Unlock points in Mycelarium come from one source: growing hyphae. You do not need to find a new resource or clear a new objective. The part that catches people out is that repeatedly sending tendrils out of the same node keeps paying out points, so a node you already own is a point generator you can keep pulling on.
Mycelarium unlock points guide: points come from growing
The counter sits in the UPGRADES screen as POINTS, and the same number appears next to a star icon in the top HUD. Every hypha you grow moves it. The tutorial is being rewritten so this is clearer, because players who ran out of food while spamming a node assumed they were playing wrongly.
That assumption is worth undoing early: the food problem and the point problem are separate. You can be broke on food and still be earning points, and vice versa.
Reusing one node
- Shoot the same node again. It does not stop paying after the first tendril.
- Use a Root Mushroom. It fires hyphae out of one spot, which makes a single location a repeatable source.
- Do it during rain. Shots cost no water while it rains, so the repeat shots are free and can be spammed at the same spot.
The rain version of this trick is written up in the rain bonus.
What the points are spent on
Points buy nodes in the upgrade tree — the range, width, water efficiency, node cost, budding chance and soil penetration attributes, plus the mushroom mutations and the enzyme branches. Nobody has published a priority order for them, so the tree layout and your resource situation decide what to buy first. Both of those are in the upgrade tree guide.