Whats that supposed to means?
Also is Christian cultivation just better than Norse full stop or are they worse at some things?
It's more that the Christian style is extremely successful, generally outcompetes the Norse style on a "Man Years vs Man Years" basis, and doesn't come with a near guarantee that something will kill you before you're 50, meaning you're not encouraged to constantly get stuck in so something remembers you.
That's not to say the Norse style is
weak, the fact that it's open to
everyone without exception who lives that way is very, very powerful on a low level basis. The real flaws of the Norse Style boil down to "The only real way to cultivate is by picking fights" and "You have a God Enforced Expiry Date and once you die, the only thing that lives on are the stories people tell about you."
So the Norse Style
cannot develop as an institution, even when you get someone who beats the odds and becomes strong, that Enforced Expiry Date means that they don't often live long enough to improve the culture as a whole. There are no
incentives to be better because the system massively rewards picking fights over any other form of advancement, and the way the magic works
literally requires you to make it as much of a pain in the ass to replicate as possible.
So a Christian cultivator comes up with some new innovation? They tell others, they get canonized for it or it gets stolen and copied depending on luck and deeds, and after the politics shake out, something new has been learned and the whole style advances.
A Norse Cultivator comes up with some new innovation? They get dogpiled by nine Steelfathers and murdered, assuming something else doesn't kill them first. The real revolution of Hallr's Bullshit is that
he can pass Experience down through the Charred Soul Boon, which bypasses the Enforced Expiry Date and allows something of you to survive past your death.
The real Endgame condition? Is going to be spearheading a Reformed Norse belief system that can interact with the rest of the world without being forced to be a plague on everyone nearby. Something that can survive and compete with the other styles without banding them together to stop you. Which means that non-combat options have to have the ability to be competitive with combat options, and at least a common foundation agreed upon that everyone else can expand from.
Remember after all, the biggest thing Hallr did was
ensure that he can carry out Plans that go beyond your own allotted span of life. Which is what is
required to spearhead that kind of cultural reform.
