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

Seeing as he had complete faith that Glacia would get him where she had found something, Aoni got comfortable and focused on staying warm.

He did this by wrapping his arms around his body and cupping both armpits; since there was no telling how long it would be until she REFOUND the desired location, the lad found it would be a better use of his time to try and figure out what to do with his land.

For starters, thanks to the wide-open terrain, although sloped, he figured that so long as he could clear out a decent amount of snow, Building some simple structures around the top of the mountain wouldn't pose much of a challenge.

Well, LOGISTICALLY, he probably would, but if Aoni could get his hands on a few special items upon his return to Terra, none of that would matter.

These special items, in particular, were magical Artifacts called Nodes. Much like how the flumes come neatly packaged in the form of a small stone, Nodes were no different; neither was their means of being acquired.

Typically, there are two main sources of acquiring items. The first, of course, was by way of summoning. Although the chances of getting something like a Node or Flume Stone were about as low as you'd probably assume, they still popped up eventually.

But the main source was Dungeon Instances.

As the name describes, Dungeon Instances are unique pocket dimensions that manifest due to EXTREME amounts of Concentrated Energia where travelers can enter and attempt to gain rewards.

There is some key information one must first understand, and that is there are two types of Dungeon Instances, permanent ones and Temporary; however, technically speaking, there isn't much separating the two types, with the only difference being that temporary ones vanish upon being cleared, while Permanent ones…well Don't.

Furthermore, each Dungeon Instance will trigger a reaction with a person's TD, in which its rating is observable in the form of a Rank and Grade, distinguished with a Letter Rank and Star Grade.

For example, something like A Labyrinth would be categorized as a MINIMUM of D-Rank; however, depending on the traps and monsters inside, it could have 1 to 5 stars.

So basically, the Rating of a Dungeon Instance can tell you a lot about what you will find inside.

Let's say that there was a bunch of Glacia's inside of a Labyrinth; it would be classified as a D-Rank, One Star Dungeon Instance.

Now, typing and Ratings aside, unlike in the natural world, Dungeon Instances, being constructs formed from high Energia levels, defy the natural order of life, mainly in the way Monsters, Creatures, and beings are created within them.

Unlike in the natural world, when something Dies within the Dungeon Instance, it becomes food for the Dungeon itself, and as such, corpses don't remain; instead, materials, items, or supplies are left in their place.

So, in a sense, they are Super Dangerous life or death-style video games…kind of.

ANYWAY, this was all a drawn-out way of saying you can get Nodes and Instance stones as drops. Kill things, complete challenges, trials, or tasks, and you may get one of them.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I even bring up Dungeon Instances; well, that's simple because, in a sense, the same mechanic, which is a Dungeon Instance, can be used comparatively to Nodes.

Unlike Flume stones, where you need to do a whole ritual to get your Flume set up, Nodes are crushed and tossed onto the ground. By doing so, you trigger a mysterious phenomenon similar to the formation of a Dungeon Instance, and just like that, you have a new house.

Or maybe a tower or machine; in a sense, just about any non-living structure or formation can be conjured by a Node, and until you got your hands on one and made a connection with it, you'd have no clue what was stored within the Node. 

So when Aoni was examining his territory and plotting out where to build things, he was obviously thinking bout whether or not Node Structures could be used on the uneven ground.

'Eh, why am I even considering using Node Stones? Unless I stumble on a low-rated Dungeon Instance, the odds of me scrapping together enough money to buy some is out of the question.' Heaving a sigh, Aoni felt helpless, given his financial situation.

'At best, I can get one or two basic nodes from my government stipend when I make it back to Terra, but with my low potential, I doubt I'd get any financial aid.' At that thought, the lad froze for a moment as he realized a massive problem.

'I have to record all my data upon my return….so my Attribute will be revealed. Now that I think about it, THAT'S A BIG ISSUE!'

Aoni was no stranger to the hundreds of news stories that crop up every month online about Newly Awoken Travelers getting kidnapped, or worse, Killed, because they showed too much potential at becoming powerful in the future.

The government would never admit to taking part in such things, even if they were low-key, limiting the growth so that the royal family could keep hold of their position. 

Like this, the stories about hopeful powerhouses rising to become well-known yet getting snubbed in one way or another were extremely common. As Aoni sat there staring at his now-opened Traveler's Display, he felt a sense of foreboding wash over him.

If it was leaked that he could potentially grow uninhibited by bottlenecks and endlessly…wouldn't someone come after him before he even got to see his family one last time?

Even if his territory was Trash and couldn't provide useful resources by having a World Shattering Attribute, wasn't he putting a target on his back by consciously revealing it to the government?

| Third-party threats to users' progress are not to be worried about. |

| It will be handled in Due Time. |

Just as Aoni was one step away from a full-blown panic attack, two sudden pop-ups flashed by, just like whenever he earned points, drawing the lad's attention.