If we can have two, we can have a first one as a support spirit, and another in later steps for combat purposes or just a stronger spirit. We dont know much about spirits in general even Zhi Gao being a speaker, and learning with a more amible and weaker spirit is way easier.
After having though about spirits a bit more I think a mangrove spirit would be a great first pick support spirit, we may even be able to find one in the gardens within the sect.
Mangroves have a lot of cool traits, they are a coastal plant that resists waves constantly so we might be able to get some defensive ability out of them, they have buoyant seeds and they form breathing tubes with their roots which we might be able to draw on to assist us in moving around in the water. They are very adept at drawing in nutrients even in a harsh environment and they constantly filter out salt which might get us some kind of survival bonus or toxin resistance. Plus this is a fantasy setting and the sect seems to have some pretty exotic stuff in their gardens, so they might have an even cooler version of normal mangroves with additional useful traits.
Just realised that since our Mind cultivation skill is at 50%, we only need two sets of tutoring to get to rank I. Changed my vote to the plan with Mind training.
Just realised that since our Mind cultivation skill is at 50%, we only need two sets of tutoring to get to rank I. Changed my vote to the plan with Mind training.
Mind Cultivation: 50% is a Skill. Currently we don't know how to raise a Skill above 50%.
Mind: J(1) is a Stat. We need to spend 100 sect points 4 times to raise the Mind Stat to I(2).
Mind Cultivation and Mind Stat are two different things.
Mind Cultivation: 50% is a Skill. Currently we don't know how to raise a Skill above 50%.
Mind: J(1) is a Stat. We need to spend 100 sect points 4 times to raise the Mind Stat to I(2).
Mind Cultivation and Mind Stat are two different things.
I don't think I'll change my vote back though. Did some calcs, and at Second Step we earn at minimum 91 points for every 7 time blocks allocated (13x7). That's assuming we roll no successes which is really unlikely, so we're likely to earn at least 100 points a week just from the mandatory job. This means we can get Mind to rank I by the end of the 2nd month (4 weeks from now), or even a week sooner if we can do two sets of tutoring in one week.
All that said, we should still try and assign at least one set of 7 time-blocks a week to normal cultivation, since higher steps means we earn more points from the Garden and we don't want to fall too far behind.
If my probability calculations are correct after Mind: I(2). We have 75% chance of atleast 1 success on each block of cultivation. After Mind: H(3) it rises to 87.5% at Mind: G(4) it is 93.75%. This is not including the DoS on rolls above 10 and Critical Success
[X] Plan: Get Points and Increase Mind Stat
-[X] The Garden Job. (x2)
-[X] Spent 100 sect point for tuition in Mind Stat
-[X] Physical Cultivation. Breakthrough when necessary until limit of current realm. Then switch to Mental Cultivation.
[X] The Garden Job. Now that you're an outer disciple, the job pays better, but has commensurate difficulties. +1 sect point per hour per Step increase. At your current level (Second Step Outer Human), offers 13 sect points per time block, plus the Degrees of Success on your Spirit Ken roll.
[X] Free Technique: Wood-Nurtured Physique
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Attack
-[X] Element: Wood
-[X] Your muscles are strong like a tree and flexible like bamboo, able to give fast attacks and more damage in melee.
[X] Free Technique: Deepwater Body
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Defend
-[X] Element: Water
-[X] Your body is like the deep ocean, able to absorb attack after attack without being destroyed. Grants extra resilience and makes it very hard to dismember you.
[X] 1 block a day on physical cultivation.
-[X] If reach 30 success, attempt breakthrough. After successful breakthrough, alternate between physical and mental cultivation.
[X] Plan Points for Stats
-[X] The Garden Job. Now that you're an outer disciple, the job pays better, but has commensurate difficulties. +1 sect point per hour per Step increase. At your current level (Second Step Outer Human), offers 13 sect points per time block, plus the Degrees of Success on your Spirit Ken roll. (x2)
-[X] Physical Cultivation
--[X] Once reaching the third step change this block to Mental Cultivation.
-[X] Mental Cultivation
[X] Spend 50 sect points to buy Spirit Ken lessons, 1 block a day on them.
-[X] If reach 50% and can't advance the skill anymore, go to library to study about the spirits on the sect and on Songhua.
[X] Spend 50 sect points to buy Spirit Ken lessons, 1 block a day on them.
-[X] If reach 50% and can't advance the skill anymore, go to library to study about the spirits on the sect and on Songhua. Try to ask the tutor about their opinion on what spirit is best for a first-timer.
[X] Free technique.
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Move
-[X] Element: Fire
-[X] Specific: Exploding Steam Speed - You are capable of bursts of speed resembling the sudden explosion of super-heated water, which allow you to cover a lot of space in little time.
[X] Free technique.
-[X] Mental
-[X] Type: Defend
-[X] Element: Wood
-[X] Specific: Field of Bamboo - You can cause a patch of bamboo stalks to suddenly rise from the ground, allowing you to hinder attacks or movement.
[X] Plan: Get Points and Increase Mind Stat
-[X] The Garden Job. (x2)
-[X] Spent 100 sect point for tuition in Mind Stat
-[X] Physical Cultivation. Breakthrough when necessary until limit of current realm. Then switch to Mental Cultivation.
[X] The Garden Job. Now that you're an outer disciple, the job pays better, but has commensurate difficulties. +1 sect point per hour per Step increase. At your current level (Second Step Outer Human), offers 13 sect points per time block, plus the Degrees of Success on your Spirit Ken roll.
[X] Free Technique: Wood-Nurtured Physique
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Attack
-[X] Element: Wood
-[X] Your muscles are strong like a tree and flexible like bamboo, able to give fast attacks and more damage in melee.
[X] Free Technique: Deepwater Body
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Defend
-[X] Element: Water
-[X] Your body is like the deep ocean, able to absorb attack after attack without being destroyed. Grants extra resilience and makes it very hard to dismember you.
[X] 1 block a day on physical cultivation.
-[X] If reach 30 success, attempt breakthrough. After successful breakthrough, alternate between physical and mental cultivation.
[X] Plan Points for Stats
-[X] The Garden Job. Now that you're an outer disciple, the job pays better, but has commensurate difficulties. +1 sect point per hour per Step increase. At your current level (Second Step Outer Human), offers 13 sect points per time block, plus the Degrees of Success on your Spirit Ken roll. (x2)
-[X] Physical Cultivation
--[X] Once reaching the third step change this block to Mental Cultivation.
-[X] Mental Cultivation
[X] Spend 50 sect points to buy Spirit Ken lessons, 1 block a day on them.
-[X] If reach 50% and can't advance the skill anymore, go to library to study about the spirits on the sect and on Songhua.
[X] Spend 50 sect points to buy Spirit Ken lessons, 1 block a day on them.
-[X] If reach 50% and can't advance the skill anymore, go to library to study about the spirits on the sect and on Songhua. Try to ask the tutor about their opinion on what spirit is best for a first-timer.
[X] Free technique.
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Move
-[X] Element: Fire
-[X] Specific: Exploding Steam Speed - You are capable of bursts of speed resembling the sudden explosion of super-heated water, which allow you to cover a lot of space in little time.
[X] Free technique.
-[X] Mental
-[X] Type: Defend
-[X] Element: Wood
-[X] Specific: Field of Bamboo - You can cause a patch of bamboo stalks to suddenly rise from the ground, allowing you to hinder attacks or movement.
Winning votes:
[X] Grass sprouts from the drops.
[X] Water drips from the blade.
[X] Plan: Get Points and Increase Mind Stat
-[X] The Garden Job. (x2)
-[X] Spent 100 sect point for tuition in Mind Stat
-[X] Physical Cultivation. Breakthrough when necessary until limit of current realm. Then switch to Mental Cultivation.
[X] Free Technique: Wood-Nurtured Physique
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Attack
-[X] Element: Wood
-[X] Your muscles are strong like a tree and flexible like bamboo, able to give fast attacks and more damage in melee.
[X] Free Technique: Deepwater Body
-[X] Physical
-[X] Type: Defend
-[X] Element: Water
-[X] Your body is like the deep ocean, able to absorb attack after attack without being destroyed. Grants extra resilience and makes it very hard to dismember you.
[X] Plan: Get Points and Increase Mind Stat
-[X] The Garden Job. (x2)
-[X] Spent 100 sect point for tuition in Mind Stat
-[X] Physical Cultivation. Breakthrough when necessary until limit of current realm. Then switch to Mental Cultivation.
Social: Lady Zhu, Ma Gang
Garden Job: Spirit Ken 40% + 5DoSoS. 13 sect points + DoS per time block.
10/67s, 48/57f, 70/87f, 73/84f, 10/28s, 16/97s, 26/95s, 65/97f, 41/42f, 2/89s, 3/18s, 23/36s, 21/84s, 50/62f
7, 0, 0, 0, 8, 7, 8, 0, 0, 6, 7, 9, 8, 0
13 * 14 = 182 base points
7+8+7+8+6+7+9+8 = 60
242 sect points gained total.
Spend 100 sect points for Mind training.
142 net gain.
He settles into his new routine as an outer disciple more easily than he did his role as an aspirant; it's not so big a change, really, just a move from a crowded communal bedroom and a simple eating hall to a cramped single bedroom and a much finer dining room. He's only allowed to sit at the white tables, around the edges of the room, the furthest from the food, but it's no hardship. The meals are better than any he's had before, with white rice and fresh fish and fruit and even meat. The concept of wasting so much of the harvest just to make the rice slightly more appealing is honestly a little nauseating, but the taste and feel is still impressive.
He thinks he prefers brown. They do serve it, at least, but he gets some funny looks for choosing it over the more refined options. He is, after all, just a peasant.
That makes it all the more surprising when Lady Zhu chooses to sit opposite him at the table, one morning. She looks different, now, her face much sharper, the feathers in her hair more numerous and vibrant. He can see the heat haze that hovers around her, the faint lines of orange that pulse under her skin, and the piercing quality to her golden eyes that she didn't have before. Her gaze pins him in place for a moment before he shakes it off, and Jia stiffens at his side. Lady Zhu is accompanied, as always, by an ever-burlier Ma Gang, who is carrying three trays of food, but the third member of their group is unfamiliar to Zhi Gao. She's a short young woman with broad shoulders and a strong build, and her pale skin is speckled with black scales. Her eyes are arresting, solid black from edge to edge, with a white ring around her pupil, and a constellation of blue swirled throughout.
"Congratulations to the pair of you on your promotions," Lady Zhu says. "And to you, Zhi Gao, on achieving the Second Step."
He bows his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Lady Zhu," he says. "My congratulations to you, too."
"It is only to be expected of me," she says, and gestures to Ma Gang.
He sets the trays down, one for each of the party, then carefully brushes off the bench before the second woman takes a seat. She looks faintly bemused, but Zhi Gao is used to the other man's eccentric behaviour. It's strange that he didn't bother for Lady Zhu, though.
"And, of course, neither myself nor Ma Gang can compare to Lady Xuan, here," she adds.
Jia's eyes are now firmly focused on her meal, which she hasn't touched since the group approached.
"I got special treatment," Lady Xuan says. Her voice is deep and slightly rough, though the refinement of her accent shines through regardless. "Nothing more and nothing less."
Ma Gang snorts, loud enough to cut through the quiet clamour of the dining hall. Neither of the women gives him a look for it, which is odd; if Zhi Gao had done that back home, his mother would have clipped his ear.
"Family connections are a talent all of their own," he declares. "There's nothing to boast about in progressing through the Outer Human Realm, in any case. Even the street rat will have achieved Inner Human before we leave port, by my reckoning."
"Jealousy ill fits you, Ma Gang," Lady Zhu says. "That Zhi Gao matches your cultivation must bite, hm?"
She begins to eat, careful, precise bites that she doesn't chew. Ma Gang scowls at Zhi Gao, but doesn't say anything to Lady Zhu; instead, he turns his gaze to Lady Xuan, for some reason.
"Zhu Bai has a sharp tongue," Lady Xuan says, smiling faintly. "To be so cruel to one's retainer."
"The horse requires spurring to reach his full speed," Lady Zhu retorts. "I do not expect him to match me, but he sometimes requires motivation."
"The perils of Fire," Lady Xuan says. Her teeth are a single plate, Zhi Gao notices. "It requires frequent fuelling. We of Water are content to progress at our own pace."
"Better than Wood," Ma Gang says. "Surging unrestrained, only to falter when it is most needed."
"Or Metal," Lady Zhu adds. "So sharp it cuts even its allies."
They're all smiling, just enough to be made out, and Jia is nearly shaking out of her skin next to him. He's sure he's missing something, here.
"And the two of you are Water, are you not?" Lady Xuan says. "If the heavens are kind, we will be associates for many centuries."
"Ah, I don't know about that," Zhi Gao says, trying to muster up as much politeness as he can. "I'm just a peasant. It doesn't seem like we'll see much of each other, my Ladies. I can't think nobles would want much to do with me."
There's a moment of silence, as the three nobles across the table study him.
"I suppose we will see, Zhi Gao," Lady Xuan says, a smile creeping across her face. "I hope I will not be disappointed."
The rest of the meal passes in stilted conversation, as the nobles chat and Zhi Gao answers when spoken to. He's lost, to be perfectly frank, and not sure exactly why he's lost. Jia remains silent. Normally, she'd be poking and prodding, even with Lady Zhu, but the presence of Lady Xuan seems to have scared her. Eventually, the awkard meal ends, and the five of them go their separate ways.
Zhi Gao gives the conversation no mind over the next few days, as he spends most of his time in the gardens. He's picked up a pair of body path techniques to study, and the correct way to develop them combines well with his sect job. One, Wood-Nurtured Physique, requires him to soak his body in wood-aspected qi, and to circulate it to his muscles and tendons. This has to be done while moving, so doing it while he works the fields and cultivates his body path under the trees is a perfect way to do so. He finds himself becoming stronger and more flexible, as his muscles grow as dense as oak and his tendons as flexible as fresh bamboo. The other technique he has chosen, Deepwater Body, is a little more complex. He has to circulate water-aspected qi through himself in an unusual pattern, which infuses his entire self with the qi. It's a funny feeling, like he's somehow deeper than he seems at first glance. It also feeds into his wood technique, as watering a plant encourages its growth. He hadn't realised it would tint his skin faintly blue, though. It makes him look like he's been out in the cold too long, and when he touches metal or glass for extended periods of time, little beads of condensation start to form.
He hopes it never gets as bad as Elder Fang. He doesn't know how he'd deal with living life as an ice statue.
He needs the improvements to keep up with the gruelling workload he's chosen to take on this week. Eight hours a day of working in the gardens, and as much of his free time as he can spare spent building on his body path. He pushes through to the Third Step two days into his week, and the surge of energy propels him through the rest of his work, allowing him to gather up enough herbs and fruits to impress even the inner disciple who oversees the garden he's working in the next day. He's allowed to work the more dangerous gardens, now that he's finally a fully broken through cultivator. They range from hot to cold, humid to dry. They aren't truly dangerous, even to a mortal, but extended exposure to the western rooms would leave a mortal badly sunburnt and delirious with heat. The southern rooms begin to leave little cuts in his clothes and faint white lines on his skin, just from the ambient metal-aspected qi in the air; thankfully, the sect robes self-repair such minor damage. The rooms he likes the least, though, are the northern ones. The wood-aspected qi in them tries to make his body grow, warp, twist out of shape into something unpleasant and tumorous. The air is filled with spores and pollens that try to set root in his skin and lungs. It's not a persistent problem, like the heat or cold, nor is it an obvious one, like the razor-edged air or the simple increased weight of everything. It's insidious.
He can see how it would be a potent element to cultivate, though, and it makes him glad for his choice of body path technique. Greater risks, too, bring greater rewards; he earns more sect points from a single day of work now than he would from half a week before. Not that it seems to matter, as the costs of the things he wants to purchase seem to be getting more expensive to match. He dreads to think of what it will cost to get access to even more advanced resources.
He's certainly going to have enough sect points left to keep pursuing his last commitment, though, that of improving his mind.
He's fully aware that he's not the smartest of men. While he can move faster than and is stronger than Jia, she can talk circles around him. While he's Third Step in the body path and Second in the mental, she's already up to Sixth Step in the mental path. Lagging behind is not something he's willing to contemplate, so he swallows his nervousness and spends his hard-earned sect points on lessons with an inner disciple. He's disappointed, but not shocked, to find that he has apparently paid Rao Chen, the surly man who showed him to his room, a hundred sect points for lessons.
While he would never call Rao Chen friendly, paying for his time means that the older man is significantly less abrupt. The lessons are strange, though; they range from children's games of matching words to complicated mathematical problems that make his head ache. He'd rather spend his time labouring in the fields. At least then he would know the reason he felt so wrung-out. It's slow going, and every session makes him feel like more of an idiot than when he started, but he does seem to be making progress. By the end of the week, he's finding the puzzles at least slightly easier to solve than before. Rao Chen's pinched face no longer looks quite so disappointed, either, though that's such a small difference Zhi Gao thinks he might just be imagining it.
It hasn't been an impressive week, he thinks, but digging the foundations for a home is a dull and unimpressive task. They must be deep enough and strong enough to support the walls and roof, though, or the whole thing will collapse. So too is it with cultivation.
What's the week plan?
You may choose 2 people to spend time with this week:
[ ] Lady Zhu.
[ ] Ma Gang.
[ ] Jia.
[ ] Zhang Shui.
[ ] Leng Jin.
[ ] Liao He.
[ ] Shan Hong.
[ ] Lady Xuan
[ ] Other (you will go wandering and try to find someone interesting. Now that you are an outer disciple, new options will be available).
Pick a job to spend 7 blocks a week on.
[ ] The Garden Job. Now that you're an outer disciple, the job pays better, but has commensurate difficulties. +1 sect point per hour per Step increase. At your current level (Second Step Outer Human), offers 13 sect points per time block, plus the Degrees of Success on your Spirit Ken roll.
[ ] Other. See the Jobs Board post in the Informational threadmarks.
You have three (3) 4-hour blocks a day (21 blocks a week) free to spend as you wish. Cultivating takes 1 block, jobs take 1 block, various training will take up blocks as noted in the description in the Sect Points post in the Informational threadmarks.
An example plan would be:
[ ] Jia.
[ ] Liao He.
[ ] 1 block a day on mental cultivation lessons.
[ ] 1 block a day on physical cultivation lessons.
[ ] Search for a spirit to bind. (Spirit Ken)
- [ ] What kind? (Type of spirit, associated element)
- [ ] What powers would you like it to have? (Rough outline)
You have two technique slots available in the mental path. Discuss what you would like for them. You do not have to fill these slots immediately, and can choose to wait. Please feel free to ask me questions on this. Requires 5+ votes to lock in a technique.
[] Plan: Mind and matter
-[] The Garden Job.
-[] Spent 100 sect point for tuition in Mind Stat (x2)
-[] Physical Cultivation.
[X] Plan: Mind and matter + research
-[X] The Garden Job.
-[X] Spent 100 sect point for tuition in Mind Stat (x2)
-[X] 1 block on basic pill info e.g. side effects, 1 block on contracting spirit beasts, 5 blocks on Physical Cultivation.
[X] Jia.
[X] Shan Hong.
We've got the points for two sets of mind training, so we may as well do two now then the 4th and last set next week.
Not fully decided on the last action, I was considering a library action to research pills and if they have any side effects we should consider, but I'm not sure if that's a valid vote. Do we even know where the library is?
@Kadmus if we want to research pills, would that be a weekly action or a social one?
Edit: added an alternative plan which trades two blocks of physical cultivation for research into pills and contracting spirit beasts.
we know where it is since its where we pick up techniques
Also is your vote focusing on physical until we upgrade mind before switching to mental?
Since we need to balance things before breakthroughs or it would cause problems.
Research actions take 1 time block total for basic stuff, or a full 7 for more details/more information. If you wanted basic pill info, that's one block.
EDIT: You also found the library back in... 1.3 I think?
we know where it is since its where we pick up techniques
Also is your vote focusing on physical until we upgrade mind before switching to mental?
Since we need to balance things before breakthroughs or it would cause problems.
My votes just on physical for now, since we'll only be upgrading Mind to I by end of next week at the earliest.
We could be Step 9 Physical and Step 1 Mental and we'd still have no problems.
It's when you're breaking through to the next realm e.g. from Outer Human to Inner Human that you need to be balanced. Before then an imbalance doesn't affect you.
My votes just on physical for now, since we'll only be upgrading Mind to I by end of next week at the earliest.
We could be Step 9 Physical and Step 1 Mental and we'd still have no problems.
It's when you're breaking through to the next realm e.g. from Outer Human to Inner Human that you need to be balanced. Before then an imbalance doesn't affect you.
@Karnax626@Wing101 I've also added an alternative plan which trades two blocks of physical cultivation for research into pills and contracting spirit beasts, if that interests either of you.
[X] Jia.
[X] Zhang Shui.
[X] Plan: Mind and matter + research
[X] Purchase Technique (50 sect points): Purestream Mind
- [X] Physical
- [X] Type: Support
- [X] Element: Water
—[X] Your thoughts will flow smoothly even in times of great stress and are resistant to outside influences.
After seeing how the wood qi was messing with us just by existing, I feel like we need something to protect us from outside influences both body and mind. Plus having a cool head in a crisis is always useful, especially when we know we will be in the military in the future where things could get pretty chaotic. We also have enough sect points to cover the cost of buying a technique even with the expenditure on mind training.
@Karnax626@Wing101 I've also added an alternative plan which trades two blocks of physical cultivation for research into pills and contracting spirit beasts, if that interests either of you.
I feel like we can do that once weve upgraded mind and have extra block since i dont think we should ever stop cultivating unless theres an emergency or something.
By the way for spirit should we get something that would help in doing gardening like a water spirit to gain more points since we need alot of those for training skills and stats.
@Kadmus how exactly differ physical from mental techniques?
Also, would something that would reduce our need for sleep be suitable as a mental technique (water, support)?
