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

occipitallobe · Oct 2, 2020

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

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Sparsebeard · Jul 2, 2021

Simon_Jester said:
True true. On the other hand, "acceptance" can take many forms. The key thing here is that Lady Jiao is still in Early Nascent and, based on past precedent of encounters between her and Manuel, is ill equipped to best Manuel directly in a confrontation. So assuming she doesn't (uncharacteristically) become revenge-obsessed and rageful... she's not really equipped to pursue a strategy of "go it alone" anymore. At least not for the foreseeable future.

She'd probably make a great vassal. For the overlord at least, "acceptance" might cause her to be taken advantage of...

occipitallobe · Jul 3, 2021

Seven Temples is the greatest city among what are called the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms.

Kingdoms is too strong a word, for there are no true kings among the bandits, none who can retain dominion over a great deal of space.

And so it returns to Seven Temples. The only city to withstand the Cannibal depredations, the greatest city in the Heavenly Bandit lands. With nearly a million mortals hosted within its walls, and the great Spirit Lake to its east, it is the fulcrum around which the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms revolve. Nearly every Heavenly Bandit King has friends in Seven Temples, and while they bow most obsequiously to their Jingshen masters, rebellion always simmers beneath the surface.

The Map of Seven Temples

Seven Temples was founded by the Daylight Monk, a simple enlightened Core Formation Elder who sought nonviolence and peace as his highest value. He shepherded thousands of mortals and cultivators away from a rising Cannibal Sect, hiding them on the isles in the river.

Seven Core Formation Cannibals besieged them on the isles, and despite the heroism of the Daylight Monk and his followers, it seemed as though all was lost.

An ancient ritual allowed him to spill his lifesblood into the river, and summon the river-spirits of all those rivers that flowed into the Heavenly Spirit River, and from there into the Heavenly Spirit Lake. The veins beneath the Spirit Rivers would disgorge Spirit Stones that slowly came downstream, and would have been easily mined had it not been for the aggression and defensiveness of those same spirits that lived off them. In return for the Riverpact, in which the Daylight Monk agreed his followers would harvest stones only from the Spirit Lake once the spirits had their fill, the four spirits came to defend the last followers of the Daylight Monk.

Songhua, Jinsha, Hanshui, and Huai were those four spirits, and they mercilessly slew all seven Core Formation Cannibals that tried to cross, water rising up and slicing them into pieces. Each spirit stood high in Core Formation strength, and were difficult to kill, living in the rivers as they did. They could easily escape and easily strike at any near their waters, and so remained unharmed by the Cannibals.

Those who remained became followers of the Spirits, offering them various gifts and worship, as well as following the path of the Daylight Monk.

Seven Temples was founded a little over a thousand years ago, and much is known about it.

There are three parts of the city.

The Isles, in which five of the seven temples sit.

Firstly is Tollens Island, upon which live the worshippers at the Huai Shrine. They offer blood to the river and strength, and gain river-powers in return. Their command over the river water is great, but they are bound it and cannot leave their isle except to travel upon the river. It also hosts the Sacred Library, a temple founded on the scripts that the Daylight Monk carried with him. His wisdom allows many to follow paths that can easily lead them into Core Formation, should they find the resources.

To the south is Chung Island, which hosts many farms. Uninteresting and poor, it provides food to supplement the River Towns and the fishing in the river.

Then comes the Triplet Isles, on which we find Songhua Shrine. Songhua offers the power of transformation in return for growth - those who worship the Songhua Spirit are cursed to never gain cultivation, but can easily slip into the form of a fish or crab, and use their powers to safeguard the isle.

Next is Jinsha Shrine. The followers of Jinsha offer their lives in a great roulette, with one in two being sacrificed in Qi Condensation. In return, their blood is fortified, and their children grow ever-stronger. Jinsha scions can walk on water or dive in, and gain great strength while walking upon the river.

Lastly is Hanshui Shrine. The Hanshui followers give up bodily organs, fusing Water-Qi into themselves, allowing them to master elemental water no matter where they are - provided it is the river-water they carry with them. This kills them, eventually, but is a trade for power.

The Four Shrines protect the isles, and nothing short of the full might of a major power - many Core Formation Elders, or a Nascent Soul can break them. Despite this, the followers of the River Spirits are almost all in Foundation Establishment - it is rare one of them meets a Core Formation level of strength. Yet by drawing on the strength of the river-spirits, even Core Formation elders cannot defeat them easily in their element. And if the river-spirits are summoned, even Core elders will fall. Of course, they are all but powerless elsewhere.

Six hundred thousand mortals live among the Isles, making it no minor place. As well are nearly thirty thousand Qi Condensation cultivators, two hundred Foundation experts, and even one Core Formation elder.

The Betrayal of Bridges is a notable event - two hundred years ago, bridges were built across the rivers. This allowed an invasion to run through, and saw Chung Island devastated, as well as Tollens Island. The River-Spirits communicated their dislike of the bridges, and yet they were ignored at the time. They did not rise to stop the attack as such. All such bridges are now destroyed. Two pontoon-bridges exist amongst the Triplet Isles, but they are ritually floated apart each night to prevent them from gaining any sense of permanence.

After the islands comes the New City.

The New City was built last, only eight hundred years ago. Two Sects exist there, each followers of the Daylight Monk. When he first came to the land before fleeing there, he planted two gardens, and built a wall between them. One saw the sun at sunset, one at sunrise. He meditated in each, and both Gardens are places where many find their grasp of the Dao expanding. The New City is walled, but the walls are better-considered roofed aqueducts with pump-houses at intervals, the artificial river protecting the north. Four hundred thousand mortals live in the New City, along with ten thousand Qi Condensation cultivators, two hundred Foundation experts, and one Core Formation elder.

The Sunset Sect is hosted in the Sunset Gardens, where they focus on the Dao of Decline. They meditate on the nature of endings, and the impermanence of all things. They look like peaceful monks, but are deadly warriors, each one following the instructions left by the Daylight Monk. The Method of Three Declines is what they follow, and they cultivate quickly. However, their lifespan is easily exhausted. In battle they are terrors, able to fight several small realms above their level, each blow infused with weakness that cripples their enemies.

The Sunrise Sect is hosted in the Sunrise Gardens, where they focus on the Dao of Renewal. They meditate on the nature of endings, and how each ending is merely another beginning. They focus on growth, and are peaceful monks. They are not warriors, but instead grow quickly, and bleed themselves into the Spirit River to renew the Daylight Monk's pact with the River-Spirits. They are bound to pacifism, and seek only to grow as cultivators so their lives might protect their city in emulation of their founder. Whenever they break into Core Formation, they attempt to reach the Great Circle if possible, and upon doing so sacrifice their lives to the river. Two of their Core Formation elders have left and abandoned the sacrifice, and have had their names struck from the records of the Sunrise Sect.

The Old City is the city founded before the Daylight Monk came. Walled yet ruined, the Old City was rebuilt three hundred years ago, but fell again when the Betrayal of Bridges occurred. A small sect named the Riverlord Sect has taken up residence there. They fish and hunt Spirit Beasts, and are not bound by the pact with the river. They are not loved by the others in Seven Temples, but the Old City was ruined thoroughly and nobody has been foolish enough to live there until word came from the south that the Golden Devils had driven out the hated Cannibals.

Lastly there are the Ruined Lands to the south, where mortals farmers occasionally take up the verdant lands near the river, and are often slain by Blood Path wanderers. To the north are the River Towns, a series of villages stretching for nearly five hundred li to the west, farming the fertile lands along the north side of the river, kept safe by the Daylight Monk's pact.

Garlak · Jul 3, 2021

occipitallobe said:
Yet by drawing on the strength of the river-spirits, even Core Formation elders cannot defeat them easily them in their element.

"them" is repeated

occipitallobe said:
The River-Spirits communicated their dislike of the bridges, and yet they were ignored at the time. They did not rise to stop the All such bridges are now destroyed.

Sentence cuts off.

occipitallobe said:
The Method of Three Declines is what they follow, and they cultivate quickly, those their lifespan is easily exhausted.

Should be "though" rather than 'those'.

EDIT: Anyway, so...

It looks like they're stuck at regional or minor power. No potential for force projection; no real prospects to advance past Core Formation.

One group of monks sacrifices themselves if they reach Great Circle. The other, the ones that don't have to sacrifice themselves? Well, they ain't getting to Nascent Soul either -- because their lifespan is burnt for their power. So, they won't be able to break through to Nascent Soul.

They're a more turtley form of... er rather, a more stationary form and problem of the Golden Devils. All their defensive power is limited to their location. The 4 Core Formation spirits. Though, said spirits are pretty beefy. Don't mess with them on home ground.

(The only guys with possible prospects... are Sunrise monks who go rogue and don't sacrifice themselves. Hm. But can you even hit Nascent Soul, even if you left your city? Well, it's a potential plot hook anyway. A renegade Sunrise monk, who refused to sacrifice himself. Though admittedly, there are very very few of them.)

... Also, the Spirits literally feed off of them in return for the protection. So, there's that too.

Life, organs, cultivation-years. The Spirits take those in, in exchange for their protection. But in exchange for that protection, very few make it past Foundation Establishment. And nobody is going to make it to Nascent Soul.

Whether that's a trade-off or a protection racket and trap, you decide.

TheCount · Jul 3, 2021

occipitallobe said:
They did not rise to stop the All such bridges are now destroyed. Two

seems cut off.
great update btw.

....also, what happens now, that they don't need protection from cannibals?

Garlak · Jul 3, 2021

What's pretty cool though, is the re-affirmation of what a big deal it is to have the foundational knowledge and techniques to be able to reach Core Formation or Nascent Soul. That every time we see a Vassal State-tier polity, who has to make trade-offs and simply lacks the sheer raw lore knowledge and techniques to be able to bring people up to Core Formation or Nascent Soul...

Every time you see that, it just reinforces the importance and core strength and the sheer difference for Sects and Clans like the Golden Devils, Jingshen, Strength Purity Sect, Blacksmiths, etc.

And the biggest most significant factor seems to be...

... Whether you had people who reached Nascent Soul or above.

That's it. That's what it requires, it seems like. "Did you have people in Nascent Soul or Spirit Severing or Dao-Seeking who did the legwork and left the ability for people to follow after?"

It just takes one genius to reach Nascent Soul or Spirit Severing, and then leave a path behind them, in order to allow future Juniors to be able to tread their path.

Hence, the sheer importance of both the ancient long-dead Sect Ancestors... and also Sect Juniors. Because while the Ancestors leave the path for you, and leave secrets and benefits (and also were the ones who carved out your Sect's or Clan's place in the world) the Good Seeds are the ones that become those super-awesome dudes. Hence: the Sect Leader is obeyed, the wisdom of the ancients is worshipped, and the young master is incredibly valued and kept defended and nurtured. The past and future of the Clan or Sect!

EDIT: Though. In the Virtuous Flipper Region? And in the Third Sea in general?

I think you need Spirit Severing or Dao-Seeking cultivators to have ascended and left legacies and stuff, in order for your Cultivators to be able to consistently reach Nascent Soul. And by now, nobody can even reach Spirit Severing, not really.

...

Welcome to the reality of life that is "being in a dead sea."

Unless you are lucky enough to belong to a Sect or Clan that was a great power or had somebody of note back during the time when the Turtle Child was still alive, you're probably going to be stuck as a Vassal or Minor Power nowadays.

fictionfan · Jul 3, 2021

TheCount said:
seems cut off.
great update btw.

....also, what happens now, that they don't need protection from cannibals?

That is the question. Paying tribute to the Jingshen must frustrate even more now. Before they were at least in theory getting something in return. It would be one thing if it had been the Jingshen that had defeated the cannibals. Then continued tribute might make some sense in terms of gratitude. But that is very clearly not the case.

fictionfan · Jul 3, 2021

Abel Angelus
Gaius Antonius

Abel's musing on his Dao With Gaius
Abel had been making a habit of dealing with all bottlenecks before he got to them. He liked his cultivation to be as smooth as possible. With the foundation stage in reach, that meant that Abel would have to do something about deciding his dao. Might as well talk with an expert.

Which is why Abel is paying for the drinks at the Dawn of victory, the most expensive bar in the Dawn fortress area.

"I know what things I stand for and what I consider important even my general modus operandi, but does a dao have to be able to be summed up in one word? About all the daos I have heard of are like that. But all the single words I can think of are either too limiting or too inclusive"

Abel's theory was that a dao seems to be a way of constantly focusing on something to get qi to respond to you. Much like focusing on making a computer for a long time had brought Cal the qi powered calculation machine to Abel.

"Hmm…" Gaius leaned back in his chair, swirling a glass of liquor around idly. "Not always one word; one concept. But if you let it get away from you, you won't be able to hold onto it. It's like moving furniture; even if you're strong enough to carry something, it might be too big to maneuver with."

Abel nods "Yes a Dao too big comes with baggage that can be just as limiting as a Dao being too small. Well I assume or everyone would just follow the dao of everything." If Dao affected the universe then you would want to be selective in your effects. Doing everything might cause things you didn't want or maybe waste energy? Abel had heard that dao effects often don't cost qi, but presumably they have some sort of cost.

"A Dao of Everything?" Gaius chuckled. "Well, I'd sure like to meet a person who managed that. Would be interesting for sure." He took another sip, letting the liquid swirl in his mouth for a moment before swallowing. "In most cases, a Cultivator doesn't seriously develop a Dao until they're already at the border of Foundation Building. They lived their life and eventually reached the Ninth Heavenstage, if they had the aptitude for it. Then, they look back on how they've lived, who they've been. It's a hard thing to do, though not all manage it like that."

Gaius ran his fingers through his hair, pushing a few strands out of his eye. He sighed as he considered how to get his feelings across in words.

Abel recipes "By the time someone gets to 9th heavenstage they are likely to have enough life behind them to reflect on it" Or have a midlife crisis. "Mostly I focus on turning the complex simple by breaking them down into parts and the simple complex by adding a bunch of simple parts together.'' Not being able to talk about the last world was likely going to make this conversation harder, Abel thought. "That seems to work for just about any problem."

"Zeno has a knack for bringing me interesting puzzles." Gaius muttered, turning over his empty glass. "I do have to admit, your mind is unfathomable to me; frightening even. I'm reminded that while they're often used as synonyms, a genius and a prodigy aren't the same thing." Gaius tapped the side of his head. "Intellectually, I mean. Higher cultivation brings higher thinking power, but what's going on in your head isn't just power. There's a terrifying depth to it, for you to imagine so many ideas. That same depth, I presume, is the reason for that extreme bottleneck you are dealing with"

Gaius dripped a few drops of liquor into his finger(wincing at the cost) and drew three lines. The first was about an inch long. "Here's the mental speed of a mortal. It lines up pretty well with… what would you call it, cognitive power? This is how you spent the first fifteen or so years of your life." He drew a second line, an inch and a quarter long. "This is the mental speed of a Second Heavenstage Cultivator. It's barely higher at all. This was you from about twenty to fifty-five." Finally, The Seeker drew a three inch long line. "And here's the mental speed of the Ninth Heavenstage. If you get there is will no doubt add far more complex convolutions of your brain, and the difference is even more staggering. Do you understand?"

Abel holds up a small caterpillar on one of his fingers. "It isn't hard so long as I break everything down to math. Although when you use math, really small errors can compound themselves. The extra thinking speed should be nice, but mostly it just gives me more time to check my work." Abel waves a hand in a circular motion.

Abel smiles "It might not be as useful for social stuff (although more useful than most people would find comfortable knowing), but it isn't as if higher level cultivators tend to talk faster as a habit. New ideas seem to be the more common limiting factor." Shame this world doesn't have anything like social media. The ability to crowd source a problem is amazing.

"Well, I'm glad you're handling it well." Gaius smiled, then grimaced as he went back to this puzzle. "So if you adjust to the Ninth Heavenstage, then… It's either your relatively unadventurous life, brought on from that bottleneck, or an inability to accept something about yourself, maybe both."

Gaius leaned over the table, looking for a hint in Abel's eyes. "Who are you, Abel Angelus? What truth lies within you? It's not something numbers can quantify, at least not any numbers we know about. What are you doing here?" If Gaius brushed a little too close to the truth with that last statement, he had no idea he had done so.

Abel felt like that was a bit of a challenge "Well if you use enough of them. Complex things are made of loads of simple things added together to make the total greater than the sum of their parts. I guess that is another part of my Dao, a general disdain for mysticism and sacred mysteries, that seems like an excuse people often give because they hate saying I don't know. I am fine with not knowing things. I can find them out later so long as I don't cover my ignorance with a 'stop think'."

"Now that's something I can agree with." Gaius smiled. "Uncovering the truth, I mean. It's an admirable way to live. But the truth you need to find to survive your tribulation isn't something you'll find in nature. You won't find it in a mineral vein underground either. It's not in the sea or the sky or the void, it's only in you." The Seeker fussed with his hair a bit. "There is no difference between… no, you wouldn't like that one. You are already… no, that's too metaphorical."

Gaius quirked his eyebrows upward and poured himself another glass, taking a swig. "You're antithetical to cultivation, you know that? If you won't engage with… what was it you called it, a 'stop think'? If you won't accept limitations on your own thoughts, then it's like climbing a mountain with weights on your limbs." He smirked as something came to him. "Although, if you do that, then once the weights come off you'll be far stronger. If a person like you were to somehow engage with the Dao without giving an inch, and somehow make it all the way to Nascent Soul… well, you'd be the sanest Nascent to ever live. And that's not a small thing."

"I don't have any plans to get to nascent soul. None of my goals actually require it and from what I heard it is miserable. If I was planning on getting to nascent I would put in the extra time to get to the 12th heaven stage."

Gaius let out a bark of laughter. "Fair enough! I forgot myself for a moment!" He lit a cigarette for himself, finally starting to look satisfied. "I think we're closing in on something here. A Dao that defines the life you've lived, a Dao that you could take to Core Formation without falling into 'stop think' and a Dao that's simple enough to center a philosophy around." He held up three fingers. "Those are the conditions. In your heart is a fundamental, personal truth which fulfils all three."

Abel frowns "A dao of truth would follow all the conditions, but doesn't seem to have that many applications" . Back in his last life his name had actually meant truth in another language; it had had profound implications on how he thought in that life as well.

Gaius playfully wagged his finger, dragging on his cigarette. "If all you're thinking is 'what can the Dao do for me?' then you've already lost. But I'm also not so sure it wouldn't be useful. There are many truths out there, ones people don't even consider. You're treasure hunting in Yuan in five years, right? Take a bit more time to think about it."

"Sort of" Actually if things worked out Abel would just find a spot and not move from it the entire time he was there, but treasures seemed likely to come to him. If only to try and stop the dark lord draining the qi from the area.

"Then perhaps you'll find greater conviction there. If you want my advice, meditate on the nature of Truth, and if you find any other concepts that fit your conditions and resonate as well, then think on those too. When your life is in danger, your Dao should be a source of mental strength, renewing your morale and pushing you forward." He looked out the window, thinking back on his many brushes with death, and how they had only firmed his resolve further in the end. "Or perhaps that's too mystical for you, Junior Brother." Gaius teased. "Perhaps morale is a foreign concept to you."

Abel shrugs "It's a real thing with real effects. If I tried to model the world without it my model would be flawed. I just tend to have more important things to think about generally when my life is in danger."

"That's generally how it is, yes." Gaius said. "But… nnn, here's where I'd say 'abandon logic for a moment', but you'd walk out on me if I did, so…" He took another drag as he thought, and thought, and thought. It went on for fifteen whole seconds, Gaius reducing the cigarette to ashes in one pull. With a frustrated sigh, he released a massive cloud of smoke into the air above him. "Damnit, just give it a shot, would ya? Not literally in the middle of something trying to kill you. In the aftermath, think about it. Think about what drives you in your most desperate moments. I think you might be onto something with Truth, and I also think you'll be surprised at what it can do for you, even when it's not engraved on a pillar yet."

With that, The Seeker got up and made to leave. "If I help you too much more, then that could be detrimental. Cultivation is a deeply personal journey; when it comes to something as delicate as the Dao, all I can do is nudge you."

Abel bows his head, "thank you. Talking with you has been very helpful. I feel like I should mention that I don't feel that logic and emotions are things that come into conflict. Or at least they shouldn't." That generally was a result of suppressed reasoning.

"I'm relieved to hear it. You're a good guy; I'd hate to see you deny yourself happiness." Gaius turned to give a thumbs up in the doorway. "I believe in you, Junior."

@Alectai, @TehChron, @Humbaba, @ReaderOfFate, @Kaboomatic I love collabs. Edit: Don't know what happened with the font.

no. · Jul 3, 2021

Da Linky

Alectai · Jul 4, 2021

Aliki Floros
The Doctor Will See You Now!

The Golden Devils were weird.

Of course, weird was relative--when weird leaves a marching band of strangely colored cultivators entering the walls in tight formation, after having torn an opening into the Noble Devil Alliance's siege lines with their great mounted soldier formation, bearing badly needed supplies and defenders for the overextended defenders of Thousand Song City? You take what you can get.

Qian Chao would take weird barbarian soldiers right now--Demonic or otherwise--this war had just been a complete mess from end to end after all, and with so much of the allied Coalition's experts drawn away into the front lines to do... Something or other.

Maybe burn down that big extension on the Noble Knowledge Sect's scary poison maze that they were supposed to be setting up? It'd be awful if those horrible witches could expand their numbers!

It still did leave the people living here in a bit of a pinch though! The constant swarm of Blood Cultists was kind of exhausting and while watching a bunch of them get run over by barbarians was satisfying there was always the cleanup afterward which was just all big piles of ughhh.

Qian Chao only had so many herbs after all!

If she was really quick though, maybe she'd be able to get her hands on some of the Good Stuff? This bunch of barbarians should have supplies with them...

She picked her her pace, gathering up the hem of her robes as she drew on the depths of her cultivation base. She had only been a little girl when the Sect fell down--one of the handful of people who could gather up the herbalism legacies of the Thousand Arrows and Flowers Sect while the masters fought desperately in a losing battle against the demonic ancients. All this talk about revenge and all that was all...

How was she even supposed to care? It was nice that they still let her do the records--and she had made a good living for herself as an apothecary here--but when it came down to a future... How many of the legacies she had extended forever? How many were dependent on rare herbs that were now either trampled over or in the hands of the Noble Knowledge Sect?

She was doing her best with the basics of the basics--and in a few more years she may even qualify to get enough treasures to push into Foundation Establishment! But with supplies being as tight as they were, she could only go so far--and given the level of warfare that was going on, how many people actually survived long enough to limp home and be treated?

She sighed as she jaunted her way in the direction of the gatehouse--the barbarian soldiers fanning out as supply carts were steadily being rolled out. One with particularly fancy looking armor discussed things with Elder Jadeseal of the Strength Purity Sect, probably about little details here and there. Laborers slowly started trickling in to unload the carts.

But she got there first! Hah! The first to the table always got the best choices.

"Excuse me!" Qian Chao chirped, waving her hand to get the attention of the Foundation-level guy in only slightly fancy armor and a weird helmet there. "Did you get any spirit herbs with this package that can be spared?"

The armored man frowned, lifting up a jade slip and sending his Will into it for a moment. "Name and profession?" He curtly asked, a funny sounding accent in his tone. Qian Chao nodded. "Qian Chao, Apothecary currently associated with the Broken Arrow..." Her lips twist in distaste at that--garnering a look of sympathy from the organizer guy. "Hmm..." He said. "We do have a disbursement for Qi Condensation Healers available. Two Taels of Silver Mending Leaf, One of Azure Peace Grass, and five portions of Minor Yang Fruit."

Qian Chao frowned at that... It wasn't a bad amount--enough to make a good pile of Physical Recovery Elixir if she was careful with the brewing... But that only went so far. The barbarian captain shook his head. "The disbursement is fixed, unfortunately." He apologized. "Given the haste of the expedition and the resources that could be shipped, we can only allocate so much towards those without an extensive record of contributions." He nonetheless reached into the great cart for a moment, and withdrew several sealed packets. "As supplies and records are developed, your ration may be improved."

"Well... How can I develop that?" Qian Chao asked, frowning as she took the packets in hand, squinting through her Layer-Piercing Spectacles to confirm that the quality--at least--was good.

"Notarized delivery of resources to accredited logisticians" He explained. "Work performed under accredited observers can also raise one's merit rating... Normally we would be working with local groups to establish credentials, but with the current chaos of the war, the contribution records of the remaining cultivators are a shambles--so we're attempting to rebuild from scratch."

Qian Chao blinked--that was... Fairly reasonable. "So wait, as long as I do my work under someone you've vetted, I can get a bigger share?"

"That's how it works." He nodded.

"Great! Who's hiring?" Qian Chao tucked her rationed herbs into her bag and put her hands on her hips. "I've got nothing but time on my hands!"

The... He was definitely a Captain, yes--took a moment to think on it. "Centurion Floros could use some assistants I suppose..." He said, sounding a little skeptical. "You would certainly be noticed there so long as your ability is on the level..."

Qian Chao tilted her head. "Is there a problem?"

"Not as such--she's actually a quite talented member of the Clan and one of our most adept healers--she gained much notoriety in the most recent Trials." Qian Chao wondered if that was some kind of tempering thing they had going on. "But she is... Something of an eccentric..."

"Oh no... Does she blow up too many furnaces?" Qian Chao blanched at that--the Captain hesitated. "No... She's not that much of an alchemist for the most part... But... Her style is somewhat unique. Effective, but... Highly unorthodox--it may be a bit much."

"But she's good at her job, right?" Qian Chao asked--to a nod. "Then there's not a problem! I'm used to working with unusual people!" How could she not be? The number of burst Pill Furnaces she'd seen in the desperate attempts to rebuild the Sect's Flower Legacy was incredible. Even if she avoided most of them herself. How hard could working with a weirdo be?

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

"Ohmigosh!" The lady looked almost giddy when Qian Chao was invited in. She was...

Pretty--incredibly so--almost one of those Fairy Maidens that people talk about! She even dressed in a way that was totally trying to provoke boys into doing silly things to get closer to her! That's not how a healer should dress at all!

Of course, the heavy bandages over one of her shoulders and through her waist showed that whatever condition she was in, she'd seen better days. "Does this mean I've got a cute junior of my own? Finally!? Am I rising up in the world now?"

"Ah... Lady Floros?" Qian Chao whispered. "I... Don't understand what you're saying."

The lady paused there, and brought a finger to her lips. "Oh, right, I need to talk like this around these parts?" She mused--a dreamy voice one foot into sleep rung out. "Well, that's okay. I can talk like this too if it comes to it!" She brushes her hair back in a frustratingly beautiful display and grins--sharply pointed canines briefly visible just past her lips, red earrings flickering in the light. "I'm Aliki Floros! Or that's what they called me when they found me when I got started. Age 120 with my First Pillar recently formed!" She put her hands and puffed herself up, her... Mounds bouncing in the gesture. "It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm sure we'll be very busy soon enough!"

That's... So she was only a little bit older than Qian Chao was?

She looked down at herself and blushed. How unfair was that? "I'm... I'm certain I'll do my best!" Qian Chao said in a desperate attempt to regain the initiative. "Just... Tell me what you need!"

Lady Floros nodded to herself. "Great! Now, I'm certain there's a lot to be done--you said you were an apothecary?" Qian Chao made a little noise of agreement. "Great! I'm okay at that but pillcrafting isn't really my thing." She gestures off into the distance. "A lot of stuff I can do isn't really my thing honestly--I've got a good idea of manipulating vital energies, and I can patch someone up so they can get to a better healer in a pinch, but my best tricks rely on my weirdo constitution so anyone who can help me stretch that a good ways can go a long way."

"Umm... Weird constitution?" Qian Chao's cheeks pinked at that--goodness, was she one of those loose ladies who just goes around and does unspeakable things to people that somehow leaves them better off? That was incredibly inappropriate!

"Yeah! My body generates a whole lot of untyped Blood Essence" Lady Floros chirps. "So I can directly transfer vital force from myself to others to stimulate accelerated healing and recoup my losses using other methods. My body's constantly a cauldron that removes and disposes of impurities too, so I can recoup my own losses with pills, beast cores, good spirit beast meat and all that nonsense! So as long as I can keep scarfing down Blood Replenishment Pills, I can help a lot of people get back in action a lot faster than they normally would!"

"That's..." Qian Chao thought it over for a minute. "Isn't that kinda really close to Blood Path? Won't it hurt their future prospects?"

"Nope! We've been poking and prodding my weirdo body forever!" Lady Floros boasts. "The worst side effects people get is a bit of an energy buzz if I try shoving the stuff into someone who's already in good shape. I was actually hoping to poke around and integrating it into certain pills as a binding or stabilizing agent too--so as part of your time working with me I'll be drawing on your skills to experiment!" She hopped up onto a funny looking nearby stool. "Great to meet you Qian Chao! I'm sure we'll have a great time together!"

Qian Chao didn't know what to say about that, the lady's grin just kind of grew wider and wider and she could just see the pearly whites in there ready to eat her up and...

She gulped.

She still needed the proof and the evidence and all of that stuff that she could do her job well. If she were to back down from that now, in the middle of the siege? What was she going to amount to in the end?

Qian Chao did see though now why that Captain seemed so hesitant about his recommendation here. Maybe it would have been safer to work with someone more normal? Even if it took longer, at least it would be predictable.

On the other hand... The lady wasn't really giving off any vibes that she was a bad person either? A scary one, and those bandages were big and a little damp with something that she couldn't see--and that suggested she'd seen frontline action in recent times.

But injuries like that and she was still alive? And not even especially deterred? How many people would just go into Closed Door Cultivation for a while after being injured like that--but she's just chugging along and even came in to a warzone like this?

What kind of person would she be if she showed any less resolve than that.

"I... I'll be in your care then, Lady Floros!" Qian Chao gathered her courage and took the first step into the abyss.

Pyro Hawk · Jul 4, 2021

Alectai said:
But injuries like that and she was still alive? And not even especially deterred? How many people would just go into Closed Door Cultivation for a while after being injured like that--but she's just chugging along and even came in to a warzone like this?

This lady is very unfamiliar with the... quirks of the Golden Devils. Isn't she?

Not that Aliki's a good example of them as she gets a similar durability from a different path. But yeah, I take it that this is the high durability, endurance and regenerative capabilities that characterize the Golden Devils on display?

DawnOfBoom · Jul 4, 2021

Well, this looks like a good time as any to join the thread!

Gonna avoid voting this round as I lack 99.9% of the discussion revolving around which vote benefits what future plan, but I've also got both getting into writing a Good Seed (or writing, period, more like) and catching up with everyone's omakes to keep me nicely busy until the next votes come up!

Likes and actually reading people's stories will take just a bit longer, as I've just used most of this week to catch up with thread proper, so if you see a whole bunch of likes starting to pop up, well… there ya go! (Also, just spent about a couple days giving likes to main story posts cause I was too engrossed to do it when reading. Thus, a Major Mistake has been rectified!)

@ReaderOfFate, please look over here!

Name: Liu Mang

Starting Age: 18

Health: Healthy

Cast out of his poor family at a young age, mostly cause the damn bastard kept popping out sons and daughters his family couldn't possibly feed with their meager farmland in the middle of a bloody war, a young Liu Mang had but a bag filled with breads and a lead chopper with which to defend himself on his journey 'to make something out of his worthless hide.'.

Which lasted all but until he reached the first city, half-starving and forced to sell the blade for a most measly sum, which was then taken from him mere moments later by two drunkards who 'kindly' left him to recover in a pickle barrel.

From there, Liu would be taught for years by the city's lead urchin on how to pilfer pockets and the best spots to do so, how to beg, and how to throw a mean right hook.

None bar the last lesson stuck.

And the more he threw those punches, the better he got at taking and giving hits. The more he fought, first for himself and then for his little group, the more he came to understand one simple rule in this world.

The rules didn't matter to the strong. It was only a matter on wether you had enough in you to bend them.

That would especially prove true when his little group was outright annihilated within minutes by a wandering Jiangshi cultivator, leaving only Liu alive to spread fear to the other gangs in the city.

He just up and left, rather than giving the cultivator the satisfaction.

As his teens came and went, so did this rule stick to him the most, and underwent a most qualitative change during the Golden Devil Trials, after stowing away on a nearby merchant airship towards their lands, a toll of the bells ringing loudly in the distance…
———————————————

Death.

The fortified town was ruined from the crazy dark-skinned bitch chasing after the bronze shortstack, as were most of the people he'd been laughing and smiling with mere hours prior… haaah. That's crazy. Like, he had heard of the difference between Cultivators and, well, basically everybody else, but this was just ridiculous!

Observing the catastrophe that befell the place just made Liu grin all the harder though, even as shivers ran through his body the more he eyed the ruins that were left from the cultivators merely trading blows.

And even most other cultivators standing and looking proud mere moments ago were now part of the paste and blood surrounding the area, so that meant the ones above had to have been a cut above from the rest. The top of the top.

He would join them soon enough.

Groaning as softly as possible, Liu Mang made his way out of the rubble, noting with stupor that the blade he'd went through the trouble of 'borrowing' had broken when a massive chunk of the wall tumbled on top of it.

Must've been a crappy blade. Why, the guy should thank him for pilfe- that is, for 'borrowing' it!

Dusting his shoulders off what was probably the remainder of the wall, Liu yet again swore he'd be one of those grand cultivators, blowing up cities with a twist of the palm and enjoying riches and women throwing themselves at him. What a grand sight it would be.

Rather, what a grand sight that shall come to be!

With a map in one hand, supplies in the other, an axe he's picked off the ground at his side, a guffaw in his throat and a dream in his heart, the teen thus marched out of the city and into the desert heat.

(And if nobody but a single poor passerby heard his screams of anger after Liu figured out he'd been holding the damned map upside down for the better part of a month, well, all the better!)

… … …

It'd taken Liu Mang a lot of taking and swinging hits before he finally managed to cross the threshold for Qi Condensation. Lots of close calls, lots of chasing and running, and lots and lots of digging pits and hoping to the Heavens that he wasn't found. And maybe just a bit of getting lost, not that he would ever admit that. But he was relentless, and succeeded beyond expectation.

Course, most of the swinging was at other weakling fools' throats as well as the weakest beasts, but it still worked out.

And most obviously of all no souping up Human Qi or Blood, that would beat the whole point of making this whole trek to the Golden Devil city of Epikiri-something. Bah, he swore they just made the City names so damn hard to read to make it sound more posh or whatever.

Right on the eve of his arrival, a most fortuitous call came out.

The Flood Dragons were reforming, and all were 'invited'.

Filled with pride and arrogance, Liu Mang strode pompously into the outhouse where the mighty bandit queen, The Dragon Yao Zhihao was holding the first gathering of the second generation of Flood Dragons. Striding over tables. Mayhaps kicking over a bottle of wine or two. He just stomped his way to lady Yao, uncaring of the stink-eye he was getting. Even at 18 Liu was more a man than many that he had just passed by, and as such had no qualms barging into her discussion with all the gentleness of a bull in a fine china shop.

"Make me your second, Dragon Zhihao!"

Even as he was sent flying by a mere flick of the amused woman's fingers, along with a good following of laughter and cheers from the other cultivators he'd passed moments prior, blood pouring out of his orifices and a concussion that wouldn't leave him for weeks, Liu figured he might've deserved it.

Just a little.

He should've waited til she was done talking with her old man, after all!

————————————————

Cool Thing: Indomitable Dao Heart - Driven like an ox, Liu Mang will not stop unless and until he has achieved his goals.

It is best to not stand in his path when he is so motivated.

Cultivation Stage: 1st Heavenstage of Qi Condensation

Current Cultivation Goal: Reach 13th Heavenstage

Dao: TBD

Life-Saving Treasures: None

Impact: 0

Current Maximum Lifespan: ??? years. (500 years is the highest you can extend your lifespan to within Qi Condensation.)

Plot Coupon: None

Current Goal: Awe Yao Zhihao into making him her second-in-command!

Omake List:

To Be Written!

And now, questions for Good Seed Char Making:

1. Writing omakes gives Fate bonuses x turn, but is there a specific bonus x words of y quality that gives a z bonus to Fate, or is it more based around "ya did meh/good, here's a +1/+3 to Fate" from omake to omake (excluding first omake bonus, if picked)?

2. What's the starting Max Lifespan for Best Hoodlum Here?

3. Anything else that would be useful/necessary for the app sheet?

Well, happy to be finally be caught up, hope to make at least some contributions with this bandit of mine, and wish everyone has a Happy Independence Day!

Alectai · Jul 4, 2021

Bungie hasn't been in thread in a long time Dawn of Boom, they're not even in the blurb up top anymore.

fictionfan · Jul 4, 2021

DawnOfBoom said:
catching up with everyone's omakes to keep me nicely busy until the next votes come up!

Do tell us if anyone catches your eye.

Insane-Not-Crazy · Jul 4, 2021

Welcome @DawnOfBoom.

You could separate your first omake and Good Seed background from quest commentary so that the sidestory threadmarks are easier

The discord's open for all as well
1. Fate bonuses are kept secret by occipitallobe. The rule of thumb is the better the quality the greater the boost but quantity does draw notice.
2. 200 years without requesting a lifespan extension as an omake bonus
3. It's ok, some people like a long character sheet like.myself, others go for the bare bones approach. Your background is enough to qualify as the first omake so you could separate the post by creating a new one for updating the background and/or put the background as your first omake for the turn

If I'm reading you right, Liu Mang is a loose cultivator who is aiming to join the Flood Dragons? Does he have the blood of Bronze and is he an auxiliary to the Legions?

The way the quest is setup it's assumed that Good Seeds are part of the Golden Devils directly so you have things like the Missions system and Aid the Clan mechanics

This is just my first thoughts but a way to blend the normal dynamic is to have Liu Mang be a Golden Devil Aspirant who is looking to break into Foundation Establishment where the Flood Dragons usually recruit. So he'd go through induction and receive the blood of Bronze but apply for secondment to auxiliary postings. The open alliance and permission to recruit does allow members of the Clan territories to come under the banner of the Flood Dragons. Don't mind me, but what exactly are your plans for Liu Mang?

DawnOfBoom · Jul 4, 2021

Alectai said:
Bungie hasn't been in thread in a long time Dawn of Boom, they're not even in the blurb up top anymore.

… huh. Oops.

Used the first thread mark (rather than one on top) when quoting, so thanks for the heads up! Edited out.

Sorry for bothering you Bungie!

fictionfan said:
Do tell us if anyone catches your eye.

Prob everyone!

Insane-Not-Crazy said:
Welcome @DawnOfBoom.

You could separate your first omake and Good Seed background from quest commentary so that the sidestory threadmarks are easier

The discord's open for all as well

You got it!

Will join the discord in a moment, doing a couple edits and cleaning that up.

wrecksalot · Jul 4, 2021

DawnOfBoom said:
Well, this looks like a good time as any to join the thread!

Gonna avoid voting this round as I lack 99.9% of the discussion revolving around which vote benefits what future plan, but I've also got both getting into writing a Good Seed (or writing, period, more like) and catching up with everyone's omakes to keep me nicely busy until the next votes come up!

Likes and actually reading people's stories will take just a bit longer, as I've just used most of this week to catch up with thread proper, so if you see a whole bunch of likes starting to pop up, well… there ya go! (Also, just spent about a couple days giving likes to main story posts cause I was too engrossed to do it when reading. Thus, a Major Mistake has been rectified!)

1. Writing omakes gives Fate bonuses x turn, but is there a specific bonus x words of y quality that gives a z bonus to Fate, or is it more based around "ya did meh/good, here's a +1/+3 to Fate" from omake to omake (excluding first omake bonus, if picked)?

2. What's the starting Max Lifespan for Best Hoodlum Here?

3. Anything else that would be useful/necessary for the app sheet?

Well, happy to be finally be caught up, hope to make at least some contributions with this bandit of mine, and wish everyone has a Happy Independence Day!

I personally haven't read all of the good seed omakes, so don't feel obligated to do so if you don't want

Firstly, the fate bonus from omake is multiplicative rather than additive, with even a 2x bonus being a lot of good omake, but the exact formula is unknown

Secondly he starts with a max lifespan of 140, but unless you are supremely unlucky, lifespan shouldn't be a problem before your max lifespan reaches 200

Thirdly, on your first omake of the turn you should notify a collaborator what omake reward you want, LSTs are usually good. You also might want to consider picking a mission for your Good Seed to go on, since Occi says that it helps him write cooler fates.

no. · Jul 4, 2021

DawnOfBoom said:
Well, this looks like a good time as any to join the thread!

Gonna avoid voting this round as I lack 99.9% of the discussion revolving around which vote benefits what future plan, but I've also got both getting into writing a Good Seed (or writing, period, more like) and catching up with everyone's omakes to keep me nicely busy until the next votes come up!

Likes and actually reading people's stories will take just a bit longer, as I've just used most of this week to catch up with thread proper, so if you see a whole bunch of likes starting to pop up, well… there ya go! (Also, just spent about a couple days giving likes to main story posts cause I was too engrossed to do it when reading. Thus, a Major Mistake has been rectified!)

@ReaderOfFate, please look over here!

Name: Liu Mang

Starting Age: 18

Health: Healthy

Cast out of his poor family at a young age, mostly cause the damn bastard kept popping out sons and daughters his family couldn't possibly feed with their meager farmland in the middle of a bloody war, a young Liu Mang had but a bag filled with breads and a lead chopper with which to defend himself on his journey 'to make something out of his worthless hide.'.

Which lasted all but until he reached the first city, half-starving and forced to sell the blade for a most measly sum, which was then taken from him mere moments later by two drunkards who 'kindly' left him to recover in a pickle barrel.

From there, Liu would be taught for years by the city's lead urchin on how to pilfer pockets and the best spots to do so, how to beg, and how to throw a mean right hook.

None bar the last lesson stuck.

And the more he threw those punches, the better he got at taking and giving hits. The more he fought, first for himself and then for his little group, the more he came to understand one simple rule in this world.

The rules didn't matter to the strong. It was only a matter on wether you had enough in you to bend them.

That would especially prove true when his little group was outright annihilated within minutes by a wandering Jiangshi cultivator, leaving only Liu alive to spread fear to the other gangs in the city.

He just up and left, rather than giving the cultivator the satisfaction.

As his teens came and went, so did this rule stick to him the most, and underwent a most qualitative change during the Golden Devil Trials, after stowing away on a nearby merchant airship towards their lands, a toll of the bells ringing loudly in the distance…
———————————————

Death.

The fortified town was ruined from the crazy dark-skinned bitch chasing after the bronze shortstack, as were most of the people he'd been laughing and smiling with mere hours prior… haaah. That's crazy. Like, he had heard of the difference between Cultivators and, well, basically everybody else, but this was just ridiculous!

Observing the catastrophe that befell the place just made Liu grin all the harder though, even as shivers ran through his body the more he eyed the ruins that were left from the cultivators merely trading blows.

And even most other cultivators standing and looking proud mere moments ago were now part of the paste and blood surrounding the area, so that meant the ones above had to have been a cut above from the rest. The top of the top.

He would join them soon enough.

Groaning as softly as possible, Liu Mang made his way out of the rubble, noting with stupor that the blade he'd went through the trouble of 'borrowing' had broken when a massive chunk of the wall tumbled on top of it.

Must've been a crappy blade. Why, the guy should thank him for pilfe- that is, for 'borrowing' it!

Dusting his shoulders off what was probably the remainder of the wall, Liu yet again swore he'd be one of those grand cultivators, blowing up cities with a twist of the palm and enjoying riches and women throwing themselves at him. What a grand sight it would be.

Rather, what a grand sight that shall come to be!

With a map in one hand, supplies in the other, an axe he's picked off the ground at his side, a guffaw in his throat and a dream in his heart, the teen thus marched out of the city and into the desert heat.

(And if nobody but a single poor passerby heard his screams of anger after Liu figured out he'd been holding the damned map upside down for the better part of a month, well, all the better!)

… … …

It'd taken Liu Mang a lot of taking and swinging hits before he finally managed to cross the threshold for Qi Condensation. Lots of close calls, lots of chasing and running, and lots and lots of digging pits and hoping to the Heavens that he wasn't found. And maybe just a bit of getting lost, not that he would ever admit that. But he was relentless, and succeeded beyond expectation.

Course, most of the swinging was at other weakling fools' throats as well as the weakest beasts, but it still worked out.

And most obviously of all no souping up Human Qi or Blood, that would beat the whole point of making this whole trek to the Golden Devil city of Epikiri-something. Bah, he swore they just made the City names so damn hard to read to make it sound more posh or whatever.

Right on the eve of his arrival, a most fortuitous call came out.

The Flood Dragons were reforming, and all were 'invited'.

Filled with pride and arrogance, Liu Mang strode pompously into the outhouse where the mighty bandit queen, The Dragon Yao Zhihao was holding the first gathering of the second generation of Flood Dragons. Striding over tables. Mayhaps kicking over a bottle of wine or two. He just stomped his way to lady Yao, uncaring of the stink-eye he was getting. Even at 18 Liu was more a man than many that he had just passed by, and as such had no qualms barging into her discussion with all the gentleness of a bull in a fine china shop.

"Make me your second, Dragon Zhihao!"

Even as he was sent flying by a mere flick of the amused woman's fingers, along with a good following of laughter and cheers from the other cultivators he'd passed moments prior, blood pouring out of his orifices and a concussion that wouldn't leave him for weeks, Liu figured he might've deserved it.

Just a little.

He should've waited til she was done talking with her old man, after all!

————————————————

Cool Thing: Indomitable Dao Heart - Driven like an ox, Liu Mang will not stop unless and until he has achieved his goals.

It is best to not stand in his path when he is so motivated.

Cultivation Stage: 1st Heavenstage of Qi Condensation

Current Cultivation Goal: Reach 13th Heavenstage

Dao: TBD

Life-Saving Treasures: None

Impact: 0

Current Maximum Lifespan: ??? years. (500 years is the highest you can extend your lifespan to within Qi Condensation.)

Plot Coupon: None

Current Goal: Awe Yao Zhihao into making him her second-in-command!

Omake List:

To Be Written!

And now, questions for Good Seed Char Making:

1. Writing omakes gives Fate bonuses x turn, but is there a specific bonus x words of y quality that gives a z bonus to Fate, or is it more based around "ya did meh/good, here's a +1/+3 to Fate" from omake to omake (excluding first omake bonus, if picked)?

2. What's the starting Max Lifespan for Best Hoodlum Here?

3. Anything else that would be useful/necessary for the app sheet?

Well, happy to be finally be caught up, hope to make at least some contributions with this bandit of mine, and wish everyone has a Happy Independence Day!

1: No, the conversion rate is deliberately kept hidden to prevent too much metagaming, as are most of the rolls themselves. Linear bonuses are almost never given out though, it's multipliers, so that a really garbage roll will always screw you no matter what. Keeps you on your toes.
2: Qi Condensation live up to 200 years, but with lifespan treasures you can raise it to a maximum of 500 years. With each turn being 20 years, that means you die of old age on your tenth turn if you haven't gotten a lifespan treasure or ascended to Foundation Building yet.
3: If it's got the backstory, Cool Thing, age(starts between 13 and 19), impact(starts at 0), cultivation years(starts at 21) and cultivation stage(starts at First Heavenstage) then you're good to go.

DawnOfBoom · Jul 4, 2021

Name: Liu Mang

Starting Age: 18

Health: Healthy

Biography:
Cast out of his poor family at a young age, mostly cause the damn bastard kept popping out sons and daughters his family couldn't possibly feed with their meager farmland in the middle of a bloody war, a young Liu Mang had but a bag filled with breads and a lead chopper with which to defend himself on his journey 'to make something out of his worthless hide.'

Which lasted all but until he reached the first city, half-starving and forced to sell the blade for a most measly sum, which was then taken from him mere moments later by two drunkards who 'kindly' left him to recover in a pickle barrel.

From there, Liu would be taught for years by the city's lead urchin on how to pilfer pockets and the best spots to do so, how to beg, and how to throw a mean right hook.

None bar the last lesson stuck.

And the more he threw those punches, the better he got at taking and giving hits. The more he fought, first for himself and then for his little group, the more he came to understand one simple rule in this world.

The rules didn't matter to the strong. It was only a matter on wether you had enough in you to bend them.

That would especially prove true when his little group was outright annihilated within minutes by a wandering Jingshen cultivator, leaving only Liu alive to spread fear to the other gangs in the city.

He just up and left, rather than giving the cultivator the satisfaction.

As his teens came and went, so did this rule stick to him the most, and underwent a most qualitative change during the Golden Devil Trials, after stowing away on a nearby merchant airship towards their lands, a toll of the bells ringing loudly in the distance…
————————————————

Cool Thing: Indomitable Dao Heart - Driven like an ox, Liu Mang will not stop unless and until he has achieved his goals.

It is best to not stand in his path when he is so motivated.

Cultivation Stage: 9th Heavenstage of Qi Condensation

Current Cultivation Goal: Reach 12th Heavenstage

Dao: TBD

Life-Saving Treasures: +2 (Turn 11, Turn 12)

Impact: +11

- +6 Body
- +3 Axe #1
- +2 Axe #2

Cultivation Years: 21

Current Maximum Lifespan: 200 years. (500 years is the highest you can extend your lifespan to within Qi Condensation.)

Plot Coupon: None

Current Goal: Awe Yao Zhihao into making him her second-in-command!

Omake List:

The Bandit, Liu Mang, Makes His Entrance! (WC: 2.1k) (Turn 11 First Omake Bonus: LST)

The Bandit, Liu Mang, Joins the Golden Devils! (WC: 2.1k) (Turn 11)

Heraclius: A Life Well Lived (WC: 6.5k)

The Golden Bandit, Liu Mang, Goes On a Mission! (WC: 2k) (Turn 11)

The Twin Axe Golden Demon, Liu Mang, and The Deal With A Dragon! (WC: 2.4K) (Turn 12)

Fate Events:

The Joy of Banditry!

DawnOfBoom · Jul 4, 2021

Insane-Not-Crazy said:
If I'm reading you right, Liu Mang is a loose cultivator who is aiming to join the Flood Dragons? Does he have the blood of Bronze and is he an auxiliary to the Legions?

He wouldn't have known, at first, what the entry requirement were, just that he wanted to join them.

I could see him offered the Blood for having the balls to just shout at Yao Zhihao to make him her second, and then have everything roughly explained how it works and join the Golden Devils.

Insane-Not-Crazy said:
The way the quest is setup it's assumed that Good Seeds are part of the Golden Devils directly so you have things like the Missions system and Aid the Clan mechanics

Yeah, but it made sense for me (at the time) to have him enter the GDs rather than start in them, is that still alright?

Insane-Not-Crazy said:
This is just my first thoughts but a way to blend the normal dynamic is to have Liu Mang be a Golden Devil Aspirant who is looking to break into Foundation Establishment where the Flood Dragons usually recruit. So he'd go through induction and receive the blood of Bronze but apply for secondment to auxiliary postings. The open alliance and permission to recruit does allow members of the Clan territories to come under the banner of the Flood Dragons. Don't mind me, but what exactly are your plans for Liu Mang?

Pretty much what you suggested for the early parts.

As turns go on he would get a rougher and tougher edge to himself, but will totally hide a soft spot for those that do their best. Arrogant until proven otherwise, the entry to the Clan will act as quite a shock to his system, while also pumping him up to reach the higher realms. Might need a reality check or two as he gets stronger to not have the power go to his head, but that's to be expected.

A bit of a bleedheart, rough-on-the-edges kind of guy that just barrels on through all challenges. Might give new people a hard time, at the start, but earn his trust and he'll stand by you when the bells toll once more.

Insane-Not-Crazy · Jul 4, 2021

DawnOfBoom said:
He wouldn't have known, at first, what the entry requirement were, just that he wanted to join them.

I could see him offered the Blood for having the balls to just shout at Yao Zhihao to make him her second, and then have everything roughly explained how it works and join the Golden Devils.

Yeah, but it made sense for me (at the time) to have him enter the GDs rather than start in them, is that still alright?

Pretty much what you suggested for the early parts.

As turns go on he would get a rougher and tougher edge to himself, but will totally hide a soft spot for those that do their best. Arrogant until proven otherwise, the entry to the Clan will act as quite a shock to his system, while also pumping him up to reach the higher realms. Might need a reality check or two as he gets stronger to not have the power go to his head, but that's to be expected.

A bit of a bleedheart, rough-on-the-edges kind of guy that just barrels on through all challenges. Might give new people a hard time, at the start, but earn his trust and he'll stand by you when the bells toll once more.

If Lady Yao is his first Plot Encounter, then maybe have her be amused and interested at his boldness. She'd advise him to gain the strength needed to be a good Righteous Bandit for the Dragons which is Foundation Establishment. The Dragons don't do much raising up themselves from Qi Condensation so she'd put in a word for him to Manuel as a half joke and that would get him an entrance to the clan. Alternatively since you mentioned that he could hear the trial bells Liu Mang might just have Optimatoi heritage enough to qualify on his own and us simply aiming to get to foundation Establishment to join the Dragons

no. · Jul 4, 2021

Gaius Antonius Omake #60: Disco Cultivation, Part 1: My Invincible Gamer System Can't Possibly Be This Useless!

In a small, musty stone room, two men played a game of cards, a rickety old wooden table between them. One was large and stone-faced, with an intimidating air about him that made most people fall in line. The other looked less impressive, being small and weedy, with limp hair that hung like strands of seaweed.

These two men were bandits, belonging to the Blue Wolf Gang. A group of small-timers, they had recently discovered a broken and abandoned Devil fortress and taken up residence inside. By using this place as their operating base, they had been able to bring in far more funds, and had been growing in recent years.

"How exactly is it that you always beat me?" The first man asked, scowling. "This is supposed to be a game of chance; are you cheating?"

"It ain't cheating, buddy. Even if you need luck, there's skill in it too." The seaweed-head explained with a smug smile. "The strategy lies in the margins, in how you maneuver around the luck."

The bigger man put his cards face-down, genuinely curious now. "What does it mean to maneuver around luck? Isn't luck just something you have or don't?"

"Not quite, my friend." The smaller man chuckled. "If you know when your luck will be tested, then you can prepare for it. You can take actions which will improve your chances, or search for a way to get what you want without any luck. If you're very careful, sometimes you can set things up so that if you fail in one way, you can try in another."

"Sounds really complicated." The big guy grumbled, crossing a pair of beefy, vascular arms. "Maybe it does pay off though. So, if I were to play this card like so..."

This conversation went nowhere, as an extremely dead bandit came crashing through the door, rendering it little more than splinters which haphazardly flew across the room. All of the men present drew or picked up some sort of weapon as, to their horror, a ten-man Contubernium of Golden Devil soldiers.

Their well-maintained lamellar and gold-on-black heraldry made them stand out fiercely against the drab stone floor and walls of the hideout, matching the explosiveness of their entrance. At the head of the squad stood a particularly tall Devil in modified armor and a wide-brimmed black hat, clearly the Dekarkes. This man in particular was untouchable, leading from the front and near-instantly ending the life of any enemy who came within range of his swords with gorgeous and precise technique.

With unflappable efficiency, the Devils slaughtered their way through the den, going from room to room in a methodical fashion and striking down every enemy in their path. One weasel-faced bandit unsheathed a pair of sabers and flung himself at the Dekarkes, only to find himself hopelessly stymied by a sizable disc of solid light conjured from that man's hand. Charging with speed uncharacteristic of the Bronze-Blooded, the Dekarkes ran the bandit through as he went and kept moving to dispatch two people behind him.

In a few minutes it was over. The maimed and terrified survivors of the gang were quickly clasped in irons and led out of the hideout.

----

Gaius oversaw his squad with a moderate amount of attention as they hauled away the survivors. From how well they had worked together, you would think that Gaius worked with these people all the time. This was only partially true; those particular Legionnaires were from the 119th, a Legion he often took missions with due to large area in which they roamed and operated. So while he knew most of their names, they weren't exactly close comrades. Still, teamwork was a nice change of pace.

As the job was finished up, Gaius turned his thoughts to the current events. This raid had been easy; a little too easy. He couldn't help but feel suspicious at how effortlessly everything had fallen into place. He could have dispatched all of those bandits by himself without bringing a squad along, so why had this task been priced so high and listed as a squad mission?

Oh well, Gaius shrugged. Sometimes a mission is just poorly labeled. Better to over-prepare than under-prepare, he supposed. All that was left was to find the package, and he could return home to a bounty of points that he probably didn't deserve.

Still… it was better to be safe. Gaius broke away from the squad, travelling through more rooms, up and down stairs, even into the collapsed ones. Something about this place was off, he could feel it.

Then he discovered it: in an out of the way storage room, there was a glint of metal beneath a shelf. Picking the shelf up and moving it, Gaius discovered the frame of a secret trapdoor in the floor. Pushing it open and climbing in, he found himself in what seemed to be a second, equally-ordinary storage room.

"Now, what's a funny little place like this doing so hidden? The Blue Wolves aren't competent enough to build something like this…" Gaius mused, summoning a little ball of yellow light to illuminate his surroundings.

"Come on, come on, please don't do this to me…" Came a soft voice from the far corner of the room, interspersed with choking sobs. "I can't go on, don't hide from me anymore!"

Gaius quietly stalked between the shelves until he was just a few feet from the source of the sound, finding a man in the same furs that the other Blue Wolves wore, frantically rifling through containers. This man seemingly didn't even notice he was there yet.

"Turn around slowly to face me. You're under arrest." Gaius called out, and the bandit made a sound like a startled dog.

The mysterious bandit, a thin, strung out looking man with grey hair wearing a straw hat, whirled around, shaking. He looked up at Gaius, and Gaius realized the man wasn't shaking in fear or rage, judging by his expression. Perhaps he had some kind of condition? Not that that mattered.

"Put your hands behind your head, walk toward me, then turn around." Gaius commanded, brandishing his sword. "No need to throw your life away, right?"

"I-I-I can't…" The bandit trembled, some kind of strange technique swirling to life in his body. Gaius didn't recognize this pattern of qi movement at all. "If you take me in, I won't get any more Platinum Root. I'll die, I'll die if I can't have any more!" The man's expression grew ever more desperate, something like resolve pushing through his apprehension.

So that was the situation; the bandits needed this man for something, so they had used addiction to enslave him. A tragic fate, but Gaius still had a job to do. "I know some pill refiners. I'm not sure what Platinum is, but I can try to get something made that can treat you. You're sick, you have to-"

"Shut up, shut up! Leave me alone!" The man screamed, throwing his straw hat like a disc, and Gaius instinctually took a step back, cleanly slashing it in two. What? That was just an ordinary hat, not a treasure or a technique, why would he-

Taking advantage of that second of distraction, the bandit's aura flared up as he released his true technique. A blue light was released from his eyes, carrying wisps of hostile psychic energy. The light washed over Gaius in that moment, and his sight fractured into dozens of pieces, thoughts and sensations swirling into nonsense information. It was agonizing, an entire mind beating itself to pulp with nothing but its own faculties.

Instinctually, Gaius shut off everything. Or rather, everything except touch. Light, sound, smell, all of it vanished; even sapient thought left his mind, abandoning his body to fight purely on instinct. And follow instinct it did, feeling a shift in the air current and slashing up and to the right. From the places where he felt resistance... there! Two steps forward and a lunge!

The first thing to return was thought, which Gaius had set to automatically come back online after ten seconds. Next was smell. Yup, that was definitely the scent of a freshly-dead guy. Sound, Sight and everything else blinked back on, and Gaius found himself in the same antechamber as before, the curse artist lying dead before him. Poor guy.

Gaius exhaled a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. That had been far, far, far too close. He could only hope that the half-finished technique had dissipated with the death of its caster. Now all that remained was to clean out this chamber.

The Seeker turned to the open door, from which poured the only source of light. The Legionnaires were rendered in stark black silhouettes as they entered, and Gaius walked forward to explain what had happened.

Suddenly, the ground rushed up to meet him.

----

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN: "Be honest with me, love: you haven't felt this comfortable in years, have you? Decades, even. That colossal load has finally fallen off your shoulders, at least for a little while."

>"Where am I?"

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN: "You wanted to comprehend something you called Super-Sleep, did you? Well here we are, boss. I don't think you'll ever be more asleep than this. Keep your eyes closed and enjoy the abyss a while longer, baby."

>"You're right - this is fantastic. More tranquil than anything I've ever seen."

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN: "That's the spirit! We can sink even deeper if you'd like, Mr. Seeker. Your first five senses are completely non-functional, but your sixth is still guttering a bit. Smother it with a pillow and take a trip to Coma Country for a while."

>"That is tempting... wait, what was that you called me?"

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN: "Bossman?

>"No, after that. Seeker... oh fuck! I can't let go, I can't let it leave me!"

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN: "And we were just getting to know each other too...

Gaius awoke to the sounds of several Legionnaires debating how they ought to resuscitate him, whilst other attempted to call out to him, and yet another ineffectually waved some smelling salts under his nose. All at once, The Seeker sat straight up, then got to his feet with ease and grace.

"Are you alright, Sir?" One man asked nervously.

"Just fine." Gaius said dismissively, cracking his neck. How embarrassing, to get knocked out in front of his Juniors!

"He was holding this in his pocket, sir." A young, slightly nervous-looking Legionnaire handed Gaius a little box made of some kind of dark metal. He took it and found himself shocked by its weight; this thing weighed fifty pounds! Obviously some sort of enchantment was involved. Not only that, but something inside was giving off a seriously potent aura, albeit one so garbled that he couldn't get a read on what it was.

Pocketing the box, The Seeker turned on his heel to leave, only to realize that-

PERCEPTION, TRIVIAL(Succeeded): Oh dear. You realize now that, due to your recent little neurological oopsie, you seem to have pissed yourself.

"Who said that?" Gaius whirled around, glaring. He was not a strict officer, but he did have limits on what he would take while in the field.

"No one said anything just now, Sir." A Legionnaire asked nervously. "Are you sure you're alright?"

COMPOSURE, CHALLENGING(Succeeded): You manage to not let the disgust at having pissed yourself show on your face. Because you have. Pissed yourself, that is.

"I know that one of you is doing that. Little telepathy trick, right? Thought you'd play a prank on a CO?" Gaius looked at each soldier suspiciously, one at a time. "Well it's not funny. Maybe if someone hadn't attacked my brain today I'd laugh with you, but I need you to knock it off."

>AUTHORITY: Yeah baby, that's it! That's the good stuff, nothing like a little domination to get the blood flowing! Fuck the Single Pillar, you should ascend now. Then you'll get to boss around a hundred little tin soldiers.

Gaius' eyelid twitched; that was a step too far. He would speak with Centurion Cassius and ensure all of these Legionnaires got the most degrading jobs on offer for the next few months.

"Forget it. Mission's over, let's report back to the 119th."

----

VOLITION: I'm sorry to report that things are not, in fact, getting better. Truthfully, they're getting worse.

>Evaluate your mental state.

Pacing around the outer wall of the Dawn Fortress like the mangy, feral desert fox you feel like, you attempt once more to take stock of your faculties. Try as you like, you can no longer think of yourself in any manner besides the second person. Your motor functions do appear to be working relatively well, but they do not feel like your movements anymore.

HAND-EYE COORDINATION: They belong to me.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: And me.

REACTION TIME: And sometimes me.

ENDURANCE: I don't own them, but I do keep them running when things get bad. You're welcome, Senior.

HALF-LIGHT: D-don't forget about me, Senior...

VOLITION: Best to keep that last one in very wary regard. He seems timid, but he is extremely repressed.

>"Wow, it's worse than I thought. How many of you bastards are there?"

ENCYCLOPEDIA: At the moment, there are twenty nine of us including you, Senior. It's you, the Ancient Reptilian Brain, the Limbic System, the Spinal Cord and twenty-four Skills. Pull up your menu if you need a reminder.

PERCEPTION, TRIVIAL(Success): In the lower-right corner of your vision is a little grey box.

>Focus on the box

The box becomes a window, filling almost your entire vision. Arrayed before you are all of your Skills, descriptions of those skills and your Thought Cabinet.

LOGIC, TRIVIAL(Success): Based on the name, this 'Thought Cabinet' seems to contain your, well, thoughts. More specifically, the ideals which define you as a person and influence how you function.

VOLITION: Perhaps we ought to do some pruning in there, Senior. It looks a tad… messy. Five slots alone are just 'The Seeker'. Do you really need the same idea to take up four slots?

>Absolutely not, we are not touching those. They are precious to me.

VOLITION: As you command, Senior.

SHIVERS: In another place, in another time, a gamma ray burst scours the surface of a planet. Thankfully, this world populated only by microorganisms. The radiation boils the ocean like soup, flinging complex carbon chains and protoplasmic chemicals into the atmosphere as gas. The qi of a star is a mighty thing indeed; from that burst, it saturates the world, accelerating the development of spiritual matter. With this prelude, new life is born.

>Visit a physician. Best to have a deep scan done by a professional.

You depart toward Emporikipolis, cloak billowing in the wind and hat tilted slightly to keep the glare of the sun out of your eyes. It is a trip you have done many times.

SHIVERS: The desert air carries stories. Love and loss, pain and gain. All of it tinged with the pathetic despair of inevitable decline. Like a pocket with a hole in it, all glory and life will continue to leave this place.

CONCEPTUALIZATION: The Organ Meat Desert is a hostel bed. The Optimatoi are like an old man who has lied down to die with dignity.

>Think about something less gloomy.

LOGIC: What about that box? The order was to destroy the Blue Wolf Gang and return their stolen goods. You can't return that until you know what it is and who it belongs to.

>Retrieve the box and look inside.

As you continue the walk to Emporikipolis, you reach into one of your many pockets, cloth and leather producing a pleasing sound as they slide together, and retrieve the small cube of dark metal. You spin it on your finger as you examine the seemingly seamless metal. It cannot be a solid cube of material; something rattles slightly when you shake it by your ear.

>Look inside.

It is as if you hit a brick wall. Something about this box is potent enough to stop even your senses.

>(PERCEPTION, HEROIC) Push your senses harder, force them in there.

CHECK FAILED

For all your attempts to peer inside, you remain completely ignorant. Some kind of array script must be carved into the inside, causing mental interference. Clever - Even if you could see through solid metal, you wouldn't know what's inside.

>(INTERFACE, LEGENDARY) Try to pick the lock.

CHECK FAILED

INTERFACE: Try as you might, you cannot unravel the mysteries of this little box's mechanism. Your tool makes it perhaps one half of the way in, and is stymied at every turn. You will not succeed right now; you are thoroughly flummoxed by this lock's design.

HALF-LIGHT: This is bullshit. This whole day has been terrible and you shouldn't take any more lying down. Show this box who's boss, rip it to pieces!

LOGIC: Hold on now. There are several more methods which can still be tries...

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: Ignore the nerd; you should pull it apart anyway. It has been too long since you maxxed out on the bench press. Your muscles ache for engagement.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Agreed. You're out of cigarettes, if you can't get nicotine, the dopamine from intense exercise will have to do.

>(PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT, CHALLENGING) Rip open the box.

CHECK SUCCEEDED

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: You nod in affirmation. You should just rip it open, it will assuage your ego a bit. Drawing a knife and focusing a truly wasteful amount of qi into the blade, you stab down into the box's surface. When that fails, you place it down on top of a rock and stab with both hands. After several attempts, a small crack opens. You wiggle the knife to wrench it wider, but stop when the black begins to ominously creak.

>Fuck it. Finish the job with your bare hands.

With a groan of heavy exertion and an adamant grip, you slip your fingers into the crack and pull to either side with all of your substantial strength. The corded bronze muscles of your back warp and compress as you exert further force, more and more qi flooding your abnormally enhanced body. The steel box creaks and groans, then begins to distort further. Though likely designed to resist the strength of all below the Foundation stage,, it ultimately falls before the superior physicality of a Bronze-Blooded Body Cultivator in the Eleventh Heavenstage. The hinges finally explode as the lid breaks off entirely, revealing the contents.

ENDURANCE: Damn, that felt fucking good.

It's a piece of spiritually-treated jade, carved into a complex, three-dimensional geometric pattern. Numbers are carved into each flat face; this is a twenty-sided die, used in games of chance.

PERCEPTION, MEDIUM(Succeeded): There is qi all around the jade, but also embedded deeply inside; this object is not just outwardly enchanted, but a charm crafted to fulfil a specific purpose.

ENCYCLOPEDIA, MEDIUM(Succeeded): The sensation of the qi is sharp and unforgiving. It ebbs and flows as it pleases, like an egg yolk on your tongue. This is a luck charm.

SAVOIR FAIRE: Wait a minute! Luck is valuable, should you really be returning this to the rightful owner? You should negotiate a price. ...or, perhaps, replace it with a counterfeit.

>Shelve the thought for later.

SAVOIR FAIRE: I'm telling you man, this is a steal!

As you have no idea who this belongs to, you pocket the charm and continue on your trip. Perhaps you could ask Cassius about it later.

----

You knock four times on a sturdy oak door. Before you stands a sturdy clinic made from top-quality bricks and mortar. The sort of place that manifests beauty through sheer function.

CONCEPTUALIZATION: With the sloped roof, The building takes on the appearance of a blunt and rounded profile. It looks like one of those little hammers doctors use to test motor reflexes.

Doctor Octavia Maia is not the foremost physician of the entire Golden Devil Clan. That would be Elder Tiberius, who was once the second best before Elder Marcia died one century ago. Of course, someone that important would never look in your direction; she's too busy with fellow Elders, as well as the upper echelons of the Centurions.

ENCYCLOPEDIA: It would be wise to construct five pillars if you wish to be personally treated by Elder Tiberius. Or whatever the Single Pillar equivalent is.

SAVOIR FAIRE: That is, of course, if you even survive the required tribulation. Why are you not aiming for the Twelfth, again? Forget your ego, Kings are suckers.

AUTHORITY: You ought to carve out whatever part of your disgusting brain dared to say that. How can you be a King if you let yourself think such pathetic thoughts!?

VOLITION: Let's get back on track before things get violent. Senior, please don't take their remarks personally. They want to help you; we all do.

Octavia Maia: "Who is it?" A small old woman asks as she opens the door. Oh, she doesn't outwardly look that old. To the eyes of a mortal, this would seem like a healthy sixty-year-old woman. But this is the body of a Cultivator, a true immortal; it almost feels wrong to see a Foundation Expert look this withered.

DRAMA: Why doesn't she hide it, sire? I don't understand at all, as a medical specialist, she could look like the prime of her life if she wanted!

ENDURANCE: A flouncing cut-sleeve like you would never get it. This woman is proud of the lifetime of hard work she has lived. She wears the centuries on her face as a declaration that nothing has killed her yet.

CONCEPTUALIZATION: What is the difference between a wrinkle and a scar? Ultimately, they represent the same thing: the world is trying to kill you, but you're still here.

>Bow and ask "Are you Octavia Maia? I need urgent medical attention, Senior."

The doctor raises a dark green eyebrow. "You're still in Qi Condensation. Are you sure you can afford my services?"

EMPATHY: There was a moment of hesitation there; she doesn't want to be cold. The old woman can sense the desperation in your voice.

SUGGESTION: You can probably get her to lower her rate. You don't even need to play it up, this really is a neurological disaster. Let your panic and despair flow freely!

HALF-LIGHT: NO! DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM! THE MOMENT YOU EXPOSE YOURSELF, YOU WILL BE DESTROYED!

COMPOSURE: I agree, though not as... passionately. You've still got your pride, don't you? Keep it together.

>"Yes, I'm good for the rate. I have serious brain damage, I can't settle for anything less."

Octavia Maia: "Alright, come in now then." Octavia commands. All at once, her demeanor shifts. No longer distant and businesslike, the doctor has become a Legate. She will conquer this malady by any means necessary, with ruthless efficiency.

Before you can react, the doctor has led you into her clinic, a utilitarian room with sturdy wooden floors and walls made of high-quality plaster. The worst thing you can say about this place is that it's drab; perhaps not the most comforting decor for an already ailing patient. You are laid down on a firm cot as she wheels out a veritable toolbox of implements. You don't even know what most of those do, but they look scary.

Octavia Maia: "What ails you, and what do you suspect to be the cause?"

>"I was struck by a psychic technique that I could not identify. Ever since then, my mind has become fractured."

Octavia Maia: "Fractured?" The woman asks skeptically. "Explain further. Many people think they have multiple personalities, when really they're just suffering from extreme mood swings or memory loss."

>"I wouldn't call them personalities. They're all parts of me. Different emotions and functions, talking over each other instead of working together."

COMPOSURE: When you say it like that, you really do sound like a loon. You should try to be more cool. Don't be unhinged, be tortured and brooding.

LOGIC: Although you are, by any reasonable definition, extremely unhinged right now.

COMPOSURE: So nothing's changed, then? Conceal, don't feel.

Octavia Maia: "And what kinds of things are they saying to you?" The doctor continues, unabated.

>"They call themselves my Skill System. Different parts of my brain take the form of different Skills with their own values. There's a little box in the corner of my eye listing them all; I can make it big and read it whenever I want."

Octavia Maia: "What? Y-you… Skill System? Numbers and images in the corner of your eye? Are you absolutely sure!?"

EMPATHY, TRIVIAL(succeeded): Octavia has gone about as pale as a Devil can get, and her pupils are dilated. This woman is in shock, and making a poor attempt to hide it. Something about the term 'Skill System' has fiercely set her off.

AUTHORITY: The sight of a Fountation Building Expert quaking with fear at your words is darkly satisfying.

>"What's with that face? You look like you've seen a dragon."

Octavia Maia: "I practically have, sir. Have you truly never heard of the legendary System Users?"

SHIVERS: Somewhere, several infinities away, a man's hands press down on little square buttons. With a clack clack clack, an imaginary warrior slays an imaginary demon, and his miserable life is momentarily brightened.

>"I have absolutely no recollection of the term."

Octavia Maia: A bead of sweat drips down the old woman's face, and she brushes a lock of hair behind her head to buy time to collect herself. "It is said that every thousand years or so, a person comes around who sees the world itself as a game. They use an unorthodox cultivation method known as a Game System, sometimes called a UI or Literal RPG, to mathematically break down all parts of themselves and their surroundings."

>"That does seem to fit my whole..." gesture at head "Situation right now. But I don't exactly feel powerful."

Octavia Maia: She gestures grandly, as if to indicate the towering implication of this method. "With this greater understanding of the world and themselves, they improve extremely quickly through a mysterious cultivation technique known as Level Grinding. In almost every case, a System User grows to become an extremely dangerous and powerful being and influences history in a major way. You should be grateful to have received this gift."

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: Just think of the power you could gain. You must master this "Literal RPG".

LOGIC, MEDIUM(succeeded): That doesn't sound like us, though. The only thing that's been quantified here is aspects of your own mind.

>"That does sort of fit, but I don't feel any more capable. In fact, seeing the world this way has made everything more difficult. I'd rather have a brain that works together instead of bickering."

Octavia Maia: She looks at you, head slightly askew, as if you just asked her to remove a healthy limb. "You don't seem to comprehend the potential that a UI has. Surely it must be assisting you in some capacity?"

DRAMA: Of course we assist you, Sire. All those feelings you refuse to acknowledge are floating to the surface. It's much healthier to work through them, isn't it?

COMPOSURE: It absolutely is not. Death would be preferable. I would gladly accept annihilation if it means the repression can continue.

PAIN TOLERANCE: Death, huh? A painful demise doesn't sound so bad. I think this guy has a point. You should go find something strong enough to kill you!

VOLITION: YOU'RE NOT HEARING ANY OF THAT! THEY NEVER SAID ANYTHING! ABORT THOUGHT, ABORT THOUGHT!

>"No, they're a bunch of useless assholes. Everything takes several times longer and they make me feel sad. They don't help me fight or cultivate at all, as far as I can tell."

Octavia Maia: "If you are really such a fool that you would deny this gift, then there might be a way: the Scepter of Multiplayer." Her face creases in disappointment at the very idea someone would give up such a 'blessing'. "A relic left behind by a previous System User three thousand years ago, before she left the Third Sea. Supposedly she used it to grant allies a lesser version of her own System, but it can presumably do the opposite and take it away."

HALF-LIGHT: That sounds perfect. Sweet abyss, here I come!

>"And where would I find this treasure?"

Octavia Maia: "No idea. Supposedly it's about a million miles to the east, locked away so tight that you'd need to be a Nascent Soul to get past the security measures." She looks at you meaningfully. "Like I said, System Users are very powerful."

LOGIC, TRIVIAL(Success): Meaning, you can't get to it.

EMPATHY, MEDIUM(Success): She's holding something back from you. She never actually said that was the only way.

>"Are you sure there's no other way to return my brain to normal?"

Octavia Maia: After several seconds, the old woman lets out a sigh. "Fine. You might also be able to reverse the effect through an interaction with the thing that caused it. I'm assuming the artist who hit you was in Qi Condensation? No one of that stage could create a System User on their own, intentionally or otherwise."

>"He was in Qi Condensation, yes."

ENDURANCE: And a weakling too. What Immortal loses their mind from a chemical imbalance?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Hey, don't knock it 'till you try it.

Octavia Maia: The old doctor lets out a mighty harrumph. "Then all I can do at this juncture is perform a deep brain scan and concoct some pills to slow down the degeneration to a crawl. I'm no professional curse-breaker; the rest is up to you."

ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Pills? Now you're speaking my language. Swallowing strange new substances, that's what makes life worth living!

Octavia Maia: As you lie back on the cot, the faint smell of ozone hits you. Octavia rubs her hands together, producing a small but tightly-focused electric charge. "I'll need to knock you out to scan your brain thoroughly. You'll wake up in a few hours." She says, before poking you in the forehead, driving a needle of electricity through your brain. As easily as turning off a lantern, it all goes dark.

----

This whole parody started when I thought to myself "What if a person in Xianxia-land got a LitRPG system that hindered them rather than making them super strong? That would be funny." So I decided to do something with my then-recent Disco Elysium addiction and write this.

It really is a deeply fascinating way of writing a character, separating their brain like this. And Gaius is enough of a walking pile of complexes that this works for him as well as it does DE's protagonist.

The Skills are deeply unpleasant at times because many of them voice the unpleasant subconscious thoughts that run through a person's head all the time. It was fun in a way to tackle such ugly feelings.

DawnOfBoom · Jul 4, 2021

The Bandit, Liu Mang, Makes His Entrance!

Death.

The fortified town was ruined from the crazy dark-skinned bitch chasing after the bronze shortstack, as were most of the people he'd been laughing and smiling with mere hours prior… haaah. That's crazy. Like, he had heard of the difference between Cultivators and, well, basically everybody else, but this was just ridiculous!

Observing the catastrophe that befell the place just made Liu grin all the harder though, even as shivers ran through his body the more he eyed the ruins that were left from the cultivators merely trading blows.

And even most other cultivators standing and looking proud mere moments ago were now part of the paste and blood surrounding the area, so that meant the ones above had to have been a cut above from the rest. The top of the top.

He would join them soon enough.

Groaning as softly as possible, Liu Mang made his way out of the rubble, noting with stupor that the blade he'd went through the trouble of 'borrowing' had broken when a massive chunk of the wall tumbled on top of it.

Must've been a crappy blade. Why, the guy should thank him for pilfe- that is, for 'borrowing' it!

Dusting his shoulders off what was probably the remainder of the wall, Liu yet again swore he'd be one of those grand cultivators, blowing up cities with a twist of the palm and enjoying riches and women throwing themselves at him. What a grand sight it would be.

Rather, what a grand sight that shall come to be!

With a map in one hand, supplies in the other, an axe he's picked off the ground at his side, a guffaw in his throat and a dream in his heart, the teen thus marched out of the city and into the desert heat.

(And if nobody but a single poor passerby heard his screams of anger after Liu figured out he'd been holding the damned map upside down for the better part of a month, well, all the better!)

… … …

It'd taken Liu Mang a lot of taking and swinging hits before he finally managed to cross the threshold for Qi Condensation. Lots of close calls, lots of chasing and running, and lots and lots of digging pits and hoping to the Heavens that he wasn't found. And maybe just a bit of getting lost, not that he would ever admit that. But he was relentless, and succeeded beyond expectation.

Course, most of the swinging was at other weakling fools' throats as well as the weakest beasts, but it still worked out.

Somehow.

The best he got from a wandering stranger was to absorb the Qi in the air (non-existent), to absorb Qi from Spirit Stones (which he had none of, nor knew what they looked like), or lastly, absorb the Qi that lay in the cores of beasts.

And most obviously of all no souping up Human Qi or Blood, that would beat the whole point of making this whole trek to the Golden Devil city of Epikiri-something. Bah, he swore they just made the City names so damn hard to read to make it sound more posh or whatever.

Right on the eve of his arrival, a most fortuitous call came out.

The Flood Dragons were reforming, and all were 'invited'.

Filled with pride and arrogance, Liu Mang strode pompously into the outhouse where the mighty bandit queen, Yao Zhihao was holding the first gathering of the second generation of Flood Dragons. Striding over tables. Mayhaps kicking over a bottle of wine or two. He just stomped his way to lady Yao, uncaring of the stink-eye he was getting. Even at 18 Liu was more a man than many that he had just passed by, and as such had no qualms barging into her discussion with all the gentleness of a bull in a fine china shop.

"Make me your second, Dragon Zhihao!"

Even as he was sent flying by a mere flick of the amused woman's fingers, along with a good following of laughter and cheers from the other cultivators he'd passed moments prior, blood pouring out of his orifices and a concussion that wouldn't leave him for weeks, Liu figured he might've deserved it.

Just a little.

He should've waited til she was done talking with her old man, after all!

… … …

It was a couple hours later that Liu came to his senses once more.

His head throbbed, his body hurt, and he was pretty sure tasting purple was not normal.

But none of it mattered, as Liu stared at Yao Zhihao standing at his side while another person was pushing something… comforting, into him. It was a weird feeling, but not one he minded much. They were in a small cottage, barely two-three rooms with windows overlooking the forest, and a straw bed that reminded Liu of home. He could barely still hear the laughter and yelling from the new Flood Dragons.

"So, barely out of your ma's and pa's nest, and ya thought that you had what it needs to be one of my men, eh, boy?"

Liu tried to force himself up, but it wasn't even a moment's effort for the medic at his side to bind him with the same energy that he was healing him with. Liu gave him a stink eye in return, before addressing the Nascent Soul.

"But of course, Dragon Zhihao!"

She snorted at the young man's proclamation.

"Didn't even think twice at what you've almost gone and done, do you boy?"

"What's the big deal?" He questioned warily.

"Listen here: I've got no clue which fool just let you barge in weak as a wet noodle, but everybody that you stormed past was at least a hundred times stronger than you. If not more. And then…" Yao chuckled at the memory. "… you had the sheer gall to ask, nay, demand that I put you in charge? Do you even have a brain in between those ears, boy, or is it all just empty air in there, ya damned hoodlum?"

He didn't.

And as Liu stared half-vacantly at her, trying to comprehend where he'd gone wrong, Yao decided to make a point and have a bit of fun by poking at his chest with every word, drawing a pained wince each time.

"You. Are. Weak."

Oh how he glared at her for saying that.

But she was right, else Liu wouldn't be magically strapped to a bloody bed while getting his chest poked in by the bandit.

It just hurt to accept it.

"Then…" the words came out raspy, soft, and oh how he hated how weak his voice sounded, "then I shall get stronger."

"Oh~"

"Just… how strong?"

Yao stroked her chin in thought.

"Well, I'm at Early Nascent Soul, which is so beyond you it ain't even good for a joke, but to just enter my Flood Dragons? Foundation Establishment's the lowest that are accepted, bar none."

Liu's body was momentarily brought forward, as the medic shined some light with a weird rock into his eyes, before setting him back down. The energies receded, and as the man stood, he spoke for the first time.

"The worst of the damage has been dealt with. Thankfully you had kept your strength low madam, lest the boy start his cultivation crippled and in bed. Concussion's been left, as a lesson not to wander just anywhere."

Dusting off his clothes, the medic held an open palm towards Yao.

"3 stones for inspection, 5 for healing, 2 for the bother. 10 total, please."

She rolled her eyes at the last one, but dutifully put her hand into… Liu couldn't even see what she put her hand in, some sort of rip in the air, before handing over a bunch of power-filled blue rocks with pulsing lines to the medic, who promptly sped off.

"Look, and you even went and cost me some stones! Really…"

She huffed amusedly.

"So, what now? You bloodied my gathering, needed medication from a simple finger flick, and look like I gave your puppy to a damn Cannibal!"

Liu growled at her, and she flared her aura in return.

The pressure was suffocating. Inescapable. Endless. He could only see her, feel her, know that wether a moment more passed… it was because she let it happen.

But Liu still glared at her. Even as he knew she could end him without moving a muscle.

Interesting.

She released it mere seconds after.

Liu forced himself to breathe, the pain in his lungs the worst over his whole body. Greedy, hungry breaths, in and out and again and again until the world felt normal once more. Not as bad as being flicked directly by the lady bandit, but he supposed, that was the point.

"Passed your test or whatever?" His voice was back to being hardy, rough with an edge. But not an angry one, but rather just heavy with questions.

"Ya sure did, boy! Now you get to live and get strong enough in the the next hundreds of years to possibly, maybe, conceivably live long enough and train to get into the Foundation Establishment realm and join my gang."

Liu supposed he should just take that. At least she was kind enough to get him healed, rather than just leaving him forgotten on the street side.

Not goods odds for him, if that had happened.

But now that the threat of death was gone, so too did return the threat of hunger, and his voracious appetite made itself well and truly known with a rumbling that thunder would be proud of.

He truly wished he had died, now, even as Yao started laughing some more.

"Ah, give me a moment, I got just the cure for your problem."

Confused and intrigued, Liu sat back down on the bed, even as she dug and dug and shoved her arm trying to dig out something out of that weird rip in the air of hers.

Said something being a plain ceramic bowl… with soup in it?

"You see, I had saved a bowl of soup for myself for later, but you just had to go and make a mess of yourself, so here I am taking much pity and giving it to ye!"

Liu couldn't smell much but his own blood since the earlier event, but whoever was still listening in on the duo promptly fled for the hills. He merely shrugged and dug in. The bowl was emptied within moments, as his hunger made true on its promise and dutifully emptied the offerings given.

"It's a decent enough soup, good meat on it. Could have used more salt, though."

"Everyone's a critic." She drawled, getting a chuckle out of Liu.

It was about time he made himself scarce, and Yao was already starting to make her way back out of the house to her gathering he got flicked out of, but there was one thing Liu couldn't quite understand.

"Just… one more question." Yao turned her head back, hanging on the doorway. "Shoot." "If the invites were only for those strong enough… then what was up with the bells?"

She stopped in her tracks at that question, pondering on many how's and why's before asking back.

"What… bells you talking about, boy?"

Liu was now rolling his shoulders back and forth in an effort to stretch out the last of the pain as he spoke back, and though her confusion worried him somewhat, he figured it wouldn't hurt to speak of it.

"Heard bells ringing couple years back. Came in the area only to barely survive a city getting blown to smithereens, and after a couple months the bell rang yet again then went silent. Figured it was a call of some sort, and then I got news of the gathering, made a fool of myself, and here we at."

Yao was parsing through the mess of a story Liu gave her, before chuckling some more.

"Oh, the Old Man's gonna love to hear this."

She swiftly stormed her way back to the now-standing Liu, who stood weary at her approach. He stood his ground, a most futile endeavor. Pointless, but it was still a sight that made her grin, even as she hoisted him on her shoulder and started going… somewhere.

"Hey, what's the big deal!"

"So, remember how I was asking you about what plans you had? Yeah, plan's changed. Now it's time for you meet the Old Man." "Who?" "The guy that you oh so nicely interrupted my discussion with moments ago." "Okay… can you put me down then?" "Let me think about it…"

She hosted him on her other shoulder and started moving even faster, to Liu's consternation. Her grin widened in turn, akin to a shark's… or a dragon's.

"No."

(Word Count: 2143)

(First Omake of Turn Reward: LST)

(@ReaderOfFate, @Kaboomatic, @no.)

(Also, thanks go to Insane-Not-Crazy for giving me more ideas on how to write this first omake!)

Insane-Not-Crazy · Jul 5, 2021

TURN 11, OMAKE 8 [Lipita]
Lipita Delphi 8: Delphi Family Operations

The Delphi family claimed no single central holding within the territories of the Golden Devil clan. Scattered outposts of the bloodline littered the core territories of the clan and more had been seeded across the newly conquered lands formerly held by the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect. Nonetheless while there might not have been a sole hub, there were three prominent concentrations of the family's strength in the heartland of the Imperial Optimatoi. Unsurprisingly, these were locations where the Delphi family talents and propensity for the production of all manner of aids and tools for cultivation could be best leveraged.

The Shrouded Glade Arboretum in Pill-Forge Forest, Chimaera Echidna Ranch in the Beast-Raising Forest and the Daedalus Atelier in Emporikipolis. These were the axis upon which the Delphi clan had built up their power in the desert. The practice of the family was to have juniors build up a solid foundation in the basic production arts, shuttling between the various locations to have access to the veteran craftspeople of the family and training under their supervision. With the expansion beyond the core, scions of the bloodline who showed great promise were recalled home from the outposts to secure their place in their family and demostrate their worth. Success bought greater investment, failure relegated one to a future life of ignominy.

In a small room in the family's estates within the great trade city of Emporikipolis, seniors and experts of the Delphi gathered to consider the fate of their bloodline. These were the elders trusted to oversee the family's widespread interests and defend them against predation and subversion. Accomplished and respected craftspeople in their own right, each had proved exceptional and resolute cultivators in overcoming the blocks that the Delphi curse of madness had set before them. They were quite frankly eccentric weirdos.

Pelagos Delphi couldn't help but wonder if it was long exposure to the Delphi family council that had inured him to their idiosyncrasies or if, fates forbid, their peculiarities were somehow contagious and he was beginning to think like them. The room he was currently in was well lit despite being ensconced in the heart of the compound with no portals save the sealed door directly behind him. The lighting arrays that illuminated the meeting room skillfully replicated the clarity of early morning so he was not spared the sight of elder Calliope stretching skyclad atop the conference table he was standing at attention before.

The sole Core Formation senior of the family after the decimation of a truly crippling Hundred-Year Trials, she had volunteered for Elder Destacia Duca's program for rapid advancement. The results had been successful but not without consequence, foremost of which was her disdain for clothing. Her physique was certainly eye-catching, he noted face expressionless, lithe and lean muscled bronze flesh contorting with the physicality of the attainments of the third great realm.

Seated to her left and right, thankfully clothed in simple robes and tunic, were elders Thalia and Galen, twin cultivators who for all their shared bond were never seen together without argument. This day was no different and the two Formation Establishment experts were glaring at each other across the empty chair between them. To mortal perception, silent stares would appear to have been the extent of the confrontation but the heightened spiritual senses of a Delphi such as Pelagos, especially one trained in detailed observation as himself, revealed the space between the two was a battlefield of dueling qi, complex weaves of spirit essence striking and being deflected in a stalemate.

To Pelagos' far right on the table, loud snores reverberated from a slumped figure. Thick golden hair in a shaggy mane fell forward over a bent head as elder Linus wrapped himself deep in the embrace of Morpheus, seemingly lost the world around him. On the opposite end of the table, a gray haired matron stared unblinking at Pelagos, cradling and stroking a serpent with iridescent scaling, whispering under her breath all the while. Elder Agatha was a familiar disconcerting presence at these meetings, particularly with her boon companion of Stheno, a prodigiously venomous Seven Step Viper.

A subtle weight descended upon the room emanating from the shut-eyed Calliope seated in seiza atop the table. "Report, Pelgos." She commanded tersely and a sudden still silence followed.

Without missing a breath, Pelagos begun, "Greetings elders. We have received reports of good progress among our juniors from the most recent inductions since the Trials. In general, we have experienced the usual average stalled in advancement unable to progress in the face of the Harrowing beyond the first bottleneck but our crop for this year that have overcome this hurdle are proving exceptionally resolute. We do not anticipate any significant stalls at the second bottleneck withing QI Condensation. Those scions elevated for significant potential are bearing out their promise of greatness. Maximus has proven himself a well-regarded and competent apothecarist in his service to the 698th Legion. We can expect that should he maintain his rate of advancement, he would reach Foundation Establishment well before the norm."

That had been normal and expected. The next item was a more interesting junior. "Another of our prospects Lipita has also been proving quite successful. Her reports indicate an exceptional response to the bloodline enhancement that Elder Destasia has recently provided. As you know, we have been investigating the source and nature of this process but have had little success. We do not anticipate a change in this prospect since our inquiries indicate that the Archegetes himself wishes occlusion of the matter. The combat utility of this process is limited to Qi Condensation as it appears to thicken the blood of Bronze to the concentration that Foundation Establishment averages but we have great hope that we could adapt the enhancement to provide greater resiliency to juniors who would otherwise not surmount the Harrowing."

This notice brought only a brief reaction from the assembled elders. Ten thousand years had been spent searching for an answer to the curse that plagued the Delphi since the death of the Turtle-Child to Demonic Soup Chef. No miracle panacea had yet been uncovered but painfully slow and steady progress had been made in the passsing millennia through opportunities such as what he had just described. The family would explore this avenue to the utmost length as they had so many others before, whether it ended in a dead end or not.

"In addition to that, Lipita has reported that the Dull Bronze constitution has resurfaced in a fellow legionnaire, Victor Wulf. Our archives indicate that this bloodline variant is seemingly in contrast to ours, boasting strong resistance to qi without losing the standard resilience of the blood of Bronze. She has undertaken to assist him in overcoming the challenge to cultivation his poor receptiveness to qi creates using specialized body tempering cultivation. We have supplemented her budget for this research in exchange for access to the observations on the bloodline."

Reviewing his notes, Pelagos anticipated that the next portion was going to draw some interest. "Notes in her file from basic tuition in the family indicate that Lipita has declared her intention to step away from the Orthodox Path and pursue the Olympian Keystones. In furtherance of this goal, it would appear that Lipita is seeking to travel to the Yuan Secret Realm and has been provided patronage by centurion Xie Chin and personal tutelage from Gaius Antonius."

Hissing from Stheno paused Pelagos as elder Agatha leaned foward curious. "Gaius Antonius, the consort to the Quintia's heir, ehh? That has some promise. Foolhardy boy apparently wants to chase after the Callista girl and walk the Single-Pillar Path."

Galen cocked his head in consideration, reviewing the family's records on the junior identified as a good seed of the clan. "He's already at the 12th Heavenstage and with the backing of the Quintia, he has a chance at breaking through. Recommend that Lipita make every effort to avoid to firm up the relationship. Backchannels to the Quintia could be very useful in securing certain contracts."

Pelagos nodded at the councilor. "That is well in hand. Lipita has informed the family that she will be traveling to the Hong Xuan vassals to participate in a tournament for their juniors. The Contribution Board has commissioned it as a mission from the Office of Administration. This should provide a good opportunity to temper herself and deepen her contact with Gaius Antonius."

Several other figures of recent note in the family were brought up to the council's review. Chemos Delphi was a regular item in these meetings and this was no different. He'd somehow gotten the interest of Elder Destasia in a project that might be worth investing if its foundations proved sound after scrutiny.

Turning from matters of the family, Pelagos reported on certain matters of interest among the clan. "The legate Jin Muyi has been the subject of much speculation recently. He successfully killed two Core Formation Fifth Sea hunters and a whole host of lesser hunters at Pleuron during the most recent Trials. The means used however have drawn concern of Blood Path contamination and our intelligence is that he is in some disfavor with the Legions. We are considering options to offer him patronage in return for service. Successfully striking across great realms is no mean feat and he has gathered some repute for helping certain juniors develop the Legionnaire's Triune Formations into somewhat effective Self-Enhancing Spells. The estimated expenditure of political capital and resources should produce a net positive return in strength to the family and..."

A brief uplifted finger from elder Calliope interrupted Pelagos' proposal. "Leave Jin Muyi alone. The Archegetes himself has deigned to investigate personally. Let the matter be resolved before the family takes any action in this matter."

"Yes, elder." Pelagos briefly shivered in sympathy for the mutated cultivator. The Archegetes was a terrifying figure to one who could sense the hints of power retrained within the figure of an old man. "Moving on, the Pentekonter family is in some disruption over the inheritance of elder Theodosis Pentekonter. Apparently, the rumors about old Pentekonter taking a pigman as his heir before his death in the Trials were not idle fancy. This Choiros Pentekonter arrived in Emporikipolis with the remains and will of the elder. As an established Core Formation elder, his personal legacy is quite significant and there are expected to be challenges in probate. The distraction of the elder's death and sorting our his legacy should leave the Pentekonter off-balance a while and allow us a better negotiating position in bulk transport from the heartland to the border regions."

"Hahaha, I knew that old bastard was crazy what with his stubbornness about creating a great navy but this is certainly something else." Elder Linus guffawed heartily, slapping the table and shaking his head. "A pigman in the Pentekonter, huhuhu, I think I should go search him out and invite him out for a drink, welcome him to the Golden Devils properly."

Pelagos made a mental note to check the discretionary budget for compensatory damages. Elder Linus was not exactly a careful drinker or bar patron. Seizing back the reins of discussion, he proceeded to a particularly noteworthy announcement. "Reports from the Dawn Fortress indicate that the Archegetes has arranged an alliance with the Flood Dragon Gang. Assets within the Office of Administration inform us that roughly twenty million spirit stavraton have been provided to the Flood Dragons for use in rebuilding and in addition, the Gang is permitted to recruit any who wish to join from all the lands of the Clan."

That set the council abuzz. Sure there was a history of cooperation between the Golden Devils and the Flood Dragons, and there'd been rumors when Lady Yao Zhihao had retreated to the Dawn Fortress after the Gang had been massacred on the Great Battlefield by the Noble Devil Alliance. Still, this kind of support for another power was uncommon.

"Has there been any indication that there is truth to the rumors that lady Yao and the Archegetes are courting?" Elder Thalia asked, considering the situation.

"No councilor, nothing of that sort has been indicated." Pelagos replied, briefly wondering at what it would be like for two Nascent Soul masters to have a go at one another. He shook his head to get his mind off dangerous thoughts about his superiors.

"This secures our borders against those greedy Jingshen." Elder Linus declared. "Old Jingshen didn't dare strike at us when the raid on his fortresses crippled them even with his daughter at his back. With lady Yao on our side, I don't see them moving against us soon. Some good news indeed."

The council largely agreed and the next few minutes were spent discussing how to take advantage of this development. "What are the other factions doing about this?" Galen asked.

"The Callista appear to be taking no actions as at yet, the Quintia are sending envoys to the Dawn Fortress to secure markets as fences for the Gang and the Pentekonter are a bit distracted as aforementioned. The various Legions are as yet still reacting to the announcement." Pelagos supplied.

Elder Calliope hummed under her breath and then ordered Pelagos. "A Nascent power rebuilding and recruiting is an opportunity we cannot miss. Search the clan registry, find our lightfingered disreputable but loyal experts. They are being volunteered to serve the family in the Flood Dragons. Access to new markets and resources under the banner of the Gang would be very useful. Righteous Bandits are, in my experience, always open to tools and tricks that make their acquisitions easier."

Further discussion was postponed for after the meeting when full deliberation could take place. Much of the remainder of the meeting dealt with the mundanity of the family's operations. Stocks of herbs that needed to be replenished, arrangements with the blacksmiths and array-engineers to source their needed reagents, trade pacts with other factions for goods and services that needed confirmation or renegotiation, etc. One stand out was an order from the Rhodessias family commissioning the creation of Corpse Puppets. The Pure Bronze constitution was in many ways a less cursed legacy but its bearers were irrepressible zealots for the Golden Devil clan. Their physique and mindset made them excellent sources for Puppet Soldiers and the Delphi honored their sacrifice faithfully. The Trials, light as they had been, had still taken their scions and those bodies were being prepared to be transformed into Reanimated Puppets. Others who were ready to die but wanted a more active legacy than the ritual exsanguination to the Bronzegate were being hosted in the Delphi family enclaves in preparation to leave their bodies and cultivation bases as weapons in the hands of their family members in the form of puppets

The last item was on the agenda for the meeting, an unusual and most peculiar report. Even as Pelagos delivered it, he still marveled at what it portended for the era. "We have gotten wind that something strange has happened at Waystation Pleuron. As you all know, the city was the site of a confrontation between Rina Callista and a Heavens-favored Fifth Sea cultivator. The Callista scion was somehow able to seize the heavenly empowerment of the Fifth Sea hunter and in retaliation the Heavens sent down a retribution judgement. Legate Callista survived but the city of Pleuron was caught in the aftermath of Heaven's vengeance and remained inaccessible. Confirmed reports have come in now that appear to indicate that a Genius Loci has awakened from the City. A detachment of legionnaires was able to make their way into the city despite the lingering tribulation energies and encountered what has been confirmed to be the Genius Loci of Pleuron."

"A Great Era dawns indeed." Elder Agatha commented. "Three times at Pleuron, the Clan defied Heaven and its agents. Now it would appear that baptized in the fury of Heaven's strength, a seed has taken root and grown. I'll be departing for Pleuron soon. Awakened Spirits are a touchy thing and one born in the shadow of Heaven's fury at defiance should be most unique."

A loud clap echoed through the room. Elder Calliope opened her eyes and nodded at Pelagos. "Thank you for your diligence, Adjutant. The council will now enter a closed session to consider further the matters we have been made aware of."

Pelagos bowed and retreated from the room, leaving the council to further deliberation. The elders would take their own counsel, drawing on other reports he was not privy to and sources kept confidential. As he walked briskly down the hallway towards his office, his mind was busy with a multitude of considerations needed to get started on the preliminary decisions from the council. This promised to be a busy time for him and everyone in the Delphi family.

AN: : (2853 words) @Alectai @no. @ReaderOfFate Please threadmark.

occipitallobe · Jul 6, 2021

The undeserving rebels serves as a bulwark against the worst of the Demonic Path, thus showing that they have a use.

This report speaks to you four Elders who now serve to watch over the southern border between the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms and the Golden Devils.

Be aware that the situation has shifted.

The map should show some of this, at the very least.

For centuries the dynamic was simple. The lands to our south were denuded by the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect, who were unrestrained in their destruction of the mortals who lived there. To reach out our hand and rebuild those kingdoms would merely serve as an invitation for Blood Path growth, and so we were bound by our conscience to ensure the lands were not rebuilt.

Of late the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect has collapsed, and the Golden Devils now serve to hem us in on both important borders. The Bandit Kingdoms are considered to be the most likely avenue in which they will subvert our rule, the place at which we are perhaps most vulnerable. While there is little of worth there, losing the territory would open us up to a large soft underbelly, allowing the Devils to repeatedly raid our Spirit Mines just north of the Bandit Kingdoms with impunity.

These lands were first subjugated by us most willingly, before the rise of the Cannibals. The bickering, impoverished powers to the south were meaningless before the Cannibals arose, and would have cost as much to conquer as they were worth. Besides, at that time the pendulum was between us and the Devils, and to invade so neatly would have meant war between us and them. They had not nearly the numbers to fill even a hundredth of their territory, and we had no desire to provoke them, as they were far beyond us at the time.

So these lands bowed to us, and the Cannibals came.

For some time the equilibrium remained. The Daylight Monk, a prince of the Twin Mountain Kingdoms who had been named the next Sun King had left his lands, seeking a different path. At the time of his fall, and the consequent destruction of many Cannibal Core Formation Elders, the city of Seven Temples was founded. The only place in the lands that truly bows, and that only because it is immovable and has no choice. We exact light tributes from it - it is worth more as a bulwark than a tributary, even now. Rich enough, and incredibly defensible, we tread lightly there to ensure that we do not turn Seven Temples against us. In the event of a war with the Devils it would be an invaluable strong point.

The Daylight Monk's history stretches back further than this. He was responsible for the first Beast-Surge from the Beast-Surge Portal. This portal is of no small importance, as at seemingly random times it disgorges endless waves of beasts which seek out and kill humans nearby. The rivers of these lands are verdant and along their shores many mortals could live, but the more that live there, the more beast-surges (or beast-tides, as the Daylight Monk named them) come.

It was during the time he stepped into the Dreamlike Tower that the Beast-Surge came. This killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of mortals living there. In his grief, the Daylight Monk gave up all claim to violence and killing, seeking to repent for his deeds that he had inadvertently committed in his search for power and knowledge. Each new graduate of the Dreamlike Tower triggers a new Beast-Surge, creatures that leave en-masse through the Portal, slaughtering across the rivers and the region more generally, though they always stop some distance away from Seven Temples.

The Dreamlike Tower is little known. What we do know is that it occupies a space outside of the world proper, and those who stride into it almost invariable die. Only one in twenty thousand Qi Condensation cultivators who step in live, but all who do emerge in Core Formation, aged significantly and seemingly having experienced something else. Despite this, they carry no new items and wear the same clothes they entered in. Thus Dream "like" - the tower offers experiences and growth that are real, though nothing can be removed from it. Most notably, the Dreamlike Tower kills any Jingshen scion who steps within five li of it without exception. Presumably we have offended the tower in some way, though we know not how.

It was this Beast-Surge event that caused others to occur, all of this echoing into the future of the province today.

At this time, Gotun and Ekbar Kingdoms were the bulwarks of the south, a policy under which we fortified major hardpoints at the Cannibal border. Despite surviving against Cannibal incursions, the Beast-Surges to the south caused tremendous damage, and we were unable to relieve the two kingdoms until they fell. They could not be rebuilt.

The brothers Tao and Gaohao split with their master, the Daylight Monk. His unwillingness to kill directly cost lives as the Cannibals invaded, and they took many of his disciples, founding their own orders. To avoid a civil war, the Daylight Monk had left the kingdom he was the heir to, and his persistent nonviolence eventually drove many of his followers away.

The Tao Bandits are one of the two greatest Bandit Clans, ruled by the Tao Heavenly Bandit King. They are holed up in their mesa, named the Tao Mesa after them, and are impossible to root out. With two Core Formation elders, they are a perpetual thorn in our side. They raid caravans, kill Blood Path cultivators and loot them, steal Spirit Stones, and slay Beast-Surge beasts for their cores. Most commonly, however, they raid north across the border.

The Gaohao Bandits are one of the two greatest Bandit Clans, ruled by the Gao and Hao Heavenly Bandit Kings. Splitting the name into two characters, one bears Gao and the other Hao. These two Core Formation elders are too far from us to do much damage, and usually simply steal cultivation resources and protect mortals from the Beast-Surges where they can.

Hidden City began as a mere minor village of pigmen, escaping slavery from the far west. Creatures without creativity, they named their home the Village Hidden in the Mesa, and use arts of disguise to appear human, and are cultivators who use written talismans, as well as many obscuring arts. They aim to hide rather than fight most of the time, and their Core Formation elder rules them. They run in most curious fashion from those who have been observed.

They refuse to accept their rightful place, and many pigman slaves who serve in our Spirit Mines are often stolen from us by them. They have a great deal of respect for the Daylight Monk, though they refer to him as the 'Holy Sun King', and while the Daylight Monk is evidently the same person as the Holy Sun King once the timelines are matched, they refuse to admit this. Apparently he brought the first pigmen out of slavery in the west when he was far weaker on a whim - the pigmen speak of him slaughtering a village who had enslaved them as righteous retribution, though the Daylight Monk can credibly have said to have butchered thousands of mortals during this event.

The Northern Bandit Kings are a new alliance of cities, most of whom are under the rule of various Bandits. These Heavenly Bandit Kings hide in the desert, and seize wealth from the new cities growing there. Minor spirit mines and the like fuel them, but these bandits are mostly vicious and attack anyone. They do protect their cities from destruction, and serve as an alliance of sorts to resist us when we hunt them. A single Core Formation elder there names himself the Northern Heavenly Bandit King, and has destroyed several Jingshen settlements out of what we can only presume is spite.

The Ghost Tree Forest Kings are bizarre ghost cultivators. As research has shown, ghosts are merely Wills perpetuated by vengeful desires, immense hate fueling Wills into existence that can be generated with far more strength than we might otherwise suspect. The Ghost Tree Forest seems to generate ghosts from dead mortals nearby, increasing their strengths through means we are unsure of. A few mortal cultivators feed on these ghosts, using them to raise their own cultivation, and summoning them at need. The Ghost King is a Core Formation Elder who can summon hundreds of Foundation-equivalent ghosts to him, and killed Elder Changchung six years ago in a battle, wounding Elder Sa Fen and forcing her to retreat in humiliation. The Ghost Tree Forest formed when the Beast-Surge portal first opened, those the relationship between them is not clear.

As things stand, the lands are hostile and yet must be held. Primarily we seek to maintain our hold over Seven Temples. Current doctrine says there is nowhere else worth taking - even if we were to spend Nascent time and energy seizing these lands, they could at best be pacified and not made useful for a long time. Conversely, while the Heavenly Bandit Kings hate us, they are not particularly inclined to bow or ingratiate themselves with the Golden Devils. Consequently leaving these lands hostile in general has more utility than immediate pacification.

The Meddler · Jul 6, 2021

Wow, this place is a mess. I'm really glad we picked the max unity options at the start.

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

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Pink Flamingo Cabal Grand Vizier

Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion

Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Pink Flamingo Cabal Grand Vizier

Pink Flamingo Cabal Grand Vizier