Just like she had with the first meal after her summoning, Glacia snarfed the MRE down in minutes before burping loudly and rubbing her eyes as if it was already nap time, even though she hadn't even been awake for a full 20 minutes as of yet.
"Are you sure that you aren't a piglet?' Aoni asked with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk on his lips, earning a huff of discontent from the small ball of white fluff.
She may not understand his words or even what a piglet was, but she could sense that her Lord was teasing her, and Glacia wasn't too pleased.
It should be mentioned, but when he'd named her through the TD, it was automatically imprinted on the young summon what her name was, and as such, she recognized the name Glacia as referring to her.
Thus, it was fully acceptable and natural to her young mind that she was named Glacia.
"Don't go falling back asleep so quickly, Glacia,' poking her side, Aoni couldn't help but enjoy the texture of her soft and fluffy fur for a moment; it reminded him of his family pet back on Terra, a ball of fur named Snarky, who, by all odds and completely out of the norm was a dog which his parents got when they were teenagers, meaning it was well over 30 years old by now and still as feisty as ever.
"The thing that happened yesterday will happen again, where I fell; I need you not to panic; everything will be alright…"
'I think…' Finishing the thought in his head, Aoni noticed what he believed to be concern flash the Summon's eyes for a moment, causing him to pat her head several times in an attempt to calm her down.
"I need to get stronger, and right now, it's the only means I have. If I am out for too long, feel free to jump on me, but only if that fire goes out." Pointing over his shoulder, Aoni noticed that the Tinder kit had burned down by a significant margin, and by his estimate, there should be roughly nine or so hours remaining before it went out.
Mind you, that was just the lad making assumptions here, but from what he could tell, that should be right, give or take a few minutes.
Meanwhile, as Aoni spoke, Glacia stared up at him. Although she was enjoying the pets, he could tell she only understood a fraction of what was said.
The LoS wasn't exactly a 1-to-1 translator, and while subtle things, emotions, and intent would pass through the connection, quite a bit was lost in between, leaving Aoni to fill in the gaps.
For the next half hour, he put on a small play for the infant Yeti, reenacting what happened the day before until content that Glacia wouldn't suddenly pounce on him and try eviscerating his stomach with her sharp ass teeth a second time.
In the end, the lad was fairly certain the result was as he had wanted, but then again, Glacia's intelligence level seemed to be on par with Snarky at times but then as high as a Human child at others, so there was no telling if his point had gotten across to the ball of fluff or not.
The thought did pop into Aoni's head that he was simply stalling for time in such a way that would soothe his nerves about the pain he'd experience; after all, he didn't believe himself to be a masochist.
By no means did he enjoy either of the two times he'd used his Attribute, but seeing as Aoni had already convinced himself that it was perfectly reasonable, it was something that needed to be done.
In contrast to the first time Aoni had upgraded his defense stat, the lad forwent the option of sitting in his desk chair. He opted to lie flat on the ground instead, which could potentially save him from any further unforeseen injuries.
Once in position, Aoni looked up at Glacia, who was perched on the bed, observing his strange actions, causing him to flash a smile in her direction before uttering the mental command to the Traveler's Display.
'Increase my Defense Stat.'
| Increasing Defense from G to G+ |
| Progress Points have been Deducted |
| Defense Stat has reached it's Potential Limit |
"AGH!" No matter how much Aoni mentally prepared himself for the pain, it wasn't even close to what he'd expected it to be.
Honestly, he should have known better than to assume it would be similar to when he increased his Defense the first time, especially since the process was supposed to make him physically more resilient.
Unlike jumping from G- to G, the transition from G to G+ was far more brutal; gone were the surging bruises coming and going all over his skin, and this time, it was wave after wave of lacerations and cracks appearing all over his body.
Blood and fluid oozed from each wound, yet before it could pool under Aoni's body, the wounds would scab over and heal within milliseconds.
From a visual standpoint, the lad didn't doubt it looked like he was suddenly thrown into an invisible bubble filled with razors or something because not a single spec of skin was free of injury.
Luckily, the wounds would heal quickly, but unfortunately, that only made way for new ones to appear on Aoni's body.
That wasn't all either; apart from the faint tinnitus in his ears, there was a sharp splintering sound as Aoni's bones fractured and rapidly repaired themselves over and over again, the worst part being the excruciating pain in his mouth as teeth decayed and healed over and over.
Tears streamed down his eyes as Aoni thrashed about, and he even caught a glimpse of white as Glacia moved to his side, against what he had tried getting her to do through his little skit earlier.
Her movement was a bad sign, and the lad knew this was way worse to witness or experience than the first upgrade. Still, Aoni couldn't even focus on a single thought long enough for it to be coherent, let alone pay attention to what the Summon was doing.