Yrsillar Wrote:Ling Qi let out a breath, and frost crackled across the warm surface of the tea in her cup. Wispy lines of silver mist escaped the hems of her gown to crawl along the floor as her shadow stretched long under her liege’s light, tall and inky black across the wall behind.

Liquid light gathered along the seams of Cai Renxiang's clothes and highlighted her dark hair. In the light, her skin seemed almost metallic, but her eyes were clear and human still.

Ling Qi was not so different. She saw herself from every angle as she saw Renxiang, the women in the kitchen, Zhengui in the garden, Biyu in her painting room, and Mother in her study, along with everyone else in her household. She was a tall wraith with starry hair blown by the wind, eyes of silver blue ice blazing from within the shadows of her face, and a slim crescent smile. Dull angry flames still flashed and crackled within her, eating away at the shadows even as they were smothered by them.

These were but shadows of who they were, the meanest visual expression of their domains.

Now, she had to choose what to share, some concept that Renxiang would both resonate with and needed most.

(10-23-2024, 09:39 AM)Norgarth Wrote: And speaking of Beware of Chicken...
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/beware-of-chicken-xianxia.910799/page-2100#post-105943028

(10-24-2024, 07:20 AM)classicdrogn Wrote: Moving as in "being added to" or moving as in "SB admins fucking around again, author got fed up and left?"

(10-24-2024, 01:23 PM)zojojojo Wrote:

(10-24-2024, 07:20 AM)classicdrogn Wrote: Moving as in "being added to" or moving as in "SB admins fucking around again, author got fed up and left?"

Author got temp-banned in their own thread, so decided to take their ball and go home. I don't know all (any) of the details, but a persusing of the thread could probably answer that...

ssjSega Wrote:We're back with a pretty long chapter this go around. This time it's mostly the Forgers in the spotlight with only minor bits of Bumblebee here and there, seeing as it's gonna follow their tour of a Blackbell weapons making facility, as stated last chapter.

The tale grew in the telling.

Now, originally, I was gonna have the entire tour for this chapter but ran into the issue of the chapter getting way too long, and finding a good ending spot, that was similar to the "Yor Driving" chapter which led to me splitting it in two. So, just like that one, this chapter's also getting divided into two halves

Okay, well I saw two halves, but at this rate it feels like... two thirds plus the final third later.

I think the next chapter should be a lot shorter and easier for me to write, so if I keep my head in the game, it (hopefully) won't take long until the next update in that regard.

This go around, however, we're also getting more characters from the Transformers side of the crossover making their appearances and/or getting mentioned. Just a heads up if/when you see familiar faces.

Yrsillar Wrote:They soon came to an expansive meeting room where Xia Lin had a map of the fief spread and weighted down. Ling Qi's eyes roamed over it, noting the polished blue stone representing the settlement by the lakeside and the colored pins stuck in across the map.

Ling Qi helped lift the now dog-sized Zhengui up so he could plant his front legs on the table from her lap and observe.

"It is fortunate timing that this was prepared," Gan Guangli said.

"It would only be sensible to give the report once, and you were out on patrol as well," Xia Lin replied. "What do either of you know about the grading of metals?"

"Very little," Ling Qi admitted freely. "That it is based on spiritual reactivity and suitability for talisman and array crafting?"

"That is correct,” Xia Lin answered. “The imperial standard scales common metals on a grade from one to five. One is rated as suitable for mortal work, two for common cultivation use, three for high quality craftwork… And four and five are capable of conducting shen and sovereign energies respectively."

Ling Qi eyed the pin-struck map. "I suppose I will need that information for the context of these pins."

"Oh, there must be many shinies," Gui chirped.

Even Hanyi leaned over her arm to look, interested by the prospect of wealth.

Just so.

"Just so." Xia Lin gestured over the map. "Firstly, grade one iron is highly abundant in the hills and southern plateaus. Signs have indicated that most anywhere in the northern area and lakeside could support a degree of mining. There are also lodes of grade two iron embedded within these larger veins in numerous places."

"Oh, that is quite good then!” Gan Guangli exclaimed. “Even with our new friends in the south, common iron is always needed in great abundance. But I suspect you are not done."

The girl nodded curtly. "There is a lode of grade three vein to the west, likely to have some special property, but this will require active effort to discern due to the deepness of the lode. In addition to that, there are a smaller number of silver veins in the hills, some rising to grade two."

Silver was useful in a number of medical formations and purifying talismans, even if it was not the store of wealth mortals thought it was.

“Fortunate,” Ling Qi commented.

"The last metal we have divined lies up here in the site which we have labeled the saline grotto. It is a form of lead which seems to have a heavy alignment to earth and water qi. We are tentatively labeling it as grade three."

Gan Guangli stroked his chin. "More of an alchemical resource then. Powdered leads do form the base for many third realm and higher pills. It has attractive properties to help differing reagents clump and fuse properly."

"There are many cosmetic uses too, though it's toxic to mortals. I think the Bai, the Jin, and the clans of the Peaks use a fair amount of it." Ling Qi vaguely recalled this information coming up in one of her letters, indicating that lead was fetching a good price on the new routes.

"I will note that down." Xia Lin made a mark on the paper of the report before her.

(10-24-2024, 04:04 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

(10-24-2024, 01:23 PM)zojojojo Wrote:

(10-24-2024, 07:20 AM)classicdrogn Wrote: Moving as in "being added to" or moving as in "SB admins fucking around again, author got fed up and left?"

Author got temp-banned in their own thread, so decided to take their ball and go home. I don't know all (any) of the details, but a persusing of the thread could probably answer that...

SB's admins seem to make a habit of this, don't they?  I have an account there, created years ago just so I could contact John Biles, and every time I think about maybe being a little active on the site, they go and act like assholes and I change my mind.

(10-25-2024, 01:26 AM)Norgarth Wrote: Beware of Chicken
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/beware-of-chicken-xianxia.910799/page-2105#post-105996824

tealruby Wrote:Hermione thinks she’s encountered true evil. A genocidal wizard, a psychotic witch. A necromancer out to enslave her homeland. Power-hungry overlords, megalomaniacal supervillains, you name it. Those were mere mortals. Nothing like who she meets in this issue. Someone who almost a year ago took a special interest in her life…

---

Notes:
Previously, on First Times…

The nightmare takes her shortly after midnight.
In the field. Hurting all over. Leg screaming at her, broken and useless. No magic left, wand a plain stick now.
Despero, advancing and grinning.
Hermione tries to wake up and realises with horror that she’s not asleep.

See the end of the chapter for more notes.

Change! Change! All she knows as true!
See the schemes that entwined the two!
Strip the love from friendship strong!
Boil to hate from all that’s wrong!
Gone! Gone! All furtive plans,
And rise the villain Etrigan!

Dedicated with awe and respect to Jack Kirby and Alan Moore.

In our next issue… From the day they first met it’s been building up to this moment. Green Lantern vs Jinx, and their final confrontation at the bottom of the world. Where only one of them will survive.
“When it gets cold, and you both think it’s gone too far…”