Konstantinos Papadopoulos
Bonus: LST
Fate: Konstantinos was one of the more effective recruiters for the new Heavenly Flood Bandits, his flyers found across the lands. Hunted by three furious Jingshen detectives aiming to stop this new threat before it arrived, they hunted him for years, and he eluded them each time, delivering subversive messages of recruitment to many, many towns and cities. They eventually managed to chase him down only to find an empty, ruined press - and type set to a simple message "You lose.". He left, triumphant.
Impact: 10 (+0)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage (3 turns to FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 135 (+0)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy
Matthaias Outi
Bonus: LST
Fate: Matthaias entered the Yuan Realm, entering a trial of cultivation. Showing talent and managing to gathering Qi from spirit stones with sufficient speed, he was rewarded with a High-Grade Spirit Stone. While potentially useful for him, he traded it at a later date with a Core Formation Elder for a Fifty Years of Qi Pill, a pill that did exactly as it said, advancing his cultivation (+60 years) - though he got a little more out of it than expected. Hunted for his Spirit Stone before leaving the Array, he almost died, and barely managed to escape. His loss allowed him to snatch a Face-Slapping Corpse Hand Tracker (+3 Impact), a powerful hand that could slap almost any face no matter the enemy's attempt to block, infusing it with corpse qi - qi he could track anywhere it went. It was used on him first, so without seizing it he would have died. During his time as a bandit, he used this hand to slap and track several prominent bandits, insulting them into coming to crucial meetings to plot against the Jingshen. However, during this time he was caught and beaten to near-death by a Jingshen Core Elder, who saw him merely as an upstart bandit - torturing him over several days to find the location of other bandits. He managed to escape through use of a treasure, but bore significant scars from the treatment.
Impact: 12 (+3)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 178 (+60)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded
Choíros Pentekonter
Bonus: LST
Fate: Choiros entered the Man-As-Mountain Array. Unfortunately for him, the defenses of the Trials there did not recognise him as human - rather as a Spirit Beast servant of those who founded the Array. This was actually to his advantage, however. He was taken away by a set of Core Formation guardian golems, and infused with the blood of an ancient Spirit Boar, gaining the Greatboar Transformation Blood (+6 Impact). He can now transform into a massive, powerful boar for nearly an hour a day, becoming much more powerful and faster. Such a transformation leaves him massively more powerful than most in Qi Condensation, despite being in only the 1st Heavenstage. He was taught the Eat-All Art (+3 Impact), an art that allowed him to consume items and attacks made of Qi, though only to a certain power level. He could easily consume any attack made by those a Heavenstage or two above him. Lastly, he was given the Access Token (+1 Impact), a token designed to open any door or lock - though it took inordinate amounts of Qi, making it useless in most scenarios, allowing him to assist Trial-takers. He was then left outside to work as a Trial assistant, though without any instructions or aid, so he eventually left. He managed to meet up with the clan of pigmen in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms later on, and impressed them with his powers, recruiting a large number of their mortals to Lady Yao's banner.
Impact: 10 (+10)
Cultivation: 1st Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 21 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded
Janus
Bonus: LST
Fate: Once a thief, always a thief. Once a swindler, always a swindler. Where others dived into desperate danger to try and seize the goods of the Yuan Man-As-Mountain Array, Janus took a more elegant approach. Take the treasures from those who already had them. A string of thefts, muggings, and one incidence of pure regular banditry were the cherries atop a sundae of crime. Janus never entered a single Trial. He considered it, and then ambushed a near-dead Jingshen scion returning from a powerful Trial, knocking him unconscious and taking his Thirty Ancient One-Year Ginseng plants, (+30 cultivation). This inspired him, and he created a series of traps that managed to separate a number of Yuan scions directly, disgusing himself and faking a presence as a powerful Core Formation entrant through the use of some trickery, scaring the cultivators into leaving their loot. From them, he gained four Revolution Lotus Petals (+60 cultivation), each enough to supercharge his dantian with masses of Qi, advancing him ever-further. Using his new, massively advanced cultivation, he robbed a weaker junior from the Sorrowful Blacksmiths, taking a rather peculiar Illusion Gudi (+3 Impact), the bone flute allowing the wielder to construct illusory landscapes and scenes that were paper-thin, but were otherwise incredibly difficult to see through. With this, he led three forces looking for revenge - Yuan, Jingshen, and the Blacksmiths to face one another, illusions causing them to fight one another. As the battle wound down, he filched a Jingshen Spirit Firework (+3 Impact), a firework capable of emptying a battlefield of Qi entirely, dismissing illusions and most area techniques and formations - and keeping them suppressed for fifteen minutes or so. It could be reused many times, merely needing Spirit Stones to power it. He managed to steal it before it could be used to fully dismiss his illusions and left, unharmed. He also raised a number of bandit cells in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, meeting a group of bandits in the ruins of the Gotun Kingdom, and turning them into a useful, semi-loyal cell to the Golden Devils.
Impact: 8 (+8)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 117 (+96)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy
Liu Mang
Bonus: LST
Fate: Liu Mang entered the Yuan Realm tailed by a band of angry Jingshen scions, seeking to exact vengeance for the rumors he spread about one of their Princes. He hoped to shake them off in the chaos, but they were surprisingly persistent about the matter, and as skilled as he was, he only had the speed of the First Heavenstage. While he had managed to eke out a gap between himself and his pursuers with a fortuitous encounter with an angry Water Spirit hitting the area with a tide a while back, the gap was quickly closing. Liu Mang estimated that at best, there'd be a few minutes before he'd be caught and inevitably killed in the scuffle.
This was unacceptable. He hadn't gotten this far just to die like this. Forget becoming Yao's lieutenant, he hadn't even gotten into the Flood Dragon Gang yet!
Heart resolved, he stood his ground, twin axes in hand as the group of Jingshen surrounded him. If he was going to die, he wasn't going to do it lying down. A fourth Heavenstage cultivator contemptuously flicked a flashily jeweled sword in hand, slashing down at blindingly quick speed. By dint of instinct, he managed to mostly dodge the arc of iridescent sword Qi that shot out towards him, but he still took a glancing hit. It should've knocked him down and it definitely should've wounded him, but Liu Mang simply endured. Enraged, the sword swung with greater and greater force. Liu Mang managed to dodge some of the flurry but many still landed. He endured nonetheless.
At the time, he was puzzled, but later testing revealed that his stubborn will to move forward resonated with the lingering Will within the blood of the former Protostrator, catalyzing the awakening of the Body of the Bronze Bull (+6 Impact). Wielders of this Constitution could withstand damage far beyond the normal resilience of Bronze, attacks several small realms ahead of them simply breaking against their skin.
As the Jingshen scion kept firing, Liu Mang steadily advanced further, holding his axes in a guard position. The rest of the group had joined in now, gouts of flame and thunderous bolts of lightning amongst a variety of other techniques headed straight towards his position. Spirit stones were spent like water to maintain the harsh tempo, and as a cloud of dust rose from the spot where he was, it seemed like he was done for.
The blasts were clearly fired with people with much more money than sense, or so he thought, for Liu Mang found that he could absorb the Qi and cultivate in the process. (+20 cultivation years). In truth, absorbing the wild Qi would've shattered the meridians of anyone else. This catapulted him to the Fifth Heavenstage, after which he cleaved the sword wielder in two with a brutal slash of his left axe in a strike that crunched through a sack of spirit stones in the process. Qi rushed into the weapon, empowering the Intent of the strike, turning it into a Slaughter-Demon Axe (+2 Impact), a weapon that filled its wielder with bloodlust in exchange for cleaving through most defenses. Many a tragedy began with an axe like this, but it hardly mattered at the moment.
Now visibly worried, a Ninth and an Eighth Heavenstage cultivator charged in at the same time, one stabbing a Ji at him, crackling and filling the air with ozone, and the other right behind him, flinging a frost-covered meteor-hammer at at Liu Mang's skull. At this point, he had gotten used to their attacks, so even despite their speed he could easily anticipate their moves. (+1 Impact). With a step to the side, the meteor-hammer missed, and a strike from his right axe was able to turn aside the other strike in a contest that would have shattered his bones an hour ago. Lightning Qi wicked onto the metal of the blade, searing his hands in the process, but empowered his Axe Intent enough to send a cutting blast to take out another of his pursuers. As the Meteor-Hammer swung at him once more, Liu Mang decided to put this to the test and attempted to strike it directly with the same axe. Ice Qi bled off from the metal, which proceeded to break in half. His other weapon had become a Qi-Soaking Axe (+2 Impact), something that could soak up the Qi of artifacts in order to release powerful attacks.
At that point, they had no hope against him, and the rest of the battle was assured. Most of them ended up dying, but one of the Jingshen was impressed enough by his prowess that they decided to join his band of bandits.
In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, Liu Mang cultivated up to the Eighth Heavenstage and managed to recruit many members to his fledgling group, who were drawn to him by his charismatic speeches and reputation of success. No one could say that the legendary Twin-Axe Demon wasn't someone to watch, after all.
Impact: 11 (+11)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 64 (+43)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy
Pleuron
Bonus: LST
Fate: After being nearly destroyed by tribulation lightning during the last Trials, Waycastle Pleuron appears to have gained sentience. In centuries past, this may have been considered strange, but the Great Era appears to produce all manners of oddities. It proceeded to send its avatar spirit over to the Yuan Secret Realm, reportedly to study the Qi flows of the region, but a massive Nascent Beetle took umbrage at it prying into the secrets of the Array, and would have crushed Pleuron's soul if it wasn't for the use of a treasure to flee. Damaged and hiding in a cave, the spirit had a stroke of inspiration, and found that the remnants of Heavenly Will that still remained on it could be transferred to small array-inscribed cannons it created from the scraps available in the area and attached to its fingers, granting it the capability to use the captured lightning as a weapon. (+6 Impact). While it wouldn't be enough to deal with the Beetle, Pleuron managed to use the new treasure in order to accelerate its escape by shooting lightning bolts backwards for thrust.
In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, Pleuron used its newfound control of lightning to impress many of the pigmen in the place they call the Village Hidden in the Mesa, who were astounded to see such a master of the Lightning Style. One particularly poetic pigman compared the sound of the technique to the chirping of a thousand birds. Despite their usual secrecy, a few, disguised as humans, decided to join into one of the Devil-sponsored bandit cells.
Impact: 6 (+6)
Cultivation: 1st Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 21 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded
Samson Murus
Bonus: LST
Fate: Samson had always been something of a headache to his superiors for one reason - stubbornness. He did things in the most straightforward manner possible, even if it got him hurt, driven by a simple desire to protect others from death. But sometimes simplicty can be a source of strength.
Entering the Yuan Realm as a mere First Heavenstage, Samson found himself repeatedly taking trials meant for those multiple small realms higher than him, able to take just enough abuse that he could get through and claim the rewards. It was by this method that he advanced quickly over the year - as a Second Heavenstage, he consumed a reward suitable for a Fifth, as a Fifth, he consumed something meant for an Eighth, and so on(+40 Cultivation Years)
Samson's luck finally ran out when he found himself attacked by a Ten-Horned Demon Toad, a venomous Qi Condensation beast infamous for its ability to consistently injure or even kill Foundation-level cultivators. It struck him with a spray of dense, toxic bile, and a miracle occured.
Samson had always been able to individually control the segments of his plated skin, so instinctualy, he concentrated the toxins into a few plates and shed them like a bird shedding feathers. This was the Corruption-Purging Art, and it rendered him all but immune to curse and poison arts of the same small realm, and heavily resistant to those above him(+3 impact).
The venom was purged, leaving much of the qi from the attack, now purified, in Samson's system. Cleverly, he followed the toad back to its nest and leapt in, where dozens of Demon Toads sprayed him with venom. While the strain of shedding and growing plates so fast ruptured a few of the Legionnaire's meridians, he had already brought a powerful treasure which could regenerate such wounds. He was able to rapidly absorb the qi of the toads from their hundreds of attacks, pushing his advancement even further(+20 Cultivation Years).
With the Man-As-Mountain array winding down, Samson headed to Jingshen to assist in the mission there, and found himself among the Ghost Tree Forest Kings, as his newfound resistance to curses ensured his safety against the occasional ghost attack. Though the ghosts provide plentiful cultivation materials there, they lack in all other resources, and so he sold them his own shed segments as Qi Condensation-tier Gravebronze, buttering them up for negotiation and alliance. Soon enough, a small bandit cell had been raised amongst the ranks of the strange necromancers, and Samson quietly pushed into the Tenth Heavenstage to cap off a very eventful pair of decades.
Impact: 3 (+3)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 116 (+95)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)
Kakos Alexikeravno
Bonus: LST
Fate: Kakos Alexikaravno entered the Yuan Clan secret realm, and immediately, the stories of his family's heritage had proven themselves to be true.
Scarcely a moment had passed after his first steps into the Man-As-Mountain Array when he heard the rumbling of lightning in the distance.
A stray bolt of heavenly lightning, a meager probing blow in a Cultivator's tribulation to Foundation Establishment, had gone off target, flying wildly in a random direction, and, through a stroke of unfathomably bad luck, was locked straight onto Kakos.
Thinking fast, Kakos sprinted away from the mass of people surrounding him, and, boosted by quite a few movement enhancing techniques from those around him who didn't want to be caught in the crossfire, arrived at a small isolated patch of forest.
With barely minutes left before the heavenly tribulation lightning reached him, Kakos quickly grabbed his tools and perfectly drew a Heaven's Eye Blinded Array, succeeding on his first try and barely managing to save himself from certain death.
But the Array, while expertly crafted, was a basic one, and some of the tribulation lightning buried its way into Kakos' bones, badly wounding him, forcing him to leave the Yuan Clan Secret Realm for immediate treatment.
Still, Kakos' time in the Secret Realm was not a complete waste. The lightning within his body was no mortal force or even an attack. No, this was tribulation lightning, the lightning of the heavens which held within it great amounts of Qi.
Kakos took advantage of this property during his time within the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, purifying some of his wounds and turning the lightning within into a bounty of Qi that skyrocketed him to the Ninth Heavenstage. (+50 Cultivation Years).
The remainder of the tribulation lightning that Kakos purified, the part that was only used to damage prospective ascendants, was not put to waste either, bottled and used as components in a great blasting array, an array that Kakos spent his entire deployment creating, an array that was put to devastating effect protecting a small village from an equally small band of raiders.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 71 (+50)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded
Tolis Athanotis
Bonus: LST
Fate: Tolis entered the Yuan Secret Realm and was immediately struck by errant Dao Emanations from a powerful Nascent-level Spirit Beast. They had considerably weakened by the time they hit Tolis, but it'd still have been a crippling blow if it wasn't for a strange glow that suddenly emanated from her bow, Nanaam, that blunted the hit. Even so, Tolis was wounded enough that she had to leave for immediate medical assistance.
Another cultivator may have despaired and given up on pushing their cultivation forward much in their current state.
Not Tolis.
In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, by dint of her understated charisma, Tolis managed to recruit so many bandits to Lady Yao's banner that she had enough sect points to afford to the cultivation resources to make good progress despite her wounds, making it to the Fifth Heavenstage.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 5th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 40 (+19)
Health: Healthy --> Crippled -> Wounded (LST) -> Lightly Wounded
Yang Fangxu
Bonus: Healing Treasure
Fate: Fangxu was nearly badly wounded in a Trial, and used a treasure to escape and recuperate. During this time she set up a small stall to sell food - a single Yuan Clan Scion offered her a portion of a Grand Gold Stallion's meat if she could cook it well. She managed to do so, and cooked a fantastic immortal dish, something that would advance the Yuan Clan scion massively. Her portion managed to advance her cultivation by 20 years, however. Later on, she became a source of food and aid to many in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, serving as an intermediary for information for many rebelling bandits, connecting bandit cells together and to the Clan.
Impact: 6 (+0)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 81 (+24)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)
David Pupillus
Bonus: LST
Fate: David managed to enter a trial successfully, seizing a Ten-Year Pill from a Trial Pill Dispenser. He took the dispenser from the wall, which contained one more pill (+20 cult years). The dispenser itself could transform any assembly of herbs into a moderately useful pill, though far less effective than a true alchemist (+3 impact). Still, in a pinch it could be exceptionally useful. However, he was immediately attacked by a furious group - Jingshen, Yuan, and Blacksmiths, all together looking furiously for Golden Devils to beat and kill. He used two treasures, barely escaping with his life, and even so was badly wounded by a large group of furious seniors. This made it difficult for him to accomplish much in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, spending most of his time disguised as a tavernkeep, directing bandits to other cultivators for recruitment.
Impact: 3 (+3)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 96 (+30)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded
Ulysses
Bonus: LST
Fate: Ulysses entered the Yuan realm, and on failing a Trial saw David Pupillus assaulted. Going to help his fellow Golden Devil, he was likely badly beaten and left for dead, only a treasure preventing permanent damage. He served as a physician for ten years for the Riverlord Sect, hired on to help protect their boats. In this time he made contacts within the Sect, using them as transport to help move illicit goods and bandits who sought to fight the Jingshen.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 115 (+13)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Crippled -> Wounded (LST) -> Lightly Wounded
Cao Wei
Bonus: LST
Fate: Cao Wei helped the badly wounded David out of the Yuan Realm, and was nonetheless caught by the selfsame party of avenging, angry Jingshen scions. Almost caught, he used a treasure to assist the two of them to escape. His time was spent studying among the monks of the Sunset Gardens, kindly but powerful monks who could strike well above their own level of cultivation. His connections made were few, but he managed to convince several of them to shelter some of the more righteous bandits when they came ot Seven Temples to sell their ill-gotten gains, allowing them to serve as fences for the bandits that were being cultivated as Clan allies.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 9th Heavenstage (1 turns to FB)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 104 (+30)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)
Jiang Chrysanthos/Chrys
Bonus: Impact
Fate: Recovering from his wounds, Jiang Chrysanthos dedicated himself to the Clan's cause--one of the first to enter the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, he bore witness to their harsh lifestyle, and Jingshen's neglect of their vassals--content to use them as a mere tripwire and source of free beast cores. He made many friends in his early wanderings, and while his cultivation did not advance much--when the full force of the Clan's disciples entered the territory, they benefited from the safe-houses and connections he had gathered, easing all of their efforts.
Impact: 2 (+1)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 102 (+2)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy
Juturna Cerintha
Bonus: nan
Fate: Juturna entered the Man-as-World Array as many other Good Seeds of the Region did, all preparing themselves to match their rivals in the oncoming of the Great Era. Compared to some, her gains were merely modest, collecting a vial full of Qi-Gathering Spring Water (+20 Years) in the aftermath of a great battle, waged by an ad-hoc coalition of other powers chasing after someone who offended them. She made modest gains drinking it, but a fluctuation of her Qi was noticed by one of the coalition's stragglers, and they drove her off with what would have been terrible wounds if she hadn't used a treasure to ablate the worst of it. She still reopened her wounds from the Trials, but will heal given time. Her adventures in the Secret Realm complete, she turned her attentions to the recruitment operation in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, coming to the attention of the eccentric hermit King Kai and his three great trials, capturing his monkey, his cricket, and taking a slice of the Gourmet Rat's tail to cook. In thanks, he gave a token of his favor to her, able to call on himself or his beasts for aid anywhere within the Kingdom's borders.
Impact: 1 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 123 (+20)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Crippled --> Wounded (LST) --> Lightly Wounded
Lihua Kokkinos
Bonus: LST
Fate: Lihua's own successes in the Yuan Clan's Secret Realm were not to be dismissed, for all that they were not the stuff of legends as some achieved. In the aftermath of the Three Powers Alliance, many areas of the Array that had once been monopolized by individual clans were ripe for the taking--their distraction leaving openings for an enterprising and ambitious junior to enrich themselves--at their expense. She successfully managed to secure a Pillar-Forging Bamboo Shoot (+30 Years)--a rare thousand year wood that--when cut into pieces and eaten, can immediately forge a Foundation Pillar. Not one to simply rest on her laurels, Lihua did a close examination of the location she found the shoot in, and found three saplings still growing, adding them together to make a Pillar Raising Ceremony Salad--which was an excellent followup dish. Content in her new power, Lihua turned her gaze to the Heavenly Bandit Kingdom, serving as a defender against an unexpected Beast Wave and protecting an otherwise undefended village. Given how it was where the child of Bandit Prince Shun was being raised, when he rode for ruin with his subordinates behind him, he found them preserved by the efforts of a Golden Devil. She spent much of the next years serving as a contact between the Clan's intelligencers and Shun's warband.
Impact: 6 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 3-Pillar (Mid)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 163 (+63)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy
Achille Adephos
Bonus: LST
Fate: Not one to hold back simply because of his injuries, the Heavenly Fishing King of the younger generation saw the great rivers and lakes in the heart of the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, and his purpose was clear. He took his spear and his fishing rod and travelled up the rivers, fishing many dangerous beasts out and gifting what he could not eat to the commonfolk. When he reached the spirit lake though, he caught a Waterfall Defying Carp, which saw his lure as another challenge to endure, and took hold of it with its mighty jaws. The duel between man and fish was the stuff of legends--water spraying into the skies and ground shattering from the Foundation Expert's perch on the shore. In the end, the result was unsurprising--as with a mighty sound, the line snapped, whipping back with the energized qi and reopening his wounds from the Trial. For all that he failed to catch that dragon among carp, Achille became something of a folk hero--and many commoners would tell him tall tales of their own in turn--providing clues to the residences of several hermit experts in the region that other juniors could supplicate.
Impact: 6 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 2-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 151 (+11)
Health: Wounded --> Badly Wounded --> Wounded (End of turn)
Savvas Nicolidis
Bonus: Healing Treasure
Fate: In the Yuan Secret Realm, Savvas proved himself to be mercilessly effective. The Qiguai Secret Realm is a half-real place of dreams, of ideas. Yuan is simply a physical place, and though it is dangerous, it is far more familiar.
Hiding himself amongst trees, in mud-holes and caves, and by the entrances of trials, Savvas laid masterful traps which incapacitated other trial-goers, and stole their possessions. Unfortunately, none of his marks seemed to have found anything of note when he caught them - failure beget more failure.
Still, this was no all for naught, as he eventually stole a pair of Transmutation Gloves(+4 impact). Worn over the hands, these allow the bearer to change any type of qi they touch into another aspect, be it the traditional elements or something more esotetic, like ghost or blood qi. With these, Savvas can ruin enemy arrays with a touch, perform techniques he has no affinity for or even cause internal injuries to enemies by turning their qi into poison.
Unfortunately, the gloves proved to be a bit too potent, as while practicing with them, Savvas nearly killed himself by turning his own qi into ghost qi, which he did not know how to purge. Without the use of a precious treasure, he would have rotted horribly, perhaps even to death.
In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, Savvas taught the ruffians how to perform operations on their own or in small groups, so that they would be effective even without the immediate support of a large gang. He also spread poisonous plagues through nearby Jingshen lands in secret, using the chaos to both con the Jingshen out of money to cure his own poisons, and to distract their officials from noticing the increasing bandit activity. Occasionally this ruse was not enough, which led him to assassinate several Jingshen Experts to keep the operation under wraps.
Impact: 9 (+4)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 2-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 147 (+0)
Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST) --> Healthy
Xiao Yingzi
Bonus: LST
Fate: Yingzi entered the Yuan Man-As-Mountain Array, beggaring herself to buy a hundred places. However, what she found in there was worth it. A supreme-grade Spirit Stone, sufficient for the use of a Nascent Soul, won by the Trial of Brotherhood - a trial testing the loyalty and faith of companions. She did not use it, of course, but returned it to the Clan for a tremendous wealth of items and Contribution Points. Such stones were rare, and this one was given to the Second Elder. Kleisthenes herself thanked her, and used her new Dao-effects to develop the techniques of the Art of the Undying Hero further. An art and an item were developed, each given to Yingzi. The art was powerful, a sutra that grew and strengthened with those who used it. Named the Heroes Strike As One Mantra (+4 Impact), it allowed individuals who chanted it together to sacrifice their own growth, their own strength, and their own lifespan to the Mantra, but in return when it was chanted in battle, all those who had sacrificed into it would suddenly find their strength growing, their stamina unflagging, their courage indomitable. Over time, the power of a group of mantra-users would grow as they poured more and more of themselves into such. A group of mantra-chanters who kept a lineage of thousands of years might become absurdly powerful for their realm, or even strike beyond it. However, it could only be used by one group at a time, and rapidly lost effectiveness with numbers. A hundred would be near the maximum of those who could chant it together. Secondly, the Blood Fusion Scalpel (+8 Impact). Using it to blend the blood of one willing dying man and one living, the living one could absorb the bloodline, arts, and combat knowledge of the dying, though not the cultivation. This was best only done once per man - twice might see the Blood Path curse begin to rise, but it would allow her to transfer knowledge and bloodline strength between her picked hundred, forming a legion that would become absurdly talented experts - and with the power of the Mantra to back their skills.
Impact: 33 (+14)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 4-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 205 (+11)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Wounded
Ninth Prince
Bonus: LST
Fate: Without speaking overmuch of the Ninth Prince's true form at this point, the simple report he sent to the Clan listed this. He was alive, and had managed somehow to find a massive funnel of Qi, seemingly leaving some central node in the Yuan Realm as pure waste. He managed to get himself inside it, gaining (+80 cultivation-years). However, this was where his luck ended. Firstly, a massive Nascent Beetle of sorts hunted him for the violation - he had gone where he was not supposed to, and consequently only survived because the Beetle constantly returned to somewhere else for some reason, muttering about its duty, unable to leave for more than a few minutes at best at time, unable to properly pin down the Ninth Prince or even find him, limited to using various esoteric arts to try and kill him. He was badly wounded at the end of it, but his gain of cultivation was no small things, making more ground in twenty years than he had made for a long time before that.
Impact: 18 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 7-Pillar (Pillar Alignment)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 320 (+80)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Wounded
Magnus Centenius
Bonus: LST
Fate: Magnus entered the Yuan Realm, and found himself in an unfortunate series of circumstances. He stole two knives from a powerful Core Jingshen Elder, the Clock-Dagger (+4 Impact) and the Sharpened Ruler (+4 Impact). One could speed up time temporarily for the user, or slow down an enemy - buying almost fifteen seconds of doubled or halved time a day. The Ruler, on the other hand, let one shift distances, allowing the user to move through almost one li of space a day - or lengthening distances by that much. Incredibly valuable treasures, he tried to escape with them, but was almost killed twice, using treasures to save himself once, and finding his dantian shattered and useless despite the use of a treasure the second time. He used the Sharpened Ruler to dive into a Trial that was closing, sitting there for nearly ten years until he was able to leave, sneaking out with the use of the Ruler. Now-crippled, he returned to the Clan, taking a mission as a merchant in the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, recruiting bandits to revolt against that same Jingshen Elder. He managed to meet with and recruit the Tao Heavenly Bandit King to stand on the Clan's side in the case of war, bringing a Core Formation elder into the fold.
Impact: 13 (+8)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 6-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 311 (+0)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST Interrupt) --> Wounded --> Dead --> Crippled (LST Interrupt)
Minervina Barda
Bonus: LST
Fate: Minervina entered the Yuan Realm, finding herself in a place not at all amenable to poison. The first Trial she sought only yielded to raw strength, being a place of fire and purity. She escaped with a treasure, unable to pass. Secondly came her rescue of Magnus - she saw a Core Formation Jingshen Elder chase him into a Trial, setting up a formation there to trap and kill him when he emerged. Using an array of poisons herself, she managed to lure the Elder away, but was chased down and wounded quite badly, her poisons unable to do any more than slow the Elder enough to allow her to escape. In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, she brewed many poisons, bribing the Gaohao bandits to her side with the promise of more and more useful poisons, eventually bringing them over to the side of the Clan itself.
Impact: 12 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 7 Pillar (Great Circle)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 465 (+4)
Health: Healthy --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST) --> Badly Wounded --> Lightly Wounded (LST) --> Healthy
Chrysanthos Krimta
Bonus: LST
Fate: Chrysanthos did not take big risks in the Yuan Realm - why would he need to, when selling supplies to desperate adventurers at an 800% markup was possible? The fortune he spent on Compression Pouches to haul ten stalls' worth of supplies into the realm were paid back a half-dozen times over, and with these resources the Centurion advanced his cultivation well(+20 Cultivation Years).
Tragedy nearly struck, however, when one of the people he had ripped off returned four pillars stronger and bearing a massive artifact sword. Rather than let himself get turned into a smear on the ground, Chrysanthos used a Life-Saving Treasure to whisk himself far away.
In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, Chrysanthos did the opposite of what he did in the Yuan Realm, buying supplies and cultivation materials from Jingshen officials en masse and selling them to prospective bandits at incredibly cheap prices, or even giving them away to those who were especially poor but showed immense talent for cultivation. Though he was selling at a huge loss, he was subsidized by the Clan, and so was able to continue this scheme for over a decade, acting as the link through which a massive supply chain of resources were funneled to the bandits.
Indeed, it could perhaps be said that Chrysanthos' contribution was the greatest of all, providing those bandits the raw economic power needed to capitalize on every other piece of aid the Clan gave them.
Impact: 7 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 2-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 154 (+23)
Health: Healthy --> Wounded --> Healthy (LST)
Mildgyð Galene
Bonus: LST
Fate: Mildgyo worked closely with Chrysanthos, often brewing the raw materials the other Centurion bought in bulk into a wide variety of potent brews. Compared to a sect or clan it is more difficult for a criminal organization, who must always be ready to move, to set up effective alchemy workshops, and so Mildgyo worked round the clock to create a supply of effective, nonperishable pills and elixirs which would last for years to come. Like Chrysanthos, he was selling at a loss, but the Clan's generous subsidies allowed him to speed up his advancement(+10 Cultivation Years).
Impact: 5 (+0)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 2-Pillar
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 158 (+31)
Health: Healthy --> Healthy
Antonius Emmanuel Eleanora
Bonus: LST
Fate: Antonius entered the Yuan Realm, and simply had many fortuitous encounters. His first Trial saw him pass with ease, seizing the Egg of Fate (+3 Impact), a peculiar egg that when shaken would display a series of words on its surface. While vague, it was a truly useful oracle for foretelling events in the next few days, though the vagueness meant it was hard to pin down anything more than 'increased danger', 'no, there is no issue', and 'unclear, try again later'. Secondly he encountered a powerful Trial, where one was forced to tend mushrooms, and assist in their growth or fail. He failed, and mushrooms exploded, poisoning him badly and leaving him close to death but for the use of a treasure. He succeeded on his second try, however, seizing a Towering Mushroom Spore (+3 Impact), a spore that could grow into a massive hundred-metre tall mushroom in a few mere minutes, drawing Qi from the ground to fortify itself. It was difficult to damage even to Core Formation enemies, and would serve as an excellent fort against any who could not fly. Once damaged sufficiently it would shrink back down into the original spore, though it would take years to recover. From the selfsame trial he managed to find a pill a dead Trial-participant had made from various mushrooms before they had died. The New Realms Pill (40 cultivation-years) allowed one to experience strange and bizarre realities, cultivating within them as it contained an immense amount of Qi. In the Heavenly Bandit Kingdoms, he sparred twice with a Jingshen Core Formation elder who had come to hunt down and destroy bandit rebels, managing to save several large groups of recruited bandits.
Impact: 21 (+12)
Cultivation: Single Pillar 2 of ??
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 350 (+50)
Health: Healthy --> Crippled --> Wounded (LST) --> Lightly Wounded
Auspicious Nine
Bonus: LST
Fate: Auspicious Nine continued his absurd run of bad luck. Almost slain by a rampaging Revolting Vilefart Boar in the Foundation stage as he attempted to recover a herb, he survived with the use of a treasure alone, and despite that managed to cultivate to the 6th Heavenstage.
Impact: 0 (+0)
Cultivation: 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 47 (+14)
Health: Healthy --> Dead --> Badly Wounded (LST) --> Wounded
Anastasia Outi
Bonus: LST
Fate: Anastasia was lucky, no second way to put it. Who else would stumble into a giant trap, at the bottom of which was a long-dead carnivorous Man-Eating Qi Seed Plant? Its massive and deadly jaws had dried out, leaving a simple seed, which Anastasia took. The Man-Eating Qi Seed Plant Seed (a mouthful!) was able to be attached to a cultivator's flesh, drawing on their Qi and growing, but in return would fight autonomously in their defense, striking at their foes and consuming them whole, able to eat one's enemies to restore itself without falling afoul of the Blood Path curse (+4 Impact), meaning it could be used in combat for a tremendously long time, allowing the bearer to fight with immense endurance.
Impact: 5 (+4)
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1-Pillar (Early)
Cultivation Year-Equivalent: 111 (+11)
Health: Lightly Wounded --> Healthy
