"Run your own Xianxia faction! Offend old monsters! Raise good seeds! Face heavenly tribulations! And remember, always support your Young Masters, no matter who they offend."
— Quest Description On The Front Page
Started in October 2020 by occipitallobe, Hmmph... this junior is a good seed is a xianxia-style management quest on Sufficient Velocity in which players take on the role of the grand elder of the Golden Devil Clan, Manuel Konstantinos or Old Gold to outsiders, after the sudden demise of the previous grand elder. It is up to them to ensure that the clan survives and prosper against the clan's enemies and heaven's wrath. The quest takes place in the form of turns with each turn covering twenty years of clan activity. The quest allows players to create a "Good Seed", a character that will grow and progress as a cultivator in the clan. By writing stories about the character, the player can aid in their character's progress and even assist the clan as a whole.
The quest can be found here
Tropes in this work include:
- Ancient Grome: The Golden Devil Clan are descended from the Sea-Conquering Army who were essentially Xianxia Greeks/Romans. Because of this, much of their naming conventions are a mix of greek and roman with a sprinkling of Chinese due to cultural osmosis. In fact, the true name of the clan is Imperial Optimatoi.
- Anyone Can Die: Since this quest uses a dice system to determine the fates and outcomes of various characters and actions, it is not unusual for prominent characters to die due to a poor fate. This is also subverted thanks to the Good Seed system which allows player characters to accumulate Life-Saving Treasures which prevents certain death when used up.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How the hierarchy of authority works in the quest. The strongest cultivator of each clan/sect/faction is usually considered the leader of the group.
- The Chessmaster: A number of characters are this, the most prominent example being Old Cannibal. Old Cannibal, as per word of god, is a genius who is one of the smartest people in the setting, able to set up incredible plans in order to complete their goals. Old Cannibal, however, believes that Manuel is this, due to how often they have foiled their plans where in reality Manuel is an Opportunistic Bastard who grabs opportunities so fast and aggressively that it looks like everything he does is all according to some ingenious scheme.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Kingslaughterer receives this, after disobeying Altar Lord and killing the sole Single-Pillar king in the Demonic Alliance, via being torn apart bit by bit while alive and fed to his great-granddaughter, all of it being recorded on a jade token to show that Altar Lord is deadly serious about punishing those who dare to disobey his orders.
- Didn't See That Coming: Occurs quite often with a notable example being the Golden Devil Clan defeating and crushing the Jingshen Clan in less than fifteen years when all others had projected the Jingshen invasion to take at least 50 years minimum to complete, as well as kickstarting the Great Era early.
- Difficult, but Awesome: The Single-Pillar Path and going past the orthodox stages in cultivation is considered this, both in-universe and out of it. Not only do they require an immense amount of resources to fuel, unless one is lucky enough to obtain great fortune, the average cultivator risks reaching the end of their lifespan before they can successfully breakthrough to the next stage. In exchange, however, those that succeed are more powerful than orthodox cultivators and Single-Pillar Kings follow a different power scale from the orthodox path.
- Doorstopper: Currently, over 2.5 million words have been written for the many "Good Seeds" that the players have created, compared to the 290k words that the questmaster have written in the main story.
- Giant Corpse World: The main setting of the quest is the Third Sea, where everyone lives on the remains of a world turtle, that was murdered by Demonic Soup Chef to turn the sea into soup. This has resulted in the ambient qi being much less than those of other Seas where their world turtle still lives.
- Hero of Another Story: Every Good Seed count as this, with their adventures being separate from the main story posts essentially happening in between turns.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Euphrosyne saves Manuel from a terrible fate by forcibly invoking her heavenly tribulation despite the fact that doing so without the proper preparation and in the middle of battle was a guaranteed death sentence. This trope also became a mechanic for players, allowing them to take massive penalties to their fate rolls in order to help the clan as a whole, often to deadly results.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The main method of cultivation for blood path cultivators is to literally devour other people, the stronger the better. Those that follow this path of cultivation however ends up cursed to be unable to use any other methods and must continuously consume and devour others less they die.
- Long-Lived: As cultivators rise through the stages of power, their lifespan becomes longer and longer, going from a mortal lifespan to potentially several thousand years of life. Players can also opt to receive lifespan extension treasure if their characters are near the end of their normal lifespan to keep them alive long enough to reach the next stage of power.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Old Cannibal is this to the Righteous Powers. After being forced out of the desert after his defeat in the Blood Cannibal War, Old Cannibal proceeded to take over the Abyssal Devil Bee Sect and demonstrate what happens when a super genius is up against opponents who can't steal secrets from you or isn't a master of improvisation.
- Old Master: Manuel Konstantinos, along with many other characters, is this. Having accumulated both immense experience and resources, old monsters are generally viewed with both respect and fear.
- Power Levels: Cultivators in the Third Sea are typically divided into stages (Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul). With each level, the cultivator's lifespan extends, their body undergoes enhancements, and they become able to use more powerful abilities and items. While there are further stages, reaching them requires far more resources than the Third Sea can provide, let alone sustain.
- Semantic Superpower: When a cultivator has reached a certain point in power, usually at Core Formation stage, they gain abilities related to their Dao, giving them this. An example would be Jiao Jingshen who follows the Dao of Acceptance. Rather than accepting the actions of others, Jiao can force others to accept her actions or commands.
- Treasure Chest Cavity: Cultivators who manage to become Nascent Souls, gain an Immortal Aperture, a mystical space within their body. This space is used to store magical treasures, tools, weapons, resources, and other special items.
