Unaware of the conversation taking place at his expense, Aoni, now deep in a crater the size of a bus, stirred after an untold amount of time.
To be honest, although he was right outside the fort, not a single one of his summons or his siblings noticed the immense pressure slamming into the mountain, as, apart from the area surrounding him, everything had remained unaffected.
"Ngh, what…the hell was that?" Aoni groaned while forcing himself to move and propping his body up on his hands.
| The Host touched upon knowledge they shouldn't have |
"No shit, I got that part, but why do I feel like I spent at least a year being crushed to death…wait…" Rubbing his forehead and looking around, Aoni noticed that he was now in a ten-foot-deep crater covered in a layer of snow.
| That's simple: the Host's fifth star was Forcefully Manifested; this process drained a significant amount of Progress Points and put a heavy amount of strain on their body |
"Wah…"
| However, it was entirely necessary because if not, the only other option was death, and as that would affect progress |
"I got it…hasss, fuck this is unpleasant…" Moving around until he was sitting cross-legged in the crater, Aoni pulled up his TD and saw that it was true: his Attribute Grade had been increased. Not only that, but his fourth star was now complete as well.
Attribute Grade: ★★★★☆
As for his points…
"650,000…I lost 650k all because of a stupid question…not that I can really complain because technically, this saved me a lot of time, but still…not cool, AN."
| What's done is done; it's not like the Host lost all of their points, just 1/4th of their available balance |
"~Just one-fourth of the available balance FUCK YOU, IT TOOK ME MONTHS TO GET THAT MANY!" mocking his AN in a high-pitched voice, Aoni whined while doing a brief check on his physical condition.
---
Aoni Thurston
Age: 16
Potential: Five Star/C+ Rank
Rank: C+
---
Attribute Grade: ★★★✫
Attribute: Progression
Progress Points: 1,970,006
---
Statistics
Attack: C+ (5492) (Lords Notice Boost at 40 and 50 Humanoids: Originally 4539)
Defense: C+ (5355) (Lord's Notice Boost at 40 and 50 Humanoids: Originally 4425)
Speed: C+ (5302) (Lord's Notice Boost at 40 and 50 Humanoids: Originally 4382)
Energia: C+ (6035) (Lords Notice Boost at 40 and 50 Humanoids: Originally 4987)
Elementalized Energia:
55 % Ice
35 % Blood
---
Passives
Pain Resistance: C+
Heat Resistance: D+ (►)
Cold Resistance: D+ (►)
Shock Resistance: D+ (►)
Impact Resistance: D+ (►)
Poison Resistance: D+ (►)
Swordsmanship: C+
Dual Swordsmanship: C+
Spearmanship: D+ (►)
Archery: D+ (►)
Construction: D+ (►)
Carpentry: D+ (►)
Farming: D+ (►)
Tailoring: D+ (►)
Elven Crafting: D+ (►)
Elven Formation-smithing: D+ (►)
Elven Artifact-smithing: D+ (►)
Ice Manipulation: C+
Energia Manipulation: C+
Pocket Dimension (Inventory): C+
(U)Energia Siphon: C+
"Well, no changes in my physical stats, but at least I can Limit break them…it was fun being above B-Rank while it lasted, but now I guess I really can step into some real power…also arrows are back, that's nice…oh and I guess I can power up more of my Summons too…"
Ignoring the fact that he was sitting outside in the dead of night, in the bitter cold, Aoni's one-track mind took effect, and for the rest of the dark hours, he sat inert, draining Energia Batteries and limit-breaking all of his C-Rank Stats and Passives.
By the time the DayCelest rose in the early morning, his TD was flooded with Arrows, cluttering the hell out of his once organized display, yet oddly enough, it didn't bother him.
Standing up and dusting off the copious amount of snow clinging to his body and clothing, he jumped out of the crater and walked over toward the fort, where he found the shift change was beginning with his Garrison.
"Milord…when did you come outside?" A guard named Autrlyn asked from atop the several-story-tall wall.
"Hm, been out here all night…wait, don't tell me no one even noticed I was missing?" Aoni asked after executing a swift jump and landing on top of the four-story-tall structure.
"No…no, milord, with Movie Night happening, no one came to check on you…" The elven man stated with a bit of embarrassment.
"I see; well, don't worry about it; I had to run out into the forest last night, so you guys not picking up any movement shouldn't be too much of a shock; anyway, carry on…" Walking past the man and giving him a pat on the shoulder, Aoni hid his frown.
It was one thing not to notice he'd left the Manor, but another entirely for the intensely hot and overbearing pressure's descent to be ignored.
'Care to weigh in?' Aoni asked as he entered the cave, which had once been called home, and activated the Teleportation array, then headed into his village.
| The Phenomenon was different this time, so powerful that any being under Grade-8 would have difficulty noticing it; as such, it was practically invisible to the naked eye |
| Not to mention that had any of your summons, or rather weaker beings in general, come near while it was exerted on the Host's body, they would have been instantly evaporated |
'WHAT! YOU FIRED A DEATH BEAM AT ME?' Freezing midway as he greeted a group of Elves getting ready to start their day, Aoni's mind blanked out for a beat before he screamed internally.
| Host, it is recommended you leave it at that and not ask further about the Phenomenon's origin, lest a more devastating and destructive one descend |
Reading that last message, Aoni felt his butthole pucker as he waddled passed a group of summons and headed toward the staircase leading down to the lake.
The trek back to the manor was in literal silence, with Aoni being too frightened to ask more questions and his Attribute Notice not offering any further explanation. However, the moment he kicked off his boots in the hallway by the front door, he drew the attention of dozens of pairs of eyes, including those of his two sisters.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? It seems my baby brother decided to go for an evening stroll and never returned home. Hmm, hiding a mistress, are we?" Clara said with a massive shit-eating grin that caused Char to smack her in the back of the head and Milly to shrink away from them in fear of drawing attention to herself.
To Aoni's credit, he didn't even miss a beat and jumped right into the banter, not without noticing Milly's reaction, though.
"Sure, if you call sitting outside and breaking through to Grade-5 a mistress."
"WHAT!"
"Oh, congratulations, Ao…" Of course, the reactions of his sisters were drastically opposite, with Clara falling over in shock, while Char walked up and patted his head…standing on her tiptoes, of course, since he had grown a full head taller than her.
"This can't be possible; how, how did he pass me? Nah, it's gotta be a lie, yeah, a total lie; there is no way my baby brother reached his fifth star before me…" Meanwhile, Clara, who had fallen onto the floor, hugged her knees to her chest and had already begun rocking while muttering to herself.
Ignoring their older sister's manic-induced depression, Char took Aoni's hand in hers and drew some symbols on his palm with her finger.
**New power?** The symbol was asked in Varnithm, causing Aoni to nod before replicating the process in her palm.
**I haven't checked it yet, but yes, I got one.**
"Alrighty, kids, it's time to pack it up and get ready for breakfast," Aoni said after dropping Char's hand and clapping loudly to draw their full attention.
"FOOOOOOOD!" The kid who was first to rush into the Manor last night screamed before running like a madman into the dining room, flailing his little arms the whole way.
"GAOOOOO!"
"WOOF!"
"Annnd there go the floofs…" Aoni complained with an audible facepalm.
"You were the one who said it…not me."
"True, so what are we gonna do about her?" Aoni asked, pointing a thumb at the babbling Clara.
"Leave her?"
"Probably not a good idea."
"True, she could cause some bad habits with the kids."
"Yep, rock, paper, scissors?"
"Yep."
---
Unfortunately, having lost the small game, it became Aoni's job to drag Clara upstairs and deposit her in the guest room while Char got to work on breakfast for the kids and the Duo-de-Floof.
"Aoni, wait, don't leave me; you NEED TO TELL ME HOW YOU DID IT!" Clara cried while holding him in place by the arm when he tried to leave the room.
"Why bother? It's not like my method will work for you; it's exclusive to myself and summons, so unless you MAGICALLY know of a way to transform yourself into a Summon, give it up….hold UP! PUT THE SWORD DOWN; KILLING YOURSELF WOULDN'T MAKE YOU A SUMMON!"
---
Twenty minutes and a case of Sibling Abuse later, Clara and Aoni entered the dining room, with one wearing a severely peeved expression and the other sporting a huge bump along with a pair of black eyes.
"Wow…beating your sister…not a good look Ao…" Char added upon seeing Clara's condition.
"Keep it up, and you'll get one too, HMPH."
"Oooo, I'm so scared; higher stats or not, I'm still faster; you won't be able to catch me," Char rebutted, making Aoni snort before rolling up his sleeves and diving into the kitchen to cook.
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!