If Aoni were more intelligent or wisened to the Traveler's way, or hell, had been a scholar or something, maybe he would have put more thought into the reasoning behind why Glacia was able to locate something so NICHE in the middle of a mountain bound forest, but with everything going on around him, and having felt like he'd been knocking on Death's door not long ago, Aoni had other things taking up his attention.
For example, the fact that he smelled like a dead animal or how his clothing and hair were caked with dried blood, hell, even the fire being out was a problem, so to say the lad had bigger issues that demanded immediate attention would be an understatement.
"You did good, Glacia, thank you." With that statement, Aoni realized for the first time how thankful she was his first summon he was and ignored the grime on his hand to give her some head pats, much to the joy of the infant yeti.
"Now then," Aoni said, jumping to his feet and doing a few light stretches before catching a whiff of the stench permeating his body and frowning.
"How am I gonna deal with this…" Looking around the small cave, the frown gracing his lips deepened because there wasn't a single thing that could be used to bathe himself or, better yet, clean his clothing.
"ooo…" Even Glacia took a step back and wrinkled her nose in disgust. She clearly had been too worried about her Lord's condition to pay much attention to the smell, but now that it was clear he was fine, she couldn't ignore it any longer.
"Yeah…I know, I stink…but what are we going to do about it."
"We have a few options here, none of which are pleasant and one of which is COMPLETELY random. For starters, I could do the obvious thing and rush outside and go roll around in the snow…on second thought, that's a pretty miserable Idea…" Cupping his chin and thinking aloud, Aoni caught sight of Glacia trying her best to mimic his body posture, only failing because instead of fingers, she had claws and couldn't find a comfortable way to complete the gesture.
'Claws...' the word floated around in Aoni's head for a bit as a rudimentary plan began forming in his mind.
| 0.01 PP earned |
'If we can find a small tree and cut it down, between my knife and her claws, we may be able to carve out a small wooden basin or at the very least a few bowls…providing I can last long enough and have enough stamina to drag the wood back into the cave.'
'That will also solve our immediate lack of fire materials as well. Since Glacia was able to climb a tree and get that weird fruit, I bet she could get some small branches for firewood.'
'The only issue is me…'
Turning and facing the mouth of the cave, Aoni couldn't help but shiver slightly as he noticed the snowstorm had picked up greatly and dropped visibility to near zero, blotting out the sun…then again, it could also be nighttime; he had no clue how long he'd been unconscious for.
| 0.05 PP earned |
'Hm? Have I been earning Progress points this whole time?' catching sight of the faint notification as it vanished, the lad didn't hesitate to open his TD, and once he did, Aoni felt the sudden need to sit down.
______________________
Aoni Thurston
Age: 16
Potential: One Star/F- Rank (►) **
Rank: G **
______________________
Attribute Grade: ☆
Attribute: Progression
Progress Points: 15.58
______________________
Statistics
Attack: G (►)
Defense: G+ **
Speed: G- (►)
Energia: F- **
______________________
Passives **
Cold Resistance: F- **
Pain Resistance: G+ (►) **
______________________
"What…the…actual fuck happened while I was unconscious?" Collapsing onto his butt and ignoring the dull pain from coming in contact with the rocky surface, Aoni stared incredulously at the newly updated Traveler's Display.
Unknowingly, he had gained Progress points, an astronomical amount at that, considering how before he had 6.72, yet now, it showed as 15.58, and Aoni was coming up empty on how it had skyrocketed so drastically.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how many points were deducted when he increased his Defense to G+ because whatever losses Aoni had earned were immediately replaced with these incredible gains.
"Gaooo, Gaoo ooo," careful not to scratch her Lord with her claws, Glacia came up beside Aoni and tugged at his pants to draw attention and check on him.
"It's ok, Girl, I'm just surprised, is all, not hurt…."
'So much has changed, and I haven't even had this Attribute for 48 hours yet…My Rank Potential increased a step…, and my Rank increased to G. Those two changes alone are enough to send me over Luna (Terra's Moon)…but for my Energia to spike a full stage, along with the addition of not one but two Passives…this is too much.'
No matter how he thought about it, there was only a single explanation as to what caused this change, and that was the fruit. This then brought Aoni back to the question of what had happened to its core.
Snapping his head in Glacia's direction, Aoni accidentally caused her to flinch away in fright. Still, after coaxing her back to his side with comforting words, he began pressing for information, starting with pointing at the fruit.
"Glacia, was there something inside that?" Aoni asked, pointing at the hollowed-out spikey fruit.
But as usual, she looked confused, forcing Aoni to look around for a small rock or something to use as an example.
A few minutes of searching later, he found a rock on the ground, and after asking for the fruit from his summon, he began his light interrogation a second time.
"Was there something this big inside of this?" Aoni questioned, placing the rock inside the fruit and causing Glacia's eyes to fill with recognition, making the summon bob her head up and down as confirmation.
"Ok…and where is it now?" making sure the rock never actually touched the fruit, Aoni extended his hand toward Glacia with the rock resting in his palm, which she quickly took and observed before glancing up at him and pointing at his face, more specifically Aoni's mouth.