Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

He felt for the agility and toughness aspects that were abundant in the beast core, and he drew out the essence slowly, exactly in line with what he’d learned from the cultivation technique.

But it seemed that technique applied only to people with normal attuned cores. Because the moment a connection was made between his core and the beast core, Uhtred lost all control of the flow entirely.

His core greedily swallowed every bit of essence within the beast core in seconds, thoroughly shocking him.

"What the hell?!" Uhtred’s eyes snapped open as his focus broke.

​All that was left of the beast core in his palm was a small mound of fine dust. And even that was not spared.

The moment the wind scattered it, Uhtred felt his core tug on each individual mote until they gravitated back toward him, disappearing through his skin and into his center.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 2] +2 Merits.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 3] +2 Merits.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 4] +2 Merits.

Total Merits earned : 335.

"Sheesh... Four levels from one beast core?" Uhtred whistled in glee. Having to hunt ten Level 5+ beasts didn’t look so bad now. Especially considering that along with the increase in levels, Uhtred could literally see his body heal before his eyes, just as much as he could feel every pain lessen considerably.

The levels had come with an increase to his durability.

"What about my stats?" He quickly pulled up his status panel.

[Status]

Name: Uhtred

Level: 1(Peak) -> 4 (Early)

Race: Human

Class Grade: Primordial

Class Title: Formless

Core Attunement: Limitless (Compatible with all affinities)

Core Rank: Mortal (Next rank evolution at Level 25)

[Attributes]

Strength: 13 -> 23

Agility: 14 -> 29

Endurance: 12 -> 22

Vitality: 10 -> 20

Intelligence: 15 -> 19

Perception: 14 -> 17

Willpower: 11 -> 13

Luck: 19

His agility had increased by fifteen points, and both his strength, endurance, and vitality attributes had all seen an increase of ten points. The others also increased, but slightly, and to varying extents — all except for the luck attribute. It still remained the same at nineteen.

"Should I stay put and let my body heal fully? Or should I go ahead like this and push for more titles...?" Uhtred muttered to himself, glancing at the corner of his status panel where the timer for the quest continued to count down silently.

Time Left: {01:46:03}

He was about to finalize his decision, intending to head down and hunt for more beasts, unwilling to lose the momentum he now had, when out of nowhere, a separate panel popped up in his view with a message:

[Ascendant Favoured_One, has entered into your channel]

Huh? Channel? What channel? Uhtred paused mid-action. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Oh? Would you look at that? I stumbled into a Pathfinder’s stream without even trying.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Keke. And those cronies called me crazy for focusing on my Luck attribute!

Luck attribute? Who’s this guy? Uhtred had immediately realized this was not a System message at all. He’d heard something being mentioned about a channel. So what was this? Some kind of stream? Did that mean this "Ascendant Favoured_One" guy could see him right now?

Uhtred scanned his surroundings warily, trying to spot any sort of cameras or recording devices.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: What are you doing, human? You must think very little of the System if you expect you’re going to find any recording artifacts.

"Who are you?" Uhtred asked as calmly as he could. The idea of someone watching him without his consent made him very self-conscious, but he tried not to let it show.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Unfortunately, according to the System rules of fledgling-world streams, I cannot reveal my identity. But my alias should give you an idea...

Uhtred frowned, then stopped to turn over the name in his mind.

Ascendant Favoured One...

I’m guessing the Ascendant title must be something great. Has he ascended to some sort of higher state of existence? Some higher realm?

And then also, his "Favoured One" title... He did mention something about the Luck attribute earlier... So he’s a very lucky individual?

Uhtred had lots of questions, but since Ascendant Favoured One had said he couldn’t reveal anything because of the System’s rules, he could only come to his own conclusions based on assumptions.

He didn’t know how right he was, but he guessed he wasn’t too far off the mark.

One thing was very certain though...

This guy is someone powerful, Uhtred concluded, glancing quickly at the corner of his status panel where the time was still ticking down. Thirty seconds had passed already since the last time he checked.

He knew he needed to continue with his quest. There were people like him scattered around the world — high grade talents, who were adapting to the new reality and already getting kills at this very moment.

If he wanted to maintain his lead on first kill titles, he needed to get moving. That was simple logic at this point.

But this "Ascendant Favoured One" was a new variable that changed the dynamics of that logic. Depending on what Uhtred could learn from this person, it would change the obvious logical choice entirely.

Uhtred pulled himself back up. He’d moved to climb down the tree already, but stopped himself and chose to address this instead.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Hmm? You’re not going to complete your quest immediately?

"Oh? So you know about my quest?" Uhtred frowned. What exactly could this person see of his current status?

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Sigh. You don’t need to get all defensive. This is basic knowledge. I cannot see your status panel or anything personal. No viewer can... unless you give them that access specifically.

"No viewer?" Uhtred raised a brow. "Are there more of you watching me right now?"

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Ugh. I had forgotten how tedious fledglings like you are... I’m feeling especially good right now, so I guess I’ll humor you.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: No, human. There aren’t "more of us" watching you right now. You think it’s so easy to stumble on a Pathfinder’s stream like yours?

Uhtred’s first instinct was to ask what exactly a Pathfinder was, but he held himself and instead asked the questions that were more pressing to him currently.

"Is there anything I should know about this quest that the System didn’t reveal?"

"These titles, are they very hard to come by? I got a bunch of them just now and they gave me some Merits."

"Also, these Merits, do you reckon I should continue to stack them, or is it better to use them if necessary?"

Uhtred fired off a string of questions in a flurry, making Ascendant Favoured One go quiet for a moment before he then responded.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Keke. Straight-to-the-point response! I like it! It’s a shame I can’t tell you anything regarding that, though.

> Ascendant Favoured_One: You should have realized by now that the System encourages figuring things out yourself. Especially for Pathfinders like you.

"Wait... So what then can you do?" Uhtred was confused. If this ’Ascendant Favoured One’ could not give him any tips or inside knowledge, what then was his use as a viewer? In fact, what then was the use of the channel at all?

> Ascendant Favoured_One: Oh, I can do lots of things, human. Donations. Networking. Multiversal Trade... Anything aside from unsanctioned interference with the natural progression of your fledgling world’s integration process.