Just a little something I felt like cooking up... a sheet for one of the present reoccurring antagonists, who may just be getting more limelight soon.

[hider=The Forward Thinker]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6vG3G9q.png[/img]
[color=f7941d][i]"Good grief, can't a guy build a tidy nest egg securely these days?"[/i][/color]
[b]Appearance:[/b] A man of fairly average height and an unimposing presence, Cao Bao exudes the aura of a slacker, messy brown hair, hands often stuffed in his dark long coat's pockets, a slouch in his shoulders, as he sits on whatever's available with an ever-burning cigarette lazily hanging from his lips. His sharp brown eyes nonetheless indicate a keen awareness of his surroundings that belies his air of nonchalance, and the presence of his Noble Arm is rarely found absent from the sheathe at his hip, no matter the setting. As far as Arms Masters go, his garb is not particularly loud, even if it isn't really any sort of military standard. Cao Bao's appearance doesn't tend to draw much attention in a room filled with his peers except, perhaps, in the capacity that looking less eccentric among those that are ironically makes him stick out like a sore thumb by comparison.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Build: Lean and somewhat muscular.[/center]

[b]Name:[/b] Cao Bao (That Camping Bastard, The Unseen Shadow, Zodiac Candidate)
[b]Age:[/b] 25
[b]Nationality:[/b] Chinese

[b]Noble Arm Name & Appearance:[/b] [Blueblood], an almost innocuous scimitar with a dark, navy-blue hilt and general lack of adornment. There is something nearly sinister about the humble appearance of this weapon.
[hider=Blueblood]
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[center][b][i]Warning: Intelligence suggests that the only reason Cao Bao has not been officially classified as an A-Rank Arms Master by the PRC is a, quote: "lack of motivation and merit". The limited nature of sightings of him and -at present- unconfirmed rumors of his capabilities leave his threat level in flux. Regardless, a confrontation with Cao Bao should be treated as nothing less than an A-Rank threat in practice, especially in the understanding that he is usually paired as a supporting unit for another powerful Arms Master.[/i][/b][/center]
[b]Noble Arm Rank:[/b] B
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Power: A-
Speed: A-
Range: F+ (Summon Range & Destructive Projection)
Persistence: B
Precision: C-
Potential: D+ (Pending motivation)
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[b]Noble Arm Characteristics:[/b]
[list]
[*]Value: Self-Interest.
[*]Element: [Greed]
[*]Growth: Depth
[*]Type: Support
[*]Range: "Mid"
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[hider=Noble Arm Abilities]
[b]Savescum:[/b] While the Noble Arm is summoned, he passively “marks” anything he touches (including himself), saving a mental “blueprint”. His power will automatically “overwrite” a preexisting blueprint with an updated version if he contacts something again for longer than 1-2 seconds (or if he actively wishes to overwrite it). At any time or place thereafter, he can "reapply" a blueprint and transfer the existing mass back into the state it was when he last "scanned" it. He deconstructs, transfers and reconstructs the matter in what appears to be an instant through open space from one place to another, sliding the subatomic particles through just about any obstacle to reach a point within 100 feet of him. Of note, an object larger than his summon radius will still transfer in full. Objects he transfers retain all traits they had when scanned, including preexisting damage, inertia and more, letting him fire hails of ammunition and weaponry he has “tagged” midair/flight. It should be noted, this only affects targets physically. For whatever reason, things like memories will never degrade under this effect, nor could he resurrect someone that has already died, their soul long gone. In a similar vein to not being able to affect souls, he cannot “mark” other Noble Arms. “Marks” on living beings wear off after a few days, but nonliving targets permanently become his "property".
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[hider=Misc Abilities]
[b]Intelligent[/b]: Just because Cao Bao is lazy doesn't mean he isn't smart. He simply tries to do things in the most efficient way possible, expending the least amount of effort. His mind is a cold, razor-sharp machine, capable of feats that exemplify a genuinely high natural IQ, some of which are his extensive library of learned languages and his capacity to do advanced mathematic calculations mentally.
[b]Observant[/b]: Cao Bao maintains an incredibly high -and incredibly paranoid- awareness of his surroundings, especially in potential combat situations. Very little escapes his awareness, as he tactically assesses his situation, continually mentally marking the positions of assets and hazards, along with potential escape routes.
[b]Pain Tolerance[/b]: After... extensive and often ruthless testing of his ability in the past, combined with no small number of combat situations where he accrued injury, Cao Bao is fairly inured to the concept of pain. He dislikes and avoids it, of course, but he is no civilian that's liable to go into shock or be disabled by suffering a little agony.
[b]Polylingual[/b]: Can fluently speak, read and write Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Filipino and English.
[b]Soldier[/b]: Though he lazes about wherever he can, it's more a demonstration of a lack of will than any capability to be disciplined. Cao Bao has nonetheless gone through militant training in the past and is an acceptable hand at CQC, swordplay, gun handling, survival skills and a bevy of necessary standardized skills.
[b]Occult Programming Language V1[/b]: Unconfirmed, but there are suggestions that pursuing the OPL arts is something a man of Cao Bao's intellect and academic excellence might be inclined to pursue in his downtime. It has certainly not been ruled beyond his capabilities were he to be motivated.
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[hider=Personality]
Cao Bao is a lazy coward. That is what many would like to say. The man himself would protest that he simply has a highly developed sense of self-preservation and common sense. Cao Bao is a cautious and paranoid man, more aware than anyone else that all it would take to end him is one sufficiently lucky critical shot. As such, despite being fairly unrepentantly crass and apathetic, he is far from overconfident. He fights like a cornered animal, ruthless and efficient, carefully analyzing troublesome elements of opposition and removing them first, one step at a time. He favors one-on-one fights, ambushes, hit and runs and kiting retreats, preferring to scatter his foes and pick them off individually. Cao Bao views himself in all situations as an unlucky underdog fighting against people out of his league, even when he clearly overpowers them, and this lends him to being particularly dangerous to even those that see him as powerful, as his attitude is at odds with what is expected.

Cao Bao values nothing more than the pursuit of a quiet and secure retirement, and his sole motivation to comply with China’s war can be summarized as "that's a lot of zeroes"... and, of course, the fact that safely leaving the military in the current "climate" is easier said than done. He is a rational and practical thinker, who possesses a fairly notable lack of malicious scumbaggery compared to many of his comrades. He is someone who could almost be called a fairly decent guy if not for his allegiances and willingness to comply with even the most morally bankrupt orders to keep his position secure (though he may violate the spirit of those orders if left wiggle room). He is not cruel for cruelty’s sake, but he is still perfectly willing to engage in cruelty and dirty tactics for a strategic advantage. And when evil is committed in front of him, he is typically too selfishly apathetic to bother opposing it if it would compromise the integrity of his goals. Outside that, when he has the “luxury”, he can almost be called altruistic.

He is someone that religiously avoids risks unless specifically ordered to take them and will quickly retreat if he is not absolutely assured of his victory, unless he has no other reasonable course of action. He is also prone to summoning allies to him for aid if he feels outnumbered or outgunned and can’t afford to retreat. Indeed, it can be said that his sharp mind and proclivity for "choosing life" make Cao Bao an immensely dangerous foe in combination with the skillful use of his power. On which note, it can also be said that the only reason his power has not evolved further up till now is his sedentary and unambitious mindset. Were he to ever exhibit a genuine proclivity to improve himself for the sake of his ambitions, his power would only grow more dangerous still and truly push him into the realm of his A-Rank peers.

        [b]Likes:[/b] Lazing about, relaxing, cigarettes, a good book, peace and quiet, money, acquiring things.

        [b]Dislikes:[/b] Foolishness, pointless maliciousness, danger, exerting more effort than something is worth, wasting time (on work).

        [b]Fears:[/b] Death. Losing everything he's worked for.

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[hider=Bio]
Cao Bao's rise to prominence is a thing regarded as dangerously innocuous, much like the man himself. What intelligence can be gathered about his origins paint him in a light that suggests his calculating, careful nature has been with him even in his youth. Public schooling records draw increasingly clear lines to indicate a brilliant, dangerous mind lurking behind his image of a slacker, grades reflecting a calculated campaign of doing the absolute minimum to get exactly what he wanted from his future. Before joining the military, he was on track to find a lucrative position in banking, a path paved in part by the comparatively abnormal effort put into mathematics and economic adjacent schooling.

It is unknown exactly when he first awakened his Noble Arm, but it is suspected to have been within the period of 2014-2016 at approximately age 17, during and after which he -according to indications of his self-preserving nature- lay low and used his powers solely for personal gain. It is unlikely that his entry into the Chinese military was a decision made of his own motivation, much like many Arms Masters recruited at veritable gunpoint. It is suspected that in the course of experimenting with the convenience of his new abilities over the years he went unknown that enough indications of an Arms Master's presence were eventually raised by carelessness or public incident reports to see him outed and recruited in 2017. This, however, is merely speculation.

What can be seen of his abrupt change in career to the military thereafter shows no signs of duress or rebellion. By all accounts, his recruitment and integration into the PLA's forces was a flawless operation, to which he displayed none of the typical indicators of dissatisfaction or mutiny, falling in line without hesitation and becoming a loyal asset to the CCP's agenda.

In the years that followed, his records of service paint him as a contrastingly exemplary and unremarkable unit. Though he always accomplished his duties to the letter, records show that it was always to the absolute minimum, never once going above and beyond the call of duty. What "incidents" can be found tend to be those he escaped on technicalities and a keen awareness and manipulation of the rules. Comparing records to service peers, he demonstrates exceptionally lower cases of sustaining injury or being subjected to disciplinary measures, and those times he was disciplined were never incidents severe enough to impact his career trajectory.

Taken together, he can be viewed as a ruthless and subtle ladder climber, never overtly pursuing promotion but accepting and adjusting to them without complaint when granted. It is this very capacity to adjust to new roles and responsibilities so easily that belies his scheming, self-serving nature, that of a man who will always do the absolute minimum to maintain the security of his position, yet performing that same "minimum" to excellence. The apparent acknowledgement of this tendency by his own superiors is what is suspected to have led to the bulk of his promotions, acting as effective gradual probes of his competence and true value as an asset, and Cao Bao has yet to truly disappoint.

In this way, Cao Bao has somehow remained a figure of outwardly unremarkable nature, presenting himself as an underachiever, yet having climbed the ranks of the PLA in sinister silence, always lurking in the background of his flashier and more famous allies, downplaying his own competence and capabilities and using his allies as effective meat shields against renown. Cao Bao is truly the shadow of China's ace Arms Masters, and one shudders to imagine what he might be capable of if forced into the limelight in his own right.
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[b]Current Goal:[/b]
Short Term: To survive... by any means necessary.
Long term: To retire from the military and enjoy a quiet, sedentary civilian life, untroubled by enemies and safety risks.

[b]Military or Civilian Rank:[/b] Colonel

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[youtube]Holder[/youtube]
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