>>3118614
>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.
>A corrupt noble who had a grudge against your father.

I prefer fisting things rather than poking them with pointy bits

To save on massive amounts of exposition and just because it’s convenient, if you want to know anything about the setting ask me and I’ll tell you what the main character knows, although if they’re mistaken then you’ll be given inaccurate information. Also, this is way more Xuanhuan than Xianxia, but the difference between the two genres doesn’t matter too much and more people have heard of the latter than the former.

>>3118614
>A painting of your father and a painting of your mother, the only pieces of art left behind when your parents’ paintings were sold off after their death
>A corrupt noble who had a grudge against your father.

>>3118614
>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.
>A corrupt noble who had a grudge against your father.

>>3118614
>A painting of your father and a painting of your mother, the only pieces of art left behind when your parents’ paintings were sold off after their death.
>A corrupt noble who had a grudge against your father.
Let's be a warrior artist!

For the benefit of the readers, a glossary: https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/

>>3118614
>>A painting of your father and a painting of your mother, the only pieces of art left behind when your parents’ paintings were sold off after their death.
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.
I'd much rather have the character have a plotpoint that gives him reason to be grateful towards someone over one that gives him reason to be a typical xianxia/xuanhuan murderhobo

>>3118614
>>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.

>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.

>>3118677
>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.

I'm with being a painter but there are plenty of mystical plants and ingredients in settings like these that can usually boost our power. Having a herbalism background could allow us to pursue that route to power easier in the future.

>>3118690
I'd like to switch my choice of noble to
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.

Votes are pretty close, I'll leave them open for around another 30-60 minutes.
Currently at:
5 apothecary/physician
3 painter
and
5 passing savage beast
3 corrupt noble

Come on, anons! Defy the mainstream! Embrace the world of combat painting!

>>3118614
>A painting of your father and a painting of your mother, the only pieces of art left behind when your parents’ paintings were sold off after their death.
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.

>>3118614
>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.

Alright
>>3118618
>>3118664
>>3118681
>>3118685
>>3118690

>Some herbs and a mortar and pestle, what remain of your parents’ life as the village’s doctors and apothecaries.

and

>>3118677
>>3118681
>>3118685
>>3118690
>>3118698
>>3118729
>A passing savage beast which was slain by an elder from the nearest cultivator clan.
win, next post in a moment.
have won, next post in a moment.

You open the book again and notice a single line at the very start. It says “To whoever finds this, the remnants of my spiritual will has deemed you capable. Avenge me once you’re able. - She Zhu, 8-star Demon Slayer”. They’re probably the creator of this technique. You don’t know what a demon slayer is, and you’ve only actually heard of demons in fantastical stories, but the “8-star” title on the end indicates that he was more influential than anyone you’ve ever heard of. You’re not sure why you’d be chosen to take this book though. You…
>Will avenge him in time, he did give you this opportunity after all.
>Feel no need to put yourself in danger to help out someone who’s now a rotting corpse.

Looking through the book, you’re amazed by how complex and simple it seems to be at the same time. While you can’t understand the inner workings of the technique, it looks simple enough for you to practice with ease. Oddly enough, the book only has one section. It’s titled “Earthly and Heavenly Mortal Stages”. The rest of the pages are completely blank. You’re a bit disappointed, but oh well, you did find the book in a ruin. You can find another technique once you need it. The immediate problem is that cultivators are supposed to be physically strong to start with. Since you’ve spent all of your life studying, first under your parents to learn about herbs and illnesses, and now to pass the Imperial Exams, you’re rather weak.
This means you’ll have to spend more time than a physically fit person in the initial stages of training to be a cultivator, the Earthly Mortal and Heavenly Mortal stages. This will need time, and more importantly, good nutrition. While cultivators past these stages can use energy from the environment to help power their training, people in the Earthly Mortal and Heavenly Mortal stages need to gather energy from other sources such as food, herbs, or very basic pills.
You think about this, and realize that for now training is impractical. You may live in a village where no one starves, but you’re not sure you’d have enough money to supply your food needs while you begin cultivating. It’d be ridiculous to starve to death trying to become a cultivator. You could wait until you pass the Imperial Exams and then spend your salary mainly buying food, but that won’t be for another two months. You...
>Study for the Imperial Examinations. Once you’re a government official it won’t be a problem to buy lots of meat and some herbs.
>Sell most of your possessions and your hovel here and go to the town a couple days away. You can study better for the Imperial Examinations at the library there, and there’s no point in hedging your bets and keeping your home here. You’ll have to find a place to stay for a couple of months, but your parents had a friend there who may be able to help you out.
>Give up studying for the examinations and get a job doing manual labor. You’ll start making some money now and can start training immediately.
>Other

>Will avenge him in time, he did give you this opportunity after all.
>Study for the Imperial Examinations. Once you’re a government official it won’t be a problem to buy lots of meat and some herbs.

>>3118754
>Will avenge him in time, he did give you this opportunity after all.
>Abandon civilization your parents taught you how recognize edible food in wild. You can live from land and with little cultivation you shouldn't have trouble hunting

>>3118754
>>Will avenge him in time, he did give you this opportunity after all.
>Study for the Imperial Examinations. Once you’re a government official it won’t be a problem to buy lots of meat and some herbs.

>>3118754
>Will avenge him in time, he did give you this opportunity after all.
>Study for the Imperial Examinations. Once you’re a government official it won’t be a problem to buy lots of meat and some herbs.
Become Judge Zhu.

>>3118759
>>3118771
>>3118780
>>3118794
You decide to continue as you have been and study for the Imperial Examinations for the next seven weeks or so at your home. You've more or less memorized the few books you have from front to back, but learning how to apply that knowledge and where is a much harder task. Hopefully whatever is inside these is enough, as you're not exactly sure what's on the test.
One nice morning you wake up, a pack with your money, food for a few days, mortar and pestle, and herbs on your back. The Imperial Examinations will be beginning in about a week. By then you need to be at Lion's Ridge, a relatively small town that's the seat of the county magistrate. The testing place would normally be larger, but this particular part of the kingdom is a small county mostly based on agriculture. You...
>Begin walking along the relatively well-traveled path between Lion's Ridge and your village. The journey should be around two days at your speed.
>Buy a seat on a cart traveling to Lion's Ridge. It will cost money, but it will only take and a day and it will be marginally safer, although you're not particularly concerned about getting robbed or anything. [You spend 5 silver coins from a total of 12 gold coins. The conversion is the typical 10 bronze = 1 silver = .1 gold here.]

>>3118820
>Begin walking along the relatively well-traveled path between Lion's Ridge and your village. The journey should be around two days at your speed.

>Begin walking along the relatively well-traveled path between Lion's Ridge and your village. The journey should be around two days at your speed.

>>3118820
Walk. Build up those leg muscles.

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>3118829
>>3118840
>>3118843
You begin walking along the path to the town, admiring the beautiful scenery along the way. You've gone out here to collect herbs and just play before, but its been a while since you've been this far from the village. You used to visit Lion's Ridge with your parents as a child, but they always took you by cart. It seemed like they were a bit sickly as a child, although you've never thought to closely about it. Maybe that was why they took up the career they had.
After a day spent walking along the moderately traveled path's gentle foothills, gazing at the scenery and taking occasional breaks to eat, you...

>>3118862
...go to sleep for the night after collecting some wood and starting a fire, not having seen much of interest besides the scenery and a couple of extremely cheap herbs on the way to town.
The next morning you wake up bright and early, ready for another day of... well, mostly walking. You continue your march again, relieved that it hasn't rained or anything on your way there. It's also spring, so it wasn't particularly cold last night, but the fire was nice anyways.
Around 5 or 6 PM you reach the relatively small town. The buildings of wood, brick, and stone are arranged haphazardly, and well-groomed dirt roads extend through most of the town besides the center. Towards the center of the town is the library, the county magistrate's manor, the local officials lodging house, a small military outpost, and various other important buildings. The roads are paved with stone there and the richer members of the town such as merchants or people who are skilled in a trade live near there.
You're left wanting for a decent meal since your cooking skills are less than satisfactory and what you've been subsisting off of for a long time, but you could also head to the library to start studying. As for lodging, there's an herbalist here who used to be a friend of your parents', you may be able to stay with him until the examinations starts. You could also rent out a cheap room at an inn for around a silver a night. You...
>Go to a restaurant to have a good meal.
>Head to the library to continue studying.
>Go to an inn to book a room for your time in town. [-6 silver coins]
>Find your parents' friend and see if you can stay with him.
>Other

>Find your parents' friend and see if you can stay with him.

>>3118877
>Head to the library to continue studying.

>>3118877
Find your parents friend.

>>3118877
>Find your parents' friend and see if you can stay with him.

Hey if asian in-laws that I barely know can stay over at my place rent free every summer, then we can do the same.

>>3118881
>>3118887
>>3118889
You begin making your way to the workshop slash home of your parents' friend, using your hazy memories of the town to slowly find your way there. After about 15 minutes you're in front of a well-maintained, albeit small, building that's at the edges of the central area of town. A small sign that says "Apothecary" is nailed to the front of the building, along with a drawing of a pill.
You knock on the door and hear some shuffling around from inside before a gruff voice says "We're open, come on in." You push the door open and enter before looking around the place. There's a small area in front of the counter for customer's to consult the apothecary or get prescriptions for herbal mixtures filled, but most of the place is cordoned off by way of a counter with a small door in it. Behind the counter is a messy assortment of herbs, tools, boxes, and various books and slips of paper. At the counter is a large, stout man with a short beard and long, black hair wearing a robe over linen clothes.
The man looks you over for a moment before he mumbles to himself and approaches you. You stay silent as his face slowly begins to light up. After a bit he lets out a deep, boisterous laugh and loudly says "Little Zexian! It's really you! I haven't seen you in a couple of years, what are you in town for?" He doesn't mention your parents' deaths, but you're not sure if it's because he doesn't know or because he doesn't want to open up old wounds.
You explain the situation and ask if you can stay with him until after the exams are over. He merrily says "Sure, sure, stay with as long as you want Little Zexian! Your parents treated me well, it's the least I can do to pay them back. You can even help me out here if you fail, I can pay decently! Anyways, I was just about to eat, do you want to eat with me?" You reply...
>"Sure Uncle Zhang, I'm starved, I'd love a meal."
>"I'd like to gather some information after a meal outside, sorry about that Uncle Zhang. Let's eat together some other time." You recall that his cooking isn't any better than yours, and you do want to gather some info.
>"I'm not really hungry, I need to head to the library to study."
>Other

>"Sure Uncle Zhang, I'm starved, I'd love a meal."

>>3118914
>"Sure Uncle Zhang, I'm starved, I'd love a meal."

>>3118914
>"Sure Uncle Zhang, I'm starved, I'd love a meal."
What can uncle tell/teach us?

>>3118917
>>3118922
>>3118925
You eat a meal of meaty porridge and some greens with Uncle Zhang, staying relatively quiet while he continues telling various stories about collecting herbs and the townsfolk. Just as you're about finish eating, and while he's finishing a story about a customer who needed something that could give him some extra "vigor" at night, he cuts himself off for a moment. He says "I know you need to study, but would you mind looking over some of my new prescriptions for common problems tomorrow. Medicinal powders and the like. I used to have your parents do it when they visited, but, well, that's not an option now." You say...
>"I've only learned a bit from my parents, I'm not really qualified to help you out." It's the truth, and you didn't even get the impression that his parents were more skilled than him in the first place. Why he thinks you'd be able to find flaws in his recipes is odd.
>"Sure, it's the least I can do for your hospitality." You're not sure you're qualified for this, but you do need to repay him for the food and lodging.
>"I need to study until the exams are over, can it wait for a week or so?" This probably won't take that long, whether you can accomplish it or not, but you should get all the time you can to study before the Imperial Examinations.
>Other

>>3118925
To your knowledge Uncle Zhang is around the same skill level as your parents, so if you wanted he could tell you a bit about herbs and the various powders you can make out of them. Your parents were more accomplished physicians than him though, so you would know more about actual diseases, while he just knows how to make some powders to fix them. You could also ask him about local going-ons since he lives here and is a bit of a gossip.

>>3118947
>"I've only learned a bit from my parents, I'm not really qualified to help you out." It's the truth, and you didn't even get the impression that his parents were more skilled than him in the first place. Why he thinks you'd be able to find flaws in his recipes is odd.
Ask him to teach you what he can.

>>3118947
>"I've only learned a bit from my parents, I'm not really qualified to help you out." It's the truth, and you didn't even get the impression that his parents were more skilled than him in the first place. Why he thinks you'd be able to find flaws in his recipes is odd.

>>3118947
>"I've only learned a bit from my parents, I'm not really qualified to help you out." It's the truth, and you didn't even get the impression that his parents were more skilled than him in the first place. Why he thinks you'd be able to find flaws in his recipes is odd.

>>3118958
>>3118969
>>3118977
You turn Uncle Zhang down as humbly as he can, and he seems a bit disappointed, saying "Well, I suppose it was a bit hopeful for me to assume that you were as skilled as your parents." After that you ask if he could teach you a bit about herbs, and he cheerfully says "Well, sure, I don't have much to do tonight. We can start right now."
Uncle Zhang starts talking about various herbs, their properties, and how to tell the difference between them. After about five minutes you've come to the clear realization that you already know everything he has mentioned up to now. You can also tell that there are some errors in his lecture, such as the method of telling apart the Bluemoon Grass and the Whipthorn Grass, as well as some of their properties. Is this some sort of test? He couldn't be less knowledgeable than you, could he? You...
>Let him go on, this is odd, but you'll see the point eventually.
>Tell him politely that you know all of this already and that if he's testing you it's fine and he can move onto harder content.
>Correct his mistakes, he's probably waiting for it anyways.
>Other

>>3118989
>Tell him politely that you know all of this already and that if he's testing you it's fine and he can move onto harder content.

>"After thinking for a bit, I've changed my mind. I can probably help you with what I know."

>>3118989
>Other
Oh uncle, my parents told me such and such about his and that. This is somewhat confusing for me.

Be indirect and refer to our parents.

>>3119005
and explain what and why they told us in the past.

>>3119003
I will change my vote to that

>>3119003
>>3119014
You wait until there's a lull in his lecture and interrupt him and say "After thinking for a bit, I've changed my mind. I can probably help you with what I know." Uncle Zhang seems a bit confused, but goes "Alright then, I'll sort out which recipes I'd like you to look at and you can check them in the morning. Don't be discouraged if you can't find any flaws, a licensed Apprentice Apothecary from the guild taught me for a few months back in the day. I may not be able to pass that test myself, but for a local apothecary I'm pretty good." Uncle Zhang then goes off to prepare the recipes for tomorrow. You spend the night...
>Studying at the local library.
>Looking through the storage of Uncle Zhang's shop and see what herbs he has on hand. You can probably base your recipes off of that, although you don't think most of the herbs you know are that uncommon.
>Seeing if there's anything currently going on in town. Maybe you can find something going on at a tavern. It's good to unwind before something major.
>Other

>>3119030
>Looking through the storage of Uncle Zhang's shop and see what herbs he has on hand. You can probably base your recipes off of that, although you don't think most of the herbs you know are that uncommon.

>>3119030
>Looking through the storage of Uncle Zhang's shop and see what herbs he has on hand. You can probably base your recipes off of that, although you don't think most of the herbs you know are that uncommon.

>>3119033
>>3119035
You decide to start looking through the storage of Uncle Zhang's shop for the night in order to prepare for tomorrow morning. The only problem is that this place is far messier than you expected. In fact, you're not exactly sure how he managed to get it this disorganized. It's almost like he was purposely trying.
You spend your night moving around boxes, sorting herbs and documents, and arranging tools. Eventually you find a small book that records the current stock of herbs and what needs to be stocked up on. You feel slightly defeated by the whole endeavor, but at least you found what you were looking for. Uncle Zhang thanks you for the help too, apologizing for the mess.
You wake up in the morning and a decent breakfast before Uncle Zhang shows you a small notebook of around 20 recipes for medicinal powers, all to cure common ailments such as the cold, headaches, a lack of "vigor", and so on and so forth. You have a good grasp of what Uncle Zhang has on hand (although it seems a bit limited), and are ready to work on this recipes for him. Taking a glance at the first few, you see that there are quite a few places you can improve on, although it will take some thinking to do so, and you'll have to reference the book of ingredients quite a bit. You think you'll be done by around lunchtime. You...
>Lean towards optimizing the price of the recipes.
>Lean towards optimizing the efficiency of the recipes.
>Make versions for both price and efficiency, although it will probably take you until 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
>Other

>>3119055
>>Lean towards optimizing the price of the recipes.

>>3119060
You spend your morning altering Uncle Zhang's recipes for medicinal powders based on which herbs are cost-effective. You're constantly referencing the little book of ingredients next to you, since you don't actually know the price of herbs off hand, but you get done by lunchtime.
After a modest lunch, Uncle Zhang takes the book of revised recipes and says that he'll look over it in a little bit. You...
>Ask him to tell you about local going-ons in the town.
>Leave him be and go to the library to study.
>Other

>>3119080
>Leave him be and go to the library to study.
We do have exams soon.

>>3119080
>Leave him be and go to the library to study.
We can gossip over dinner

>>3119108
>>3119121
You make your way to the library, which is a relatively large building made out of stone, and which clearly has better craftsmanship than most of the other buildings in the town besides the county magistrate's home. You open the large, wooden doors and peek inside. The library is a single floor building with a relatively wide floor space. There are various wooden tables surrounded by chairs, and you can see about 30-40 people sitting at them, looking over books and quietly talking. Most of them are split into a few large groups, but some of them are reading by themselves. Their ages vary from people as young, or maybe even slightly younger, than yourself, all the way up to people in their 40s.
After looking around you spot a bespectacled old man behind a counter and approach him. You get ready to pay the marginal entrance fee for using the library, but before you can he asks you if you're planning to take the Imperial Examinations. You confirm that yes, you are planning to take the exams, and the elderly man smiles and says "Feel free to look at whatever you wish until the examinations begin then, in the week leading up to them the library is reserved for test takers and government officials." You thank him for the help and begin walking around the library.
You look through the many bookshelves, scrolls and books of various sorts filling them. Most of the writings only cover general knowledge, geography, history, and those sorts of things, but it's still amazing. You've never seen this many books in person before- you simply knew that a library was a place where many books were kept, far more than your parents had in the home. If you had only known about this place earlier.
After further examining the place, you take a look at the crowd of scholars. About 10 of them are studying by themselves, while the remaining 30ish are in various groups. The groups seem to be roughly divided based on their way of dress. A group of around 15 people seem to be dressed humbly, much like yourself, while another 10 are in clothes that the child of a merchant or more well-off person might wear. The remaining 5 or so are dressed in fine clothes, like one of the more important sons of a major merchant in the county, or possibly the offspring of a minor government official. You...
>Study by yourself. You might gain from exchanging knowledge with these people, but it's better to just focus for now.
>Join the group of humbly dressed people. You may fit in with them best, and while they look humble it's said that hidden dragons and crouching tigers can be found anywhere. It's best not to underestimate them.
>Join the group of decently dressed people. It won't be too much of a stretch to fit in with them, especially not if you can show off your strengths while talking with them.
>Join the group of well-dressed people. They're the most likely to pass the examinations, so there's no reason not to. They shouldn't turn you away immediately, right?
>Other

I thought we're gonna be a loose cultivator looking for a sect to enter. Since we aren't from a lineage of any prominent clans, cultivating to immortal emperor will be a hard road. Heck I would be surprised if we hit nascent or self severing rank.

>>3119131
>Join the group of humbly dressed people. You may fit in with them best, and while they look humble it's said that hidden dragons and crouching tigers can be found anywhere. It's best not to underestimate them.

>>3119131
>Join the group of decently dressed people. It won't be too much of a stretch to fit in with them, especially not if you can show off your strengths while talking with them.

>>3119131
>>Join the group of humbly dressed people. You may fit in with them best, and while they look humble it's said that hidden dragons and crouching tigers can be found anywhere. It's best not to underestimate them.

>>3119131
>Join the group of humbly dressed people. You may fit in with them best, and while they look humble it's said that hidden dragons and crouching tigers can be found anywhere. It's best not to underestimate them.

>>3119131
>>Join the group of humbly dressed people. You may fit in with them best, and while they look humble it's said that hidden dragons and crouching tigers can be found anywhere. It's best not to underestimate them.

>>3119160
>>3119203
>>3119352
>>3119356
You grab a few books off of the shelves and then approach the group of more humbly dressed people, preparing to exchange knowledge with them. When you sit down the group greets you amiably enough, and you're asked how old you are and whether it's your first time taking the exams and so on and so forth. After a minute you figure out that group seems to be orbiting around one man in his early 20s. Apparently he's taking the exam for the 3rd time and might pass this year. Everyone also thinks he's very well-cultured since he knows a bit of poetry and the shamisen. He introduces himself as Wang Xuan.
You hunker down and begin studying while intermittently exchanging thoughts about passages with the people around you. Apparently your interpretations of the books' passages and ability to apply the basic knowledge very well instead of just memorize it impresses most of the group. You don't really know some of the more obscure things because you didn't own the books about them, but you can study up now. You get some polite praise from a few people who tell you that you may even pass the exam this year or the next.
As the day marches on the sun begins to set, and many of the scholars leave to have a break for dinner. The library is open 24 hours a day until the examinations, so some of them are more or less living in here. As you're about to go back and eat with Uncle Zhang, Wang Xuan from earlier approaches you. He says in a polite, cheerful tone "Hey, Little Brother Zhu, I'm going to head to dinner with Elder Brother Fang, would you like to join us?" The Elder Brother Fang he's referring to appears to be one of the more knowledgeable people from the group you were with, aged 35. You...
>Decline, telling them that you have someone you're staying with in town and that you're supposed to be eating with them.
>Accept, there's no harm in it and they seem to be the most knowledgeable among the group from earlier, you could gain from it. If Wang Xuan passes, you could even have another official as a friend.
>Decline, telling them that you have someone you're staying with in town and that you're supposed to be eating with them, but that you'd like to have a meal tomorrow.
>Other

>>3119646
>Decline, telling them that you have someone you're staying with in town and that you're supposed to be eating with them, but that you'd like to have a meal tomorrow.

>>3119650
You decline their invitation to a meal but tell them that you'd be happy to eat with them tomorrow. Wang Xuan smiles at you before saying "Alright then, we can get together tomorrow."
You make your way back to Uncle Zhang's house, eager to eat before the food gets cold. There you see Uncle Zhang with a very confusing expression on his face. It looks like he's seen something unbelievable. You ask him what exactly he's doing before he turns to you, having just noticed you.
He mutters "This...how...uh...how do Green Interlaced Flower and finely ground Orange Ginseng react when placed in a medicinal powder together." You recognize the combination of ingredients from one of the recipes you made for him, but are still slightly confused. You answer him, telling that finely ground Orange Ginseng root helps bring out the properties of Green Interlaced Flower to suppress a fever, and it allows you to stop using the more expensive Red Wilkin Flower for the same purpose. The effectiveness should also be raised slightly.
Uncle Zhang is looking at you, now with his eyes widened, and says "I've read through these recipes, and I half to say, I don't understand the logic of half of them even though they're all pretty common ingredients. The ones I do understand, however, are amazing. The amount of profit I'll be able to make with these, even if I lowered the prices... it's nothing to sneeze at. I feel like I should be paying this for you, so here." Uncle Zhang then walks up to you and hands you a sack of money that feels heavier than you expected. Looking inside you see around 30 gold coins, which isn't a small sum for you or Uncle Zhang. Uncle Zhang then says "If you don't need to spend it on anything, I'd save up for the Apprentice Apothecary examination. I heard it had a fee of around 100 gold coins, and as far as I can tell you're qualified." You do need the money, but can you really take it from him? You don't feel like you've really done that much.
Anyways, how could you be comparable to an Apprentice Apothecary in knowledge of herbs and medicinal powders? Wouldn't that make your parents people on the level of licensed apothecaries?! From what you know the number of licensed 1-star apothecaries in Zhaotian Kingdom can be counted on your hands. You...
>Try to decline the money, you don't deserve this.
>Take the money, you do need the gift and you'll have a lot of expenses coming up. He wouldn't give it to you if he couldn't afford it.
>Slip 10 gold pieces back into Uncle Zhang's things later. Even if you should be paid, it isn't this much.
>Other

>>3119693
>Take the money, you do need the gift and you'll have a lot of expenses coming up. He wouldn't give it to you if he couldn't afford it.

>>3119693
>Try to decline the money, you don't deserve this.
>Slip 10 gold pieces back into Uncle Zhang's things later. Even if you should be paid, it isn't this much.
I've seen this before, is the bag red by any chance?

>>3119693
Can we do a combo of
>Try to decline the money, you don't deserve this.
+
>Take the money, you do need the gift and you'll have a lot of expenses coming up. He wouldn't give it to you if he couldn't afford it.

>>3119999
Declining the gift and then accepting if he refuses? Yeah, that's fine. Was just waiting for a tiebreaker, but I'll write the update in a bit if there isn't one using the power of rng.

>>3120011
Well what happens is sometimes you need to put up a face of refusing but reluctantly accepting after much fussing and refusal.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3120032
As is polite depending on the situation, aye.
RNG away.

>>3119999
You decline the money for a bit but after a short back in forth you put it in with the rest of your things. That'll be very useful considering you're low on money. A dinner follows in which Uncle Zhang barrages you with various questions over herbology and medicinal powders. You manage to escape after his questions start dying down and make your way to the library again.
You study through most of the night, talking to Wang Xuan quite a bit. He helps you with some things that you wouldn't have thought were on the exam, and you show him some of the ways more basic concepts can be applied. You're both gaining from the exchange, although he may be getting the better end of the deal. Not that you mind, ideally you'll both pass. He seems like a good guy at the very least.
Late in the night you head back to Uncle Zhang's place and sleep. The next morning you head back to the library, joining the same group as yesterday. As people trickle in you notice that the crowd has grown slightly, and now there are around 45 people. You ask Wang Xuan and he says that there around 50 to 60 examinees at the county examinations every year.
Eventually lunch comes by, and you go to a restaurant that would've sworn was just a home if Wang Xuan and his friend hadn't shown you here. The three of you take a seat in the corner and order a decent meal. Shortly after ordering and a bit of small talk Wang Xuan turns to you and says "So, we should chat something besides what's on the Imperial Examinations for a bit or our minds will go numb. I know a bit about poetry and playing the shamisen, and Elder Brother Fang here used to be an accountant. You're pretty young Little Brother Zhu, but do you have any other skills? Maybe an agricultural background, many of us poorer examinees were originally farmers after all." You respond by...
>Telling him that your parents used to be apothecaries and physicians for you village, and you've a bit from them.
>Holding back the information, your parents seem to have known far more than you thought previously and you're still trying to figure out how that could be.
>Other

>>3120078
>Other
My family ran a shop selling herbs that we collected in the wild.

>>3120011
If your waiting for a tiebreaker it might be good to mention it since some anons will just wait around forever, days even before someone comes along and posts.

>>3120078
>>3120093
>My family ran a shop selling herbs that we collected in the wild.

>>3120093
+1

>>3120093
+1

>>3120093
>>3120164
>>3120185
>>3120187
You lie slightly, telling the two that your parents used to run a shop selling herbs that you collected in the wild. You're not sure if they had some sort of background before you were born that they were hiding, so it seems like the best option for now. Wang Xuan says "Ah, herbology! That's a rather complex field, you're quite the talent for being one of us. As for me, I grew up in a small village as well, but my mother used to be one of the lesser daughters of a well-to-do family. She was taught poetry and how to play the shamisen back then, and at some point she ran away to marry my father. She then taught me how to read and everything else she knew as a child, while my father took care of the farm. Now I'd just like to pass the exams and send some money back to them."
You chat for a while about your childhoods, and the weather, and all sorts of mundane things. Apparently Fang Wei works as the accountant for his village's general store. His father has already passed on and he'd like to earn some more money as an official to support his widowed mother.
Towards the end of the conversation, Wang Xuan looks around, like he's checking to see if anyone is listening in, before putting a hand each on you and Fang Wei's shoulders. He then leans in and quietly says "Also, I know a bit of martial arts. Ten months ago, a wandering master visited our village and showed me some advanced physical exercises and a few fist techniques. If any of those fancy, richer examinees messes with you guys, you can come to me." You're surprised, Wang Xuan seems to be pretty capable. You're also surprised that he told you this if he's trying to keep it secret, but you suppose he thinks you and Fang Wei are the only other capable people among the poorer examinees. A massive smile comes over Fang Wei's face as he whispers "Hah hah, my Little Brother Wang, you're truly a dragon among men! Those merchant's sons will have to look up to you soon!"
You haven't noticed any conflict between the poorer examinees and the more well-off ones, but you do notice a general disdain, so you wonder if this conflict is something that originated from previous years. Most of the examinees have taken the test multiple times, so it would make sense. You...
>Ask the other poor examinees if anything happened in previous years.
>Ask the librarian if there was a conflict in the past few exams.
>Approach the most well-off group and try to exchange knowledge with them for a bit. The only way to tell if there is something more than a bit of jealously among your peers and a superiority complex among the rich is to check it out firsthand.
>Keep studying normally, you don't need to care about this.
>Other

>>3120219
>>Ask the librarian if there was a conflict in the past few exams.

>>3120219
>Ask the librarian if there was a conflict in the past few exams.

>>3120235
>>3120254
You ask the librarian whether there was a conflict during one of the past exams and he says "Oh? Well, I suppose it's not odd of you to ask. Yes, there was, I believe it was three years ago when it started. This county's magistrate is friends with the one who's in charge of the next county over, as they used to work together as scribes in their younger years. The two decided to have their second-born sons go to each other's county as a bit of a countermeasure against favoritism and to see a bit more of the world. The second son of the neighboring county's magistrate passed on his first try, but while doing so he had antagonized more or less all of the poorer participants. He mocked them relentlessly, calling them bumpkins and so forth, and at one point forced them out of the library as part of a bet. I would have done something, but I'm merely a retired government official, I don't want to get fired."
The librarian explains about how this incident led to the attitude continuing the next year, although the appearance of Wang Xuan and a bit of intervention from the librarian was able to settle it down to the point where nobody was willing to cause massive incidents in public. Well, you guess you know why the rest of the poor examinees respect him so much, it seemed slightly odd for them to care so much just because he was well-learned.
You go back to studying for the rest of the day, and until the day before the exam nothing major seems to come up. When you arrive to the library that morning, however, you see that several groups of people are standing out front. The same group of six well-dressed youths and the people you've been studying with are out front. You see Wang Xuan and Fang Wei at the front facing someone who's maybe 20 years old. Wang Xuan yells "You bastards! Are you shameless?! You were the only ones who could've taken my mother's shamisen from my inn room and then left the broken remnants by the library steps for me to see!" You see Wang Xuan slowly approaching the youth in front, looking like he's about to punch him. You...
>Try to stop him, you're not sure what the punishment is for attacking other examinee, but it can't be good.
>Closely examine the faces of everyone and see if you can tell who did this. [1d100]
>Prepare to join in, you haven't know him for long but you don't enjoy being mocked.
>Propose a bet of some sort. Maybe it could be based off of how many people from each group pass the exam, or maybe off of some sort of competition of knowledge. [State what]
>Other

>>3120286
>Closely examine the faces of everyone and see if you can tell who did this. [1d100]

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>3120302
When I put dice after the options then the players can roll, my bad, should've pointed that out. I generally just roll myself for random encounters and such.

>>3120342
You take a close look at everyone there and you can tell that all of the people you've been studying with are rather angry and indignant, particularly Wang Xuan and Fang Wei. The people they're facing all seem to have a smug look on their faces. You can't really pinpoint much from this, but the situation seems about what you expected. At this point Wang Xuan is nearly in the other youth's face. You...
>Try to stop him, you're not sure what the punishment is for attacking other examinee, but it can't be good.
>Prepare to join in, you haven't known him for long but you don't enjoy being mocked.
>Propose a bet of some sort. Maybe it could be based off of how many people from each group pass the exam, or maybe off of some sort of competition of knowledge. [State what]
>Other

>>3120348
>Try to stop him, you're not sure what the punishment is for attacking other examinee, but it can't be good.
Get him away from them for now. We can help get revenge without us getting in trouble.

Got an idea to find out who the guy who took it is responsible.

>>3120403
You quickly approach Wang Xuan and try to stop him. The boy he's staring at stays silent, almost like he's waiting to be hit. You say "Elder Brother Wang, it's not worth punching him. You can get back at them best just by passing the exam." as Wang Xuan seems to calm down a bit you see Fang Wei whisper something about martial arts to Wang Xuan. You then hear Wang Xuan quietly say "Ah, you're right!" as an evil sort of smile spreads over his face. God, Fang Wei is an idiot, why did he have to rile Wang Xuan up again. You...
>Suggest another solution to the problem to everyone. [State what]
>Try to grab Wang Xuan and pull him back. You're not that strong, but maybe he'll listen if you try to pull him back.
>Remind him that if he hits him he may not be able to become an official.
>Other

>>3120472
>Other
Wisper into his ear, we will swap out their clothes at night and replace them with rags!

Also tell him we will help him find who is responsible, we have an idea.

>>3120558
You grab Wang Xuan's shoulder to stop him before leaning in and whispering "Elder Brother Wang, we can just swap out their clothes at night for rags to get back at them, right? Besides, I have an idea to find out who's responsible." He stops for a moment before he says "Alright, I got it." and backing off. Fang Wei quietly says "Are we just going to let them mess with us like this?" before Wang Xuan replies "Don't worry, we can deal with this in another way."
A short while passes before you, Wang Xuan, and Fang Wei are alone. Wang Xuan then says "Alright, what was your idea?" You...
>Propose some sort of idea [state what]
>Tell him that you need Fang Wei to leave before you tell him. It might be disrespectful, but best to stay cautious and then propose an idea. [Say what]
>Other

>>3120631
>Tell him that you need Fang Wei to leave before you tell him. It might be disrespectful, but best to stay cautious and then propose an idea.
Let us go speak to the inn keeper and ask who he may have seen coming or going into the inn, anyone carrying the shamisen away. and maybe the neighbors if they tried climbing the window.

Offer to bribe the people in the inn with a drink to loosen their lips.

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>3120705
You tell Wang Xuan that you need Elder Brother Fang to leave before you can tell him your idea. He hesitates for a moment before saying "Elder Brother Fang, go back to studying, if none of us are there they won't be able to study as effectively. Sure, none of them will pass this year, but it's not often they get to use the library for this long. It could help them in the future." Fang Wei seems slightly annoyed, as if he understands the meaning behind this, but goes "Alright, tell me if you need my help." before disappearing around the corner.
You suggest to Wang Xuan that you just properly investigate the incident and ask the innkeeper and he thinks for a moment before saying "Well, I did want to study, but dealing with this will take time either way. Sure, let's go."
Wang Xuan asks the innkeeper who went in and out of the inn last night, and the old man at the counter describes quite a few people, but only ten of them are scholars taking the examinations, including Wang Xuan. Besides Wang Xuan there are five of the poorer students, Fang Wei, and three students from the group who seemed to be better-off than you, but who weren't in fine clothes. Apparently all of them were staying here except one of the more decently dressed examinees, who was here to chat with their friends and down a drink.
You talk to the neighbors and they tell you that they didn't see anybody lurking outside the inn last night. Wang Xuan's room is on the first floor so someone could've entered through the window, but if they did there was no trace left behind. Whoever did it either got the key to the room, or was able to enter and exit through the window without leaving a trace. This would be pretty plausible the child of a major merchant, as they or someone serving their house might be cultivators of the very lowest level. They could have also hired someone who was adept at hiding their traces, or bribed the inn-keeper.
You ask Wang Xuan when the shamisen was destroyed and he seems embarrassed before he says "Er, well I was sleeping. I'm a relatively heavy sleeper and they must have taken it out of my room then." Now you...
>Continue your investigation [State how]
>Go back to studying, there's not much else we can find out for now.
>Other

I'll be calling it quits for the night, I'll resume sometime tomorrow afternoon. My twitter is here https://twitter.com/QmWalrus and I'll post a bit before I resume running.

>>3120791
>Continue your investigation [State how]
Well we can narrow it down to the comings and goings of people at night time, and people who were at the inn at night....

Was the window closed? We can ask the Librarian when the shamisen was found there.

Also ask him about previous conflicts with other people that are currently here.

>>3120791
Thanks for running, Can you give an rough time when you will be back?

>>3120810
The window of the inn room was closed both when he went to sleep and when we woke up, but there isn't any sort of lock on it so it could be opened from the outside.
As for previous conflicts, there have been various minor conflicts with the richer examinees as a whole, but in particular there's a "Young Master Bai" who's the son of a prominent merchant in the area and the brother of an official in the next county over. They've been getting into various arguments and minor incidents in the past two years. There's also a butcher he accidentally annoyed the other day, but he's pretty sure that's unrelated.
I'll leave the last question for tomorrow because I'm just dealing with stuff you can ask Wang Xuan immediately before I close this tab.

>>3120812
I'll probably be running in roughly 12-15 hours depending on when I wake up.

>>3120828
Alright thanks!

it's a good quest QM. pity not much audience

I don't think we have very many clues, but maybe our herbalist background can help—lunar caustic is a common and cheap alchemical ingredient which is nowadays known as silver nitrate. its uses include finding fingerprints left on wood and paper. spread as a powder, it blackens oils left behind from skin. (it also destroys warts)
if QM okays it, Zexian could take fingerprints off of the fragments of the shamisen. after that, the main task is taking fingerprints of suspects without their knowing. this can be done by nabbing library books that we see them using after they're done, which can just be disguised as exam jealousy or something. studying what they study, "since they're better off they must have a better idea of what to study, right?" is our excuse.

also why did Wang Xuan think that that group is the only possibility? kind of weird

>>3121444
I'm fine with that, but from what I can dig up quickly it seems to be in this weird space where an apothecary specifically devoted to the interactions between various plants wouldn't know where it is, but an alchemist would. Zhu Zexian has never heard of anything like an alchemist, so at the very least the occupation probably doesn't exist in any of the surrounding kingdoms. I was trying to find if it was refined from a plant, but couldn't figure it out. Either way I could probably do a 1d100 general knowledge check, although if there's some sort of common plant that can achieve the same effect (assumedly after some sort of refinement) I'll just say he knows about it. If there isn't in real life, then you can try a knowledge check and see if there are any fictional ones with that property.
As for Wang Xuan assuming that it was that group, they dislike him, he dislikes them, and they've gotten into various disagreements for the past few years. You could ask him yourself, but he'd probably just tell you that and ask who else could have done it. It's not like he angered anyone else who would want to break his shamisen.
Real update will still be a couple of hours, not feeling too hot right now, partially because I almost choked to death earlier. on water Also, thanks for the compliment.

File: file.png (181 KB, 1339x1013)

181 KB PNG

>>3121467
Also, for the sake of convenience, I've cropped out part of the map containing the nearest kingdoms. I'm not going to label all of them because it's a bit cluttery and not relevant yet, but if you want the name to one of them then feel free to ask. And as you can tell by the map, yes, Zhaotian Kingdom's national power is significantly below that of the surrounding countries. Also, the weird borders are because you don't know what's outside of them, not due to some magical fog. Anyways, see you in about two hours.
There's more than just grassland but I'm bad at this and can't change the color properly without making it look terrible. Just imagine there are mountains marked and some more barren zones and stuff, it won't hurt.

>>3120810
>>3121467
You make your way back to the library in order to ask the librarian when the shamisen's broken pieces were placed outside the library. As you make your way there Wang Xuan seems to come to a realization and says "I just thought of something, we should ask Fang Wei if he lost the key to my room." You look at Elder Brother Wang, confused and slightly angry that they didn't mention this before when you've both been walking around trying to figure this out. You just say "Why is there another key to your inn room?" before Wang Xuan explains that the inn has relatively large rooms, and whole families usually stay there during the rest of the year. Because of this the innkeeper gives two keys to everybody who checks in, so Wang Xuan and Fang Wei exchanged spare keys.
After you arrive at the library, you check to see if Fang Wei still has their key to the room or if he left it sitting out at some point. Fang Wei confirms that he's had it with him all night, and neither of you see a reason why somebody would try to get the key from him, especially when they shouldn't know that he has it.
After this you check with the librarian, and he simply tells you that the pieces of the shamisen were left broken, outside the library, when he first arrived at 5 AM. The library is technically open all night, but nobody, including the librarian, was there until then. You're not sure if he's allowed to leave during the middle of the night or if he just wants to be able to sleep at home, but you don't bother to ask.
As you're trying to think of a way to solve this, the concept of fingerprints comes to mind and you try to remember if you know any way to reveal them on the broken fragments of the shamisen...
>Roll a 1d100 general knowledge check, DC 50.
Now you...
>Continue your investigation [State how]
>Go back to studying, there's not much else we can find out for now.
>Other

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>3121569

>>3121597
You sit down and begin to think for a moment regarding your fingerprints idea from earlier, and after a few minutes you remember a plant, Smiling Woodpecker Grass, that when ground and combined with a few common ingredients, can be used to check for fingerprints.
You quickly head back to Uncle Zhang's workshop before asking if you can borrow the materials to make some of the solution. He doesn't object, and shortly after you have a small bottle of it made.
Afterwards you head back to the library and explain your plan to Wang Xuan. He compliments you for the idea before you both go to check the shamisen fragments with it. After a once over you see that there are mainly two sets of fingerprints there, and one set that only appears a couple of times. You're not sure who touched it, but it has been lying here for ages, it's probably not important. Having a strong lead now, you...
>Take the fingerprints of every person possible in the library. It might make you seem slightly crazy, and it will take quite a while, but it's the only proper way to go about this.
>Take the fingerprints of the richest group of kids and the few people who were spotted at the inn yesterday be checking books after they use them. You can pass it off with the sentiment of wanting to study what people better off than you have confirmed as a useful text.
>Other

>>3121613
>First take Wang Xuan's and Wang Fei's prints to isolate them
>Buy everyone some kind of a snack in a wrapper. Mark each wrapper and collect them afterwards to lift the fingerprints off them.

>>3121617
You think about it and there are some wrapped nuts at the general store that you can buy pretty cheaply to carry out this plan, but the only ones who will accept them will probably be the people you've been studying with, and maybe half of the people who aren't in the richest group. As for the others, you don't think you could force a snack onto most of the loners, but you might be able to make the group Wang Xuan suspects of doing this to take them as a sort of olive branch.
You explain the plan to Wang Xuan and Fang Wei before you get their fingerprints. You compare them to the ones on the shamisen's remains and find that they match up with the ones that had touched it a lot. Only the single pair of fingerprints is left.
The three of you head to the general store before buying 40 bags of nuts. The shopkeeper is ecstatic and gives you a slight discount. You split the cost, spending two silver and five copper each. The other two grimace slightly at the price, but you aren't particularly bothered about it for now due to your recent windfall.
You beginn adding small marks with the first characters of people's name, or in cases where you don't know their names, a character that's shorthand for some defining characteristic. You don't think anyone would notice them, and even if they did they wouldn't think much of it.
After that you begin passing them out the nuts out, and they reach half of the examinees before you need to approach the main suspects.
Their leader, the "Young Master Bai" who Wang Xuan mentioned earlier, approaches the three of you as you walk up to them, snacks in hand. You can see the smug look on his face turn to slight confusion, as he didn't expect to see you ferrying around free snacks at this point in time. Especially not after what happened this morning.
Wang Xuan approaches the youth he almost punched this morning before taking out the snacks and saying "Here, I got you guys some nuts. It may not be as good as what you have at home, but you're not there and it's a peace offering from me. I'd like us to just calm down for the time being and focus on passing the exams. Even if you don't agree with me, the least you can do is give me some face and take them." he doesn't give them much of a chance to respond before he starts handing them out and leaves.
After this you have seven bags left, and you give one to the librarian before eating the rest yourselves.
An hour or so later you collect up the bags, saying that since you brought in the trash you should take care of it. The three of you excitedly reconvene and beginning checking for fingerprints. Most of the way through the pile there aren't any matches, but eventually you find a bag with fingerprints that match the third set on the shamisen. It's... the librarian's? He wouldn't have any reason to do it, would he? Maybe he just examined the broken pieces in the morning out of curiousity? Does that mean the suspect was wearing gloves when they did this?

>>3121638
It's getting relatively in late in the day after this, and you're still not sure who exactly did this. You do have a few ideas though. You feel like you're close to solving this mystery, although you didn't think you'd be doing something like this when you woke up this morning. The three of you have dinner, and you tell them that that...
>You're not really sure who did this. For the time being the three of you can't do much about it.
>You have another idea for the investigation. [State what]
>You've figured out who the culprit is! Well, you haven't really, but you do have a good hunch, so it's worth stating. [State who, provide reasoning to convince them]
>Other

>>3121645
What? Did Wang forget his shamisen and the librarian accidentally stepped onto it while going home at night?

>You have another idea for the investigation. [State what]
Confirm its the librarian, ask him if anyone had moved or touched the broken instrument at all, even little bit when it was found.

Look for anyone in the group wearing gloves.

>Choking
Hard achievement unlocked! -5G

>>3121847
You don't have a suitable solution while eating, but you do have an idea. After eating you ask the librarian whether anyone touched or found the instrument at all after it was found, and he tells you that while he hasn't been paying too much attention, he thinks he's the only one that touched it. He only looked through the pieces for a moment though.
As for people wearing gloves, there's only one person, and they've been wearing gloves every single day since you began coming to the library. They're one of the loners and you're not really sure why they do this.
As night approaches, Wang Xuan asks which of the richer examinees you want to replace the clothes of with rags with tonight. Of the six of them, Bai Li and three of his friends are staying at a small manor about half an hour's walk from the town. The other two examinees are currently staying as guests at the best looking inn at town. He thinks you should keep the stakes low and go for those two, while Fang Wei is acting oddly compared to this morning and is just saying it's not worth it to mess with either party. You're inclined to agree with him, but you thought he'd be more fired up. Guess he had time to calm down. You...
>You agree with Wang Xuan, you should go after the easiest group.
>You agree with Fang Wei, there's no reason to blow the situation up again when you're so close to finding the truth out.
>Other

>>3121467
silver nitrate is a silver salt, so it occurs near silver mines as a mineral. there's ninhydrin, though, that's organic and can be refined from just about anything if you know the procedure
but I see we have a fictional equivalent >>3121613 so I'll cease my forensics autism
>>3121972
>You agree with Fang Wei, there's no reason to blow the situation up again when you're so close to finding the truth out.

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>3122227
You tell Wang Xuan that you agree with Fang Wei and that there's no reason to blow the situation up when you're all so close to figuring it out. Wang Xuan begrudgingly agrees and you go back to your home for the night.
The next morning you head to the library far before the starting time of the exam and see a line of examinees going up the librarian in order to officially register. After you enter the line you notice that everyone is paying a fee to register. A fee of 10 gold coins. You wish you had been told of this earlier, but oh well, it's not a problem. After talking a bit with others, you figure out that you get it back if you pass, and you get a scaling portion of it up to 5 gold back if you fail but score well enough.
After you register you get a wooden slip with your name and a number engraved into it which you can wear around your neck. You then see Fang Wei and Wang Xuan enter the room, looking extremely panicked. Wang Xuan walks up to you before saying "Those bastards! They stole my entrance fee! Last night I stayed up later than I usually do to make sure they couldn't do anything, but they entered in the middle of the night anyways! There wasn't any sign of forced entry, and I couldn't find any major clues. Goddammit."
You take fingerprints on Wang Xuan's coin pouch and see that there's only the fingerprints of Wang Xuan and Fang Wei on it. You...

>>3122398
...can't glean anything else. There are six hours until registration closes. You...
>Offer to pay Wang Xuan's entrance fee as long as he gives it back afterwards. You have just short of 32 gold coins left, and Wang Xuan probably has an 80 to 90 percent chance of passing, so it's an acceptable risk.
>Confront the group of people Wang Xuan suspects.
>Other

>>3122398
Fang Wei?

Maybe he stepped on it by mistake? Did we take his fingerprints?

Now the money thing is strange....

>Offer to pay Wang Xuan's entrance fee as long as he gives it back afterwards. You have just short of 32 gold coins left, and Wang Xuan probably has an 80 to 90 percent chance of passing, so it's an acceptable risk.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>3122451
You offer to pay Wang Xuan's entrance fees. While he's ecstatic, he begins with some polite rejections. As he does so, Fang Wei joins in with some oddly worried sounding statements such as "10 gold coins is a sizable sum, while Little Brother Wang can always take the exam next year, losing that much money could ruin you and stop you from taking next year's exam. Think about this more carefully. You can't afford to simply loan that much money out." He almost seems aggressive about wanting you to not pay for Wang Xuan's exam fees. This is suspicious. You're starting to think that Fang Wei could be involved somehow. You...

>>3122451
>fingerprints of Wang Xuan and Fang Wei
Derp

Did both Fang and Wang get robbed?

>>3122466
...now notice, with a healthy dose of skepticism, that Wang Fei's coin purse looks far fuller than it did a few days ago. This couldn't just be a coincidence. You...
>Demand to see the contents of the coin purse.
>Say that he stole the money and demand to know why.
>Tell Wang Xuan that his friend seems to be behind this, and point at his coin purse.
>Other

>>3122476
>Other: ask him why his coin purse is so full.

>>3122629
You hold back your urge to be more aggressive and calmly ask Fang Wei why his coin purse is so full. Wang Xuan, confused, takes a look at the coin purse you mentioned, and his eyes widen before he says "Yes, Elder Brother Fang... why is it so full?" Fang Wei, taken off guard, says "Err... well... the night before last I found an ore I didn't recognize that sparkled like the stars. I was able to sell it to a travelling merchant. They paid me 20 gold coins for it, it must've been rather valuable." You and Wang look at him with rather doubtful expressions before you...
>Mention that if he did earn money that way, then there shouldn't be Wang Xuan's fingerprints on any of the gold coins inside the bag, right? You may have happened to touch each other's coin purses while hanging out, but you wouldn't handle their money.
>Begin putting pressure onto him with Wang Xuan and see if he reveals anything.
>Let him off the hook even if it's far-fetched it's no good to suspect your comrades.
>Other

>>3122476
While the shamisen and the coins make Fang a convenient suspect, it doesn't make sense that there are no finger prints on the shamisen...

But he also knew of our plan

>>3122689
>Begin putting pressure onto him with Wang Xuan and see if he reveals anything.
>Mention that if he did earn money that way, then there shouldn't be Wang Xuan's fingerprints on any of the gold coins inside the bag, right? You may have happened to touch each other's coin purses while hanging out, but you wouldn't handle their money.

>>3122700
>no fingerprints on the shamisen
There are Wang's, Fang's, and the librarians fingerprints on the shamisen as far as you know. You didn't note the fact that Fang had touched it at the time because the two hung out a lot and it didn't seem odd. Unless you're referring to the fingerprints of a fourth party.

>>3122712
You and Wang Xuan close in on Fang Wei slightly before you say "Well, Elder Brother Wang, we shouldn't suspect Elder Brother Fang just yet. If he really got the money that way, then it won't have any of your fingerprints on it. You haven't handled each other's coin, have you?" Wang Xuan nods his head and says "Yes, good observation Younger Brother Zhu, we shouldn't condemn him yet, I'm sure this is a misunderstanding. Take out your money so that we can check it for fingerprints and we can get this over with now Elder Brother Fang."
As you both say this a grimace forms on Fang Wei's face as he says "This... alright, you've got me, but I have an important reason, I wouldn't steal my friend's coin for no reason. Can we talk about this outside?" You and Wang Xuan acquiesce to the request, following Fang Wei outside.

>>3122768

He then says "This... brothers, I was offered 20 golden coins by Young Master Bai if I could make it so that Wang Xuan couldn't take the Imperial Examinations. I thought that if I broke your shamisen you'd be angry enough to punch him and get yourself banned, and then I could give you half of the reward so that you could buy a new shamisen and even make a profit. After Brother Zhu calmed you down, that plan went out the window, so I had to come up with another plan. Making sure you didn't have enough money for the time being seemed to be the easiest. I was going to return it to you afterwards anonymously, I promise."
As Fang continues nervously explaining, Wang Xuan walks towards him, saying "You sold me out like that for only 20 gold coins?! That may be almost two years worth of our family scrimping and saving for someone like us, but I thought you had more integrity." You then see Wang Xuan deliver a heavy punch to Fang Wei's face before slapping him a few times. Fang Wei simply wipes some blood from his face before saying "I deserved that, let's just call ourselves even, ok?" After a moment you see Fang Wei's face turn as happy as a child at a festival.
He exclaims "Wait a minute! Bai only paid me half ahead of time, but if I tell him that you punched me and that you don't even have the money to register for the examinations, then he should give up the other 10 coins even if you haven't missed the exam yet, right? Brother Wang, you can have the money, I'd just like to put this behind us. I sincerely apologize, I was tempted by the thought of material wealth and didn't think about how missing an examination would affect your future." Fang Wei then kowtows before handing 20 gold coins to Wang Xuan, which should be what he was paid beforehand by Bai and what he took from Wang Xuan. You...
>Think he can't be trusted.
>Am willing to forgive him, people will do worse things for money.
>Other

>>3122770
>Think he can't be trusted.
Nativity kills in cultivation. That and arrogance.

How seperated is the mortal world from the world of cultivation? Are cultivators running states, state officials or exist in sects nominally seperate.
Has our character knowingly ever seen a cultivator and does know cultivation peak at low levels: mortals are able to hurt a cultivator past the first few stages or at mountains are destroyed in battles beween top figures?

>>3122770
I dunno, this one is up to Wang. Your call bro.

>>3122768
Yeah, I don't recall reading about Fangs fingerprints on the shamisen, I may have just missed it tho.

>Other
I dunno, this one is up to Wang.

>Think he can't be trusted.

>>3122908
The world of mortals and cultivators isn't exactly separate so much as the world of peasants and cultivators is. You hear that in major cities, such as the kingdom's capital, most of the powerful figures are also cultivators. You hear that the king is supposed to be on par with some of the most powerful experts in the kingdom, and that he's at the peak of the early stage of the Qi Foundation Realm, although you have no idea how powerful that is. You remember there was a big fuss over him turning 200 a couple of years ago and the previous king died at 253, so at the very least their lifespans are far longer than yours.
There are various stories about cultivators destroying mountains, ruining countries, living tens of thousands of years, and so on and so forth, but you aren't sure if they're true or not since you have nothing to base them on.
There are sects and family clans, and you know that some of them cooperate with the government, but they're pretty autonomous. The smaller clans generally protect whatever area they're in charge of in exchange for being allowed to exist there, but you don't know much about the larger ones.
You have seen a couple of wandering cultivators in your youth. One of them claimed to be in the Meridian Opening Stage of being a Heavenly Mortal, while the other said he was at the Thunderous Warrior Stage of being an Earthly Mortal. Both of these men seemed strong enough to fight wild beasts and punch rocks into dust, but you're not sure if they showed their full power or if you're remembering the situation exactly correctly. From what you know, being an Earthly Mortal and Heavenly Mortal are the first stages of cultivation, and the general population won't refer to these people as "immortals". (Funnily enough, most villages have a strongman or two who claim to be at the very first stage of being an Earthly Mortal, 'Mighty Warrior'. Due to the blurry line between weak cultivators and normal people, this usually isn't questioned.) After this comes the Qi Emission Stage, and you have no idea what follows that.
Sorry for the delay, my internet was shitting itself.

>>3122873
>>3122938
>>3122974
>>3123007
You personally don't think that Fang Wei can't be trusted, but you leave it up to Wang to make the decision, he's been friends with him longer than you have. Wang simply sighs before going "I'll cooperate with you to get the other 10 gold pieces, and you'll split the gains with me. You'll profit 5 gold pieces from this entire thing, and I'll profit 15 minus whatever it costs to replace my shamisen. We will not be friends and we will not be enemies. You can continue taking the examinations on your own in the future and I won't try to get in your way." They come to this agreement, and later in the day Wang Xuan comes back to you, seeming exhausted on the inside.
He says "To think one of my brothers would betray me right before the exam. What a twist of fate. I suppose I should just focus on passing for now, but I can't help but feel like I've lost something. Well, something more than my shamisen. At least I've met a new brother this year, right?" The next hours passed in a more subdued atmosphere before 61 examinees are rounded up to participate in the examination.
The librarian says that he'll be serving as the head invigilator, and various minor officials and people sent from the provincial capital will be assisting in invigilating the examination. The exam will last for three days, the first being about general knowledge, the second being on practical application of this knowledge and ethics, and the third being various essays.
The examinees are split into several groups at random, and you're led forward with 14 other examinees to a relatively large home about 15 minutes outside of the town. Each examinee is given a small room with ample inksticks and an inkstone, paper, a chamber pot, and other necessities. Meals will be given three times a day, and the examinations will be starting tomorrow.
You're carefully strip searched for any sort of notes or unauthorized items, and everything besides the clothes on your back is kept by an official and held somewhere secret. You pass the night away reviewing knowledge in your mind and prepare to go to bed early in order to be ready for the first portion of the examinations tomorrow.
On the exams, you...
>Roll 3d100s. Your performance on the exam will be decided based on how many times the rolls pass a hidden DC.

Rolled 52, 41, 35 = 128 (3d100)

>>3123118

Rolled 40, 57, 78 = 175 (3d100)

>>3123118

Rolled 40, 87, 45 = 172 (3d100)

>>3123118

>>3123161
You take the exam and feel that the content is harder than people were telling you about. Maybe this year whoever made the questions was particularly harsh, you're not sure. You heard that about 4-6 people pass this county's examination every year, but it seems like it might be lower this year. You're still sure you passed it though. Wang Xuan probably did as well, although it would be by a narrow margin.
After the examinations end you see about half of the examinees left depressed, knowing that they once again haven't passed the examination. You meet back up with Wang Xuan, and he agrees that the examination was especially hard this year, but is confident in passing. The results will be released in the afternoon two days from now thanks to the diligence of the invigilators, so until then you can just relax.
I'm gonna call the session here, I was forced to pull an all-nighter last night and this is a pretty good stopping point. I should be able to resume sometime between 13 hours and 17 hours from now depending on how long I sleep. I'll be busy between 2 and 3:30 PM CST because I thing to attend, just a heads-up.
Also, I was split between taking the first 3d100s and the first roll of each 3d100 because I'm dumb and didn't say "3 1d00s" like I should have, but luckily the results were the exact same since the hidden DC was 51.

>>3123263
big rip, barely pass if at all
thanks for running QM

>>3123263
Ah okay, took a bit of re-reading for me to get that.

>>3123263
get some sleep lol

>>3123263
The next 36 hours pass quickly as you spend time unwinding and trying to mitigate the fact that you just studied for most of a week straight and then took a three day exam. You do some light exercise to unwind, as you have been for the past couple of months, but it hasn't caused much of a difference in your physique. Hopefully you pass so that you have the money flow to begin cultivating.
You show up the library for the announcement of the results and see the librarian standing next to what looks to be a man in his 40s. This man is flanked by a couple of soldiers. You're not sure who he is, but he appears to be relatively important.
As the final examinees begin to flow in you hear the librarian begin talking. "Thank you, scholars, for aspiring to be a government official. Those of you worthy will be accepted into the ranks of the government and will be expected to serve and protect this country through your actions as best as you can. Those who fail may find another course in life, or could pass later. It's all up to you. I'll be announcing most of the results, while Sir County Magistrate Meng Hao will be announcing who passed the examination." The librarian then points to the important looking man from earlier. So he's the county magistrate. You suppose he'll be your superior if you pass the examination then.
The librarian clears his throat before beginning to announce the results. The first twenty or so are all read out in the format of name, age, failed with no compensation. You assume the compensation being referred to is the portion of the examination's fees you receive back for your score. At 38th place you finally hear "Gi Lao, Age 36, compensated with 3 bronze coins." The amount of compensation slowly climbs up to around 3 gold until they reach 15th place.
The numbers begin to jump more steeply after that, and you guess that these are the people who have a decent chance to pass in the future. You haven't heard your name or Wang Xuan's name yet, so that's good. At 9th place you hear the librarian say "Fang Wei, Age 35, compensated with 4 gold and 3 silver." Well, you guess you won't have to deal with him if you pass. The librarian counts everyone except the top five before you hear him say "I will now be handing the results over to the County Magistrate. The top five examinees have passed."
You passed! Wang Xuan passed! That's good. Now you need to start worrying about how much you passed by. If you did better than the other candidates it'll be easier to be appreciated by the county magistrate, but if you barely pass, you can be put into a menial position such as scribe for many years depending on whether you display any talent after the examinations.
You hear the county magistrate slowly say "Wang Xuan, Age 23, passed with no honors." after the scroll containing the results is handed to him. Well, at least Wang passed. This is followed by someone else's name before he says "Zhu Zhexian, Age 15, passed with no honors."

>>3124927
You may have not passed with flying colors, but oh well, most people don't. You still have a decent chance of getting appreciated by the county magistrate, you'll just need to show practical ability. The fact that you're only 15 and have taken the exam for the first time is a big upside too. Naturally people appreciate young talent more than older people passing, even if it seems rude to say out loud.
After your name you hear the county magistrate say "Bai Li, Age 20, passed with a 2nd-roll score." This is followed by "Cao Yan, Age 17, passed with a 2nd-roll score," before a final statement of "There are no examinees who have qualified for the provincial exam." The county magistrate then closes the scroll before saying "Everyone who passed, please gather in front of my home. I'll brief you on what your positions will be."
You gather with the rest of the examinees who passed, and take a look at them. There's you, Wang Xuan, and that "Young Master Bai" from before, but you haven't really spoken with the other two. The one who got fourth was one of Bai Li's followers, although he did seem notably less rude than the rest at the very least. In first is one of the people who was studying alone, a girl of 17 years old. It's a bit notable since men tend to score better on the Imperial Examinations, but it's not a surprise. Cultivation and talent aren't limited by sex and neither is taking the exam, so why should it surprise you?
The county magistrate walks up to the five of you before saying "As you heard earlier, my name is Meng Hao. You can call me Sir Magistrate Meng Hao for the time being. Follow me into my office before we continue. It would be unprofessional of me to do it out here, and you'll need to know where it is in the future anyways." You follow the county magistrate into his modestly decorated manor before arriving in his office.
The county magistrate sits down at a desk made of a noticeably good wood. Various baubles, office supplies, and stacks of paper dominate the room. The five of you line up in front of his desk before he says "I'll start with you, Cao Yan. You almost qualified for the provincial examinations with your score, and you're a young talent. I'm very impressed. You'll be assigned as my assistant for the time being." He then turns and points to Bai Li before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. You hear him mutter "What senior positions are open..." before he snaps his fingers and says "Ah, that's it. We recently lost our county judge, you can take that position. Remember to be ethical in your judgments, or so face a fate worse than death. Also, say hello to your father on my behalf."
only one more post left, sorry

>>3124969
The county magistrate then looks at you and says "You didn't pass with outstanding results, but you are only 15 years old after all. This... I have a few positions for you to gain experience that aren't at the very bottom, you can choose from one of them. Feel free to ask me about salaries and responsibilities and all that if I don't explain them completely, it's important to consider these things beforehand."
"The first position I have available for you is as the village chief of Green Maw village. The village is supposed to be around 1400 to 1500 people in size, and it's a decent place to gain accomplishments at depending on how you manage it. You'll be allowed to leave the village for two weeks every two months, but if this results in any dereliction of your duties your salary and the privilege will be revoked. The wage is 15 gold coins a month in addition to your cut of the taxes twice annually." You recall that taking a cut of the taxes is illegal, but your village has always had a tax rate slightly higher than the one found in books, and even then it wasn't extremely harsh, so you feel like this is probably accounted for in the tax system.
"The second position is an envoy. You'll deliver messages on my behalf, and as part of the position you'll be lent a horse and taught how to ride it. Depending on how you perform it may be given to you as a bonus of sorts. You'll deliver messages, documents, people of interest, that sort of thing. If I don't need you back urgently you'll get a chance to spend a bit of time in wherever you're to deliver the message to. There are lodges for civil officials in each decently sized town, so inns won't be a problem. The wage is 17 gold coins a month."
"Finally, I have a position as a tax collector open. Twice annually you'll spend a couple of months helping to collect taxes around the county. This will mostly be at places that don't have enough manpower, or smaller villages who have no officials there to do it. You may deal with a few angry villagers, but you get about 2/3rds of the year where you do very little, which you can honestly take as vacation time, and you're paid 13 gold coins a month."
Having heard about the positions, you...
>Have more questions.
>Want to be a village chief.
>Want to be an envoy.
>Want to be a tax collector.
>Other

>>3124998
>Want to be an envoy.
While delivering messages we'll surely encounter bandits and monsters on which we could train our physical prowess. When the time comes for more advanced cultivation stages we will have proved our competence and received a position with more free time.

And an important consideration, anons: do not waifu Cao Yan.
If we become immortal and she grows old and dies, it would be very unpleasant. We have to find ourselves a qt demon or someone of that sort.

>>3124998
>Have more questions.
How often will I be on the road as an envoy? What will I do in the mean time when not traveling?

What is the name of the village we came from?

With managing a village, do we get an income for building projects or is that only through taxes?

Will we have any men or guards assigned to us a a village leader?

Can we raise a militia for defense and patrolling the roads for bandits?

I want the first two options, and I think we can probably do the top two.

>>3124998
>Want to be an envoy.
We get easy access to information from a lot of different places. Knowledge is power.

>>3125032
If nothing major happens then you'll have between 3 and 6 months of the year (in total, not all at once) where you won't be on the road. You can spend this doing whatever you wish, training to ride your horse, and exploring the places you're delivering messages to.
The name of the village you live in is Ironpit Village, as there used to be a mine there.
If you manage a village you get a surplus from the taxes (a certain amount is handed over to be paid to the magistrate, who then pays a certain amount of the provincial governor) that is put towards building projects, paying additional militia members, and so on and so forth.
If you're a village chief then you generally have one or two members of the militia guard you, but you'll have to select them yourself.
There's already a small militia, but you can expand it using village funds if you wish. The area is generally safe from bandits, but they do patrol for them intermittently.

>>3124998
>Want to be a village chief.
>Want to be an envoy.

I want to do both, But more towards village chief so we can build our own dojo or monastery. Fill it with young martial artists and low level cultivator aspirants.

I'll close the vote in around an hour (unless it's tied) because it's relatively major.

>>3125066
>As a chef we're allowed to leave the village for two weeks every two months
>As an envoy we're required to always be ready to depart and are expected to be on the road 6-9 months in a year.
How are you imagining combining these, anon?

Can we do both tax collector and envoy?

>>3125182
You get one official position due to bureaucracy. You could help out the tax collectors with their assignments on your free time if you really want to, but you will receive zero pay for it so there's no point.

>>3124998
>>Want to be an envoy.
I like riding around as a job. see things, meet people

tax collecting gives the most time to cultivate btw but it's also boring

>>3125186
Envoy it is. No point in doing a thankless job like tax collector if we aren't getting paid.

>>3125020
>>3125039
>>3125187
>>3125193
"Sir Magistrate Meng Hao, I'd like to take the envoy position." The magistrate says "Alright, I'll put you down for the position." he then goes down the line and Wang Xuan and a man in his mid-20s, He Ming, are made scribes. It's the official position, but it still pays 10 gold coins a month. It may not seem too much better than the six gold coins a month a self-employed peasant might make, but the fact that they don't have to pay for board or for running a business means that they have far more income that they can save.
After all of the positions are handed out, the county magistrate smiles and says "Now, you're all officials of our mighty Zhaotian kingdom! I'll brief you more on your work later, but for now, there's something more important." The county magistrate grabs a couple of boxes out from under his desk, and opens them both up. One of them is overflowing with gold coins, and the other has a set of badges. The county magistrate then says "As a new official, you'll receive a bonus equal to one month of your wage. In addition, you'll get a badge for your position. You'll be issued a seal in a week or two, but they'll have your names and positions on them so they'll take time to construct." The county magistrate personally hands some gold coins to each of you before placing a badge on top of the pile of coins. All of you continue to stay in the position you had before, not sure of the procedure, before the county magistrate laughs and says "You can put the money away and the badge on now, no need to stand there like idiots for that long." The five of you follow his advice, and shortly later are back to staring at him.
The county magistrate then talks about less important things for a little bit, probably partially to entertain himself and partially as a service to his new juniors. At one point he says "Y'know, I may be older than all of you, but I could still beat any of you in a fight. My cultivation isn't lacking, I've reached the Meridian Opening Stage of being a Heavenly Mortal. Give it another six months and I may make it to the peak of Heavenly Mortal, the Qi Gathering Stage."
The new officials, including yourself, seem awed, although Bai Li and Cao Yan seem less impressed than the rest. The magistrate then chuckles and says "Ah, you flatter me. Do any of you have a level of cultivation?" Bai Li eagerly answers before saying "I've reached the Lasting Warrior Stage of being an Earthly Mortal!" Next Cao Yan rather flatly says "I'm a Thunderous Warrior." before Wang Xuan says "I've reached the first stage of being an Earthly Mortal, Mighty Warrior." The county magistrate compliments them and talks some more before you're dismissed. Now you...
>Make arrangements to sell your home in Ironpit Village, you won't need it and more money never hurts.
>Try to arrange a bit of a party among the officials, it's best to make up now.
>Check out your lodgings.
>Hang out with Wang Xuan for the night.
>Other

>>3125238
*it's the lowest official position
I feel like the typo referring to the position of scribes is relatively important to fix. I also should have said lodging instead of board because board implies room and board (which includes food), but oh well, that's minor.

>>3125238
>Check out your lodgings.
>Hang out with Wang Xuan for the night.
>Tell uncle the good news.

>>3125238
>Make arrangements to sell your home in Ironpit Village, you won't need it and more money never hurts.
DON'T do this. We don't want to carry too much money on us if we're travelling, and we need a place to stay for the remainder of the year that's our own. A better idea would be to rent it out to people and make money that way. Or get someone to renovate it into a store where they pay rent.

Other than that...
>Try to arrange a bit of a party among the officials, it's best to make up now.

>>3125362
A sidenote, you can stay at the official's lodgings year-round anywhere in the kingdom that has one. As long as you're employed by the kingdom as an official, there's pretty much somewhere for you stay in every single town of 8,000+ people. The quality varies between cities, and if you aren't a local official then you'll have to settle for whatever they have left for you (often just a warm bed), but you never have to pay for an inn unless you're at a village. (or you can afford it and want better lodgings)

Also, I'll roll for hanging out with Wang Xuan vs. trying to arrange a party with all of the new officals if I don't get a tiebreaker on that.

>>3125402
>Hang out with Wang Xuan for the night.
>Try to arrange a bit of a party among the officials, it's best to make up now.
Like we'd invite him wouldn't we?

>>3125440
You would invite him, yes, it's just trying to hang out with all five versus only Wang Xuan.

>>3125448
Lets party then.

>>3125356
>>3125362
Upon exiting the county magistrate's manor, you look at your fellow new officials and, before they can start scattering, ask them if they'd like to have a party. Wang Xuan glances at Bai Li for a moment before saying "Sure, it would help us out to form bonds with our fellow officials." He Ming, the other scribe, follows up with a similar sentiment. You expect Bai Li to refuse, but to your surprise he says "I'll need to inform my family of my new role and prepare, but for tonight at least I'm free." You guess even if he does seem a bit stuck up, he has the sense to cooperate when you're on more even ground. Cao Yan notices that attention has been drawn to her after everyone else has already accepted and just says "Sure, I'll attend." The five of you then work out who will bring what food and drink and go your separate ways.
After managing to arrange a bit of a party among the new officials, you go to take a look at your lodgings. There's a lobby that probably should be manned by someone so that non-officials can't enter, but in a town as small as this the position doesn't really matter. You look around, finding a fairly large room where people can eat, although there isn't any food provided. There's also a very large room with various records and books provided. Even after someone is already an official it makes sense to study, since the examination isn't just for show.
You go to the second floor and see that there are personal rooms for local officials, and a few guest rooms for visiting officials of a high enough rank. The personal rooms are divided by rank, and you look inside an empty one of your rank. There's a bed with an oil lamp on a nightstand sitting next to it, a wardrobe, a cupboard, and a bookshelf with a few books on it. There's also a decent looking desk with a wooden chair in front of it. On and inside the desk are various office supplies. There's spare room in here if you were interested in acquiring more furniture, but you don't see the point.
Now that you know what your lodgings look like, you head back to Uncle Zhang's workshop. He turns his head towards you and is about to ask you something before his eyes are drawn towards the badge on your chest. His face then lights up with a smile and says "Ah, you made it!" before he gives you a pat on the back. "An envoy too! A lot of people end up starting out as scribes!" The two of you talk for a bit before you take your things back to the lodge. He seemed rather ecstatic to see you succeed, and it's nice to see that.
You buy some food for the party for a couple of silvers before taking stock of your funds. You have 58 gold and 7 silver, which is quite the impressive amount of funds. It's almost odd to think that you only had 12 gold when you arrived here. Now you begin taking stock of your financial situation.
be prepared for a very awkward dump about your money, I thought way too much about this

>>3123035
>Qi foundation
That is pretty low at best it would be either self-severing/soul severing or dao peak

>>3125512
You make 17 gold coins per month, which equals 204 gold coins per year. Even though you're an official you'll still end up paying taxes of 28 gold coins a year. You'll also end up spending about 2 gold a month on living before you take into account food. This leaves 152 gold coins per year, which would probably turn into a bit over 100 gold coins in profit after considering various random expenses and food. This... you can see why the position of an official is coveted. The ability to not pay for lodgings is really profitable. You're pretty sure Uncle Zhang should only be making 40 gold coins a year at most, and a peasant would only save somewhere between 10 and 13, and this would usually be frittered away on what little pleasures and splurges they can get. The only unknown variable here is how much you're going to end up eating once you start cultivating. If you assume that you eat maybe twice as much, the amount of profit becomes closer to 70 gold coins, and three times would make it more like 45. You...
>Will eat until you're full while cultivating as long as it doesn't seem like it's going to make you broke.
>Budget a specific amount of money for food. You'll probably spend around 35-40 gold coins per year on it eating like a normal official. [State how much]
As you work this out, the time for the party draws near. You go downstairs to the and begin setting out the food you bought. It seems like Bai Li and He Ming, the ones in charge of the drink, both brought some pretty good alcohol. You've only drunk once before, shortly after your parents, died, but...
>Will drink your fill here. It's a party!
>Drink just enough to seem polite.
>Won't be drinking. It might be a disrespectful, but you don't really have an alcohol tolerance built up.
>Other

>>3125521
the cultivation system from this is a mishmash of things, but if you're curious and want to spoil yourself slightly you can check out True Marital World's, as it's close to that, and Qi Foundation would be similar to their Yuan Qi Foundation.

>>3125557
>Will eat until you're full while cultivating as long as it doesn't seem like it's going to make you broke.
We don't really need to worry about money in the long run.
>Won't be drinking. It might be a disrespectful, but you don't really have an alcohol tolerance built up.
Let's be safe. Maybe pretend to drink if necessary.

>>3125557
>Will eat until you're full while cultivating as long as it doesn't seem like it's going to make you brok
Cultivation is literally the most important thing in every single aspect.
>Drink just enough to seem polite.
Face is important.

>>3125557
>Drink just enough to seem polite.
Just get a small cup and take tiny sips, nurse it.

>>3125598
>>3125593
You wait for Cao Yan and Wang Xuan to arrive for a few minutes while making smalltalk with Bai Li and He Ming. Apparently Bai Li is the second son of a fairly major merchant in the county. He Ming's father is part of some rich family and manages a few minor businesses, while his mother is a physician. As you talk about these sorts of things, Wang Xuan walks in, and Cao Yan enters shortly after.
The party starts off relatively subdued, and you all more or less just talk while you nurse a drink to seem polite, but after a while a couple of minor officials who were staying in the lodgings come to join you. They bring more food and drink with them, and things start to pick up. Eventually you all start showing off various skills, Wang Xuan borrowing a shamisen (while slightly drunkenly glaring at Bai Li) to play a song. Your skills aren't exactly flashy but you talk a bit about basic herbs and where to find them when it's your turn.
A few times throughout the night you have to talk Wang Xuan down from finding trouble with Bai Li, but it's not exactly challenging since you're only buzzed. At least he isn't trying to punch Bai Li, which is an improvement.
Later in the night Bai Li, He Ming, and the two officials who aren't new begin playing poker. Wang Xuan and Cao Yan, both rather full of food and drink, head to bed. You...
>Join the poker game. You haven't played much, but they're all pretty drunk, you should be even. [1d100]
>Decline and head to bed.
>Other

>>3125557
>>Drink just enough to seem polite.
Keeping up appearances is a must.

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>3125630
>>Join the poker game. You haven't played much, but they're all pretty drunk, you should be even. [1d100]

Rolling

>>3125636
Damn

>>3125636
You join in on the poker game, and it seems like one of the other officials who's also an envoy is a card shark. Everyone at the table besides him loses a bit of money, although you're able to minimize your losses through a relatively large amount of sobriety. You lose nine silver and eight bronze, leaving you with 57 gold and seven silver. You go to bed after the poker game, ready for whatever duties start tomorrow.
The next day you wake up pretty early with a slight headache. You head over to the more senior envoy's room since he said he was in charge of briefing you today, but he still appears to be sleeping. Well, you suppose now's as good a time as ever to get breakfast and start training. The training motions inside the manual for the "Empty Sky Technique" honestly don't look like anything much, although the fact that it's somehow related to whatever an "8-star Demon Slayer" is makes it feel like it might be better to keep it under wraps. You...
>Practice in the wilderness slightly outside of town.
>Don't bother and practice openly in the backyard. It's not like the technique could be stolen without combining it with the book anyways.
>Other

>>3125690
>Practice in the wilderness slightly outside of town.
Don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves, just in case. We'll be doing this out on the road in the wilderness as we travel anyway.

>>3125690
>>Practice in the wilderness slightly outside of town.

>>3125690
>Practice in the wilderness slightly outside of town.

>>3125705
>>3125709
>>3125727
You decide that you'll practice in the wilderness in order to minimize the chances of drawing attention to yourself. You don't know what exactly the origins of this technique are after all. You eat a rather huge breakfast, unsure of whether cultivators are supposed to stuff themselves beforehand or just eat when they're hungry, and walk slightly outside of town.
You find a nice clearing in the woods, and stop there to begin going through the motions of the technique. You're a bit lethargic after eating that much, but oh well.
As you begin going through the movements, you instinctively feel like there's supposed to be a specific rhythm to it, and you begin moving to it. Your movements become more... correct in a way, and you feel the lethargy begin to give way to a hot energy that flows throughout your body as you begin digesting the food at an extremely fast pace. Maybe this innate understanding is why She Zhu's 'spiritual will' "deemed you capable". After about 15 minutes you feel hungry once more, and make your way out of the wilderness. You haven't really noticed any great growth in strength yet, so you guess it'll take a while.
You head back to the lodgings after another meal, and find that your senior has awoken. He stares at you, rubbing his head and says "Ah, Junior Envoy Zhu, you're back. That was quite the party last night. I suppose I should formally introduce myself now that we're both in a clear state of mind. I'm Quan Tao. I'll show you the ropes." After that Quan Tao explains the specifics of the job for a while. He ends by saying that you'll be assigned to practice horse riding for long periods of time for the next two weeks, and then you'll be sent off to take some documents to the capital of the province. You'll be allowed three days of leave once you're there since the trip is two weeks, and then you'll head back unless they have any orders for you there.
Over the next two weeks, as you begin to learn how to ride a horse and start your journey down the road of cultivation, you...
>Don't do anything else in particular.
>Spend the rest of your spare time studying.
>Try to make friends among the local officials.
>Search for edible plants and small game to save on money.
>Other

>>3125810
>>Spend the rest of your spare time studying.

>>3125869
You spend the majority of your spare time in either the library, as they allow government officials to enter for free, or inside the library of the official's lodgings. The former has more books over a wider variety of things, while the latter has more useful information.
After a week of training, you feel the hot energy you usually feel throughout your body surging to a maximum. Your body feels like it's beginning to heat up, and instead of that feeling going away, it just becomes stronger and stronger as you practice.
After about half an hour, this reaches a peak and you throw a punch towards a tree to try to let the feeling out. The imprint of your fist is left in the tree, but instead of calming down, your body stays in the same state. You continue throwing punches towards it, chipping into the wood. Your hands are a bit bruised, but it's nothing major. Eventually you feel something change within your body and the heat seems to slowly dissipate.
Unsure of what happened, you begin walking back towards town, but then you vomit out what appears to be a sticky black blood. For a moment you wonder if something went wrong, but you now notice that a similar substance seems to be appearing on your skin. You feel exceptionally sweaty and uncomfortable due to it, but your body itself is stronger than it was before. Your senses are sharper, and it seems like a veil has been lifted from over your eyes. It takes you a moment before you mind catches up with what's happening. Your body just underwent refinement. You're in the first stage of being an Earthly Mortal, the Mighty Warrior Stage. That is... wasn't that a bit fast? You thought it took longer to cultivate than that. Well, at the very least you've found out that this technique wasn't some sort of trick. Now that you're a cultivator, you're determined to reach the top of the world. More specifically, you want to be...
>The most powerful person in the world.
>The richest person in the world.
>The wisest person in the world.
>The most respected person in the world.
>Other
Note: This is actually a major choice, not just flavor. Yes, these choices overlap, one will just be the main goal.

>>3125933
>>The wisest person in the world.

This is a decent stopping point, I'm gonna head out for the night, I'll return at about the same time as usual, 15~ hours from now give or take a couple.

>>3125933
>The wisest person in the world.
>Other
Benevolent "leader"

>>3125933
>>The most powerful person in the world.
hermits, no matter how wise, do nothing.

>>3125933
>The most powerful person in the world.

>>3125933
>The most powerful person in the world.
I don't trust anons (myself included) to RP wisdom.

>>3125933
>>The wisest person in the world.

>>3126181
Tbf, sometimes the wisest thing to do in a situation is to do nothing and watch it all burn.

>>3125933
>>The most powerful person in the world.

>>3125933
>The wisest person in the world.

>>3125933
>The wisest person in the world.

>>3125933
Excluding one post ids
That's four for wisdom and three for power. It's not that I mind battle junkies, they just tend to die early and doesn't seem to fit this character considering the exams and all.
You *should* get both wiser and more powerful the more you cultivate, especially past the first major realm, so it isn't like they are mutually exclusive in practice.

>>3127058
>>3125933
Actually including them at this point makes no difference since there are two one each side. Just after my vote if another two one post battle pop votes pop up...

Out of curiosity, what Chinese fiction is everyone reading at the moment?
Right now I'm only keeping up with A Will Eternal.

...the wisest person. By living as long as possible and learning about many different things, you should be able to make sure no one can wrong you. You wash yourself off in a nearby river before heading back to town.
The day after breaking through you think about sparring with Wang Xuan. He seems trustworthy enough, and he's also a Mighty Warrior, so it should make for good practice. You...
>Start sparring with him to practice.
>Think it's better to keep things a secret.
>Other

>>3127122
>>Think it's better to keep things a secret.
Let's train a bit more first.

>>3127060
I mostly just binge things intermittently, but I keep up with releases for Library of Heaven's Path and I Really Am A Superstar. The latter gets better after the author stops the odd semirape fanservice chapters that Chinese webnovels seem to occasionally have a thing for. Outside of Chinese WNs, I try to keep up with the English LNs for Overlord, Monogatari, Youjo Senki, and the vending machine novel. Also, A Will Eternal is Er Gen's currently publishing Xianxia, right?

>>3127122
>Think it's better to keep things a secret.

>>3127060
>Out of curiosity, what Chinese fiction is everyone reading at the moment?
I was introduced to xianxia by Forge of Destiny over on SV
I've read some others, like condor heroes, chat group and my disciple died again. and translations of water margin and journey to the west, since I'm a literature student

Rolled 40, 74, 46, 89, 19, 11, 93, 28, 42, 74, 39, 39, 56, 32 = 682 (14d100)

>>3127132
>>3127145
You figure that you should keep your cultivation underwraps from everyone for the time being and decide against sparring with Wang Xuan. It may be helpful, but it's not really worth the risk.
The days pass, until eventually you're ready to leave Lion's Ridge for the capital of the province, Blue Ridge City. You pack up your things and mount your horse before beginning your two week long journey.
massive dump of dice for two weeks worth of random encounters. You'll probably get 4 or 5 in total

>>3127154
The first few days of your journey go without much of interest happening. The scenery is mostly small villages, and you spend your spare time while your horse is resting gathering additional food.
On your fifth day of travelling you cross another envoy on the road. He's riding a rather valiant looking horse, and his equipment appears to be significantly better than yours. You both stop after nearing each other, pleased to find a friend along the road, and talk a bit. You find out that he's originally from the capital, but that's he's supposed to send a few provincial-level documents on his way to one of the border towns. You...
>Ask him about the capital.
>Ask about his horse.
>Ask if he's been to the provincal capital, and if there's anything you should do while you're there.
>End your conversation quickly, you'd feel bad holding him up.
>Other

>>3127160
>>Ask about his horse.

>>3127160
>>Ask if he's been to the provincal capital, and if there's anything you should do while you're there.

>>3127134
AWE is finished now, Deathblade has a couple hundred chapters left to translate. If he doesn't do a mass release like he did for ISSTH then 100> days till finished.

>>3127160
>Ask if he's been to the provincal capital, and if there's anything you should do while you're there.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>3127161
You ask the envoy about his horse and find out that it's a special breed that is bred in areas near the capital. There are a limited number and the horses bond to their owner for life once trained, so the capital generally only gives them out to important officials and envoys who are supposed to send important documents. The man seems rather proud as he tells you this.
After this you ask the man if he's been to the provincial capital and if there's anything you should do while you're there. The envoy says "Aye, I have been, but as for things to do there, I only know some of the major attractions. I didn't stay long when I went through. Well, there are a few well known teahouses and a large gambling hall. There's also a shrine on one of the nearby mountains that people say brings good luck, and a sort of large flea market where they sell all sorts of things."
You and the other envoy part ways, and you begin travelling once more. The next day you make especially good time and end up saving a day on your journey. The night after that, while training at your camp, you feel a similar feeling to the time you broke through to the Mighty Warrior stage. The feeling of a burning heat flows through your muscles as your movements continue to intensify. Eventually it subsides into a dull throbbing throughout your body, and you don't feel a massive increase in strength, but your exhaustion seems to be gone. This is the hallmark of the second stage of being an Earthly Mortal, Lasting Warrior. You're also once again covered in that odd, blackish blood, and have to wash yourself.
Two days later you pass a couple of mounted soldiers on the road, and they approach you before showing you a wanted poster with a man you don't recognize on it. They tell you that he...

>>3127173
Committed an act of arson against a bakery. Apparently he was a baker as well, and since they don't know why they did it, their only guess is that he was trying to cut down on competition. You tell them that you'll keep an eye out for him and they go on their way.
After that the scenery turns more rugged as the hilly forests give way to more rugged terrain. You also notice that the small villages are transforming into towns, a good portion of them larger than Lion's Ridge.
The day you're about to enter Blue Ridge City, you come across a blind woman with several intricately carved wooden charms. She's loudly saying "Charms, five gold coins each! They'll protect your life! Guaranteed to help in a fight against a heavenly mortal!" The woman doesn't seem particularly special, but the charms seem interesting, and at the very least they sound helpful. You have the money too. You...
>Buy a charm. [-5 gold]
>Buy all three of her charms, if they can help in a fight then you may as well just wear all of them. [-15 gold]
>Decide against buying one.
>Other

>>3127179
>>Decide against buying one.

>>3127179
>Buy all three of her charms, if they can help in a fight then you may as well just wear all of them. [-15 gold]
Good things happened to us recently lets have positive carma. But treat this like a form of charity

>>3127179
>Buy a charm. [-5 gold]
We certainly are progressing fast. Guess the method in our book is especially good.
We'll need to avenge its author af a sign of gratitude.

>>3127179
>Buy a charm. [-5 gold]

>>3127179
>Other
How do they do that? Do they make me stronger? Do they bring a heavenly mortal down to a normal person's level? Do they eat qi? What do they actually do?
if you want to be wise then always question

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>3127205
You do know that the Earthly Mortal and Heavenly Mortal stages are supposed to take less time to break through than the rest, but you still feel like this speed is exaggerated, yes.
>>3127205
>>3127209
You buy a single charm from the woman before entering the provincial capital. Massive walls surround the city, with guards standing outside each entrance, but you show them your badge and are let through without much trouble.
You look around the main street and find that there are a steady stream of people walking in both directions. The buildings are larger than what you've ever seen before, and the entire atmosphere is boisterous. You're pretty hungry and there are quite a few tea houses that serve food that you could sit down at here, but you should turn in your documents as soon as possible. You don't really know where you're supposed to do that though. You...
>Grab a bite to eat.
>Try to get directions to wherever the officials live, that seems like a safe enough bet on where you're supposed to go.
>Other

>>3127219
>>Try to get directions to wherever the officials live, that seems like a safe enough bet on where you're supposed to go.

>>3127219
>Try to get directions to wherever the officials live, that seems like a safe enough bet on where you're supposed to go.

>>3127222
>>3127224
You ask a few people who don't seem too busy for directions, and they help you make your way towards the official's lodgings. The lodgings here are a complex of several large buildings, and you're impressed by the number of people going back and forth inside. There are a couple of guards and a receptionist at a small gate to enter the area, and after flashing you badge and explaining your purpose you're let through without trouble.
You ask a couple of local officials where to deliver the documents to and their directions lead you to a jolly looking man in a room full of documents. He looks at you before saying "More results of the Imperial Examinations I suppose?" You nod your head and say "Most likely sir." before handing several sealed documents over to the man. You're dismissed, and now have four days to spend in the city since you made it here in good time. First you...
>Want to get a good meal, you've been on the road for weeks.
>Want to see if you can either find someone here to help you around the city or hire some sort of guide.
>Find the flea market that envoy mentioned.
>Find the gambling hall the envoy mentioned.
>Would like to see where the most skilled apothecaries in the city are, if there's a gathering place then maybe you could learn something.
>Other

>>3127235
>>Want to get a good meal, you've been on the road for weeks.

>>3127235
>Want to get a good meal, you've been on the road for weeks.

>>3127235
>Want to get a good meal, you've been on the road for weeks.

>>3127237
>>3127239
>>3127241
You decide that you really need to grab a good meal, you've been stuck on the road for weeks. You walk down a few streets without much of an idea of which place to eat at before you see a small restaurant called "The Boiling Kettle". You walk inside and see that it's pretty quiet, and the place seems nice enough, so you decide to eat there.
You order a sizable meal and get some sort of signature drink there that's similar to tea. You can't say that you love it, but it's not bad. As you finish your meal, you see that there's only one other customer eating, an older gentleman with a small dog, and most of the employees aren't very busy. You should be able to get some more information while you're here. You...
>Ask the employees about the city. [State what]
>Ask the older man who's eating about the city. [State what]
>Other

>>3127245
>>Ask the employees about the city. [State what]
Ask about what's there to do here; also the flea market the other courier mentioned.

Real life came up, be back in an hour or two.

>>3127245
>Ask the employees about the city. [State what]
Ask them who are the most famous or generally well know cultivators that have been in or live in the city. Also ask if there's a pharmacy or alchemist in the city.

>>3127266
This

>>3127245
This >>3127248
>>3127266

Finished what I needed to do, will start writing in about half an hour.

>>3127248
>>3127266
You start talking with the employees, hoping to get more information about the city. You ask what there's to do in the city and they talk about a festival that a village about an hours way outside the city is currently hosting, the flea market, the gambling hall, a few tourist attractions, and the shrine outside of the city.
You ask more about the flea market and the employee you're talking to calls over another, saying "Hey, Zeng Tai, you go to the flea market a lot, don't you? Could you explain it to this guy, he's curious." Apparently the flea market is a place where anyone can set up a shop for a small amount of money, and most of the people simply man small stands or place their goods out on mats. There are quite a few hustlers there, but there's also a good chance to get a deal if you look around carefully.
You ask if there are any pharmacies or apothecaries in the city, and get told that there are quite a few. The ordinary ones rely on reputation, while the top ones are run by Apothecary Apprentices who have passed the Apothecary Guild's examination. There's actually a big fuss among all of the city's apothecaries right now, as it's said that a 1-star apothecary from the capital will be visiting the city in a couple of days to search for an herb, and that he'll hold a lecture for some of the local apothecaries while he's here. To prepare for this the local apothecaries have planned a meet up tomorrow in order to determine who can go to the lecture.
Finally, you ask about the most famous cultivators in the city. Apparently there are quite a few that the locals know about. The provincial governor and the general stationed here are both said to be only a realm less powerful than the king, and it's said that there's an old, reclusive expert in the city in the early stages of the Qi Foundation Realm who has holed himself up for the past 30 years in an attempt to make a breakthrough. At this point it might be just a legend, they're not sure. They mention a few other local heroes, but none of them are as well-known or as powerful as the three previously mentioned.
Now that you've eaten, you...
>Want to get information on the apothecaries' meetup tomorrow.
>Find the flea market.
>Find the gambling hall.
>Want to check out the village's festival.
>Want to head to the shrine for good luck.
>Want to visit a few tourist attractions.
>Other

>>3127547
>Want to get information on the apothecaries' meetup tomorrow.
This one is most time sensitive so i would start with it.

>>3127629
You try to get more information on the apothecaries' meetup tomorrow, but the gist of everything you hear is more or less that you'll need to talk to one of the apothecaries involved.
Eventually you find your way to one of the best apothecary workshops in the city, run by an Apprentice Apothecary. The workshop is a relatively large, clean building, and there are at least five apothecaries going back and forth. Only the owner is an Apprentice Apothecary, so you guess these are either his students or apothecaries who self-study that he employed. As you approach the counter one of the people working there looks at you and says "How can we help you Sir Official?" after glancing at the badge on your chest for a moment.
You ask if you can see the owner of the shop, saying that you just got into town and were hoping to get information to attend the apothecaries' meeting tomorrow. The man at the counter frowns before saying "That... the boss is rather busy preparing for tomorrow." You...
>Try to offer a small bribe to the man.
>Tell him that you can wait until after they close for the day if needed.
>Look around the shop for a chance to show off your skills as an apothecary. Once they know that you're able they won't have a reason to refuse you.
>Other

>>3127665
>Tell him that you can wait until after they close for the day if needed.
If it works In the meantime check flea market. If not do this.
>Look around the shop for a chance to show off your skills as an apothecary. Once they know that you're able they won't have a reason to refuse you.

>>3127665
>>Tell him that you can wait until after they close for the day if needed.
showing off won't go well, it'll be a good way to start a feud by taking away face, no matter how skilled Zetian is

>>3127675
>>3127717
You tell the worker that you can wait until after they close for the day if needed, but the man simply frowns before saying "Well... I appreciate the thought, but I apologize, the boss said that he doesn't want to be bothered until after tomorrow unless it's important. I would tell you about the meeting myself, but we're not skilled enough to go, so we don't know where it'll be held. I'm afraid you'll have to ask somewhere else."
After the man says this, you think for a moment before asking "If someone on the level of, let's say, another Apprentice Apothecary, came, would that count as being important?" The man seems surprised before saying "Well, yes, I suppose that would be important enough for them to see the boss." You...
>Look for someone else for information. Most of them are probably busy getting ready for the meeting, but some of them have to be willing to see you.
>Show off your skills, you've just confirmed that if you can prove yourself as a peer of the boss that he'll see you.
>Go do something else. [State what]
>Other

>>3127725
>Show off your skills, you've just confirmed that if you can prove yourself as a peer of the boss that he'll see you.

>>3127725
>Show off your skills, you've just confirmed that if you can prove yourself as a peer of the boss that he'll see you.

>>3127785
>>3127787
You say "Well then, I guess I'll have to prove myself to be on the level of an Apprentice Apothecary." before you begin wandering around the workshop. The man seems slightly flustered, but he doesn't stop you. You start wandering around, observing the movements of the workers until you find a chance.
You look at one of the workers and point at her before saying "She's not applying enough pressure to grind the Flaming Peony over there, she'll lose at least a third of the potency like that." You make sure to say it quietly enough that any customers can't here, and say it to the man you were talking towards earlier. He takes a look before saying "Tao Jie, you need to apply more pressure when grinding Flaming Peony than with other herbs. You made this mistake a few weeks ago as well."
The man comes back to where he was and gives you an appreciative nod before starting to work on something himself. You take a look at the ingredients and he appears to be working on some sort of remedy for a deadly fever you've heard of. He spends about five minutes gathering the ingredients and getting ready to prepare the remedy, and just before he begins you get a chance to say "To make a remedy for Blue Mountain Fever it'd be more potent and cost-effective to use the bark of a Red Russell Tree and to use a lower maturity of Hydra Ginseng in exchange. You could also remove the mediator between the ingredients, Sea Powder, in that case." The man seems shocked as he stares at you before saying "That's... I think that would work better, wouldn't it. The boss was saying that he wasn't happy with this recipe the other day and that he wanted to alter it. I'll tell the boss what you just told me, wait a moment."
About a minute later the man you were talking to earlier comes back with a well-dressed man in his late 30s following behind him. You hear the man say "Who's the one who was able to improve my remedy for Blue Mountain Fever in five minutes? I would need to look at reference books for an hour or two to do so." Before you can point yourself out the man sees a wizened old man in the corner buying some medicinal powder and says "Is it him?" with a gleeful smile on his face. The person you were talking to before coughs nervously before saying "Er, it's that youth over there" before pointing to you. The Apprentice Apothecary seems shocked looking at you and you can hear him say "He couldn't be older than 16, could he?"
The Apprentice Apothecary approaches you before saying "Hello, I'm Apprentice Apothecary Yu Zhen. You are?" You introduce yourself as Envoy Zhu Zexian, and he seems even more surprised. He takes a glance at the badge on your chest before saying "You're... not an Apprentice Apothecary?" You shake your head and you can just tell that Yu Zhen is getting more confused and shocked as this goes on. He says "Um... do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" You reply that you don't mind, and Yu Zhen asks a couple of questions about herbs.

>>3127725

>Show off your skills, you've just confirmed that if you can prove yourself as a peer of the boss that he'll see you.

This is a nice quest

>>3127866
You answer them as correctly as you can and Yu Zhen is back to looking excited. He says "Who taught you?! Are you a direct disciple of 1-star Apothecary Yu Zhen who will be visiting the city in a couple of days?! Maybe a student of one of the other 1-star Apothecaries who are staying in the capital?" You reply that...
>You aren't allowed to tell him who your teacher is.
>That you're self-taught.
>That your parents were village apothecaries and that they taught you everything you know.
>Other

>>3127872
thanks

>>3127876
>That your parents were village apothecaries and that they taught you everything you know

>>3127876
>>That your parents were village apothecaries and that they taught you everything you know.

Why are we talking to this dude again?

>>3127876
I made a typo here, I'm retarded. The Apprentice Apothecary is Yu Zhen, the 1-star Apothecary is supposed to be Gu Xinyi. As much as I'd get a laugh out of naming them both the same thing, that'd be dumb.
>>3127898
so that you can get information on where a group of apothecaries are meeting up to exchange knowledge and decide who gets to attend a lecture by a visiting 1-star Apothecary. There are maybe five or six of these in the kingdom.

How many stars are there available, and what is below a 1 star that's still ranked?

>>3127878
>>3127885
You nervously go "Er, no, no, I'm not from that illustrious of a background. My parents were the apothecaries and physicians for my village, and they taught my everything that I knew." Yu Zhen stares at you blankly before he just says "Village apothecaries?" he then laughs after a moment before you just blankly stare back at him. He confusedly mutters "Are you serious?" You nod your head and he seems to go into deep contemplation before sighing and saying "Forget it, comparison will be the death of you. So you wanted to know about the meeting tomorrow? We've booked the Flying Rosemary teahouse, tell them that you know me and I'll get you in."
Before you leave Yu Zhen turns to you and says "Wait a moment, would you like to prepare for the meeting tomorrow morning together? I'm sure we could both benefit from an exchange of knowledge, yes?" You're not sure if you would benefit or not, but at the least it would get you some good will from Yu Zhen. You...
>Accept the offer, you can afford to take a night out of your stay here.
>Tell him that you're sorry but that you only have a short leave as an envoy and that you'd like to see the city.
>Other

>>3127921
>>Accept the offer, you can afford to take a night out of your stay here.
Having friends around the provincial capital is never a bad thing

>>3127921
>Accept the offer, you can afford to take a night out of your stay here.

>>3127912
Below a 1-star Apothecary there are Apprentice Apothecaries who are licensed by taking the Apprentice Apothecary Examination at any guild hall of the Apothecary Guild. In the Zhaotian Kingdom the only location is in the capital. You've heard that most occupations have 9-stars worth of ranks, but that those at the highest level are the most knowledgeable within all of the lands, and are geniuses unparalleled by anyone besides other 9-stars. Within the kingdom and the surrounding kingdoms, anyone with a 1-star certification in most occupations is treated respectfully by pretty much everyone, as you never know when you'll need their help. You're aware that Zhaotian Kingdom's national power is rather weak and that the Apothecary Guild is the most well-developed occupation in the kingdom. A couple other occupations may be large enough here to have guild halls in the capital, but you're not sure.

>>3127921
So were are parents dank ass apothecaries or what? Because I'm seeing a trend of us being retardedly better then trained professionals

>>3127940
You don't know for sure because they never mentioned anything of the sort to you, but you're getting the feeling that they were and for some reason they decided to hide the fact from you.
Breaking for dinner

>>3127921
>>Accept the offer, you can afford to take a night out of your stay here.
May as well, it's a potential social link and even if they profit a lot from it, we get a good name to ourselves and might add Apprentice apothecary to our list of achievements when we feel like sitting the exam.

>>3127938
interesting, so while 1 star isn't particularly great in its field it stands above the sea of trash?

>>3127927
>>3127932
>>3127960
You accept Yu Zhen's offer to 'exchange knowledge' and he turns to the man next to him and says "Prepare tea and some refreshments for the two of us, we'll be in my quarters." You follow Yu Zhen to a rather large bedroom with several filled bookshelves and he tells you to make yourself at home.
You grab a couple of books before sitting down at a table in the center of the room, and begin looking through them. The quality of them seems to be higher than those in the Official's Library back at Lion's Ridge. You know most of the content in these books, but there are some tidbits that you don't know about.
As the refreshments arrive and Yu Zhen gets settled in with books of his own, you ask him about the books themselves, and whether he needs to eventually memorize everything in them. He says "Well, I'd like to memorize everything, but that's unattainable for me. That amount of knowledge about herbology would probably be at the level of a 1-star Intermediate or 1-star Pinnacle Apothecary. I think that if I could remember 80% then I'd be more than able to pass the 1-star Apothecary Examination. I'd also need to be able to forge a Tier-1 pill though, and gods know how long that will take me. I'm not particularly talented as an apprentice, otherwise I'd be in the capital being taught by a licensed 1-star Apothecary. At least I meet the cultivation requirement, as I broke through to the Qi Emission Stage several years ago."
You ask more about the cultivation requirement and Yu Zhen goes "Ah? You don't know? To properly control the energies within the cauldron and to control the flames when forging pills you'll need to be able to send qi outside of your body. To do this you need to reach the Qi Emission Stage, so naturally there's a cultivation requirement for being a 1-star Apothecary. It's not like with medicinal powders where you can just use your body to grind ingredients and such."
Your questions answered for the most part, you spend the rest of the night helping Yu Zhen study while finding bits of information you didn't know about in some of his books. As it gets late into the night you go back to your lodgings and are provided with a small room. You go to sleep and wake up in the morning feeling refreshed. There are a few hours until the exchange of knowledge among the apothecaries begin. You...
>Eat breakfast and find a place to train outside the city, you should just wait for the apothecaries to meet.
>Head to the flea market, you were very interesting in checking that out.
>Go to the gambling hall to test your luck.
>Visit a few tourist attractions.
>Other

>>3128054
>>Eat breakfast and find a place to train outside the city, you should just wait for the apothecaries to meet.
Take advantage of our crazy rate of advancement. I'm starting to wonder if it's really out style or if it's our parentage that's special

>>3128054
>Head to the flea market, you were very interesting in checking that out.

>>3128054
>Head to the flea market, you were very interesting in checking that out.

>>3128054
>>Eat breakfast and find a place to train outside the city, you should just wait for the apothecaries to meet.

Every time we don't cultivate is a moment we are not getting stronger. Our cultivation technique is rather good so we should try and get out of mortal rank asap.

I'll break the tie with rng in maybe half an hour if there isn't any tiebreaker vote.

>>3128106
>>3128068
do you think one of you guys could switch to more cultivation practice? after all, once we get more powerful nothing at the flee market will be useful for us.

>>3128200
I would prefer not to fuck with our inner energy before we met a guy that is train to manipulate it and probably recognize it. And also maybe we will find something rare in the market and its relaxing time we already moving to fast and we don't know what kind of effect on our health.

>>3128068
>>3128106
>>3128247
You make your way to the flea market and find that it's a sprawling complex with large amounts of thoroughfare. The entrance is crowded with tiny stands, but they turn closer to small shops are you get deeper in the area. There's lot of handmade art and trinkets near the front, and as you go further you find that the flea market is divided into various sections. You want to go to look at the...
>Weapons
>Clothes
>Trinkets
>Other (state what)
May be the last update for the night, I got shanghaied to play vidya by a scanlation group I'm in.

>>3128264
>>Weapons
may as well be armed to make it easier to defend ourselves, and our Arts might be helped by having a weapon.

>>3128264
>Weapons

>>3128264
>Weapons
QM do you have item lists prepared or will you need to write them?

If we want to make a pill we should be either Core Foundation or Foundation Establishmen i mean with how low cultivation here no wonder this country is weak. Probably if i have to guess the highest cultivator here is Nascent Soul Core Early stage or Middle stage.

>>3128264
>Other: herbs, medicinals and anything else related to pharmacy, alchemy or the like.

>>3128264
>>Other: herbs, medicinals and anything else related to pharmacy, alchemy or the like.

>>3128287
I'm basically just going to divide the weapons by how good or bad they are and assign a price by quality instead of going "X Sword - Y Gold, etc.", so it shouldn't take too long. The update shall tomorrow.

>>3128264
>Weapons
And this
>>3128333

>>Other: herbs, medicinals and anything else related to pharmacy, alchemy or the like.

>>3128264
>A proper cutting sword
>12 kinds of herbs and cheese.

>>3128894
why cheese?

File: bread.jpg (76 KB, 800x450)

76 KB JPG

>>3130201
?

>>3128693
updoot when!

>>3130301
literally just woke up five minutes ago, but now that i'm awake it'll be relatively soon.
on the flip side I should be going later than usual

>>3130306
fuck yeah sounds good