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

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

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

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

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

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

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Shard]

Yeah.

I mean, if hope does exist (And presumably it does, hence why this qualifies as a Tier 4 Malus instead of the Tier 5 "This will kill you if left unaddressed, and addressing it will define the entire game" maluses), it'll probably be that they're not actually as strong as we think they are, but they're using some kind of cheat to jump Seas, and we might have a shot at sabotaging that Cheat if we do well enough on a Trial to backtrace it.

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If I were to guess, the have a defence similar to Will (Nascent Soul) or Will (Spirit Severing).

 

[Mochinator]

but they're using some kind of cheat to jump Seas, and we might have a shot at sabotaging that Cheat if we do well enough on a Trial to backtrace it.

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That would be a interesting plot to explore. I mean personally, i like to see us seize territory and advance our influence into the mountains which is probably a whole different set of narrative that we can explore.

I'm pretty excited for some of the Good Seeds to hit Foundation Building or even Core since that's probably when they will be granted more freedom in determining what will help the Clan.

 

[veekie]

Good Seed Submission.
Name: Lihua Kokkinos
Background: Daughter of a clan smith father and a wandering cultivator mother Lihua grew up raised by her father, after passions burned cold and wanderlust resumed. She proved diligent at the art of the forge even as a child.

Lihua's bloodline deviated when she was forcibly awakened by poison during an attack. Her fledgling phoenix bloodline could not sustain her against continuous damage, fusing with her Bronze bloodline to wholly reforge her into metal.

Now she works her craft as an extension of her body, the metallic substance bearing the qualities of her body cultivation and arts. Few take the sweat, blood and tears of creation so literally.

Bonus: Mutated Bloodline(Living Metal) - A hybrid of her father's Bronze Bloodline and her mother's Phoenix Bloodline, Lihua's entire biology is wholly comprised of living metal, but rather than rigid bronze, molten metal courses through her veins, bones of iron, flesh of copper and skin of tin,, while her regeneration makes it such that most wounds could be healed swiftly, torn metal melting and fusing back together. Neither of the core strengths of each, but something new in the middle.
Dao: Commitment

@occipitallobe
This work?

Current status:
Boons:
-Chargen - Mutated Bloodline(Living Metal)
-Omake 1 Bonus - Cool Thing - Bloodline quirk, Lihua's body is hypersensitive to her cultivation, and effectively produces spiritual metal when activating appropriate arts. Harvesting is possible and fairly safe, as long as there is time for her biology to balance out between sessions.
Lihua has taken advantage of this to build and maintain a personal panoply of ludicrous expense, affording a suit of full plate constructed entirely of spiritual metal had cost her more than ten legs(she was not paying in arms, as that would slow down the creation process) and twenty heads of hair, but she'd attest it is completely worth it.
-Omake 2 Bonus - Lifesaving Treasure(Pheonix Egg)
-Omake 3 Bonus - Cool Thing - Living metal refinery. Lihua can replenish her health by consuming metals and ores, allowing her to produce significant quantities of spirit metal equipment

Lihua
Current Status: [Turn 15] 276 years old, Healthy
Dao: Commitment (Metal, Fire, Unity, Light, Sacrifice, Rebirth, Eternity)
Cultivation: Core Formation Misty Core (Early)
Cultivation Years: 400
Cultivation Goal: Default (-488 years to Great Circle)
Impact: 16 (+6, Living Metal Physique; +6, Facsimile Lightkey; +4, Burning Light Hawk)
Treasures: Life-Saving Treasure x 3; Tribulation Treasure x 1

Omake Log:
Total word count – 40,081 words
Lihua Kokkinos 1 – Panoply of Tin (480 words)
Lihua Kokkinos 2 – The Phoenix Spreads Her Wings whilst She Remains with Her Egg (630 words)
Lihua Kokkinos 3 – Munching on Rocks and Metal (525 words)
Lihua Kokkinos 4 – Healing (190 words)
Lihua Kokkinos 5 – Meeting Senior Cast in Metal (621 words, collaboration with @Insane-Not-Crazy)
Lihua Kokkinos 6 – Seeking the Dao (1656 words, collaboration with @Insane-Not-Crazy)
Lihua Kokkinos 7 – The Light, It Burns! (6429 words, collaboration with @Insane-Not-Crazy)
Lihua Kokkinos 8 – If You Meet the Buddha Upon the Road, Kill Him (1550 words, collaboration with @Insane-Not-Crazy)
Lihua Kokkinos 9 – Aurum Invictum Certamen (28000 words, mega-collaboration)
Lihua Kokkinos 10 – Rising against the Heavens ( words, collaboration with @Insane-Not-Crazy)

 

[ReaderOfFate]

@occipitallobe, I have a question. Say you cultivate up to the 12th Heavenstage for the cultivation speed boost/future benefits at Nascent Soul, but don't move to the 13th Heavenstage since you want to aim for 8/9 Pillars.

Is there a substantial enough difference in tribulation strength between cultivators who go up to 12 and those who go to 13?

 

[veekie]

Not sure why my brain kept farting at me when I try to phrase "Is less durable" in terms of "this isn't a uniform hard metal body, this is a mess of semi-molten chocolate in a toffee shell". I keep looking back at the description and getting dissatisfied.

 

[Twisted Mind]

Lin Fan
A Demons Commitment. Mini-Omake
''Power, It always comes down to POWER'' I lost my fingers because i was weak and inexperienced. I will NEVER be weak again Lin Fan says with determination, ''I have decided'' i will take you up on your offer Hellpoemer Lin Fan says with Finality as He suddenly falls asleep with a Blood red light coming out from his body and Turning into a Devilishly Handsome middle aged man. With a Smirk on his face he touches Lin Fans head and starts to glow then Suddenly Looks up with a Frightened look on his face and Disappears. When Lin Fan wakes up he looks at his face and Body in Disbelief. Lin Fans whole body looks airbrushed and Perfected with a Devilish aura. ''How did this happen'' Lin Fan thinks in Shock. GOD DAMMIT HELLPOEMER! Lin Fan screams in annoyance. ''I wanted help Cultivating not A Appearence boost!''



Bonus- Increased cultivation speed. And a Appearence Boost for Fluff.
@occipitallobe By the way i was thinking of having Lin Fan go to the Library and look up The Hellpoemer to find out how to use the powers he got. What would you Suggest to put the Hellpoemers cultivation at for Omake help?

 

[occipitallobe]

i'm having trouble mechanically breaking the bonuses down, so far most of the Omakes i've done is just stuff i thought would be cool or develop Xiao Yi. Can i have a ruling on what the bonuses count as ?

i have the following so far

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

Not really the best writer, but here is my attempt at a good seed. Xiao Yi (Little First/one) was a member of a Small Beast Taming Clan residing in the Turtlebone mountains that made a living taming and selling Spirit Beasts. When he was 10, the Clan was attacked by a Mid Core Spirit Beast...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

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Basically, per turn you can get one Bonus, as seen here.

Bonuses are a power increase relative to your peers in the same realm. So if you're like 'man, Xiao Yi's Secret Bacon Frying Technique lets him fight anyone in the same Heavenstage and win', that's a Bonus. If it's 'this is a technique Xiao Yi uses and is a key part of who he is', you don't need a Bonus for that. Your Good Seed is going to have techniques and treasures - Bonus Cool Things are those that make him more powerful than his peers.

Any omake above the first per turn is converted into a Fate bonus. This is a vaguely generic bonus which I am presently using which is better the more of it there is. (I actually detailed the mechanics here and deleted them - but rest assured longer omake and more omake mean more Fate - take Rina Callista's last Fate roll - her Fate was really good, but sans omake she'd be fighting one and a half Heavenstages above her level, not three.)

This means you can't just stack omake ceaselessly and become OP in one turn, but it means I will never stop rewarding you for writing omake, either.

I edited my background post to be a little more like Alectai, is how it is now okay?

edit: so I wont double post.



one of those secret benefits may be sidestepping those bottlenecks



can you cultivate the One-Pillar Foundation Establishment path and still get to those realms?

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Each of these cultivation stages are reachable without going through the 'perfect' versions of prior Realms.

In theory, you can't reach 7 and 8-pillar Realms while cultivating One-Pillar.

That being said, unlocking the 'perfect' version of each Realm might unlock something even better than what's listed...

So it offer half a small realm in foundation and in Core formation or it's a typo?

For the player .
Do you want to go to the 10th or 12th heaven stage for the ninth prince ?
Because the diference in years between 11-12th is not high like 10 -11th or 12-13th and the 13th take too many ressource and years for worth it.

And also do you want for some people to go to the 10th heaven stage?

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My impression is that it's not a hard and fast rule, and they'll break it happily in their favor if fighting fair isn't working.

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It's a rules thing. If they start murdering those in realms below them they'll get sent out of the trial. I think next before I do any more geopolitical stuff I'll do a Trials writeup.

Both in Foundation and Core. For me, I don't want anything. The non-standard cultivation options are absolutely honeytraps if you're not writing a bunch to try and power up enough to get through them.

@occipitallobe, I have a question. Say you cultivate up to the 12th Heavenstage for the cultivation speed boost/future benefits at Nascent Soul, but don't move to the 13th Heavenstage since you want to aim for 8/9 Pillars.

Is there a substantial enough difference in tribulation strength between cultivators who go up to 12 and those who go to 13?

Click to shrink...

Very roughly speaking:

1/5 cultivators who reach the end of Qi Condensation can make it to Foundation Building. For the Clan, it's 1/10. Good Seeds are naturally excellent talents and have a 1/5 chance to begin with, which can be further increased by waiting and solidifying their Dao, or using Omake bonuses to gain heavenly treasures to help themselves out.

However, tribulation strength doubles each Heavenstage above the 9th. The 13th Heavenstage tribulation is 32 times the strength of the 9th Heavenstage one. So going from 11th to 12th is fairly easy, but the 12th stage offers very minor benefits up until you manage to reach Nascent Soul.

Bonus- Increased cultivation speed. And a Appearence Boost for Fluff.
@occipitallobe By the way i was thinking of having Lin Fan go to the Library and look up The Hellpoemer to find out how to use the powers he got. What would you Suggest to put the Hellpoemers cultivation at for Omake help?

Click to shrink...

Probably Core Formation - it's a really high realm relative to Lin Fan - enough to leave him a cool inheritance but let him also walk his own path in future once he surpasses that level.

 

[occipitallobe]

Adhoc vote count started by occipitallobe on Aug 31, 2020 at 5:27 PM, finished with 111 posts and 15 votes.

• ---

  12 people have voted

  [X] Insurgency Preparations

  • ReaderOfFate
  • 8th pirate king
  • ninjastar
  • Kingmally
  • Alectai
  • DangerKitty
  • Prime 2.0
  • Kaboomatic
  • cheesyme
  • Empere
  • Zaealix
  • Anders

  1 people have voted

  [X] Insurgency Preparations
  -[X] Agree with Proposal - Jingshen Clan will begin raiding Blood Cannibal Sect. You will gain no Wealth this turn.
  -[X] Intrigue (Blood Cannibal Sect) - You should learn about another clan entirely. Spend Spirit Stones like water in the plains and find out everything you can. Strengths. Weaknesses, places to strike, rebels, and so on and so forth.
  -[X] Hunt for a Replacement - Look for a new candidate to replace Ioannes Vatatzes. If successful, you may be able to save several precious Lifespan Treasures.

  • TehChron

  1 people have voted

  [X] Aggressive Raids
  -[X] Agree with Proposal
  -[X] Raiding (Blood Cannibal Sect)
  -[X] Weaken An Enemy (Blood Cannibal Sect)

  • Mr. Prokosch

  1 people have voted

  [X] Moderate Raiding
  -[X] Agree with Proposal - Jingshen Clan will begin raiding Blood Cannibal Sect. You will gain no Wealth this turn.
  -[X] Intrigue (Blood Cannibal Sect) - You should learn about another clan entirely. Spend Spirit Stones like water in the plains and find out everything you can. Strengths. Weaknesses, places to strike, rebels, and so on and so forth.
  -[X] Weaken An Enemy (Blood Cannibal Sect)

  • LordEdric

I think the votes are done.

I have a rough plan. One update on Jingshen Clan and the Intrigue to come, followed by an infopost on the Trials. Then I think the results of the replacement search, then Good Seeds, then the new vote.

 

[LordEdric]

I think I'll wait to make my next Omake until the good seeds are up, I'm hoping for good fate so I can do more Dao Pillar stuff, I have some ideas for the next 4 pillars

 

[Leon12431]

can you start building a Pillar in Qi stage?

Also if you do reach 13th heaven step you can in fact still make more pillars correct

 

[Nordlending]

How much time do would I have left to write if I wanted to be included in the next good seed report?

 

[occipitallobe]

How much time do would I have left to write if I wanted to be included in the next good seed report?

Click to shrink...

At least a few days. There's probably 3-4 parts of the update, and I don't anticipate writing more than one a day. The Good Seed update is the second last part of the update.

can you start building a Pillar in Qi stage?

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No. A Pillar is a magical creation, the bringing of one's Dao into reality as a cultivation power. You can work on your Dao, though and start to understand what you want your Pillar to be.

Also if you do reach 13th heaven step you can in fact still make more pillars correct

Click to shrink...

Who knows? The Golden Devil Clan certainly don't!

 

[Anders]

Good Seed Submission.
Name:Acis Drivas
Age: 36 (4th Heavenstage)
Background: Son of a pair of clan foundation building array carvers, Acis never had any talent for the art. Instead he found himself drawn to nature and found his talent as a spirit herd gatherer.

Acis is a small forgettable boy who is very shy. He has recently awoken to the first heavenstage and his parents have forced him to join the clan legions to make something of himself, but all Acis wants to do is spend time in nature and discover new spirit herbs.

Overall concept: Primarily a spirit herb gatherer who has been forced into the clan military to live up to the family name.

Good Seed Bonus: Spirit Bond to a desert wolf that will progress with him and helps with hunting for spirit herbs.

 

[TehChron]

I have a rough plan. One update on Jingshen Clan and the Intrigue to come, followed by an infopost on the Trials. Then I think the results of the replacement search, then Good Seeds, then the new vote.

Click to shrink...

I'm going to finish up the previous omake tonight

Hoping itll push the length to.5k words or so total if that makes a difference before you roll

 

[Twisted Mind]

Since i have Asked for a stable foundation and faster cultivation i am Hoping my luck will turn and i dont lose any more Freaking fingers

 

[Alectai]

Hah, the whole "The difficulty of each Tribulation doubles each Heavenstage after 9th" is definitely making me reconsider my ambitions at this point to be perfectly honest. I think I'll probably still go for it but I'm going to have to put a lot of effort in to build up enough treasures to improve those odds a bit!

 

[dgr11897]

Has anyone brought up the idea of creating a smaller, cheaper version of the shattering glass spear array? Something which could both be made and maintained in larger numbers and piggyback off of the already installed network of targeting arrays to provide a weaker and cheaper option for fire support, an arrow rather than a spear, probably not killing high level cultivators, but it could still be useful. Plus, the ability to perform barrage attacks could be quite useful in scenarios where it becomes necessary to break up or eliminate groups of cultivators.

 

[occipitallobe]

The initial phase of the raids from Jingshen Clan had begun.

Manuel had been surprised.

Tremendously so.

They had rolled over the border without any opposition, and had gone from looting to occupying in short order. Almost ten percent of Cannibal Sect territory had been occupied already - the least occupied, least wealthy portion, admittedly. Still, there had only been scattered Cannibal opposition, and Jingshen Clan looked as thought it were almost considering long-term occupation. A disaster for the Cannibals, though few forces had been caught and destroyed. Internal strife?

Manuel wasn't sure.

His meeting with Jingshen Jiao - their new Early Nascent Soul cultivator would hopefully offer enlightenment as to what had happened.

She entered, and Manuel's eyebrow raised. She was a beautiful woman even among cultivators, though peculiarly bald and red-skinned. Probably, he thought, a fire cultivation technique. Her features were not quite perfect in that generic way, but rather spoke of greater depths, her smile promising a sort of acceptance and care that one would not find even among your closest friends. Her every movement offered sensuality, a sort of mixture of sexuality, beauty, and raw untrammeled love, a relentless attack on the loneliness and difficulty that was the path of the cultivator. He allowed himself to sink deeper into her thrall for a moment, his mind in his body enjoying her beauty as his mind in his Nascent Soul rapidly attempted to find the cause of the effect as well as a way to resist it.

Soul arts? No. Luck of some sort. Heaven's blessing? No, no. A Dao of Love? Possible, fire arts brought passion, and such things were close together. Impossible to properly resist, then, or at least shake off. One would simply have to accept the feeling and deny it, but Jiao would have to feel that love, and that seemed implausible.

Ah.

Acceptance. A Dao of Acceptance made no sense for advancement - acceptance of the world meant not changing it, or so Manuel thought, but he wasn't privy to Jiao's Dao. Acceptance allowed her to truly offer a love of sorts to everyone, accepting them for who they were, offering no judgement, no hatred. She still might kill him if she thought it worth the risk and benefits, but she wouldn't hate him. Now... to gamble and reveal his successful probe, or to hold it in reserve for later?

Manuel thought for a moment, and decided to do the latter. He had no need to try and intimidate Jingshen Clan at the moment, so holding a card in reserve would be helpful.

He gestured.

"Lady Jiao. A pleasure to finally meet you."

She looked at him, and smiled. His heart jumped, and he felt a sense of kinship, a sense of closeness he had never felt with any other person before in such a short time. Manuel's Nascent Soul shook its head in sheer awe. Such a natural attack - he would have to ensure he shepherded her personally out of the Clan to avoid anyone being suborned. Likely he'd need to demote a few guards after this, at the very least.

"Manuel Konstantinos. The old monster of legend I heard so much about growing up. Did you know your parents used to threaten that you'd come and snatch me in the night if I didn't eat my Dawn-cry congee?"

Manuel chuckled.

"They were right, of course. One of my many duties."

She looked up at him, eyelashes fluttering. Manuel felt a moment's pity for her. She was young, for a Nascent Soul, and her Dao clearly gave her certain advantages. When she didn't rely on it entirely, her flirting attempts were amateurish and poor. She had probably never bothered to develop her skills properly, her Dao filling in too much of the work for her. Shortcuts were useful, but Manuel had never used them. Hard work took longer, but the results were reliable.

"What brings you to my humble hall, Lady Jiao?"

She shrugged.

"A mere concern of ours, nothing major. A show of goodwill to report our progress against the Cannibals. A little experience for myself, escorting a small trade caravan."

The crux.

Manuel smiled in return, long experience making his smile seem warm and friendly, but only to a point where it would be easily seen through.

"And in that caravan...?"

Jiao frowned.

"No concern of yours. As you have no need to levy a tariff, we do not need to reveal what we are transporting, as per our agreement."

Probably a Heavenly Treasure of Nascent Soul level, Manuel surmised. Jingshen Clan had struck at the Cannibals in part to distract them, to ensure safe transport. The agreement to minimise costs. Whatever their trade, Manuel assumed it'd be of immense value to them. Still, he'd gotten something out of it.

"Of course, of course. Mere curiosity. How does the war fare?"

Jiao smiled again, but the radiance dimmed.

"We have seized many cities and mines. About twenty thousand Qi Condensation cultivators, two hundred Foundation Establishment experts, and a single Core Formation elder have all been killed."

Surprising. The war was going well.

"And their counterstroke?"

"Not yet prepared, one presumes. We are pushing further in, wrecking mines and destroying Blood Arrays that can easily gather Qi from mortals. Disgusting things. Even if they cut off our expeditionary force and destroy it, they have taken far more damage than the force is worth."

Unexpected.

The rest of the meeting was pleasant, Manuel offering to walk Jiao out, his heart rejoicing at the thought of spending a few more minutes with her. Maneuvering around each guard, each susceptible Clansman, sending silent orders to have nobody else interact with her. It was a truly excellent attack. As he left, she blew him a kiss, again - a terrible attempt at flirting that left his heart cold. Then again, she had never faced a Nascent Soul, no doubt, as Old Jingshen was her father, who no doubt loved her anyway.

As her caravan moved on, he returned to closed-door cultivation. The pain resumed, and with each searing moment he focused on the rising feelings for young Lady Jiao, tearing them out of his heart as he tore his Soul away from his body. A few months of this and the feelings would be gone. The pain was terrible, and the feeling of abandonment, of worthlessness perhaps even worse. He wanted to weep, to die, to rush after her and beg for her forgiveness. He did none of these things, silently enduring the pain.

Yes, he had to admit. It was a truly excellent attack.

 

[No7sHere]

Ok I'm very very glad we picked the older option for our nascent soul cultivator, with less experience that could have been really bad.

 

[Rockeye]

Love the writing of this old geezer by the way.

The bit about watching the cannibal elders torture video to learn his weaknesses seemed very cool.

 

[uri]

this turn seams good so far having a nascent soul cultivator in our vessels will help with the fighting but might be encouraging rebellion and the Jingshen Clan might be getting a little to bold for themselves with their recent victories, we should try to either get them back to the ground or getting a new nascent soul cultivator for our clan to discourage rebellion.

 

[occipitallobe]

Hah, the whole "The difficulty of each Tribulation doubles each Heavenstage after 9th" is definitely making me reconsider my ambitions at this point to be perfectly honest. I think I'll probably still go for it but I'm going to have to put a lot of effort in to build up enough treasures to improve those odds a bit!

Click to shrink...

Going through the 13th Heavenstage into Foundation Building is xianxia protagonist territory for a reason.

 

[LordEdric]

That lady is scary, it's not lust which some people are ready for, but friendliness. You want them to like you. Truly women are the scariest beasts

 

[TimEd]

Maybe the forces needed to take down the cultivators we sent cost the Cannibals a big enough chunk of power that it exacerbated the schism within it? Or I am reading too much into it and some other danger befell the Cannibals.

 

[TehChron]

This kind of stuff is why I pushed so hard for Intrigue

Like

If they're genuinely screwed then this is the chance of a lifetime to take advantage and go full ham on them next turn