you've been doing a pretty damn good job of working to clean out the area entirely regardless of missions or not—and that's weird shit, even for you. You're nowhere even close to actually causing a problem, but I had my supervisor ask me about you, do you understand me? I don't like that."

    Strakou reached with her left hand out to him, almost like she was grasping for something, while her right still continued to clamp down on the papers Matthaias had handed over—nothing like some idiot running through and launching a bunch of paperwork in the air in the hallway to ensure paper security. After half a moment, the slip of a girl used it to reach towards her own face and pushed the long strands of golden hair out of her eyes, sighing.

    "You've gotta fucking—look, why the hell are you even wasting your time around here? Don't feed me that line of bullshit about recovering from those goddamn Celestial Chickens, I know you're not that chickenshit, even if your cultivation speed has slowed a fair bit. You got a fucking grudge against gyshal greens, or something?"

    Matthaias looked behind him, and grimaced a bit—even a minute of discussion could hold up a line in a place as busy as the Contribution Board. Even coming in at the crack of dawn meant that the amount of people there were lessened—not empty.

    "Look, uh, I'll tell you about it. Just process these, we can talk about it at—is Noon Bell or Evening Bell better for you? We're kind of holding up the line," he asked apologetically.

    "Fuck you—that massive sack of shit you've got right there is going to make me fucking die inside processing all of it at once. Why the fuck are you at Ninth Heavenstage and still dicking around like this, who the hell knows—you're nearing your first century, you should fucking know better. Fine—Evening Bell, and you're going to spend some of these damn points or whatever the hell you're getting out of these trash materials on a place that's good to eat at, you hear me?"

    Knowing better to push his luck, Matthaias nodded and handed over the materials, and went on his way after a few more curses hurled his way. As was his way, he accepted them.

    He really needed to get better friends.
    After an exhausting day to cap off his weeklong excursion, dropping off more materials here and there and picking them up in turn, he went and traded in a few more greens to a harried looking medicinal disciple for a handful of gold. As he flipped a coin in the air, a kick leaned him forward as the glittering yellow circle reached the apex of its arc. Swiftly, a weight leapt onto his back and then launched forward, swiftly resettling on his shoulders as he finished leaning back up.

    "Looking for this, you nerd? You know better than to flash gold like that in a place like this." Strakou waved her hand in front of his face, fingers wiggling mockingly.

    "I figured that if I wanted to get your attention fast, a flying gold coin would do it better than most other options," Matthaias replied. "I know you get out here rather than from a normal entrance, after all. Why the hell are you on my shoulders, though, anyways?"

    "Have you fucking stood on your feet straight for—I don't know, a hundred-odd hours? The last time I wasn't upright besides taking a catnap was like, a week ago, otherwise it's just been standing, and I really don't fucking want to walk right now. Honestly, could I just fucking borrow your old marching boots? These uniform sandals offer almost no arch support."

    Wisely deciding not to point out that kicking him probably did her no favors, Matthaias just sighed and asked for directions for wherever she wanted to go. She pointed a finger, and his eyes followed to where it was directed.

    Ah. Of course she didn't want to go to a regular nice restaurant where he might have actually enjoyed the fruits of his labor as well. She wanted to go to a bar.

    ...what part of good food and bar went together?
    It seemed that if you were drunk enough, anything would taste good, he supposed as he watched Polikseni polish off another plate. He was fairly sure that she had eaten enough to outmass her several times over, but weren't cultivators supposed to defy the heavens or something?

    ...Polikseni's stomach seemed to be more like hell, though, if he were to be honest.

    "Alright, you have permission to talk now. Fucking hell, I haven't eaten properly in a month, I know we're supposed to be able to manage without that but fuck that, you know? Gotta enjoy life, not just edge by with the bare minimum. The hell you doing, boyo? I know that you're strong enough to manage on your own now, bad luck or not. Invincible in Qi Condensation is a meaningless fucking word now, but you're still decent in a scrap and not so fucking idiotic that you don't know when to cut and run, so what's up?"

    Obviously, she didn't say this in anywhere close to a clear manner—the actual punch to his purse was the bottle of cultivator-grade alcohol he was strong-armed to purchase, but he had managed to follow far worse before, and so he managed now.

    "So, uh, you know how I've got that trick, right? With curses and stuff," he ventured hesitantly.

    "Yeah, I'm not a fucking idiot, get on with it," she said after a swig of the bottle.

    "So I realized I could use it on other things besides curses but I'm not really good at it so I needed practice and—" he responded quickly.

    "Oh, weeping heavens, you're a living cauldron aren't you," she cut him off.

    "Yes," was his short response.

    "Ah, well, that makes sense. And if you're gathering so many materials, you might as well sell part of them off for contribution points, huh? No wonder why there's such an outsized depopulation in comparison to what you actually turn in. Damn, so you're not just being a fuckup—why do you have such weirdly legitimate reasons to do things, Matt?"

    She hissed between her teeth.

    "And you don't really want this to get out either, no? You're still weirdly fucking set on being an actual legionnaire, rather than this—which is probably how you overlooked this technique for literal decades." She waved him off before he objected that he had used the skill before, just not realizing its full potential. "I… have a proposition for you, so you can just stop fucking up the Contribution board for the Juniors. My supervisor's been looking for someone to…"

    And that was how he ended up guarding a bunch of women trying to get pregnant or give birth for two decades. But that was a story for another time.

    A/N: So I kind of had to duck out for a bit, and actually my own fate being made. I'm just hoping that I can still get a treasure or something this turn as it's not really over, aiming for a LST--Fate bonus is out of the bag, but still, you know?
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Demetrius Ceres - A letter to Legate Marcus Apollo
  • Sidestory
    • Demetrius Ceres



    A letter to Legate Marcus Apollo


    Greetings Marcus,

    As requested in the letter delivered to me by that fat red bird, I have written you a report about my experience on the Great Battlefield.

    It is an awful place where grass grows, trees are everywhere, and Spirit Beasts are numerous. The Strength Purity Sect have been lax in making sure the spirit beast population remains small and unnoticeable. They have incorrectly decided that the blood path invasion was the greater menace.

    To correct this error in judgment, I spent most of the early days hunting those creatures.

    From observing Righteous Cultivators, I have seen them perform many illogical acts, such as burying their dead and cremating their enemies. They dislike using corpses as a resource and view the actions as barbaric. Asking any Blacksmith to make me something out of limb is considered very rude.

    One pleasant discovery I found was the practice of their healing arts. After killing a Giant Frost Serpent, I suffered a minor injury. Usually, an ominous beefcake doctor from the Golden Devil Doctor would have taken a look at the wound with a pickaxe or a sledgehammer. Instead, I met a drunk doctor from the Great Drunkard Sect. Needles and Fire-Spirit-Beer of Healing was a lot more pleasant.

    I have also observed a limitation in the assortment of weapons used by the righteous powers. They mainly focus on weapons such as fists, swords, and slightly curved swords. I will not say that other weapons can't be found , since a friend of mine in the Drunkard Sect can use a barrel as both a cutting and slashing weapon.

    I also observed a small group of hobos wielding bows, but I did not spot them frequently enough to care.

    I am interested in knowing what has happened in the desert while I was away. Other than word-of-mouth, and the rare copy of the Bucephalus Times, news has been difficult to come by.

    As I am sure you are already aware of my legendary exploits, I see no need to write down my exploit in detail. I ascended to the next realm, destroyed 8 Foundation Building weaklings, and rescued countless civilians.

    . . .

    I also met Elder Destasia on my return to the desert.
    I do not like her, nor do I like being used as scorpion bait.

    Auxiliary Demetrius Ceres
     
  • Sidestory
    • Xiao Yingzi 32 - Technique Palace Part 1: Working With Teleos
  • Sidestory
    • 2100 words more or less. Also it's been a while since I've posted a Xiao Yingzi omake. It feels weird given how much I've been writing for her in the background. Mechanically, this basically replaces the blood of bronze for her plus basically gives her magic make-up.

    Xiao Yingzi 32
    [Turn 10]
    [The Technique Palace 1: Working with Teleos]    ​

    Elder Teleos slowly awakening from his slumber. It took him a moment's thought to ascertain time and location and then his awareness blossomed. Xiao Yingzi sat in the entrance of the Sanctius House - now cleaned and with the door fixed though some spiritual aftereffects of the battle remained - and began to arrange seven jade slips along the table where the Legate Sanctius had floated.

    He had recalled mentions of her looking through the Technique Palace that the clan had acquired but he had forgotten what she had finally chosen. He could sense the girl looking through the Jade Slips and caught her switching between them far too fast to be learning from them. For one as unexpressive as her, it was a sure sign of distress.
    Curious about what she had acquired and the source of her annoyance, he reached out to her. What are you working on Xiao Yingzi? He asked, projecting a lazy drawl. It wouldn't look good to express concern without knowing the source of the issue.

    I have been looking through the Technique Palace for something that can allow me to adapt a fighting style. Xiao Yingzi replied, her mind-voice as crystal clear as ever. Still, Teleos could grasp that something was bothering the girl. Most of my previous techniques relied upon my shadow and without it, I find myself performing… not as well as I'd like.

    You are quite talented and powerful, He pointed out, trying to bait her into revealing her motivations. Especially for your age and in this Sea.

    She shook her head. Not as powerful as I need to be. She answered. My performances against both the Blood Cannibals and the Jingshen were not up to the mark. In both, I ended up being the distraction for my allies.

    True, but you have been quite successful since. He countered, though he did recall his own frustration when he required the aid of another for one of his own projects. Damned Ariadne….

    Excuse me, Elder? Xiao Yingzi's confused reply made him realise that he had thought that out loud.

    Pay it no mind. He quickly continued. As I was saying, taking over the Sanctius Manor and providing a cure for the Demon-Snaring Vine were quite well done.

    In the first, I wanted to put the Legate down peacefully not slay him using the will of heaven. Xiao Yingzi replied. But even if I were to settle for that as a success, the Vine Incident involved me playing into a powerful enemy's hand. That was a success on my enemy's terms which means that it was no success at all.

    That was something Teleos found hard to argue with, so he didn't. At any rate, the woman's issues were clear to see. Tell me. He said, bringing the conversation back to its start. What have you found so far?

    I found two manuals that caught my interest. Xiao Yingzi replied, gesturing towards the two jade slips she had brought. The first was the Fourfold Gemstone Manual, containing broad techniques that were designed to be iterated upon by any enterprising junior. I was hoping the simple and adaptable nature of these techniques would allow me to create versions useful for Foundation Establishment.

    Why not simply look for techniques already meant for Foundation Building Experts? Elder Teleos asked her curiously.

    Ah, the Technique Palace we acquired was broken. She explained, glancing at the jade slip with a frown. Though I do believe Elder Destacia had expressed interest in fixing it a few decades ago.

    Bah. Teleos replied, letting his disdain for her show in his voice. With time he was beginning to suspect he and the woman might be similar in some ways, but then every artist dislikes two things that are exactly the same. She would likely just shove a nascent will into it and be done with it. Such shoddy work.

    As you say, Elder. Xiao Yingzi said, showing that she had learnt how to deal with his rants quite well. The other was from a manual called the Listless Lookout's Lessons. It seems to be developed as a set of pranking techniques as far as I can tell but the ability to project killing intent from a distance seems ideal for the trials.

    Interesting. Teleos replied. Let me have a look. Perhaps I can offer some advice on how to improve some of those techniques.

    Xiao Yingzi hovered over each of the techniques, letting a glimpse of its teachings flow into her mind. Teleos had expected to go over all of the techniques before arriving at the one that he would like to improve, but as soon as he felt the first technique of the Fourfold Gemstone Manual he knew it was the one.

    He must have let his interest slip because he felt Xiao Yingzi turn her attention to him at that but he urged her on, partially just to be thorough but also with the mad hope that all of the techniques would be equally interesting. They were fairly interesting too but… compared to the gem they had uncovered, they still felt positively boring.

    I only have enough Qi stored up that I can only work on one technique. He told her. And I believe that the first one will be the best for me. For you, he had meant to say but he doubted she'd begrudge him that. Taking that as a cue, she dove into it with her mind feeling the strange form of the technique blossom in her mind.

    Fourfold Gemstone Manual:
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    • Thousand-Faceted Gemstone Armour:
    • Elder Diamond
    A signature technique of Gemstone Justice lovingly crafted to empower the sect's juniors. A deep technique that inserts the image of a gemstone in the user's mind. By meditating on the facets of the gemstone, one can draw out the variation most suited to strengthen their physique. This powerful defensive technique can be refined up to the Ninth Heavenstage.

    Recommended cultivation stage: Any heavenstage.

    Prerequisite technique: None

    Successive technique: Specialized variants + UNAVAILABLE +

    Difficulty: Trivial
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Touching the Jade Stone for the Thousand-Faceted Gemstone Armor caused the image of a gemstone to appear in Xiao Yingzi's mind. It was more than an image of course but looking through her vision, he could tell that she could see it too. It had a certain weight and complexity to it that made real gems appear as shoddy imitations.

    The girl sent him a metaphor comparing it to a sand-whale which only had a fin visible while hiding a gargantuan bulk. He compared it to a phenomenon known as iceberg which had a similar effect, with the gem extending into dimensions that she couldn't entirely perceive even with the mind of a centurion.

    For a legionnaire, he was certain that it would seem like the gemstone was changing in an almost magical manner. Xiao Yingzi could likely feel it change. How it tasted her attention and used it to analyse her will as it attempted to adjust itself according to her needs and wants. But even she could tell that it was beginning to struggle.

    He could however see the strings behind the puppets, as it were. He could tell that while it was spinning wildly and shifting in order to accommodate her, the extra-dimensional structures that she could only barely perceive were beginning to strain when trying to fit her nature. It was a beautiful thing but it was simply not designed to accommodate the beginnings of a dao.

    As it was beginning to rip itself apart, He reached out with a fragment of his Will and metaphorically touched it at just the right spot to stabilize the gemstone construct, lightly enough that it didn't respond to him instead, simply somehow balanced on a teetering edge. He took a moment to gather his thoughts knowing that this would be the hard part.

    He held the mental gem very carefully as he began to turn it this way and that, mentally manipulating it in a manner that he could tell left Xiao Yingzi in awe. This is such a beautiful thing. Elder Teleos replied, as he considered how to proceed. This man managed to render an incredible breadth of similar techniques into a self-iterating matrix that could likely adapt to nearly any qi-condensing junior in this sea.

    Is that difficult? Xiao Yingzi asked, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. What exactly is this device?

    This is technically technique creation, but it is certainly on the higher end. He said, before considering how best to explain it to her. Consider it a technique designed to create a technique. It's a shame I could not improve the technique to account for Foundation Building, but to incorporate an individual's unique dao while accounting for all sorts of bloodlines and exceptions would be too difficult as I am now.

    Even creating a technique that was perfect for Xiao Yingzi was a chore for him. He had memories that told him that this should be easy for him, but he wasn't really that man any more no matter how much his personality matrix told him otherwise. Wills - even Nascent ones - were far too simple to compare to the original.

    They lacked the creativity that was the fuel necessary for art.

    At least that was the case for most Wills. The Core Formation wills that allowed Xiao Yingzi her battle prowess also functioned as a creativity matrix for him, not making him truly creative but pseudo-randomly inputting enough of their own experiences and memories that he could create a convincing fake. As always, he was his own greatest creation.

    He drew upon the experiences of a body cultivator and then after a moment of thought a spy. It wasn't what his greater self would have picked, but with the resources at hand it would be a nice gesture. It took him a moment as he began to purposefully adapt the matrix with the memories, trying put it all together into one technique.

    He had to shed its adaptability to account for it, but it would still remain for the most part. He finally settled on a single iteration that he felt fit into Xiao Yingzi's mind like a missing piece of a puzzle. Yes, perfect. In the spirit of the art's original creator, consider this a gift from an elder to junior.

    Xiao Yingzi nodded and channeled her qi in the manner the technique bid her. He held back his anticipation as the qi flowed into her skin, spreading in patterns of fractal bronze as it transformed her body from to a perfect simulacrum of the blood of bronze. He let his smugness radiate towards.

    What is this? She asked, dropping her hold of the technique immediately. She watched the bronze recede from her skin as if it had been washed away by water before activating it again and watching it return. It strengthens by body, but why is it bronze?

    A gift. He replied, cheekiness apparent in his voice. With no words coming to her mind, Xiao Yingzi said the only thing she could say. Then a touch more seriously, he continued. You can also use it to modify skin tone, hair color and even eye color to some extent even beyond the clan appearance. It will only be surface deep, but it might lend you some extra utility.

    Thank you. She replied as she adjusted the color of her skin again and again, seemingly unable to articulate her words any further. He sent her a sense of amusement but didn't intrude on her moment. He was glad. She had been unhappy to lose her bronze skin and this way, he could return some of that.

    Then he felt a spike of interest in her mind and then her skin turned the brown of the Fifth Sea. He paused, surprised by the idea. Then he considered it properly. After a moment's surprise it was obviously a terrible recreation. No one would be fooled for even a moment. But if she had some time to prepare herself properly, it still wouldn't work beyond the first few moments unless the hunters were complete fools but even that could lead to an opening in battle. It was potentially practical, but not in a manner he had considered.

    Still, it wouldn't be Xiao Yingzi if she didn't consider the practicality.
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Ninth Prince 14 - Snapshots and Stalling
  • Sidestory
    • Ninth Prince

    Snapshots and Stalling​


    He Jian City was going to fall.

    Everybody knew it, no matter what side of the war they were on.

    The Noble Demon Alliance members, from the lowliest foot soldier to the Cores running the war effort, grew even bolder and more demonic, the knowledge of their impending victory driving even the least among them, those who had no potential to advance even with blood path, to greater and greater heights of bravery and savagery, each hoping that they would be one of the new generation of murderers and thieves to rise above the rest, each hoping to finally make a name for themselves in the death of a city.

    The battlefield grew ever deadlier, as the foremost poisons of the Gao Clan were out on display, Gao Clan users injecting them like drugs, granting them life, using them as explosives, raw creativity more than making up for their famously weak nature; as the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect warped the fabric of time, creating twists in its flow that aged cultivators into dust in mere moments, or summoned beasts from ancient times, their rampant disregard for the laws of the world granting them power overwhelming; as the Noble Knowledge Sect weaved curses and snapped the strings of fate, turned flesh to putty and shattered souls, combining their various atrocities to create horrors far beyond the ken of right-thinking cultivators; as the Demonic Altar Sect gorged upon the blood of a war, disciples consuming both allies and enemies in their blood fervor, the liquid of life turning into tools of death by which to harvest even more blood, a vicious snowballing cycle that reminded everyone present of why the Blood Path was so feared.

    The Noble Demon Alliance's star was rising, a blasphemous star of blood and time and poison and curses, ready to overthrow the natural order of the heavens and replace it with something far worse for everyone, a never ending cycle of hatred and despair.

    But the Righteous Path (and the Golden Devils) stood in their way.

    Despite the hopelessness of their situation, or perhaps because of it, the Righteous Path stood strong. There were no cultivators who surrendered, for that would have both sides trying to kill them. There were no cultivators who fled, because there was nowhere to flee to. There were only heroes, living and dead.

    Apparently all it took for the Righteous Path to start acting like they were supposed to was a nearly unstoppable enemy.

    (...The Ninth Prince may have been a bit uncharitable to the Righteous Powers, but the general sentiment still stood.)

    But when the Righteous Path actually got serious and started working together, they were almost unbeatable. The riders of the Bear Enslavement Sect drove Demonic Altar Berserkers into the waiting blades of the Seven Divine Saber Palace, as the Strength Purity Sect provided an unconsumable buffer for the Blood Path to break on. The Necromancers, Curse Adepts, Fleshwarpers, Diviners, and all of the other horrific other professions of the Noble Knowledge Sect were herded into killboxes by the transformed Yu Clansmen, as various minor mercenary groups hired by the Gemstone Justice Sect set into them with a vengeance, motivated as only the greedy and desperate could be, even as they were protected by the great Bell-Shields of the Great Mountain Bell Sect. The cultivators of the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect were bombarded with the missiles of the Arrow Bandits, even as they were sent into inescapable illusions by the experts of the Divine Tunist Sect, making them easy prey for the Great Drunkard Sect body cultivators. The horse archers of the Ma Clan rid down and peppered the Gao Clan with arrows, making them easy prey for even the Chuan Clan and Blacksmith Sects.

    For the part of the Golden Devil Clan, the Bronze-Blooded could be found anywhere they were needed, shoring up gaps in defenses and holding the line in a way that few others could.

    Now, an observant reader (of the Ninth Prince's future memoirs of course) might wonder, where exactly was the Ninth Prince during this epic battle? Those with basic pattern recognition would already know (or 'know') the answer; In the thick of battle, dueling multiple Chosen or bluffing and tricking Core Formation Elders to prevent them from wreaking their wrath on his subordinates.

    Those readers (once again of his future memoirs, not of anything else, obviously) would be wrong.

    Of course, the Ninth Prince wanted to be on the front lines with his legion, protecting mortals and holding off armies of Noble Demon Alliance fiends so that the city could be evacuated.

    But he had responsibilities now, both to his legion and to the mortals of He Jian City, and that meant that instead of going out and single-handedly turning the tide of battle, the Ninth Prince was arguing with Array Engineers.

    Speaking of, he should probably get back to explaining exactly why these particular array engineers were wrong.

    "-Even beyond the energy requirements, the time and manpower that it would take to set up a Twenty Seven Point Formation using only Foundation Establishment and Qi Gathering Cultivators, let alone one that would cover the entire city, is inherently impossible."

    The various Array Engineers arranged around the circular Command Table set up in the Ninth Prince's tent looked completely crushed, most wearing the expression of a child who was just told that their favorite toy would be taken away.

    The key word here being most.

    One particular Engineer, Rakaos Meliotes, stroked his beard, a sinister smile on his face. The thing to know about Rakaos Meliotes was that he was a bastard. Perhaps one of the five most skilled Array Engineers in the Clan, the Great Circle Foundation Establishment Cultivator had basically zero hopes of advancing any farther. As such, he took great pleasure in fucking with people.

    Unfortunately, despite his personality flaws, Rakaos was undeniably a genius, and while the Ninth Prince was sure that Rakaos had some sort of plan to solve everything, by the way the old engineer was smiling, he had no doubt that whatever plan Rakaos was cooking up would be terrible for everyone involved.

    Shortly after, the Ninth Prince was unfortunately proved right, almost as soon as Rakaos opened his mouth. "Well, there's a pretty obvious way to fix that, isn't there?."

    The old man leaned forward, thick scraggly beard draping down onto the table. The Ninth Prince would have to wipe down that part of the table later. "If you go and draw the array, we can get away with linking in your snakes, have them each anchor nine of the points and make the entire thing about…" Rakaos pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. "23.012 percent, plus or minus a thousandth of a percent."

    ...The Ninth Prince could see Rakaos' paper. All that was on it was a crude drawing of a rabbit. The bastard did all of that math in his head.

    Didn't change the fact that the old man was right. If the Ninth Prince drew the array, not only would it be more powerful, it'd be quicker, since Rakaos had the drawing ready and with the Ninth Prince's memory he could draw it perfectly, no coordination between teams necessary.

    There was only one problem. "So, Rakaos, I can't help but notice that this plan would require me to be behind the front lines, drawing the array myself while my legion and everyone else are put in danger."

    Rakaos smiled, joyful and free of malice. "Yep! Better get cracking then, eh? The quicker you finish this up, the quicker you get to stop more people from dying!"

    ...Dammit, why did he have to be right? "I really hate you, you know that Rakaos?"

    Rakaos simply gave him a thumbs up.

    The Ninth Prince let out a short bark of laughter, before dashing out of the tent, barking orders to legion personnel while summoning his contracted beasts. He had a lot of work ahead of him.

    But that would be boring to hear about, a single man carving a bunch of lines and doing math. So the Ninth Prince wouldn't include more than a basic mention of it in his memoirs.

    Instead, he'd probably put… something.

    Now wasn't really the best time to figure that out, anyways, what with all of the work the Ninth Prince had to do.

    Still, even as he began drawing the first node, the Ninth Prince couldn't help but wonder.

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

    Sword up. Sword down. Sword up. Sword down.

    Cadmus Retrakes had never seen war before. Hells, he'd barely     killed before this war, he'd been on garrison duty instead of any sort of major posting, at least before the Ninth Prince handpicked him to join his legion.

    Sword up. Sword down.

    People kept saying it got easier, killing people, that the members of the Noble Demon Alliance were monsters with no hope of redemption, that they deserved to die.

    Sword up. Sword down.

    Cadmus Retrakes found it kind of hard to believe them. Cadmus had seen two cultivators from the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect hugging each other while he sliced their heads off. He'd seen a Gao Clansman howling in grief as he stood over the body of his dead lover. He'd seen someone from the Noble Knowledge Sect hiding her younger sister behind her as she tried to fend off five people at once. Hells, he'd even seen a Demonic Altar berserker sacrificing his life so that his juniors could escape.

    Sword up. Sword down.

    It wasn't like he'd stopped killing, or believed that the Noble Demon Alliance was better than his own side. Cadmus had seen Righteous cultivators do the exact same things.

    Sword up. Sword down.

    All it really did was make him think that maybe, just maybe, the cultivators on the ground weren't the ones to blame for this, even if he had to kill them.

    Speaking of.

    Sword up. Sword down. Sword up. Sword down. Sword block. Sword counter. Sword kill.

    One more life snuffed out.

    Sword up. Sword down.
    ----------------------------------------------------

    Three Nodes down. Twenty four more to go.

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

    Kiana Atreides had no way out.

    Being in the Shield Fang, the part of the Hydra that had to blunt the enemy's attacks, defending against everything the Noble Devil Alliance could throw at them, meant that she was always on the front lines.

    Normally she was actually fine with that, she got to make sure everyone was safe. If nobody got past her, nobody else would get hurt.

    It was just… sometimes it sucked.

    Well, mainly because her job was so dangerous.

    For instance, take the scenario she was in right now. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, an island in a sea of demons, wounded, poison flowing through her veins, and generally having a bad time.

    All she had with her was her enormous shield, which Kiana was currently using to support herself.

    She was going to die here, alone, unmourned, just another number, another name, another piece of cultivation in the meridians of a Blood Path user.

    Kiana heard something coming from the mouths of one of her enemies, but it was distorted and muffled, like someone speaking through multiple layers of water.

    Kiana didn't want to die. She wanted to live, to marry Lifeng, to adopt a few kids and grow old with her wife, to retire to a nice cushy position guarding a small town.

    But she     was going to die, and there was no magic trick that she could pull out to save herself.

    ...In that case, she was going to go down fighting.

    Roaring out a war cry, Kiana charged forward, barreling into one of her enemies and doing her level best to crush him with her shield.

    The last thing she saw as her head was separated from her shoulders was the foe she attacked pushing her shield off and getting up.

    ...Dammit.

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

    Six Nodes down. Twenty one more to go.

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

    Trecio Takios was out of his mind with worry.

    His parents (mortals by the way) loved each other     very much, and that manifested in him being the oldest of ten siblings, all of whom became cultivators and all of whom joined the Hydra.

    Now, that wasn't necessarily a problem, nor was the fact that Trecio was the only one who wasn't a combatant, instead becoming an administrative cultivator.

    The     problem was that all of his younger brothers and sisters were fighting a war, and Trecio was in charge of tallying the members of the Hydra who lived and died.

    A runner arrived with a new paper, another ten names to add to the list of the deceased. Rai Sufeng. Mitraides Thulio. Leonidas Rekiem. Kai Fitsudo. Kai Refudo. Detrana Myia. Kiana Atreides. The Watcher. Palukan Treina. Demianos Demokanos.

    None of his brothers or sisters, thank the heavens.

    Trecio immediately felt bad for being     relieved when looking at a list of the dead, but that was the nature of war. People died. And he couldn't do anything about it.

    All Trecio could do was tally up the dead and pray that none of his siblings would be among them.

    Gods, he hated the waiting. But that was his only option here, wait, and reduce     lives, people, to nothing more than names and compensation to whatever families they had.

    If his siblings died, Trecio would fill out the paperwork, record their name, and send a request for compensation to be sent to their family, which consisted himself and whatever siblings remained.

    Another runner came in, another list of names to tally up. Trecio opened the paper with a trembling hand, and sighed in relief when he found another list of nobody he recognized.

    ...This was almost worse than being on the front lines.

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

    Nine Nodes down, with Ulo taking up position as the first anchor. Eighteen more to go.

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

    Beatriz Konstantin was bored out of her mind.

    Sure, there was a war going on, and sure, people were dying by the bucketload, probably some of her friends and family too.

    But Beatriz had no way to affect any of that, so she didn't see the point in wasting time thinking about death, time that could be spent on her job.

    Her job of course being that of an operator of one of the Hydra's few artillery pieces.

    [Heliod's Wrath], named after some old Core or something like that, was an enormous mobile ballista, absolutely covered in arrays and shooting bolts themselves fitted with all sorts of explosive, flaming, and otherwise heavily lethal arrays.

    The old bastard shot area-of-effect rounds, each one imbued with the power of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's attack. The ones who took up the job to maintain the HW were pretty much all fire or light based cultivators, which was how the Ballista got its name.

    Of course, Beatriz did have a single Core bolt, ready to use whenever necessary, and only under the direst of circumstances. Those circumstances would probably never happen though, so really, what was even the point?

    Hells, what was even the point of her job? All she did was tell her minions to angle the HW a certain way according to her boss's orders, and also yell at them if they messed up.

    Times like these made her wonder just why exactly she signed up to the Hy-

    A runner rushed in, panting and out of breath, no different to the rest of the runners who'd come in with firing angles and other directions for Beatriz to bellow at her crew.

    Beatriz grabbed the paper the runner held, opening it to find out what exactly she'd have to yell this time.

    But instead of it being a series of coordinates, or angles, or distances, or any other sort of math, the paper only held two words, the two words that every operator wanted so desperately to hear. USE IT.

    Beatriz whooped, grabbing the attention of her crew, who'd never seen her so much as giggle, let alone do whatever the madly grinning woman was doing right now.

    "ALRIGHT BOYS, GIRLS, AND ASSORTED FUCKOS! IT'S TIME TO USE THE CORE SHOT!"

    As her crew was set ablaze with laughter and cackling, Beatriz allowed herself a soft smile.     This was what she signed up for.

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

    Twelve Nodes down. Fifteen more to go.

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

    One Path.

    Quo Shen was     not having a good time.

    Two Paths.

    For one, he was in the middle of a war. Specifically the front lines. That generally put a damper on any fun one might have, unless they were a genius, incredibly powerful, insane, or some terrifying combination of all three.

    Four Paths.

    Other than that, Quo Shen was currently trying to draw the most complex array he'd ever made, no guidance, no protection, no rulers or measuring tools, nothing but rote memorization, desperation, and the lives of a few dozen of his allies and comrades.

    Eight Paths.

    Oh, there was also     that! He had the lives of actual people to worry about, friends, comrades, people who were currently giving their lives to give him more time, counting on him, him, to create the array that would kill the Noble Demon Alliance members currently attempting to eat them.

    Sixteen Paths.

    So, yeah, no pressure right?

    Thirty Two Paths.

    Just to be clear, anyone who thought there wasn't any actual pressure was either incredibly ignorant, didn't know Quo Shen personally, or was just an idiot. Because there was a lot of pressure. Like, so much pressure. Enough pressure that he could probably flood the entire battlefield with it and render this fighting completely moot, since everyone and anyone in the area would be crushed by the sheer pressure on his sho-

    Sixty Four Paths.

    Oh. It was done already.

    [Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Paths - Heaven Earth Reversal]

    As the Demonic Altar bastards attacking his defenders flew hundreds of feet into the air, only to crash back down with the force of gravity weighing down on them, Quo Shen sighed in relief.

    Really, what was he worried about?

    That wasn't so bad at a-

    Two Paths.

    As another group of enemies started attacking, Quo Shen started frantically drawing a different array to keep everyone alive.

    Fuck. He just     had to open his mouth, huh?

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

    Fifteen Nodes down. Twelve more to go.

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

    Helena Sarapechos was     going to get everyone out of this damned war alive.

    She'd been a squad leader for about a decade now, after her old leader got a bit of a promotion in the Great Realm department, with a promotion to Fang Leader to match.

    In that time, she'd never lost a single subordinate.

    She was cautious, careful, never going into a fight without proper intel and never getting into a battle without her entire squad ready for action.

    And it'd paid off, her squad was the most elite in the entire fang, members living long enough to actually reach the higher levels of cultivation (comparatively of course).

    Unfortunately, that elite status came with a cost. More dangerous missions, being put in the front lines of every battle, first in and last out.

    And still, through a combination of careful strategy, splurging on defensive tools, and great personal risk, she'd managed to keep everyone alive, through some of the worst battles Helena had ever seen.

    And now this. Wading through blood and mud, bloody mud and muddied blood, enemies all around them and everyone wounded.

    Every step could be the last one one of her squad members would ever take. Every breath, every word, every attack, the potential final legacy of her closest friends.

    As a Noble Knowledge curse sent Fatty Xu (Turtle beastman, adorably shy and filled with an earnest desire to prove himself, not knowing that he'd never needed to) tumbling to the ground, writhing in agony, Helena's heart leaped into her throat.

    Was this it? Was this how it was going to end?

    Then, with a swear and the shattering of a gold tablet, the curse stopped, as Ren Baocai (Heir to a Foundation Establishment Kingdom, unbearably arrogant but deeply protective of all her friends) used a secret treasure to save him.

    As Ren Baocai berated Fatty Xu for getting hit, and the other members of her squad took sides while still killing enemies, Helena smiled for a moment before pressing on.

    They     would get out of this alive.

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

    Eighteen Nodes down, with Kha, Li, and Ya taking up position as the second anchors. Nine more to go.

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

    Alessander Telamon had lost his fucking mind.

    That was it, that was the only explanation as to why he felt this way.

    He'd heard war described as worse than hell, a never ending slog of enemies and an ultimately futile struggle to get out alive and unharmed, a torturous experience that only the absolutely insane could find any sort of enjoyment from.

    Alessander Telamon loved war.

    He loved the brutal, bloody slogs, the grinding battles in which hundreds of lives were snuffed out in an instant. He loved the feeling of cutting through dozens of men and women, their death screams the sweetest music.

    He loved the charges and the countercharges, the traps set and activated, the howls and cries and screams of the dead and dying, the clang of metal on metal as people were pushed to their utmost in the struggle to survive.

    Alessander loved the frailty of the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect, so easy to pulp with his mace. He loved the resilience of the Gao Clan, whose body-enhancing poisons were still no match for his blood-backed strength. He loved the trickery of the Noble Knowledge Sect, the dozens of hundreds of illusions and traps for anyone who tried to kill them, all of which eventually failed against overwhelming force.

    And Alessander Telamon loved     everything about the Demonic Altar Sect, their lust for blood, their savagery and ferocity in battle, the way they would backstab their own brothers and sisters in arms if they thought it would make them stronger. If it weren't for that last bit, Alessander could have seen them as kindred spirits.

    Maybe, in another time, in another life, they could have fought alongside each other.

    But that was mere speculation. Alessander might be a monster, a minotaur trapped in a labyrinth of social obligation and petty rules, but he was the Hydra's monster, and they fed him well.

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

    Twenty one Nodes down. Six more to go.

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

    Olivia Tetrapolous was going to survive.

    She might be alone but for a few of her squadmates' corpses, nearly out of qi, and surrounded by enemies (who did think she was dead, thank the heavens), but there was always a way out of situations like this.

    There had to be.

    Step one. Find an escape route. Unfortunately, that was going to be pretty hard, since, well, the 'surrounded on all sides' thing, but there had to be something she could do.

    Oliva scanned the area, looking desperately for any sign of hope, untiiiiil-There!

    An entire Fang's worth of legionnaires, led by Demonakos Kaulian, the Burning Lance himself!

    Well, that was step one taken care of.

    Step two. Seize the escape route.

    In that case, this meant figuring out a way to alert them to her presence.

    Thankfully, Jiao Badeng, her squadmate and hated rival, always kept some sort of flare on her. Badeng wouldn't be needing it now that he was… d-dead. R-right?

    Olivia squirmed under the corpse of Helion, her older brother in everything but blood, as she grabbed the flare from Badeng's pocket.

    The last of her Qi was used to set it off, the flare going a pitiful ten meters up into the air and exploding in the Clan's 'I require assistance' signal.

    Now, all Olivia had to do was hope that-Yep!

    They were headed her way!

    She was saved!

    Unfortunately, Olivia did have to deal with the enemies around her, who found out that there was still a Golden Devil alive around them.

    She had a few minutes until they figured out where she was hiding, so all Olivia had to do was be lucky enough for the Burning Lance to find her first.

    Still, it shouldn't be that hard, Olivia was always pretty lucky

    Olivia looked around at the corpses of her squad-her family, with her being the only survivor.

    Yeah. Lucky.

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

    Twenty four Nodes down. Just three more to go.

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

    Bai Xiaohan was going to die.

    There wasn't any sort of spiritual meaning behind that, no great prophecy by a famous diviner or anything like that.

    No, Bai Xiaohan was going to die because of the simple fact that his stomach was cut open, one of his arms had been turned into that of a fetus and promptly shrivelled off, he was under the effect of three death curses, and there was more poison than blood flowing through his veins.

    Surprisingly, none of this actually hurt.

    Instead of being paralyzed by excruciating pain, Bai Xiaohan's body had apparently just shut off his pain bits, the bits of him that made stuff hurt. (Look, he wasn't a doctor, he didn't know what they were called).

    It left him with ample time to do some thinking, as he slowly bled out on the battlefield.

    The foremost thought in his mind was of course that he didn't want to die.

    He had so much     stuff planned. Rebuild the honor of his clan, one good deed at a time, revitalize Xufeng Village, make it the great city that everyone knew it could be. Tell Cassia that he loved her.

    But that was obviously going to be impossible, his hopes and dreams cut short in an instant.

    That, Bai Xiaohan mused, was the cost of war. Even beyond the material and political, the reality of war was that it was an engine that took dreams and hopes and futures, and cut them off, shattered them to the point of no repair.

    But that was enough rambling from him, it was time to just lie there and accept death. After all, it wasn't like anyone was listening. And if they were, he wasn't some sort of hero for people to care about his last moments.

    Actually, that was one thing Bai Xiahan would've liked. He wanted to be a hero. To do great deeds, to save people, to help the clan, to be one of the future pillars of the Golden Devils.

    The Ninth Prince and Rina Callista and everyone else like them were notable, were cared about, had people who'd remember them beyond an aging mother and a few friends who were also probably dead.

    But Bai Xiaohan supposed that was just idle hoping. After all, how would he do that now, now that he was basically dead.

    Still… It would've been nice.

    Yeah, it would've been nice…

    And then, Bai Xiaohan knew no more.

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

    Twenty Seven Nodes down, with Raj as the final anchor. None left to go.

    After finally, finally finishing the array that encompassed the entirety of He Jian City, the Ninth Prince was ready and raring to go.

    As he sprinted towards the actual battle, calling out orders to fall back, evacuate anyone still left in the area, to leave him and him alone in the line of fire, the Ninth Prince smiled.

    It was about time he actually did something important, instead of just leaving all of the work to the Hydra.

    A/N: Well, this took a lot longer than I wanted, but it's also a lot longer than I thought, so I guess it evens out. Hope yall enjoy, and I hope I portrayed war correctly, after all, i've never fought in one.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Xiao Yingzi 33 - The Technique Palace 2: Working with Victor
  • Sidestory
    • 1600 words.
    Xiao Yingzi 33
    [Turn 10]
    [The Technique Palace 2: Working with Victor]    ​

    Victor sighed as he sat in his workshop, tossing aside his notes on heavenly lightning that he had been working on for the past two decades. The Core Formation Will that had shown him the secrets of lightning manipulation arrays so many years ago in Qiguai had set this as his challenge, to grasp the meaning of Heavenly Lightning.

    He hadn't really paid much attention to that, simply relishing the way those teachings accelerated his path through Foundation Building. He tweaked them of course and every pillar he had gained contained his own innovations. But now that he needed to put them together, he was faltering. What was the nature of Heavenly Lightning?

    He thought that he knew, yet when it came to applying the knowledge he always felt short. He knew how it worked. He knew it's permutations and habits, and yet he didn't know why it worked that way. And without knowing that, without it all clicking it really felt like he might have wasted all of those years.

    Heh.

    It had been around one hundred and fifty years since he'd joined the clan. That was far more than he had expected to ever live. So it wasn't really wasted and besides - he had a lot longer to live than that. Maybe he'd figure out the secret some time in the future. He gave himself a small smile and turned towards the notes.

    He needed a break. He needed to come back and look at it with a fresh mind. As if on cue, he heard a knock on the door and Xiao Yingzi stuck her head inside. "Could I have your aid in this matter, Victor?" She asked.

    He smiled back. "I needed a break." He replied. "Tell me, what do you need?"

    • Will-Accumulating Pressure Bomb:
    • Elder Pearl
    A signature technique of Gemstone Justice lovingly crafted to empower the sect's juniors. A method of focusing qi into a ball that can be added to over time, allowing the user to eventually create a bomb that can be thrown for greater damage than be mustered in a single moment. This is usable by most qi types though rare or complex ones may react in an unexpected manner. This powerful offensive technique can be refined to the Ninth Heavenstage.

    Recommended cultivation stage: Any.

    Prerequisite technique: None

    Successive technique: Specialized variants + UNAVAILABLE +

    Difficulty: Medium

    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...


    Lightning gathered in his gloved hands, surging from arrays carved into his armor and clothes as he willed it into his palms into a ball of lightning. It was difficult through the arrays, needing him to maintain a containment field around the electricity at the same time as he generated it. At first, it surged outwards the containment failing periodically as sparks flew towards anything that dared come close to the ball of lightning.

    Then, once he was confident of its stability, he pushed more power into the construct. The sound of sparks rose to a booming roar as his hands burned with a dense flame born of lightning. Bolts jumped from it, escaping his control and licking the ground as they tore it apart. He held his palm upwards and outwards, wincing as the sound assaulted his ears.

    He was certainly glad they had come to the training grounds, rather than continue in his workshop. With his palm pointing towards a target, he released the ball, eyes closed and face turned away. Rather than move straight forwards as he'd hoped, the lightning surged into a bright wave of electromagnetic force that pushed everything around him away and knocked him to the ground.

    Immediately, Xiao Yingzi approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" She asked him with a frown. He nodded vigorously to clear his head. "Do you need assistance?"

    "I'm fine," He replied, using her hand to pull himself up. He blinked as an errant spark jumped from his gloves and he quickly tossed them to the ground alongside some of his other armor. He winced as they began to smoke and he realised that a lot of the more delicate arrays had been fried. "Well, that's a lot of work down the drain."

    "I apologise," Xiao Yingzi replied, grimacing to demonstrate her remorse. "I hadn't expected our experimentation to result in so much damage."

    He waved her off. "Don't worry about it." He said, as he studied the remnants of his armor. "It just means that I need to account for this kind of thing in the next iteration of my arrays. It probably would have been much worse if that happened in battle." He paused and held his chin thoughtfully before sighing. "It's a shame few enemies manipulate earthly lightning in quite this manner. It would have been quite a potent weapon."

    "Any idea on what went wrong?" She asked him and he very much heard the "And if it would help me?" that she didn't vocalise. He turned towards her with a smile.

    "Well, this Will Accumulating Pressure Bomb seems to require an active will to support the technique so it definitely wouldn't work with my array based control." He mused. "In your case it's the opposite problem, I think. The will infused into your lightning isn't quite yours."

    He paused as he considered what he had just said. "'Heavenly Lightning is a manifestation of Heaven's Will.'" He quoted, a saying that was nearly ubiquitous in any cultivator society. Then he smacked his forehead and groaned. "How could I have been so blind?"

    "I assume that's a metaphor?" Xiao Yingzi asked with a frown. "I did notice the eye-goggles but they didn't seem like vision-correcting lenses."

    Victor blinked before giving her a grin. "No, no. I've just realised something that was staring at me in the face and I didn't even notice." He answered, then he paused and corrected himself. "I've just understood something that I missed before."

    "What did you understand?" She asked curiously.

    "Well, people say that lightning is heaven's will." He replied. "But I never considered that it might be something akin to the actual Wills akin to those left by cultivators. It has all the right hallmarks - reacting to the circumstances as the originator might but in a robotic manner." He shook his head and smiled. "Anyway, I'll look into this later but back towards you. How do you manipulate your lightning normally?"

    Xiao Yingzi considered that. "I primarily generate it and mold it to a very limited extent." She answered. "Any major manipulation requires my spear. It was the weapon of a Nascent soul with the Dao of Rebellion and it contains enough of an echo that I can apply my own will upon the lightning."

    He nods. "That's enough for general manipulation but when you need to use a technique that relies upon a singular will, it's obviously going to malfunction. You'll need to rely on something else… a trick to manage it."

    "A trick like?" Xiao Yingzi prompted him.

    "Oh, for you it's simple." Victor replied, shaking his head. "Heavenly Lightning wants to accumulate and grow - as long as there is will directing it. There will be a limit for you as a cultivator, but surely you have heard the phrase 'The further it travels, the stronger the tribulation'?"

    Xiao Yingzi frowned. "But I have been attempting that already." She told him. "It always escapes my control."

    "That's because you allow it to flow out of the spear, allowing it to accumulate enough heavenly will to surpass your own." He replied, shaking his head. "You need to keep it contained within the spear and make sure that the ratio of your will and that of heaven is balanced based upon the distance of your target."

    "The moment heaven's will surpasses my own," She mused. "I suspect it would disperse into an explosion. Is that right?"

    He nodded. "You can use that as a trigger." He replied, looking at her. "The longer it moves, the more heavenly energy it will accumulate. It can allow you to save some energy as well."

    Nodding, she held up her spear and following his instructions, she began with a spark from one end of the weapon to the other. As it moved, she fed it more and more power until it grew to the entirety of the spear. "I think that equals the most qi I can summon in my spear." Xiao Yingzi said, looking at the lightning bolt she held in her hands.

    "Good," Victor replied, nodding. "Now, can you sense any beasts nearby? I know your Soul-Farseer lets you do that."

    Xiao Yingzi focused for a moment and nodded, pointing with her off-hand. "There's a sand-carp swimming about a league away."

    "Shoot it."

    Xiao Yingzi frowned at him but pointed her spear towards it when he encouraged her. To her surprise, the lightning in her spear flew like a bolt - striking the enemy so far away near instantly. "What…?" Xiao Yingzi stared at her own hands in awe.

    "Congratulations, Centurion Yingzi." Victor replied with a grin. "Your range is now 'As far as you can sense'. If you can maintain your will along that distance, your bolt should travel there."

    Xiao Yingzi looked at him wonderingly before nodding. "Thank you, Victor."

    He held up his hand and she shook it. "Anytime, Yingzi." Then his smile turned a bit more mercenary. "So, let's get some reading of that, shall we?"

    Before she could protest, he dragged her off to his lab.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Good Seed Report 2 - A Good Seed Is Never Late Or Early, They Arrive Precisely When They Intend To
  • Threadmarks
    • Abel Angelus
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Abel fared quite well in the Qiguai Secret Realm, stealing away a set of Calculator Caterpillars (+4 Impact), fabled beasts that spun silken webs that used their wefts and weaves to add and multiply numbers. While useless in combat, for the managing of arrays (and their creation) they are intensely powerful. This allowed him, despite his low cultivation to assist in the defense of Waycastle Acrocorinth, figuring out the exponentation function of the caterpillars in time to reset the arrays more efficiently, stretching out the siege for an additional two weeks. In the end, an array exploded, and only the use of a treasure saved him from permanent injuries. He was left under the rubble, and thus survived.
    Impact: 7 (+4)
    Cultivation: 2nd Heavenstage
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 28 (+0)
    Health: Healthy --> Crippled --> Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Lightly Wounded (End of turn)

    Aliki Floros
    Bonus: Tribulation Treasure
    Fate: Aliki was named the Red Queen by her enemies and friends alike. Wrist-deep in enemies more than once, the gore and bloodshed she left in her path surprised even the Hunters, and her inspired attacks on the siege at Acrocorinth allowed a huge number of cultivators to evacuate, as the arrays there remained intact for far longer than might have otherwise been expected. It was here that a young woman from the Fifth Sea named Aasmi Bhardvaj appeared. Frustrated with her, and happy to hunt down one of the more peculiar devils, the light Aasmi produced burned her, and in truth should've killed her. The first burst left her wounded, the second burst left her for dead. Had Rina Callista not interrupted their battle, Aliki would've been killed. As it was, Aasmi left for more alluring prey, and Aliki was able to escape, saving nearly a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators who had managed to flee.
    Impact: 14 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 107 (+7)
    Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Wounded (End of Turn)

    Aretaphila Myia
    Bonus: Tribulation Treasure
    Fate: Aretaphilia was simply unlucky. Beaten and savaged in the Trials, hunted for her former performance, and almost killed, she was driven into a ruined city, Waycastle Acrocorinth. Beaten and bleeding she crawled into the rubble, dragging herself along the ground, a great smear of blood behind her. She managed in the end to hide, hearing the sounds of death and misery around her. Nobody knows what conclusion she came to there, but when the Trials ended and she crawled out, she had entered the 13th Heavenstage, her Dao Purified.
    Impact: 13 (+0)
    Cultivation: 13th Heavenstage
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 289 (+3)
    Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> (Wounded (End of Turn)

    Aristoteles Kalokagathos
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Aristoteles spent his Trials hunting for the owner of the Death Horn,but it was not to be. His obsession led him to track a Fifth Sea Invader nearly five hundred li over three months, and at the end of it all, discovered the invader was merely similar in looks to the one he sought. Shattering their token in despair, he was caught at that point by two other invaders, suffering some additional wounds and slowing the pace of his cultivation.
    Impact: 5 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 4-Pillar
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 185 (+1)
    Health: Lightly Wounded --> Wounded --> Lightly Wounded

    Cao Wei
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Cao Wei proved bizarrely talented. Indeed, he was the most talented Goatman ever known to the Clan by some measure - reaching the 9th Heavenstage was practically unknown for Goatmen, and he did at ridiculous speed. Such a bloodline was investigated, and Cao Wei managed to finagle doctors of the best sort to go see his mortal mother in return for allowing them to test his blood and do other such things. Where others had great encounters, Cao Wei simply cultivated, and did so at a pace that was both dangerous for even a well-established cultivation method, facing each problem again and again with no rest. When asked why he did such a thing, he simply said 'I am very stubborn.'
    Impact: 0 (+0)
    Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage (2 turns to FB)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 74 (+53)
    Health: Healthy --> Healthy

    Chrysanthos Krimta
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Chrysanthos did not prove especially brave in the trials, yet his time at Waycastle Acrocorinth proved most dangerous. Trapped in a city, he managed to escape, following the now-named Red Queen to evacuate. As she faced down Aasmi, Chrysanthos was struck with a reflected beam of pure light, striking off a nearby mirrored rock. Even at one-tenth the power it scored a hole through his head, taking out parts of his brain and making the memories of the Trials themselves at best a blur. The use of a treasure saved him, but he was carried away, barely alive. Many pills and herbs later, he was somewhat intact, though a long way from well.
    Impact: 7 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment True 1-Pillar (Fortified Pillar)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 131 (+0)
    Health: Lightly Wounded --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> (Wounded (End of Turn)

    David Pupillus
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: David's infusion of the Blood of Bronze went well. Unfortunately for him, it was during a time of turmoil before the Trials, and he got a larger infusion than normal. For this, he was hunted more vigorously in the Trials, and would've been badly wounded but for the clever use of a treasure. However, it was during this hunt that he came upon a caravan of Qi Condensation cultivators who had been wounded and were fleeing to another fort. Thirty-four cultivators, all being hunted down. He stood his ground before another set of hunters, using his clones to baffle and elude them, allowing the refugees to escape.
    Impact: 0 (+0)
    Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 66 (+0)
    Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Healthy (End of turn)

    Demetrius Ceres
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Demetrius was perhaps the most impressive of those who found themselve in Aasmi's way. The Heavenly Star wielder had, during her chase of Rina Callista, cornered another ten Foundation cultivators of the Clan, using her powers of light to force them into fleeing and using item after item to defend themselves. Demetrius simply attacked her, and twice threw blows that should've been fatal. The first time, one blow deflected off a nearby rock that had been thrown into the air by another cultivator, the second time Aasmi turned, and a ranged attack flew over her shoulder, missing her by inches. The third blow never came, as Aasmi lit him on fire, igniting his meridians and only the use of an item saved his life. However, every one of those Foundation experts lived, able to flee.
    Impact: 8 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar (Early)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 100 (+0)
    Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> (Wounded (End of Turn)

    Fierce Fang
    Bonus: Tribulation Boost
    Fate: Fierce Fang's discovery that his chicken in time had had a few chicks, who grew up, one of them dying to lay a Heaven-Defying Chicken Egg. As it sounded, such an egg allowed a cultivator to consume it and ease their path through tribulation. Such eggs were only laid by the best-treated chickens raised by cultivators, and it was in this case Fang's excellent chicken handling techniques and kindness towards the birds that led him to this point.
    Impact: 4 (+0)
    Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage (5 turns to FB)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 221 (+0)
    Health: Healthy --> Healthy

    Helel Ben Sahar
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Helel rose into the 9th Heavenstage in time for the Trials. To his advantage, the fort he hid in never came under attack, and he spent his time there learning a series of songs, joining a choir of very bored Qi Condensation cultivators who were hidden away in a tiny fort.
    Impact: 0 (+0)
    Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 66 (+20)
    Health: Healthy --> Healthy

    Minervina Barda
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Minervina entered the Qiguai Secret Realm. There, she found the remant of an ancient Spirit Severing legacy, from one who had long hated the Clan, trapped there by a former Clan Spirit Severing elder - one who had spoken to Rina Callista centuries ago. All that remained in that legacy were poison traps, vile and deadly things, guarding a single minor treasure. The first, a Dao Revulsion Gas (+10 Cultivation-years) she consumed, pushing her cultivation forward. The first trap failing, a second one triggered. The Twelve Organ Failure Poison was absorbed by her Poison Body as well (+20 Cultivation-years). The third trap was then sprung, a powerful Dantian-Shattering Thousand Revolution Decay Poison, which suffered no better than the others. Minervina absorbed it, her cultivation moving ever-foward (+40 years). At the end of the traps was a Spatial Slingshot (+3 Impact). This was a toy for many, but allowed Minervina to send a small attack to bypass a few hundred metres of space. Difficult to aim, it was still intensely useful for delivering poison clouds and the like at range, making them unavoidable. On her triumphant return to the Clan, she found herself engaged in the Trials. At the height of her cultivation and power, she faced down Aasmi. Yet as it turned out, the Heavenly Star simply burnt away all poisons, making her arts less than useless, searing through any attacks or defenses she might offer. Within moments she was wounded and thrown aside, and she joined a group fleeing from the Fifth Sea invader, using a treasure to fend her off. Without the intervention of Demetrius Ceres, she might well have died, but he ensured she was able to escape.
    Impact: 12 (+3)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 7 Pillar (Great Circle)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 461 (+70)
    Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Healthy (End of turn)

    Paulus
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Paulus upon breaking through did much to prepare for the Trials. Among his fellow Foundation cultivators he was new to his strength, and was to be protected. Aasmi Bhardvaj broke through the defenses they had set up, leaving seven of her own in the Great Circle to challenge them. Twelve Third Sea against Seven Fifth Sea, a poor matchup. Paulus did not fight as he might have been expected to, but rather used his mastery of the Double-Headed Eagle Formation, drawing the enemy further and further away, constantly luring them to chase his group across the desert for months. When it had ended, seven powerful Foundation cultivators had wasted their time, killing nobody further, and disappearing, even if the Devils had been unable to shatter their tokens. They had killed eight Foundation cultivators in their first two weeks in the Third Sea - the bloody path they could've carved through others would've killed tens if not a hundred more.
    Impact: 10 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 100 (+0)
    Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy

    Rina Callista
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Rina Callista found herself hunted for her Token-Sensing Tree by Aasmi of the Bhardvaj Dynasty, the second-greatest Dynasty descended from the Atri Sage Clan. Aasmi was in Foundation Establishment, but was fused with the Purifying Heavenly Star. Her ability to project and use light to destroy her enemies was well into the Core Formation level, and other Foundation cultivators were reaped by her like wheat. As the only Foundation Establishment cultivator capable of truly facing Aasmi in the region, Rina found herself dueling the other woman for nearly six months, mostly fleeing. Aasmi's command over the Purifying Light of Heaven demolished every means at Rina's disposal. For months she fled, facing Aasmi only at the best of times, forced back constantly, luring Aasmi away from greater concentrations of her own cultivators. At the end, she stood once again before the walls of Pleuron, a fated place. The city had fallen earlier in the Trials, yet the gates of Pleuron had a heavy weight about them, a place where it felt even Heaven could fall. There she realised that within her Single Pillar stood the possibility of devouring the power of the Heavenly Star. Using the power of consumption that somehow hid deep within her path, she absorbed a fraction of a fragment of the Star's power, beating back Aasmi with everything she had, weakening Aasmi's connection with the Star - growing in power even as she stole from Heaven. Ten seconds of absorption and she rose into the Third Realm of the Single-Pillar Path. If she had managed to gain an hour of absorption, she reckoned, she would have reached Nascent Soul that very day, at the very least. Instead, Heaven threw lightning down, a force enough to obliterate nations, teleporting Aasmi away as it did so. Indeed, the emptied city of Pleuron was destroyed in Heaven's counterstroke. Rina managed to use the last of the Purifying Light she had stolen to defend herself, the lightning simply refusing to strike through the Light - as she used enough power to rise into Core Formation to keep herself alive
    Impact: 12 (+0)
    Cultivation: Single Pillar Foundation Establishment Stage 3
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 437 (+104)
    Health: Healthy --> Healthy

    Savvas Nicolidis
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Poor Savvas. A group of six Foundation experts were trapped, in the inexorable cat-and-mouse game between Rina Callista and Aasmi Bhardjav. His attempt to saved them ended poorly - he leapt in front of one of her beams of empowered light to deflect it, and ended up almost dying. Only that single cultivator escaped, the other five dying as he fled with his life alone.
    Impact: 5 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 2-Pillar
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 147 (+0)
    Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> (Wounded (End of Turn)

    Syntyche Theophylaktos
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: Syntche fought nobly. It was at the small town known as Seven Wells that she rose above the rest. Her Tortoiseshell technique made her a mainstay, defending thirteen badly wounded Foundation cultivators against four Fifth Sea cultivators. She did not kill any, but shattered three tokens and forced the other two into retreat, saving thirteen of her own Foundation allies.
    Impact: 9 (+0)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 3-Pillar (Mid)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 164 (+2)
    Health: Healthy --> Lightly Wounded --> Healthy (End of turn)

    Xiao Yi/Jin Muyi
    Bonus: LST
    Fate: The plant-man became known as many things, but first among them to his enemies was the Devourer. Standing at the gates of Pleuron, he defended the city near-singlehandedly for weeks on end. In the last Trials, he was crippled and transformed into a tree. During these Trials, he became something...more. Once his vine-ji stabbed a cultivator, they were seemingly unable to even use their Tokens to escape. He slew hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators, butchering his way through an enemy army, his constant absorption of his enemies making him impossible to put down. Pleuron was to be besieged once more, a symbol that the Invaders were not to be defied. A Core Formation Elder of the Fifth Sea came, and Jin Muyi against all odds consumed him as well. As he did, the Darkness that had once been his Ji grew, consuming all the energy available from the Elder. Losing control of his body as the Darkness within gained power of him, he awoke several days later, having carved a path through an army besieging Pleuron, the city having been safely evacuated. A second Elder had been slain by him during his mindless rampage, and only the use of several treasures prevented the Darkness from consuming his will entirely. It had grown in power monstrously, and his use of it could slay Foundation cultivators with casual ease. The power had not gone to him, however, and his cultivation did not advance due to it. Back in control, however tentatively, he left the abandoned city, having accomplished everything he hoped to achieve and more. (Total +14 Impact from a massive rampage of consumption). What had taken the concerted efforts of so many juniors a century before was now accomplished by him alone.
    Impact: 30 (+14)
    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 5-Pillar (Late)
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 257 (+13)
    Health: Healthy --> Dead --> LST Interrupt --> Badly Wounded --> 2nd LST Interrupt --> Lightly Wounded

    yan
    Bonus: Tribulation Boost
    Fate: Yan cultivated madly, working towards his 13th Heavenstage. He holed up in the desert, and was surprisingly not hunted, living in a small fort, aiming to comprehend more and more. While he went untouched, he was not able to take the last step, though he felt awfully close. A failed attempt to break through to the 13th Heavenstage left him badly wounded, and the use of a treasure aided him.

    Impact: 9 (+0)
    Cultivation: 12th Heavenstage
    Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 279 (+23)
    Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST interrupt)
     
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    • So I have two questions.
    1) Is Aasmi an Orthodox Path cultivator with an artifact (which I presume a hilarious boost to Impact) or is she also Unorthodox?
    2) Now that Xiao Yi/Jin Muyi has 30 Impact of his own (and I have seen none with higher value)... How does he compare to Aasmi and to Rina (who has 14 Impact and her Single Pillar)?

    And an observation.
    Purifying Heavenly Star and Imperial Heavenly Star sound like parts of the same set of Heavenly Treasures.
     
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