Information Requested: Non-Combat oriented paths of Cradle

Beginning Report...

Cradle is a world largely dominated by cultivation paths centered around destruction and combat. This is primarily due to the overabundance of vital aura within the iteration, leading to a commensurate overabundance of powerful spiritual beasts and human practitioners, all willing to compete and fight over the limited resources required for higher advancements. As individual Sacred Artists reach the peak of non-Ascended cultivation (see: Monarchs), civilizations coalesce around them, with notable exceptions (see: Northstrider).

As these small bubbles of relative peace and calm develop and grow, their needs grow more complex. Agriculture, architecture, and medicine are all increasingly required to sustain growing populations. This is at first manageable through the strength provided by combat oriented paths, but grows more difficult as larger infrastructures create larger populations. A feedback loop is created. More people are born who require more resources, both mundane and those based around advancing cultivation, which necessitates larger infrastructure and resource generation, the abundance of which generates more people. Conflict escalates between cultivators all following similar Paths and bloodshed ensues as cultivators attempt to strive for dominance without destroying the infrastructure they have grown dependent upon.

After several decades to centuries of this cycle, the second overarching phase of a cultivation based culture begins. Sacred Artists who have a talent for cultivation but lack a similar predisposition toward violence begin to develop their own unique paths, using less desired cultivation resources, and whose primary focus is non-combative in nature.

Suggested Topic: Current non-standard paths with the potential to eventually affect Abidan level Fate calculations. Continue?

Denied, report complete.

“Shin Yau Yujin! You had better be properly focused on your cycling out there!”

Yujin flinched as his mother’s voice resounded through their courtyard.

“I am!”

Yujin was lying. He was not focused on his cycling. There was a nest of Sparrowlings that had just hatched, and watching their mother bring back food to the persistently chirping chicks was far more entertaining that cycling Foundation techniques he’d mastered three years ago. A lot of things were more entertaining, a fact that Yujin had become increasingly aware of the past several years.

“Because you know I can sense your breathing from here!” Yujin could feel his mother’s voice in his madra channels when she was lecturing. Yujin almost suspected it was some kind of spiritual technique she’d learned on her path. “And while it’s been quite some time since I practiced that same cycling technique, but I know that’s not it!”

“I was just trying to get back into it when you interrupted me!”

This was also a lie, but one he knew his mother couldn’t know was false. Probably. Of course, to sell it, that meant he actually had to refocus on his cycling.

Yujin closed his eyes, settled back into his breathing rhythm, and directed his attention inward toward his faint madra channels. The flow of madra was steady, quickening and slowing with his breathing, and his channels showed no signs of instability or strengthening. Nonetheless, he resumed his cycling patterns, alternating between the half dozen Foundation stage Sacred Artists his age were instructed to practice.

One of the pillars of the Shin clan was their focus on properly developing their youth in the earliest stages of advancement. Their first Patriarch had taken the name of ‘Foundation’ stage quite literally. He believed that spending more time reinforcing the earliest advancement stages greatly eased advancing through the Gold and Lord stages. He had spent years developing different patterns that were supposed to create the strongest possible foundation for future advancement.

He had also restricted the speed at which clan members were allowed to advanced. No Foundation stage child was allowed to progress to Copper before age eleven, based on the belief that older minds possessed more self control and would be better able to train themselves up to Lowgold.

By all accounts, the Patriarch had been proven correct. The Shin clan produced more Truegolds than any other clan of their size, despite a rarity of advancement resources. They even rivaled even some of the larger mid-ranked clans of the Blackflame Empire in terms of the contributions of their clan members.

The only real downside being that it was just so. Damn. Boring.

Yujin felt himself lose the cycling pattern again as his mind wandered. It was just too exhausting to cycle through the exact same patterns without even being able to feel a change. His core had already reached the peak of Foundation stage, and any further strengthening of his channels and madra control was beyond his ability to sense. The clan elders regularly checked on their progress and claimed to be able to sense a difference, scolding those they deemed not keeping up with their cycling. Yujin’s name was a regular on the list of those found insufficient.

Yujin wanted to do better, but the will to push through with his training simply wasn’t there. He often found himself wondering why he couldn’t just force himself to be motivated. Yujin sighed, realizing he simply didn’t have any cycling left in him today, and went in to find his mother.

He found her in the kitchen, clearly trying to rush preparing dinner. The look she gave him when he walked in shouted exasperation more effectively than the actual shouting she’d been doing a few minutes earlier.

“I know, I know.” Yujin held up his hands. “I’m sorry, but I… I just… can’t. Not today. I’m sorry.”

“Ok.” Yuji’s expression softened as she gave him a soft sympathetic smile as she nodded over toward the table. She knew how much he’d been struggling the past few months. “But you have to make it up tomorrow. It’s important.”

Yujin nodded and took a seat and his mother returned to cooking. He always loved watching her prepare meals. She moved with such purpose and certainty, knowing each step like a dance. He remembered having that just a few short years ago when he’d started cycling practice with all the others.

“I just don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Yujin looked down into his hands, ashamed. “Everyone else seems to be able to handle their cycling, but I just… can’t”

“Nothing is wrong with you. Every Sacred Artists struggles in different ways. You’ve just found one of your struggles a bit earlier than the others. Practice and training will pay off.” His mother responded with well worn patience before smiling over her shoulder. “Now stop complaining. Things aren’t so bad. You haven’t even noticed what we’re having for dinner tonight.”

She tapped the kitchen counter and Yujin looked up. A freshly plucked fowl emanating the soothing sensation of water madra, colorful root vegetables, dough for soft buns, and tofu sprinkled with seasonings all sat neatly organized as the scent of salted soup wafted through the air. All his father’s favorites.

Yujin felt his spirits lift, cycling practice forgotten. “Dad’s home?”

“Meetha dropped by to chat while you were ‘cycling’ earlier.” Yuji responded while channeling blade madra through the kitchen knife, skinning the fowl with a few swift movements. “She saw his patrol report to the elders an hour ago, so he should be home by dusk for dinner. I had just enough time to rush out to collect everything.”

“That’s great.” Yujin grin was wide enough to hurt. “He’s been gone for ages!”

“Don’t exaggerate, it’s impolite. It’s been just shy of month. It hasn’t been too long at all.” Yuji smile conflicted with her tempered tone. “But it will be very nice to have him home. And having his favorite dishes waiting on the table will be a wonderful surprise for your father. Just so long as I can get them done before-”

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The plaintive wail crashed through the entire house.

“-Before Kasi wakes up from her nap.” Yuji set down her knife with a profound sigh. “I swear that girl is developing some sort of sound madra path.”

“I can do it.” Yujin blurted out.

“What?” Yuji frowned back at Yujin. “What can you do?”

“I can cook the meal.” Yujin said, speaking more rapidly. “I’ve seen you do it a hundred times, I know all the steps, and that way you can soothe Kasi and dinner still gets put out on time. Kasi hates it when I hold her so she won’t stop crying if I go take care of her. You already skinned the bird, the soup is simmering, I can dice all the vegetables, and stuff the dumplings and take care of everything, I swear-”

“Ok, ok.” Yuji chuckled as she held up her arms and started walking out of the room. “You’ve convinced me. Just start with the vegetables and everything you’re sure of and I’ll bring Kasi back when she’s calm.”

Yujin was already ignoring his mother’s words as he rushed over to the counter. She’d never actually let me do more than ‘help’ before, and never when his father was about to come home. He needed to get this right.

First up were the vegetables, just like she’d said. Yujin grabbed the knife and began dicing. It was more difficult than he’d expected from watching. The roots kept trying to turn under his blade and they resisted the cut so much more than he expected. Yuji always made it look easy. But, Yujin reminded himself, Mom can use blade madra. Yujin tried his best to keep the cuts even but by the end, every piece was a different size and Yujin just hoped it wouldn’t be noticed.

Yujin checked the soup quickly, then moved on to the soft buns. Those went better, and soon there were a dozen on the tray. He’d been allowed to help knead dough for years when his mother was hurried. He slid in the tray then held out a hand to check the heat coming off the sacred treasures beneath their oven. When he reached Copper, he’d be able to see how much flame vital aura they still emitted but for now feeling the heat would have to do.

His mother returned carrying Kasi just as he was approaching the meat, knife in hand. The waterswept ducks raised in their sect’s communal pond were considered just a hair below a actual sacred beast and were a rare treat in Yujin’s household. Yujin had never been allowed to prepare them before but from the indulgent smile on his mother’s face, that was about to change.

“Just cut along the obvious tendon lines and it will come out fine.” Yuji took the seat Yujin had vacated earlier, bouncing Kasi in her arms. “And make sure to take it off the fire when it’s golden, not brown.”

Yujin felt his smile threaten to tear the edges of his cheeks as he turned back to the counter. With his mother guiding him, he managed not to ruin the duck, only overcooked the buns by a few minutes longer than needed, and kept the soup perfectly simmering the entire time. It was hectic and intense and following some strange rhythm he couldn’t quite hear, bouncing from one dish to the next, always just a few seconds away from ruining a dish, but his mother didn’t move from her seat. She just smiled and provided the occasional reminder of what needed looking after next..

It was incredible, and made all the better by the sound of their front door sliding open just as Yujin slid the buns and the duck off the heat at the same time.

Simply perfect.

******************

“Dearest…” Haisin hesitated, scanning over the meal arrayed before him, not sure what to say. It was all his usual favorites, which his wonderful wife always somehow managed to have ready on his first night back, but something was off. None of the dishes, well, looked quite right.

He looked up at his wife, failing to hide his confusion.

“I know, it’s all your favorites, just the way you like.” Yuji smiled more loudly than usual, and Haisin realized he needed to just be quiet while it was explained. “What you probably don’t know is that Kasi needed soothing just before I got started, so your wonderful son took a brief break from his cycling to prepare everything for me.

Ah. Haisin mentally nodded and turned to his son. Yujin, almost quivering with repressed energy, nodded frantically from the edge of his seat. His expression contained all the hopeful fear and excitement the real world filed away from adults and Haisin gave a rueful smile. One poor meal was a small price to pay to protect that innocence for a while longer.

“Well, thank you Yujin.” Haisin said, picking up his bowl of soup. “That was very kind of you. I love coming home to these meals.”

Haisin inhaled deeply, savoring the smell. This particular soup had a subtlety to it that only revealed itself on tasting. Yuji liked to joke how he’d only married her for her ability to make the soup just right, and Haisin always smiled and carefully never said just how much that had actually helped him fall in love with her. He took a deep sip and froze.

It was good. Actually good. A relaxed smile slid into place, just like it always did at his first taste of home cooking after a long patrol. It was just right, which was so surprising that he completely forgot to pretend and simply enjoyed it instead.

“Wow.” He glanced between his son, who was practically glowing with pride, and his wife, who seemed pleasantly surprised by his reaction. “That’s delicious. It’s exactly how I like it.”

The rest of the meal proceeded as it always did. Haisin told stories of the untamed regions of the Blackflame Empire he had been patrolling. Yuji discussed the clan gossip he’d missed and sugarcoated Yujin’s lagging cultivation. The only real difference was Yujin’s frequent questioning if the food was good.

And it was, until he bit into his second soft bun.

Haisin froze as the bite ended with a crunch.

“What?” Yujin’s face fell instantly. “What’s wrong? Did I mess up the buns. I thought they came out right.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Haisin reassured him, while inspecting the bun’s stuffing. “It just seems like some of the vegetables were diced a bit… larger, than your mother does, and they didn’t quite cook. But it’s fine. We’ll just call them Yujin style soft buns.”

Yujin’s crestfallen expression belied the nod he gave his father in return. Haisin sighed, remembering a time when it was far easier to fool his son with kind words. He’s just growing up so fast.

“Don’t worry. That won’t be an issue much longer.” Haisin reached over to ruffle Yujin’s hair. “Just a few short years until your eleventh year. Once you start bringing sword aura into your core, vegetables are going to be the least of what you can cut. Assuming, of course, you’ve been keeping up with your cycling training and won’t be held back from advancing?”

“Y-yeah. I’ve been, uh, I’ve been cycling every day. Lots of practice.” Yujin stammered, refocusing the entirety of his attention on his meal.

Thank the Heavens he’s still too young to lie properly. Haisin put on his ‘stern father’ expression. Best to try and reinforce this now.

“I know it’s hard right now. Training every day without being able to see any change or advancement is a real challenge, but the work you do now will pave the way for your advancement and discipline later.” Haisin matched his tone to his expression, drilling the point home. “I have faith you can stick with it. I know one day you’re going to make our entire clan proud, not just me.”

Yujin nodded forcefully, eyes still stuck to his meal. Haisin removed his hand and changed the subject to a pack of particularly nasty dreadbeasts his patrol had encountered just a week before his return. Yujin’s gloom slowly dissipated and soon he was back to peppering Haisin with questions about He’d made his point the best he could, and now all he could do was wait to see if Yujin took it to heart.

**********

Yuji woke up later than she should have with a smile on her face. She always slept more deeply when Haisin was home, and Yuji had noticed even Kasi was less fussy when her father was home. Yuji rolled over to watch her husband beside her, still fast asleep, back where he belonged. The long patrols he went on so frequently were the Shin clan’s primary responsibility within the Blackflame Empire, and the reputation those patrols earned for reliable, consistent service gave the clan a level of imperial protection other factions of the same size envied deeply. While she didn’t resent him or the clan for his absences, she did still wish they weren’t quite so long.

Sighing, Yuji eased herself out from the sheets, careful not to wake Haisin. Letting him sleep in was one of the last steps in their familiar homecoming ritual. The last was spoiling him with breakfast in bed and Yuji quietly stepped down the hall to prepare just that.

First checking in on Kasina, to find her sleeping soundly, Yuji moved on to Yujin’s room. She normally would have let him sleep in like his father, but after Haisin’s little dinner speech, she intended to hold Yujin to his promise of extra cycling time this morning.

“Jin-jin,” Yuji murmured as she slid his door open. “Time to wake up and…”

Yuji trailed off in shock. Yujin was already seated in the middle of his room, so deep into a cycling trance he hadn’t even heard her come in. She swept a light spiritual scan over him just to be sure, but he was, in fact, properly cycling.

The scan finally alerted Yujin to his mother’s presence and his eyes popped open.

“Morning!” Yujin said brightly.

“Good morning sweetie.” Yuji replied, gathering her wits. “How long have you been cycling this morning.”

“I’m not sure.” Yujin glanced over at the water clock beside his bed. “I was up pretty early, so I think about two hours.”

If her son hadn’t been such a terrible liar, Yuji never would have believed it, but the truth of it was as plain as writing across his face.

“That’s wonderful! I’m impressed.” Yuji beamed back at her son. This deserved a reward. “What would you like for breakfast? I was just about to go prepare your father’s favorite omelets, but I can make something different for you if you’d like.”

“No, that’s fine, I like those.” Yujin uncrossed his legs to stand. “Actually, I could use a break. Do you mind if I come help you make breakfast?”

“Of course, especially after the wonderful job you did with dinner last night.” Yuji beckoned Yujin as she began walking toward the kitchen. “There’s a trick to getting the eggs just right. I’ll show you how.”

Yujin scrambled down the hall after her, smiling as if he’d burst if he didn’t let some of the joy out. Yuji couldn’t help but feel her spirits lift to match her son’s. Her husband was safely home, her son had found some of the motivation he’d lost, and her little Kasi wasn’t crying up a storm. It was amazing how just a few small changes could form a perfect morning out of nothingness. This was going to be a wonderful day.