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

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

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

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

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

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

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

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

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

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

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

 

[occipitallobe]

The humming of bees filled the garden.

Manuel walked among the trees, looking down at the beautiful flowers. Euphrosyne Sarantapechos was not a close friend, but her skill in tending Spirit Herbs was second to none in the Clan.

The bees buzzed closer, and he looked at one. An ordinary bee, flying from flower to flower. He felt an omen looming, the Heaven's Shadow speaking to him. A gust of wind arose and scattered the bees, suddenly flying every which way.

One landed on his hand.

He looked at it briefly, seeing the tiny creature move as through molasses, each wingbeat perfect. It brought the stinger down, and repeatedly attempted to jab into his flesh.

That... boded poorly.

Still.

He thought briefly.

"Euphrosyne, thank you for this time. I believe I have come a little closer to understanding your Dao of the Leaf."

He bowed, and left. He rose into the air soon after, hurtling towards Callista Manor at tremendous speed. The peculiar thing about Nascent Soul, he mused, was the disassociation. A regular cultivator was a soul in a body, one and the same. As one became a Nascent Soul both the soul and body could act, both the soul and body could think to a degree. Was the seat of one's thought in the body, or soul? Drawing one's soul out showed it to be both, and it was often difficult to maintain perspective, or a sense of self. As he flew, he felt like an observer merely maneuvering someone else's body, a sensation he had felt more and more nowadays.

Breaking the sound barrier was always awkward, the massive boom making him audible to all surrounding. He could have settled it, but better to bring Aikaterine out.

He landed, nodding to a nearby man.

"Please bring Elder Aikaterine. I believe she was returning to the manor to settle some affairs?"

He nodded, running over. The man was a Foundation Building expert, but Manuel couldn't recall his name. He'd met once, but the memory some had for names and people he tended to dedicate to his enemies.

Moments later, Aikaterine Callista was there, readied and geared for battle.

"Elder of War. An omen from the south."

"Devil Bees?"

"I believe so. The omen is not dire, but I would prefer it if forces were moved immediately to reinforce the Night Devil Fortress, and perhaps the Great Hua more generally."

He leapt into the air, and was gone.

Upon returning to the centre of Clan power, he sat thoughtfully. He was not about to gallivant out of the centre of the Clan's power to defend the Night Devil Fortress unless it was absolutely key. The core Clan territories were far too valuable, and showing his hand in the south was unwise - especially if the Devil Bees were about to attack. Better to remain hidden and remain a threat. Perhaps some minor array-carving work, selling arrays to vassals and allies. Not the most productive, but it would occupy his hands and his time while he preferred to remain hidden.

It was a long, tiresome year of cultivation with sporadic work coming in. Then another.

It was two years, in truth, before Manuel heard what was happening in the Hua Empire.

Nine months ago, a few raids had come out of the mountains. Nothing major, a few probing strikes easily forced back by the Fortress. Several major failures, and perhaps five thousand dead Devil Bee cultivators in return for a few hundred Hua and less than ten of the Clan had led them to think that the Devil Bees were exhausted, and unable to strike further.

Manuel ground his teeth. Understandable. But... he touched the jade slip in front of him, reliving that scene once more.

These massive, screaming bees - five metres long and with a horrifying human face clouded out the sun. They were in the sky above the Night Devil Fortress, spears of glass constantly shooting at them, as they themselves battered against a massive golden shield, being taken out of the sky by a massive golden spear. The hoplite was tall, but his back was bent, and his shadowy face bloodied. He was wavering in truth, and mere moments later the hoplite fell.

The first wall fell within three days, the thousand or so cultivators in the fortress outnumbered nearly a hundred to one.

"Despair."

The word sat on the second wall, and they fought with pain in their faces, these hardened cultivators of the Clan, of the Optimatoi soaking every inch of ground in blood, using the powerful arrays and enchanted walls of the Night Devil Fortress at every moment. One young man jumped into the sky, flung by some peculiar catapult, and managed to grasp a siege engine held aloft in the air, a massive thing of blood and darkness bound in the shape of a cyclops, throwing stones of entrails onto the fortress.

He detonated himself, a dazzling blast of blue energy allowing the sun to reappear for a moment.

The light faded, and the cyclops remained.

Six days later, Wall 2 fell.

Two weeks later, so it was with Wall 3.

No more brilliant sacrifices, just delay after delay. The goal of a fortress is not to kill the enemy, but to force them to besiege it, to ensure they cannot advance. The remaining cultivators in the Night Devil Fortress knew their duty, and for another month they fought, reinforcing the wall where possible, seizing small advantages and fighting with no small courage.

Another month they held on atop Wall 4, and then it, too, fell.

Manuel felt himself breathe heavily. The purpose of a fortress was to buy time. Two months was an excellent purchase. If it could buy two more... no, better to see what was next.

A jade slip brought north with all haste, pure mutton fat in colour. An important report.

It was mere words from Aikaterine, no imagery or thoughts. A prosaic woman, but one did not need artistry to lead armies. Well - not much, in any case.

"Grand Elder. I have arrived in the Hua Empire with a force of four Core Formation elders and those beneath us to reinforce our allies. The Hua Emperor has been fighting on the frontlines several times. He sallied out with almost two-thirds of his forces to relieve the Night Devil Fortress, temporarily breaking the siege and allowing a mass delivery of Spirit Stones to the Fortress. While four walls are ruined, there are still three more walls - or two and the Night Devil Keep, as they are referring to it. The siege remains, but the Devil Bees have been forced by our arrival to dedicate forces to somehwat lift the siege to try and use their mobility against us. Our report is as follows."

"Firstly, the three Wind Towers. North Wind Tower was subject to an attack by a thousand mounted Devil Bees, and Disciple Ioannes Kelemos acquitted himself most excellently. Despite losing two-thirds of the Tower guards, he was able to fight his way to the Sandstorm Array after losing both his legs. He managed to activate it after the Devil Bees were in close contact with the tower and about to seize it, killing almost all of them."

An image appeared then, of a Qi Condensation cultivator - a mere boy of sixty years - crawling up stairs, long streams of blood behind him.

"Secondly, Seabreeze Tower. Corruption abounded here, and it is only through the most bizarre chain of events that it did not fall. The Foundation Establishment expert assigned to guard it was an outside expert, and betrayed us to the Devil Bees. Most bizarrely, the Devil Bee in charge of the raid thought it better to use the array and butcher and consume his own men than to take a crucial fortification, and then retreated. My own forces have taken command."

"Thirdly, West Wind Tower was attacked, and has held. The main force of Devil Bees lifted the majority of the siege, and ninety thousand Devil Bee cultivators atop their monstrous mounts were sent east. West Wind Tower's array was activated in good order, and they were unable to seize it, many being driven back, or split apart."

She shook her head.

"The Night Devil Fortress cultivators, of course, have done beyond what could be expected. Against a fullscale invasion of this kind I did not expect them to hold for two weeks, let alone two months. They were outnumbered a hundred to one, and fought an entire army superbly. An old Foundation Building expert with an axe led them, apparently an old Clan cultivator who retired many years ago. On hearing about the siege, he rallied the forces of the Fortress, and died holding Wall 4 to poison just before I arrived."

"What remains is relatively minor. The main Hua Spirit Mine was held against a major raid, the Detonation Arrays we sold to the Hua some centuries ago trapping and killing almost a thousand Devil Bees. However, the Devil Bees were able to seize one of the Floating Hive Islands, and are able to use it as a base to assault Hua cities and towns. This is no disaster - in any war against the Devil Bees we have expected to lose the Floating Hive Islands, but frustrating nonetheless."

"Lastly, twenty thousand or so Devil Bees gathered and struck at Great Hua Lake City as we arrived. The Hua Emperor was badly wounded, and had it not been for my arrival commanding a force of thirty thousand myself the City would have fell, and our defenses in the region rendered rather pointless. I have arranged for reinforcements to be sent south as I deem appropriate. The only things I require authorisation for are more Core Formation elders, and a possible use of yourself, Grand Elder."

There are currently 100,000 Devil Bee cultivators in the Grand Hua (roughly 100,000 Qi Condensation, 1,000 Foundation Experts, 10 Core Formation elders). They have been magnificently repulsed at their first attack, and you have won an unexpected reprieve against a force that should have seized most of the Grand Hua by now.

Against them stand 30,000 Clan cultivators (30,000 Qi Condensation, 300 Foundation Experts, 4 Core Formation elders), alongside 3,000 Grand Hua auxiliaries (1 Core Formation, 30 Foundation Establishment, 3,000 Qi Condensation). Another 1,500 Clan cultivators man fortifications.

This is broadly unfavorable to you, to say the least. Aikaterine Callista can certainly hold the line for some time, but she cannot win this fight with her current forces. She is arranging for reinforcements to be sent south, but you can alter this if you so wish...


For the troops sent south Aikeratine is requesting 60,000 more cultivators - among which she desires another 600 Foundation Establishment experts, and another 10 Core Formation elders...

[ ] Yes - Send her what she wishes. It should allow her to prosecute the war reasonably successfully. You will bleed for the Hua, but you won't die for them.

[ ] Send Less - She will have to make do with less. Send her enough to hold the line indefinitely, but not to throw the Devil Bees out. Bleed them in the desert until they decide to leave. If they decide to double their invasion force, she should be able to retreat in good order.

[ ] Send More - A dangerous move. But if you send her more troops, she could perhaps settle this more quickly, and stabilise the situation. Expensive, though. Dangerous, too, as it will weaken you elsewhere. If the Devil Bees commit more, you may find yourself overextended.

She has hinted at requesting your personal assistance...

[ ] Assist - Removes your former Action for the turn. Be aware, Nascent Souls tend to provoke Nascent Soul responses. Do you want this fight? Of course, if no response is forthcoming, you could end the war in one vengeful strike.

[ ] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

 

[Gore17]

There are currently 100,000 Devil Bee cultivators in the Grand Hua (roughly 100,000 Qi Condensation, 1,000 Foundation Experts, 10 Core Formation elders). They have been magnificently repulsed at their first attack, and you have won an unexpected reprieve against a force that should have seized most of the Grand Hua by now.

Click to shrink...

So, I'm curious, how big of a chunk of their forces are this? The pessimistic, math-calculating part of me is saying it's probably something like 1%, but no idea if that's true or not.

 

[Mochinator]

Two weeks later, so it was with Wall 3

Click to shrink...

So fell Wall Kania, The Hope Renewed on it did not last

No more brilliant sacrifices, just delay after delay. The goal of a fortress is not to kill the enemy, but to force them to besiege it, to ensure they cannot advance. The remaining cultivators in the Night Devil Fortress knew their duty, and for another month they fought, reinforcing the wall where possible, seizing small advantages and fighting with no small courage.

Another month they held on atop Wall 4, and then it, too, fell.

Click to shrink...

Here at Wall Sumitos our Clansmen made their stand, Desperation driving them to beyond their limits

An old Foundation Building expert with an axe led them, apparently an old Clan cultivator who retired many years ago. On hearing about the siege, he rallied the forces of the Fortress, and died holding Wall 4 to poison just before I arrived."

Click to shrink...

DRUSS! DRUSS! DRUSS THE LEGEND! I don't even care that it's just a nod to him, i'm just hyped that we had Druss the Legend in our Clan. Now i'm torn between writing for a search of his axe to use as a cool thing bonus.

I would go for:

[ ] Send More - A dangerous move. But if you send her more troops, she could perhaps settle this more quickly, and stabilise the situation. Expensive, though. Dangerous, too, as it will weaken you elsewhere. If the Devil Bees commit more, you may find yourself overextended.

To hopefully crush them and recover in the 2 turns we have left before the Trials and

[ ] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

Because we cannot escalate this. Us taking out a Nascent Soul Devil Bee while getting wounded only benefits the Devil Bees other victims who are usually Righteous sects and hence opposed to us.

 

[uri]

say, occipitallobe did the demonic alter sect went to war in the end?

 

[Gore17]

"Grand Elder. I have arrived in the Hua Empire with a force of six Core Formation elders and those beneath us to reinforce our allies.

Click to shrink...

Against them stand 30,000 Clan cultivators (30,000 Qi Condensation, 300 Foundation Experts, 4 Core Formation elders)

Click to shrink...

Mistake!

 

[Mochinator]

@Humbaba We had freaking Druss fighting for our Clan!

Does Wei Fang need an axe ?

 

[Katana1515]

Anyone else getting a sudden urge to reread David Gemmell?

I wasn't sure what to write my next Omake about, but I think I have an idea now.

My gut says commiting Manuel will invite escalation. The Bee general would have no recourse but to summon his own Nascent Soul overlords in response. With our old monsters reputation, he might do us more good in reserve keeping them cautious.

On the other side, I could see sending an oversized group of reinforcements. The Bees are all about using speed and consumption tactics to hit soft targets and power-up. If we skip from resolutely grinding them down in the opening stages of the war to throwing a really solid counterattack, there has to be at least a chance the Bees cut their losses and seek food elsewhere?

Also our Marshal is still pretty new to her job, she could be underestimating what she needs to get the job done.

 

[Raron]

So, I'm curious, how big of a chunk of their forces are this? The pessimistic, math-calculating part of me is saying it's probably something like 1%, but no idea if that's true or not.

Click to shrink...

Well, it's a fifth of our entire force.

Or tenth of all cultivators in the land we claim.

We have about a million Qi Condensation cultivators in total when we count in our vassals.

So it is definitly something they would need decades to recover, and they did lose a Early Nascent Soul recently, according to our information network.

 

[Kingmally]

[X] Yes - Send her what she wishes. It should allow her to prosecute the war reasonably successfully. You will bleed for the Hua, but you won't die for them.
[X] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

 

[Nordlending]

Demetrius Ceres
Where to go next?​

«Have you heard, have you heard» a loud voice yelled as my door was kicked down. I turned around to see the expected offender. My dear friend Julius Ares, fighter extraordinaire, and overall meathead. He was a tall broad-shouldered man with a tint of bronze-colored hair on his head and eyebrows. He was a good man, despite his lack of competency in matters related to thinking, and following plans, and formations. All things his family priced highly, and they were quick to stop investing in him when his cousin proved to be everything he was not.

"Remember that lucky Fox Yan," he said while waving his arms around. "He came back from the secret realm bearing treasures even a king would be jealous of.

"Yan?» an image appeared in my head of the person in question. I think I have lost a fight to that guy once. Not that that tells me much of his skills. My style of brutality is not suited for friendly matches when there are no safeguards built into the sparring grounds. They also don't like it when I pin them and tries to rip their arms off.

«According to my friend in the barracks, who had heard from his friend in the legions, who had heard it from another friend in the legion who had heard it from an acquaintance of Yan. The man himself had entered the secret realm in search of treasure and had immediately after arriving found an endless Qi pill, but as soon as he did all the other cultivators around him turned into snakes and devoured his arm". He continued to tell his tale with great gusto and finger gestures. His story was a bit dubious, but it was also entertaining.

After thinking about the story, investigated the rumors in more detail, and ignoring what could only be explained as artistic freedom a few core facts could be found. Yan had found a very valuable pill, and other cultivators had hunted him down for it and had destroyed his hand. He had met the ghost of a heartbroken blacksmith. He had seduced the ghost and received a new hand as a betrothal gift, and he had found a bird egg of some kind. All interesting treasures worthy of note, but that arm. That arm was the true treasure. Something not found in nature that could surpass the limits of the user's body. It was certainly something worth investigating. What if we could build such limbs for every mortal. It was an entertaining idea. With something like that even mortals could join the fight against nature.

Later that week I had a new meeting with Julius, and my poor door had yet again been broken to splinters. He looked excited. Like someone shoved a potent spirit stone down his throat. "Let us go to the secret realm. Treasures to find, foes to defeat« He said in a voice a couple of notches above indoor voice. He continued gushing about the subject, but I had to mute him out to think. My experience with Julius told me that anything important would have been said in the first sentence. The rest would always be 100% fluff.

Visiting the secret realm. It would be dangerous, but it could also be rewarding. Do I need the treasures thought? Certainly, the number of beasts assaulting me of late has increased. Only the net-throwers that were installed prevented those owls from abducting me, and the moles had been fended off by investing in arrays that had made the foundation of my house sturdier.

There was also the scheduled attack of those foreign brigands who were supposed to arrive in the near future. What was commonly referred to as the hundred-year trials. By the sound of things. Fortifying my house and preparing for a siege was not going to cut it. Traveling somewhere else was not going to work either. According to history, the heavens had a tendency to punish those who attempted to run. 40 years. That was not a lot of time. My plan to reach the 10th stage before those 40 years was up. They did not look good.

Should I go there?

Yes, I should

Demeterius Ceres will enter Qiguai secret realm this turn.









The nature of rumors is that it differs a lot from the facts. Well, I had some fun with that. As far as Demetrius is aware, Yan is someone who seduced a ghost and received a new hand as a betrothal gift.

 

[Gore17]

Well, it's a fifth of our entire force.

Or 10th of all cultivators in the land we claim.

We have about a million Qi Condensation cultivators in total when we count in our vassals.

So it is definitly something they would need decades to recover, and they did lose a Early Nascent Soul recently, according to our information network.

Click to shrink...

I'm working off pessimistic numbers, in that they count as part of the Verdant South, which is noted to hold 40% of the Third Flipper Regions population. Assuming our clan has 1% of the population at just under 100 million(this includes vassals), while assuming equal distribution amongst the powers of the Verdant South, that means they have 6%, or six times our size. I then pessimistically rounded that to the nearest order of magnitude for 10%, and since 1 in 100 people can be a cultivator, that gives them 10 million cultivators, of which a force of 100,000 would be 1%.

It's probably(hopefully) not that bad, but like I said, I'm being pessimistic.

 

[Mochinator]

Anyone else getting a sudden urge to reread David Gemmell?

Click to shrink...

I did! Specifically Legend, just to enjoy the scene about the walls and Druss's last stand.

My gut says commiting Manuel will invite escalation. The Bee general would have no recourse but to summon his own Nascent Soul overlords in response. With our old monsters reputation, he might do us more good in reserve keeping them cautious.

On the other side, I could see sending an oversized group of reinforcements. The Bees are all about using speed and consumption tactics to hit soft targets and power-up. If we skip from resolutely grinding them down in the opening stages of the war to throwing a really solid counterattack, there has to be at least a chance the Bees cut their losses and seek food elsewhere?

Click to shrink...

I think they will leave if we prove a tough enough target. Not only is our region pretty poor and so doesn't justify losing more then what they can earn, the more forces they route to us, the more open they leave their more prosperous territory to those that had a grudge against them.

Demeterius Ceres will enter Qiguai secret realm this turn.

Click to shrink...

Hi Comrade! Fancy seeing you there! I wish you luck as well!

The nature of rumors is that it differs a lot from the facts. Well, I had some fun with that. As far as Demetrius is aware, Yan is someone who seduced a ghost and received a new hand as a betrothal gift.

Click to shrink...

I like the rumour chain, it is both extremely plausible and hilarious. It does make me wonder what Julius will think of Rina's encounter 🤭

 

[occipitallobe]

So, I'm curious, how big of a chunk of their forces are this? The pessimistic, math-calculating part of me is saying it's probably something like 1%, but no idea if that's true or not.

Click to shrink...

You're not sure. Perhaps as much as one-fifth, or as little as one-tenth. To counter this force requires massive effort on the part of the Clan, and even raising the forces Aikaterine desires is basically stripping internal fortifications and patrols to their limits. Many in the north will be working far more to keep the peace if we send those troops south.

Realistically, you might expect them to double that force at most, or it might be the limit of what they can bring to bear.

Note that most Clans and Sects are not nearly as good as the Optimatoi are when it comes to redeploying force to the appropriate place, or as good at acting in unison rather than trying to selfishly snatch rewards. A Devil Bee Sect invading with the same numbers but with the unity of the Clan would have taken Hua Empire and Xin Kingdom by now. They would be pressing up against the Clan's soft underbelly in the Scarred Lands.

The Clan took basically every unity bonus it's possible to take.

 

[veekie]

[X] Yes - Send her what she wishes. It should allow her to prosecute the war reasonably successfully. You will bleed for the Hua, but you won't die for them.
[X] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

The current drawn out fight is to our advantage, I think, they're eating terrible attrition.

 

[uri]

Looking at the map the devil bees can only attack us through the goatman tribes, Hua Empire and Hong Xuan Clan (unless the go through the sorrowful blacksmith sect) we don't really need to worry about Hong Xuan Clan they could fight with minimal reinforcement and so we potentially only have two front to worry about the Hua Empire and the goatman tribes.

We should send a bigger number of reinforcements to the Hua empire to try and finish this as quickly as possible and we should consider sending some man to help garrison the goatman tribes so we won't be caught by an attack there (@occipitallobe can we do that)

Also we should keep Manuel in reserve, with him being out of sight the devil bees may hesitate to commit their own nascent soul cultivators (do we know how many they have?).

 

[Marlin]

Batttle Formations: Basics
A Daedalus Khimaira Omake​

"Today, I will go over battle formations, so listen up!" trainer Rhines's voice carried in the room. Daedalus and his fellow recruits were in a room with benches on raised steps in a semi-circle with trainer Rhines standing at the bottom of the steps behind a podium. For reasons beyond Daedalus, behind that podium was a fence protecting a field of dirt that reached to the far away wall.

"Battle Formations are defined in the wider world as "organising masses of cultivators into powerful combat formations is hard, but is one of the few ways to strike across realms. A Sect that can use many lesser cultivators to fight greater ones is a threat to many. Of course, in situations where you or your disciples are caught alone, you will be vastly weaker." This is not how our clan defines battle formations. Our clan has had hundreds of years to look at them, refine them, and understand them. We have found that battle formations are more like arrays."

"For the ignorant, array basics are... Arrays are fixed to one thing, they cannot be moved. Arrays create mystical affects by transferring qi energy throughout a design on a fixed object."

Rhines paused to give the class time to digest that fact, before moving into explaining battle formations.

"Battle Formations are defined by the clan as an array that uses the living as pieces in the energy transference design of an array. The clan defines battle formations this way because battle formations can have personalities, such as the clan's Two-Headed eagle Formation. The explanation the clan uses for why battle formations can have personalities is that battle formations are influenced by those who invest qi into the battle formation. That is a false explanation, but one you recruits are required to keep alive among those who ask among the clan. The truth is that the clan does not know why battle formations with qi constructs can have personalities."

"One theory for why battle formation qi constructs can have personalities, is that over time battle formations take on a myth attribute. Much as how the Heaven's have a will of their own, for reasons that the clan has no explanation for, a formation can gain a will of it's own. The clan simply does not know the truth of this, yet the question of why does the two-headed eagle formation only allow those with the blood of the Golden Devils? Persists to this day."

At least Daedalus would have an answer if someone asked that, although he doubted anyone would feel the need to ask why the two-headed eagle loved the clan's bronze blood? The clan had a special battle formation, lots of clans have special battle formations. Although he didn't know of any like the two-headed eagle formation. The only battle formation of three he knew the clan used over hundreds of years with a personality, why was that? Doesn't matter, Rhines is talking.

"Before I continue, qi-contributors are the individuals of a battle formation that invest qi. Remember that recruits." Rhiines eyes bored into Daedalus's soul.

"What the clan does know about battle formations is that following the clan's definition of it. A individual can split battle formations into Deva and Asura battle formations. Deva battle formations are made by a qi contributor thinking of a mental array construct, then investing qi into it, simplest form battle formation becomes. Asura battle formations are made by qi contributors investing into the bodies of fellow qi contributors in a physical array construct."

"Clap! clap!" clapped Rhines.

In walked three Black Shadows, they were dressed in light white clothes to allow for ease of movement, each holding a spear of metal with a a leather hand protector, surrounding a man with a sack covering his face.

"Prisoner in the foundation establishment early stage, If you can kill the three qi condensation cultivators with spears surrounding you. I will allow you to leave the land of the Golden Devils safely. If you agree, remove your sack, then proceed to grab a weapon from the wall."

The prisoner's hand could not move faster to remove the sack on their head. Only to take forever to reach the weapon rack.

"Gold Devil scum, you will pay for treating the great I like dust. The sounds of the beasts will never remember your names, for they will scream mine in remembrance of what I will do when I return after killing your challenge. I am the mountain you cannot touch. The storm of the north. This blade will be called Chrysatnunumeater devil scum, with it My name will be known!" The prisoner agreed to trainer Rhines's condition.

"The demonstration of the Asura battle formation Omega, will commence!"

Daedalus observed the prisoner charge one of the qi condensation cultivators in white. Her clothes were a lot less than expected among the Legions, more effective on the training yard in the hot sun of the desert day. The prisoner had narrowly dodged backwards from the qi condensation cultivator shifting their body to point a spear at the prisoner. From his position on the step-benches, Daedalus saw the other two qi condensation cultivators had positioned themselves so all three qi condensation cultivators stood in a loose triangle surrounding the prisoner holding a sword.

The prisoner was trapped in a stalemate. They didn't seem to have any techniques that would allow them to get out the triangle of spears. When the prisoner would stand still, one of the qi condensation cultivators would poke at him. If the prisoner grabbed a spear, two spears would poke at the prisoner, repeatedly. The three qi condensation cultivators were also moving around the prisoner, but still kept in a triangle, with the prisoner at their centre. Time passed, the prisoner began to tire out, the qi condensation cultivators looked almost comically fine to Daedalus's eyes.

Eventually, the prisoner made a run towards the gap between two of the spear users. This time, the prisoner had put some thought into their actions. Choosing to dodge two spears, before making a run out of the attack pattern. That's when the prisoner fell backwards onto the ground after hitting a rapidly fading purple wall. The qi condensation cultivators quickly ended the foundation establishment cultivator on the ground. Two spears pinned the prisoner in place, while one spear went to work piercing the body.

"We will now take a break for lunch." trainer Rhines ended the lecture.

Note: I'm sorry for not bringing it up in the thread, but I decided to just go with an attempt at writing up a detailed log of Battle Formations for this quest. Basically the how they work definition. It's not bad per say, but I didn't talk it out, just wrote it up. For that I'm sorry. I wasn't going to post until I ended up reading the QM confirm that they simply love the qi kaiju concept, yet normal battle formations exist as well. So I'm running with the idea that mundane battle formations are a thing that the the third Turtle continent peoples are mostly unaware of, having grown accustomed to one style of battle formations, because that style is more obvious in actually fighting against realms. Yet, our clan's strength is battle formations, so I needed some basics to build up from. Not all the details on battle formations are in that first post. I really hope this post was coherent, please tell me if it isn't, and how I can improve it.

Basically, I split the battle Formations into two types. Deva Battle Formations, which would include Hoplite Formation, Kataphraktoi Formation, and Two-Headed Eagle Formation. Deva Battle Formations are defined as being, arrays formed from a mental construct array to create a qi construct with a physical form from the qi of an individual (you send qi into the array in your mind, that array then turns into a thing to fight for you, stronger the more people that contribute to the mental construct, through another qi contributor thinking of the same mental construct. Also becomes easier to keep the array in your memory the more qi invested into the mental array. The mental array construct ends when no qi is invested into it, which can be done if the qi investor forgets the mental array).

Asura battle Formations, defined as arrays formed from the physical forms of qi contributors (you share qi among qi contributors in a mobile living pattern usually a shape like a circle, a triangle, a square). All battle formations can be used to fight cultivators above your level.

The Deva formations are just the formations that have the easily visible affects, great for fighting against small groups and military use. The Asura battle formations rely upon ingenuity, geometry body array, and tools, to gang up on individuals (they do have magical effects like a invisible barrier line connecting the cultivators in the formation together, but it is more subtle than the very obvious qi kaiju, relying more upon the physical capabilities and synchronization, of the formation pieces, instead of the qi invested.) It is also my intent that you can turn an Asura battle formation off and on by moving out of synchronization. While a Deva battle formation is harder to turn off and on rapidly, being primarily qi dependent. Asura is a light bulb, while Deva is a computer powering up.

Omake reward: Lifesaving treasure

 

[occipitallobe]

Looking at the map the devil bees can only attack us through the goatman tribes, Hua Empire and Hong Xuan Clan (unless the go through the sorrowful blacksmith sect) we don't really need to worry about Hong Xuan Clan they could fight with minimal reinforcement and so we potentially only have two front to worry about the Hua Empire and the goatman tribes.

We should send a bigger number of reinforcements to the Hua empire to try and finish this as quickly as possible and we should consider sending some man to help garrison the goatman tribes so we won't be caught by an attack there (@occipitallobe can we do that)

Also we should keep Manuel in reserve, with him being out of sight the devil bees may hesitate to commit their own nascent soul cultivators (do we know how many they have?).

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Goatman Tribes are barely even vassals. As demihumans they're unable to cultivate all that much, and they're useless to Blood Path and Beast Path. They occupy lands so thin in Qi most ordinary humans could barely survive, and pay small tributes in exchange for protection - mainly to ensure Xin Kingdom and Hua Empire don't steal what little wealth they have. There are a few rotating patrols that run through there, but garrisoning it might well attract the Devil Bees as much as protect the goatmen.

 

[uri]

[X] Send More- send the requested amount plus 100 foundation establishment anD 10,000 Qi condensation cultivators.
[X] Don't

We should at least send enough cultivators that out forces wouldn't be outnumbered in the first rounds of fighting.

 

[Verdom]

[X] Yes - Send her what she wishes. It should allow her to prosecute the war reasonably successfully. You will bleed for the Hua, but you won't die for them.
[X] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

 

[Nordlending]

Hi Comrade! Fancy seeing you there! I wish you luck as well!

I like the rumour chain, it is both extremely plausible and hilarious. It does make me wonder what Julius will think of Rina's encounter 🤭

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Good luck to you as well. We are all going to need it.

Julius would probably roll around on the floor like the fangirl that he is.

 

[Humbaba]

I did! Specifically Legend, just to enjoy the scene about the walls and Druss's last stand.

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Sadly, these Devil Bees lack the respect for their foes of Ulric Khan.

Fortunately, these Devil Bees also lack the skills of Ulric Khan.

@Humbaba We had freaking Druss fighting for our Clan!

Does Wei Fang need an axe ?

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On the one hand, Snaga: the sender. The blades of no return.

On the other hand, lifesaving treasure for the war and trial.

On the third hand actually getting round to writing my omake.

On the plus side this has made me think of the Temple of the 30 again. That seems like a cool thing to recreate as a sect.

 

[Mochinator]

Sadly, these Devil Bees lack the respect for their foes of Ulric Khan.

Fortunately, these Devil Bees also lack the skills of Ulric Khan.

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True! Still Druss deserves to have his Legend told! Below is a sample of my poor attempt to do so! Literally the fastest i've ever been inspired, going to see if i can convey the same scale when the whole omake is complete.

" It's said that the Devil Bees came across the fortress in the shadow of night. That as the first move, they sent a 100 of the stealthiest QI Condensation cultivators to sneak over the pass and into the fortress to open the gates from within, to save the strength of their Foundation Building and Core Formation Cultivators for the fight with the Golden Devils when they discover with the Sun's rise that Night Devil Fortress had fallen into the hands of the Devil Bees.

The plan should have succeeded, the cultivators of the fortress were not aware of the attack. All estimations had predicted that the earliest the Devil Bees could attack would be in another 20 years. The Hundred Devil Bees sneaked into the fortress and took down the patrols detail by detail, so dedicated to their mission that they were willing to trade their lives to prevent any cries of alarm from the patrols via using a blood array to suppress all alarm. By the time they got to the gate, their numbers had reduced to a mere 10 and were in the process of raising the gates when a slacking cultivator returned to his post and stumbled upon them.

Perhaps they got complacent, or perhaps they thought that so close to success and reaping it's rewards they were no longer willing to die for the mission. Regardless, instead of using their blood array, they just suppressed his cries of alarms so that it could only reached an alley near to the first wall. By rights, that should have been it. The cultivator should have died and the gates should have been open and the Fortress lost. But the Blood Devils did not reckon about Old Druzhi, that old legend.

Old Druzhi was friends with the Commander of the Fortress and frequently drank the night away with him before heading home. Like so many nights before, Old Druzhi was using that alley to return home when the cries caught his attention. And i tell you brothers! He might have been old but his instincts were sharp! Without questioning the cries, he leapt into action with his Axe held high!

Before the Devil Bees could react, he was cleaving into them. Lopping of limbs and heads without effort and lending his barks of Alarm to the coward who did not die with better men. Perhaps the infiltrators had a Lifeslip tied to them, for just as the last one was cut-down, the Devil Bees launched a full attack on the Fortress... "

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On the one hand, Snaga: the sender. The blades of no return.

On the other hand, lifesaving treasure for the war and trial.

On the third hand actually getting round to writing my omake.

On the plus side this has made me think of the Temple of the 30 again. That seems like a cool thing to recreate as a sect.

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Well, maybe Wei Feng could claim Snaga but not bond or awaken it yet and thus it grants no benefits. Pushing it's awakening to next turn (maybe with a confrontation with the Demon within ) which when it adds a boost to Wei Feng's combat skills.

 

[Marlin]

[X] Yes - Send her what she wishes. It should allow her to prosecute the war reasonably successfully. You will bleed for the Hua, but you won't die for them.
[X] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

 

[No7sHere]

[X] Yes - Send her what she wishes. It should allow her to prosecute the war reasonably successfully. You will bleed for the Hua, but you won't die for them.
[X] Don't - Let them fight it out. If a Nascent Soul chooses to intervene, do so as well - on your home ground, prepared and ready. You are too valuable to the Clan to risk at this point. Not to valuable to risk, of course, just not at this moment.

When we're talking about battles on this scale how much benefit are we getting from our formation focus?

 

[Marlin]

When we're talking about battles on this scale how much benefit are we getting from our formation focus?

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A lot of benefit, our battle formation focus is part of why we can react to the Devil Bee sect, instead of become suppressed by the devil bee sect in a devastating attack. We also built a fortress along the border with the devil bee sect to handle a toned down form of this sort of complication.

I am left wondering if the devil bee invasion is a result of a roll, or an event that would have happened eventually?