[NR] They Suck - Chapter 516 (Patreon)

Rosha lets out a long sigh, interrupting the others. “This is interesting and all, but is there anything else that needs to be done about the whole cultivation nonsense? Like, yeah, I felt all of that irl, but where does it go now?”

Jason shrugs, “Form your core with whatever powers call to you, excavate your meridians, find and open your extraordinary meridians, and keep advancing.”

Cortney, “Why find?”

Jason, “The extraordinary meridians, unlike the normal ones, are both hidden and unique to each person even if their effects tend to be similar enough to have specific names.

“And before you ask, the reason you open them and not excavate them is the whole hidden bit. They are hidden even from the dross that clogs the normal meridians. Of course, you don’t have to open them.

“However, we should be able to get the resources needed to resonate with them and make it easier to find them. It ends up being a bit of a roadblock to advancement as every method I know of to advance past that stage inherently blocks opening anymore of them. Regular meridians don’t have that limitation, but advancing without clearing those will gimp your future because advancing causes some changes that won’t be replicated in any of the later cleared meridians.”

Rosha nods, “Good! We have a short-term goal, what to do after that, and a fetch quest of sorts to work on while doing those things. How about we get a list of what to look for so Courtney can start working on it?”

Jason raises an eyebrow, “You certainly sound like a well and proper leader.”

Courtney nods and sighs, “Frustrates both her parents. Most of the time she goes about life having fun and then all of the sudden, shocking competency. Both have tried training her and having her take charge of various groups, but it doesn’t last. It isn’t even some sort of mental block, she simply doesn’t bother most of the time”

Rosha rolls her eyes, “Even mom doesn’t understand why I don’t want to have a cadre of brown nosers and yes men. It just isn’t fun!

“You guys? You’ll take what I say and run with it! Both my mom and father would rather be an insect queen commanding countless drones. It is just how they grew up and why they don’t get along while at the same time could never settle for any, they could get along with.

“Mom is a bit more like a queen bee and so fine with the chaos of life where even the worker drones are important. That’s part of why she supports me. On the other hand, my father is full on ant queen. He just wants to sit on top of the pile with numberless faceless drones under his command, ready to give themselves entirely at his command.

“Don’t get me wrong, my mom is perfectly capable of sacrificing her drones as needed. However, each sacrifice will have meaning and she won’t just throw someone under the bus unless absolutely necessary. The only reason they married is because they couldn’t stand the chance that a child of theirs would be just another drone and so sought out their equal.

“I don’t know if it is something to do with being a mother or simply a difference in upbringing, but once I was born, mom was able to actually connect to me on a more human level. My father has only ever seen me as one of many methods to assure his legacy.”

Courtney nods, “They’re both heartless in their own way, but at least your mother can look at things like a person. Though you’ve never really touched on why you’ve shown leadership in the past? It would be much easier for your father to drop you if there didn’t seem to be any hope.”

Rosha shrugs, “In the end I am my parents’ daughter. Sure, I might have been born with more compassion in my little pinky than my father has in his whole body. However, there is a reason that even my mom ended up where she is. I doubt it is genetic or something similarly silly, but leadership is a part of us.

“Though calling me a leader off that short burst earlier is a bit silly. I just organized what we needed to do and said it in an authoritative manner. And speaking of which, what are the things we need to gather for the extraordinary meridians?”

Jason shrugs, “Depends on the meridian, but the basic idea is to use either matching or counter items. A matching item is the easier to find since the extraordinary meridians are actually more metaphysical than physical. This means that even in creatures without the classic meridians, there will be at least parallels for the extraordinary meridians.

“That causes there to be a lot of items that exemplify them. A flower that ends up accidentally opening the governing meridian, a rare but inevitable event, will work for this. Some species even have biases towards doing so such that a you might find a species of plant that grows on rocks which almost all have opened the penetrating meridian.”

Rosha, “What’s the catch? That sounds like something which would inevitably be everywhere.”

Jason shrugs, “You aren’t wrong, while still rare in the same way diamonds used to be rare, they are easy enough to find. The thing is, they suck. Sure, it helps to have an item like that, but I would compare it to having a pristine ingot of metal while trying to find the ore for it. Maybe you happen to be looking for gold and get lucky to find a nugget.

“You might also go out looking for copper and not realize all the green stuff around you is what you want. Even if you went full evil and used another human for this, they’re more unique than fingerprints. That brings us to the much harder to find resources. You know, the ones that work.”