It was quite strange how freely Aoni seemed to be earning Progress points, but from what he could tell so far, any big changes either his body or territory underwent would result in a large chunk of points.
In the case of raising the Grade of the Flume, it was almost as if there was some sort of sale, and while it was nice in the short term, the Lad didn't know if that was going to be par for the course or if it would eventually level out.
A rational mind would believe that as the price of upgrades increased, the bonus acquired would follow suit; for example, let's say it costs 100 points to complete an upgrade; what would the bonus points be?
Were they a one-time thing, like, say, If Aoni upgraded his Attribute to Full-Star, would he get bonus points? Or what if that bonus has already been claimed due to his upgrading the Flume?
With too many variables in play, Aoni felt it was growing increasingly more difficult to determine certain aspects of his Attribute.
What he DID know is that from Null to CF-Star, it was 5 points, from CF to OF-Star was 10, and lastly, to complete the final step, OF to Full-Star, it was 20 progress points.
Yet, while he spent 35 points, Aoni also gained back 15.5 progress points.
'And that is only at the One-Star Stage; there's a strong possibility that upgrades will skyrocket the higher they go.' Dropping his arm and examining the Flume one last time, Aoni noticed a faint sparkle that hadn't been present originally, kind of as if the Flume had been coated in glitter, and he knew that it was indeed upgraded to the Full-Star Step.
Meanwhile, the entire time Aoni had been using his Attribute to increase the Grade of the Flume, Glacia had grown bored of watching her Lord and started playing with a stick on the bed, not in the least bit interested in what he was doing.
Seeing that she was occupied, Aoni smiled and turned his attention back toward the Flume before giving a new command.
'Increase my Links of Subordination,'
| Increasing Links of Subordination by One |
| Progress Points have been Deducted |
'Hm, no progress points earned this time…and it looks like I lost 5 points; however, it seems that I can still add more links since the little arrow didn't disappear.' Narrowing his eyes and triple-checking his Progress Points, Aoni went ahead and executed the same summoning ritual he had when summoning Glacia before stepping back as the Flume whirled up.
After about a minute of charging, the bright flash of light signaling the successful summon occurred, bathing the entire cave like a flashbang; however, Aoni didn't let excitement get the better of him because the Lad knew how unlikely it was to get something worthwhile, so with his eyes closed Aoni continuously repeated the same four-word phrase over and over.
| 5.0 PP earned |
'Please be something useful,'
'Please be something useful,'
"Please be …" Aoni said the first two words, cracking his eyes open and breaking into a wide grin.
"A WEAPON! YES!" He screamed while rushing forward toward something that, in all honesty, looked more like a piece of junk than anything.
But you know what they say: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Sitting on the ground about a foot away from the Flume was a weapon Aoni had only seen in cartoons or anime: a Hook Blade.
While it may not look impressive because it is clearly of a low Grade, he was ecstatic to have something longer than a knife.
Having a viable tool for combat or even basic tasks was something Aoni knew would become an issue as time passed. Although he wasn't exactly an expert with swords, the Lad had a minor amount of training thanks to combat classes.
Carefully picking up the weapon, he noticed it was way heavier than expected before moving on to examining every square inch of his new tool.
Roughly 40 inches long, Aoni noticed that it was technically four different weapons combined into one.
First, the end of the hilt was both pointed and extremely sharp; thus, it could be used for downward strikes, turning hammer fists into a legitimate threat to an opponent.
Second was the Guard, which was in the shape of a crescent moon. It was just as sharp as the rest of the sword and could be used for punching.
Third, both the front and back of the sword were sharpened, turning the back into a normal sword while the front was akin to a shortened version.
Lastly was the devious-looking pronged hook, where the weapon's name originated. Its primary function was tripping enemies along with catching opponent's weapons, and since it too was sharpened, it could be used for slashing; meanwhile, its point was by far the sharpest part of the weapon.
Overall, the Hook Blade was extremely versatile, and since, as you can imagine, Aoni lacked quite a bit in the art of swordsmanship, he was fairly decent in hand-to-hand combat, so the Lad was quite pleased with his first weapon.
Wanting to check out the specifics of the new weapon, Aoni quickly opened up the Summon's display and was greeted by something unexpected.
Summon's Display
_______________________________
Flume Grade: ★
Territory Climate: Artic/Mountainous
Summon's Available: 0/1 (►)
_______________________________
Links of Subordination: 1/2 (►)
_______________________________
1: Infant Artic-GigantoUrsusPithecus
2: Hook Blade (L)
???
Attack: G- (►)
Durability: G- (►)
Grade: ☆ (►)
Effect: N/A
_______________________________
'It can be upgraded…' Scanning through the description in his SD, Aoni noticed that this blade was designed to be used with the left hand, which wasn't too surprising considering they usually came in pairs, and also explained why the hook end of the blade had a slight curve in that direction.
Nodding his head in understanding, Aoni held off on giving the new weapon a name and instead stored it on the top shelf he could reach of the bookcase, above where small and curious fluff balls would have easy access before sitting down and thinking about his next move.
'The obvious course of action would be to max out my stats, along with my weapons, before going ahead and using whatever points are left to increase either my Potential or Attribute Grade.' He mused while falling into thought, much to the annoyance of the curious furball stealing glances at the top shelf.
At the thought of increasing his stats again, a shiver ran down Aoni's spine that had nothing to do with the chill in the cave but instead, the knowledge that he would be subjected to more pain…then again, as the age-old saying goes, No Pain, no Gain.