Legendary Traveler: By Earning Progress Points I will Become Supreme!

For a tense few seconds, Aoni stared into Nyria's eyes until the birb grew uncomfortable enough that she broke off eye contact first, forcing a boisterous laugh out of her Lord.

"Let me guess, you two were talking about my little," batting at the air with his left hand, Aoni let his actions speak for themselves, and when he noticed that neither Glacia nor Nyria could look at him, his laughter erupted a second time.

While not paying attention to his strange actions, since they'd become somewhat of a habit he did on a regular basis, that didn't undermine the fact that Aoni was fully aware of how it looked, so even if he were teasing the two, the Lad understood he'd probably gotten a little TOO comfortable around them.

"Well, that's one down. Get ready; three more of those are incoming," shooting out a quick warning; Aoni looked toward the sky with a challenging attitude written on his face, and another upgrade was triggered.

| Increasing Rank Potential From F+ to E- |

| Progress Points have been Deducted |

| 75 pp Earned |

Unlike the multiple other times he'd triggered the suppressive force, this time, it crashed down onto his body in such a way that he could hear his bones, joints, and muscles straining under the weight.

Pressing down on his entire body was a literal mountain of force, and unable to stay upright, Aoni soon found himself flat on his back, splayed out like a starfish without the ability to so much as wiggle a finger.

"G….ahhhhh," releasing a strained groan and doing his utmost not to resist, he barely had enough sense of mind to look to his summons, yet through sheer willpower alone, he did, and from the look in his eyes, the floof and birb could sense that he was telling them to stay put.

Thankfully, the situation didn't last too long, and within a minute, it vanished, leaving Aoni drenched in sweat and gasping for air.

Floating above his face, the Traveler's display seemed to mock him as it bobbed up and down in cadence with his erratic breathing, and through it all, Aoni determined that it had cost him 150 points to break his Potential into E-, with a return of 75 points, settling him at 317.78 points.

"Fooo hahhh hahhh, two more. I've got two more in me, and then my potential will have reached E+." Fighting for each breath, the Lad finally sat up and told Glacia to bring him the water bottle sitting by the campfire, which she did without hesitation. Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire

Upon receiving it, Aoni didn't forget to check for the scribbling indication its contents were, in fact, NOT brain juice before uncapping it and chugging down half the water in one go.

Then, after giving Glacia a couple of head pats and plugging his nose to eat a nutrition bar, Aoni cleared his mind and laid back down before triggering the following upgrades.

He knew that if he stopped now, there was NO SHOT at him starting back up the rest of the day; so tired and physically drained or not, he still pressed on.

| Increasing Rank Potential From E- to E |

| Progress Points have been Deducted |

| 100 pp Earned |

| Increasing Rank Potential From E to E+ |

| Progress Points have been Deducted |

| Rank Potential has reached its Current Maximum |

| 125 pp Earned |

By the end of his cycle, the Lad could barely move while staring blankly into the sky, wondering why his getting stronger had to be this way, as well as why the numbers had shifted again, from the first of two upgrades cost 175 but gave him 100 back. The second was 200 and returned 125, but being too tired to care if the math checked out, all he did was lay there and close his eyes.

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For almost 2 hours, Aoni lay there, spent and exhausted with Glacia and Nyria curled up beside him for comfort.

Their unconscious trembling didn't go unnoticed by the Lad either, and in response, with his eyes closed, he mustered up what little energy he had to pet them.

Feeling the soft texture of fur on one hand and smooth feathers on the other, Aoni contemplated which of his stats should be increased first.

'Logistically speaking, it needs to be my Defense; without it, there is a high chance that I'll over-exert myself to the point of destruction when increasing attack and speed, especially attack.'

'Using my past experience as a basis, Attack strains the shit out of my muscles and speeds my tendons and circulatory system, so if my overall body's durability isn't high enough, everything will fall apart like a house of cards.'

The thought of what happened when he upgraded that chest without increasing its durability first was still fresh in Aoni's mind, even after several days, and the last thing he wanted to do was give Glacia and Nyria the unfortunate memory of his body exploding into meat paste.

Nyria especially had seen enough death and destruction for several lifetimes over, so using her as a source of strength, the Lad gave his summons a gentle nudge and told them it was time to continue.

Reluctant to leave his side, they nodded and returned to the campfire logs and readied themselves to jump in and save him if the situation called for it.@@novelbin@@

"That force from above won't be making another appearance today, so you don't have to worry about that; however, now I will be strengthening my body, so unless I pass out, please try to stay calm."

"This is going to look really bad, but I promise I will make it through. First up is what's called Defense; it's the overall strength of my body, so my skin will shred and bleed, and my bones will likely crack loudly." Using his explanation as a means to convince himself, Aoni continued.

"Although I can say I will try not to make a sound, I know that is unlikely, but know this: once I am finished, I will give you both a nice reward for being such good girls." Giving them a tired smile, Aoni returned to his cross-legged position, placed his hands on his thighs, and steadied his breathing.