Walking Disasters and Me-Body Talk, Promise of a Clover – Ch 19
I finish administering head pats to the beyond pleased fox woman, before I pat my lap a couple times. Akiko takes the hint rather quickly, and with an overjoyed expression she plops her head down on my thighs as I go back to softly petting her hair and ears. Her tails quickly resume their happy swishing on the couch where there's space, and a soft purr soon begins to fill the room. I look down to see Akiko has fully closed her eyes, and I notice that her face makes it look like she is in heaven right now. My poor mortal heart almost can't handle the amount of cuteness!
Ios chuckles softly at Akiko's antics before resuming her explanations, "Silly fox~ Right, body cultivation is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to cultivation. People who practice this path use Qi to strengthen their physical form to unimaginable heights, and while they are lacking in ranged techniques usually, if they are able to close in on their opponent it is game over for whoever is about to get smacked. It also has the most explosive power curve as you progress through the path, but like I mentioned earlier it comes at the weakness of barely developing the soul at all really.
The first realm of this path is called the Body Tempering Rank, and similar to the other two paths it is where the user will focus on feeding Qi directly into both the dantian and body itself. There are 4 realms to this rank, and once you comprehend what it means to feed your body Qi, it usually goes the fastest among all the paths.
After you breakthrough, you will be in the Compression Rank. This is where you learn to feed Qi into your muscles, skin, and bones more accurately and use it to expand and compress your musculature to an insane degree. Toward the end of this rank, you would be able to smash apart boulders or thick trees with a single flick of a finger, and your skin becomes more and more resistant to damage. Again, there are 4 realms to progress through with each one increasing your understanding of your physical body and its limitations and strength.
Once you move on from here, you're onto the Widening Core Rank. In this rank, you begin to increasingly expand your dantian to hold more and more Qi inside your body. Body cultivators use
a lot
of Qi when they fight or use their techniques, but the tradeoff is that they are vastly stronger than other cultivator paths on the same level. Due to this, this entire 6 realm rank makes you build up and balloon your dantian to more effectively store Qi to fuel your strength and further advancement down the cultivation path.
Progressing past this rank will lead you into the second to last mortal rank of body cultivation, the Eternal Body Rank. The defensive aspects of this path really come into play at this rank as you transform your skin and internal bits and parts to be nearly indestructible. Your skin goes from being impact and cut resistant to being unable to be damaged at all, unless someone can overpower your natural, now expanded, Qi.
You also don't suffer from any internal damage from impacts or physics so long as your Qi is stronger than whatever smacked you, which I'm sure you'd appreciate Aims~" She says with a giggle as I shoot her a pouting look, "Like the other paths, there are 7 realms to comprehend and advance through until you move onto the peak of mortal body cultivation, the Epoch Rank.
The Epoch Rank actually shares a lot of similarity with the Apogee Rank of spiritual cultivation. Both focus on the transformation of Qi from its natural gas form to liquid, and then solid at the half step realm. However, body cultivation takes it even further and focuses on compressing the Qi into the smallest form possible. I know that sounds kind of counter intuitive, given the Widening Core Rank's gimmick, but think about what that entails. All of that Qi expansion is now being compressed into a small, explosively powerful state, and when you get the Qi to a solid form
hoo boy
it gets crazy.
Half step Epoch Ranks can easily level a continent if they unleash all of their power into one attack. Of course, they would be weakened and exhausted afterwards, they arn't Immortals, but the fact that they can unleash such destruction as a mortal cultivator is beyond impressive. Peak body cultivators should always be treated as an immediate, lethal threat until you get into the 6th Realm. If they can get up close to you, you are going to have a
bad time.
Luckily, there arn't any around here, but if any ever do find their way to Mara we should all be careful around them.
There are 9 realms and the half step to progress through in the Epoch Rank, and although advancement through the previous ranks will likely be pretty quick, I would highly recommend you take these realms slowly. The more you can compress your Qi, the stronger you and your techniques will become." Ios finishes up. Seems like body cultivation is much more straight forward than the other two, which is good! And becoming invulnerable to damage also sounds nice~.
"Great job again Ios! You're a natural at this honey~ So, which path should I start with? I feel like I have a pretty strong connection to soul cultivation with all my titles and stuff leaning so heavily that way already, but I can't lie, body cultivation also sounds pretty awesome too." I ask Ios as I lean back, Akiko still laying on my lap in bliss as my ministrations continue to bring her soul to heaven~ hehe.
"What do you mean Aims? You're going to be doing all three of them at the same time." I really shouldn't be surprised by her casualness to drop bombs, but she always has such a way of just slipping them in that always catches me off guard. Even Akiko returns from nirvana when she processes what Ios said and hops back up to a sitting position, which instantly makes me sad. My thighs are cold now; I need my fluff back...
"Spirit Ios, are you sure that is wise? Wouldn't Amelia face triple the number of tribulations if she were to progress through the paths at the same time?" Akiko asks with concern laden through her voice and plastered on her pretty face. I look back to Ios and see her have a knowing smile and gleam to her eyes before she responds to the question.
"If she were to progress the paths in a staggered manner, yes. However, I meant she is going to advance and face all of their tribulations at the same time. Similar to how you are preparing to advance your bloodline when you tackle the 6th Realm tribulation, if Amelia reaches her breakthrough on all the paths concurrently, then the tribulation will only trigger once. It will, however, be vastly more powerful than a standard tribulation. Even before taking into account Aims' title that buffs the Heavens Wrath. But so long as we prepare her properly and she spends her Ability Points wisely, it should be manageable.
Akiko, you and I will need to pay serious attention to the tribulations on these early ranks, while they are still considered weak. If it looks like its going to be too much for Amelia to tackle the next one, then we need to switch gears and focus on her completing quests and tasks from the system to get more points to spend. While we may need to go to a staggered advancement, I would heavily advise against it if we can avoid doing so. The benefits of advancing all her paths at the same time cannot be understated, trust me on that." Ios ends in a serious tone, and I can see why. This is beyond risky, especially with that
[Defier of the Heavens]
title going to make any tribulation I face be extra strong anyway.
With my own concern rising I ask the both of them, "And we're sure this is a good idea? Wouldn't it be safer to go ahead and do it all staggered like? Maybe at least until we see what kind of reaction Heaven is going to have to me in the first place."
Ios seems to ponder it for a second out of consideration for me, but Akiko actually beats her to responding to me as she turns to hold my sight with a still slightly concerned energy, "While I do agree that this may be more dangerous than usual, I concur with spirit Ios' assessment. I think, at least for the first breakthrough into the 1st Realm of all the paths, you should do as she suggests and advance all of your paths together. Spirit Ios and I can judge Heaven's response and then adjust our expectations afterwards. For the first tribulation you should not be in danger, hopefully, due to these Ability Scores you have."
"Akiko is right Aims, but I totally understand the hesitation. We are doing something that hasn't been done on this world, maybe ever before, so it would be best to see what we're up against while its still safe to do so. I think you should be fine for the first tribulation, like Akiko said, but just in case I would go ahead and distribute your available Ability Points into Constitution. At least another 150 of them, just to make sure that you can tank whatever Heaven throws at you." Ios follows up right after Akiko explains her thoughts.
Damn it, this is getting kind of scary. Ios wants me to nearly double my already inflated stats to even
start
all this cultivation stuff! Trying to distract myself while I process all this information, I deflect a teensy little bit to Ios.
"Speaking of the points and all that, what exactly would I be gaining when I advance through the realms? I mean stat wise, not like, the obvious benefits." I think Ios catches on to my attempts to stay sane, but she thankfully plays along with it and gives me an answer.
"Right, we should go over that and also a comparison of what your stats mean versus the people here. To start with, you will receive a bump in stats as you advance through the paths, starting with small increases to all your scores except Charisma and Luck from the spiritual path, while soul will greatly increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, and to a lesser degree your Constitution. Body cultivation will heavily increase your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, but will never increase your other stats.
These free increases will start small, like I said, but toward the 3rd Realm and up they become much larger. For example, just for breaking through into the 3rd Realm you should get 1000 of all those relevant stats for the soul and body paths, and 500 in each stat for the spiritual cultivation. You'll also get a percentage increase to your Health and Stamina pools and their recovery rates as you advance too, but these are all uniform. But! Since you'll be going down all three of the paths, you'll get all three of the percentage buffs~.
Now, for ease of explanation I'll break down how the end of each Realm of spiritual cultivation would compare to ability scores, so that you have an idea of the strength level of people around you. The cultivators at the peak of the 1st Realm would have roughly 40 - 60 points in all of their stats, so you're already past them!~ Congrats hehe!
The folks at the peak of the 2nd Realm would be close to where you're at now, with all of your equipment on and buffing you, sitting at roughly 200 - 250 points in their scores. You would probably still come out on top due to your spear having that soul damage perk, but I wouldn't recommend it since they've been used to fighting for years by the time they have reached the apex of the realm. You can never underestimate the value of battle experience when you fight someone, remember that honey~!
The third Realm is where it starts getting whacky, like I mentioned earlier. Peak 3rd Realm cultivators would have stats in the 1000 - 1500 range, and their health and stamina would start becoming monstrous by this point too.
Peak Unification Rank people are even more insane. Their pools would be considered truly massive, and their scores would likely have somewhere in the 10,000 to 20,000 range. There's so much variance at this level and the Apogee Rank because if they advanced too quickly without solidifying their foundations and meridians, they wouldn't get the full benefits of advancement. Thats why Akiko and I will be stressing how important it is to constantly focus on keeping the teachings and foundations of your paths impeccable as you grow. No point in going through all the pain of the tribulation if you arn't going to get all you can out of it~.
For someone like Akiko, who has reached the half step of the Apogee Rank, their points are beyond scary. Akiko likely is an exception due to her bloodline giving her extra power, but I'll still use her as an example just to highlight the difference between her and the lower Realms." Ios says before turning to Akiko.
"If you had a status sheet Akiko, you would more than likely have stats in the range of 500,000 to 1 million range, and quite honestly they would all likely be closer to that million estimate. Of course, her health and stamina pools would be equally as massive as her stats due to her cultivation path, ability scores, and bloodline." Ios wraps up her explanation with a satisfied nod of her head and waits for me to respond.
Akiko actually seems kind of proud at the assessment, and nods with a satisfied smirk on her lips a couple times. Ios giggles slightly at the silly fox woman, before continuing on, "While we're still discussing everything, we should go over how to use your Skill Points too Aims. While you
can
use them to level up your existing skills, I wouldn't recommend doing that unless the skill is difficult to progress naturally. What they are really supposed to be used for is purchasing different abilities or techniques from the Shop.
There is actually one that I think you should buy right now, since it has a massively overpowered synergy with your ridiculous Luck stat. It's called
[4 Leaf Clover]
, and if you use it it guarantees Luck to proc the next four times for your actions, crafting results, or attacks you do or any damage you would have received. It has a cool down of a month, so it is likely going to be your trump card, something you use when you're up against a wall or when you need to make something of quasi-transcendent quality. Even better, it's also evolvable and can go down separate evolution paths and the amount of uses you can get from it before it runs out will increase as you develop it further too.
It'll cost you 50 Skill Points, and you cannot use points to level it up, sadly. It will only gain strength through usage, but there seems to be a clause in it that stipulates that the amount of damage that Luck buffs or protects you from, or the quality of item produced if used for crafting purposes, will also aid in its growth. Honestly, the first time you use it you may level it up a few times right then and there!~"
Holy shit! That sounds beyond overpowered like Ios said! "Don't tempt me with a good time, go ahead and buy it Ios!"
You have purchased the skill [4 Leaf Clover lvl 1, Evolvable] for 50 Skill Points!
Available Skill Points: 8
Damn, Luck fails to activate on the shop yet again. We've been getting pretty unlucky, ironically, on that front the past few purchases... Well, not like I needed the best ever possible bathroom kit so it's not too devastating, but it would have been cool to see what would have happened if it triggered on the skill I just bought... Wait a minute...
"Ios, does
[4 Leaf Clover]
also mean that if I use it while we're shopping, Luck will 100% proc on whatever the next 4 purchases are?" I ask in a quiet voice with a bit of trepidation and nervousness, which Ios seems to mirror as realization dawns on her cute face. Akiko is a bit out of the loop, but probably sensing our growing excitement, she begins to perk up a bit and look between us. Eventually, her curious foxy mind has to break the expanding silence that fills the room, as both Ios and I are stun locked at my question.
"Spirit Ios, what would that entail if this Luck were to occur when procuring items from Amelia's system?"
Ios doesn't respond right away, and Akiko and I see her eyes glaze over in her projection as a string and series of numbers begin flashing down in rows in her pupils, like if she is looking directly into the matrix or something. Or, more like if the matrix was being shown on her eyes? I don't know, I'm trying not to freak out right now. Neither of us on the couch interrupt whatever Ios is doing, and after a few minutes her eyes return to normal, as she looks back at the two of us.
Her voice is as equally quiet as mine was when I asked the question that started all of this before she finally speaks up, "Holy. Shit. Amelia. You are so fucking smart!!~ It would! It absolutely would! If I had a material body, I would be hugging you so much right now! Hehehe~!
Akiko, this is huge. You know how incredible Amelia's battle attire is right?" Akiko nods before Ios continues on, "Well, we didn't mean for her to buy that back in the forest. She was supposed to get a lower, Mid Earth Rank dress but Luck activated and upgraded it into the Peak Heaven Rank version on its own, without Aims having to spend more of her points on it.
What this means now is, if Amelia uses her new skill before buying her cultivating manuals and the manual for the Sect Leader... We are going to be getting the best possible, most powerful, UBER NOT SUPPOSED TO EXIST cultivation methods. In other words..." Ios takes a deep breath, before a manic, crazed look flits across her form.
"Shit is about to get real."
.
!
Body Talk, Promise of a Clover – Ch 19
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