With stormy windsshing around outside, cia snoring away beside him on the bed, and the soft crackling of the fire, Aoni found himself lost again.


    It was the first time he had noticed his Attribute''s limitations, and that fact unsettled the Lad because he knew this would more than likely be a regr urrence.


    Progression Stalls happen in everything, from the human metabolism after a weight loss surgery to something as intricate as martial arts; there will always be a roadblock or Bottleneck that must be ovee if one wishes to continue moving forward, and from what he could tell Aoni had reached his first one.


    Ironically enough, this is the kind of thing that usually urs when someone is trying to break through from one stage to the next; meanwhile, he had an apparent cheat that would allow him to more or less surpass those limitations by only being subjected to some pain and anguish.


    Unlike other Travelers, his Bottleneck would more than likely always involve two things:ck of sufficient progress points and the limitations of his Attribute Grade.


    Closing his eyes, Aoni brainstormed on why this was happening in the first ce.


    ''If this were a video game, I could liken my Attribute Grade to a Quest with the reward being Step increases in my Grade…but what are the objectives of said quest.''


    ''The first step-up happened once all four of my Stats reached my Potential limit of F-, and the second urred with my increasing of my Potential to the "Current" limit.''


    ''Attributes work like a muscle; the more you use them, the stronger they be, and this is reflected in their grades, so the fact that im presently at the OF-Step means there should only be one more objective that would push me to Full-Star…but what then?''


    ''Will I automatically earn a Null-Star, as with every other Attribute, so long as the being''s Potential allows, or is there a fourth Objective which must be met to do so?''


    The dark recesses of Aoni''s mind slowly began to fill with his old friend anxiety, and he couldn''t help but feel he was forgetting something important as his thoughts spiraled out of control.


    hhhuuuummmm


    The faint humming of the Flume assaulted his ears and shook his brain like a mule kick to the skull as Aoni suddenly felt dumb as hell for not remembering what could be the key to this present issue.


    ''THE HOOK SWORD! Open my Summon''s Disy!'' carefully sitting up so as not to startle or wake up cia, the Lad broke into a wide grin and looked between the Flume and the top of the bookshelf where he had left his weapon.


    Summon''s Disy


    _______________________________


    Flume Grade: ★


    Territory Climate: Artic/Mountainous


    Summon''s Avable: 1/1 (?)


    _______________________________


    Links of Subordination: 1/2 (?)


    _______________________________


    1: Infant Artic-GigantoUrsusPithecus


    cia


    Age: 1.5 Months


    Gender: ♀


    Potential: One Star


    Grade: ☆


    2: Hook de (L)


    Vestr


    Attack: G- (?)


    Durability: G- (?)


    Grade: ☆ (?)


    Effect: N/A


    _______________________________


    ''Damn it, Aoni, I swear you are dumb as shit sometimes, THERE''S STILL ARROWS AND SEVERAL THINGS I CAN UPGRADE!'' Chastising himself mentally, Aoni slowly slid off the bed and padded over to the bookshelf before retrieving the Hook Sword and cing it on the desk.


    ''Summons and LoS aside, the Hook de has Three Stats which can be increased….but which one should I do first.'' Ignoring the fact that his Flume was ready for a third summon, Aoni carefully sat down at the desk and propped his chin atop steepled hands while examining his disy carefully.


    ''When ites to weapons, Attack and Durability are essentially the same as Attack and Defense, with thetter being nearly as important as it is for myself as it is for the weapon.''


    ''If its durability is too low, the weapon will wear out and eventually break too quickly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Attack represents how much using it can add to my own strength.''


    ''All of these could be calcted with numbers, but that is in and of itself a massive annoying headache that I don''t feel like dealing with. Besides, there are machines on Terra to figure all that out.''


    ''Still, given the fact that I was subjected to a significant amount of pain when increasing my stats, I can assume that it would be a simr effect in the case of my weapon, meaning there''s a strong chance that if I am careless and increase its Grade or Attack first, the weapons durability will bottom out and it will shatter before ever finishing the upgrade.''


    ''Which means I should first increase its durability…but before that…I should probably give it a name. With how particr my Attribute is, I don''t doubt there will be an error message if I were to try upgrading it by calling it "Hook de,"'' Blinking several times, Aoni sat in rtive silence and tried to figure out a solid name for his new weapon.


    ''Vestr…I''ll name you Vestr for West because you are meant to be wielded in my Left hand.'' He didn''t remember where exactly he''d heard the word, but Aoni knew it was part of a deadnguage that he''d found online during ate-night deep dive into a random topic.


    ''Increase Vestr''s Durability.'' reaching down, Aoni lifted Vestr and held it parallel to the table while uttering themand.


    | Increasing Summon ''Vestr''s'' Durability from G- to G |


    | Progress Points have been Deducted |


    | 1.0 PP earned |


    Soon, Aoni felt a subtle vibration run through the length of Vestr,sting only a second or two, along with a faint shimmer that settled down, revealing absolutely nothing visible.


    After examining it closely and double-checking that his Summon''s Disy indicated the correct information, the Lad jumped over to his Traveler''s Disy and nodded.


    ''The upgrade cost 2.5 points, which was expensive, but I also earned a single point back in return, meaning I am down 1.5 points.''


    Finding that within the realm of eptability, Aoni went ahead and pushed Vestr from G to G+…however, when he saw the cost of doing so, the Lad sucked in a cold breath…because instead of 2.5 points, it had doubled to 5, and he had still only earned a single point.


    ''Please don''t be 10 points, please don''t be 10 points….'' As he went for the third upgrade, to bring its durability to F- Aoni couldn''t help but say a little chant…but s….


    | 1.0 PP earned |


    Progress Points: 3.83@@novelbin@@


    He had indeed lost 10 points, and all Aoni had to show for it…was a weapon with an F- Durability and not even remotely close to enough Progress points to do anything substantial.