Street Cultivation 2: Chapters 47-48

I actually like the story for the exact reasons you find it frustrating and "boring" it's a fun and interesting idea to see a character who for the most part is average making his way in the world surrounded by people going on their own heroic journey. As the person above said not every protagonist needs to be a hero, villain or someone "special" them making their way in the world is plenty special.

Gabriel

I was hoping Lisa would find Melissa infinitely more interesting/funnier/smarter/attractive than Rick (as I do) and sort of be happy with the pivot for a different friend or whatever. So this is a good start, but I hope the Rick xx Lisa ship is sunk.

I'd argue that not every protagonist is a hero. Sometimes the story they go through is better than their little slice of it. I can concede that his coming of age has been rough, but it's still pretty wild compared to an every day story. I feel like the background is lacking a touch of color as the comparison is mostly ignored and inferred.

The best protagonist for a story is not necessarily the one with the most exciting background, or even the one with the most active contributions to the narrative, but the one who offers the most interesting vantage point through which to view the story. There are plenty of characters who're more "special" than Rick is in the context of the story, but I think Rick is serving his purpose as an interesting vantage point to view the narrative from.

Desertopa

Right now, Graham's Stake is "using up" some of his potential strength on something that's not a combat core. One of the benefits of the Dark Blood Kettle is to free up that strength, but in the conversations this chapter Rick is confused about how best to do that.

Sarah Lin

was he talking about getting rid of it? cause I don't really understand why he would want to do that

GoodOldChap

Valid request, but I don't think I have it in me to put one together right now. Graham's Stake is a core that generates its own lucrim, so in the short term it improves his stamina and theoretically in the long term it could support him.

Sarah Lin

Is there any chance of getting a glossary of terms or something. I really can’t remember what Grahams Stake is meant to do or why it relevant to his foundation.

tehlu

This is probably the least plot armored web serial. And reading a story from the perpective of the cleaning lady would actually be unique & interesting. There are many many stories about special people doing special things and getting special treatment. I agree that Rick is not the most interesting character at the moment and his struggle for betterment in the face of poverty is no longer as compelling. But none of those problems can be resolved by giving him a shiny new deus ex power. He just needs to have a better/higher goal than getting a better apartment. Which is well and truly his only real goal right now. Even his coming fight is incidental. Having said that, it seems all this is building up so something.

tehlu

I just think Rick is so totally unremarkable that it is boring, his occasional bursts of ridiculous altruism aren't especially morally interesting. Also he doesn't need to be a genius, but are stories not ment to be somewhat aspirational? Could he not be cunning or smart or anything other than a dense headed bleeding heart with plot armor. And who actually enjoys everyman characters? When you read a story set in a sci-fi world of spaceships and aliens do you really want to read it from the perspective of the ship cleaning lady because she is the everyman you can relate to, or do you want to read about the captain who defies orders to save a ship from space pirates. Literally almost any other character in this story would make a better protagonist than Rick.

Please, Sarah. We all know you're an immortal serial world hopper just telling stories from her past. 😏 We love the Lucrim 'pseudoscience' too. 😉

Michael son of Jacob

Rick being the way he is allow us to see things from a common mans perspective who simply wants a better life. It makes him relatable because I'm sure everyone wants a better life for themselves. I think the angle with Rick here is that he is (besides being in a terrible situation) a normal guy albeit with a good heart being dragged into a massive clusterduck waiting to happen. Its only a matter of time before I'm sure he is going to have to make some hard choices despite doing his best to keep his head down. As far as morality goes, your underselling Rick in this regard. The fact he stuck by his sister instead of ditching her to make his life easier already says A LOT. Not to mention the situation with low class demons and the animals. Rick may not hero of justice out to save the world but he isn't the type to ignore something bad happening in front of him if he can help it. As far as it goes pretty sure the story is just building up on things before letting Rick really begin to shine. Besides genius protagonists are done a lot, I like to see how a everyday man who works himself hard and has good sense deals with situations and "special" opponents.

LordMarksman

Why is having a character that is nothing special good? I keep on reading because the story is well written and interesting but Rick is so boring and its getting harder to ignore. Literally every character around him is special in some way, his sister has some super rare void thing going on, his girlfriend is hell bent on revenge and is super smart and strong, Delsin in some enigmatic forest dude, you have a dude who is trying to change the way the entire society functions and is strong. Where is the hero's journey? Is this really just going to be a story about an average dude who trains relatively hard sometimes and at times lucks into interesting situations as everyone around him is infinitely more interesting? Its not even like he has great moral character or has to make difficult choices, he is literally just a harmless dude who wants a comfortable life and cares about his sister a lot. Rick isn't so much a protagonist as he is a piece of driftwood that occasionally hits a rapid.

Gah relationship thingies, I hope it doesn’t devolve into melodrama. And Don’t Hurt Emily you meanie!! Thanks great story!

eersc

You have to use Shift+Enter.

Sarah Lin

I think my favorite part was probably the bit where Delsin said there wasn't anyting special about Rick as a cultivator. Pretty much true, he doesn't have anything truly unique going for him. The core of his strength pretty much comes from sheer hardwork and determination. Also I feel like Delsin actually likes Rick a lot more than he lets on. He just doesn't want to get too close both because of it potentially being a pain in he ass and also because I feel like he doesn't want to get disappointed. What I mean by that is, Delsin strikes me as the type of character who has been through A LOT in his life and more often than not he was "let down" by others. So he truly appreciates the people close to him but tends to just keep everyone else away preferring the pleasure of his own company. The fact he is already doing all this for Rick says to me he legitimately sees something in him worthwhile but is hesitant because like I said he is afraid of being let down again. At least that is the impression I get from his character.

LordMarksman

"the Dark Blood Kettle" Congratulation Rick! Finally you got a technique with a proper protagonisty name. Shame the pain was not a permanent part of it, abilities others don't train because they hurt like hell and/or tend to go horribly wrong are certain to make protagonists OP. ---- Now I am curious what it does exactly and how you do a line break in a patreon comment.

Pete