*comment REMOVE *save_checkpoint *comment chapter 1 temps *temp smithathletics 0 *temp shardgain 0 *temp subrc "" *temp itemcrossbow 0 *temp tummydraw false *temp squigerattack false *temp leftovershards 0 *temp careerpath 0 *temp apgain 0 *temp val 0 *temp jackfight 0 *temp fightfren "" *temp jackdiff 1 *temp revealedchucks false *temp itemmysticscroll 0 *temp jackstabbed false *temp jackbird false *temp jackfall false *temp cheapskateshard false *set combatstat "" *set combatstat2 "" *set combatskill "" *if (sonarmode) [b][Chapter 1][/b] *else *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/ap-chapter-one.png [b][i]In which a childhood is lived,[/i][/b] *line_break [b][i]A rivalry is formed,[/i][/b] *line_break [b][i]And a new thread of fate is woven.[/i][/b] Every great event is preceded by stories of lesser consequence. The battlefield inferno that blazes through your village is preceded by the story of an ordinary child who wanted to be something more. Your story. *choice #10 Years earlier... [Play through your childhood] *set firstchapter 1 *set age - 10 *goto Next_tenyears #3 Years earlier... [Skip Chapter 1, not for first-time players] *set firstchapter 2 *set age - 3 *goto_scene chapter2alt Next_fouryears *label Next_tenyears *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/childhood_village.jpg Life in Thunderfall Village is quiet and comfortable amongst the forested mountains. Your parents aren't wealthy but you always have food on your plate, clothes on your back, and a roof over your head. More importantly, it's your 10th birthday and it's the best you've ever had! Every day the village children spectate on wooden benches around the sparring circle, watching Martial Artists of the Thunderfall Sect duel in fair combat, but today is different. Today your parents managed to reserve the sparring circle for you and your friends to actually spar! You've been in unarmed duels against children of the village all morning already and it's been a blast. The noontime break arrives and Mother and Father bring out rejuvenating spirit-fruit juices for you, your friends, and your siblings, the twins Jin and Rin. Such a rare treat catches your attention, you've never had any spirit-enhancing elixirs before. It's sweet and citrusy on your tongue. Your tummy feels like there's a warm lightning cloud inside, but only for a minute. [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 *goto Next_race *label Next_race You and the twins finish your glasses with a content sigh and beam up at your parents. The five of you make up a happy family of... *choice #Humans, native and most common inhabitants of the world. Like most of the people on the planet, and especially your village, you are a Human. Your brown almond-shaped eyes and black *if (heshe = "he") spiky *elseif (heshe = "she") silky hair marks you as a Zenshin, or maybe you have ancestors from the previous empire of Cathayans, but that doesn't matter. What matters is the Human body is designed perfectly for cycling chi; Oni only exist because spirits want a human form, and Yokai only exist because animals want a human form. It feels good to be born as the world's most sought-after natural body, even if being a dragon would have been more aesthetic. Still, you're proud to feel a connection to your people and your lands. History says it was your people who rebuilt this world after the last Calamity, and history will continue to say it is your people that forge its destiny. Long live the Rasen Empire. [b][Racial Bonus: Lore +1][/b] Are you sure you and your family are Humans? *choice #Yes, me and my family are Humans. *set lore + 1 *set haircolor "black" *set eyecolor "brown" *set race "Human" *set raceadjective "human" #No, we're something else. *goto Next_race #Lunargoths, pale humans with rounder eyes. Your Gothic family is an oddity in the small village of Thunderfall. While native humans have black or brown hair and brown eyes before absorbing enough chi that might change such traits, your people are born with a cascade of colors. Lunargoths possess lighter skin with more round eyes in shades of blue, green, grey, or amber, and a variety of hair colors from pitch black to white, yellow, orange, or red. Your father sports short golden hair with green eyes and your mother has long and curly bright-red hair with dark blue eyes. You hear there are more of you somewhere else. Not just the major cities that have a bit of everything, but in lands beyond this world filled with darkstone Gothic architecture. They say your people came down centuries ago from the Moon, which is awesome. You want to go to the Moon one day. [b][Racial Bonus: Craft +1][/b] Are you sure you and your family are Lunargoths? *choice #Yes, me and my family are Lunargoths. *set craft + 1 *set race "Lunargoth" *set raceadjective "gothic" Like all Lunargoths you're born with coloration in your hair and eyes. In particular, your hair is... *choice #Pitch black. *set haircolor "black" #Shades of light brown. *set haircolor "light brown" #Dirty blonde. *set haircolor "dirty blonde" #Golden Blonde. *set haircolor "golden blonde" #Pure white. *set haircolor "white" #Burning orange. *set haircolor "orange" #Deep red. *set haircolor "red" And your eyes are... *choice #Black *set eyecolor "black" #Grey *set eyecolor "grey" #Deep blue *set eyecolor "blue" #Pale blue *set eyecolor "pale blue" #Amber *set eyecolor "amber" #Verdant green *set eyecolor "green" #Pale green *set eyecolor "pale green" #Hazel *set eyecolor "hazel" #No, we're something else. *goto Next_race #Oni, red-skinned descendants of demons. Oni descend from spirits or demons who managed to manifest a physical form, normally by stealing the body of a human and warping it to fit their desires. Such a transformation of purpose is frowned upon by the Heavens and leaves its mark for generations; you and your family are recognizable by the hereditary red skin and pointed ears that all Oni share. Most Oni also possess white hair and black or yellow eyes. Your kind is distrusted in most rural areas where you're considered thieves or cultists. Oni families like yours aren't rare in your village, but if they were, you'd be in trouble. Luckily there have been enough Oni in Thunderfall Village for generations, to the point that co-existing was easy by the time you were born. You hear things are worse elsewhere, sometimes much worse. You also hear things are better in the major cities where many of your kind control banks and trade. As an Oni you have no additional spiritual powers or the ability to bargain for souls like a true demon, but you are pretty good at turning a conversation in your favor when you're in trouble. [b][Racial Bonus: Deception +1][/b] Are you sure you and your family are Oni? *choice #Yes, me and my family are Oni. *set deception + 1 *set race "Oni" *set raceadjective "demonic" Oni always have pitch-black or snow-white hair. Your family in particular displays... *choice #White hair *set haircolor "white" #Black hair *set haircolor "black" Your father is a yellow-eyed Oni while your mother is a black-eyed Oni. You happen to be a... *choice #Yellow-eyed Oni. *set eyecolor "yellow" #Black-eyed Oni. *set eyecolor "black" #No, we're something else. *goto Next_race #Yokai, descendants of animals who Advanced their bodies into human form. When animals absorb enough chi to transform into a more powerful body they are called Beasts. But not all animals choose to become larger predators. For various reasons, some empowered animals spend immense spiritual energy to advance their intelligence and spirit by taking on the form of a human body. Such beings are known as Yokai. Yokai that are formed from this transformation, this variation of "Advancement", are all extremely powerful, but your family isn't like them. Like the vast majority of Yokai, you just descend from one or more animals who Advanced a long time ago, probably a few great-great-great-grandparents. Most yokai keep some animalistic traits from their predecessor such as eyes, fangs, or ears, and almost all have a tail. You happen to descend from... *choice #Felines *set subrc "Cat" Panthers, Tigers, Bobcat, Lions, Cougars, even some housecats, they're all master hunters and so they're some of the most common animals to Advance into a Beast or a Yokai. Your ears are those of a cat: fluffy and twitching, growing through your hair closer to the top of your head. But your real prized trait is your tail, soft and flexible. #Canines *set subrc "Wolf" Wolves and dogs are man's closest friend in the animal kingdom. It's no surprise that some wolf or dog Beast ancestor of yours was around powerful humans long enough that it chose to Advance into a human body. Your ears are those of a wolf, tufted and soft, growing through your hair near the top of your head. Your tail is large, and oh so fluffy. #Reptiles *set subrc "Reptile" Being cold-blooded stops many reptile Beasts from Advancing into Yokai, the change is just too fundamental. It requires too much chi. For that reason, those who manage the process are incredibly frightening creatures. Whatever the reptile was when it was born, by the time your ancestor had enough power to Advance into a Yokai it had probably already Advanced into a massive tunneling Wyrm or terrifying Dragon. Your thin scaled tail has an arrowhead tip. #Monkeys *set subrc "Monkey" Monkeys are fairly close to humans and are one of the easiest transitions for Beasts to make, barring the tailless Apes. Something about a tail seemed to be vital for Yokai Advancement. As such, Monkey Yokai are the most human-looking. Often the tail is the only trait exposing them as Yokai at all. You wrap yours to wear it like a belt sometimes, like Father and Mother do. #Bovines *set subrc "Bovine" Most cattle are docile creatures, kept in a confined space away from aura-rich hidden treasures of nature. In such captivity cows and bulls are never capable of Advancement...by accident. On purpose however, is another story. Almost all cattle that Advance into a Beast do so because their owner purposefully prepared them for it. Cattle herds are prime targets for the powerful Beasts roaming the wilds, and replacing guards or attack dogs with powerful bovine Beasts is an expensive but worthwhile status symbol for rich farmers, or farmers working for rich nobles. Somewhere up the family tree one of your ancestors was prized enough to Advance not just to a Beast, but again later on into an intelligent Yokai with their own rights under the Rasen Imperial Government. They must have been very long-lived. Your tail is short, only growing down to your knees, with a tuft of hair at the end. You could hide it if you wanted. Animalistic instincts flow through your mind now and then. You find they can be leaned on for an edge in the natural world. *label yokareyousure *if (subrc = "Wolf") [b][Wolf Yokai Racial Bonus: Survival +1][/b] *elseif (subrc = "Cat") [b][Cat Yokai Racial Bonus: Perception +1][/b] *elseif (subrc = "Reptile") [b][Reptile Yokai Racial Bonus: Stealth +1][/b] *elseif (subrc = "Monkey") [b][Monkey Yokai Racial Bonus: Thievery +1][/b] *elseif (subrc = "Bovine") [b][Bovine Yokai Racial Bonus: Athletics +1][/b] *else *bug Are you sure you and your family are ${subrc} Yokai? *choice #Yes, me and my family are ${subrc} Yokai. *if (subrc = "Wolf") *set Survival + 1 *elseif (subrc = "Cat") *set Perception + 1 *elseif (subrc = "Reptile") *set Stealth + 1 *elseif (subrc = "Monkey") *set Thievery + 1 *elseif (subrc = "Bovine") *set Athletics + 1 *else *bug *set race "Yokai" *set subrace subrc *set raceadjective "yokai" *if (subrace != "Monkey") All Yokai have a tail but some ${subrace} Yokai deal with other changes to their base human form, *if (subrace = "Cat") such as cat ears and vertical pupils. You happen to have... *choice #Just a cat tail. With #A cat tail and cat ears. Both are *set yokaitrait1 "cat ears" #A cat tail and cat eyes. Your tail is *set yokaitrait2 "cat eyes" #A cat tail, cat ears, and cat eyes. The whole package makes you stand out in a crowd. Your tail and ears are *set yokaitrait1 "cat ears" *set yokaitrait2 "cat eyes" the same color as your hair, which is... *choice #White *set haircolor "white" #Black *set haircolor "black" #Brown *set haircolor "brown" #Orange *set haircolor "orange" #Peach *set haircolor "peach" While your *if (yokaitrait2 = "cat eyes") feline *else human eyes are.. *choice #Black *set eyecolor "black" #Amber *set eyecolor "amber" #Green *set eyecolor "green" #Hazel *set eyecolor "hazel" #Blue *set eyecolor "blue" #Brown *set eyecolor "brown" *if (subrace = "Wolf") such as wolf ears or pronounced canine fangs. You happen to have... *choice #Just a wolf tail. With #A wolf tail and wolf ears. Both are *set yokaitrait1 "wolf ears" #A wolf tail and pronounced canine fangs. Your tail is *set yokaitrait2 "sharp fangs" #A wolf tail, wolf ears, and pronounced canine fangs. The whole package makes you stand out in a crowd. Your tail and ears are *set yokaitrait1 "wolf ears" *set yokaitrait2 "sharp fangs" the same color as your hair, which is... *choice #Black *set haircolor "black" #White *set haircolor "white" #Grey *set haircolor "grey" #Brown *set haircolor "brown" #Red *set haircolor "red" While your eyes are... *choice #Black *set eyecolor "black" #Yellow *set eyecolor "yellow" #Orange *set eyecolor "orange" #Brown *set eyecolor "brown" #Hazel *set eyecolor "hazel" #Green *set eyecolor "green" #Blue *set eyecolor "blue" *if (subrace = "Reptile") such as reptilian eyes and a forked tongue. You happen to have... *choice #Just a thin arrowhead-tipped tail. With #A thin arrowhead-tipped tail and reptilian eyes. Your tail is *set yokaitrait2 "reptilian eyes" #A thin arrowhead-tipped tail and forked tongue. Your tail is *set yokaitrait1 "forked tongue" #A thin arrowhead-tipped tail, reptilian eyes, and a forked tongue. The whole package makes you stand out in a crowd. Your tail is *set yokaitrait2 "reptilian eyes" *set yokaitrait1 "forked tongue" the same color as your hair, which is... *choice #Black *set haircolor "black" #Green *set haircolor "green" #Red *set haircolor "red" #Brown *set haircolor "brown" #Yellow *set haircolor "yellow" While your *if (yokaitrait2 = "reptilian eyes") reptilian eyes are... *choice #Black *set eyecolor "black" #Brown *set eyecolor "brown" #Green *set eyecolor "green" #Orange *set eyecolor "orange" #Red *set eyecolor "red" #Grey *set eyecolor "grey" #Blue *set eyecolor "blue" *if (subrace = "Monkey") Unlike other Yokai types, Monkey Yokai do not suffer other animalistic traits. You've got your tail on an otherwise human body and that's it. The only other noticeable difference is your coloration may come from primates instead of the base human form. Your tail and hair in particular are... *choice #White *set haircolor "white" #Black *set haircolor "black" #Brown *set haircolor "brown" #Red *set haircolor "red" While your eyes are... *choice #Brown *set eyecolor "brown" #Black *set eyecolor "black" #Orange *set eyecolor "orange" #Yellow *set eyecolor "yellow" #Hazel-Blue *set eyecolor "hazel-blue" #Deep Blue *set eyecolor "deep blue" #Red *set eyecolor "red" *if (subrace = "Bovine") such as a pair of horns. You happen to have... *choice #Just a tail. With #A tail and horns. Your tail is *set yokaitrait1 "horns" the same color as your hair, which is... *choice #Black *set haircolor "black" #Red *set haircolor "red" #White *set haircolor "white" #Shades of black [i]and[/i] white *set haircolor "black and white" While your eyes are... *choice #Brown *set eyecolor "brown" #Black *set eyecolor "black" #No, we're something else. *goto Next_race *if (subrc = "Wolf") #People only think we're Wolf Yokai. In truth we are Kitsune fox spirits. Kitsune are the least common of all races as they are not quite Yokai but rather a cross of Beast, Spirit, and Man. Their mysterious essence and mischievous nature have earned Kitsune a reputation as dangers to society, far more trouble than they're worth, and many Sects do not even classify them as a race but rather as hostile trickster spirits. For this reason, your parents have masqueraded as Wolf Yokai while settling down in the safety of Thunderfall Village. Should you ever grow too powerful or live past your first century this will be a problem when you grow additional tails that would ruin your disguise, but that's not something you're worried about. While your family may be hiding their true nature, they are not hiding their true power. You really are Laborer-caste workers with no powers to your names. All the better to hide your nature, Father and Mother say. It's safer that way. [b][Kitsune Racial Bonus: Insight +1][/b] Are you sure you and your family are Kitsune? *choice #Yes, me and my family are Kitsune. *set race "Kitsune" *set raceadjective "Kitsune" *set insight + 1 As a Kitsune you're not [i]technically[/i] a Yokai, or even a Mortal, but you look the part. You've always been prone to a bit of trickery and the best so far is your Wolf Yokai "disguise", because the disguise is you walking around in broad daylight and just calling yourself a Wolf. A single-tailed kitsune looks strikingly similar to a Wolf Yokai, although obviously better looking in your opinion. Just like the Yokai you're born with a fluffy tail, but only some Yokai have ears and fangs while every Kitsune is blessed with such traits. You're able to hide the sharp teeth and ears with a minor natural talent in illusions that you've (so far) only been able to use for that one purpose. That's not to say you [i]do[/i] hide them. Your base form is made of... *choice #Just a single fox tail. With #A single fox tail and fox ears. Both are *set yokaitrait1 "fox ears" #A single fox tail and pronounced canine fangs. Your fox tail is *set yokaitrait2 "sharp fangs" #A single fox tail, fox ears, and pronounced canine fangs. You hide nothing, and why should you? Your Kitsune form is [b]glorious[/b]. Your tail and ears are *set yokaitrait1 "fox ears" *set yokaitrait2 "sharp fangs" the same color as your hair, which is... *choice #Red *set haircolor "red" #White *set haircolor "white" #Black *set haircolor "black" #Golden *set haircolor "golden" While your eyes are... *choice #Amber *set eyecolor "amber" #Brown *set eyecolor "brown" #Blue *set eyecolor "blue" #Green *set eyecolor "green" #No, we're something else *goto Next_race Your $!{raceadjective} parents clap while you duel hours longer with energy the likes of which you didn't know you had. But all the other kids are fighting with that same energy. While none of you are as bad off as the Slave Caste, most of your friends are fellow peasants of the Laborer Caste so this is the first time almost any of you have had spirit-enhancing elixirs, even if it was "just" a luxury juice. None of you are from the Warrior or Noble Castes that claim your land's natural aura. A little boost goes a long way for peasants as weak as you are. After getting a black eye in your final duel, which you win against a fisherman's son, you walk over happily to the spectator benches where your parents bring out pastry treats for everyone and wish a happy birthday to their precious little... *choice #Boy. Who they named... *set himher "him" *set hisher "his" *set hishers "his" *set heshe "he" *set ymaster "Young Master" *set boygirl "boy" *set sondaughter "son" *set manwoman "man" *if (((race = "Human") or (race = "Yokai")) or (race = "Kitsune")) *goto Next_Boyname_Human *elseif (race = "Oni") *goto Next_Boyname_Oni *else *goto Next_Boyname_Lunargoth #Girl. Who they named... *set himher "her" *set hisher "her" *set hishers "hers" *set ymaster "Young Mistress" *set heshe "she" *set boygirl "girl" *set sondaughter "daughter" *set manwoman "woman" *if (((race = "Human") or (race = "Yokai")) or (race = "Kitsune")) *goto Next_Girlname_Human *elseif (race = "Oni") *goto Next_Girlname_Oni *else *goto Next_Girlname_Lunargoth *label Next_Boyname_Human *choice #Ronin *set name "Ronin" #Genji *set name "Genji" #Kenzo *set name "Kenzo" #Xin *set name "Xin" #Ryuu *set name "Ryuu" #Something else [Enter Name] *input_text name *goto Next_happybirthday *label Next_Boyname_Lunargoth *choice #Roderic *set name "Roderic" #Cade *set name "Cade" #Evander *set name "Evander" #Bremet *set name "Bremet" #Godwin *set name "Godwin" #Something else [Enter Name] *input_text name *goto Next_happybirthday *label Next_Boyname_Oni *choice #Brand *set name "Brand" #Soren *set name "Soren" #Vox *set name "Vox" #Kozael *set name "Kozael" #Aoyin *set name "Aoyin" #Something else [Enter Name] *input_text name *goto Next_happybirthday *label Next_Girlname_Human *choice #Jade *set name "Jade" #Mira *set name "Mira" #Kiyoko *set name "Kiyoko" #Akane *set name "Akane" #Sakura *set name "Sakura" #Something else [Enter Name] *input_text name *goto Next_happybirthday *label Next_Girlname_Lunargoth *choice #Eve *set name "Eve" #Luna *set name "Luna" #Aurora *set name "Aurora" #Violet *set name "Violet" #Nessa *set name "Nessa" #Something else [Enter Name] *input_text name *goto Next_happybirthday *label Next_Girlname_Oni *choice #Ozra *set name "Ozra" #Ember *set name "Ember" #Lilith *set name "Lilith" #Ansila *set name "Ansila" #Eyri *set name "Eyri" #Something else [Enter Name] *input_text name *goto Next_happybirthday *label Next_happybirthday "Happy birthday, $!{name}!" Your friends and family shout together before digging into the sugar-filled pastries. You join them and sink your teeth into a chewy mochi dough filled with a confectionary sugar paste. Life is good. Sure, you have occasional chores and a reading lesson or two, but not on your birthday. On other days you finish them up fast enough and then play pretend with the other children of the village. Yet all good things must come to an end. With the fights over your friends leave for the evening. Mother waves them goodbye and Father approaches you. "Hey there birthday ${boygirl}, did you have fun?" "I sure did!" you shout through a fat lip. You're sore, but it's so rare that lower Caste children are allowed to use the official sparring ring. You feel like bruised royalty. "Good!" He smiles with relief, "That's good, this party was to celebrate a new part of your life, I truly wished for it to be special." Father puts a hand on your shoulder. "$!{name}, you're the eldest of your siblings, and that means taking on responsibility. We wanted you to enjoy your childhood to the fullest because it's become time to start your training." Father hands you your birthday gift, a Path Manual! Secrets to the Martial Arts! You open it hastily and read through. Something is wrong. "It's not a Path Manual." Father says when he sees the look on your face, "It's a Skill Guide I got for your career skills. I want to train you in the family business so you can inherit it one day." [b][Skill Guide Unlocked][/b] *set skilljournal true *line_break [b][The Skill Guide in the "Journal" section of your stats page will explain the twelve non-combat skills and their uses.][/b] Mixed feelings flood through your mind. You [b]know[/b] you'll do a wonderful job being in charge of anything. Better than Rin or Jin would, at least. But on the other hand...no Martial Arts? Plus this sounds like Father is using a roundabout way to say he's giving you more chores. You know it, and you are right. You end up spending the next few months following your father around and picking up some tricks of the trade as a... *choice *selectable_if (background != "Merchant") #Herbalist [Increase Alchemy] *comment alchemy + 1 *comment insight or thievery *set background "Herbalist" *goto Next_herbalist *selectable_if (background != "Merchant") #Blacksmith [Increase Craft] *comment craft + 1 *comment athletics or lore *set background "Blacksmith" *goto Next_blacksmith *selectable_if (background != "Merchant") #Trapper [Increase Survival] *comment survival + 1 *comment perception or stealth *set background "Trapper" *goto Next_trapper #Merchant [Increase Persuasion] *comment persuasion + 1 *comment deception or handseals *set background "Merchant" *goto Next_merchant *label Next_herbalist The life of an Herbalist was not what you expected. You had seen your father sell potions at the market by the southern roads and they always amazed you. You didn't know exactly what most did, but they were bright and colorful and you were told some had power to heal others with just a sip. You wanted to make that power. Instead you find yourself in the wetlands down the slopes west of town, trudging through muddy water up to your knees every day surrounded by a labyrinth of dead looking trees. It turns out Father stays in business by only collecting ingredients from the areas no one else wants to tread. Your legs always ache, your feet are always cold, and your clothes are always dirty. Yet somehow, every few days, it's worth it. Your father keeps a bright smile through it all and when you find the exact Koppo Roots or Sundown Lilies he's looking for, you both celebrate the great victory earned from hours of searching for nature's hidden treasures. *page_break Once every week your father gathers his most potent herbs, roots, and powdered minerals to brew some potions with your village's fresh spring water. The process has excited you and you've even begun to pick up on why he does some of what he does. You now know a few basics, like how long to boil roots and obviously you know can't mix a wet lily into the potions, it has to be dried and crushed. After months of observation at your young age it's started to become second nature. [b][Alchemy +1][/b] *set alchemy + 1 By the time six months have passed, you've begun to pick out a flaw in your father's process. He keeps leaving shavings of all his ingredients on his tools when he asks you to wash them, but these are all materials that can be dissolved in water. If he used minimal water to wash them instead, he could then boil out the water to keep the shavings or keep the water as an ingredient itself...Yes....He could do that... And so could you. *choice #I tell Father how he could save up spare ingredients. [Increase Insight] Father looks at you quizzically as you interrupt his weekly root grinding in the yard. You explain your plan to him how, with the right amount of time and shavings, you could make an extra couple potions every year or so. "Hmm," your father places a stained hand on his chin and stares at the clouds, "it would be too bitter without the freshness, and the texture wouldn't be right if we're using leftover Koppo Root, but it could work. I can't sell it, of course. If you get a reputation for selling discount potions, that's it for business. No one pays full price twice to a shoddy craftsman. But...we could use it if we run into trouble, or gift it to someone." He looks over to you. "$!{sondaughter}, how would you like a potion?" You beam. *page_break *goto Next_herbalist2 #I collect the ingredients to do it myself. [Increase Thievery] With a wicked smile you begin to collect the spare shavings and store them in small pouches and clay jars in your room. After another six months have gone by, you have enough to begin your experiment. [b][Thievery +1][/b] *set Thievery + 1 *page_break *goto Next_herbalist3 *label Next_herbalist2 You and your father work diligently over the next six months to collect all the scrapings needed after work, but with his assistance at your back you feel energized to stay later at the swamps than usual. Something deep within you just seems to know where to look, when not to quit, like a tugging urge to keep going because you [i]know[/i] there's something more out there if you give it just a little more effort. Your father takes note of your luck and stops you both on your trek one day. "$!{sondaughter}, you've been finding a lot more than normal. Frankly we're not just going to make a potion of scraps, we're going to make more professional potions too." You smile. "But I worry." You frown. "I think that what you're feeling, what's dragging you across these murky waters to find the right spots...I think it's the traces of chi that these particular plants soak up. If you're already able to sense that at your age....It's dangerous. The reason we've been alive in the swamps this long is because anything big enough to eat us gets pushed out by hunters, usually, but that's just the normal animals. There are other things, dangerous things in this swamp. They don't eat plants and meat like you and I, they eat chi. And I mean eat, ${sondaughter}. They track down whoever has chi and they eat their souls. Our village's Martial Artists don't travel these swamps, and for a good reason." He kneels down and puts his hands on your shoulders. "$!{sondaughter}, I appreciate all your help, but if you keep using that sense you're developin', if you get too good at this, you might develop an aura of chi yourself. If that happens you need to tell me, because it means no more swamp walks. It might give you some power, but not enough for this. Only enough to make you a target." He looks off through the twisting trees, "It won't be safe for you anymore." You nod, but don't listen. Your father thinks you might one day control mystic power like the disciples of the Thunderfall Sect. You can't wait. [b][Insight +1][/b] *set Insight + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 *page_break The process of actually brewing your own potion is relatively easy with your father's help, but he lets you handle all the details. 1 cauldron *line_break 1 gallon of mountainpeak water *line_break 4 lengthy Sundown Lilies (dried, crushed) *line_break 1 cup assorted mineral dust (purified) *line_break 1 large Koppo Root You mix all the ingredients, start the fire, and adjust the heat according to the instructions. You're only missing one ingredient when the final moment to fuse everything together comes: chi. The power generated from a Martial Artist's soul. *page_break Your soul isn't powerful enough to store any chi, but neither is your father's and he makes these all the time. You just have to use the currency of the realms, the Shards that store a tiny fraction of power. Luckily he's given you 12 Shards as your allowance for this year. You hold the opaque seaglass-looking coins over the cauldron but before you can drop the Shards into your potion your father grabs your hand. "I've got more than enough extra money from the ingredients you found, let's say you keep your allowance this year and this one will be on me." Sometimes you love your father. Not when he wakes you to walk through the swamps at dawn, but right now you do. Your father hands you a few Shards and you dump them into to the boiling concoction. The pot flashes with a bright red puff of smoke and the water churns clockwise, swirling into a rose red luminous whirlpool as the rest of the ingredients get sucked into the center of the pot and melt rapidly. The boil intensifies until there's nothing left of the concoction but a spoon's worth of vibrant red liquid at the bottom, glowing like the warmth of the setting sun. You pour it into a pill mold and it dries into that which you've always fantasized about: An elixir pill. [b][Item Gained: Healing Elixir][/b] *set healingelixir + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: Year's Allowance (12 Shards)][/b] *set Shards + 12 *set safeloc_swamp true *page_break With your father's business doing so well, your parents allow you a bit more leeway and free time. *goto Next_misfits *label Next_herbalist3 You sit in your parents' kitchen at night looking over your boiling cauldron by the candlelight, and grin. Your Sundown Lilies are already dried and powdered, your water is fresh from the mountain peaks, your mineral dust is purified, and you've got leftover water from overboiled Koppo Roots. From what you've seen over the last year, you're only missing one ingredient: chi. The power generated from a Martial Artist's soul. Your soul isn't powerful enough to store any chi, but neither is your father's and he makes these all the time. You just have to use the currency of the realms, the Shards that stores a tiny fraction of power. Your allowance this year has been 12 whole Shards and you've saved it for this moment. You withdraw one of the opaque seaglass-like Shards and add it to the boil. In a flash the Shard dissipates throughout the boiling cauldron and you are filled with awe when the rest of the ingredients start to glow. The steam from the pot takes on a beautiful red that fills the room, until it fizzles out abruptly. You stare at the pot, dumfounded. It looks more like a soup than a potion. *page_break With a spark of panic and inspiration you jump for your allowance sack nearby and take out every Shard you have, dumping the pile into your concoction and praying to the messengers of the Heavens that you did not just waste a year of your time and money. An entire year might as well have been your whole childhood. The pile of shards explode in a puff of smoke that nearly knocks you off your feet. Some water boils out of the cauldron, but the remaining water churns clockwise, swirling into a rose red luminous whirlpool as the rest of the ingredients get sucked into the center of the pot and melt rapidly. The boil intensifies until there's nothing left of the concoction but a cup's worth of vibrant red liquid at the bottom, glowing like the warmth of the setting sun. A potion. Better than that, without your father taking his cut you've actually made enough for two. You hear a creak of wooden floorboards from behind you and spin around. *page_break Oh no In the sliding paper doorway of the kitchen stands your father. "Put those shavings to work, did you?" He says and walks up to the cauldron, leaning over you to examine its contents with a stern look. Your heart pounds as he places his calloused hand on your head. He's silent for a moment. Then he looks down at you. You open your mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. "Shhhh," your father says while his strong left hand holds you in place by the skull. "You should be ashamed of hiding a chance of prosperity from your family." He leans further forward and looks down at the cauldron, then ponders for a moment, "But this looks like a good potion for your age. You'll make a fine herbalist." He ruffles your hair and walks to the doorway before pausing. "Oh, and don't tell your mother you stained her cooking pot." [b][Item Gain: Healing Elixir x2][/b] *set healingelixir + 2 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *page_break With your Herbalist skills proven early in your career, your parents allow you a bit more leeway and free time. *goto Next_misfits *label Next_blacksmith You envisioned blacksmithing to be a noble warrior's craft of forging unstoppable blades and invulnerable armors. As it turns out, blacksmithing means fetching bucket after bucket of water from the river and going nearly blind staring at a fire in some large shed's forge while you father smiths his ten millionth nail. You are so sick of nails. Every day it's nails, nails, fix a farm tool, nails, hinge, nails, and more nails. After months of nonstop nailsmithery father notices how glum you seem and takes you outside to talk, sitting on a pair of stumps. "$!{sondaughter}, you don't seem to be enjoying yourself." You nod. "I get it, this isn't the most exciting adventure, but it helps pay for your mother and you kids to live your lives. When your grandfather worked this forge he specialized in spearheads, breastplates, and anchors, but those were days of war. We're in peacetime now, so here I am, making nails. Hell, the carpenters I know in Thunderfall use wood-joinery to build houses so there isn't even much need for nails around here. As it turns out, it's the shipwrights down the mountains that can't get enough of them. They [b]yearn[/b] for the nail." He lets out a heavy exhale and looks at the sky. After a moment of pondering he continues, "I'm not going to rope you into some talk about the trade deals or the Magistrate's orders or lessons in how the village is one unit or-" Your eyes glaze over as he continues saying adult things for a while longer, then he puts his hand on your shoulder. *page_break Zzz... "What I'm trying to say is," You snap back to reality. "This job is hard and boring, but it's important. You're going to have to make a lot of different important things when they're needed, and you're going to have to get used to just making the same thing over and over most days too." He snaps his fingers as if he has an idea, "Actually, tell you what, I've got an idea for a version of both you can do." He gets up and enters the house. You twiddle your thumbs for a few minutes waiting, then he emerges holding two different stacks of paper. "I've got a whole lot of design plans you can study up, and I've also got maps you can use to start doing deliveries. Just local stuff; carrying metal shipments to neighboring towns is too much even for me." Finally, something besides water duty and nails. Something new. You perk up and weigh your options. *choice #Carry heavy shipments throughout the village. [Increase Athletics] *set smithathletics 1 *goto Next_blacksmith2 #Research smithing design plans. [Increase Lore] *goto Next_Blacksmith3 *label Next_blacksmith2 You spend the next six months carrying crates of nails, hinges, farm tools, and ingots around town. Sometimes you even go to the Magistrate's pagoda to pick up orders, but you only interact with the front guards. Your arms and legs are constantly aching and tired but mother's medicinal soups keeps you strong enough to keep going week after week. Slowly, it gets easier. [b][Athletics +1][b] *set Athletics + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *page_break Oddly enough, hearing customer complaints and questions about specific parts, or flaws, or options turns out to be a better educational tool for blacksmithing than actually watching the forging process. You start out not knowing a single answer, but you keep forwarding the questions and complaints to Father who gives you the answers for the next run. You repeat the responses to yourself to memorize them and find it's much easier to remember something when it has a chance of lowering the amount of times you get yelled at by customers in a day. Some days your father even has you fix issues yourself, straightening the nails that had bent at the bottom of a shipment crate. Until one day you enter your father's forge shack and he has nothing for you to deliver. Instead he sits on a chair reading the morning paper. Next to him is a box filled with a couple of steel ingots, a tied brown sack, come colorful purple cloth, and cuts of magnolia wood. When you enter he looks up from his paper and smiles. *page_break *goto Next_blacksmithdiff *label Next_blacksmith3 You spend the next six months reading up on your father's collection of smithing designs and metallurgy notes. There's more math involved than you expected. Most designs incorporate angles, lengths, weight, and heating temperatures. Mother brings out some of your reading scrolls to research bigger words and teaches you a few tricks to help with all the addition and subtraction. What really helps is that your father gets occasional orders where he walks you through what all those numbers and notes actually mean. You'd read off the steps and he'd show you how they're done. Slowly, it becomes second nature. [b][Lore +1][b] *set Lore + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 *page_break Some days your father even has you perform the simpler orders yourself, measuring component lengths before hammering off the rebar to make them....mostly nails. Until one day when you enter your father's forge shack and your notes are gone. Instead father sits on a chair reading the morning paper. Next to him is a box filled with a couple of steel ingots, a tied brown sack, come colorful purple cloth, and cuts of magnolia wood. When you enter he looks up from his paper and smiles. *page_break *goto Next_blacksmithdiff *label Next_blacksmithdiff *if (smithathletics = 1) "$!{name}, we're going to do something a little special today. We've been at this for a year so I set aside your allowance, and I noticed we had a few spare parts and funds lying around, what with all the money you saved me on shipments, so I'd like you to take these." *goto Next_blacksmith4 *else "$!{name}, we're going to do something a little special today. We've been at this for a year so I set aside your allowance, and I noticed we had a few spare parts and funds lying around, what with all the scraps from the projects we've been trying out together, so I'd like you to take these." *goto Next_blacksmith4 *label Next_blacksmith4 He slides the box over to you with his foot. Inside the sack is 12 Shards, seaglass-like coins that hold a small fraction of Chi in them. Your year's allowance. You had heard that a Martial Artist's soul, one that could generate an aura of chi to empower the warrior and make him stronger, was made up of the force of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Shards. You smile at your first collection of power. Yet Shards aren't the only objects in the box. "You're wondering what those parts are for, eh? Well...I told you we only make things because people want them, but today's customer wants something special. $!{sondaughter}, today's customer is you. We're gonna make you the most impressive knife you've ever seen." You're not sure how high the heavens reach, but you're sure that your smile is visible from the top. *page_break You and your father work the forge for the entire day as he walks you through the process step by step. Initial heating, flattening, straightening, sanding, fullering, sharpening, reheating, quenching, and then fitting, carving, and staining the hilt and sheath before adding the decorative crisscrossing cloth strip. After 13 demanding hours you stare down at the coolest toy- "I know that look, stop staring at it like it's a toy." Father says through an exhausted exhale. You stare down at the coolest [i]item[/i] owned by any child in the village. [b][Craft +1][b] *set Craft + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: Tanto][b] *set itemtanto 100000000 *set armed true *line_break [b][Item Gained: Year's Allowance (12 Shards)][/b] *set Shards + 12 *page_break With your smithing career well on its way and looking promising, your parents give you a bit more leeway with your time. *goto Next_misfits *label Next_trapper The life of a Trapper is sometimes boring and sometimes exhilerating. Father takes you walking through the woods or the mountains with a small backpack of trailmix and trap parts, which is a lot of fun at first until you realize he recycles the same routes every seven days. Occasionally he has the two of you hide low while he gets his bow out if he hears anything nearby; you see him score two dozen deer over the next six months this way. Father says a good trapper stays active to score more pelts. But the main attraction is the traps he uses. Father sets up a few different types of traps here and there and shows you how they work: net traps in a river, bear traps outside a cave, cage traps in grass fields, and snares around berry bushes. Every other night for six months he sets traps in a wide, wide circle, then the two of you camp in the middle to scare any nearby critters into fleeing towards his traps. Come morning your campfire is long gone and new critters return to collect food, where Father's remaining traps can catch them too. You have a respect for Father, he seems like a king of the woodlands. As you learn from him, slowly, you become one too. [b][Survival +1][/b] *set Survival + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 *page_break After months more apprenticing to Father you two are marching home from a new trail, back up a miles-long hill dotted with brambleberry bushes to your left and a rapid river to your right. It's no good for trapping fish; the current is too fast, but upstream is calmer and that's where father's fish nets are waiting for you, ripe with food if you're lucky. And lucky you certainly feel: Father has recently paid your first year's allowance from selling all his pelts. You happily bounce a sack of Shards in your hand, seaglass-like coins that hold a small fraction of Chi in them. You had heard that a Martial Artist's soul, one that could generate an aura of chi to empower the warrior and make him stronger, was made up of the force of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Shards. You smile at your first collection of power. Father stops. "$!{name}, duck down into the bushes and stay there." He says. You don't see a deer nearby, but Father must. Still, you don't want to back up into these bushes, they're covered in thorns and barely up to your head so you'd have to duck. As you motion to protest you notice Father is not drawing his bow like he always has when he senses a deer...He's lowering himself to the ground. He doesn't even look at you as he withdraws his tent covering and pulls it over his body. Something is wrong. *page_break You push your way into the thorny bushes and keep quiet as minutes pass by. Finally, footsteps approach through other bushes up ahead. Thank goodness, you think as you see the creature, it's just a deer after all. Then lightning strikes. *page_break The deer explodes when lightning pours from the sky like a waterfall. The flash nearly blinds you, but through watering eyes you see a massive shadow swoop in: an eagle with a body the size of a wagon, and wings even larger. It crashes to the ground and snaps up the scorched venison chunks in its beak. Father had warned you about these creatures, animals who had absorbed enough chi to gain power. They don't develop auras of power like humans do, instead their body grows larger and larger to store the excessive chi energy. Beasts. Father's tarp falls to the ground in tatters near the avian Beast and only then do you realize it had been blasted into the air from the lightning attack. The massive eagle is staring directly at Father who is frantically rushing to his feet. "STAY HIDDEN!" Father screams as he leaps over the bushes and dives into the water. The bird takes flight and the world flashes again. Lightning crashes into the rapids mere feet downhill from your hiding place. *page_break You don't know how much time has passed when the shock leaves your system and you're able to even think again, but it's getting dark. The Beast is long gone, chasing the stream, but Father has not returned. You need to find your way home without getting eaten. You rely on... *choice #My senses to guide me. [Increase Perception] You've learned all the signs of animals nearby, even predators. It was always a game of cat and mouse, quite literally with the mountain lions Father would fend off with some sort of odor dust. You simply had to think like the hunter you were, and imagine what you would want to see. With a keen eye on any possible predators and a solid knowledge of the woods and mountains, you traverse to a safe path unharmed. It isn't that no predator is after you, it's that almost all ambush predators are cowards. As long as you recognize where they are coming from you can counter them so they'll have to expose themselves a large distance in order to pursue you. Fields, rivers, across trees, whatever you need, you know where it is. [b][Perception +1][/b] *set Perception + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 #The shadows to hide me. [Increase Stealth] You've grown adept at remaining unseen when you approach traps or Father attempts to hunt game. It's always tickled in the back of your mind how there are only really two types of places in the world: the places people will see, and the places they will not. It seems so natural to you as you wander through bushes and across tree shadows. [b][Stealth +1][/b] *set Stealth + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 Halfway home you find the main road; the Thunderfall Sect's disciples patrol this trail. You don't know the specifics but Father says anything with an aura can sense that this trail has the scent of powerful humans, and that scares off most predators. Thank the Heavens, you think, and your trip home becomes that much easier. *page_break Another quarterway home and you see the first patroller: a soaked and exhausted man marching up the path towards you. You should evade him, Father always taught you that desperate men are dangerous men and- Oh. It's Father. He's covered in scrapes, and his wrist is wrapped in bloodsoaked bandages, but he [i]isn't[/i] covered in scorch marks. Somehow he had evaded the monster and its lightning. He smiles from ear to ear with relief and joy when he sees you up the path. His walk hastens into a run and he crashes into you with a big, strong hug. At last, you feel safe again. He lifts you up onto his shoulders and you both return home together. *page_break When you and Father return triumphantly to Thunderfall Village, Father explains the adventure to your family and stresses to Mother how proud he is of your survival skills. Mother stresses to Father how he is not sleeping in the bedroom for the next month. It seems your Trapper career is on hold until you're older, so you have some newfound free time. *goto Next_misfits *label Next_merchant The life of a merchant is awesome. You're almost mad at father for not taking you to work sooner. Market stalls outside have cool new foods and weapons and baubbles to look at every day during lunch break but father's store is even better. The shop is lined with shelves filled to the brim with new items every day and the basement is a collection of crates and barrels holding even more secret goodies. Toys, spices, weapons, potions, furniture, cooking supplies, scrolls, glowing gems, weighted clothing, ceremonial robes, tents, plants; Father sells it all. He says he has a lot of "debt" in exchange for his inventory since he's Laborer Caste trying to compete with the Merchant Caste, so he needs to sell everything, but you haven't found this "debt" on any of the shelves yet. Maybe it's in the crates downstairs. Father's tasks for you are simple at first. You spend the next six months rearranging items on shelves, finding things in the basement crates, carrying inventory inside whenever the supply caravans arrive, and bothering people at the market stalls outside. Father calls this last part "customer poaching". *page_break It's difficult to talk to strangers at first but Father gives you a few tips. Within weeks you take to the trade quite well, picking out specific targets travelling through the market stalls and saying how their shoes look unpolished, or their sheath looks outdated, or if they're so well off that they'd come to the market so often, why don't they have a luxury tree planter? All the rich customers have one. Father told you to constantly push on people about what they're lacking that the store has and....it works. A lot. It's either easy, or you're just that good at it. Almost....too good. [b][Persuasion +1][/b] *set Persuasion + 1 *page_break After a brief but tense situation your heckling career ends when you... *fake_choice #Sell another child 3 "magic beans" in exchange for his family's large pouch of money. It turns out Father's magic beans cost him double what you sold them for. #Offer the baker's overweight wife some freshly delivered vegetables to fix her "problem". She isn't happy. Neither is her husband. You entire family gets banned from the pastry store for years. #Slander a competing market stall so badly that the guards investigate for fraud, theft, murder, and tax evasion. When they find nothing, they charge Father for their wasted manhours. #Tell one of Thunderfall Sect disciples that I can fix his robes by selling him ones meant for men. Father tries to talk him down and ends up with a black eye. Father is mad. Madder than you've seen him in a long time. How could he be mad at your methods when he's the one who taught you? Parents make no sense sometimes. Either way, one severe spanking later and you're exiled to the front desk at the shop. *page_break You spend the next few months taking money from customers at the front desk, occasionally handing back small silver coins as change in exchange for the main currency of the realms: Shards, seaglass-like coins that hold a small fraction of Chi in them. Father explains that a Martial Artist's soul, one that can generate an aura of chi to empower the warrior and make him stronger, is made up of the force of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Shards. One day you ask Father why he doesn't have an aura since he gets so many Shards in a day. He doesn't lecture you with some adult speech about taxes or debts or inventory costs or property upkeep. He merely chuckles to himself and says, "You kids are expensive." *set commerce + 2 *page_break One day sticks out in your year-long study under your Father. You stand behind the front desk counting the Shards you have and the coupons you've handed out as Father gives some lecture you've tuned out. That's when you notice someone is still in the store. A customer. Or at least they would be a customer, if they weren't trying to leave with a precious scroll without paying. The thief turns at the door and locks eyes with you over your father's shoulder. You freeze. His eyes widen when he sees you've caught him and he holds a single finger over his mouth, asking for silence, and he pulls a small bag of Shards from his pocket and places them behind the door where you can collect them later. A bribe. A bribe to let him rob your own father's store. Then again....Father doesn't pay you. *choice #Warn Father about the thief. [Increase Handseals] Your Father is not a Martial Artist, you know this. He is just a merchant with no aura to call upon, no way to enhance his body with chi for superhuman abilities. Yet you're still shocked by how quickly he turns, grabs a sack of Shards on the desk, and throws them immediately at the thief trying to leave out the doorway. The throw hits, and the thief's head knocks into the doorframe. He crumples to the ground. The situation de-escalates from there. Father calls on some guards from the market outside who drag the thief off, and Father kneels down and puts his hands on your shoulders. "$!{sondaughter}, I thank the heavens you noticed him when you did. He wasn't just stealing some cooking recipe, this scroll is worth ten times its weight in Shards. If we lost this we'd be behind by weeks. It's...." Father pauses and furrows his brow. The room is silent for longer than you're comfortable with. Finally he seems to come to a conclusion, "It's a perfect reward." He gets up, dusts off his knees, and tosses the scroll into the air just above your head. You scramble to catch it and unfold the contents where the title reads: [i]A Beginner's Guide to Mystic Handseals[/i] "Memorize it, record it if you have to, and return it within a year. Oh, and take your allowance out of that sack I threw at the louthsome bum." [b][Handseals +1][/b] *set handseals + 1 *set itemmysticscroll + 1 *gosub_scene quicks fuuinjutsudescription [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *line_break [b][Item Gained: Year's Allowance (12 Shards)][/b] *set Shards + 12 *page_break With your aptitude at the shop proving to be up to Father's standards, you're given a bit more leeway with your free time. *goto Next_misfits #Keep quiet and collect the money later. [Increase Deception] The thief quietly slips through the door and winks at you as he disappears into the market crowd. You look back to your Father telling you about the differences between dust mite damage and mold damage. Lectures like this are probably why you let the thief go. The money didn't hurt either. Father doesn't notice the missing scroll for days, and when he does he's furious. The guard is called for a full investigation but they don't find anything of note. Luckily by that time your Shards are already safely buried in the backyard, so no one asked questions about your sudden wealth. There were less Shards than you expected in the bribe but still more than you have ever personally owned. Father always says it's good to have emergency funds. Now you do. [b][Deception +1][/b] *set deception + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: 30 Shards][/b] *set Shards + 30 *page_break With a new found aptitude for manipulation, you've convinced Father that you should get more free time so the shop doesn't seem so weak that it relies on children. You now have a bit more leeway with your free time. *goto Next_misfits *label Next_misfits *set age + 1 *set shards + (commerce * 2) As you are now a young ${boygirl} of ${age} years old, you of course have chosen the perfect way to spend it. No, not with your siblings. Your younger brother and sister, the twins Rin and Jin, are a burden upon your day, your mood, and society in general. Instead you waste your days away on a much better venture, your friends. You have many friends in the village but only one is your best friend. You couldn't imagine a fun day without Kosuke, the ... *choice #Beggar's daughter *set bffhimher "her" *set bffhisher "her" *set bffhishers "hers" *set bffheshe "she" *goto Next_friend #Beggar's son *set bffhimher "him" *set bffhisher "his" *set bffhishers "his" *set bffheshe "he" *goto Next_friend *label Next_friend *if (bffheshe = "she") *if (portraitpics) *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/girl-kosuke.jpeg *elseif (bffheshe = "he") *if (portraitpics) *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/boy-kosuke.jpeg You keep hearing from your parents that Kosuke has a hard life but you simply don't see it. They say ${bffhisher} dad uses ${bffhimher} to get more sympathy when begging, but from what you've seen Kosuke is doing a fine job begging on ${bffhisher} own when ${bffhisher} dad is gone, so he must be teaching ${bffhimher} the tricks of the trade just like your father does for you. Besides, Kosuke uses ${bffhisher} begging skills to get Shards, food, water, and clothes just handed to ${bffhimher}! In fact, Kosuke owns more than you do. And ${bffheshe} even gets to camp in the woods every night! When you first met Kosuke you asked your parents if you could learn the beggar trade instead of the ${background} trade. Your father looked sad, and your mother responded by smacking you good. Then your father smiled. So much for your luxurious begging career, over before it began. Parents can be so cruel. But at least you can still hang out together. *goto Next_friendhobby *label Next_friendhobby You and Kosuke spend most of your early years... *set bffrep + 15 *choice #Catching frogs and salamanders down by the river. [Increase Stealth] Catching things at the river is a time-honored tradition for Thunderfall kids. The competition uses the river inside town, or up river if it's too busy, but Kosuke knows the best places are the smaller streams from the woods. Not only does ${bffheshe} show you where to hunt, but ${bffheshe} even has a great idea. You both spend one summer catching an entire collection of pets to have them go to war when the summer ends. You choose... *fake_choice #To collect salamanders After a few months of fun at the stream you lower the barrel-enclosure you've been keeping your salamanders in while Kosuke does the same. Your salamanders all scurry out to sunbathe. You win the war by default since Kosuke's frogs hop off the second they get free. #To collect frogs After a few months of fun at the stream you lower the barrel-enclosure you've been keeping your frogs in and they all scatter in every direction. You look up to see Kosuke cheering in victory, since ${bffhisher} army of salamanders crawled out and started sunbathing on the battlefield. #To find a big old snake! Mother catches you one day and yells at you for endangering the household. You plead your case that you need true warriors to win this war, and she responds by cooking your snake. Kosuke asks to come over for dinner and have some. [b][Item Gained: Common Poison (1 Dose)][/b] *set commonpoison + 1 The war may be a bust, but you can always try again next year. You've gotten pretty good at sneaking up on critters. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *line_break [b][Stealth +1][/b] *set Stealth + 1 *goto Next_twins #Picking pockets at the market. [Increase Thievery] *if (bffheshe = "she") You're surprised at Kosuke's affinity for picking pockets and she only smiles coyly whenever you ask where she learned it. She shows you the steps and tricks so you can try it yourself. *elseif (bffheshe = "he") According to Kosuke, pickpocketing is a big component of ${bffhisher} father's begging career, and Kosuke is a natural. $!{bffheshe} shows you the ropes and tricks of the trade. After ${bffheshe} walks you through the process of the "bump and lift", you try it out on a shopper in the marketplace. You're nervous at first but by trusting the process you walk away with a couple trinkets. By the end of the summer you've both collected enough to split the pot, sell everything, and cash out of your lucrative crime careers while you're ahead. *if (background = "Merchant") It didn't hurt that you had your father's store to fence all the stolen goods. [b][Item Gained: 20 Shards][/b] *set Shards + 20 *line_break *else [b][Item Gained: 10 Shards][/b] *set Shards + 10 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *line_break [b][Thievery +1][/b] *set Thievery + 1 *goto Next_twins #Talking to strangers at the gates. [Increase Persuasion] Mother and Father always tell you not to talk to strangers outside of work so that's what you and Kosuke spend most of your unmonitored time doing. You actually end up learning a lot about the outside the world. Trade caravans of beast-led wagons are commonly stopped outside the gates. The merchants and their assistants often tell you tales of foreign cities, sea monsters, pirates, nature spirits, and cursed ruins. Some of it was even true. Talking with strangers is a cautionary tale for most kids but for you, it becomes a hobby. [b][Persuasion +1][/b] *set Persuasion + 1 *page_break One day you and Kosuke find a man in a combat gi like the Thunderfall Sect disciples, but brown and gold. Your town's protectors wear dark blue and black. The man is broad shouldered wearing wristguards in a mix of black iron and silver. Apparently the two guards at your village gate were making him wait for someone before entering. You take this chance to ask him... *fake_choice #"Hey mister, what's the coolest thing you ever fought?" The man stands as tall and still as a mountain, ignoring your request. You ask again. Kosuke asks. You ask again. Kosuke asks. You ask again. Kosuke asks. A chuckle escapes from the guards at the gate, and the man groans. Finally the mountain relents and pulls a weapon seemingly from nowhere, an enormous spear with an ivory spearhead longer than your torso. After a moment you realize it's a tooth. "A tiger had Advanced into a Behemoth, a tavern-sized beast. The monster used its two heads to devour multiple commoners from my nephew's village at the same time. I removed its fangs and used them to sever both heads from its body." He shoves the spear into the ground to punctuate his victory. You and Kosuke cheer ecstatically. Finally, a good tale that was probably even true. Eventually the guards let the man in and you don't bother to follow, instead play-sparring with Kosuke who pretended to be a tiger Behemoth. #"Hey mister, can you show us some special powers?" The armored man scoffs. He doesn't even look at you as he speaks, staring at the gate instead. "Child, the Techniques of my Sect's Path of Mountain Hazard are not toys for display." Kosuke groans, "Awww man, another loser! Come on $!{name} we'll try again tomorrow." You both go to leave and realize you can't. Your feet are secured to the ground by rock boots that weigh more than your entire body. You stare up in astonishment at the Martial Artist, who is being let into the town by Thunderfall Sect disciples. You and Kosuke spend the next five hours chipping away at the rock with some other, smaller nearby rocks. Your reputation as a gate heckler does you no good this day: none of the guards help. #"Hey mister, how many people have you killed?" "Martial Artists?" The armor-clad man grunts, "A handful. Two hands perhaps." He turns to the guards who are making him wait outside the village. "But nameless soldiers? Hmph." One guard shuffles uncomfortably. "Hundreds." Eventually the guards let the man in and you don't bother to follow. You and Kosuke spend the rest of the day, and many more after that, trying to pick a fight with the guards. You assume you can beat ten if this man beat hundreds, so two should be easy. After months their patience runs out and they tie you both to a tree. #"Hey mister, what are you doing here?" The man stands as tall and still as a mountain, ignoring your request. You ask again. Kosuke asks. You ask again. Kosuke asks. You ask again. Kosuke asks. A chuckle escapes from the guards at the gate, and the man groans. Finally the mountain relents and turns to you, "Your Magistrate is in a dangerous situation. I have come to offer my services, for a fee, or threaten to aid his rivals." Kosuke raises an eyebrow and says, "If you're strong enough to solve problems that the Thunderfall Sect can't solve, why are you waiting here? Can't you just jump over the wall?" The man shakes his head. "Honor dictates-" "Cause I bet I could jump over the wall!" Kosuke interrupts. The two of you spend the next hour trying to jump over the wall with a running start. You never succeed. The armored stranger is eventually let in, but you spend the rest of the month still trying to jump over that damned wall. It turns out jumping is hard. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 *goto Next_twins #Trying to talk to ghosts at the graveyard. [Increase Handseals] It was common knowledge that ghosts are real. The dead must be put to rest by proper burial and rite or there was a chance their souls would return to complete unfinished business. You don't think that sounds so bad. You would want to finish your business. The graveyard outside of town is objectively spooky. Acre upon acre of tombstones and family crypts surrounded by an iron fence, with woods surrounding the gates to block any view of the safety of town. You and Kosuke spend night after night inside for months. You love it. The two of you use every myth, legend, and ritual you've ever heard of to try and get in contact with ghosts and see what amazing stories they have to tell. It's a constant obsession to knock at death's door. On one full moon night, you get an answer. *page_break As the two of you get to the center of the graveyard and wonder which area to try next, you hear the withered voices of multiple old women in unison speaking from nowhere. "Hello little dearies," says the voices. "How would you like to help out some old ladies in need?" *set sawgran true *if (bffheshe = "he") "Hells yeah!" You and Kosuke shout in unison. A real ghost! You highfive. "Excuse me?" says the disembodied conjoined voices from beyond the shroud of life and death. "Oh uh," Kosuke pauses, "nothing miss...misses?" "It's Mrses, dearie. You may call us by the name....Ole Gran. And so you know, it's rude to leave an old lady's question waiting without an answer." Kosuke nudges you. *if (heshe = "he") "$!{name}, answer *else "Go on, answer her!" *else Kosuke yelps and jumps. $!{bffheshe} crouches behind you and pushes you forward. "Go on, answer her!" "Yes indeed," says the disembodied conjoined voices from beyond the shroud of life and death, "answer the poor old ladies, little one. And please, call us Ole Gran." *choice #Grab Kosuke and sprint out of the graveyard as fast as you can. You two dash out of the haunted graveyard faster than you ever thought you could. When you both get to your house for safety you explain everything to Mother and Father who proceed to spank you. With that over, Mother leaves for an hour and comes back with a selection of scrolls to read. "These are what the Magistrate's sage has given us to avoid whatever curses you've brought into this home. Get reading, both of you, because I do [i]not[/i] slave over this household to keep it clean just so you two can recklessly see it haunted." As an odd form of grounded, you both end up having to learn good luck charms for the next month. #See if I can help the ghost(s?) of the old lady. "Oh how dear of you, sweeties." The voices say, "You see, we've been bound here for quite some time. Ohhh unfinished business and all that, great regrets. Truly great. In order for us to move on we need something special. We need to pass on our ancient secret rituals." You and Kosuke exchange excited looks. You spend the next few weeks learning a secret set of mystic handseals that Ole Gran says would give you the power of a ghost. When the full moon returns, the two of you excitedly cast the ritual with Ole Gran smiling with approval at your work. Nothing happens. *set taint + 3 *page_break Oops "Wha..." says Ole Gran's many voices and Kosuke in unison. All that time wasted. Ole Gran's face twists into a grimace. When next she speaks her voice is filled with fury. "Oh you stupid, stupid brats! You lazy idiots! Do you not have auras? Hm? Have you not been harnessing chi from the elements?" You both shrug. "How am I supposed to possess you if you have no connection to the elements?!" You both shrug. "I just....Go. Leave my graveyard. Just get out." *set safeloc_graveyard true [b][Handseals +1][/b] *set Handseals + 1 *gosub_scene quicks fuuinjutsudescription [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 Your ghost hunting days sadly come to an end. *goto Next_twins *label Next_twins *page_break A year goes by without incident. [b][Item Gained: 1 Year's Allowance (12 Shards)][/b] *set Shards + 12 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *set age + 1 *set shards + (commerce * 2) Unless you count an angry blood spirit manifesting in the village well as an incident, which you DON'T. The stupid adults wouldn't even let you see the well until after the Bloodwalker had been "exercised". Why did a spirit need exercise anyway? These are the kinds of insightful questions you and Kosuke talk about late one night, well past your bedtime, when you hear a knock at the window. You both stare over in fear. "It's a ghost." says Kosuke. "No it isn't." You reply resolutely, because that would mean your bedroom is haunted. Kosuke may be able to leave but you'd have to live here and deal with it. Cautiously you hold a candle up and open the wooden windowslide with a quick jerk. Standing in the darkness, in your family's garden right outside your window, is a calamity worse than ghosts: The twins. Jin and Rin, your siblings two years younger with a penchant for getting you in trouble. Both are outside for some reason when they should be in bed. As should you be. And you and Kosuke would continue getting away with it if Jin and Rin weren't knocking on your damned window. "What do you want?!" You're not in the mood to be grounded again. Jin beams up at the window, oblivious. "Everyone's talking-" "Quieter!" You hiss. "-about how Master Mao [i]ate[/i] the spirit in the well, sooo cool! We decided we want to be adventurers-" "-but they all have big colorful auras!" Rin adds way too damn loud. "-so we want you to teach us how to get all colorful." Jin finishes. "You know, with an aura!" "Why not ask Father?" You ask with a flat stare. "We did, just this morning!" chirps Rin, "He told us we could get back to the laundry or get back to being grounded." Sounds like Father. Kosuke speaks up in a sharp whisper, "There you have it, no adventuring! Now get back inside before you blow our cover, we don't even have auras!" "But you know how to get em!" Jin protests, "You know lots of stuff!" Hmm, he's right. You do know lots of stuff. Rin nods excitedly in agreement. "Yeah, we heard Papa talking to you about how Shards have chi, and he gives you Shards, so you must know how to make them into chi. Teach us! Or we'll tell Mama that you're still up!" *page_break Ransoming little brats! You...Oh Hells. You actually don't know how to make Shards into your own chi. You've saved up your allowance religiously over the last couple years but you just assumed using Shards was an issue for the future. Do you have enough? Can you use them now? How do you even do that? Your eyes drift to Kosuke for help. $!{bffhisher} thin-lipped nervous smile betrays that ${bffheshe}'s in the same predicament, and you realize neither of you know how to use your Shards to gain power. Were your parents hiding it so you wouldn't blow your money? Probably. That sounds like adults, making decisions for you without asking. *page_break Blurt something out "We'll tell you tomorrow." You say off the top of your head to avoid looking ignorant in front of your siblings. You're the eldest, you always know the answer. "Yeah, and it'll cost you!" Adds Kosuke hastily. Jin and Rin thankfully suppress their cheer, instead they shake in excitement and frolic back into the shadows, [i]hopefully[/i] looping back around the house to sneak in and go to bed. You and Kosuke try to get some sleep of your own after that and fail. Theories and fantasies take up half the night. Restful slumber takes a back seat to your ponderings on how you turn a few pieces of spiritually infused not-glass into the ability to punch through walls or shoot lightning out of your eyes. There has to be steps involved, and you don't know the first. You and Kosuke agree on a 3-step plan: 1. Find a source of information on how to absorb Shards. *line_break 2. See the process get performed. *line_break 3. Perform the process yourself to make sure you've figured out the right steps. It's vital that you do it yourself first so your instructions can be clear, you can't have Jin or Rin messing it up and exploding. Mother would spank you. Plus, you like the idea of getting stronger than the other kids. The next morning Kosuke splits off to go find leads for Step 2, leaving you to gather information for Step 1 by... *goto Next_shardinfo *label Next_shardinfo *choice #Researching tomes at the library. Knowledge is power. [Increase Lore] The library is your go-to solution for most problems that can be solved with knowledge. It makes sense, and it never hurts to know more about the world. [b][Lore +1][/b] *set lore + 1 You spend most of the morning flipping through pages of tomes and unwinding scrolls for beginner Martial Artists and sure enough you do find some rudimentary guides on Shard consumption. They refer to the process as "cycling" and hint that the Shard's energy needs to be swirled around inside of you in a spiral pattern after being held against the chest and willed into essence. It's not clear what "willed into essence" means. At least the spiral design is clearly shown on the scroll; you draw a copy on your stomach to help visualize it. *set tummydraw true So the "cycling" notes were simple after all: physical touch, willpower, and a spiral design. Easier said than done, but it was a good first step. *goto Next_shardexample #Spying on villagers who already have auras. [Increase Perception] There are more Martial Artists in town than just the Thunderfall Sect students. Most of them are merchants or outdoorsmen which made sense. Both were dangerous fields. Outdoorsmen would be on constant lookout for monsters and merchants would be on constant lookout for drunk outdoorsmen. You decide to spy on the merchants since they were inside the village and you're allowed to wander through their stores and market stalls without raising suspicious. [b][Perception +1][/b] *set perception + 1 To your surprise, you actually do get a few tidbits of information that help when one merchant scolds his son for doing it wrong. Apparently the process is called "cycling" and involves holding Shards tight against your chest or stomach. It has something to do with meditation since the users always have their eyes closed. The merchant keeps mentioning a spiral where his son made the mistake the first time, shouting that he must "stir" the chi through his body. So the "cycling" notes were simple after all: physical touch, willpower, and a spiral design. Easier said than done, but it was a good first step. *goto Next_shardexample #Trading tales with the elder fishermen who are so old that they must have seen everything by now. [Increase Deception] Marching down the woodsy trail outside the village is more pleasant than you expected. It's a nice spring day and the gentle wind licks your hair on your way to a fishing pond where some of the oldest villagers spend their leisure years. Before even arriving you hear a cacophony of old men saying the most ridiculously made up stories you've ever heard in your life. You begin to think the men just came here to drink and talk, since their voices are so loud that they scare most animals away. Maybe the real fish is the friends we made along the way? Nevertheless, you had to prove yourself to these dinosaurs if you wanted to get their precious (likely inaccurate) information. You wish you had traded places with Kosuke, ${bffheshe} was better at making up stories that get a reaction out of strangers. Once again you find yourself wishing you were raised as an illustrious Beggar instead of a filthy ${background}, but at least you have a chance to practice. [b][Deception +1][/b] *set deception + 1 The old men are impressed with the stories you tell of saving young princesses, breaking deals with demons, and travelling to fake places all over the world. Most call them crap, but they still listen when you talk. You think that's a good sign. When half of them are giving up on the fish to go home you get approached by an appreciative couple that tells you how they managed to absorb shards in their youth. They see doubt in your eyes and flex, emitting a true aura of deep-water blue energy all over their bodies. You're shocked to find old fishers telling the truth. After a stunned silence you take notes on their suggestions to press the Shards close to your body and imagine them as water in your hand, then picture the water splashing against you and swirling into your body in a spiral. They say it's called "cycling". So the "cycling" notes were simple after all: physical touch, willpower, and a spiral design. Easier said than done, but it was a good first step. *goto Next_shardexample #Working for the market's caravans in exchange for information. [Increase Craft] Sometimes the direct choice was the best choice. Caravans came through Thunderfall constantly with wagons of goods and plenty of empowered guards who had auras of their own. They were businessmen, and businessmen had to follow through on their deals. They also had a need for menial labor. You go through the market offering to help turn their crates into tables during setup in exchange for tips from the guards. Eventually, you find a merchant that agrees to the free labor. You're not sure why it even took two tries. There's no pleasing some people. [b][Craft +1][/b] *set craft + 1 After a few hours of removing nails from crate boards and then nailing them back into the same boards to form tables, the guards explain the process of "cycling" to you as thanks. They even leave you a generous tip. [b][Item Gained: 4 Shards][/b] *set shards + 4 They say you need to try and melt the Shards against your skin with your pure will, then wish them into your body in a spiral so badly that it actually happens. So the "cycling" notes were simple after all: physical touch, willpower, and a spiral design. Easier said than done, but it was a good first step. *goto Next_shardexample *label Next_shardexample *page_break One step down, two to go... With the main concept for this "cycling" acquired, you meet up with Kosuke at the town well and tell ${bffhimher} what you've found. *if (tummydraw) and (heshe != bffheshe) Then you lift your shirt to show the spiral design. Kosuke stares, open mouthed. Probably impressed with your drawing skills. After enough time for Kosuke to memorize the design you put your shirt down. $!{bffheshe} snaps out of it and pulls out ${bffhisher} own notes. *set bffrep + 5 *elseif (tummydraw) and (heshe = bffheshe) Then you lift your shirt to show the spiral design. "Okay, cycling." Kosuke says after you explain it, "Makes sense, cool. I learned something too: There's four types of creatures that have auras and they say all of them are a threat to your coinpurse, so if "cycling" Shards is what we'd do, then they should all be able to do it too." "That's good news!" you say, this plan is coming together, "Now we just need to get some funds. If we want to watch something perform a whole cycling, we'll need to offer a bunch of Shards." You and Kosuke lock eyes suspiciously. You think it's to decide who has to give up some Shards, but you see ${bffhimher} stifling a mischievous laugh. Then it clicks in your mind. "Oh." you say, "How many did you steal?" Kosuke grins slowly, "Enough to get noticed, so don't visit the weaver's hall for a while." $!{bffheshe} tosses you a scroll that you open up. It describes the four types of creatures you're looking for. "Got a guard to write this down too, told him one of the merchants demanded it, so don't go near the western gate for a bit either." At this rate you'll be avoiding half the village by winter. Still, the note is useful. *page_break Open the note and read... *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/ac-linebreak-top.png [i]Yu Sing, [i]I don't know why you have an interest in Spiritual Cultivation, but if you want to go dumping Shards into your aura's development then be my guest. Here's the list you asked for. I expect that generous discount your messenger promised next time I swing by.[/i] [i]First, there's Beasts. You've probably seen some in the trophies of massive monsters we've caught. Animals can Advance into these "Beasts" by absorbing enough natural energy from their prey, or territory, or plants. It's our job to kill the ones that get a taste for humans, but even the tamest might eat you if it's convenient. Stick to the roads.[/i] [i]Second, there's Spirits. Living energy that represents nature, places, or objects...Usually. Most Spirits are aggressive or unpredictable. The only ones I recommend are water spirits; superstitious fishermen offer them tribute for good luck all the time. They're used to people.[/i] [i]Third, there's humans with auras. Martial Artists. It's an all-or-nothing lifestyle. If you achieve an aura you can be sensed by predators that want to harness your chi. For Beasts that means eating you. For spirits that means ripping pieces off your soul. The only reason you've been safe all this time is because they can't detect you from a distance. When you unlock your aura that will change.[/i] [i]And for the last type...Well just ignore the last one.[/i] [i]They're the things we keep locked away or burned to ash. Fiends. Creatures warped outside of the natural order. Ghouls, bloodwalkers, the grim. Undead and worse. Sure, aggressive Beasts and Spirits are a threat, but these things are horrors. They hunt humans, normal humans....and cycle them, as if human flesh and blood were a source of chi.[/i] [i]It ain't right. Do not interact with these things. Call the Thunderfall Sect to send an extermination team instead. I mean it. We're still studying the ghoul we have locked in the jail and even that is giving me the creeps.[/i] [i]Anyway, that's the list. Obviously I suggest the Thunderfall Sect disciples, but if your Path or Style requires spiritual or bestial aura, then goodluck out there with the others.[/i] *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/ac-linebreak-bottom.png Huh... You've never heard it explained so formally but it all makes sense. Every myth and rumor you know fits into the categories you read. Now it's time to pick your target... *choice #Beasts. Kosuke says ${bffheshe} knows a "good one" in the woods. [Increase Survival] You don't know what Kosuke means by a "good one". $!{bffheshe} won't specify as you descend the mountainous village and head off the beaten trails through two miles of forest. Your hairs stand on end when you get further from your village's elevation and the trees grow taller and more dense. Soon enough their branches blot out the sky. In your mind you know it's daytime, but nobody told that to the trees. [b][Survival +1][/b] *set survival + 1 Then you see it: a graveyard of skulls. Bird skulls. Kosuke's step snaps a twig, and a branch above you shakes. You look up to see a creature wake from slumber and raise its head in majesty, surveying who dare trespass in its domain. A Beast. *page_break By the Heavens... *if (portraitpics) *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/squiger.jpeg A squiger! You'd heard of animals Advancing into human form, *if (race = "Yokai") Hell, as a Yokai you're part Advanced animal yourself, but you never thought about animals choosing to Advance into another animal. This creature was either a tiger who consumed so many squirrels that its Beast Advancement turned it into one to track them better, or it was a squirrel who Advanced into a tiger to change from prey to predator. Either way, it's the size of a housecat, and adorable. *if (bffheshe = "he") "Didn't I tell you?" says Kosuke excitedly. "It's awesome! Quick, throw the Shards." *else "It's so adorable!" squeals Kosuke, "A Squiger!" One sniff is all the squiger needs to detect Kosuke's stolen Shards in your satchel. *set leftovershards 0 *choice #Toss one and keep the rest. *if (subrace != "Cat") *set squigerattack true *else [b][Cat Yokai Event: Calmed Kin][/b] Despite being a massive cheapskate, you feel a calm presence from the Beast. *set cheapskateshard true *set leftovershards 20 *goto Next_squiger #Toss a handful and keep the rest. *rand leftovershards 13 19 *if ((((survival > 1) or (athletics > 0)) or (deception > 0)) or (subrace != "Cat")) *goto Next_squiger *else *set squigerattack true *goto Next_squiger #Toss two handfuls and keep the rest. *rand leftovershards 6 9 *goto Next_squiger #Toss the whole pile to please the Beast. *set safeloc_squiger true *set leftovershards 0 *goto Next_squiger #Fiends. If this "ghoul" is locked away safely then it's perfect. [Increase Stealth] Breaking into the jail would be no easy feat, you thought, until you broke into the jail. It's a barn-sized building with two layers of cold-iron bar cells on both sides of a short hall and a desk seated near the door and the back where guards can sit. You only ever hear of the cells being used to host thieves or drunks. Highwaymen tended to get executed. Kosuke scoped out the building for half an hour until you braved a peak through the jail window and doors only to find it empty. The cells looked empty too, so the guard on shift must have snuck off. Whoever the slacker guard was, you liked him already. You and Kosuke enter the building when no one is on the road to witness. [b][Stealth +1][/b] *set stealth + 1 Light comes in through the windows and reveals you weren't correct on your initial assessment. The cells aren't all empty. In the back corner one of the cells has an even smaller cell inside of it, stopping its inhabitant from reaching out to passersby. You can imagine why. When the prisoner rises from the ground you can make out its features more clearly and confirm it isn't humanoid. Not anymore. Standing in the thinner cell inside a cell, barely wide enough to let it lay down, is a man with pale paper-thin skin covered in open wounds that leak no blood. His eyes have no iris and his teeth ooze black saliva. A Ghoul. *if (bffheshe = "he") "Sick, it's real!" shouts Kosuke, running up to the first set of bars to get a closer look. "I'll bet the Magistrate threatens to feed people to it...Awesome. Quick, *else "That's so messed up that something like this is kept in our town." Kosuke says, "Don't their bites turn people into ghouls too? Let's get out of here as soon as we can, toss it the Shards." *page_break Surely this can't be a bad idea You reach into your bag and throw a handful of Kosuke's stolen Shards at the ghoul's feet. It doesn't react, staring instead at your general direction. Not good. If someone comes in and sees the pile of Shards they're going to ask questions, and these [i]are[/i] stolen Shards. "Uh...throw more?" Kosuke says, doublechecking the doors. You try tossing another handful. No reaction. *if (bffheshe = "he") "Hold on, I have an idea." Kosuke scratches ${bffhisher} gum until it bleeds and spits blood on the pile of Shards. *else "Maybe it doesn't like pure chi? These things eat people so what if you put some blood on it?" You think for a second and scratch your gums with your fingernail, then spit blood onto the pile. Finally the ghoul reacts. Its knees give out. Undead skin crashes into the pile as the creature's face drops into the Shards. It starts chewing the bloodstained seaglass-like coins until the Shards crack open. Bright gray energy swirls in a thick visible mist around the chewed up Shard pieces. The ghoul turns over onto it's back and exhales more of the glowing mist until the energy rests inches above its torso like a thick cloud of mist. Slowly the energy begins to turn like a wheel until its center swirls down into the creature's stomach like water going down a drain. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 So that's it, you realize. That's what the spiral of cycling was about: it pressurizes the chi to push it into your body. You realize the creature's eyes are now locked with yours, and glowing with renewed power, renewed understanding. Slowly it places two hands on the jailcell bars...and pulls. A loud creak echos through the jail as the bars bend ever so slightly. "Oh SHIT!" you and Kosuke shout together. With a newfound understanding of cycling and cultivation achieved, you both flee the jail before someone investigates your loud noise. You check your bag while running and find at least you have leftover Shards for you two to split. *rand leftovershards 6 9 *goto Next_shardexecution #Martial Artists. Disciples of the Thunderfall Sect all know how to cycle. [Increase Persuasion] Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, you and Kosuke are capable of taking the safe and reasonable option. One long walk down the eastern road brings you to the lower clearings designated for combat training. Bursts of cannonfire and fireworks fill the air, but you see no smoke. It's the sound of chi blasts and empowered fists colliding. Realization hits you both that today must be a day for active combat drills and you can barely contain your excitement, this was perfect. You run the rest of the way and join a small crowd to watch the fights. There are five glowing Martial Artists facing off in the field. Each fighter is ignited in different swirls of color. One burns with bright red as if he was on fire, another is covered in a thick violet steam, and two are radiating blue pulses of light from their bodies. The fifth is a red-skinned Oni covered in a simple white glow. He seems to be the weakest. Yet even the weakest is performing miracles on the battlefield. You see him dash across half the field in a burst of speed so swift that he leaves a trail of white light behind him. At times he forms white orbs of raw power in his hands and throws them at the other training combatants. The crowd cheers when a missed orb turns around midair from behind one blue-glowing combatant and hits her from behind. It seemed to be a tracker Technique. Simple, and a fan-favorite. *page_break Pull out some snacks and keep watching The blue pair shoot beams of freezing energy from their arms that leave waist-sized lines of ice wherever they hit the ground. The violet steam wielder forms crystal swords from nothing over her shoulders and launches them with her mind. The red aura-wielder you actually recognize: Crusher Mao, master of the Thunderfall Sect in your village. His physical power is insane. The man's strikes leave craters in the ground when an opponent dodges, and when he lands the next hit his opponent is knocked into the air and out of the field. It mattered not, in seconds his target rejoins the fray in a blur of light just like that Technique the white aura wielder had used. It's incredible. You've never seen anything so amazing in your life, with good reason. You aren't supposed to be so close at your age. Your ears ring from the shockwaves when their fists clash, and pain shoots through your eyes from the flashes of light when they launch blasts or beams of raw chi. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 *if (bffheshe = "she") Kosuke takes your hand when it gets too much for her and runs to hide behind some trees up the road. "We can talk to them when they leave!" she shouts over the shockwaves of the fight, "I'm sure they'll want some Shards to refresh after that fight, we can offer them for advice!" *else Eventually it's too much. You and Kosuke retreat up the trail and rest behind a tree to wait for the fights to end. After such a display of power the combatants must be low on chi. You plan to bribe them with Shards to teach you about cycling. *page_break Twenty minutes of mock battles later... Excitement dies down when the sounds and flashes slow to a halt. It seems the fight is over. Only one of the combatants actually leaves through the regular trail with the crowd, the Oni with a pure white aura. Not yet a master, but far greater than the fresh recruits if he was allowed to fight alongside Master Mao. He's perfect for your needs. "Hey mister!" Kosuke shouts, running from behind a tree. "My friend here has a question to ask you." You glare at Kosuke. That *if (bffheshe = "she") witch *else jerk just threw you under the wagon. The red-skinned Oni looks down at you, rubbing a towel over his hair. "Yeah? I've got somewhere to be, what is it?" Now's your chance. You reach into your bag of Kosuke's stolen Shards to make your pitch and... *choice #Offer him a handful and keep the rest. *if (persuasion > 0) or (thievery > 0) *rand leftovershards 13 19 *goto Next_oniguy2 *else *rand leftovershards 5 8 "We want to learn how to absorb Shards," you say while pulling out a handful. "We were hoping you'd show us if we gave you a few." The Oni martial artist looks down on you with pity. "Ah that's rough, little guys, but this isn't enough. The stronger you get the more Shards you need for a single cycling." Kosuke reaches in and grabs another handful from your bag. "How about this much?" *goto Next_oniguy2 #Offer two handfuls and keep the rest. *rand leftovershards 6 9 *goto Next_oniguy2 #Offer the whole pile *set safeloc_ally true *set leftovershards 0 *goto Next_oniguy2 #Spirits. Cycling is about chi, why not learn from something made of chi? [Increase Handseals] Water elemental spirits are the easiest option to handle but not the easiest to find. The pros and cons are simple. For the pros, water spirits are less dangerous than some other options, they won't snitch on you, and they are made of visible chi so you should be able to see the entire cycling process inside them. For the cons, they have perfect camouflage in water and you don't know of any water spirits in your lakes or rivers. This means a lot of walking to find distant bodies of water that might have formed a spirit. You're looking at days of searching, possibly even weeks. If you were a chump. Since you're not a chump, you and Kosuke head to the mystic's shop to feed one of the bound elementals they keep in the back. It was an easier task than you expected. You both walk into the store of glass cases containing various scrolls and potions. You nod to each other, and Kosuke touches one then starts screaming. Panic erupts from the customers and the mystic's apprentice comes running from behind the front desk. While she runs to Kosuke to see what was wrong, you slip to the back of the store where the good stuff is stored. Mystic weapons and armor, cases containing petrified pieces of monsters, and three stone wells dug into the ground in the back. Bingo. You walk up to the wells and look inside each. One glows blue, one glows red, and one glows green. You hold Kosuke's stolen Shards up to the blue pool which [i]should[/i] have the water spirit, and spend the next two minutes frantically mimicking the hand signs you're supposed to use to wake it up. Both of you prepared for this and studied Mother's handsealing lessons for hours, but the actual execution was harder than you remembered. [b][Handseals +1][/b] *set handseals + 1 *gosub_scene quicks fuuinjutsudescription Eventually the blue glow of the well intensifies as the spirit stirs. Water sprays upward and stays there, a pillar looming just short of six feet tall. It looks like a geyser at first, but the end of it actually curls and "looks" toward your Shards. That's when you notice the deeper blue dots. Its eyes. It's now or never, you... *choice #Offer one Shard and keep the rest. *if (race = "Oni") [b][Oni Racial Event: Calmed Spirit][/b] *set leftovershards 20 *set cheapskateshard true Despite being a massive cheapskate, something within the spirit resonates with you. *goto Next_elem *else *goto Next_elemattack #Offer a handful of Shards and keep the rest. *rand leftovershards 13 19 *if ((((handseals > 1) or (insight > 0)) or (perception > 0)) or (race = "oni")) *goto Next_elem *else *goto Next_elemattack #Offer two handfuls of Shards and keep the rest. *rand leftovershards 6 9 *goto Next_elem #Offer the whole pile to please the beast. *set leftovershards 0 *goto Next_elem *label Next_elemattack The water elemental grows in length and hungrily surges towards your satchel of Shards-WAIT NO IT'S COMING FOR YOU! Panic takes over, but not fast enough. You're trapped. Water soaks your clothes and buffets your face as the elemental completely "consumes" you, surrounding your entire body in its churning line of water chi and spinning you in circles. You throw up into it, but the barf ejects from the torrent and launches all over the backroom. The sound must have attracted people because while spinning you see the shop attendant in the doorway, horrified. Kosuke is behind her chewing on ${bffhisher} tongue while taking notes. A bright grey glow comes from your satchel. The elemental is eating your entire collection of Shards inside and attempting to drown you. You hope Kosuke gets good notes on the spirit's cycling process, because you're about to die for them. [b][1 Wounds Suffered][/b] *set wounds + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure -2][/b] *set aurapressure - 2 *page_break Hrrbbbrrrbblllll!!! ... Nothingness.... Your consciousness drifts through the fading blank spaces of your mind... Peace at last. No more will you worry about earthly issues of thought, hunger, pain. Your soul is released from such troubles, as you - actually, that stings. Ouch! OUCH!! *page_break Stop it! Your eyes shoot open to find you're already back home. You must have passed out, because Mother is pressing some medicine-soaked towel against a bulging cheek bruise you didn't know you had. Father is shaking Kosuke hard shouting how stupid you both were. Your head is covered in bandages after getting treated like laundry by that angry spirit and you grow bitterness towards the guard who's notes said they were peaceful. Mother tells you that you're [i]incredibly[/i] grounded and Father tells Kosuke that ${bffheshe}'s not allowed over for a month. But.... There's still a job to do. So the next day you sneak out and meet Kosuke at the town compost pile where you can have some privacy, just like you two had discussed. $!{bffheshe} has another 4 Shards for you, and you don't ask from where. It's time for the final step. It's time....to cycle. *set leftovershards 0 *set shards + 4 [b][Item Gained: 4 Shards][/b] *goto Next_shardexecution *label Next_elem *set safeloc_elem true Two subtle white lights form in the water spirit and you realize they are eyes. A third light glows below them and stretches outward and up....is it smiling at you? You take one step forward and hold up your offering to the spirit. It dips its "head" *if (cheapskateshard) over the Shard and sucks it into its body where you can see the Shard dissolve into a small glowing mass. *else into the pile of Shards and sucks them into its body where you can see them dissolve into a glowing mass. You walk in a circle around the serpentine pillar of water to get a better look and see exactly the clue you were hoping to find. The glowing mass isn't just spinning inside the spirit, the energy in the center is being compressed and pushed into the spirit's Core as if the energy were water flowing down a drain. So that's it, that's what the spiral of cycling was about: it pressurizes the chi to push it into your body. With a newfound understanding of cycling and cultivation, you both head back to the village for the final step. *if (safeloc_elem = false) On the way, you fiddle with the leftover Shards in your bag. Seems you and Kosuke got to keep a bonus. *goto Next_shardexecution *label Next_oniguy2 The Oni man looks over you both with concern and suspicion. "You sure you want me to absorb your Shards in exchange for watching me absorb some Shards?" You both nod. "Well that's hard to argue against." he says, taking your Shards and sitting cross-legged on the grass. "Pay close attention to the spiral pattern." [b][Persuasion +1][/b] *set persuasion + 1 With eyes closed, he holds the Shards up to his chest and seems to focus hard, crushing them with his hand. You cringe at the sight of so much money being destroyed, but then you remember it's not yours, it's Kosuke's. Actually, ${bffheshe} stole it. It's the weaver's. Grey glowing mist emits from the broken Shards and the man's breathing changes. He motions with one hand to imitate a spiral and points to that hand with his other. You get the impression this isn't part of the process, rather him pointing out what to focus on. The glowing mist forms into a pool in front of his torso then begins to swirl in a spiral, falling into the man's torso at its middle like water down a drain. His whole body glows a little brighter than it did during the fight. His eyes open. "And that's the gist. The Shards shatter into energy, and you need to focus on it like your imagination is gripping a cloud in front of you. Then you spin it to compress the chi and use that pressure to push the chi in the center into your body until you've absorbed it all. Got it?" You nod in astonishment. Before you can ask any follow-up questions he vanishes with another streak of white light left behind. He really did have somewhere to be. With a newfound understanding of cycling and cultivation, you both head back to the village for the final step. *if (safeloc_ally = false) On the way, you fiddle with the leftover Shards in your bag. Seems you and Kosuke got to keep a bonus. *goto Next_shardexecution *label Next_squiger *if (squigerattack) The squiger jumps down towards the Shar-WAIT NO IT'S JUMPING AT YOU. *goto Next_watcherfail *else One majestic leap drops the squiger from its high branch to the ground. It lands atop *if (cheapskateshard) your Shard and rolls on it *else your pile of Shards and rolls in them until its belly is up in the air. You and Kosuke lean forward, stepping closer to see what happens. Slowly, a grey glow surrounds both the squiger and the *if (cheapskateshard) Shard until it starts *else Shards until the Shards start to chip apart, physical pieces dissolving into a swirling pool of mist hovering over the squiger until it all suddenly falls into the squiger's belly like water down a drain. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 So that's it, that's what the spiral of cycling was about: it pressurizes the chi to push it into your body. With a newfound understanding of cycling and cultivation, you both flee the squiger's territory before it finishes its meal. *if (leftovershards > 0) While running you feel a weight in your bag and are thankful that there's even leftover Shards for you two to split. *goto Next_shardexecution *label Next_watcherfail A whirl of fluff is upon you before you can react. Its cute and tiny little paws extend cute and tiny little claws glowing violently with the white light of combat chi. You raise your hands too late as the miniature predator swipes through your nose and bites into your chin. Momentum from its leap into your face knocks you into a tree head-first. [b][Aura Pressure -2][/b] *set aurapressure - 2 *page_break NOT THE FACE! NOT THE FACE!!! A whimper escapes your throat as your eyes flutter open. You're back home. Mother is tending to your cuts with some stinging liquid on a towel and Father is shaking Kosuke hard shouting how stupid you both were. Your head is covered in bandages after getting absolutely eviscerated by that tiny fluffy murderer. Mother tells you that you're [i]incredibly[/i] grounded and Father tells Kosuke that ${bffheshe}'s not allowed over for a month. Worse, the squiger consumed the rest of the Shards after it took you down. But.... There's still a job to do. The next day you sneak out and meet Kosuke at the town compost pile where you could have some privacy, just like you two had discussed. $!{heshe} has another 4 Shards for each of you, and you don't ask from where. It's time for the final step. It's time....to cycle. *set leftovershards 0 *set shards + 4 [b][Item Gained: 4 Shards][/b] *goto Next_shardexecution *label Next_shardexecution *if (leftovershards > 0) [b][Item Gained: ${leftovershards} Shards] *set Shards + leftovershards The only question is, how will you go about it? You now know the basics of spiritual cycling from an academic standpoint and *if (wounds > 0) Kosuke saw a great real life example when you were busy being attacked. The Shards need to be envisioned and willed as a bright grey swirl of energy funneling into your torso like water down a drain. That's what the spiral part was all about: it pressurizes the chi to push it into your body. *else you've seen an example in-person. You have the Shards, you have the knowledge, and you have the means. All that's left are the final preparations. *choice #I brew potions to prepare my body. [Increase Alchemy] Neither of you know what could go wrong from compressing chi and forcing it into your body, but you both figure the list of possibilities is high. That's why you decide to brew muscle-ache and stomach-ache remedies to prepare for the troubles that could distract you. After hours of searching through the nearby woods you've collected the right mushrooms, herbs, and roots to brew some potions. Kosuke supplies the cooking pot and water, you start the fire. It's important to burn out any impurities; you did collect this stuff from the dirt. [b][Alchemy +1][/b] *set alchemy + 1 You chug the concoctions and steady your nerves. *goto Next_shardexecution2 #I practice with other people's Shards. [Increase Thievery] There's no preparation quite like trying the process multiple times. You and Kosuke work on a bit of "supply procurement", as ${bffhisher} father calls it, in which one of you bumps into someone and apologizes while the other picks their pocket from behind. It's a smooth operation and you come out with a decent bit of Shards and Silver, which Kosuke runs off to trade in for more Shards. [b][Thievery +1][/b] *set thievery + 1 When ${bffheshe} gets back you both sit down take a handful from the pile and sit down cross-legged to practice your cycling. You hold the Shards against your chest and focus. It's a strange feeling, trying to sense the Shards, but you're calm throughout the process because you know it isn't important. You can try again if it doesn't work. That careless serenity actually does help. Dull light comes from your chest as the Shards slowly dissolve. It's slower than what you witnessed earlier. You hold your hands out as a crutch to focus your will over the "cloud" of glowing grey chi that the Shards became. It doesn't work. Your focus slips and the chi fades into the ground, but you [i]do[/i] feel what you were supposed to do. You open your eyes and see Kosuke already has the hang of it, forming a spiral out of the chi cloud in front of ${bffhimher}, eyes closed. Good, more Shards for you then. You grab the last fistful of ill-gotten gains and steady yourself. *set leftovershards 0 *rand leftovershards 3 6 [b][Item Gained: ${leftovershards} Shards][/b] *set shards + leftovershards *goto Next_shardexecution2 #I meditate deeply to feel out the flow of the aura. [Increase Insight] A calm mind is a healthy mind. You've been practicing a feel for aura in the past and almost succeeded, but now that you have so much of it around you and saw what to look for, it's easier to reach your mind and spirit out to "feel" the presence of the Shards in your lap. Kosuke imitates your practice across from you, chest slowly rising with each breath. Your mind is as calm as it can be. Your posture relaxed. Your spirit prepared. The wind is cool upon your hair and the earth solid below your body. You can actually feel your connection to the natural energies of the Earth. Slightly. [b][Insight +1][/b] *set insight + 1 *goto Next_shardexecution2 #I'm tough enough, I force it and rely entirely on my muscles. [Increase Athletics] All these preparations are for people trying to make up for their weaknesses. You and Kosuke have been "preparing" for this your entire lives with constant physical exercise. Games, chores, free time, it didn't matter. Your legs were always on the move, and you were always carrying something. [b][Athletics +1][/b] *set athletics + 1 You slap your cheeks to get hyped up and jump twice in place. *goto Next_shardexecution2 *label Next_shardexecution2 It's now or never. Hopefully you don't explode. *page_break Here goes nothing... Energy flows through Shards in your hands. You can feel it. Concentrating on a mental command you call out to that power to push itself out. It's different than you expected. It feels like puffing out your chest and lungs with air to help lift a heavy object, only this time you're applying the pressure to a phantom sensation outside your body. It works. Light emits from both your hands and the Shards simultaneously. The Shards dissolve slowly into a glowing mist of raw chi that weighs on you more than you expected. Somehow the mist gives off the impression of a heavier weight than the Shards ever did. You grasp that sensation and envision the weighted mist spinning clockwise while shrinking, compressing itself at the center. The chi responds to your will and rotates. Faster and faster you will it into a whirlwind the size of your chest and compress it down, pushing the center towards your torso, giving the chi a path of least resistance. A cool and shocking sensation fills your solar plexus and, more alarming, your entire back, as the chi touches upon your very soul. You knew in theory that chi was made of the essence of a soul and souls were made of living essence of chi, but it's only now that you truly understand it. Chi is not a soul. Your soul is not just chi. It's closer to the relation between your physical body and food: you are a complex living being that needs to eat other living beings like plants and meat to grow. Your soul is no different. These Shards and any other source of chi are food for your soul. The sensation of spiritual hunger is gone the second you feel it, filled immediately with your spirit's first meal, but the small spiral of chi energy you formed is only half depleted. There is much more left to take. This is it. This is the secret. *page_break Push! Shakes and aches overtake your body as you force the rest of the chi into your soul, and it [i]stretches[/i]. [b][Aura Pressure +10][/b] *set aurapressure + 10 To say chills run down your spine is an understatement. The feeling is so much more disorienting. Your tiny fraction of Aura Pressure is so small that this surge expands your sense of self right out of your body. Your soul grows too large. It doesn't feel like chills going down your spine, it feels like chills going down a space three inches further back than where your spine actually is. As if your nerves are connected to the air around you. Your body falls over as your spirit expands and your awareness goes with it. You try to stay up by tensing your abs to steady yourself, but your nerves send the order to an area two inches in front of your stomach instead. Your mind is treating your body as if it is 30% bigger than it actually is and you collapse from a total loss of motor control. Across from you, Kosuke suffers the same struggle on the ground. You see grey steam around ${bffhisher} chest and, with focus, see the same around yourself. It's not an aura, yet. The glow will fade for good once it's absorbed, but it's your first step forward. A real step forward. You both laugh on the ground feeling simultaneously more energized and more exhausted than ever before. *set wounds 0 [b][Ability Unlocked: Cycling][/b] *line_break [b][You can now cycle Shards or other mystic objects/energies to absorb their power by going to the Cultivation menu.] *set advancement + 1 Kosuke looks over to you, sweating on the ground and radiating a weak white steam. *if (bffheshe != heshe) "You're glowing." $!{bffheshe} says. *choice #"The first time of many." I say, "We're gonna be legends." *set aurapressure + 1 #"Look who's talking." I tease. *set bffrep + 5 *set ruthless - 1 #"Worked like a charm," I reply, "and now to show the twins." *set Shards + 3 *set honor + 1 *else "Finally," ${bffheshe} says, "We're gonna be legends." *choice #"Hell yeah we are." I say. *set aurapressure + 1 #"Maybe you will," I reply, "we lost a dozen Shards from this. I'd rather keep my money and be the world's best ${background}." *set Shards + 3 #"I sure am," I say, "try to keep up." *set aurapressure + 1 *set ruthless + 1 *goto Next_twins1 *label Next_twins1 Jin and Rin are overjoyed when you show them what you can do. Hyper is a better word for it. In fact, they won't shut up. The two incessantly babble about becoming Martial Artists for weeks on end even though you had to blow more than your year's allowance just to cycle once. You make sure to warn them just how difficult of a road it's going to be unless they come across a massive chest of treasure. They should cycle just the once, like you did to get a bit healthier. Each time after that is even more expensive. Your family is just too poor to waste money on full-time cultivation. The Twins ignore your warning. Typical. Things settle down for the next year while you continue to play with your village friends, hang out with Kosuke, and work under Father to become a proper ${background}. It's a good childhood. *set age + 1 *set shards + (commerce * 2) *set Shards + 12 [b][Item Gained: 1 Years Allowance (12 Shards)][/b] *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 But as you grow into a young ${manwoman} your routine solidifies and you begin to realize this really is all that you'll ever have. Though you try to deny it, something is missing in your life. Power. The power to do what you see on that fateful day. *page_break [b]"VILLAGERS! TO THE FIELDS!"[/b] The shout forces your bed to shake, rousing you from sleep early in the morning, and you're not the only one. The booming call is heard all throughout the village. "What's going on?" Asks Rin, running out of her bedroom in her yukata. Jin's behind her holding a candlestick like a sword. He looks excited. "Is it an invasion?" "Calm down, all three of you." Demands Father from near the window. Sure, you didn't say anything, but why not lump you in with the siblings. Figures. "Something's going on outside. Kids, get your robes on. We're going to investigate." "Is that wise?" Asks Mother, drowned out by the twins cheering and rushing out the door. She looks to you, shrugs in resignation, and follows. A crowd has gathered in the streets outside and it's moving towards the gates, down into the eastern fields. Like lemmings you all follow, curiosity working as the bait to draw out an entire town. When you arrive at the field you see...nothing. Just a large crowd of most of the village surrounding one of the Thunderfall Sect's practice fields. *page_break Two hundred villagers exit the woods and surround the practice field, your eyes transfixed on the vast grass field that stretches out before you. The villagers whisper, their eyes filled with anticipation and anxiety. You try to hear what some are so excited about but there's too much murmuring. "Father, what's going on?" You ask. "What's everyone talking about?" "A challenge." Father says gravely. "The Sunbringer Sect is here." That's when you notice that the other side of the field isn't filled with your villagers, it's filled with strangers. The opposing crowd is a hundred strong and at its center stands two dozen men and women in silver and yellow combat gi. Not the Thunderfall uniform of dark blue and black. Sunbringers. Outsiders. "Enemies." Father says, as if confirming the thoughts you all had. A sudden surge fills the air, the unmistakable prickle of concentrated chi, refined and potent. The crowd parts like a sea and two figures emerge from opposing sides. From your side comes a man you all recognize: Crusher Mao, Master of the Thunderfall Sect and defender of Thunderfall Village. *if (portraitpics) *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/crushermao.jpg A giant of a man with a raging aura of power. His eyes sharp as daggers, his muscles strong and unyielding like the mountains. Green energy swirls around his body, growing deeper and more vibrant with every step he takes into the field. And the other... The other figure, his opposite, is a lean man with a golden goatee and angled eyebrows meant for royalty. His eyes burn with fire and his aura shines around him in a beacon of golden light. Even at this distance his presence radiates warmth and power. "Master Bangle!" Shouts Crusher Mao. The crowd silences as the two figures approach the center of the field. "What brings you to my superior village?" "You know why I am here, Master Mao. The Mystic Lands claimed these mountains when they built Sunbringer Village and yet your settlement from the Wild Lands persists in mockery of their claim. Only one nation can have the resources of this province. You have rebuked diplomacy at every turn, blocked my peaceful acquisition of neutral land, and intercepted vital supplies from the trade caravans." Crusher Mao laughs deeply. "And here I thought there were no jesters in Outer West! What you mean to say is that the Wild Lands claimed these mountains when they built Thunderfall Village and your usurper Sect remains as an annoyance. I refused to surrender my farmers to you so you sent raiders, I killed them so you sabotaged trade routes. Now you come here to whine when I've sabotaged your trade routes in return." "Slander all you wish, Mao, but our rivalry ends today. Thunderfall has stood in the way of Sunbringer prosperity for too long, I have come to finish this." "Yes." Says Crusher Mao, all laughter gone. "You have." *page_break [Brace For Impact] Concussive waves roil through the air in a spectacle of martial prowess and chi manipulation. Mao and Bangle trade blows with the force of thunderclaps, swift as lightning and just as devastating. Mao's chi-infused muscle meets Bangle's glowing strikes with enough power to shake the earth beneath their strength. Master Mao leaps above Master Bangle and strikes nothingness, causing sheer wind pressure to push Master Bangle into the ground hard enough to form a small crater. Mao charges after him but barely dodges a counterattack beam of golden energy that singes his shoulder. You watch, awestruck, as the two Masters act out their dance of death, muscle against energy, their movements fluid and swift. Your eyes struggle to keep up until the world seems to slow, their every motion imprinted in your mind. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 With a deafening roar Master Bangle blasts Mao with enough raw energy to launch him across the field. In that reprieve Master Bangle leaps forty feet off the ground and [i]stays there[/i], standing on the very air itself. His blazing aura of golden light doubles in area and he points two hands down at Mao. "This is over, Mao! I've come prepared with a Technique the likes of which you could never comprehend!" "Don't be so cocky, I've mastered a new one of my own!" Mao calls back. "Then come!" Shouts Master Bangle, "Taste the-" [b][i]"THUNDERFALL!"[/i][/b] Master Mao's roar reverberates through not just the training field but the entire mountain range. In that very instant he disappears from the ground and appears in front of Master Bangle swinging his fist with the weight of the world behind it. The very air around his arm shudders in thick crackling lines of energy that blur your vision, like streams of lightning made of heat haze. The deafening roar of thunder amplifies not just his voice but the impact sound of his fist striking Master Bangle. The mirage-like cracks in the air around Master Mao's fist impact Master Bangle and rupture his golden aura like shattered glass exploding over their battlefield. Master Bangle's eyes are wide and bloodshot, unable to even look down to see Mao's fist inside his gut. With the entirety of his Aura Pressure blown away in that attack, the Sunbringer Master's body falls limply and silently to the ground. Thunderfall Village's Master Mao has won. *page_break Your side of the field erupts into cheers while rushing the field to lay even a single hand on the glory of Crusher Mao. The Sunbringer side screams in chaos, realizing their routing loss and fleeing just as the lesser Thunderfall Disciples give chase. Crusher Mao lands on his feet and stands tall, his chest swelling with pride. But amidst the cheers and applause you notice a glint in his eyes, a hint of more than just vanity beneath the triumphant exterior. A hint of something predatory. You push the thought away. In that moment you're preoccupied by a spark kindling within you. A flame, a desire to be like them - a Martial Artist. You want to command the power of chi, to stand tall like a mountain, be as swift as the wind, strike as strong as thunder. *if (race = "Kitsune") "$!{name}!" Father whisper-shouts, grabbing your arm. "Your eyes are shining, calm yourself." You realize then that *if (yokaitrait2 = "sharp fangs") your fangs are *else you're salivating at the idea of power. "Sorry Father." You whisper, keeping the sensation down. You had no idea it would bring out your Kitsune nature but you can't help it, the goal has infected you like a virus. *elseif (race = "Yokai") You realize then that *if (yokaitrait2 = "sharp fangs") your fangs are *else you're salivating. The Beast inside you yearns for this power. You want to be a savior, a conqueror, a hero. Little do you know that heroes aren't always what they seem, and the path of Martial Arts is filled with more than just strength and power. But for now you bask in the awe and the dream, inspired by the dueling spectacle under the rising eastern sun. You swear to yourself then and there that you aren't going to sit around and feel sorry for yourself as a Laborer anymore, you're going to do something about it! You're going to become somebody! If that means you need a fortune of Shards then so be it, you'll make a fortune! *if (race = "Kitsune") And if it means you expose yourself by growing extra tails, then screw it, you'll grow all nine and become a legend! *else Hells, you'll make [i]two[/i] fortunes! The very next day you take your first steps down this dangerous path by filling your early mornings with sparring matches amongst your friends, and your evenings with a secondary job where you... *goto Next_careerchoice *label Next_careerchoice *choice *disable_reuse #Gather herbs and roots for the apothecary. [Increase Alchemy] There's no such thing as useful weeds. Any root, leaf, fruit, or seed that has alchemical properties has long since been harvested, eaten, or moved inside someone's garden centuries ago. At least that's how Mother explains why you shouldn't have taken the job you did. But she's not unsupportive. She gives you her guide for medicinal plants. You spend the first couple weeks searching for anything useful in the nearby woods during the day. It brings in minimal results. You know the good stuff wouldn't be around people so you need to hit the trails between the villages. The problem is, those woods are dangerous. Beasts and worse prowl them at night. You'll need hired protection, or better, someone else's hired protection. It takes a couple more weeks to get the timing right but your insidious plan comes to fruition and pays off. Merchants travel between villages constantly in large groups of wagons called a caravan, and they always have Martial Artists as guards. No merchant would let you travel with them for free, but that didn't matter. You scoped out the trail and memorized all the popular caravan schedules. Then you jogged a quarter mile in front of them. There's nothing illegal about following a trail and the caravans can't demand that you leave because you're already leaving; they're the ones following you. You know your plan works flawlessly because you continuously see shadows of mysterious predators in the woods retreat when they sense the combined Aura Pressure of the caravan's approaching Martial Artists. You take that chance to harvest from the more dangerous woods away from town in relative safety. *set val ((4 + perception) + insight) [b][Alchemy +1][/b] *set alchemy + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: ${val} Alchemy Reagents][/b] *set alchemyreagents + val *set val 0 The apothecaries in town, a family of Oni, appreciate your work and pay well enough, but ask you to please retire. The Magistrate's clerks sent word that there have been complaints from the caravan merchants. According to them, you're distracting the guards they paid good money to employ. So much for the free market. *if (race = "Oni") At least the apothecaries paid you a bit extra. They say you Oni need to watch out for each other. You stash the bulk of your payment away for cycling and pocket the change. [b][Item Gained: 10 Shards][/b] *set shards + 10 *page_break Those merchants will rue the day! *disable_reuse #Deliver parcels around the village. [Increase Athletics] Your name is $!{name}, and you are the fastest ${boygirl} alive. Well, the fastest in your village...If you don't count Martial Artists. At first it was too much, jogging nonstop for your deliveries every evening after your shift working with Father, but day by day it gets easier. Your legs toughen up and your lungs get used to the exercise. Before you know it, the job becomes almost a joy. You get addicted to the thrill of speed. It's obvious to you that this feeling isn't normal. This kind of running and lack of sleep should wear you down, not build you up, and you know what's caused the change. It's not just your body growing into the task. It's your Aura Pressure. The fruits of your cycling are beginning to show themselves. [b][Athletics +1][/b] *set athletics + 1 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +4][/b] *set aurapressure + 4 *line_break Unfortunately, people notice. Kids around the village become envious of how you found a way to get paid [i]and[/i] get stronger, and they all form competing delivery services. Most quit early, but enough stay that it's not just wages that plummet, it's available jobs. There just aren't enough deliveries to make it worthwhile anymore. You end up quitting while you're ahead and looking for something more worthwhile. *page_break The market has spoken. *disable_reuse #Weave rugs with Rin. [Increase Craft] When you first started looking for sidejobs you were thinking like everyone else: what makes money fast. It's a surprise when Rin proposes that you help do the heavy lifting for a longterm project she's wanted to do. You don't like the idea of splitting money with your sister, especially since you taught her to cycle. Nobody wants their siblings getting stronger than them. Still, she has a good plan. Many laborers are competing for the quick money gigs. The market for longterm projects has less competition and thus less people bringing the price down. It also has almost guaranteed customers. Supply and demand and all that. The two of you split your funds to invest in the materials. "What kind of rugs do you think we should make?" Rin asks as you both walk home. "Expensive ones." You say. "Yeah, duh!" she shouts, causing the box of fabric in her hands to bounce, "but do we want small ones or big ones? Big ones are harder to make, I'm not sure if I know how to make em but the small ones wouldn't pay as well...But they'd be easy to make!" She looks up at you, "What do you think, big *if (heshe = "he") brother?" *else sister?" *set sisrep +5 *choice #Small Rugs, we're here to make sales. And make sales you most certainly do. Over the next year you and Rin pour over the fabrics you've purchased and build up enough rugs to make your money back and more. You even start to get recognized at the market as legitimate rug sellers, which is weird, because you never have a market stall, but great, because you don't have to pay for a market stall. With all those savings you put the bulk into your cycling funds and pocket the change. [b][Craft +1][/b] *set craft + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: 5 Shards][/b] *set shards + 5 Everything comes to a halt when the guards shoo you away from the markets, much to the booing of some other regulars. Apparently a market stall permit is mandatory to sell at the market square. Oh well. Rin is getting drafted into more reading lessons with Mother these days anyway and you have no intention to weave the rugs yourself. *page_break Yeah, you can't fire me, I QUIT! #One Giant Rug, we're here to make a masterpiece. *if (craft >= 1) And a make a masterpiece you most certainly do. It takes nearly a year but you do finally complete a rug fit for a proper living room complete with blue and golden coloring to show a lion roaring into the sky. You and Rin both learn a thing or two and turn a pretty profit when a wandering mystic purchases your rug at the market. He even gifts you a berry that he says contains some chi within, as a tip for fine quality. [b][Item Gained: 10 Shards][/b] *set shards + 10 *line_break [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *line_break [b][Craft +1][/b] *set craft + 1 Unfortunately, your business does come to a close. You've peaked. Every time you try and start a new rug stitching, you're haunted by the realization it will never be as good as your masterpiece. With great melancholy you retire from the world of floor-art. *page_break The brightest candles burn out twice as fast. *else The whole project ends up a bit too much. In the end the rug is woven properly and functional, but the design is sloppy with frayed edges. You make a decent amount of silver for the trade, but not enough to make up for a whole year's worth of effort. [b][Craft +1][/b] *set craft + 1 With your "masterpiece" done, it's time to move on. This was a good side project but not good enough to keep your attention. Rin seems fine with it and says she can continue the business on her own. *page_break *disable_reuse #Beg with Kosuke. [Increase Deception] *set honor - 2 It isn't honest work, but by the Heavens does it finally scratch that itch to live a day in the life of Kosuke's profession. $!{bffheshe} teaches you every trick in the book to tug on people's heartstrings inside and outside the market square, and you get [i]good[/i] at it. [b][Deception +1][/b] *set deception + 1 *line_break *set bffrep +5 Unfortunately begging isn't all it's cracked up to be, and you get mocked or spit on more often than you expected. You could fight back but that would blow your cover, which, inevitably, it does. One day some bigger kid from out of town kicks Kosuke for bothering him and you beat the crap out of them before even realizing what you're doing. [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 He accuses you of being in the Thunderfall Sect, which isn't true, but sheds enough attention on you that your con of being a helpess kid falls apart. *page_break Aw nuts. *disable_reuse #Apprentice to the wicked old mystic lady outside of town. [Increase Handseals] Nobody likes Hag Mabel. You suspect she read children's tales about evil old women and decided to take notes. Cranky attitude, high pitched cackle, hunched back, long nose complete with a wart, she is a textbook old witch. She also is constantly booked with appointments. Any Martial Artist worth their salt can make elixirs and potions out of Beasts or spirits or high quality herbs, but your village has very few of those available. Your section of Outer West is low in natural aura. Hedge witches like Hag Mabel are the celebrities of such low aura environments. While Martial Artists can hunt some house-sized fiery badger to grind its teeth into a potion of great power, Hag Mabel can grow mundane herbs and collect newt eyes to make potions of meager power. Her works have two massive advantages over the Martial Artist's: they are affordable, and they are plentiful. *page_break It seems that every adult in your village comes to Hag Mabel at some point. Most want curses, love potions, or remedies. A rare few want her advancement elixirs, and an even rarer few came by to ask her to train them. That latter category was you. Just you. Every other child thought she would eat them if they asked. She still might. You'll find out the hard way. Hag Mabel hires you on to use a few basic protection rituals on her pre-made elixirs and pills. The rituals and sealing tags should keep them safe from the elements. *set val ((3 + deception) + persuasion) [b][Handseals +1][/b] *set handseals + 1 *gosub_scene quicks fuuinjutsudescription [b][Item Gained: ${val} Ritual Components][/b] *set ritualcomponents + val *set val 0 You accidentally break two over the course of a few months and she doesn't mind too much, just yells at you for a bit and hits you with her cane. It gives you an idea... What if you tell her you "broke" another one, but put it into your bag instead? *choice #No, I keep my focus on doing my job and learning the proper seals. *set honor + 3 Ever a ${boygirl} of honor, you stick adamantly to your handsealing practice. It becomes easier and easier to execute the 12 hand seals for the mild protection ritual that keeps the jars fresh and protected from the elements. You wonder why. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 On the anniversary of your hiring date Hag Mabel approaches you with a piece of paper and saunters back to her garden. You look down at the slip hoping for a bonus or a raise and read it: "Thanks for the work. It is done now. You can leave." *set safeloc_hagmabel true Oh, you were laid off. #Yes, I deserve it after all my hard work. *set honor - 3 You slip a pill into your bag and break two jars by "accident", one filled with water and one that was supposed to have your pill sealed into it. When Hag Mabel finds out she sends you out to collect a nice hickory stick and beats you with it. [b][Item Gained: Healing Elixir][/b] *set healingelixir + 1 Also, you're fired. *page_break Tough economy. *disable_reuse #Work as a junior desk clerk for the Magistrate. [Increase Insight] You thought being a clerk would be a test of intelligence. Clerks always come off as brainy types who are well-read. In truth your clerical work is almost entirely spent trying to get people to calm down and stop yelling at you. Almost nobody goes to the Magistrate's clerks with good news, and so you hear nothing but complaints from the townsfolk. And boy do they complain. From pests to borders to thieves to feuds, plus divorces and building requests and law changes and farming rights. You don't have the authority to solve almost any of these issues. All you can do is try to see through the rants and find out what people are actually angry about. [b][Insight +1][/b] *set insight + 1 *line_break [b][Your knowledge of Bureaucracy has increased. Could this be helpful later in life?][/b] *set commerce + 2 One day you finally have enough and yell back at a villager who is screaming his head off that your village is nothing but a bandit outpost if you won't stop his neighbor from planting strawberries uphill of his cabbages, because it ruins his soil when it rains. It is so stupid, and he is yelling so loudly. When a senior clerk tells you to calm down you truly let them both have it. "Shut UP!" You scream. "You older clerks don't interact with the villagers at all, you don't deal with the constant screaming every day, and you don't have to keep apologizing for things you didn't do like I have to. You just sit back and read up on the problems that [i]I[/i] write down for you. This entire operation is a joke, it's like my entire job is to be yelled at!" "Well, yes." replies a senior clerk in beige robes and glasses, calmly, "that's why we hired you." "Oh." You say without a good follow-up, "I quit." *page_break Old people suck. *disable_reuse #Give reading lessons to younger kids. [Increase Lore] *set honor + 1 *set prevknowledge 1 Teaching little children how to read and write is a noble goal. A noble goal that you are doing for money. Mother had enough time in the day to teach you, Jin, and Rin, but not all families have the free time, or mothers that could read. That's where you come in. You get a few different families worth of kids together and meet them by the well after your shifts with Father, where you teach them the basics of the alphabet, calligraphy, and pronunciation until dark when you all return home. [b][Lore +1][/b] *set lore + 1 After months of study you decide the kids are ready to start reading full-sized scrolls for practice. You swing down to the Magistrate's clerks and borrow a few scrolls about Imperial Rasen. *page_break Take a seat, kids, it's story time! It never hurts to brush up on your geography and politics. You sit the kids down and have them read out lines about the [b][i]GLORIOUS[/i][/b] Rasen Empire in which you all have the privilege to meagerly live. *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/imperialrasen.jpg You cover most of the basics for them so they know what words or themes to expect in their reading. You don't go over the hundreds of settlements and colonies in Imperial Rasen's outer ring where you live, that would be a bore and those territories change every year. There's always new ones forming or old ones overrun by Beasts, spirits, bandits, or worse. But you do cover the other basics. You educate on how your empire is shaped into an unassailable spiral in the Grand Sea, how the natural aura (and people) gets richer the further inland you go, and you cover the three sectors. The Outer Lands in which you live cover the biggest territory, cycling the Inner Sea to protect from outside threats. The Inner Kingdoms make up the second sector; five large landmasses of the Inner Sea competing in a five-way rivalry. The capital island at the center of Imperial Rasen is the third and most vital sector, the island-nation of Azuma Honsha, which hosts the greatest city in all the world that spreads across its entire coast. With its vast riches and host of powerful Martial Artists the capital is able to combine all the best traits from the Inner Kingdoms around it: a Samurai police force from the Bladed Lands, Beasts and slaves from the Wild Lands, blessings and ships from the Sacred Lands, the wonders of chi sorcery from the Mystic Lands, and an inescapable spy network of Shinobi from the Cursed Lands. You're more interested in the imperial law enforcers known as the Archons, stationed on Azuma Honsha as guardians of peace, but the kids seem more interested in the nobility. Magistrate Khan is the only Noble Caste in your entire town, you know almost nothing of the Noble Caste living so far away as the capital. There hasn't been an imperial family for hundreds of years and you can't find any modern scrolls about the current Exalts who rule Azuma Honsha as a council. However, if they're anything like the members of the past then they have enough power to shape the entire continent. After all, someone had to form it into a spiral. You get heavily booed for failing to provide details. Oh well. One full year of teaching kids to read and write ends in a problem: you finished the job. Now they can almost all read and write, and there aren't enough new kids to teach. You're out of customers. While technically a success, you're forced to move on to other ventures. *page_break Suffering from success. *disable_reuse #Exterminate pests with Jin. [Increase Perception] Looking into ways to make money leads you down quite the rabbit hole. You expected to find competition in all your ventures and you were right, but exterminating pests only has one child to compete with: Jin. You had no idea your little brother was out there murdering bugs and mice to get some extra spending money, but you're proud of him. And as the elder sibling, you also have a thing or two to show him. "Hey Jin." You say as he gets breakfast one morning. "Uhhhh yes?" Jin asks, hesitantly holding the last peach. "Nice exterminator business. You work for me now." "Aw man." Jin says before running off before you can steal his fruit too. *page_break As a pair you're both able to finish more jobs to completion. Whenever one mountain roach would sneak around Jin, it would be sneaking towards you and get caught. Whenever you set smoke to get icemice to flee from under some floorboards, Jin would be able to get them while you made sure the smoke didn't burn the house down. In the end, working as a pair lets you use better techniques and develop a more keen eye, together. [b][Perception +1][/b] *set perception + 1 *set brorep +5 It's a shame Mother doesn't see it that way when Jin gets bit by a badger. She cuts off your secondary family business and grounds you both. The end of an era of *if (heshe = "he") brotherly *else sibling bonding and/or indentured servitude, depending on how Jin looks at it. *page_break It was just a badger... *disable_reuse #Run your own juice stand. [Increase Persuasion] Why break the mold when the model works so well. You're a child, you need money, children run juice stands. It only makes sense, and your competition is small for some reason that isn't related to Jin and Kosuke running shakedowns on smaller juice stands. Strawberry juice in the spring, lemonade in the summer, ice water by the forges, hot chocolate in the winter, Father's weird-smelling burning drink for the caravan guards, whatever the situation you had a drink for it and business is booming. Business ideas seemed hard at first, but you learn it all comes down to offering people a product they wanted in a time when they had money to spend. [b][Persuasion +1][/b] *set persuasion + 1 *set commerce + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: 12 Shards][/b] *set shards + 12 Then you found out there's something called "permits". You do not have one, and are too young to purchase one. The guards made sure you know that is a problem. Your juice mogul days come crashing to a halt. *page_break Or have they...? *disable_reuse #Hunt for pelts in the woods. [Increase Survival] *if (background = "Trapper") There wasn't much to say about your side job when it was also your main job. You and Father set traps and hunt for pelts in your usual spots during your shift with Father, then you try some unusual areas on your own after-hours. It's still relatively safe, you keep Father's bow on you and don't have an aura that would attract spirits or Beasts. Your hunts are fruitful for a year, but after one close call with a mountain lion you realize why Father sticks to his usual trails. [b][Item Gained: 5 Shards] *set shards + 5 *line_break [b][Survival +1][/b] *set survival + 1 A near-death experience is enough to convince you to stick to Father's areas and find your secondary income elsewhere. *page_break *else Hunting is an old profession that involves an incredible amount of killing. The amount of woodland creatures that you remove from this mortal coil cannot be counted even by the most diligent of clerks. May the Heavens have mercy on your soul. The same mercy you did not have on the fluffy animals whose skin you sell for money. [b][Survival +1][/b] *set survival + 1 At least that's the spiel some random woman gives you one day when she's reporting you to the Magistrate's office for disrupting the local wildlife. You know it's a ruse, her dad is probably a hunter too, but getting reported makes the family look bad. Reluctantly, you drop the case and move on to another profession. *page_break She must be in the pocket of Big Pelt. *disable_reuse #Rob shops after dark. [Increase Stealth] *set honor - 3 *if (heshe = "he") Breaking into merchant shops requires a massive set of balls that you apparently have. *elseif (heshe = "she") Breaking into merchant shops is not your safest option but it [i]is[/i] the highest paying option. A girl's got to eat. Months of practice on homes and shacks prepare you for the big leagues. In theory the stores of the market square are off-limits and unrobbable. Martial Artist guards, protective seals, and good ole fashioned locks ward off any greedy hand. Only the talented or the stupid would even try to break in. And here you are, breaking in. Hopefully you're talented. While every other thief is trying to find a way around the empowered guards, the protective rituals, the mystic alarm seals, and the high grade locks, you think up a better route. *if (background = "Merchant") You walk into Father's main competitor *else You walk into the general store during business hours and hide under a draped table. By the Heavens, you think, you're such a genius. [b][Stealth +1][/b] *set stealth + 1 When business hours are over the girl working behind the counter counts the profits and starts closing up. After thirty minutes you hear her walk outside and recite some sort of ritual chant outside to secure the building before she leaves. *if (insight > 0) Now that your Aura Pressure has come along, you actually feel the chi of the area snap into place like a dome around the building. Cool. [b][Aura Pressure +1][/b] *set aurapressure + 1 *page_break Time to get to work. You come out from the under table and check behind the counter for - bingo - a sack of Shards and silver. The shop's emergency pile of change. You take it and replace it with a bag of rocks. Child's play. Literally, since you're still seen as a child. After grabbing a few more items from the shelves, mostly things that would go unnoticed, you head back under the table to sleep. It's a risky plan if you snore, but it works. Someone comes by to open the shop and when enough customers are perusing the wares you slip out and mix into the crowd until you feel safe enough to head back home. Your success causes a bit of a scandal. The guards tell Magistrate Khan that the seals around the building weren't broken, so whoever got in must have been a handseals specialist. The Magistrate vows that the Thunderfall Sect will track down whoever this mystic thief is and have him executed in the public square. You decide it's best to retire for a while. *set shardgain ((5 * perception)+(5 * stealth)) [b][Item Gained: ${shardgain} Shards][/b] *set Shards + shardgain *page_break Who says crime doesn't pay? *disable_reuse #Pickpocket at the marketplace. [Increase Thievery] *set honor - 3 Picking pockets is about finding the right target and creating the right opportunity. It takes practice with Kosuke but you get good enough at it that you don't get caught, at least not by anyone who matters and not for anything they can prove. [b][Thievery +1][/b] *set thievery + 1 You keep the rouse up for most of the year, feigning as a customer or scared child. It pays off some weeks more than others until *if (Thievery >= 2) you find the big score. When you decided on a life of crime you figured you could snag a few Shards worth of pocket change to fuel your cultivation. You didn't expect the find gold. Actual gold. While 1 Shard is worth 10 silver, 1 gold is worth 100 silver. Every tiny gold coin is like 10 Shards, almost a year's worth of your allowance. After trading them to a merchant for Shards you've made a pretty bonus on top of your usual haul. *set shardgain (thievery * 10) [b][Item Gained: ${shardgain} Shards][/b] *set Shards + shardgain You decide to quit while you're ahead. Whoever you took these from will be looking for them and you don't intend to be around the market square when it happens. *page_break [whistle innocently] *else the guards get enough reports that you've been causing trouble. One of them, a middle aged Thunderfall Sect woman with a deep blue aura that feels "heavy" in your mind, catches you in the act and spanks you in front of everyone before dragging you home by the ear. [b][Infamy Increased][/b] *set infamy + 1 Mother answers the door, thanks her, and spanks you before Father gets home. Then Father gets home and spanks you too. *page_break Couldn't sit for a week... *goto Next_careerchoice2 *label Next_careerchoice2 *set careerpath + 1 *set age + 1 *set shards + (commerce * 2) *if (careerpath = 1) After that entire year of two jobs you find yourself locked in your room sitting cross-legged, eyes closed in concentration on your ${age}th birthday. In your lap is a pile Shards rapidly dissolving into a glowing grey mist as you cycle. Once again, you push the spiritual energy called Chi into the core of your soul and feel your sense of self stretch out. Your body heats with fever but the strain is gratifying, like sore muscles earned from a tough fight. [b][Aura Pressure +10][/b] *set aurapressure + 10 You wake on the floor minutes later, soaked in sweat, and smile. After all that hard work you've finally made progress. Father notices your absence during the evenings but allows it; it's not impacting your work. In fact, the increased aura pressure is helping you function every day. You have no powers yet but you've become a little less tired, a little more alert, a little faster, a little stronger. You can keep going, and you do. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *line_break [b][Item Gained: Allowance (12 Shards)][/b] *set shards + 12 The next year you decide to... *goto Next_careerchoice *elseif (careerpath = 2) After all that effort another year has passed and you have enough Shards for another cycling. Unfortunately, this time it takes up your entire allowance too. Father notices you've saved less money now at ${age} than when you were younger. He disapproves, but your spirit is requiring more and more Shards to force its growth. [b][Aura Pressure +10][/b] *set aurapressure + 10 Life gets easier beyond that point. Your Aura Pressure is higher than most adults in the village and the only one in your friend group that can keep up with you anymore is... *choice #My friend Kosuke. The roughhousing you and your friends used to do slowly devolves as no one else can keep up with you anymore. Well, no one else except Kosuke. That's why the wrestling games have been almost entirely replaced with one-on-one duels between you two. Everyone else sits on the sidelines and cheers for whoever seems like the underdog at the time. It gets close *if (heshe != bffheshe) sometimes, normally ending with a grapple for dominance on the ground. *else more often than not, but you're determined to change that in your favor. Neither of you have unlocked your auras yet so you don't have the explosive mystic power of a Martial Artist, but you're both punching well above your weight. After a few months of sparring you figure either of you can now take on a normal adult. *set kosukecombat + 1 #My little brother Jin. An odd sensation - pride? - fills you when Jin somehow stands up to you whenever you're roughhousing. You can still whip him around because of size difference, but it's not easy. His hits are a little stronger, his skin a little tougher, and his reflexes a little faster than they should be. You both know the difference when your auras unlock will be explosive in comparison, but you never knew having similar aura pressures could nearly close the gap on age or body size. You're glad it does. *set jincombat + 1 #My little sister Rin. You're as surprised as anyone when Rin's aura pressure catches up to yours. She can't beat you in a fight, yet, but she tries....and it's gotten close more than once. Her hits are a little stronger, her skin a little tougher, and her reflexes a little faster than they should be. You both know the difference when your auras unlock will be explosive in comparison but you never knew having similar aura pressures could nearly close the gap on age or body size. You're glad it does. It's nice to be able to roughhouse without hurting her. *set rincombat + 1 [b][Aura Pressure +4][/b] *set aurapressure + 4 It's good for your Aura Pressure, but it isn't enough. Between the sparring and your main job you know you're advancing too slowly. That's why you take another side job where you... *goto Next_careerchoice *elseif (careerpath = 3) *goto Next_jackencounter *else Turning ${age} was supposed to mark you as an adult, but instead it's marked you as a failed Martial Artist even with your cycling shortcut. No amount of passion increased the amount of Shards you made and it only got worse when Jack and his friends gained their first Advancement last season. You stagnated working wage jobs while their professional training helped them become full aura-wielding Martial Artists. The Magistrate threw a grand parade to celebrate. You didn't attend. You're an adult now and you failed to cultivate enough chi for a single Advancement. Annual cycling is a thing of the past and at this rate you're going to be *if (background = "Herbalist") an *else a ${background} for life. *if (background = "Herbalist") [b][Alchemy +1][/b] *set alchemy + 1 *elseif (background = "Merchant") [b][Persuasion +1][/b] *set persuasion + 1 *elseif (background = "Blacksmith") [b][Craft +1][/b] *set craft + 1 *elseif (background = "Trapper") [b][Survival +1][/b] *set survival + 1 *line_break [b][Item Gained: 25 Shards][/b] *set shards + 25 Autumn has come and although cultivation has become too expensive you did take some advice to heart; you and *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) Jin *else Rin learned that fighting at full strength with strikes gave better results than your old method of sparring with grapples. [b][Aura Pressure +7][/b] *set aurapressure + 7 Neither of you have any real power yet but the matches are getting more intense. You're starting to feel like a real fighter, though Mother and Father are growing sick of tending to your bruises. Unfortunately you can't spar tonight, you're hanging out with Kosuke pretty soon. *else Kosuke learned that fighting at full strength with strikes gave better results than your old method of sparring with grapples. [b][Aura Pressure +7][/b] *set aurapressure + 7 Neither of you have any real power yet but the matches are getting more intense. Mother is refusing to treat your bruises these days since she says you seek them out and waste her money on ungents. Kosuke's response was to steal some medical supplies off a caravan as an excuse to keep training. Mother didn't agree, but Kosuke still comes around. In fact, ${bffheshe} should be at your house any minute. *page_break [Knock knock] Kosuke's panting in your doorway and something is wrong. $!{bffheshe}'s sweating heavily with a thick black bruise around ${bffhisher} eye. "They have Jin!" $!{bffheshe} barks through heavy breaths, "by the northeast bluffs!" $!{bffheshe} starts running to show you where. You grab your travel robe and sprint through the eastern side of the village after Kosuke. You both head up the forested uneven hills and down the narrow trail winding around the northeastern cliffs. You're moving as fast as you can, with no room in your lungs to ask who "they" are, so your mind flashes with images of spirits, bandits, or Beasts that could have taken your brother. When you get there, you see something worse: Martial Artists. Four older teenagers wearing dark blue martial arts gi with black trim, their bodies each glowing different swirling colors; auras showing off that they can control chi to empower themselves. You recognize that uniform. They're disciples of the Thunderfall Sect. Worse, you recognize their faces: three useless stooges from the Warrior Caste... And Jack. *page_break Jack's grown even taller and stronger since you last saw him, and the red flames of energy surrounding his body only compounds that gap in ability between the two of you. Cultivation has been kind to him. You wish the same could be said about you. The four Martial Artists stand by a switchback on the mountainside trail, laughing at a bruised and crying Jin curled up on the ground between them. Jack is kicking him in the face repeatedly as Jin cries, his face bleeding. Nearby, *if (rincombat >= 1) two other Thunderfall Students are *else another of the Thunderfall Students is holding Rin still and making her watch. "This is what you get you piece of-" their dark-haired leader stops kicking Jin's *if (jincombat >= 1) body *else quivering body for a moment and turns his head, noticing you, "Oh look what we have here boys, it's $!{name}! I've been looking forward to the next time I'd find you outside of town. Lucky day. And as a bonus, now we've got the whole set of your Clanless family of trash." He picks Jin up by the hair. "You're in real trouble this time. My old man's senses warned us that this shitstain here was trying to cycle the chi from this mountain's Heavenly Gate just before it reached its peak tomorrow," Jack tsks, "this place barely lets out a trickle of aura every season and he has the audacity to try and take it for himself. Let's make one thing clear." He drops Jin and stomps on his hand for emphasis. Jin yelps. "Natural aura belongs to the students of the Thunderfall Sect, not to Laborers like you." *page_break ...What did he say? A Heavenly Gate? He was beating Jin bloody over a trickle of aura? You know about Heavenly Gates by now, they say it's when the power of the Heavens reaches down into the mortal world, but on paper it's just what happens when elemental aura is too active, like a particularly bad earthquake or forest fire or storm. It's just a bit of chi being released into the environment. You even absorbed some power from a Heavenly Gate last year when a bad blizzard struck your camping site. [b][Aura Pressure +6][/b] *set aurapressure + 6 That's why you know absorbing natural aura this far from town isn't against any rule. Jack isn't here to protect the Thunderfall Village's resources from thieves. He's here to stop his personal competition, no matter how weak they are. Which means this isn't just some bullying. Jin is already beaten, already humiliated, and already bleeding on the ground, but when you came in Jack was still kicking him in the face. "Jack, step away from Jin," you say firmly, ever the elder sibling. "Now." "Nah, I don't think so," Jack says, "He still has both arms. You've been an annoyance before but trying to take an Heavenly Gate in my territory? I think it's time we set an example for your family." You were right. He's going to cripple your brother. That realization rocks through your body like a lightning bolt and you begin to shake with rage. Your legs stomp forward before you even realize what you're doing. Your hands form into fists on reflex, nails digging deep into the skin of your palms. You look between Jack's smug grin and your baby brother's broken nose and bleeding lips. You've never felt so much rage in your entire life. It burns. Jack recognizes the look on your face and motions for his friends to back up, then beckons for you to come closer, smiling, eyes filled with satisfaction like a cat toying with its prey. How could he be so smug about beating an unpowered kid? Beating your brother bloody while your little sister is forced to watch? Your vision blurs red as your body releases a near lethal amount of adrenaline. You... *choice #Beat that stupid look off Jack's face. [Increase Perception] *if ((background = "Blacksmith") or (athletics >= 1)) You sprint through the goonies and lunge at Jack, swinging at him to knock that stupid look off his face... *if (itemtanto > 0) but is it your fist that delivers the strike? Your crafted tanto rests under your jacket, unnoticed by the thugs. You could draw it in time to even the playing field, but risk dealing more than just an injury. *choice #My fist will do the job. The bastard's not worth your metal. Your fist clenches as you dash at him and swing from an angle, putting all your strength into speed and impact, #This is why weapons are made. Damn you Jack, I draw my blade. *set metjack + 1000000000 All of this started because Jack thought your blacksmith family was beneath his Warrior Caste family. Laborers, he says. Let him see the results of your labor when you bury it into his chest. You draw your tanto from underneath your shirt and leap at Jack, shouting... *fake_choice #"You'll rue the day you were born!" *set ruthless + 1 #"Nobody touches my family!" *set honor + 1 *set ruthless + 1 #"Show me a good time, Jack!" *set honor - 1 #Nothing, he's not worth the words. *set honor + 1 Jack tries to leisurely bat your punch out of the way, not realizing in time that it's not a punch. Not realizing you drew a blade. Not realizing the reach it gives you. Your attack hits him square in the chest before his lazy deflection can stop it. It hits deep. Too deep. Your aim is better than either of you thought. [b][Perception +1][/b] *set Perception + 1 Wow. You think you just killed Jack. [b][Aura Pressure +10][/b] *set aurapressure + 10 He looks down at the handle sticking out of his chest with shock and bewilderment. He thinks you just killed him too. You try to bury any feelings of guilt as he looks up to say something and nothing comes out but blood. There can be no sympathy after what he tried to do to Jin. Jack collapses to the ground, where he belongs. *set jackstabbed true *goto Next_jackfight_youwon and it hits, much to his surprise. Your aim is better than either of you thought. [b][Perception +1][/b] *set Perception + 1 He's not the only one surprised. You expected your clean punch to knock Jack out, or at least knock him back. You're the strongest kid in your friend group. But Jack stands solid and grabs your fist after it's connected. He glares at you through a bloody nose. Burning red hues fill your vision as his body glows with the power of a Martial Artist's aura. "You're going to regret that." He says, and the next thing you see is a flash of white, black, and red swirling colors as his fist strikes your face back at full force. [b][Aura Pressure +5][/b] *set aurapressure + 5 The blow launches you airborne. You land several paces away head-first feeling like your whole body is fractured into paste. Your nose certainly is. *goto Next_jackfight_youlost *else You swing at his stupid face...and then all you see is the sky overhead. You don't see him dodge, you don't see him grab your arm, and you don't see him flip you over his shoulder. All you see while that happens is a blur, then a flashing stars when your skull hits the ground and unconsciousness grips you to the sound of his friends laughing. Your first experience against a Martial Artist is a humiliating yet vital one. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 *line_break [b][Perception +1][/b] *set Perception + 1 The world comes back into focus and you're not back home. Much worse, you're still in the fight. Seconds have passed. *goto Next_jackfight_youlost #Charge Jack off the cliff. [Increase Lore] You embrace the exhileration rushing through your body and charge straight at Jack. He sneers and raises a fist with burning red energy. Not good. He's still ten feet away from the edge of the cliff, by the time you could get him over the edge he'd have you beaten to death with that Technique he's charging, that's why you... *choice #Pull his pants down. You rush forward as if to attack and Jack's collection of red energy around his fist shoots forward, aimed directly at your center mass. A good idea for an amateur fight, but you're no amateur. You've been sparring with Kosuke for years, and stolen one of ${bffhisher} off-limits techniques. Instead of fighting him head on, you've leaped forward and ducked to the very ground as soon as you got near him. With the force of your fall you pull his pants down with you. Two of his friends burst out laughing. Jack straightens up and sneers down at you, thinking his attack landed and they're laughing at your injured body on the ground. It's not until he looks down that he sees his own pants around his ankles. His face turns red. Perfect. You use that shock and embarrassment to jump up, headbutt his chin off-balance, then grab him by the shirt and run forward towards the cliff, shoving him with all your might. Both of you are equally shocked when he actually does go over the edge and start falling. The look on his face is priceless as he realizes this is more than just some easy fight, and that he might die. You know how he feels, since you're in the same predicament. He kept a grip on your arm when you were shoving him. You're falling together. *page_break AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! #Shout "Jack, get down!" and wave as if there was something behind him. *if (deception > 0) It actually works. What a complete and utter moron. *set apval 1 *gosub_scene quicks apboost Jack turns around and you pick up speed, colliding your shoulder into his back and pushing him off the cliff. Holy shit, you think, you're a God. Wait. No. No no no no no. Why are you moving toward the cliff? You look down and see his Martial Artist white belt wrapped around your leg. Unfortunately for both involved, Jack is older and much heavier than you. His weight makes the belt wrapped too taught around your ankle and you can't unwrap it in time, but at the same time he doesn't save himself by using you as an anchor. Instead you get a first-person look at Jack's predicament when the cliff's edge comes closer and closer until you're dragged straight off it with him. You both plummet. *page_break AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! *else It didn't work out quite as planned. Jack rolls his eyes and grips your arm, then lifts his hand to hammer down on your head. He still seems taken aback when he's pulled towards the edge of the cliff. When he grabbed your arm he never expected you to be able to lift him off the ground and keep running. He tries to strike you after regaining his balance but it's not fast enough. You're still charging, all the way to the edge. You can't see where it is with his body blocking your view and, with the suicidal grudge that pure anger causes, you don't care. You both plummet off the side of the cliff with a duet of wild screams. *page_break AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! #Turn to the side and jump off the cliff, taunting him to follow. You are dumb. You are so, so, so stupid, you think to yourself as you turn away from Jack and sprint towards the edge that every sane person would avoid. "Fight me at the bottom you pathetic coward!" You shout at Jack while running to the cliff and flipping him off. Two of his fellow students gasp and the girl actually laughs. Jack's face grows ugly with anger and he charges after you, foolishly, as you actually follow through with your insane plan to leap off a fucking cliff. Heavens, why? *page_break AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! You're falling faster and faster until your body smashes into rocks jutting out of the cliffside 40 feet down that you had jogged your memory so desperately to remember. It was a miracle you managed to place yourself above them before concocting this plan. Funny how fast and efficient the mind works just before certain death. [b][Lore +1][/b] *set Lore + 1 You and Jack hit the rocky outcropping, breaking so many bones in your body that you're not sure if you can count that high. Jack's aura explodes in a crimson hue when he lands, breaking his fall with an audible crack of thunder. But after that explosion his aura doesn't come back. You're both lying next to each other as he catches his breath. His mouth and nose are leaking blood but you're worse off by far. Neither of your legs will move. Jack gets up slowly and dusts himself off. Black gaps in his vicious smile reveal that he's lost some teeth. You probably have too. *if (healingelixir > 0) "You're insane," he says, "And you're going to pay for that." He looks over the edge of the rock formation you two rested on. "Heh. I don't know how I'm getting down, but I know how you're getting down." He reaches down to grab you by the shirt... *choice #Drink my healing elixir. He reaches down to grab you by the shirt... ..But you have a trick up your sleeve. Your fast fingers guzzled your healing elixir when he was looking over the edge. For a trained warrior it would heal some aura and health, but to an unpowered child like you it's a Heavensent miracle, potent enough to restore your body back to health in seconds. Jack doesn't notice your supernatural recovery until it's too late. [b][Item Lost: Healing Elixir][/b] *set healingelixir -1 *line_break [b][Thievery +1][/b] *set Thievery + 1 *set wounds 0 With Jack leaning over to grab your shirt you have all the range you need to kick him in the face. One swift boot to the face sends him tumbling over the edge and down the rest of the cliff. His aura may have saved him from the first fall, but it's noticeably absent after taking so much damage. Let's see how he likes experiencing that drop the way you did. [b][Aura Pressure +10][/b] *set aurapressure + 10 After catching your breath you peak over the edge just to make sure he- *set jackfall true *achieve jackoff *set metjack + 2000000000 Oh. Wow, yeah, he landed bad. Probably still alive with a Martial Artist's resilience but...damn. You look away from the roadkill that is Jack and stare up the cliff instead, where four shocked faces look down at you. Kosuke is baffled, eyes wide open with a grin, like ${bffheshe} wants to laugh but is too excited for noise to come out. The three Thunderfall students are right next to ${bffhimher} staring openmouthed in disbelief, switching their gaze between Jack at the bottom of the cliff and you standing triumphantly on the rocky outcrop 40 feet down. *choice #"Who's next?" None of them answer, heads pulling back from the dangers of the ledge. *set honor + 2 #Flip them off One flips you off back and opens his mouth to say something, but when he notices his two friends have fled, he joins them. #Throw a rock at them. All three pull back and start running. You start climbing, slow and steady, to get back up to the others. The Thunderfall students are long gone by the time you reach the peak. Rin and Kosuke stare at you as if you were either insane or a God. "That was the dumbest idea I have ever seen work." says Kosuke while you pick Jin off the ground. "But it did work." You add. The four of you start to leave and- *goto Next_jackfight_leave #Look at all the pretty stars floating around my head. Jack grabs you by the collar and lifts you off your feet. "Can't believe you almost got me." he says, "You're going to wish you never tried." His elbow drops into your face before you can react, and the world fades to darkness in a snap. [b][Aura Pressure +5][/b] *set aurapressure + 5 When your eyes next open, you've been dragged up to the top of the cliff. It seems Jack wants to embarrass you in front of the others more...or throw you off the whole cliff, rather than just most of it. *goto Next_jackfight_youlost #Taunt him to chase me away from my brother. [Increase Athletics] The world comes back into focus in your mind. What are you doing? Fighting him isn't important, the important thing is saving Jin. You shake the cloudy feelings from your head and copy Jack's arrogant smirk, stop mid-step, and nod your head back to the trail leading away from the village. Then you sprint. Hopefully Jack takes the challenge and follows you. There's no time to look over your shoulder and check, so just for good measure you toss in a comment about his mother. You can tell it works from a red glow coming behind you now. You leap to the side and keep running as a swirl of fire hits the ground where you were going to be. You hear the stomp of footsteps begin a good distance behind you now. Good, he hesitated long enough to give you a lead. As you turn the corner around a different downhill switchback the trail flattens into a steep wooded forest. With panting breath you break out into a full sprint through the trees hoping to lose your pursuer. [b][Athletics +1][/b] *set Athletics + 1 *if (background = "Trapper") *set metjack + 3000000000 And lose him you will, but not until you've dropped him off exactly where you want him to be. You've been traversing these woods and mountains for as long as you can remember, catching game and hunting prey as your father had before you and his father before him. Jack may be empowered with an aura, but that only brought him onto the scale of a bear. You've trapped and killed bears before. Pain and panic try their best to slow your legs but you keep them moving, weaving, dodging any attacks and keeping an eye on your pursuer as Jack crashes through weaker trees or leaps over obstacles. Every time you pass behind a large tree or drop down a rocky ledge you turn before disappearing, to project a different direction than the one you actually take, then turn back when you're out of sight. Jack is faster than you by far, and you can tell it infuriates him that he's not catching up. [b][Aura Pressure +5][/b] *set aurapressure + 5 *page_break You come to a river blocking your path. You could jump in, but you stop to catch your breath instead. That's when you hear a frustrated shout and the breaking of wood. Jack. The disciple of the Thunderfall Sect, your pursuer, the older teenager that beat Jin bloody over the most greedy tantrum you've ever seen, emerges from the tree line. His face is twisted in a snarl. He comes at you with a mighty leap, kicking the base of a tree on his way into the clearing in a show of force. The base of the tree shatters behind him. Jack lands ten feet from you and looks into your eyes with a vein of rage showing on his forehead, his face red with as much exhaustion as yours. "I knew I'd catch up with you, fucking peasant!" He shouts through panting breaths. "You're going to pay for pissing me off." You look Jack dead in the eyes to not give him a clue of what's about to happen. To not give him a chance to prepare himself. At this time of day the sun isn't in position to give you both a warning of the predator overhead, which is exactly why it hunted this territory at this time. And you know that, because you have been tracking its movements since childhood. You never forgot the eagle Beast from all those years ago. The thunderbird. Jack forms a burning red glow around his fist and pulls it back to start his attack, but he hesitates. He senses something off. Too late. *page_break Goodbye, Jack. You leap over the thorny bushes you hid in as a child and jump into the rapid river. Or so it seems. In secret, the overhang dropping into the river is filled with roots growing from top to bottom. You grab thorny roots growing out the bottom of the overhang and pull yourself close against the river's ledge, barely covered by dirt outcropping, to hide yourself from aerial predators. The same trick your Father used so many years ago. Jack chases you to the water in one mighty battledash, some kind of Technique, but it pulls him through all the thorns of the bushes and throws him off balance. He vaults over your head without seeing you. Rocks explode on the opposite ledge of the rapids when Jack collides into them feet-first, looking around for you in the river below. That's when lightning pours from the sky like a waterfall. [b][Aura Pressure +5][/b] *set aurapressure + 5 Jack freezes in place, stunned. The stream of lightning hits him full force and knocks his paralyzed body into the water. He glides down the rapids like a ragdoll, hitting rocks without even responding. Water splashes your face when the massive eagle lands in the rapids beside him. Waves crash in all directions from its massive size. With one talon on the rocks, it grips Jack in the other and flaps its enormous wings three times, taking off into the air and out of sight, gone just as fast as it arrived. It never noticed you. [b][Stealth +1][/b] *set Stealth + 1 One down, three to go. After several minutes pass you pull yourself back up over the small ledge hanging over the rapids, check the skies, and march back through the woods. You find multiple sets of trails among yours and Jack's, it seems the other Thunderfall Sect disciples are looking for him somewhere. Maybe they'll be in time to stop him from being bird food, maybe not. You keep a low stance and avoid running into them on your way back to the cliffside where Rin and Kosuke are tending to Jin's injuries. You wave when you see them and grin. That's when something snaps in the world around you. *set jackbird true *achieve jackoff *goto Next_jackfight_leave *else But such things are tales for heroes, not for ${background} kids picking a fight with empowered Martial Art students. As you run through the trees and turn to see how close Jack could be, all you see is a large fist in front of your face. Your vision cuts out with a flash of white, black, and red as his chi-empowered knuckles impact against your skull at full force. [b][Aura Pressure +4][/b] *set aurapressure + 4 Unconsciousness grips you... ...for mere moments, until you awake to a dragging sensation on your legs. Dried blood in your mouth lets you know time has passed. "Look what I found." Jack announces to his pals back at the cliffside. He throws you twenty feet, next to Jin. The airborne sensation is nice, but landing is worse than you imagined. The rocky sand scrapes your skin all over and you hear Jack running behind you to deliver a telling blow when you land. *page_break *goto Next_jackfight_youlost #Cast a set of handseals to lay a vicious curse on him. [Increase Insight] *if (handseals = 0) [b][Handseals Check Failed][/b] *line_break You honestly have no idea what you're doing. You're no scholar, you're no wandering sage, and you're certainly no mystic. But neither are these morons. You've seen the village sage and a few clerks performing rituals before with various handsigns, often to summon illusions or bless the village, so you know what it looks like. With reckless abandon you imitate the mystical handsigns by whipping out the wildest looking set of crisp finger combinations you've ever seen. You push your senses to try and detect which handseals have actual power and repeat those more than the others. [b][Insight +1][/b] *set insight + 1 *goto Next_Jackhandseal *else [b][Handseals Check Passed][/b] *line_break You memorized a few simple rituals but nothing meant for combat. Handseal rituals require lengthy castings and are used for slower tasks like soaking an object in chi to make it stronger, or spending a minute to generate as much light as a lantern using your surrounding's chi instead of your own. Once combat starts, there are no rituals you've heard of that would be any use. If they're cast correctly. But if cast [i]incorrectly[/i]... A fast skill-enhancing ritual you know could make your target sick by misdirecting their internal energies. You know this because you've messed it up on yourself and had diarrhea for days. It's not as strong as a real attack, and takes time to kick in like a flu, but that sounds exactly like a curse to you. You feel out for the power within the handseals to make sure you're enacting the right ones, and begin your "curse". [b][Insight +1][/b] *set Insight + 1 *if (itemmysticscroll > 0) Or....you could use Father's mystic scroll to cast one of it's forbidden [i]real[/i] curses. You know using real combat techniques against fellow villagers is against the law, but Hells, beating your younger brother half to death is against the law too. *choice #I control myself, he's not worth the dishonor. You connect your hands in a quick succession of mystic hand signs and pray to the Heavens. Not that the ritual requires prayer. You're praying to keep all your teeth after this whole ordeal since your hands aren't free to protect your face. *goto Next_Jackhandseal #I unleash the forbidden curse. Eat shit, Jack. *set honor - 2 *set metjack + 4000000000 "Eat shit, Jack." you shout as you withdraw Father's mystic scroll in one hand and begin chanting an incantation. Your other hand's fingers flex into the mystic handseals needed for a proper attack. They glow purple. "What are you doing?" Jack says. "Cut that shit out." He starts marching toward you. The other Thunderfall students back away instead, which causes Jack to hesitate midstep. They sense something wrong. You've formed no Combat Cores inside your soul needed for battle and you don't have the sufficient aura pressure to maintain them, but the scroll does. You wondered why Father stressed how expensive it was at first. After years of studying it you've learned it's not just some instructions on paper. The scroll itself is a Soul Treasure, an item of power. Yours is infused with the chi needed to fuel a single casting of its more dangerous curses. You've chosen the Spirit Cutter. [b][Aura Pressure +4][/b] *set aurapressure + 4 *page_break Let's end this A black and grey swirl of aura temporarily surrounds you as you recite the mystic Kurokonton-style energy attack. Jack had time to stop you earlier but his hesitation will be his undoing. You kept your focus. He didn't. Your scroll dissolves into energy and light that hardens around your arm into a vambrace of black and purple, with a single black crossbow bolt of energy lined down your wrist held by a taught energy string. The sensation of the scroll's actions are familiar...like the tingle in your soul when alchemical components dissolve into a potion. [b][Alchemy +1][/b] *set alchemy + 1 The Spirit Cutter technique finishes forming and a glowing wrist-crossbow of hardened energy rests on your arm. A single bolt lies loaded in the manifested crossbow, its tip burning with blackfire. You aim the blackbolt at the bastard who beat your brother bloody in front of your crying sister. He looks bewildered at what's happening. He's supposed to be the one with power, not you. *fake_choice #"Never come near my family again." *set honor + 1 #"You brought this on yourself." #"No one beats my brother but me!" *set honor - 1 #"You're weak, Jack. The weak should fear the strong." *set ruthless + 1 #I say nothing, he's not worth the words. You unleash the bolt. Jack tries to dodge but fails; the scroll's power is greater than his burgeoning abilities. Your bolt of pure black chi expands mid-launch and hits him like a battering ram that pierces through his torso. His shirt and aura explode but his skin doesn't break, it only blackens where the attack pierced through the center of his chest. He stares down in bewilderment at his shredded shirt, then clutches the burn mark and falls to the ground. The burning red hues of his aura around his body shatter into sparks as he drops. The sensation of power dissipating through the air is so prevalent even you can feel it. [b][Aura Pressure +6][/b] *set aurapressure + 6 *goto Next_jackfight_youwon *label Next_Jackhandseal Jack sees your display and drops back into a battle stance, taking two steps back cautiously. His cronies follow suit. Then you feel something odd. Something intrusive. A tingle in your back between your shoulderblades. Jack's expression relaxes and you get a good hint at what happened: he scanned your spirit. A Martial Artist's technique to detect the aura of others. You've now learned what that feels like. And when he senses no aura, no chi, no serious power, you also learn what his fist in your face feels like. [b][Aura Pressure +4][/b] *set aurapressure + 4 You collapse to the ground from the shock of the blow. *goto Next_jackfight_youlost *label Next_jackfight_youwon *page_break It's over... *achieve jackoff You've won. Jin's safe and Jack lies unmoving on the hard stone ground. *if (jackstabbed) Jack's friends run over to help him and immediately kneel in a circle around his bleeding body. Light shines from their hands when they recite some unfamiliar incantation and pose a set of mystic handseals to presumably stop the bleeding. Huh, you didn't know a handseal ritual could be cast by multiple people. [b][Handseals +1][/b] *set Handseals + 1 *gosub_scene quicks fuuinjutsudescription You walk past them and check on Jin. He's breathing. Kosuke guides Rin over to you now that the teen who was holding her is busy trying to keep Jack alive. Before you can say some final line to the three jackasses, their ritual finishes and one shouts "Get him to the healers!" They *else His friends run over to help him and don't even acknowledge you when they lift Jack off the ground. "Get him to the healers!" One of them shouts, and they run in unison, carrying Jack down the trail back towards the village. Either they don't want to mess with you or Jack is hurt badly enough that every second counts. It stings that they move too fast for you to get the final word in, but it doesn't matter. It's over now. You turn back to Kosuke and your siblings then pick up Jin in both arms until you feel...something. "Kosuke, take Jin." "Why?" ${bffheshe} asks, taking Jin immediately without waiting for the answer. "There's something here. I think it's that Heavenly Gate Jack was talking about. Right over...there." A 30 pace jog takes you to the odd sensation in the air, a ripple that you can barely make out. You sit down in a meditative pose and try to cycle the ripple as if it were energy, lacking any instructions on a better idea. Your soul gives off a dangerous tremor you've never felt before. *goto Next_jackfight_leave *label Next_jackfight_leave *page_break The ground shakes beneath your feet. An intense sensation stabs into your gut and you grip your stomach in pain, pulling one knee inward to brace yourself. Out of caution you use your amateur senses to feel around for some chi trap left behind by the Thunderfall students. That's when you detect it. Something is off. The natural energy of your surroundings feels imbalanced, unstable, even overflowing. Both Jack and Jin thought this area's natural energies were ready to be harvested for a free cycling and they were right, but it feels too...solid. Like you can't take a piece, only the whole thing. The leaking natural energies from this surge of chi seek out a receptacle, the path of least resistance. The highest nearby Aura Pressure. You. Haze rises from the ground and spins around you, a leak of natural power that flows into your soul. You feel amazing! But it doesn't stop, or even slow down. The Shards in your pocket sizzle into chi faster than they ever have during your cycling. [b][Item Lost: ${shards} Shards][/b] *line_break *set shardgain round(shards/5) *if (shardgain >= 8) [b][Aura Pressure +${shardgain}][/b] *set aurapressure + shardgain *else [b][Aura Pressure +8][/b] *set aurapressure + 8 *set Shards 0 *page_break More! Your body starts convulsing, and your soul shakes with it. You fall backwards onto the ground and try to hold all the energy in. A whirlwind of glowing emerald streaks fills the air of your cliffside as if a massive brush had painted them into the sky. Potent winds dissolve to glowing translucent wind chi and pile into your soul, knocking your prone body back and forth as if you were trapped in the water of a jug being violently shaken. [b][Aura Pressure +20][/b] *set aurapressure + 20 *page_break MORE!! Cracks form in the ground beneath your body. Amber light emits from the fissures and funnels into your midsection through your back. The atmospheric pressure that was pushing into your core from above is now matched by the same sensation from below, crushing you between two impossible weights. *set apgain 30 *if (100 > (aurapressure + apgain)) *set apgain (100 - aurapressure) [b][Aura Pressure +${apgain}][/b] *set aurapressure + apgain It all happens too fast for you to comprehend. Your vision blurs in a swirl of colors and your soul threatens to crack under so much pressure. Then it does crack. Power erupts from your body like water bursting from a dam and something changes in the center of your soul. All this time you had focused your willpower towards consuming energy, forming a core of absorbent yin at your spirit's center. Now that you've taken in too much chi you can feel that spiritual yin core [i]crack[/i] and make way for an equal sized aspect of outward yang energy. What was once a soul that could only bring chi in has now become a soul that can exude chi out. Your first Advancement. The two aspects of energy connect at the center of your spirit and reject each other, spinning in place as a yinyang that pushes your internal energy outside of your body. It doesn't hurt. Only enough of your spirit leaks out to form a burning glow around you, then the leak slows to a trickle once you're surrounded by an aura of white haze. It reminds you of of oil slowly fueling a lantern. You look down at your hands, blazing with white energy. [b][Chi Pool Unlocked][/b] *line_break [b][You can now use Techniques and Combat Cores to resolve situations both in and out of combat.][/b] *set advancement + 1 It doesn't feel like you imagined, it feels like... *choice #An extension of muscular force all around me. [Power Core] The power around you feels as if it's an addition to your strength in every way. Your kicks use your leg muscles and your aura. Your punches use your arms and back, and your aura. Even your steps use your aura to make yourself light as a feather. With this new power you know exactly how Martial Artists feel when they punch through trees without a care. Hells, you're aching to try it out on a tree right now. [b][Combat Cores Unlocked][/b] *line_break [b][Power Core +1][/b] *set power + 1 #Impossible density throughout my whole body. [Fortitude Core] The power around you feels like as if it's soaked into your skin, muscle, and bones and replaced your parts with steel. Your hands are more steady, your lungs more capable, your skin unbreakable. The fatigue melts from your aching body. That was a sensation for the way you used to be, not the perpetual engine you've become. [b][Combat Cores Unlocked][/b] *line_break [b][Fortitude Core +1][/b] *set fortitude + 1 #Nonstop energy coursing through my veins. [Agility Core] The power around you feels compact, like the taught string of a bow, ready to snap into action with explosive results. Even without utilizing it you feel lighter on your feet and your thoughts come faster. The world feels just a fraction slower than it was before, and you are more ready for it. [b][Combat Cores Unlocked][/b] *line_break [b][Agility Core +1][/b] *set agility + 1 #External power, as if the energy around me was a part of my body. [Soul Core] The power around you feels more complex than the purified chi within the Shards. More capable. You feel its power as a fuel, a utility, a tool that can be wielded in an infinite number of ways. All you have to do is discover them. [b][Combat Cores Unlocked][/b] *line_break [b][Soul Core +1][/b] *set soul + 1 You pant for breath and steady yourself. Your own mystic power...Amazing. After a second you try to dismiss the aura, but you don't yet know how. Instead you do your best to calm yourself then look over to Rin and Kosuke, who is holding Jin on ${bffhisher} back. Rin is speechless. Kosuke is beaming. *if (heshe = "he") "Ancestors above," *else "Ancestors below," ${bffheshe} says, "When Jack recovers he's gonna shit his pants." *fake_choice #"After all this, I might too." #"He already did. You should have seen it." "Nice!" Kosuke shouts. $!{bffheshe} goes to highfive you but stops short and pulls ${bffhisher} hand back. "Uh, sorry but you're steaming. Or smoking." "That I am." You reply, "Still working on turning that off." #"Let's just go home." Rin nods, thankful. Kosuke shrugs. #"He can shit his pants from a jailcell. I'm still reporting this." *goto Next_recovery1 *label Next_jackfight_youlost *page_break Defeat... Jack stands over you triumphantly, his leg reared back for a kick to your head. *if (kosukecombat >= 1) Kosuke is on the ground being kicked by two of the others, one of which has a bleeding hand. It seems Kosuke bit through his tough skin. Good for Kosuke, you think, as *else Kosuke is held back in a chokehold by one of the Thunderfall students. $!{bffheshe}'s stomping on the disciple's foot to no avail. Jack's foot swoops down and cracks you in the jaw. Pain lances through your teeth as your vision is snapped to the side where you see Jin's unconscious bloodied face mere feet from your own, and Rin is weeping across from him. Something in the center of your abs has you pinned to the ground. You try your best to get up, to protect your family, to save the day, but you can't even move. Yet you [b]need[/b] to move. You [b]will[/b] move. Jack rears his foot back for another kick. The growing pressure on your abs feels like a great weight dropping onto you, like something sucked in the atmosphere and shoved it all through your gut. It feels dangerous. It feels familiar. It feels...Like a cycling. [b][Item Lost: ${shards} Shards][/b] *line_break *set shardgain round(shards/4) *if (shardgain > 5) [b][Aura Pressure +${shardgain}][/b] *set aurapressure + shardgain *else [b][Aura Pressure +5][/b] *set aurapressure + 5 *set Shards 0 *page_break More! Your body starts convulsing, and your soul shakes with it. Your vision hazes from the white smoke flowing out of your body. Jack jumps back a step as a haze of emerald energy spirals through the air of the cliffside. "Jack!" Shouts the fat disciple, "The Heavenly Gate, it's happening!" All three of the other disciples drop to meditative stances. Kosuke gets released but falls flat on ${bffhisher} face, unconscious from the chokehold. Jack remains standing near you but holds his hands together over his core, fingertips touching, and you can see the emerald swirls of natural wind energy moving towards them. "No!" You shout in desperate defiance, forcing shaky hands over your own core to mimic Jack's method. "Mine!" They're already so far ahead of you. You cannot let them have this. "[b][i]IT'S MINE!![/i][/b]" The wind energy quickens and emerald light fills the air like a verdant dawn. The pressure on your core increases tenfold as the natural chi of the Heavenly Gate shakes in place, torn between the call of so many Martial Artists, until it bends to the strongest will. The strongest desire. The hungriest soul. Yours. "Oh shit!" Shouts the fat one in the group, "Jack, get back!" Jack opens his eyes and you see a flash of anger quickly get replaced with fear as the dangerous natural energies of the Heavenly Gate blast past him and into you. The haze of green surrounding you all compresses into streaks of emerald wind chi that dissolve as they lance into your center, piling into your soul one after the other, knocking your prone body back and forth as if you were trapped in the water of a jug being violently shaken. *rand apgain 15 20 [b][Aura Pressure +${apgain}][/b] *set aurapressure + apgain *page_break MORE!!! Cracks form in the ground beneath your body. Yellow light emits from the fissures and funnels into your midsection. The atmospheric pressure that was pushing into your core from above is now matched by the same sensation from below, crushing you between two impossible weights. *rand apgain 23 30 *if (100 > (aurapressure + apgain)) *set apgain (100 - aurapressure) [b][Aura Pressure +${apgain}][/b] *set aurapressure + apgain It all happens too fast for you to comprehend. Violent shakes overtake your body as your injuries mend instantly and painfully. Colors swirl across your vision and your soul threatens to crack under the pressure of foreign energy. Then it does crack. Power erupts from your body like water bursting from a dam and something changes in the center of your soul. All this time you had focused your willpower towards consuming energy, forming a core of absorbent yin at your spirit's center. Now that you've taken in too much chi you can feel that spiritual yin core [i]burst[/i] and make way for an equal sized aspect of outward yang energy. What was once a soul that could only bring chi in has now become a soul that can exude chi out. Your first Core. Your first Advancement. The two aspects connect at the center of your spirit and reject each other, eternally separated as they're meant to be, spinning in place as a yinyang that pushes your internal energy outside of your body. Oddly enough it doesn't hurt. Not compared to everything else going on in your body. Only enough of your spirit leaks out to form a burning glow around you, then the leak slows to a trickle once you're surrounded by an aura of glowing white haze. Like oil slowly fueling a lantern. [b][Chi Pool Unlocked][/b] *line_break [b][You can now use Techniques and Combat Cores to resolve situations both in and out of combat.][/b] *set advancement + 1 Your eyes shoot open with vibrant white light. Jack's eyes shoot open with surprise. *choice #Grip his ankle and throw him off the cliff. [Power Core] Raw strength flows through your veins in a surge of confidence and action. Still on the ground, you grip Jack's leg that he had so kindly offered your jaw seconds earlier and swing your whole bodyweight towards the ledge so hard that it lifts you to your feet. You throw the older teenager like you would throw a big stick for a dog. Jack launches more than a dozen feet horizontal, clear off the cliff with no chance to catch anything. His screams can be heard for longer than you'd expect. Then they stop when he hits the rocks below. *set chispent + 1 *set power + 1 [b][Power Core +1][/b] #Stand tall and charge him into the ground. [Fortitude Core] Resilience. Hardness. Solidity. The power of the Earth flows through you temporarily and you feel its aspects. You feel invincible, like your body is made of steel. With a quick leap to your feet you kick off the ground and charge at Jack, headbutt his forehead, and wrap your arms around his torso while he's still in shock. A battlecry forces its way out of your throat as you lift Jack off his feet and slam him into the hard stone ground. He coughs as your shoulder crushes him between the steel toughness of your body and literal rock, but still he breathes. He lifts an elbow and hammers it into your back, to no avail. You pull his entire body back up like you're moving a rolled rug and slam him right back into the stone. Again. And again. And again. And again. And again. His flails and strikes weaken as you knock the wind out of him, then the fight out of him, then the blood out of him. Jack's friends look on in horror. When finally his body is limp and pathetic as Jin's, you drop him to the ground and stomp his knee for good measure. *set chispent + 1 *set fortitude + 1 [b][Fortitude Core +1][/b] #Dash behind him and deliver a sneak attack to his neck. [Agility Core] The world around you slows to a halt. You slide to your feet in a whirl of motion that carries you all the way behind Jack, grabbing his shoulder for leverage so you don't go too far. It's as if he doesn't even see you, his head moving slowly to follow your movements but not fast enough to actually look at you. In his mind, you must have completely disappeared. Funny. He's about to disappear too. You raise your arm back as you arc behind the person who beat your brother bloody. The wild heat of raw chi flows through your forearm as you drive it against the back of Jack's neck until you hear a satisfying crack and his body crumples to the ground. *set chispent + 1 *set agility + 1 [b][Agility Core +1][/b] #Unleash this raw unfamiliar power into his face. [Soul Core] An outstretched hand. A focus of will. A grasp on the energy surrounding your body, like a new limb shaking off the feeling of pins and needles. Then a push. That was all it took. It was so easy, how had you never figured it out before? White flashing chi erupts from your arm like cannonfire and blasts Jack's entire face and chest with burning energy. The force of it launches him into the air like a ragdoll. Smoke emits from his scorched face when he hits the ground, wheezing. He stays down. *set chispent + 1 *set soul + 1 [b][Soul Core +1][/b] *label Next_Jackaftermath The other Thunderfall students flee at the sight of your assault. Cowards. But even you can't believe it. You've won against the heir of the Thunderfall Sect, against a proper Martial Artist, and as you look down at the burning white energy surrounding your entire body, you realize you've joined their ranks. You laugh and shout- No. You try to laugh or shout...but nothing happens. Your mouth won't move. Your lungs won't even make the attempt. In seconds you worry that the fleeing Thunderfall students have all turned around and started flying in a crescent formation, only to realize they're still running away like they were before, it's your vision that's gone wrong. Everything is blurring in such a dizzying upward swirl that your body must be falling sideways to the ground. Rin shouts your name several times as the toll of your actions catches up to your body and soul. You hit the ground, hard, and the world fades to black. *page_break My body... *goto Next_recovery0 *label Next_recovery0 Bitter smells and the warmth of the fireplace eventually wake you. There's sheets around your body. Tight sheets. You tilt your head up to look and see that there's actually no sheets at all, rather your entire body is wrapped in bandages. Probably made from sheets. Some of them are stained red with blood. And you're home. You must be in Rin's bed because Mother is sitting between you and another mattress where Jin is laid out with only his face and one arm wrapped up tight. She has her back turned to you and both her and Rin are slowly feeding Jin spoonfuls of Mother's trusted medicinal burnt-leaf soup. Jin's lucky he's still unconscious. That stuff tastes like bile. *if (bffheshe = "he") On the floor there's a neatly wrapped human-shaped package that's probably Kosuke. Apparently he'd taken a beating when you were fighting. Only his eyes are visible through his new facemask of wrappings, which you think looks kind of cool. Judging by the smug look in his eyes, he does too. *elseif (bffheshe = "she") Kosuke sits across the room with a bandaged wrist and ungent pastes on her cheeks, but otherwise she seems healthy. You're glad. *page_break Home at last When mother sees that you're awake she demands to know what happened and why the guards found Kosuke and Rin sweating buckets while dragging the two of you to the gates. You don't bother lying, she would ask Rin too, and that girl can't keep a lie together if her life depends on it. Mother listens intently and forcefeeds you some warm soup that tastes like burnt bread and feels like stomach acid on your tongue. You struggle to fight it but your bandages keep you restrained as she tortures your tastebuds. *goto Next_recovery2 *label Next_recovery1 The four of you make your way back down the mountain pass trail together, Jin sleeping in your arms and Rin resting on Kosuke's back. You march through the forests and get to the safety of your village gates, legs aching more with each step. By the time you get home Father is still at the markets. Mother opens the door and screams at the sight of Jin's injuries. She rushes you inside and demands the whole story from all of you. You don't bother lying, Rin would tell her the whole story too, and that girl wouldn't be able to keep a lie together if her life depended on it. Mother listens intently while fetching bandages and poultices from the washroom cupboard. You try to protest that you're fine but she points out stressed abrasions all of your body. When did those get there? Now that she mentions it, you [i]do[/i] hurt all over. Heavens above, how did you even walk home? Mother covers all four of you in wrappings and pastes, even Rin, and forcefeeds you the vilest blackened leaf soup you've ever tasted. She calls it medicine. You call it burnt. *goto Next_recovery2 *label Next_recovery2 Eventually Kosuke leaves for the night, still bandaged like the rest of you, to tell the story to ${bffhisher} father. Yours comes home shortly after. He's not happy. *page_break "Let me get this straight." Father shouts after hearing your summary of events, rummaging through the closet and throwing objects out of the way angrily as he rants, "Crusher Mao finds my little Jin so threatening that it warrants violence." Father tosses a broom out of the closet and keeps searching, "And so he sends his accident of a son to do his dirty work, alongside three other EMPOWERED disciples, against my little fifteen year old?" A sandal rack soars through the air as father throws it behind him without looking, still rummaging through the closet's contents. "Then when they're caught being the delinquents they are, instead of apologizing honorably, his son and lackies try to pretend they have committed no wrong because...what, his family is better than mine?" Father finds what he was looking for in the closet. He turns around holding a crossbow. "Let's see how that's possible when he has no family left." *page_break "Or," your Mother says quickly, coming out of the kitchen with another bowl of hot disgusting medical soup, "We could use our voices like proper folk. You say he should have talked things out, so let's do that. Let's talk things out." Father balks, raising one arm wildly in the air. "Oh, just talk! That's such a good and even reaction to them beating our son half to death." "Our families [i]are[/i] even, considering our eldest beat theirs half to death in response." Mother walks up to Father and gives him a peck on the cheek, gently lowering his arm. "After all, I didn't say we use our words with Crusher Mao. Jack is nineteen. Last I checked, nineteen is considered a man grown, and fifteen is not. This is a serious crime and the Magistrate should be informed," she turns to you and adds, "by us. You should stay here." "Yes, yes, of course," agrees Father a little too quickly, "$!{name}, stay here and watch over your brother and sister." He hands you the crossbow. [b][Item Gained: Crossbow][/b] *set itemcrossbow + 1 "That's not what I meant!" shouts Mother, putting down her bowls and taking the crossbow out of your hands. [b][Item Lost: Crossbow][/b] *set itemcrossbow - 1 While she was distracted with you, Father had already marched out the front door with a skinning knife in hand. "Honey!" calls Mother, pleading in a fake sweet voice, "No weapons at the Magistrate's!" She grabs a thicker robe by the door to wrap herself with, "Oh goodness, children please behave. We'll be back. I love you." She runs out the door to catch up to Father...Still holding the crossbow, you notice. An hour passes while they're gone. Jin wakes up and you tell him the whole story, turning your aura on and off a few times when he doesn't believe you. It stings in the back of your head. You think your soul needs a rest. Rin forcefeeds Jin more of the medical soup only because he can't fight back, and eventually you fall asleep on the floor of their room. Nerves should have kept you up all night, but the sweet embrace of sleep is a tempting offer after such an exhausting day. The pillow feels like a world of comfort. Advancement takes a lot out of the human body and it's not an immediate process; the powers you have unlocked continue to drain your stamina in order to draw out your inner potential. Your... *gosub Next_potential *label Next_magistrate Fatigue is a funny thing. You thought you were staying alert in case anything bad happened, yet you awaken to find yourself on Father's back, walking through town. Apparently you'd slept through most of the walk already. Mother is there too and the three of you are walking towards the largest building in town, the Magistrate's grand pagoda at the center of the Market Square. "Honey, ${heshe}'s awake." Mother whispers. "Good morning *if (heshe = "he") champ, *elseif (heshe = "she") little bun, have a good nap?" Father teases as he puts you down. You get your balance, since one of your legs is still asleep, and you groggily ask what's going on. "We spoke to Magistrate Khan and Crusher Mao. Mao's not happy seeing as your Mother-" "He deserved it." Mother cuts in, crossing her arms and raising her nose. "-shot him. In the back." Father finishes. "We're still discussing details on the situation, just separately now." He stops as you get to the Pagoda entrance, a large tall set of sliding doors to the first of six stories that make up the grand pagoda. Mother and Father grip the indented handholds for the door and pull. "The Magistrate asked for you." your Mother says, hesitantly. "...Alone." "Don't worry $!{name}," says Father, "it's all going to be alright. Head up the stairs to the top floor. We'll be right out here." You nod and march through the tall doorway into the grand pagoda. If the Magistrate wants your side of the story then you're more than happy to give it to him. Maybe Jack can spend some time in a cell. *page_break The bottom floor is mostly empty this time of night. It's a large hall with desks lining the perimeter. A lantern rests on the wall between each desk and one unlucky scribe is still writing notes in the corner. You pass through the room to the stairwell in the backmost wall and wander to the second and third floors, the Martial Artist barracks. All you see of either barracks is a locked door in the stairs for an entrance, so you continue up the stairs. *if (lore = 0) The fourth floor is a library, which surprises you. You feel shame for almost never visiting it. *else The fourth floor is the library that you've visited several times. Scrolls and tomes of various size line shelves and racks throughout the messy chamber. You're not here to read though. You continue on. The fifth floor is similar to the first but with much more decorations. Fine incense fill the air and murals of cranes adorn the walls. Each town typically has one elderly specialist for all things occult, a sage, and this was the office for yours. She isn't at her office so you continue up to the sixth floor, the smallest floor at the top of the building. The Magistrate's office. It's a single square room built within a bigger square room. The result is a small square hallway looping around the actual office adorned only with sitting mats for visitors to wait comfortably. The inner room has one sliding wooden door. It slides open. Out walks Jack. *if (jackbird) It seems his friends saved him from the Beast eagle after all, but not unharmed. He's wearing a fresh dark blue gi but his face and hands are covered in bandages, including an eyepatch over his left eye. *elseif (jackstabbed) He's wearing the bottom pants of a dark blue gi but his upper torso is covered in bandages. They're red with blood where you stabbed him through the chest. *elseif (jackfall) He's wearing a fresh dark blue gi but you hardly notice it over the fact that he's covered in even more bandages than you. His face isn't even visible from the mask of bloody wrappings around his head. *else He's wearing a fresh dark blue gi so you only see his face. Or at least you would, if it wasn't covered in bandages. There's a distinct limp in his stride. He looks you up and down, your body wrapped tightly to contain the abrasions all over your skin. "Nice bandages." *choice #"Look who's talking." "Look who's talking," you reply, "I can't even tell it's you under there." "Psht." He regards you with a sneer, rolls his eyes, and limps #Give a short, respectful bow. "Well fought." *set honor + 2 He regards you for a short moment, says nothing respectful, says nothing disrespectful, and limps #"Hah! Nice Martial Arts." [Sarcasm] *set honor - 1 "Hah!" You say in equal sarcasm, "Nice Martial Arts. I thought that trainer you're always bragging about was your dad, you should've told me it was your mom." "You shitty little cretin!" His eyes boil with anger but he controls himself, barely. "Gah, no. No." He slowly calms down and takes on a wolfish grin, as if he knows something you don't. "Nice try peasant, but you're not worth it. Not anymore." He limps past you, bumping your shoulder with his. As he wanders down the stairs and you don't have the chance to follow; your attention is taken by the man standing in the doorway where Jack had just left. *page_break Magistrate Khan... *if (portraitpics) *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/OldKhan.jpg It's not the first time you've seen Magistrate Khan. The spry old Human man has looked ancient since you were born, but moves with the confidence and flexibility of a man in his 40s, though some quirks of age cannot be hidden. The old man's beard has grown so stiff he tucks it into his robes. To the adults he is imposing due to his office and power. To you, he is imposing because of his stare. You were an unpowered child before, and he always regarded you as such. It was clear as day on his face whenever he briefly made eye contact with you throughout your life: you were nobody of importance. You were nothing. That changes today. Today he looks at you with a powerful gaze, measuring your worth. Two mats and a tea set on a short table are all that decorates the office behind him. Magistrate Khan steps backwards, still staring at you, and sits by one end of the table. "$!{name}," he says as a matter of fact, "sit." While you take a seat opposite of him, Magistrate Khan reaches for a steaming tea cup and takes a sip of the hot liquid. He smiles warmly, and motions for you to take a cup. "Please, drink. It is good for the nerves, and calming to the mind." His voice is calm. He speaks slowly and clearly. It's soothing, but you've heard him speak that same manner all your life. He had the same tone when sentencing a murderer to death. Dark green liquid and floating leaf particles fills your tea cup. Poorly filtered. It feels much too hot on your tongue when you take a sip. Magistrate Khan's wrinkled brow does not betray his inner thoughts while he stares down at his cup. "The sage in my employ claims to read tea leaves for answers from the Heavens. I find the practice is good for the soul...But I see no message here. A pity." He looks up from his tea and locks eyes with you. His expression hardens. "You have brought a problem to my doorstep, young *if (race = "Human") ${manwoman}." *elseif (race = "Kitsune") Yokai." *else ${race}." *choice #"Honored Elder, I only defended my family." *set honor + 1 "That may be how you see it, but your young eyes do not see the forest for the trees. Crusher #"Honored Elder, I only defended my family's honor." *set honor + 2 "A noble goal, but your young eyes do not see the forest for the trees. Crusher #"I did what was right." "Foolish child, life is not about what is [i]right[/i], life is about what is [i]needed[/i]. Crusher #"Jack brought the problem upon you. He deserved what he got and worse." *set ruthless + 2 "You foolish child, life is not about what is [i]deserved[/i], life is about what is [b]needed[/b]. Crusher #"My sincere apologies, Honored Elder." *set ruthless - 2 He stares at you quizzically but only sighs. "Crusher *set honor + 1 #[Sip tea] The Magistrate stares at you patiently, waiting for you to stop sipping. When you are done, he continues. "Crusher Jack is a Martial Artist of the Thunderfall Sect." Magistrate Khan says between sips of his tea. "He is a resource to this village and an integral part of its future safety. More than that, his father is the Master of my village's Martial Arts Sect. Master Mao is unhappy with your events. I warn you, it is utterly foolish for me to side against Crusher Mao in such a trivial matter." He takes another sip of tea. "You have picked a losing fight." "He was going to cripple Jin!" You protest. Magistrate Khan doesn't bat an eye. "Irrelevant. Our village needs the strong to exist, it does not need the weak. You were a fool to challenge Crusher Jack, for in doing so you challenged Crusher Mao. You should have prostrate yourself before Mao's son when you learned your families had crossed paths. You should have offered him tribute. You should have..." He sighs, "You should have just stayed out of the way." The tension and energy leaks out of him as he slouches, resting an elbow on the table and burying his cheek in one hand. For the first time that you've seen, the Magistrate looks his age. "I do not wish to be in this predicament. You force me to balance justice against the future of the village." That thought hadn't crossed your mind at all. Was Crusher Mao so disloyal that he would retaliate against the village over a children's fight? "Crusher Mao is not a kind man." Says Magistrate Khan as if reading your expression, "His is a temperament built for war, yet he stays within our civilized village because he lives like royalty here, his every whim catered." Khan stares past you, as if thinking to himself. "And I have wasted enough talk on this. Truth be told, I am old, $!{name}. This all tires me. I had prepared quite a speech about your uselessness as a non-resource compared to Jack or Mao when I was told of these events. However, your first Advancement, the formation of your aura, changes things slightly. I will not judge you as some child. You have earned more respect than that." Hope returns for the first time since you stepped through the door. Maybe things will be okay after all. You were worried for a minute, but the Magistrate seems to be coming around- "That is why I grant you the right to face your accuser. Master Crusher Mao, enter." The door behind you slides open. *page_break Oh fuck. Looming in the doorway is a man of massive stature. Crusher Mao himself. Slaughterer of bandits, slayer of Beasts, devourer of the bloodspirit that plagued your town's well. A man of uncontested might among your entire Province. Sure, you hear he's a small-timer compared to Masters of the Inner Kingdoms or Imperial powers like the Archons, but around here there are no Inner Masters. No Archons. Only Mao. He grins as his bulky frame lurches through the doorway, his leg the width of your torso. "Thank you Khan," Mao says in his deep guttural voice, "I knew you'd right this wrong." Fear grips your heart. Fear, and a little anger. What wrong? Jack was the one who was wrong! You and your family are the victims. Why is Mao even here? Jack started a fight and you finished it, end of story. Magistrate Khan only nods solemnly as Mao takes one big stride into the room, grabbing your tea cup as he passes over you. He drinks it in one gulp. "Ah, tastes like shit." He sits down on a third side of the table and meets your gaze with an unconvincing smile. "So, you're $!{name}." His eyes look wild, his smile too fake. "I hear you took out my son with a deceptive cheapshot." *page_break You look for the exit, but Crusher Mao only laughs. "Not bad, kid, not bad at all. I did the same in my youth. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, and who says you have to lose just because they're stronger? Strategy is important! Hell even without chi involved, it must have been quite a show to take on a bigger kid surrounded by his friends too, that takes serious guts." He reaches over to ruffle your hair, you think, until his hand grips your head like an eagle's talon. "I'd like to see those guts." Mao's grip compresses your head with so much pressure that your eyes feel it. Your ears start to ring and one of his fingers crushes the top of your left ear. Blood trickles down your cheek and you do your best not to move in the face of an overwhelming predator. His smile only widens, his eye contact intense, as your skull approaches the point of fracturing. "Master Mao." says the Magistrate calmly, "Our agreement." He releases your head. You pant and shrink back towards the door by reflex only to find it locked. You turn back to see Magistrate Khan slowly take a scroll from his robes and hand it to Crusher Mao. "Of course, Khan." Crusher Mao says with a wicked smile, accepting the scroll and standing. He reads the next words off the parchment. "I, Crusher Mao of the Thunderfall Sect, Master of the village's Warrior Caste, swear upon my honor and soul to adhere to Magistrate Khan's ruling, in the case of $!{name} the Clanless against Crusher Jack, written upon this binding contract." Something in the air snaps into place. You think you feel chi. A Technique? A ritual? Crusher Mao hands the scroll back to Magistrate Khan who recites without looking. "And I, Magistrate Khan, swear upon my honor and soul to prioritize Crusher Mao's disciples over all others in my ruling of this case, regardless of my personal beliefs of justice." *page_break What?! Crusher Mao laughs at your expression. Literally pointing at you while he laughs. He takes a gourd from behind his back and starts drinking something in between hearty, deep-belly chuckles. "Welcome to the real world kid! What, you thought you'd get off with a warning? You embarrassed my son, MY son, the only reason I stick around this dump. I'm not even going to bury you, you worthless Laborer shit, I'm going to make your own leader bury you for me. This was all arranged before you even got in the room." You look to Khan. "Magistrate, what is he saying?" Magistrate Khan closes his eyes at Mao's vicious mockery and ignores you. When Mao occupies himself with drinking in earnest, Khan's eyes open and look upon you anew. His gaze of pity reminds you of when Father had to explain to Rin that her pet fox had died. "I will not ask forgiveness," he says wearily, "and you should not grant it." *fake_choice #"I won't, because this is absurd!" *set ruthless + 1 Khan nods respectfully. #"Do what you must, Honored Magistrate." I won't give them the satisfaction of breaking my honor. *set honor + 2 *set ruthless - 1 Khan nods respectfully. #"To the Hells with you, let's get this over with." I'm tired of hearing these geezers talk. *set honor - 2 *set maorep + 5 Mao keeps drinking but nods his head in agreement. Khan sighs and straightens himself to pass his judgment. #[Stay silent] *set honor + 1 Khan sighs and straightens himself to pass his judgment. #[Sip tea] The Magistrate blinks at you expectantly, but instead looks on with concern as you sip tea. Mao had already taken your cup, and so you have poured hot tea into your cupped hand. After some time in silence, broken only by your sips, he shakes his head. "$!{name} of Thunderfall Village, for your ambush of Crusher Jack I hereby place you in servitude to Crusher Mao, Master of the Thunderfall Sect." Mao smiles from ear to ear and celebrates by slamming his hand down on the table in front of you. You jump. Damn it, why did you jump? Khan shakes his head at your display. "Furthermore, as the highest Aura Pressure of your immediate family I appoint you as their House Head. Your family will join you in servitude under Mao." Servitude? Like slavery? You close your eyes and try to wake up. This can't be happening. Mao mock-claps to the Magistrate while giving you a shit-eating grin. "He really is a devious old man, isn't he? Well done, well done Khan! I graciously accept this family as my slaves. I'm sure ${hisher} mother could have some *if (heshe = "he") uses." *else uses, and she'll be a looker herself in a couple years too." Your blood freezes. *fake_choice #"Magistrate, you can't allow this!" "Silence!" Khan shouts. "My verdict is final and irrevocable." Mao barks out a laugh and takes another swig. Magistrate Khan turns to him, "Cease your mocker Mao, your spirits are too high in more ways than one. My verdict lays responsibility on you as well." "Don't worry old man, I know how to break in my slaves." Khan raises an eyebrow. "You confuse me, Master Mao. What is this talk of slaves? Young #"Touch my mother and I'll gut you!" *set ruthless + 3 *set maorep - 10 Mao steps back, shocked at your audacity. "You [i]insignificant[/i] little-" He raises a hand to slap you, but Khan raises a hand for silence before Mao gets riled up. "[b]Hold your place[/b], both of you. Mao, threatening powerless mothers is beneath the leader of the Thunderfall Sect. And $!{name}, such insults to your superior bring dishonor to your house." Mao nods himself out of his anger, "That's right, yeah, that's right. You're going to have to learn to respect your superior, little slave." "Slave? You keep saying that word, Mao, what is this about slaves?" Magistrate Khan tilts his head, blatantly feigning confusion. "Why, Master Mao, young #[Cycle my chi to attack Mao] *set ruthless + 1 Khan's hand slams down on your shoulder from across the table- No. From behind you. When did he move? The sensation of a spiritual wave pushes down on your body and your chi stops cycling. "We will have none of that. And Mao, you will have no more talk of slaves. Young #[Stay silent] *set ruthless - 1 "Slaves?" Magistrate Khan tilts his head, blatantly feigning confusion. "Why, Master Mao, young #[Sip tea] Mao had already stolen your cup when he entered, and so you shakily drink from the tea kettle to calm your nerves. Khan looks disgusted but continues. "Slaves?" Magistrate Khan tilts his head, blatantly feigning confusion. "Why, Master Mao, young $!{name} here is not a [i]slave[/i]. I declared ${heshe} must serve you, and so ${heshe} must. After all, you are the leader of the Thunderfall Sect." Mao puts his gourd down and glares cautiously. "What does that have to do with it?" "Everything, Master Mao." Magistrate Khan moves his stern gaze from Mao to you. "$!{name} the Clanless, you have turned your soul into a combat asset for this village without instruction. As Magistrate of Thunderfall, I hereby elevate you, and your family under you, into the Warrior Caste. Like all empowered Warrior Caste of Thunderfall Village you will be enlisted into the Thunderfall Sect. You will indeed serve under Master Crusher Mao...as one of his students." *page_break WHAT?! "WHAT?!" you and Crusher Mao shout simultaneously. This is insane. Is the Magistrate trying to anger Mao on purpose? "KHAN!" Winds explode into the room as if to answer when Crusher Mao backhands the nearest wall. It shatters into splinters flying out over the night sky. Harsh winds funnel into the room and you get a good look at all the glowing lights of Thunderfall's homes below. "You insult me to my face, Khan! The Sect is mine, not yours! You're a FOOL to prioritize this Clanless ${boygirl} over your only protectors! Think carefully!" Credit where it is due, Magistrate Khan does not blink at the wall's explosion or Mao's impossibly loud shouts. He merely bows his head ever so slightly towards Crusher Mao. "I know not what you mean, Master Mao. I have already thought [i]very[/i] carefully. You swore to adhere to my ruling and I swore to prioritize the Thunderfall Sect's disciples to the greatest possible extent. I have gifted your disciples a peer that has proven quite capable, defeating even your star pupil. And with that done, I cannot impose any further penalties upon this young ${boygirl}." Magistrate Khan picks his tea up from the table, takes another sip, and looks back up to Crusher Mao with a cold smile. "After all, I must prioritize ${hisher} needs. $!{heshe} is a Thunderfall Sect disciple." *page_break Mao fumes. He slams one giant foot down on your side of the table and shatters the tea kettle hard enough to cover your shirt and face in the steamed liquid. Mao's head burns red even without any aura active; a vein of pure rage appears on his forehead right above his bulging eyes. It looks like he's so mad he's going to explode. Hells, he might. But as the seconds crawl by, ever so slowly while you feel the looming threat of death, his anger fades to disbelief when realization dawns on him. Khan gets up and wipes the sawdust from his lap. "You're a smart man, Crusher Mao. I do not have to spell out that harming your new student, or orchestrating events to lead to ${hisher} harm, would go against my ruling. As would abandoning your post so long as ${heshe} is a disciple of the Sect. My ruling you swore upon your soul to uphold. A dangerous thing, such soulbinding oaths. Odd of you to demand one of me." The remaining anger slowly fades from Mao's face, replaced with resignation. All tension leaves the room and you realize it wasn't just a tense sensation; Mao had spread his chi throughout the room and was ready to use it until now. A Technique. He was preparing to kill you. But the giant man releases his Technique. His shoulders slump and his eyes cast downward. "This isn't over." Mao growls, then disappears in a flash of green light blurring out through the missing wall. A distant woman's surprised scream can be heard where he likely landed in someone's yard. Magistrate Khan chuckles and brushes a hand through his long beard. "That will teach him who rules and who serves." He turns to you, a renewed vigor in his voice. "Now, shall we retire to the library? The winds of change blow ever onward, but I do not need to feel them upon my neck." He tilts his head towards the giant hole in the wall. *choice #"Magistrate Khan, what just happened?" The Magistrate smiles as you descend the stairs together. "A sly old man used a ${boygirl} of dubious luck to get what he wanted." #"As you wish, Magistrate." *set honor + 2 #"I only wish I could have had shown that look on his face to the whole world." *set honor - 2 "Do not test your luck. I bound him with a soul oath to protect you but he is not one to give up easily." #[Sip tea] Mao already took your cup and destroyed the kettle, so you realize too late that you're sipping from the Magistrate's cup. Magistrate Khan stares at you in disbelief. "S-such insolence..." He whispers. *page_break You both make your way to the library where the Magistrate lights a lantern with a gesture of his wrist and sits down. "Fetch me the Caste records. It was no jest to say you've troubled me with paperwork." You get them, and Magistrate Khan retrieves a quill and ink. "Now, let us get to business. No foolish ears remain to hear the truth so we can be blunt," He taps the quill and looks up at you. "Mao demanded we use a soul oath to secure your absolute punishment and intended for me to be his puppet in his childish ploy. Such a lack of respect towards my office could not be forgiven. I used your situation to secure Mao's service with his own plan. He is now forced to continue leading the Thunderfall Sect so long as you live, with no more appeasement necessary on my part. Do your best to survive so my time is not wasted, and thank the Heavens that it was convenient for me to grant you more opportunity than your birth allowed." It's odd to hear all the ceremony drop from the old man's manner of speech. He sounds...younger. Khan recites some notes in the Caste registry then stops, squints, and sighs. "Damned Hells, you are actually Clanless? I thought that was just Mao's insult. These Caste documents require a Clan entry for Merchant Caste and above...Cursed with more errands. Fetch me the family registries." He points to some larger set of scrolls across the hall and you bring them to him. Khan unrolls the family records and rubs the bridge of his nose. "How unfortunate for me, and fortunate for you. Were I you I would accept your incredible luck, tell the old man in front of you what you want to name your Clan, and promptly leave so that he can sleep." "My Clan?" Khan looks at you with growing annoyance. "Yes ${boygirl}, you cannot be Clanless in the Warrior Caste, so you will no longer be Clanless. I will not have my successful scheme undone by bureaucracy. Minor Clans are of little consequence, by all accounts joining the Thunderfall Sect is a perfectly acceptable justification to create one." A Clan name? It wasn't a thought you'd ever entertained before. Peasants are peasants, they don't create Clans. Sure, *if (heshe = "he") Rin could marry into a Clan, maybe, but for you and Jin being Clanless wasn't even a question. After all, it *else you could marry [i]into[/i] a clan, but that's a heavy price to pay. After all, being Clanless was good enough for Father *if (heshe = "she") and Mother so- Oh. Khan is staring at you. It seems you really have overstayed your welcome. A Clan name, huh. *label Next_pickclan You like the sound of... *label Next_pickclan2 *if (((race = "Human") or (race = "Yokai")) or (race = "Kitsune")) *choice #Kazurai *set Clan "Kazurai" #Akira *set Clan "Akira" #Maki *set Clan "Maki" #Saitomoto *set Clan "Saitomoto" #Hakura *set Clan "Hakura" #Something else [Enter Clan Name] *input_text Clan *elseif (race = "Oni") *choice #Ammon *set Clan "Ammon" #Sin *set Clan "Sin" #Valoren *set Clan "Valoren" #Hellfire *set Clan "Hellfire" #Magnus *set Clan "Magnus" #Something else [Enter Clan Name] *input_text Clan *else *choice #Jaeger *set Clan "Jaeger" #Novak *set Clan "Novak" #Vulcan *set Clan "Vulcan" #Hyperion *set Clan "Hyperion" #Sieghart *set Clan "Sieghart" #Something else [Enter Clan Name] *input_text Clan *set clan "$!{clan}" *if (clan = "Crusher") Magistrate Khan stares at your entry in the archives and blinks. "...Crusher." "Yes, Magistrate." You reply. *if ((name = "jack") or (name = "Jack")) "When you and its heir are both named Jack." "Yes, Magistrate." You reply. He rolls up the Clan archive entries and smacks you in the head with them. "I forbid it. One Crusher Jack is enough trouble for me, I will not suffering two." *else He rolls up the Clan archive entries and smacks you in the had with them. "You are not stealing the Crusher Clan's name. I have enough trouble without you antagonizing our Sect Master directly." *label cursesname Curses. With your [i]genius[/i] plan foiled, you instead consider... *goto Next_pickclan2 *elseif (clan = "Big") Magistrate Khan reviews your work. "The 'Big' Clan." He says thoughtfully. "You wish to falsify relations to Big Chu?" "Yes, Magistrate." You reply. "He was the first to train me." "Is he aware of this intention?" "No, Honored Magistrate." "A potential annoyance for Big Chu, one any reasonable child would be ashamed to bring upon their mentor." He tsks four times, "Yet it is his problem, not mine. You may proceed." *page_break *goto proceedname *elseif (clan = "Khan") Khan looks at your work and frowns. "Khan." He says bitterly. "You wish to deceive others with a false relation to my Noble Caste clan. How unfortunate." "No, Honored Magistrate!" You reply quickly, suddenly realizing that you would be committing a crime. "I simply wished to...thank you, for the opportunity." "And you may." Khan says, his old eyes staring you down. "By choosing a different name." *goto cursesname *else *label proceedname Humans and most Yokai say their Clan name first and then their given name, but Lunargoths and most Oni say their given name first and then their Clan name. You decide to pronounce it... *choice #${clan} $!{name}, it has a nice ring to it. *set japannaming true *set fullname "${clan} $!{name}" #$!{name} ${clan}, it has a nice ring to it. *set japannaming false *set fullname "$!{name} ${clan}" #Pick something else. *goto Next_pickclan Khan nods and writes out your family's entry. *if (heshe = "he") *set patriarch "Patriarch" *else *set patriarch "Matriarch" It feels like you're dreaming when he records your Clan under the Warrior Caste. It feels even more surreal to see him add your name as its ${patriarch}. You're not sure how Father is going to take that. "Congratulations on your newfound prosperity, ${fullname}." Magistrate Khan says when he finishes writing, "Bear in mind at all times that this is no gift. It is an obligation. Hard work brought you to this point and I expect much more of it from you. Now get out." *page_break Time to go home. Father and Mother are gone when you exit the Magistrate's grand pagoda. Cold winds bite at your skin during the walk home until you remember you're above that now. With a mental command and a spiritual flex you channel white energy to burn around your body and warm your bones. How many small problems in life only existed because you lacked power? You'll soon find out. The lights are on when you get home so you slide the door open to see Mother and Father sleeping on a tatami mat in the living room, waiting for their ${sondaughter}. *fake_choice #"You'll never guess what happened." Your parents stir. Mother groggily wipes some drool from her mouth, then notices you. "$!{name}! Oh goodness, what happened?" #"Apologies for the delay." *set ruthless - 1 Mother's eyes flutter open and she smiles warmly at you. "No need at all, my brave young ${sondaughter}." #"Clan subordinates, at attention!" *set ruthless + 1 "Wha-?" asks Mother, stirring from her rest. "$!{name}! What happened?" "That's ${fullname}," you reply, "and a lot." Mother wakes Father and you explain the whole story to them, from Mao's mockery to Khan's judgment. You hesitate when explaining your new Clan's hierarchy since you just usurped them both. Father has raised you and taken care of you, Jin, Rin, and Mother your whole life. A regular man doing everything he can to provide for you all. Like most laborers he could have worked to unlock an aura over his decades of hard work if he wanted to, but he turned it down to save every Shard for his family and avoid unwanted attention upon his house. And here you come, recklessly Advancing to a weak aura, and now replacing him as head of the family because of it. It was an unexpected turn and you aren't sure how Father will feel. You aren't sure how [i]you[/i] feel. Hesitation won't do you any good so you simply tell your parents the final details. Your family becoming an official Clan, the Clan's leadership, and the Caste you've been assigned. Father's stoney expression cracks. He starts to laugh. He continues to laugh. He falls over laughing. When Father recovers he wipes tears from his eyes and looks upward. "Heavens rain fortune down in such unpredictable storms. $!{sondaughter}, could you paint Mao's expression for me? To see the look on that bastard's face when he realized he was fooled would be worth every *if (background = "Trapper") pelt I've ever skinned." *elseif (background = "Blacksmith") nail I've ever smithed." *elseif (background = "Herbalist") herb I've ever picked." *else item I've ever sold." *if (Craft >= 1) [b][Craft 1 Check Passed][/b] *line_break You actually think you can. It's burned into your memory well enough. [b][Item Gained: Portrait of Mao's Bewildered Face][/b] *set itempainting +1000000 "Careful darling," Mother says, "it is poor form to insult a [i]fellow[/i] member of [i]our[/i] Caste." You and Father pause, stare at Mother, then all three of you laugh together. What was at first one of the worst days of your life has become the start of a joyful new era for your family. The ${clan} family. *page_break Chapter 2 *finish *label Next_jackencounter Another whole year of hard work...but not another year of progress. Your ${age}th birthday is a sour one. Sure, your day job is going well and you have more Shards, but not enough. It now costs more than a year's worth of two jobs to handle an extra cycling per year. *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) Jin *else Rin *else Kosuke has hit a similar slump, so the two of you are meeting by the village gardens at night for sparring. You'd use the sparring ring but only the Warrior Caste can reserve it for free. When you get to the gardens one night you immediately know something is wrong. *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) *set fightfren "Jin" *else *set fightfren "Rin" *else *set fightfren "Kosuke" Where's ${fightfren}, and who are these people? *page_break Four Human strangers stand in a line by the empty garden, all dressed in white martial arts gi. Three boys and a girl. They seem a little older than you and they're waiting for something. You, it seems. One notices your approach and smiles. "You must be $!{name}", says the black-haired older teen with a chiseled jaw. Something's off-putting about his smile. It doesn't reach his eyes. "We've been looking for you." One of Father's customers maybe? *if (background = "Herbalist") "That's me. I don't have any herbs on me right now but I can take an order." *elseif (background = "Blacksmith") "That's me. Are you looking for nails? I can write an order down." *elseif (background = "Trapper") "That's me. Looking for a specific pelt?" *elseif (background = "Merchant") "That's me. Looking to sell something?" "No, I don't give a shit about your Laborer business," the older boy says with a yawn, "I care more about you meddling in my Warrior business. See, the name's Jack. Crusher Jack. And me and my friends here heard a disturbing little rumor." You hear a groan from behind the four, in the garden. "We heard some Laborer Caste brats were absorbing Shards to unlock their auras. That's no good. Makes us look bad. See, my old man forbids us from doing that at such an easy level." His old man? You think back to the name...Crusher Jack...Why does it sound so familiar? That's when it hits you. Crusher Mao, the leader of the Thunderfall Sect. This must be his son. Jack keeps talking while you process the revelation. "Me and the boys are forced to train the old fashioned way until we get our auras, to prove ourselves." He runs a hand through his hair and smiles wider, squinting. "So you see, that's a big problem for us if some peasant Laborer reaches an Advancement before we all do. Other peasants might get the wrong idea. You're going to give up on cultivating chi, immediately, or me and my friends are going to break your arms." The source of the groan rises from behind some herbs in the garden. Over Jack's shoulder you see your *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) brother Jin *else sister Rin *else friend Kosuke shakily stand with a swollen cheek and black eye. You quickly realize how much danger you're in. [b][You have no Aura, no Combat Cores, and no Techniques. Your only option in combat at this point will be utilizing your skills.][/b] *choice #Suck it up and fight. *set ruthless + 1 *goto jackfightscene #Run. "NOPE!" You scream, turning 180 degrees and booking it back the way you came. "What the-" It seems Jack didn't account for this strategy, but he recovers soon enough, "Grab ${himher}!" He shouts to the other three. *if ((athletics + stealth) >= 2) [b][Athletics + Stealth 2 Check Passed][/b] You sprint between two houses stationed near the garden and slam on their windows while running through to get as many witnesses as possible. The girl lunges for your arm at one point and nearly catches you but you pull away and she tumbles. The skinnier guy from their group leaps over her and dashes toward you just in time to get a handful of dirt to the face. "Gkah!" He gaffs, spitting the dirt out and tumbling into the side of a house with the help of your trusty fist to his temple. The third one is still running through the alley behind the tumbled girl that's getting up. You're not worried about him, he's fat. Together the three of them chase you out of the alleyway and down the cobblestone street, all four of you pushing your leg muscles as fast as you can possibly go, but it's futile. For them. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 Once you lose the trio you look around for any guards you can find, locate a pair by the Market Square, and give them some line about vegetable thieves by the garden. You doubt they'd help you against the heir to the Thunderfall Sect if they knew the truth. "Vegetable thieves?!" One of them shouts, unsheathing his tonfa. "Not on my watch!" "I'll bet it's that damned beggar child." The other one says. They both nod to each other. *if (fightfren = "Kosuke") "Probably." You say. They're not far off the mark, Kosuke [i]is[/i] down there. "This way." "Uh yes, we know the garden is this way." Says the first guard. "We live here." "Oh, right." The second guard just looks at you and shakes his head. *else Rude but fair. *if (thievery >= 1) You and Kosuke *else Kosuke did rob the community garden last week. You don't consider it robbing though; how could it be a community garden if members of the community can't have it? Idiots. The three of you arrive to find no sign of the Thunderfall students nor ${fightfren}. *page_break "Ahhh I see." Says one of the guards. "Trying to distract us so your friends can rob the market eh?" You're thrown completely off-guard. *if (thievery >= 1) That's such a good idea yet you didn't even think of it before. "Uh...No?" "We'll see about that!" Says the second guard, taking you home and reporting this possible fake crime to your parents, a fate worse than death. Father answers the door and you see ${fightfren} inside being treated with some bandages and fed some of Mother's awful burnt-leaf medicinal soup. You're glad *if (fightfren = "Rin") or ((fightfren = "Kosuke") and (bffheshe = "she")) she *else he made it back safely. Likewise, it seems, when *if (fightfren = "Rin") or ((fightfren = "Kosuke") and (bffheshe = "she")) she *else he waves with a relieved smile. "Evening guardsmen, can I help you?" Father asks. "We found your ${sondaughter} amongst the gardens and the market. Possibly a vegetable thief. Possibly an actual thief." "Possibly nothing!" You shout quickly, to no avail. "I see..." Father says, staring a death sentence into your soul. "Are there any charges?" "None yet." Says the first guard, "We need to investigate the state of the garden and have the merchants double check their inventory in the morning." "Understood." Father says, "I'll make sure ${heshe} is properly disciplined." "Do." Says the second guard, shoving you towards your future spanking. Father's belt is once again called to service that night, but at least ${fightfren} is safe and you made it home. A week later, when you can walk, you ignore Jack's stupid threat and continue your cultivation quest for the following year. Your war chest of Shards grows further from another side gig where you... *goto Next_careerchoice *else [b][Athletics + Stealth 2 Check Failed][/b] *line_break You run as fast as your strong legs will take you but get cut off by the girl of the group who somehow bolted past you and cuts off your exit between two rows of houses. *if (heshe = "he") That's fine, you think. You can take a girl. Except she *else She reaches into her gi and withdraws a pair of nunchucks. What the fuck man, who carries nunchucks? *set revealedchucks true You pivot quickly, turn around, and try to juke past the other two chasing you but don't make it in time. The skinny one grabs your shirt and throws you back a ways and you avoid falling over by tumbling into a run. It's too late before you realize you're running [i]toward[/i] Jack. The other three come up behind you, snickering. "We could have done this the easy way." Jack says, cracking his knuckles. "Now we do it the fun way." Panic crawls up your throat but you push the sensation down. You need a strategy. *goto jackfightscene2 #Kowtow and surrender. *set ruthless - 6 *if (heshe = "she") *set jackromance + 1 "I deeply apologize." You say while dropping to your knees and pressing your forehead against the dirt in a deep kowtow. "I will end my cycling immediately to bring satisfaction to the Thunderfall Sect." Jack steps forward and presses his heel against the back of your head. "And?" His friends stifle their laughter behind him. "And I beg forgiveness from the future leader of the Thunderfall Sect for my *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) brother *else sister *else friend wasting your time as well." "Hm, a tough choice," Jack says to his friends, "what do you think boys, should we forgive ${himher}?" "What about a black eye fist?" Says the skinny one. *line_break "I say we break a finger." Says the only girl in the group. *line_break "At least rob ${hisher} pockets." Says the fat one. Jack holds up a hand and they all fall silent. "No, I like the way ${heshe} begs. We should encourage the natural order of things, like Laborers on their knees. Come on, let's stop wasting time on this filth and head back to the *if (heshe = "he") dojo." *else dojo. I've got some excitement to work off. The four of them head off, laughing. When a full minute has passed and you can't hear them anymore, you raise your head and run over to *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) Jin. He looks at you with...hate? "Why didn't you fight them?!" He spits blood at the ground. "They didn't know I was back up, we could have taken them out!" "Grow up," you reply defensively, "that was Crusher Mao's son, the entire Sect would have destroyed not only us but Mother, Father, and Rin too." Jin goes pale at that. "That's not fair." He says. "Life's not fair." The two of you go home in shame to get his injuries taken care of. *else Rin. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes. "I don't know why they did it." She breaks down into a full cry, "What did I do wrong? My nose hurts so much, why did they do this?" She begins to weep, openly and loudly. "It's okay, it's okay!" You say on reflex trying to console her, "we'll figure something out. Let's get you home and get you taken care of." *else Kosuke. $!{bffheshe} looks at you incredulously, wincing through the pain. "Maybe I should have tried that instead of all the things I said about their mothers. I honestly never thought backing down would work." "Me neither." You say. "Let's go home and never talk about this again." And you do. Kosuke goes to your house to get ${bffhisher} cuts and bruises tended by your Mother and you both lie that ${bffheshe} fell off a roof. *page_break You keep your word about not cycling again...For now. The fact that you continue to take on secondary jobs is just for the income, of course. At least that's your excuse if anyone asks. For now, you start a new job where you... *goto Next_careerchoice *label jackfightscene Anger seeps into your heart, but it's the resolve that truly drives you. These four don't even have auras yet. Who the [i]fuck[/i] do they think they are to challenge you? And four against one? Assholes [i]and[/i] cowards. *label jackfightscene2 Your foot inches under an unattended hand trowel someone left out. It's bladed but unwieldy as a throwing weapon, only useful if they don't see it coming. Jack's thugs walk closer and you weigh your options fast. *choice #Throw the trowel before they notice it. You shift your foot under the trowel for leverage without looking and flip it into the air, grabbing the handle just as the skinny guy and the girl shrink back from the surprise weapon. The fat one's reactions are too slow so he won the lottery: you throw it at him blade-first. *if ((stealth > 0) or (thievery > 1)) *if (stealth > 0) [b][Stealth 1 Check Passed][/b] *elseif (thievery > 1) [b][Thievery 2 Check Passed][/b] *label throwfat He doesn't see it flying into his shoulder until a gush of blood lets him know it's too late. The scream he lets out before dropping to the ground is worse for them than it is for you. They're about to have an audience. *label winningfirstround [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 Jack's eyes widen at your defiance but he doesn't hesitate. "Grab ${himher}, and make it hurt!" He shouts, and the other two lunge at you. The skinny guy leaps for your legs *if (revealedchucks) and the girl swings at your face with her nunchucks. *else but you're already preparing a strike for the girl, that is until she reaches into her gi and withdraws a pair of nunchucks. What the fuck man, who carries nunchucks? *page_break Before the girl's nunchucks can be introduced to your face you're saved by the Heavens. Or rather, saved by ${fightfren} screaming like a raging barbarian and slamming the nunchuck girl over the head from behind with a thick wooden gardening stake. The stake cracks in two. Her head almost does too. A grimace of incredible pain stretches her face, mouth open in a silent stuttering scream, and her eyes roll into the back of her head from ${fightfren}'s attack. *if (fightfren = "Rin") "That's for ruining my makeup you tramp!" Rin shouts as her unfortunate choice of battlecry. *elseif (fightfren = "Jin") "Who's the cheapshotter now?!" Jin screams, blood dripping from his swollen lip. "You're all fucking dead!!" He looks incredibly pissed for such a little kid. *elseif (fightfren = "Kosuke") *if (bffheshe = "she") "There's only room for one bitch in this fight!" Kosuke screeches through teary eyes and a bloodied nose, "And that's me!" *else "Don't turn your back on me!" Kosuke shouts and takes on a samurai battlestance with his remaining half of a gardening stake. *else *bug Now it's two against two. You jump five feet vertical to dodge the skinny one and feel Jack crash into you midair with a running leap, grabbing onto your waist and trying to slam you into the ground. *else [b][Stealth 1 Check Failed][/b] *line_break And feel a sense of dread when you miss. He dodges out of the way and charges at you. *label getyourasskicked A one-on-one you can handle, maybe, but the other two look to Jack for orders. Jack nods, scowling. "Grab ${himher}, and make it hurt." All three rush you in unison and beat the shit out of you. [b][Lost 4 Aura Presure][/b] *set aurapressure - 4 *set jackfight + 1 *page_break But you give as good as you get. The girl grabs your arms from behind and tries to make your shoulders meet behind you. The pain is worse than you expected as your shoulders nearly dislocate. All the while the skinny one is punching your lower torso, aiming for organs, and the fat one keeps reaching for your head to hold you still for a headbutt. You're pretty pissed about the embarrassing miss and your rage guides you to spit in the fat one's face and crack a foot across his lower jaw when he backs up to wipe it off. Your kick drops him like the giant bag of rice he probably eats every morning. It's a shortlived victory. The skinny martial artist reels his fist back for a face shot. *page_break At the last moment you're saved by the Heavens. Or rather, saved by ${fightfren} charging forward with a wooden gardening stake and screaming like a wild barbarian loud enough to get the skinny guy to dodge out of the way. You angle your head to the side and give ${fightfren} a clear shot at the girl holding you from behind. ${fightfren} takes the shot and cracks the gardening stake over her head, hard enough to snap the stake in two. A grimace of incredible pain stretches across the girl's face, mouth open in a silent stuttering scream and eyes rolling into the back of her head. *if (fightfren = "Rin") "That's for ruining my makeup you tramp!" Rin shouts as her unfortunate choice of battlecry. *elseif (fightfren = "Jin") "Who's the cheapshotter now?!" Jin screams, blood dripping from his swollen lip. "You're all fucking dead!!" He looks incredibly pissed for such a little kid. *elseif (fightfren = "Kosuke") *if (bffheshe = "she") "There's only room for one bitch in this fight!" Kosuke screeches through teary eyes and a bloodied nose, "And that's me!" *else "Don't turn your back on me!" Kosuke shouts in his best impressive of a samurai battlestance. Though instead of a katana, he's wielding his remaining half of a gardening stake. *else *bug That's two down. Two to go. Just as the fight turns in your favor, Jack charges into you like a raging Beast and grabs you around the waist, lifting you into the air with clear intention to slam you back down into the ground, face first, with the full force of his charge. *if (background = "Blacksmith") #Throw your Tanto to take one of them out immediately. [Automatic Success] The trowel would be an unwieldy weapon. Not your style. Luckily you have a wieldy weapon. You draw your tanto from it's sheath and see a look of surprise on the girl's face. The skinny guy near her has better reflexes and jumps to the side, he must have noticed your grip isn't for melee combat. You're not waiting for them to approach you; this bad boy is going into one of them before they even close the gap. And since the fat one didn't react in time he just won the lottery. [b][Item Check Passed][/b] *goto throwfat *else *selectable_if (background = "Blacksmith") #Use a real weapon. [Automatic Success] #Punch the fat one directly. Fat fighters always think they're tough. You know he's packing muscle under all that bulk and his legs must be stronger than even Jack's if he's constantly moving that much weight around. But they're not fighting fair and so neither do you. You jump forward with a mock-kick to the groin, like they'd predict, and he tries to close his legs together and block with his hands. Now he's in the worst possible position to jump back. Good. You land close in front of him, grab his shirt and twist your forearm to pin both his hands down, then swing a hook at his jaw with all your might. *if ((athletics = 0) and (survival < 2)) [b][Athletics 1 Check Failed][/b] And feel a sense of dread when you miss. He leans back much farther than you thought he could to dodge and you realize you're surrounded. *goto getyourasskicked *elseif (athletics >= 1) [b][Athletics 1 Check Passed][/b] *else [b][Survival 2 Check Passed][/b] It doesn't matter that he sees it coming, there's nothing he can do to stop it with your other arm pinning his hands onto his gi and his friends too surprised by your ferocity. Your hook connects to his jaw and knocks a spray of saliva out of his mouth. His body collapses and his knees hit the ground, then you release his shirt so his face flops into the dirt too. *goto winningfirstround *choice #Wrestle out of Jack's grip. *if ((survival >= 1) or (lore >= 1)) *if (survival >= 1) [b][Survival Check Passed][/b] You've been wrestling against bigger animals since you were a kid. Half the prey you've trapped weren't nearly as dead as they looked and you know how to take them seriously. Jack has you by the waist so your vantage point is already good. With your full might you grab him by the armpits, press your feet against his abdomen, and twist to the side to knock him off balance and send you both tumbling down. You always anticipate an attack from a wild animal, they're never done attacking until they're dead. That's why you're ready when he throws a rock just as he's landing, tricky bastard that he is. You've already leaped far back, expecting it and dodging in advance. *elseif (lore >= 1) [b][Lore Check Passed][/b] By the ancestors, you recognize this technique! You and Kosuke had tried this grapple on each other dozens of times when you first started cycling, and you know exactly how to break out! He has you just above the hips, so rather than try to slip out of his grip or loosen it, you grab his arms and pull yourself [i]down[/i], not up, moving your center of gravity so he can't swing you anymore. You come to nearly eye-level with him and shoot your leg between his as he runs, tripping you both. He kicks you as you're both falling but without any footing to ground his attack it only knocks you away, dealing superficial damage. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *else [b][Survival/Lore Check Failed][/b] Your knowledge of grappling moves and your experience wrestling down stronger opponents are both found lacking. Jack slams your body into the dirt so hard that you slide upside down for several feet. [b][Lost 3 Aura Pressure][/b] *set aurapressure - 3 *set jackfight + 1 #Jab your thumbs into Jack's eyes. *set ruthless + 1 *if ((deception >= 1) or (handseals >= 1)) *if (handseals >= 1) [b][Handseals Check Passed][/b] You practice handseals every single day, the stiffness of your finger joints is absolute. *elseif (deception >= 1) [b][Deception Check Passed][/b] It takes a complete bastard to go for the eyes in a fight, someone that doesn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second to do what's best for themselves. Thank the heavens you qualify for that description. Jack wraps his arms around your waist with a running leap and pulls you back to slam your skull into the ground, but you twist in midair to get a good vantage point. You place both hands on the side of his face, trace your thumbs over his eyes... And [i]push[/i]. Jack screams, having no hands free to stop you, and throws you away from himself instinctively. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 *else [b][Deception/Handeals Check Failed][/b] Flailing hands rub over Jack's face and he bites one, holding your fingers in place. You scream from the growing panic as he slams your body into the dirt so hard that you slide upside down for several feet. [b][Lost 3 Aura Pressure][/b] *set aurapressure - 3 *set jackfight + 1 #Cheat with whatever's in your pockets. *if ((craft >= 1) or (alchemy >= 1)) *if (alchemy >= 1) [b][Alchemy Check Passed][/b] Potions and poisons have always been a fascination of yours, but you've never needed the poisons. And you're not carrying any. But you [i]are[/i] carrying the vials you'd use for them. Glass vials. Just as Jack raises you up to slam your body into the ground, you rummage through your pockets and find a few small glass vials that you yank out and shove into his mouth, then punch his jaw. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 "AAAGGGHHH!" Screams Jack between coughs. He throws you airborne in a rage while broken glass shards embed in his gums. *elseif (craft >= 1) [b][Craft Check Pased][/b] People truly underestimate steel. Martial Artists constantly boast about having skin or fists as strong as steel, but a steel ingot weighs vastly more than a human hand. That's why you're glad you picked up supplies for a side project before your sparring with ${fightfren} and didn't get a chance to go home with them yet. As Jack lifts you into the air he may not even notice that you weigh 20 pounds extra. He's a strong opponent. But you [i]do[/i] weigh 20 pounds extra, because you have a steel ingot in your jacket's inner lining. You take it out and bash it into the top of his head. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 "AAAGGGHHH!" Screams Jack, throwing you airborne like a ragdoll. You spin so hard that the ingot flies out of your hand and lands somewhere in the garden, hidden amongst the herbs. Shit, that's worth 4 Shards! Jack pants while holding the growing lump on his head and stares you down with the rage of a charging bull. *else [b][Alchemy/Craft Check Failed][/b] You scream through the rush of being whipped through the air. This would be a fantastic time to pull out some sort of item you had just for the occasion. You really wish you had one. Yeah, you think to yourself as the ground comes to meet your face, that would have been awesome. [b][Lost 3 Aura Pressure][/b] *set aurapressure - 3 *set jackfight + 1 Jack slams you head-first into the dirt so hard that you slide upside down for several feet. You skid to a *if (jackfight >= 1) halt, bleeding, *else halt and pick up the other half of ${fightfren}'s gardening stake in a hurry. ${fightfren} slashes *if ((fightfren = "Jin") or ((fightfren = "Kosuke") and (bffheshe = "he"))) his *else her half at Jack's skinny friend nearby, who gets up and chases *if (kosukecombat = 0) *if (jincombat > 0) him *else her *else ${bffhimher} through the garden. That leaves you, two unconscious losers, and the pissed off heir to the Thunderfall Sect. *choice *if (jackfight = 0) #"Want some more?" "Want some more?" You taunt at Jack ten feet away. "You think you're hot shit?" growls Jack, "Keep talking like that and I'll do more than end your cultivation, I'll end your life!" "I'd like to see you try." Jack's mouth tightens and he shakes his head in quick succession, shaking to contain his anger, and failing. "YOU'RE DEAD!" With a berserker's scream he charges at you. *if (jackfight != 0) #"I'm not done yet!" "I'm not done yet!" You boast. "Good." Says Jack, "I'm not done toying with you yet." He flexes both arms and adopts a proper battle stance, then charges. You try to mimic his stance and the battle continues. #"You don't have to do this, Jack!" "You don't have to do this, Jack!" *set ruthless - 3 "Oh I don't have to do anything," Jack says, "I choose to do this. This town is mine, and if I say you end your cultivation, you fucking end it." He stomps the ground and a surprising amount of sand launches upward. "I'll show you what happens to people who don't listen to me!" Through the sand, he charges. #"I expected better from a Sect leader's son." "I expected better from a Sect leader's son." You say, completely serious. *if (jackfight >= 2) Jack snickers. "As if I care what some Laborer trash says. You've already proven you're not a threat. I've hardly broken a sweat while you look half dead." Your bleeding lips form a smug smile. "Only half? And you call yourself a Martial Artist?" "Oh very funny," Jack says, "Let's end this." You hold onto the garden stake and brace yourself. The real struggle is about to begin. *else "What the Hells did you just say?" Jack says, glaring. His fists tighten and he adopts a true battle stance. *fake_choice #Mock him with taunts. *set honor - 3 "I said you're a bitch, Jack. Your dad knows you're a bitch, and when I'm done with you, the whole town will know you're a bitch. Is that clear enough?" "It's clear." He says coldly, "Clear that you're fucking dead." Jack's eyes flicker with literal embers, just for a second, as some semblance of chi sparks within him. Not a full aura, but enough to be a concern. You take on your own battlestance and prepare for trouble. [b][You have enraged Jack, the fight will now be more difficult.][/b] *set jackdiff + 1 *selectable_if (jackfight = 0) #Mock him with the truth. [Requires 0 Injuries] *set honor + 3 "I said you're the son of a Sect Master and you're struggling against a self-taught ${background}. You even brought three friends and that wasn't enough. It's pathetic." "Shut the fuck up!" Jack shouts. "Why? I've proven you can't make me." [b][You have demoralized Jack, the fight will now be easier.][/b] *set jackdiff - 1 Jack acts like he's catching his breath but you can see hesitation across his face. It takes him a moment to collect his thoughts and walk towards you. He shakes his head violently for a moment and picks up into a run, and as he raises a fist and gets closer he lets out a battlecry to stir himself to action. #[Attack] *set ruthless + 1 Jibes are for fun, not for a fight. You steady your hold on the garden stake and charge at Jack to end this farce. #"GUARDS, INTRUDER IN THE VILLAGE GARDEN!" I shout for everyone to hear. "GUARDS!" You scream loud enough for half the village to hear, "INTRUDER IN THE VILLAGE GARDEN!" Crop thieves get 5 lashes. *set honor - 2 "Wh-" Jack blurbs hesitantly, suddenly looking around in panic, "Shut up you fool! Do you want the guards to interfere?!" "Yes!" You shout, "That's why I'm shouting!" "How can you be such a coward!?" Screams Jack, "This is between us! You have no honor!" "Between US? You brought three friends you dick!" He charges at you with what little opportunity he has left. *page_break The two of you clash outside the village gardens. His body is larger and stronger than yours, his hits land more painfully, and he's faster than you. You're on the backfoot as his assault turns your blocks into a retreat; each strike has enough force to knock you back several steps...but a true warrior comes prepared. That's why he's foolishly unarmed while you've got a hefty bit of wood in your hand. A laugh escapes your mouth at the absurdity of it all as you swing at him with your stake-club repeatedly until he responds with a punch at your face. *if (insight >= jackdiff) [b][Insight Check Passed][/b] Keen senses save you from a world of hurt. Throughout the skirmish you're able to predict the flow of the fight. When he swings a punch at your face, you catch it with the club using both hands on both ends and feel it snap in half to block the blow. Now you're holding two pieces of wood, each just big enough to hold in your fist and add some weight to your punches. [b][Aura Pressure +2][/b] *set aurapressure + 2 And it's your turn. *page_break "GAH!" Jack holds his hand in pain, long enough for you to swing at him with a heavy fist. The first clips him in the head but he reacts in time to knock your arm away before you can put any weight behind it. With your advantage gone, you look for a flaw in his guard and... *if (perception >= jackdiff) [b][Perception Check Passed][/b] Find it, as well as notice the fat martial artist crawling on the ground behind you, hoping to catch you unaware. With a quick leap you land on his jaw with all your weight and elicit a scream from him as his jawbone pops out of place. Jack tries to close the gap but he's too distracted by his friend's sudden scream. You kill two birds with one stone by spinning on your heel, digging into the fat martial artist's face even further and knocking Jack back with a surprise spin kick to his own jaw. He hits the ground, hard, with a baffled look on his face. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 *else [b][Perception Check Failed][/b] Fail to spot the fat martial artist crawling behind you on the ground. You don't notice until his hand is already around your ankle. You look down in shock at the interruption and don't even have time to look back before Jack clocks you with a brutal haymaker that breaks your nose open. [b][Lost 4 Aura Pressure][/b] *set aurapressure - 4 *set jackfight + 1 You hit the ground, hard, with a baffled look on your bloodied face. *else [b][Insight Check Failed][/b] You don't catch it in time, and his strike connects directly with your left eye. [b][Lost 3 Aura Pressure][/b] *set aurapressure - 3 *set jackfight + 1 *page_break As you falter to the ground Jack leaps on top of you, preparing an assault, but he fails to pin your arms with his knees. This is your last chance to turn the tide or you're in trouble. You reel back both fists, look for an opening in his guard, and- *if (perception >= jackdiff) [b][Perception Check Passed][/b] *line_break Strike! Jack's defense is solid but not solid enough. He's holding both forearms to guard his face and swings at you with one fist at a time. That's when you punch him right in the solar plexus, causing his defending arm to drop in defense, and that's when you strike his face that he just stopped defending. Your fist connects with his eye socket to the sound of a satisfying crunch and you know he'll have a black eye. So will you, but that's not the point. You strike again, hitting a kidney, then again, swinging for his ear. [b][Aura Pressure +3][/b] *set aurapressure + 3 Again and again you strike where he's not defending, and again and again he abandons another body part to defend the one you just struck. He's on full defense and that's when you shove him off, rolling to your feet and gasping to catch your breath. *else [b][Perception Check Failed][/b] Get the shit beaten out of you so hard that your ancestors feel it. [b][Lost 4 Aura Pressure][/b] *set aurapressure - 4 *set jackfight + 1 The next ten seconds are filled with thirty or more strikes to your arms, shoulders, ears, and face, *if (jackfight >= 3) *set beatjack1 4 until the sweet embrace of unconsciousness takes you away from it all. You wake up at home wrapped in tight bandages. Father and Mother notice you're awake and look so mad that they skip right over the part where they're concerned, jumping directly to the part where they yell at you for the next hour. *goto fighttalk *else until finally he tires out and you shove him off with every last ounce of your strength, rolling away and standing from the ground. You gasp to catch your breath and hear a worrying wheeze. A trail of blood follows you the whole way, leaking from your nose, mouth, busted cheek, and even your ears...but still you stand. *page_break *if (jackfight = 0) "Are you done?" You ask Jack from your standing position, looking down on him where he lay in the dirt. "Because if not we can end a cultivation tonight after all: yours." "You dare?" Jack whispers. "You...You peasant!" He tenses both fists and slams the ground hard enough that your feet shake. "YOU PEASANT!!" His fists spark with the violent dance of flames. That...shouldn't be possible yet. Neither of you have auras. "What's going on here?!" Shout a pair of guards. Their approach can be heard from around a pair of buildings by the rattling of splintmail. They both turn the corner and peer at you, then the martial artists on the ground, then Jack. "Looks like we have an unsanctioned spar on our hands." *if (jackfight = 0) The red glow dissipates from Jack's hands and he glares at you. "There's nothing to see here, guardsmen." "We'll be the judge of that!" One of them says. You can't tell if they can't see who Jack is or they just don't care. Hopefully the latter. *choice *selectable_if (jackfight < 2) #"Unsanctioned spar?! He tried to kill me!" "Unsanctioned spar?! He tried to kill me!" *set ruthless - 2 "Not the way I see it." says the first guard. "Typical cultivator aspirants, picking fights over who knows what." "A damned shame to see it happening on our streets." says the second guard. The first guard shakes his head and gets between you and Jack. *selectable_if (jackfight < 2) #"That's right, guards! Jack and his Warrior Caste friends performed an unsanctioned spar against $!{name} the Laborer, their rival. Make sure to write that rival part down." "That's right, guards!" You boast with pride. "Jack and his Warrior Caste friends performed an unsanctioned spar against $!{name} the Laborer, their rival. Make sure to write that rival part down." Jack eyes you with enraged furor, but it's too late. Witnesses have arrived. One of the guards withdraws a scroll and starts to scribble down notes as the other gets between you and Jack. *if (heshe = "she") *selectable_if (jackfight < 2) #"Sorry mister guardsman, it's just a lover's quarrel." *set ruthless - 1 *set jackromance + 1 "He's right mister guardsman, it's just a lover's quarrel." *if (jackfight = 1) You spit the blood out of your mouth and give your most convincing innocent smile. One guard looks to the other, neither seeing Jack's mouth drop open as he's caught completely off-guard. His wide shoulders lift and his eyebrows scrunch together in confusion so strongly that they almost touch. "Oh, well then that's different." The first guard clears his throat, looking from *if (jackfight = 1) your bruises to Jack's. *else your pristine condition to Jack's bloodied face. "Though back in my youth we were less...passionate. Make sure to keep it indoors next time." The second guard jots down notes, and you and Jack both realize he's recording the lover's quarrel between you. A mischievous grin spreads across your smug face. "That's not what happened!" Jack shouts out. "This was a battle! An honorable battle!" The second guard raises an eyebrow. "I should hope not, son, or else you *if (jackfight = 1) didn't do so well." *else took the worst of it by far." "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Jack screams, slamming a fist on the ground hard enough to send a cloud of dirt into the air. He stomps out through that cloud and grabs the guardsman by the collar, barking in his face. "Do you have any idea who you're speaking to? I AM-" *goto indeeppoopies *if (jackfight >= 2) #"Hnnrarf garbmn, gedmm." "Hnnrarf garbmn, gedmm." You mumble out, deliriously beaten with what is likely a broken jaw. One of the guards shakes his head and gets between you and Jack. "That's enough horsing around you two. If you want a proper duel you need to schedule it. Disturb the peace any longer and you'll have me to answer to." "You think I'm scared of you?" Jack says, "I'm-" *label indeeppoopies "In deep shit when I tell your father about this." Replies the guard. Jack pauses with his mouth half open, lower teeth showing as he thinks it through, then he spits at the guard and storms off. "Always pleasant, Sect heirs." The guard says while watching Jack pick up his friends and leave. He turns to you. *if (jackfight >= 2) *set beatjack1 3 "Are you alright kid? You look like shit." "Ihm fline." You say through two fattened lips, spitting blood with each word and flinching as you bite your tongue mid-sentence. *if (heshe = "she") Your usual tricks of using makeup to cover bruises might not work with this one. "Good enough for me. Tell that line to your parents and get off the streets." *elseif (jackfight >= 1) *set beatjack1 2 "Are you alright kid? It looks like you took a beating." "I'm fine." You say on reflex. "Good enough for me. Tell that line to your parents and get off the streets." *else *set beatjack1 1 "I'd ask if you're alright but you look plenty fine to me. Get home and don't make this a habit, I'm not dealing with politics or Sects any more than I have to." You head home with ${fightfren}, *if (fightfren = "Kosuke") laughing about making *else happy to make it out alive. Mother and Father panic at *if (jackfight >= 2) your *elseif (fightfren = "Jin") his *elseif (fightfren = "Rin") her *elseif (fightfren = "Kosuke") ${bffhisher} injuries when you get through the door. *label fighttalk Father gives you a heavy lecture about picking fights and how cultivation can only lead to more troubles like what you faced tonight. Mother is busy applying a poultice to ${fightfren}'s nose. When she's done she *if (fightfren = "Kosuke") sends ${bffhimher} home for the night, then spanks you worse than Jack ever did for getting your *if (fightfren = "Kosuke") friend *elseif (fightfren = "Jin") brother *elseif (fightfren = "Rin") sister in danger. This is bullshit, why do you always take the blame? Being the oldest kid in the house is the worst. It takes another hour of lecturing before you get to rest from such a long night, and only after promising your parents that you understand the dangers of cultivation. Technically you never said you'd stop. Just that you understood the dangers. Jack has thrown the gauntlet, and you're going to answer his challenge. You're driven to work even harder *if (jackfight > 0) after a week of recovery and spend the next year on another side job where you... *goto Next_careerchoice *label Next_potential *choice #Bladed Potential [Unlocks Akakiru Style, the Art of Blades] *set style "Akakiru" *line_break *if (sonarmode) [b][Akakiru Style][/b] *else *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/Akakiru2.png Akakiru practitioners are famous for their scarlet auras and legendary swordsmanship, but Akakiru can be used for any bladed or slashing weapon. Whether it's daggers, scythes, axes, spears, fangs, or claw gauntlets, all weapons with a point or edge can channel the specialty slicing-chi that Akakiru cultivates. While any Martial Artist can use a weapon, most treat them as disposable assets. A basic sword cannot channel the powers of chi and weapons made from Soul Treasures are stuck at the same Aura Pressure, eventually left behind or replaced as their wielder grows stronger. To get around these limits, Akakiru fighters train to cultivate an edge-attracted type of chi that allows them to empower basic weapons with the full might of their Aura Pressure. With even a dull iron blade Akakiru Martial Artists are capable of cutting through the strongest defenses and, with great mastery, can cut through enchantments such as rituals or possession. At the highest mastery Akakiru wielders can even cut through the fabrics of space, connecting two points with a portal for surprise attacks. #Cursed Potential [Unlocks Kurokonton Style, the Art of Ninjutsu] *set style "Kurokonton" *line_break *if (sonarmode) [b][Kurokonton Style][/b] *else *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/Kurokonton2.png The most feared of the styles, Kurokonton teaches its practitioners to excel as spies, infiltrators, assassins, and hexcasters. Rigourous training goes into the specialized combat style of ninjutsu, but it's their spiritual energy that allows the shinobi of Kurokonton to excel in their art. Their yin aura is hard to detect even when generating Techniques, for yin embodies entropy and absorption. Only when fighting at full power or willingly exposing their aura does a shinobi reveal their purple aura wreathed in the shadow of black fire. Moreso than simply stealth, ninjutsu, and speed-based combat training, the curse-ninjas of Kurokonton are famous for their special eyes. The Malocchio Eyes. By attuning their eyes to the power of Yin chi the curse-ninjas are able to absorb pieces of an enemy's aura simply by looking at them. This fraction of aura can be used as a catalyst to inflict instant curses on the victim, or to copy their Techniques for the shinobi to use. Older legends say it can be used to absorb the target's behaviors, appearance, and even memories. #Sacred Potential [Unlocks Aoyusumu Style, the Art of Minds] *set style "Aoyusumu" *line_break *if (sonarmode) [b][Aoyusumu Style][/b] *else *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/Aoyusumu2.png The practice of Aoyusumu imparts a calming cerulean aura on its robed fighters and is most attributed to the exorcist-monks of the Devanic Temple, vigilant in their crusade against Fiends and all things unnatural. Aoyusumu is a style of retribution, utilizing the powers of the mind to psionically steal an attacking opponent's kinetic force and use it against them. But that is just the surface. The further one walks the path of Aoyusumu, the more one advances their mental powers. Thought-reading, precognition, calming emotions, telekinesis, forcefields, all are powers that make up the Aoyusumu Martial Artists. And a Martial Art it remains; these abilities are not parlor tricks or rituals, they are fast acting Techniques woven into an exorcist-monk's elusive physical combat style. #Mystic Potential [Unlocks Kiihakai Style, the Art of Sorcery] *set style "Kiihakai" *line_break *if (sonarmode) [b][Kiihakai Style][/b] *else *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/Kiihakai2.png The practice of Kiihakai turns the user's aura into a potent blazing golden light and teaches how to tap into the infinite energy of yang chi, known by lesser minds as chi sorcery. Kiihakai sorcerers utilize their mystic secrets to create wonders and alter reality in subtle ways with their incantations. Many mystics practice the art of Kiihakai to scry their master's lands, bind spirits to a town's bidding, empower objects or places with runes, or change fate in subtle ways. But for all the magic in their arsenal, these sorcerers are still Martial Artists at their core. The Kiihakai Style's chi sorcery is useful, but easily crushed upon the pressure of strong auras in the field of battle when utilized alone. The true purpose of the Kiihakai Style is not to delve into mysticism but to discover, utilize, and combine all secrets of yang chi into optimizing the Martial Artist's energy blasts. The ideal Kiihakai martial artist is encased in an impenetrable shield of chi, striking with focused energy explosions at close range, and erupting entire enemy fortresses with unending long range energy beams bringing down the full fury of the sun. #Wild Potential [Unlocks Midorikatai Style, the Art of Beasts] *set style "Midorikatai" *line_break *if (sonarmode) [b][Midorikatai Style][/b] *else *image https://www.auraclash.com/assets/img/Midorikatai2.png The practice of Midorikatai abandons flashy effects to focus entirely on the physical hardness and strength of its wielder's body, exactly the same way that a Beast uses chi. Attuning to Midorikatai leads to a green aura and continued growth in both height and muscle, which you think explains Crusher Jack's late growth spurt towards his father's massive physique. While seeming basic to start, mastery of the Midorikatai Style is equally astonishing and devastating. The pure physical strength and durability above and beyond other Martial Artists allows the wielder to break empowered limbs, shatter the ground of battlefields, leap over entire villages, dig through stone walls with one's bare hands, and survive even a volcanic eruption. To walk the path of Cultivation is to improve one's body, mind, and soul beyond the mortal realm. Midorikatai practitioners spit upon that distractingly divided goal, knowing the only important aspect is the body. *disable_reuse *selectable_if (mortallimits = false) #Whatever my potential, I also possess the Jade Dragon Foundation. [Cheat Mode, Disables Achievements] The Jade Dragon Foundation is a legend among legends, said to embody the reincarnation of twelve ancient dragons who took human form. Those born with the Jade Dragon Foundation possess a perfected physical form and a direct spiritual connection to the Heavens. Usually only seen in the lost Royal Family of the Cathayan Empire, this perfected body and soul grants incredible power and unlimited potential to its wielder who will surely shape the world. [b][This choice will disable achievements, but allow you to gain unrivaled power that guarantees success in almost all rolls.][/b] [b][Several problems in the journey may not make sense at your level of power, it is not recommended for first time players.][/b] *choice #Yes, I possess the legendary Jade Dragon Foundation. *set jadedragonfoundation true Merely a handful of entities are known to possess the Jade Dragon Foundation at this time, each counting themselves as elites among elites. Legends and armies in their own right. Walking nations. Now a new legend has been revealed. *if (firstchapter = 2) Your legend. *else The Legend of $!{name}. [b][Aura Pressure +800][/b] *set aurapressure +800 *set allocatedap +800 *line_break [b][800 AP spent on +2 to all Combat Cores][/b] *set power + 2 *set fortitude + 2 *set agility + 2 *set soul + 2 *line_break [b][+2 to all Skills][/b] *set alchemy + 2 *set athletics + 2 *set craft + 2 *set deception + 2 *set handseals + 2 *set insight + 2 *Set lore + 2 *set perception + 2 *set persuasion + 2 *set stealth + 2 *set survival + 2 *set thievery + 2 Not only do you possess the legendary Jade Dragon Foundation that marks you as one of the mightiest natural creatures on the planet, comparable to early Upper Disciples despite being at your earliest stage, but you also possess a natural talent for one of the five chi types. *goto Next_potential #No, I climb to the Heavens on my own merit. The hundreds of Sects throughout Imperial Rasen all lean heavily on one of the five Martial Arts Styles, each formed from mastering a type of chi utilization. Though you possess no legendary Foundation to elevate you as a superior being, you do possess a minor potential in one of the five chi types. Namely your spirit possesses an affinity for... *goto Next_potential *disable_reuse *selectable_if (jadedragonfoundation = false) #Whatever my potential, I also suffer from this world's Mortal Limits. [Increased Difficulty] It's a tough reality that spiritual cultivation is not easy in Outer West. The natural aura of the Outer provinces is weaker than any of the Inner Kingdoms. With a poorer supply of ambient chi the plants and herbs aren't able to harness as much, the spirits are weaker, and the Beasts are weaker. With only weaker sources to harness, the Martial Artists of Outer West suffer the same limitations and find great difficulty surpassing what is known as the "Mortal Limit", a level of Aura Pressure difficult to push through. You're no exception to that rule. As you grow more powerful, you'll find it harder and harder to increase your Aura Pressure while in Outer West (Region's Mortal Limit: 800AP). [b][Any Aura Pressure gained after your region's Mortal Limit will be capped at 50% of the usual increase.][/b] *line_break [b][Any Aura Pressure gained beyond 150% of the Mortal Limit will be capped at 25% of the usual increase.][/b] *choice #Of course I suffer the Mortal Limits, doesn't everyone? [Experience Mortal Limits] *set mortallimits true *achieve mortalcombat Of course you suffer the Mortal Limits, you're a peasant from a backwoods mountain Sect. Worse, you're not even [i]from the Sect[/i], you just live near it. Still, you're not going to let that stop you. You may not have some legendary talent or destined birth but who cares? You have guts and, more importantly, you have fists. The Martial Arts aren't about talent they're about skill, otherwise Path Manuals wouldn't exist to teach them. You keep your mind focused on the next goal in life and the next opportunity, something you might be able to build off of with your minor talent in... *goto Next_potential #Limited chi? It doesn't feel that way to me. [Avoid Mortal Limits] Something about you rejects the Mortal Limits, soaking up chi like a sponge whenever you get the chance. Perhaps it's a fluke of your birth or perhaps it's from your desperate upbringing, hunting for chi all your life and simply wanting it more than your peers. Willpower is a strong component of cultivation, after all. Whatever the reason, you do [i]not[/i] suffer from the region's Mortal Limits. You are not the only one, but it is still a useful gift to have. Much like your natural potential in... *goto Next_potential Are you certain your latent potential rests with the ${style} Style? *choice #Yes, I'm certain my soul is attuned to the ${style} Style. *if (style = "Akakiru") *set powexp + 20 *set agiexp + 10 *if (background = "Blacksmith") [b][Special Event: Background & Style Synchronized][/b] Your ${background} Background has prepared you for the ${style} Style your entire life. Every sharpened object forged, from a meager nail to a sharpened blade, lead to a better understanding of weaponry and its purpose. Without ever realizing it, your connection to Bladed Chi had already begun to form. *set apval 15 *gosub_scene quicks apboost *page_break *elseif (style = "Aoyusumu") *set solexp + 10 *set forexp + 10 *set agiexp + 10 *set powexp + 10 *elseif (style = "Kiihakai") *set solexp + 20 *set powexp + 10 *if (background = "Herbalist") [b][Special Event: Background & Style Synchronized][/b] Your ${background} Background has prepared you for the ${style} Style your entire life. Herbalism and elixir refinement require precise control over the flow of chi and an intricate balance of measurement control and potency estimation. The Mystic Chi of the Kiihakai Style requires a highly academic approach of the Martial Arts that you've already been working towards without even knowing. *set apval 15 *gosub_scene quicks apboost *page_break *elseif (style = "Kurokonton") *set agiexp + 20 *set solexp + 10 *if ((background = "Merchant") and (handseals >= 1)) [b][Special Event: Background & Style Synchronized][/b] Your ${background} Background has prepared you for the ${style} Style through odd twists of fate. Every time you practiced the handseals in the scrolls found in Father's shop you were unknowingly studying Curse-style handseals and attuning your newly-developing spirit towards the Cursed Chi wielded by the ninjas of the Kurokonton Style. Luckily Father didn't know that, as he likely wouldn't have let you touch the scroll. *set apval 15 *gosub_scene quicks apboost *page_break *elseif (style = "Midorikatai") *set forexp + 20 *set agiexp + 10 *if (background = "Trapper") [b][Special Event: Background & Style Synchronized][/b] Your ${background} Background has prepared you for the ${style} Style your entire life. Every animal you killed, every night spent in the wilds, and every day that you pushed your developing body further on those long unforgiving hikes, it all slowly called on your spirit to grant physical growth directly like Beasts do. Without even knowing it, you've already taken your first steps towards attuning your spirit towards the Wild Chi of the Midorikatai Style. *set apval 15 *gosub_scene quicks apboost *page_break *else *bug #No, my spirit potential rests in a different Style. The ${style} Martial Art is not where your destiny lies. Instead you feel the currents of your spirit fill with chi attuned towards... *goto Next_potential *return