Vesh was searching fast and precisely, not leaving a single stone unturned.
He first searched one entire mountain and then another at a fast speed, with hundreds of eyes splitting with his consciousness.
Since the secret spot was protected, Vesh didn't need to stay near and could search far and wide.
After forty minutes of intense search, Vesh finally found something useful.
A Tier-1 Sunmold Shroom. It was better than nothing.
Vesh absorbed it. And got a surprise, not so pleasant one.
He got 980 Formless Essence, more than what he got from the previous Tier-1 resource, but he only got 30 Formless stat points, far lower than what he got from the previous Tier-1 resource.
'Is there some kind of gradual declining effect when absorbing same-tier resources?'
For the first time in a while, Vesh got an answer to his question.
[ Yes. Absorbing the same tier of resources will gradually diminish the formless state points you get. The decline depends on the core quality of resources. ]
'Interesting. But the gap between the gained points is big. First Tier-2 resource gave me 330 state points, and Tier-1 gave me 90. Tier-3 might give way more than Tier-2.'
Vesh realized this was good enough since it was a gradual decline. Not just a one-time absorption effect.
He still had time, so after continuing to search for the next twenty minutes while hunting for food to bring back, Vesh had an encounter with a first-tier-2 monster, Runeflare Python.
And that led him to acquire a Tier-2 resource that it was protecting.
From it, he got 230 formless stat points, and 3.7k Formless Esssense!! He reached the 10k mark.
Vesh quickly returned, handed the meat and herbs he collected to Revi, and sat down cross-legged on the boulder.
It was time to rank up.
[ You have successfully reached Tier-3 lifeform rank. As you are a unique lifeform with a different way of ranking up, you have yet to manifest your Mystic Path. All three forms' attributes will be locked with only basic abilities available without boosts from attributes until you manifest your Mystic Path. You must manifest the pseudo form of your Mystic Path to unlock attributes. ]
'What?'
…
In Tronto Kingdom's capital, the Tronto Royal Palace.
Crown Prince was sipping tea in his garden, waiting for the good news he was expecting.
A square crystal was placed on the table, blue and translucent, whirling with magic.
Suddenly, it rang within the blue-haired prince's mind due to the connection, and he began blinking.
He quickly picked it up.
"Crown Prince."
Hearing the other party's voice, the Crown Prince's face fell. From its tone, he knew there was trouble.
"There's big trouble."
Crown Prince's jaw clenched.
So it was a big trouble.
"They are gone. I can't contact anyone, but I found some limbs. I think someone killed them and destroyed everything. There's nothing at the spot. No resources you gave to speed up the growth of Spawnling, no sight of Spawnling or its spawn circle."
Smack!
The table shattered with his fist before he grabbed the comm crystal and spoke. "I am sending some people. Investigate and find out what happened!"
Afterward, he contacted some people and sent them there.
'If a peak Tier-2 warrior died, then the enemy is strong. I have to send a Tier-3, or two Tier-3 warriors.' Crown Prince frowned.
The Kingdom had barely five Tier-3 warriors, and they were peak existences. Three were under his father's command, and two were independent warriors.
It was going to be a bit expensive to hire them, but he had no other choice.
'Who dared to foil my plan? Damn it!' Crown Prince's face was ugly. 'Father will be furious once he finds out I wasted a Tier-3 resource just like that.'
He just hoped he would be able to find the person who took this, but no sane person who stay there after stealing something like that. He had less hope in getting it, but he had to try.
A Tier-3 resource, not a cabbage; they only had a total of three in their treasury, and he took one for this plan.
…
Vesh, Veron, Revi, Miru, and the wolves were eating the delicious food cooked by Revi together around a bonfire.
While eating, Vesh was figuring out how to acquire the Mystic Paths of his forms. Fortunately, he was not without any help because it was available to him.
[ Vesh Raudrik — Formless ]
Rank: Tier-2
Formless Essence: 780 (1.1k per day).
Formless Stat points: 670