| 0.01 PP Earned |
With one tiny notification window, everything Aoni had learned about the Traveler's display was tossed out the window.
"This…is impossible; there's no such thing as notifications or pop-ups associated with the TD outside of something like Instance Dungeons, and even those Temporarily override a Traveler's TD," Aoni murmured while watching the small window fade into nothingness.
No matter how much he wanted to continue examining the anomaly, it was gone before he could even contemplate further, which posed an even larger question:
'How can I replicate this fact?'
But that wasn't all either. Along with the notification, Aoni instantly noticed that his once static Status had changed ever so slightly.
______________________
Aoni Thurston
Age: 16
Potential: One Star/G+ Rank (►)
Rank: G-
______________________
Attribute Grade: ☆
Attribute: Progression
Progress Points: 0.01
______________________
Statistics
Attack: G- (►)
Defense: G- (►)
Speed: G- (►)
Energia: G- (►)
______________________
'Now, I may not be the most intelligent person on either planet or the sharpest tool in the shed, but even I am smart enough to understand that the symbol eludes to having a dropdown of some kind.' He mused while staring at the new additions
'But what it means and how to use it are two entirely different things.'
For starters, apart from a few basic commands, there isn't much interaction with the TD, if any at all; Aoni was well aware of this, and the more he focused on these little arrows, in tandem with the new line of dialog at the bottom, the more an idea began forming in his mind.
"Since the numbers match up, that means the things in that notification, PP, are called Progress Points; adding that to the fact there are arrows next to each of my statistics…"
As his words trailed off, it suddenly dawned on him, and the meaning behind the vague words describing his Attribute began to make sense.
"It is my will to observe progress and mold it into what I desire. Through Progress Points, I bend the world to my image. The use of progress points is to strengthen myself…I understand that much…but how am I supposed to earn them, and what are the logistics behind it all?"
Scratching his cheek, Aoni thought back to what he'd done before the notification had popped up and stared down at his leg, which was sore from how hard he had hit it earlier.
THWAP
Without putting more thought into it, Aoni went ahead and punched his thigh a second time, and just like before, a notification popped up.
| 0.01 PP earned |
THWAP
| 0.01 PP earned |
THWAP
| 0.01 PP earned |
"TSSSS fuck, that last one hurt…I probably have a bruise now." Smacking his lips and glancing down, he began massaging his sore thigh while more questions appeared in his mind.
"There's got to be more to this…I can't exactly beat myself to hell all day, every day…on second thought, isn't that basically what working out is? You exert yourself to the point that your body is damaged and forced to repair, even if it's on an extremely small scale. The injuries sustained stack up, and as such, you get stronger."
| 0.05 PP earned |
Lost in thought, Aoni didn't even notice the new notification appeared and disappeared in less than a second.
"Progress…Progression and progress points are all linked; progress can be so many different things, and it's ever constantly changing. From building new technologies to conquering lands, even something as simple as walking across the room could all be categorized as some form of progress.'
| 0.1 PP earned |
Glancing up at his TD, his eyes widened as he just barely caught the notification as it was fading away.
"What the…" That was when Aoni noticed that he didn't have merely 0.04 PP any longer.
Progress Points: 0.19
He had unknowingly gained 0.14 points, the thought of which caused him to jump to his feet in excitement.
"Everything can be progress, so long as I continue moving forward…one step at a time."
| 0.01 PP earned |
For some reason, the feeling of watching a numeral slowly tick up filled him with immense joy, leading him to his next idea.
'Increase My Grade Potential.' On a whim, Aoni went ahead and tried interacting with the TD in the same manner he had earlier when setting up the Flume.
| Insufficient Progress Points |
"YES!" Upon Seeing he had elicited a response from the Traveler's display, the lad pushed again, stating out anything that had an arrow beside it in his Status.
'Increase my Rank Potential.'
| Insufficient Progress Points |
Running down the line, he finished off his four Stats and frowned.
"I only have 0.2 Progress Points, but I shouldn't let that get me down; for now, the only thing I can do is save them and try again once I have more…but how many points do I need to increase something."
Scanning through his TD, Aoni felt his good mood slowly dampen for a second time.
The numerics were bad, like as bad as it could possibly be; however, that made him wonder about something. If his Attribute is so powerful that it allows him to increase his Stats and Ratings…why is it only evaluated at a single star?
Then it hit him: it WAS powerful, and as such, a balance needed to be created in the form of making his starting point the absolute minimum it could be.
Balance or not, strong Attribute or not, it didn't matter at the moment because, as things stood, he was ROYALLY FUCKED! G- in everything, with only a G+ Potential, was horrendous and essentially meant he would be no better than a Mundane until he could earn himself more points.
And to earn more points, Aoni had to explore what actions gave him the most. So far, taking minor damage appeared to provide him with 0.01, and coming to conclusions of such scale had earned him a larger chunk, so the question was, which was more efficient?
This chain of thoughts proposed a puzzle for him because while Aoni technically COULD constantly beat himself up, the same couldn't be said about sudden enlightenment.
Leaning forward, he propped his hands on his knees and exhaled loudly while watching the flame before him dwindle slowly as it burned through the Tinder.
"All I'm doing is wasting valuable time; I can't earn points by staying idle," and then it hit him: a way to hopefully net a decent chunk of progress points.
With that thought, his eyes flicked across the cave toward his Flume, and a thin smile crept onto his lips.
"I wonder how many points I can earn by getting my first summon…"