Chapter 415
A Song of Jade (VI)
Rather than just haphazardly creating a random art, I wanted to make it thematic. I'm willing to bet we can squeeze an extra few grand by just 'dressing it up' appropriately for this place. Though I literally haven't explored more than one path of this city, I caught a glimpse of the few things that mattered.
For starters, there was a reason the city was called Jade Blossom City. Jade was everywhere, as were the blossoming flowers encased in vases (big and small) and gardens made of said jade.
And so, jade was indeed everywhere. I'm guessing because, west of us, there's a majestic mountain range, and somewhere in there is a jade mine. Things aren't built without purpose or reason, I've come to realize.
As such, I wanted to, somehow, theme the art around that--jade, or flowers, or even a combination of the two. How?
... hell if I know.
I'll find out, I guess.
I opened up the creation window and immediately selected Movement Art as the art type, which, as always, grayed out the good portion of the options. For the number of forms, I opted into 3 for now and chose Elegant Internal Logic Cohesion. It all totaled up to 50 points already, reminding me once again just how limiting 400 was and how much I need to break through.
For Energy Type, I was going to select the ordinary Qi until I did a quick search out of pure curiosity, and, yup, there it was: Jade Qi.
[Jade Qi -- natural Qi perfused with the properties of jadeite stone, increasing resonance with natural elements and lowering the chance of Qi tether being broken]
I honestly didn't care all that much for the specific nature of it, just that it existed and was affordable: just 60 points, bringing my total up to 110.
On top of that, I added the minor infusion of Wind and moderate infusion of Wood elements to try and inject some 'nature' vibes into it.
Moving to the specific characteristics, I mulled for a while over what to add, eventually going for the terrain adaptation option as nothing else quite fit the 'theme'.
Up to 145, I was left with quite a hefty space to add some truly unique properties, and there were quite a few to choose from. Well, not for me--most still remained woefully unaffordable, but there were a few interesting ones that kind of fit the 'theme' of it all.
It was something that I didn't actually think possible before--a conditional property.
[While near an abundance of X material, Qi consumption is lowered greatly]
Huh.
Is it a new thing? Is it just that I never picked up on it before? Damned if I know. All that matters is that this opens up so much it's actually kind of insane.
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Can't I just make terrain-specific arts and just have a permanent boost? Or would there be some drawbacks? Nah, there probably will be. But hell, I can still give it a whirl.
For now, though, I just chose jade, and I quickly realized the drawback--each 'material' or 'element' had its associated cost and benefit. For instance, jade was relatively cheap to add, costing 'only' 150 points, but, in turn, it lowered Qi consumption by only 5%.
They wouldn't know that--just me--but still, that's not that much. Perhaps over the course of a lengthy battle that never moves away it could come in handy, but on its own it is more of a... well, gimmick, really. Sort of like in those games that boast a 'massive number of choices', yet most are just basic-ass % increases to basic-ass stats.
I mean, yes, this one was conditional, but still, just a basic-ass stat stick. Nonetheless, I chose it--it didn't matter as they'd feel it, however slightly.
To finish it off, as I still had a few leftover points, I added a reduced learning curve option to it, which brought me up to 380 points, just shy of the max.
Checking it all out one last time, I took a deep breath and pressed confirm.
... and I once again forgot to name it. My brain is supposed to be growing smarter as I cultivate further, no?! Why do I feel more and more forgetful, instead?!
[Congratulations, Host, on creating the 'Song of Jade' Movement Art]
[...]
[Song of Jade]
[Type: Movement Art]
[Rank: peak-Heaven tier]
[Host Comprehension: Minor]
[...]
[Drawing inspiration from jade and the adjacent nature, the art attempts to draw from the elements and imbue the profound meaning of the stone. Though it does not quite achieve that lofty of a goal, it does touch upon the principles of elements and Qi as a union rather than separate parts of the whole. Those studying it will find themselves potentially grasping concepts beyond the art itself, reaching greater heights. However, due to its nature, its efficiency is a whole tier lower if it is used outside of the environment with either an abundance of jade or an abundance of Wood Qi]
[...]
[Creation Points Value: 380/400]
[Comprehension Difficulty: Intermediate]
[...]
[Creation Bonus: Singing Jade Stone (Mythical) x1, Seed of Eternally Enduring Bamboo (???) x10]
[...]
[Singing Jade Stone (Mythical) -- upon crushing of the stone, Qi motes stored within arrange themselves into an outward burst that--to the world--will resonate like a song. Contained therein is a pure energy that will make the area of fifty yards nigh-indestructible for the short period of time and make those within almost impervious to damage. The stone is destroyed permanently upon use]
[...]
[Seed of Eternally Enduring Bamboo (???) -- must be planted in an environment with an extreme abundance of Wood Qi. Otherwise, it will die]
Huh.
That actually turned out... decent, all across the board. The name is thematic, the concept is thematic; it's all very much thematic. Even the freakin' rewards.
Though Singing Jade Stone sounded like yet another life-saving treasure I will be holding close to my heart, my eyes were immediately drawn to the other reward--particularly because of the phrase contained within, 'eternally enduring'.
There was another thing with those two exact words in my possession--my current cultivation method. I mean, yes, the words were inverted, but that can't be a coincidence. There's no way that some random item just so happens to have the exact same phrase contained within as my cultivation method.
Even so, there wasn't much I could do; the system, for the first time ever, emphasized something. It emphasized that there needs to be an extreme abundance of Wood Qi. That just tells me it probably doesn't exist anywhere in this world and that I'll have to go somewhere 'up' to find it.
For now, though, I stored it all away and pulled out the booklet. It was fairly thin, just shy of twenty pages, and I took the liberty of making it pretty. I mean, the binds were jade-colored, the edges were woven like stems of flowers, and there were jade stones placed across its front that made them seem like petals of a flower... I mean, this thing was decked out by the time I was done.
Seriously, if I saw this book back on Earth, I'd be buying it in a heartbeat just for cover alone.
I still made sure to 'age' it, however, and make it seem at least a few thousand years old. Nothing too extreme, though, as the theme will likely add at least a few grand of high-grade stones.
Oh, I sure hope so.
I sure hope so.
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