Veron sat down in a dark alley of this slum area.
'Get the knife out and hold it in your hand.'
Veron did as told, unwrapping the knife and holding it. Slightly nervous, slightly anticipative.
'Let's start.'
In the next second, the knife briefly glowed.
1000 Formless Essence consumed on the knife to evolve it, which triggered his Potential Shaper trait and gave him options.
[ Select the Evolution Path of your 1st form. ]
Mistlord's Knife. Shadow Shredder Knife. Poison Spirit Knife.
Vesh wanted to know more, but it seems there wasn't anything more he could learn except these names.
'Let's go with Mistlord's Knife.'
"Urgh…"Veron suddenly felt pain throughout his body for a second before the knife dispersed into sparkling white mist.
'Wh-what is going on?' Veron was startled. He could see a pair of eyes in the mist watching him. 'Is t-that you?'
'Relax.' Vesh replied. 'And yes, that's me. I am the knife.'
Soon, the sparkling mist entered Veron before emerging as an eccentric tattoo on the back of his hand.
Vesh saw the information on his evolved first form and was soon surprised. 'Wow...'
[ You can assign points to your Mystic Power to increase it. You can also synchronize your attributes as sub-stats for Veron Mill. Your stat points are formless. They can be added to any stat, attribute and can be retracted at your will. ]
'That's huge.'
[ Vesh Formless — Mistlord's Knife. ]
Lifeform Rank: Tier-2
Formless Essence: 390 ( 500 per day )
Stat points: 1000.
-Durability: [1000/1000]
-Mystic Power: 197 | Mystic energy: [ 1970/1970 ]
-Sharpness: 145
-Mist: 168
-Corrosion: 73
-Poison: 98
Abilities:
1. Mistlord's Command: Spawn copies of the knife and control them with your mind. Consumes Mistic Energy. 100 per knife.
2. — Spend 100 Formless Essence to generate a second ability.
Vesh spent 100 Formless Essence and generated the second ability.
Abilities:
1. Mistlord's Command: Spawn copies of the knife and control them with your mind. Consumes Mistic Energy. 100 per knife.
2. Mistoltein's Domain: Cover a 100-meter radius with thick mist that can apply corrosion to metal and degrade them while obscuring vision and slowing the movement speed of living beings. 100 Mystic Energy per second. — Spend 500 Formless Essence to generate a second ability.
'Good. Now, let's put points and boost Veron.'
First, Vesh added more points to his Mystic Power, but they were not going above 200!
[ Mistlord's Knife is a Tier-2 lifeform. Its stats cannot exceed 200. You must evolve it using Formless Essence plus a random catalyst you desire to reach Tier-3 and evolve it further. ]
'I see. Well, 200 is good enough for now. Let's start.'
Soon, Veron began feeling strange and stronger as Vesh assigned his 1000 stat points to his attributes and synchronized them as Veron's sub-stats.
It was amazing that his stat points were Formless. He could take them back anytime, add them to other attributes, and so on. He just had to find a way to acquire more stat points to raise his overall power.
[ You can gain stat points by absorbing magic resources. Stat points gained will be based on your opponent's overall power. ]
'This…I am not feeling pain anymore…'
Veron was feeling energized and powerful! He suddenly struck his fist on the ground, causing cracks to spread as it broke!
[ Veron Mill ]
Race: Human
Lifeform Rank: 2-star
-Vitality: [ 100%/100% ]
-Body: 200
-Mind: 200
-Spirit: 200
-Sharpness: 200
-Mist: 200
-Poison: 200
-Corrosion: 200
Despite making each possible stat reach 200, Vesh still had 84 stat points left to assign!
'But where did the knife go?' Veron got up and asked while feeling wonderful. 'All the pain in my body is gone…'
Vesh chuckled. 'Look at the status window in your mind. There's also the status of Mistlord's Knife. You can use the abilities of the knife, but don't worry about them since I'll use the abilities while you can hold the knife and attack.'
Veron gulped. 'Are we really going to kill those two?'
Vesh's voice turned cold. 'I already read your memories, so I know what's going on. The duke you rejected is likely the one doing all this. It's clear from how everything went in the last three months.'
'For now, go home. If we are going to make a move, we have to be prepared and keep your wife and daughter safe.'
Veron took a deep breath before his eyes turned determined. 'Alright. Let's do this.'
…
"Dada!"
A four-year-old girl came running to Veron as soon as he entered the small house. It only had one room. The living room and kitchen were in the same place. Walls were cracked, and the roof was worn away, dripping water from three spots due to recent rain.
"Dear…are you okay?" the wife arrived and asked, her face full of concern and worry, as well as a hint of despair. "What will happen? Did you get money?"
She was similar age to Veron, around twenty-four, and a beauty that was withering due to circumstances.
It was hard to even get proper food in the past month.
Veron smiled with reassurance. "Don't worry, Revi. Everything will be fine now."
He bent down and looked at his daughter with a smile and eyes full of love. "Miru, I will make sure you get everything you want and live safely."
The cute daughter smiled widely, her innocent blue eyes full of hope. "I don't want anything! I only want daddy and mommy! You will not go away, right?"
Veron broke into tears and hugged her tightly. "No, I will not go away anywhere, Miru. I promise."
'I'll make sure of that, Miru!' Vesh was crying. She was so cute.
Shortly, Revi took Miru to sleep while Veron sat down on a chair, only for it to break as he fell on his butt.
'Learn to control your strength. It shouldn't be hard since you know it already. Like how you hugged your daughter with gentleness automatically. Otherwise, you could easily crush her to death with your current stats.'
Veron nodded. 'I'll train.'
'Train with the knife.'
A knife manifested in his hand. Sleek black with emerald green sparkling patterns and crimson cloud patterns. Its blade becomes sleeker, a bit less wide, but still like a butcher's knife and a bit longer than before.
'This changed quite a lot in appearance.' Veron was surprised.
"V-Veron?! What is with that knife?" Revi returned and was startled to see Veron holding a knife.
'Show her your current power and reassure her properly.'
"I am going to keep us safe with this knife, Revi," Veron said with a somber expression as he picked up the broken chair's leg and gripped it tightly, crushing what was in her hand as the other two parts fell.
Veron opened his hand and saw that the wood had turned into a clay of wood due to his fist's pressure, completely crushing and sticking what he crushed within.
Revi was shocked. "T-This…how?"
"Because of this knife." Veron looked at the knife. "This knife talks to me and can make me strong."
"Is it a magic weapon?" Revi was shocked. "I have heard about magic weapons...but how did you get it?"
"It was lying beside a heap of trash. It looked nothing like this before, but after I grabbed it and we talked, it evolved."
Suddenly, sparkling mist oozed out of the knife before taking the shape of a face with black-green eyes. "Hello, I am Vesh Formless."
Revi couldn't believe her eyes. She rubbed them, but Vesh's face was still there, smiling.
"Don't worry. I will make sure to change your destinies for the better. And those who made this family suffer will pay the price with their lives."