Is it explained the reason as to why the MC can almost persuade Taio into freeing them in the latest chap? I always go with snapping the chains cause it’s more badass but I tried that option and was surprised by Taio’s reaction. Does the MC have some sort of compulsion power?
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I imagine this is more of the author poking fun at how the persuasion skill works in the game and in RPGs in general. /s
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I suspect that’s because we have the other Taio in our head and subconsciously used some power to compel him. It’s certainly an interesting piece of info, and might play a role in future battles with other clones. Use diplomancy to debuff them, then execute.
Ultimately, Taio is not a human but a clone, a simulacrum made out of Chi. There should be techniques that allow one to manipulate someone else’s Chi, especially if we already have some of it latched to our souls.
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It’s persuasion 3 check and you should be unable to win this but the game didn’t notice it should have lowered your persuasion score by 1 as you don’t have your cloak equipped.
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Where are my alchemical reagents? Huh?
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In Hell
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What about merchant with handsome trait
You were supposed to send that shipment of “reagents” days ago. Where’d it go?
Don’t worry. A handsome merchant will have at least 3 points in persuasion without any other buff, which means he could pass that check swimmingly. What I wrote in my guide assumed that the player had only 2 points in persuasion, which meant we should lose the check, which didn’t happen.
Since my first guide was easier to write than I expected and some people seem to be happy with it, I will write one more. This time for trapper/Midorikatai. This is the last one though. I have two reasons for that; first is I don’t like blacksmith and merchant backgrounds and second, you are not forced to pick a style that matches your profession. That’s why either guide should be of some help, even if you play with Akakiru or one of the other styles. Additionally, I will write the new guide by copying and editing the previous one so don’t expect stellar work.
Chapter 1
Summary
- Race Kitsune, allows for a bit cheaper cycling and the skill spread is useful. Probably the best race for min-maxing.
- Profession trapper. Gets us a cool pet bird. Shame about the core and extra reagents (i.e. shards) but one has to pay to be stylish.
- My senses to guide me. +1 perception
- Talk to ghosts +1 handseals
- Research tomes +1 lore
- Spirits +1 handseals
- Offer a handful of shards - reroll until you get 19 shards. It’s more important than it looks, we are operating on a shoestring budget. You can reroll by clicking [Show Stats] and [Return to Game] repeatedly, as many times as you want and as long as your sanity allows for.
- I’m tough enough +1 athletics
- Immediately when you unlock the option to cycle shards, do it.
- Worked like a charm +3 shards, +1 honor
- Run juice stand, +1 persuasion, +12 shards, +1 commerce
- Cycle shards
- Work as a junior desk clerk for the Magistrate +1 insight
- Kosuke, +1 kosukecombat
- Weave small rugs with Rin, +1 craft, +5 shards, +5 sisrel
- Fight
- Punch the fat one
- Jab into eyes
- Expected better
- Mock with truth
- Gather herbs and roots for the apothecary, +1 alchemy, +7 alchemy reagents
- Unlike in the previous guide, we don’t have enough shards to cycle now but still end up with 89 AP.
- Taunt him to chase me away from my brother +1 athletics, +1 to stealth which we will need soon to rob the sect
- Fortitude core. At this point, we have 167 AP just after cycling the gate.
- Pick Midorikatai style. The rest should also work well enough but I assume you went with this one. This is a min-maxing guide. You get extra 15 AP for synchronizing background and style.
- “Well fought.”
- “Defended my family’s honor.”
- “Do what you must.”
- Stay silent.
- “As you wish.”
- “Apologies for the delay.”
We end up with 182 AP and skills as follows:
Athletics: ●●○○○
Insight: ●●○○○
Persuasion: ●○○○○
Craft: ●○○○○
Perception: ●○○○○
Survival: ●●○○○
Deception: ○○○○○
Stealth: ●○○○○
Thievery: ○○○○○
Alchemy: ●○○○○
Handseals: ●●○○○
Lore: ●○○○○
Also, open handseals menu and pick Auspicious Southern Seal for free. Onto chapter 2.
Chapter 2
Summary
- Handsome prince. +1 persuasion. We need exactly 2 points in persuasion by that point, which we have now. Anything more would be an overkill unless something changes after v.0.2.1
- Cut hair short and spike them with alchemical reagents. Don’t laugh, it’s +2 AP.
- “This is fantastic! Thank you Father!” [Keep the egg]
- Calmly shut the door.
- Just one wouldn’t hurt. Steal the path manual. Very important, free skill whenever you want is big.
- Use the skill book to increase lore.
- “The natural aura of our region is weak.”
- Move on.
- Fortitude.
- Soul, +3 reagents.
- Soul, +3 ritual components.
- Power, +2 gold.
- Fox charm technique acquired. Grants +5 AP, +1 deception and lowers costs of seal rituals by one component. That is the reason why we will not increase handseals past +4 in chapter 3.
- “Victory to the sect.”
- Blast it.
- Volley of blasts.
- “Thanks, sensei.”
- My clan. Reroll until you get 32 shards.
- Both of them. Lore check, by passing it, Jin and Rin unlock their aura early which gives each of them +2 to combat stat. If you have athletics 2, they will get +3 instead.
- “Mao hit harder.”
- “Natural scent.”
- “Where I please.”
- “Anything else should I know?”
- “Not a bad idea.”
- Check the house, crack the lockbox. Unlike in the previous guide, this check failed and we got 6 gold instead of 11.
- Check the barn, calm the boy down.
- Check the fields.
- “Yes please.”
- “Forcefeed the farmer.”
- “You work for me now.” Persuasion check.
- Gather herbs from the farms, +5 reagents.
- DO NOT refine elixir, currently bugged.
- Build a weapon for Kosuke.
- Unfortunately, with this skill spread, we can’t locate hidden valuables.
- Detect spirit fruit. That’s the reason we invested 2 points into insight, it unlocks Kosuke’s aura.
- Fill your carts with explosives.
- Get some sleep.
- Seduction.
- These bandits will pay.
- Send Kosuke to take them out. It’s important to pick this option because unlike the crossbow one, it gives +1 kosukecombat stat.
- Calm down.
- Blow the tavern.
- First energy blast.
- We unlock immortal core advancement. At this point, we have 373 AP. Raise the soul core twice and the agility core once.
- Ki roar.
- Pocket the book.
- Point east.
- Deny the fire. You can choose to take it but I assume you didn’t. It won’t change that much.
- Recruit them as farmhands and guards. It gives +1 to commerce. It is a good time to explain what it does. To put it simply, commerce stat gives you a bit of passive income at several points in the game, most notably in chapter 3. You won’t notice it because the game doesn’t inform you about extra shards, at least currently. Hopefully, it will be changed in the future.
- Quite a bit. Lore check.
- We finish our report and take the second skill book.
We end up with 394 AP. Onto the next chapter.
Chapter 3
Summary
Before we start, I want to stress that while I enjoyed it a lot, this chapter gave me more headaches than all the others combined. It’s because chapter 3 is power gamer’s galore and to max it out, you need to make very specific decisions with a very specific timing, which also includes cycling shards. Cycling costs more the more AP you have, so some of the choices that raise AP we leave for the latter part of the chapter. There is also a ton of semi-random income so expect rerolling. Additionally, it is here that we start to use rituals. We start with only 3 ritual components. That’s far too few. We will have to buy quite a lot.
One more thing. Because of all the menu juggling, saves are prone to glitching so make one save at the start of Chapter 3 and use other slots to save often.
This time I will write what you do each month. In case when one activity takes more than 1, I will skip the number.
Summary
Month 1
Summary
- Visit the library. Research Martial Art tips but do NOT research elemental affinities. That’s for later.
- Visit the market, caravan stalls.
- Persuasion check.
- Dash.
- “Good. I need competition.”
- Convert silver and gold to shards. You should have around 412.
- Visit Sage’s shop. Buy Western scroll.
- Open the ritual menu. Cast Western by spending Chi, pick persuasion.
- Visit Apothecary. Sell 10 reagents.
- Go back to the market, caravan stalls. Haggle for a discount. Persuasion 3 lowers prices here by 15% and increases commerce by 1.
- Sell the portrait of Mao as a soyjak for 2200 silver. You can exchange it for shards now.
- Buy weighted clothing and equip it.
- Buy the first skill manual. You can buy 3 here and we will do it before the chapter ends but right now, 1 is enough.
- Open inventory menu and use both skill books to increase handseals from +2 to +4.
- Return to Sage’s shop. Steal Northern scroll.
- Open ritual menu. Cast Northern, survival.
- Open the menu again. Cast Western, athletics.
- Leave the market.
- Hunt for Soul Treasures. Thanks to us pumping our skills with rituals, we should get 101 AP and an additional 10 AP from the weighted clothing. This activity has to be taken during the first month because the later we do it the lower the reward.
Month 2 - skipped due to the Hunt taking 2 months
Month 3
Summary
- We start by naming our pet roc.
- Go to Sage’s shop and buy the Hungry Spirit Seal scroll.
- Buy 1 ritual component.
- Open the ritual menu. Cast Northern for perception and Western for persuasion.
- Guard duty. +200 shards. This time, no rerolling.
- Choose Kosuke to work as a guard. +100 shards, +2 prestige, +1 commerce and +1 kosukecombat
Month 4
Summary
- Advance your soul core by 1.
- Improve skills.
- Craft.
Month 5
Summary
- Train your skills.
- Perception.
Month 6
Summary
- Visit Sage’s shop. Buy 1 component.
- Cast the Northern seal, pay with Chi. Increase craft.
- Earn funds - build houses. Reroll until you get 325 shards.
Month 7
Summary
- If you have a pet roc, Desdemona is late with her gift. Only now she sends her ritual to us. Why is that, I have no idea.
- Open ritual menu. Cast Eastern, increase handseals.
- Open cultivating menu. Time to start cycling shards. With increased handseals and Kitsune racial trait, it should cost 119 shards to increase AP by 21. Currently, you should have around 1070 shards and 526 AP.
- Cycle as many times as you can. Your AP should be 673 now.
- Earn funds. Enchant mystic seals reroll until you get 410+.
Month 8
Summary
Enough with training skills. We return to farming shards and prestige.
- Unequip the weighted clothing.
- Increase agility by 1.
- Increase power by 1.
- Buy 1 component.
- Cast Northern seal. Increase perception.
- Earn funds by scouting the merchant routes - aim for 3250 silver. So reroll until you get about as much.
Month 9
Summary
- Equip the weighted clothes.
- Buy 1 ritual component.
- Cast Western seal and improve athletics.
- Earn funds - dive for treasures. Reroll until you obtain 3600 silver.
Month 10
Summary
- Exchange silver for shards.
- Buy 2 components.
- Cast Eastern seal, pick handseals.
- Cycle shards until you are left with 600.
- Train using buffer barrier.
Month 11
Summary
- Cast Northern seal, pick survival.
- Earn funds by tanning hides. Reroll until you get 340+
Month 12
Summary
Time to buy all the stuff we need.
- Buy both snacks from the butcher.
- Buy two last scrolls from the Sage.
- Go to Caracan stalls, buy 2 skill manuals.
- Buy Factotum’s blessing, increase thievery.
- Once more to the Sage, buy 7 components.
- Cast Southern, pick thievery.
- Pickpocket. Reroll until 20 shards.
- Cast Eastern and increase lore.
- Go to the library and research elemental affinities.
- Teach buffer barrier to your crew.
Congrats, the worst nonsense of this guide (as of yet) has ended.
Our stats should look just like that:
Summary
Aura Pressure: 875 AP
Power: ●●●
Fortitude: ●●●
Agility: ●● (do keep in mind, it is lowered by the weighted clothing)
Soul: ●●●●●●
Athletics: ●●○○○
Insight: ●●○○○
Persuasion: ●●○○○
Craft: ●●○○○
Perception: ●●○○○
Survival: ●●○○○
Deception: ●○○○○
Stealth: ●○○○○
Thievery: ●○○○○
Alchemy: ●○○○○
Handseals: ●●●●○
Lore: ●●○○○
Pretty decent jack of all trades. With our numerous skills and handsome face, we can roleplay as a typical bard in a typical DnD adventure. We just need to find some nice dragon lady. Or Jack’s mom. Anyway, time to meet Lady Fang.
Fight with Fang
Summary
- Go to the cultivation menu and add 1 power core and 1 fortitude core.
- Cast Southern seal. Pick stealth. Pay using Chi.
- Now cast Eastern seal. Pick handseals.
- Cast Eastern. Pick insight.
- Proceed until the stealth check. Reroll (HAHA!) until you get 18 AP.
- Challenge to a duel.
- Shoot with Chi.
- Leap into the air.
- Leap overhead.
- Launch a beam.
- Embrace the storm.
- “Do you need an escort?”
- “Apology accepted.”
- “Is there a problem?” Is the best option if you want to continue with honorable/compassionate option but I like to intimidate them here. It doesn’t change anything aside from personality score, it’s just a flavor text.
- Reroll until you get 43 shards.
Congrats on finishing chapter 3. We are ending it with 1007 AP. Nice.
Chapter 4
Summary
- Cast Northern seal. Pay with Chi. Increase survival.
- Cast Eastern seal. Pick alchemy.
- Camp in the woods. You should get 5 alchemy reagants but that’s currently bugged.
- Blast it.
- Call down the best girl.
- Finish the beast.
- Reroll (sniffle) until Soul Treasure’s AP is around 720. At this point, we are far away ahead of the difficulty curve so it won’t give us that much but we are trying to get as much as possible, so hey.
- Skin and craft.
- Equip your cloak. That’s an amazing item because it gives +1 to power and +1 to persuasion.
- Go to the cultivation menu and absorb the treasure. It will give you 11 AP, more or less. .
- Look for survivors.
- Treat the burns.
- Introduce yourself as part of your clan.
- Sign the contract.
- Repair the wheels.
- Cast Southern seal. Pay with Chi. Pick deception.
- Go to the alchemist.
- Inspect the Memorywell elixir.
- Buy it and tell that Mao will pay. Heh.
- Pick one element between earth, wind, storm, and ice. I chose ice.
- Convert gold to shards.
- Go buy every manual except doublechant. At this point in the game, it’s useless and if I read the code correctly, there is a hard cap on knowing 25 techniques. It’s still far off but no need to waste money.
- You can buy clothes if you want. I picked a travel cloak and straw hat.
- Leave and meet your mentor. I assume it’s Fang.
- “Damn, wolfgirl, that’s all you had to say!”
- Take your shirt off, leap down, and lift.
- Time to pick two techniques. Centipede fight for survival increase, heavy lifting for extra AP per win, and wolf summoning for extra persuasion and empowering our animal companion are all good. I go for heavy lifting and wolf summoning because these seem interesting.
- Add 2 fortitude cores. You can also realign your aura color.
Chapter 4 ends and we end up with 1129 AP.
Chapter 5
Summary
- “Where are your wolves?”
- “Working for Taio is going to get you killed.” It’s an easy-to-miss persuasion check. By passing it, you will get one extra martial retainer.
- “We can talk without the chains.”
- Tell him the truth.
- Truth again.
- And truth once more.
- “Terrible acting, kowtow.”
- Deal with the chain, use crafting.
- Escape from your cell, pick the lock.
- Deal with the prison guard, fight head-on.
- Break his spear.
- Deliver a speech.
- “To arms.” It increases persuasion by 1.
- Kiss Kosuke.
- “Feign imprisonment.” Now your inventory returns. Cast Eastern to increase alchemy and Southern to increase stealth.
- Leave the valuables - right now it is bugged and you won’t get anything even if you take it. Also, it lowers the morale of your people if you steal now.
- “Come with me if you wish to live.” Should give you 12 retainers and 6 martial retainers.
- “I wonder if there is any loot left.” Will give you 1 commerce.
- Focus into beam.
- Hug her back.
- Launch a surprise attack.
- Catch it.
- Kick.
- Rally the wolves.
- “Are you ready to fight yet?”
- Cycle the heavenly darkness gate.
- Lance a beam.
- Maneuver above him.
- Launch an energy attack to strike his Technique out of the air.
- …What’s that in the sky?
- Channel your inner Beast into a lethal maneuver.
- “Cool guys don’t look at explosions.”
- Pick whichever ship you want, I chose combat vessels.
- Rub her ears.
- “I’d never do something so stupid.”
Chapter 5 finished. This time I ended up with 1250 AP. The big downside on the trapper route compared to the herbalist is a bit worse skill spread which leads to lower income in chapter 2. Additionally, we obtain less reagents to sell. All of that lead me to sacrifice one of the months and instead of improving one of my skills I chose to work more. We also miss out on the pill which will grant us extra core. We get a roc which is cool as fuck but not really useful. All things considered, herbalist seems a bit stronger to me.
About other resources, I still have two skill books, over 200 shards, 4 ships, 38 civilian retainers, and 8 martial retainers. Also 15 prestige. And 211 unallocated AP, despite trouncing Taio and finishing him without a single wound. Trials seem quite promising for this young patriarch.
18 Likes
I used your guide for my Blacksmith Akakiru Character as well and it worked out good I had to do a little experimentation to get close the the same results and my character is a bit less morally upstanding than yours but I’m happy with the result lol.
Biggest difference was I couldn’t get the underlings from the bandit mission. Technically I could’ve gotten one but it would’ve cost me too much in the long run
Aoyomusu is next lol
EDIT AOYMUSU + MERCHANT IS SO CRACKED 
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Nice job. I hope my guide was clear enough, especially on chapter 3 which was the most convoluted part.
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Kosuke is delivering it, obv.
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I noticed if you are Kitsune Taio doesn’t comment on your corruption level if you have any I wonder if corruption affects Kitsune differently than everyone else
u mean when he talks about the messing with the soul thing
When we first get captured and he examines us in the torture chamber
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I experimented a bit with all four background by always using kitsune, i think the best way you can farm AP is with the merchant route focusing on persuasion and handseals.
@Fero i kinda emulated your strategy.
I managed to get to 1500 AP, i don’t think it’s possible get to 1600 but i wouldn’t say it’s impossible to at least get close.
EDIT: i can’t post screenshoot, don’t know why
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With or without releasing a demon in chapter 3?
Merchant route gives you a ton of shards but I don’t like it because it kind of forces you to raise persuasion before chapter 4, and my issue is you can get the cloak which is 1 dot in this skill, and then get an extra boost in chapter 5. So, as long as you have 2 points, you can temporarily max out persuasion via rituals.
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I managed to get to 1500 AP
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I released the demon.
Yeah in fact that was not the best run IMO, that was a run focused on getting most AP that i could, i prefer other paths, such as the blacksmith swordsman or the midorikatai trapper.
By the way sorry i took so much time to answer, i just got into the choice of game forum i was trying to figure out how the quote mechanic work lol, bad result.
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I’m glad I could ruin your game. Can’t wait for the next chapter to do the same.
I get you. My guide looks like it focuses hard on getting AP but there is a lot of place to tweak it a bit, mostly by using the skill books I kept in my inventory or changing a few months in chapter 3. Good job at breaking the game, though.
No worries and welcome. I reckon there was some sort of interactive guide where you talk to a bot and it teaches you all the cool stuff about posting and formatting. It’s worth giving a try if you haven’t already.
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