Eros by Moonlight

From another short form chinese drama I watched recently. In describing the cost for gaining a top-tier Realm:

System:"Cultivation cannot be exchanged across realms. To buy cultivation from a higher realm, the host must first exchange for all the lower realms first."

MC: "Are you from Tencent, huh?"

I've been watching short form chinese dramas recently, complete with revenge, martial arts and lots and lots of dialogue. Today, I found a rather hilarious translation on YouTube I'd like to share:

2nd sister: Illusion. This must all be an illusion.

Male Lead: This is just like those cheesy chinese dramas I used to watch before I crossed over.

2nd sister: How can you say something so stupid? Besides, I've been with Simon for so long. If he were really a monster, how could I be unharmed? So this must all be an illusion.

Male Lead: The reason you've been together so long and you are still fine is because if a zombie opened your brain, it'd be disappointed.

A storm tossed our ship for a day and a night on the way to Tural. Never have I seen such violence at sea. Both passengers and crew are exhausted.

We shall arrive near the waters off Tuliyollal in a few days time.

I wonder if I will be able to find the peoples of my father. I have only met one of the Shetona during my travels, a young Sharlayan gleaner. He encouraged me to seek others.

May this Starlight season be the source of fond memories

While visiting Family around the end of the year, Kiht'a comes across a trunk filled with things he held dear as a child. It appears that Mother S'ta has kept mementos of her children over the years.

Near the bottom of the trunk is a much-used Miqo'te doll. It recalls the Starlight celebration when he was six. He had received a wooden sword and shield as a gift. His sister Daedir had received the doll. Kiht'a so wanted a companion that year that he offered to trade. Trade accepted, the two of them had such a great time that day, with Daedir acting the role of protector for Kiht'a and his new 'friend'.

While on a recent visit to Thavnair, I left Radz-at-Han and headed west toward the coast. As I approached a quarry for giantsgall, a unique purple-streaked stone known for its aetheric properties, I noted a strange tower sitting on what appeared to be a small island further to the west.  The workers at the quarry tell me it appeared overnight, less than a week ago.  No one knows who built it, or why. It is already causing unease for the people of Thavnair.

One would think that the most important port city in Thanalan would have its own Aetheryte, but such is not the case in Vesper Bay.

Although the city serves as a prime transport hub between La Noscea and Thanalan, its current benefactor has not seen fit to grace the city with an Aetheryte. Instead, Lord Lolorito placed a statue to himself on the spot where one should exist. No one knows the reason for this, although I have heard rumours that I will not pass on.  I believe that it is rather short-sighted for one of the wealthiest of patrons in Thanalan.

Kugane is a port city full of grace and beauty, its people curious and welcoming. The view from our apartment is breathtaking. I am happy that Kiht is here to see it with me.

Dreamweed does not grow readily in direct sunlight. In the dark caverns of Thanalan one may run across areas filled with pots of the pale purple plant. It is best to exit such caverns quickly, undetected. The creation of Somnus requires a steady supply of the plant, and its cultivators are not as nice as the other monsters who inhabit the caverns of Thanalan.

A memory of Father one winter, many years ago.

Father arrived home to find me arguing with my clan brothers, Sen and Dal. They did not want me to accompany them on the week's hunt, as I did not have a weapon. I was hurt, as I thought they were rejecting me as their brother.

Father scooped me up and carried me away, into the forest. His presence calmed me. After some time had passed, he stopped and set me down.

"If you would hunt, you must have a bow. Search through the trees here and find a branch you can curl without breaking."

Many of the branches I found broke in two with the slightest bend. One did not. I brought it to him.

"Truly done, as I expect of my son. Still, a bow without a chord is merely a stick. Gather what remains of the nettles on the forest floor and bring them to me."

I wandered through the area, eyes glued to the ground, finding nettles and plucking them from the ground. After a bit, Father asked me to bring them to him.

He had me strip the remaining leaves, and showed me how to work the stalks so that only the soft outer fibers were left. These were twisted into a long green string. Father showed me how to do it and had me continue the strand of string he started, all the while working on another using more of the stalks.

"A single fiber can not make a good chord. It is only when there are many fibers woven together, each contributing to the whole, that a true bow chord can be shaped."

After shaping the branch a bit, Father cut notches at both ends. The ends of the chord were looped and tied.  He handed me the chord, took the bow branch in his hands, bent it and asked me to place the loops at each end where the notches were.

"You now have a proper bow, a gift of Wood and Wind. Let us return to your brothers and prepare for a hunt."

With this said, he plucked the bow chord, creating a thrumming sound.

That sound still echoes in my soul every time I take up a bow.

The sun was just rising as I came across these ruins while searching for the herb known as Wyvern's Tail. The pure waters of the Whilom River now fall through the dragon-ravaged walls.

It has been named the "Iron Feast" for the beasts who come to drink. These beasts are easy prey for dragons that still hunt in the area -- a feast indeed.

Home is the bed where your Beloved rests with you at the end of the day. It is the pleasure of each other's company over the course of a day's chocobo ride through lands both foreign and familiar.

Home is a warm house where Mothers tends to the business of leading the tribe through another year. Where Fathers visit periodically to see the children, taking the Sons out into the world to aid in the discovery of who we are, and what we will become.

Home is where we bond with Sisters, Brothers, Mothers, Fathers. Where the simple acts of living are learned. Where we return to heal, to celebrate, to mourn, to love.

I met a Keeper of the Moon, named Kiht'a Than, at a set of hot springs known by the Ishgardian knights of the Convictory as 'Dragonspit'.  The knights believe these springs have healing powers; indeed, one of them asked me to fetch a skin of the water as a sort of restorative.

I joined Kiht’a in the pool, and can say that it was invigorating to dip into hot waters while surrounded by the perpetual cold of the Coerthas Western Highlands.

These Ixal logging grounds span both banks of Proud Creek in the Northern Shroud.  Their clear cutting at the Shroud's edge has greatly diminished the  Forest, and has driven a number of animals from their homes. They have no direct means for transporting the logs, and must resort to clandestine balloon flights in the dead of night to move them.