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

Glacia's little hissy fit concluded the moment she received a snack, and only then did Aoni realize that his brother had basically wiped out everything around, creating a large clearing free of trees and snow.

"Woah, when the hell did you do this?" He asked while walking up to his brother, who stood off to the side of the clearing, observing the surrounding area with a bored expression.

"Like 20 minutes ago, when you two were goofing off. We needed to take a break regardless, with conditions, like this..." Ant paused and made a gesture toward the heavy snow and winds before continuing, "We shouldn't stay on the move longer than two hours, or else we run the risk of burning all our stamina along with getting frostbite."

"Pfft, frostbite, that's cute, sounds like someone doesn't have Cold or Pain resistance," Aoni snorted while wearing a cheeky smile.

"You do realize that's not something to be proud of, right? Sure, I have heat resistance and even Fire resistance thanks to being a well…FIRE MAGE, and all, but the fact that you don't have any kind of Class Attribute yet ended up with those two passives is a bad sign." With fingers twitching to hurt his youngest brother, Anthony sighed heavily and gave Aoni a pitying look.

"It is what it is. I mean, both at E+, so I guess you aren't wrong in thinking I faced some hardship, but ever since I got Cold Resistance, I have yet to actually end up getting frostbite again…that was just when I first landed here out of the Flume."

"See, that's what I'm talking about; while the first month is always going to be a challenge, I don't know a single person who ended up in a land like yours, not me, not Dad, nor our sisters, if we had even 1/16th of the Energia Concentration in our Territories that you have here…" Anthony's words trailed off before he could say something dumb.

Well, maybe dumb wasn't the correct term, considering if such a territory had popped up in the family, their situation could have gone either way, really bad or really good, depending on how it was handled.

Yet even as he ran through all the lost potential there was a question that kept returning to the forefront of Ant's mind.

'Would I have been able to survive here like Aoni did?'

"Ant, it's fine; stop thinking about what COULD have been, and instead, let's think about the future. I know nothing is written in stone but between my Barrier…"

"Formation." Ant quickly corrected, causing Aoni to frown.

"Formation, Barrier, blah blah, it serves the same purpose, AS I WAS SAYING; between my Formation and the Cavern Town I set up, combined with the abundance of natural resources, both organic and inorganic, we can easily live here if shit hits the fan back home."

"…"

"Yeah, you're right, SIGH, there's no point in harping on the past. I really hope things don't come to that, though…because if we need to abandon Terra…that means abandoning half our family as well." Speaking in a hushed whisper that didn't reach Aoni, Anthony felt a pang in his chest at the thought of leaving all the Thurston Mundanes behind.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Are you good to keep moving, or should we let Glacia finish playing around in the snow before venturing further?"

"Gao?"

{'Pway?'}

"Hahhh, no, Glacia, we can't have play time right now; it's exploring time, remember," Walking over to the snow bank that his floof had turned into a small den, Aoni plucked Glacia from the snow, dusted her off, and carried her under his arm like a sack of potatoes toward Ant.

{'Un un, splorin den pway, den DIN DIN!'}

"Er…lunch comes before dinner, but yeah, splorin den pway, den lunch." Nodding his head as he looked down at his floof, Aoni repeated her baby talk only to get a strange look from Ant.

"You know what…not even gonna ask, come on." Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Anthony gave up on trying to figure out the enigma that was Glacia's brain and flared up his Fire Energia to cut a path through the snow bank.

---

"I don't wanna sound like a jinx…but where the hell are all the monsters? We've been walking for hours, and although there are plenty of signs of life, like scuffed trees or piles of shit…"

"Language Aoni."

"Bahh, Mom ain't here to scold me, but you get what I'm saying: 20-something miles down the mountain, and we haven't come across a single living creature yet."

"Sigh, I know you're dumb and all, baby brother, but did you ever think that MAYBE, just like how you can sense attacks coming at you, Monsters have something similar that tells them to flee from stronger beings?" Anthony spat with a mixture of annoyance and tiredness.

"Oh…like a danger sense, I guess that's logical, but wait, what about her? She doesn't seem bothered."

"gaoooo?"

{'Me?'}

Holding up the floof, since she got too tired to walk around and demanded to be carried some time ago, Aoni asked while she blinked up at Anthony cutely.

"Glacia is different; she's been around me for a bit and knows that I mean neither her nor you any harm. Regardless, she still flinched when I activated my Heat Body spell both times." Shrugging his shoulders, Anthony reached out and fed Glacia a simple piece of jerky before patting her head, getting him a cute Gao in response.

"As for whether or not we will be running into anything anytime soon, the answer is uncertain. While my Heat Body Spell carries traces of my Aura, it will only stop Monsters below a certain level from approaching. If we run into anything above 4-Stars, they won't give a rat's ass about it and rush us down."

"Either way, I've already picked a goal for us to reach, and unless we pick up the pace, we won't make it back before the evening beast tide."

At that, the two brothers went from their leisurely jog to a brisk run as they tore a path through the snow, heading further and further down the immense mountain.

"By the way, you never told me where we are going," Aoni asked while hoisting Glacia onto his back.

"That was on purpose."

"Dickhead."

"Pfft, if you really want to know, then just wait another 50 miles, and we will reach it."