[ You will be transported to a random starting area in the Infinite Era World. All the best. ]
As soon as he made his choice, Vesh heard the voice and blanked out.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark alley with trash bags, broken wooden boxes, and a couple of people scouring the food.
Right in front of him was a mirror that reflected a black crystal ring.
But suddenly, mysterious smoke emerged from the ring, taking the shape of an eldritch monster with a wide-open maw upward, with tons of eyes blinking on its jaws and glistering white teeth.
'W-What the fuck?'
Suddenly, a screen appeared in his conciousness, reflecting in front of his eyes.
[ Vesh Raudrik — Formless ]
Lifeform rank: 1-star.
Formless Essence: 0 ( 0 per day ).
Form Slots:
—1st slot: Broken Black Ring
Racial Trats:
—1. Potential Shaper: Each time you use formless essence to invoke the potential of your form, you will get options for possible evolution.
—2. Cyclic Immortal: if your taken form is destroyed, your form slots will become empty, and all the memories you made while being in the forms will be lost. You will become a ghost until you fill a form slot.
'Wow…' Vesh was dumbfounded. Soon, the voice and information rang again.
[ You have become a monster called Formless, capable of taking any non-living form and invoking its potential into the realm of living. You can use formless essence to grant new characteristics to your forms and evolve them. The number of living affected by your form and how much they are affected, negatively or positively, will determine the amount of formless essence you generate every day. ]
'So right now, I am a broken ring lying next to a heap of trash.'
Vesh looked around. He had omnivision. He could see in all directions, hear, smell, and everything.
It looked like he was actually that eldritch monster he saw in the mirror, with countless eyes on all sides. But this form was invisible. It was formless and attached to a medium form like the ring, but it also had an appearance only he could see.
'How interesting.'
He could see the ring itself.
'I can't move it.'
[ You must become stronger, acquire and raise stats to be able to move. For now, you can only send your voice to living beings within a 10-meter radius. ]
[ You have acquired 1000 distributable stat points based on your previous life's measured potential. ]
'I see. Wait, 1000 is kind of a lot, right? How do I add the stat points? Where are the stats?'
[ You have yet to acquire any stats. Make contact with a living being to start acquiring Formless Essence to upgrade your form, which would give you stats. You can also change your form to something else. ]
"P-Please, no!"
Vesh was startled. Two men were pushing and beating a slim man.
'I won't break…right?'
Bam!
The man fell on the heap of trash, causing the broken ring to be completely buried.
"Bastard, give back the money you owe tomorrow morning, or….we will take your wife and daughter to sell them as slaves."
The two men left.
The fallen man got up and sat down at the corner, crying in helplessness.
He had thousands of thoughts gripping his mind about all the injustice and bullying he faced.
And Vesh could somehow hear all of it.
'Is this one of my powers? The more I focus, the more I can read his thoughts.'
Vesh sighed. This guy was having a rough life. Bad people had sucked him dry and entangled him in a web.
Now he was on the verge of losing everything.
'Fucking hell.'
Vesh decided. He was going to help this guy.
He will change that man's destiny and redraw another one for his enemies.
'I need to change my form.'
[ You merely need to focus on an item you can observe and will it to change your form slot. ]
Vesh looked around carefully with his hundreds of eyes.
'From his thoughts I saw, this world has some magical stuff. People can shoot fireballs. And his enemies also have one such person with magic powers.'
After looking around carefully, he decided to change his form slot into a knife.
A rusty knife with an acidic surface.
Vesh willed it, and in the next moment, he saw himself floating over to the knife and felt a variety of new sensations for a few moments before he felt natural.
'Let's start.'
'Hey.'
'Can you hear me?'
'Hey. I can help you.'
Vesh called out to the crying man.
The crying man was startled. At first, he didn't register it, but the next two times he heard the words clearly in his mind.
"W-Who is there?"
'I am behind you. Four meters to the east. Next to a dead rat.'
The man stood up and turned around. As some light shone onto him from the tall street lamp, one could see his black hair and ice blue eyes turned bloodshot, and his face half-wet and half-dried with blood and tears.
He looked like a young man in his mid-twenties.
'Yes, I am that knife. Grab me and I will change your destiny.'
"No way…" the man muttered. "I am hallucinating. Am I thinking that I could beat them with this knife and protect my family?"
He fell on his knees. "I am too weak."
'You are not hallucinating, man! I am real.'
'Grab me and see what happens.'
The man's eyes were wide open.
'Yes. You are not insane. Not yet.'
"Are you a devil? Are you here to form a contract with me that I sell my soul and gain power?"
'…' Vesh.
'No, duffer. I am not a devil! I am…a monster. A monster…who seeks to change destinies. Vesh Formless.'
'Amd I am here to change yours.' Vesh pressed. 'So you can either fall into hell with your family plunging into great suffering.'
The young man clenched his fists tightly.
'Or you can grab me and change your destiny.'
Krrr...
The half a meter long butcher's knife dragged on the surface before it was picked up fully.
The young man felt a jolt and froze, his eyes whitening.
[ Binding complete. Initial formless essence generated based on the experience and existential flow of this living being: 1,490. ]
Vesh could understand everything. He also felt a connection with this guy and got his memories.
'Veron Mill. 25 years old. Living in the slums with his wife and 4-year-old daughter.'
Veron regained his conciousness as he heard Vesh's voice.
'Start heading home, Veron. You will feel changes soon.'
"What changes?"
'You don't need to speak out loud. I can listen to your thoughts.'
'Oh..' Veron opened his mouth and closed it. 'So I just go home now?'
'Yes. I am going to make us powerful while walking.'
Vesh could feel the formless essence flowing in him and also see the status of this Veron.
He knew what he had to do.
[ Veron Mill ]
Race: Human
Lifeform Rank: 1-star
Main Stats:
-Vitality: [ 74%/100% ]
-Body: 6
-Mind: 7
-Spirit: 1
Sub Stats:
- [ Can be added by you based on your form's power. ]
Vesh had some stats when he switched to the knife. Specifically, these stats were Rust, Sharpness, Poison, and Acid.
But its durability was also low. The knife could be destroyed easily.
So first, it was time to use Formless Essence to evolve the knife.
Meanwhile, Veron covered the knife with some rags and created a cloth knot to carry it on his shoulder as he began heading home.
The town had stone pathways and square homes. Shabby and old. Stench filled the air, and not all street lamps were working. But the other part of this town was beautiful and filled with light and warmth.
At a particularly luxurious house, belonging to the fatty duke, who ruled over the duchy this town was part of, met with the two men at the back.
The same two men who beat up Veron.
"How is that filthy roach doing?"
The two men who were in their thirties grinned.
"He is trapped. We will have his wife and daughter tomorrow morning when we go there to ask for the money. This is his last night."
"But, duke, why did you bother to make this nobody's life hell?"
The bald duke laughed as his fat belly jiggled. "You remember that painting competition that happened in Bolfur Town? That bastard won first place in that. He was there with his wife and daughter."
The two men looked at each other. Still confused.
"The prize of that competition was an audience with me to request a reward they desire."
The two villains blinked. One of them asked. "What did he request?"
"A small property to build his house." The duke's mood soured. "I was willing to give him a bungalow in this town's posh area, but he didn't heed my request."
"Your request?"
The two villains looked at each other before turning back to the fatty.
They had a feeling what that request was.
"Yeah. I told him to keep his wife there for the night. But that idiot refused. Humph."
"So I got him that shitty house in the slum as a reward, and made his life hell in three months. Now the show is about to end. Wrap it up tomorrow and bring that wife and daughter to me."
"Roger!"
"Ahem, about our payment…"
Both of them rubbed their palms while smiling at the duke.
The fatty duke took out a bag of gold coins from his storage ring.
"Here. This is half. You will get the rest tomorrow."
Both men thanked him with merry laughter and left.
"Time to drink."
"We'll go to the new brothel today."
…
'Hey, Veron. How far till we reach home?'
'Just two minutes now.'
'Stop and go into that corner. Sit down and take a deep breath.'
Veron was startled. 'W-What are you going to do?'
'It's time to become powerful.'