"Let's create a defensive card first," Azrael decided after careful consideration, settling into his ditation posture in his newly furnished apartnt.
While Pidgeot was becoming increasingly obsolete for his needs, the trusty bird could at least serve adequately for basic transportation. What really bothered him was his complete lack of defensive cards; he'd fought essentially naked throughout the Provincial Tournant, relying entirely on the protection of his cards while remaining personally vulnerable to stray attacks.
This realization had crystallized during his semifinal fight against Victor, when that devastating area-of-effect lightning attack could have easily killed him had the circumstances been slightly different. Tournant rules forbade direct attacks on Lore Cardians, but wilderness encounters operated under no such civilized constraints.
Azrael had already examined the materials provided by Master Lucian and discovered four components that radiated an unmistakable underworld energy. The thematic consistency didn't surprise him; after all, his new teacher's entire card system was based on mythological representations of death and the afterlife.
"After I reach the Silver level, I should be able to create another Soul Reaper," he mused, already planning his next advancent. But for now, the Bronze level improvents would have to suffice.
Opening his phone, Azrael scanned the current listings on the trading site, considering his options. "Should I create a symbiote?" he wondered aloud, the idea having obvious appeal.
Symbiotes offered remarkable versatility, combat enhancent, defensive capabilities, and regenerative properties all wrapped up in a single biological package. The concept seed perfect to address his current vulnerabilities.
However, a critical flaw in the plan struck him almost imdiately. "I would be injured by friendly fire when Yoriichi releases his Shikai," Azrael realized with disappointnt. The Soul Reaper's solar flas would undoubtedly harm any symbiotic organism attached to his body.
Just as he was about to abandon the idea altogether, inspiration struck. "I've been thinking about this wrong," he said with growing excitent. "I don't need the symbiote's offensive capabilities. I can completely reduce its offensive power, while increasing recovery and defense to compensate for my weaknesses.
This realization opened up new creative possibilities. Even if Azrael had wanted to create a perfect symbiote replica, such ambitions were completely unrealistic given his current limitations. After all, the symbiote's basic strength typically exceeded seventy tons of punching power, a level that dwarfed most Bronze-level beings.
To put that power into perspective, even Kan Rider Zi-O's base form generated only 8.2 tons of physical force. Creating sothing of that magnitude would require materials and skills far beyond Azrael's current capabilities.
But by sacrificing offensive potential in favor of defensive specialization, he could work within his limitations while addressing his most pressing needs.
After much searching, Azrael found the materials he needed: Bronze Level [Mad Symbiote] (gold), Bronze Level [Regeneration Blood] (gold), and Bronze Level [Battle Master] (purple). The three components cost him nearly four million Empyrean Dollars, a considerable investnt that made him hope for extraordinary results.
"My goodness, I've invested so much," he muttered as a Cuckoo Bird delivered his order. "You better not disappoint ."
Taking a deep breath to center his focus, Azrael began to sketch on a blank card. The figure that erged had a distinctly alien aesthetic, black and red with a hideous mouth that spoke of predatory hunger. The design drew inspiration from various symbiotes, while maintaining enough originality to et the judging criteria of the mysterious room.
Wrapping his ntal energy around the finished artwork, Azrael felt the familiar transition as the mysterious space welcod him once again.
[Please begin creating your story.]
[In the distant past, the dark god Knull established a vast empire throughout the cosmos, ruling from the lightless void between the stars].
[anwhile, the Celestials, cosmic beings of imnse power, traveled the universe promoting evolution and establishing cosmic order through their grand design.]
[These conflicting philosophies inevitably brought Knull into direct conflict with the Celestials, threatening the dark god's rule over the Void.]
[Choosing warfare over diplomacy, Knull forged the All-Black Necrosword from living darkness and used it to decapitate a Celestial in combat.]
[However, Knull's individual might proved insufficient against the entire Celestial host. Defeated in the ensuing war, he was exiled to the deepest reaches of space.]
[But Knull refused to accept defeat. Using the severed head of his celestial victim, he reforged the Necrosword into an even more terrible weapon of cosmic destruction.]
[With this enhanced power, Knull created the first symbiote from the living shadows themselves, spawning a race of parasitic organisms designed to serve his will.]
[Soon, armies of symbiotes under Knull's control provided him with an endless supply of hosts and soldiers for his dark crusade.]
[However, symbiotes inevitably absorb aspects of their hosts' personalities and emotions, making perfect control impossible even for their creator.]
[During a climactic battle with Thor, lightning strikes weakened Knull's ntal dominance over his creations just enough for rebellion to take root.]
[Choosing freedom over slavery, the symbiotes turned on their dark master and imprisoned him within a planet transford entirely from their living mass.]
[Afterwards, seeking to atone for their violent past, many symbiotes scattered throughout the universe in search of redemption.]
[One such symbiote eventually reached Earth after eons of interstellar travel, its strength nearly exhausted by the impossible journey.]
[Fortunately for the dying creature, it discovered a suitable host almost imdiately upon planetfall, a talented but reclusive artist who specialized in 2D character design].
Azrael deliberately avoided copying Venom's established history, instead crafting an original narrative that would allow him to modify the symbiote's abilities to suit his needs. By establishing the creature as weakened and seeking redemption rather than conquest, he could justify reducing its offensive power while retaining the defensive and regenerative abilities he actually needed.
[With the artist's help, the symbiote barely survived its near-death state, slowly regaining strength through their symbiotic bond.]
[The artist learned his new partner's na during their first ntal communion: Pride, a designation that spoke to the creature's origins as one of Knull's elite warriors.]
[The newly bonded artist was amazed by Pride's gifts. His chronically poor health imdiately improved, and his previously weak fra gained enough strength to shatter concrete walls with his bare hands.]
[Even more remarkably, Pride's fighting instincts transford him from a complete novice into an expert fighter capable of using techniques he'd never learned].
[But defense proved to be Pride's greatest strength. According to the symbiote's assessnt, their combined form could easily withstand RPG blasts and similar explosive attacks.]
[Pride also possessed trendous regenerative abilities, able to reshape and restore damaged tissue with remarkable speed].
[However, the symbiote's weakened state placed limitations on these abilities. While broken bones and severed limbs could be repaired, truly fatal injuries such as head shots remained beyond their current capabilities.]
[Under Pride's subtle influence, the artist's physical conditioning gradually improved beyond normal human paraters, his body adapting to better support their partnership].
[Together, the dying symbiote and its unlikely host embarked on an uncertain journey toward mutual salvation.]
"That should do it," Azrael concluded, feeling that he had reached an appropriate stopping point.
Frankly, he felt that the story he'd created was sowhat weak compared to his previous efforts. The story lacked the epic scope of Luffy's adventures or the mythological weight of Yoriichi's transformation. But the mysterious room seed to accept simpler stories when the focus was on specific ability modifications rather than grand character developnt.
As consciousness returned to his apartnt, Azrael found himself staring at the card with mixed emotions.
"Is this actually acceptable?" he wondered aloud, having ntally prepared himself for possible failure.
The mysterious room's willingness to approve his story raised interesting questions about its judging criteria. During the Provincial Review, he'd observed several Bronze-level cards with questionable narrative foundations, suggesting that the standards might be more flexible than he'd initially assud.
However, such speculation was pointless without additional data. The true nature of the mysterious space remained one of many puzzles he couldn't solve at the mont. Better to focus on practical results than theoretical concerns.
Pulling the card into his mind, Azrael imdiately accessed its information to assess his creation's capabilities.
[Dying Symbiote Pride]
Rank: Bronze Quality: Gold Category: Biological
Skills:
[Fast Regeneration]: Can quickly heal the host's non-fatal injuries. Note: Consus user's ntal energy.
[Shape Modification]: Regardless of the host's original body configuration, the symbiote can change size, shape, color, and texture as needed, allowing for environntal camouflage and infiltration.
Traits:
[Battle Master]: Through countless years of fighting experience, Pride has mastered nurous fighting techniques. With their guidance, even an untrained child could defeat professional fighters.
[Enhanced Biology]: The symbiote's defensive capabilities are exceptional, easily withstanding artillery bombardnt and similar attacks.
[Minor Physical Enhancent]: Gradually increases the host's physical abilities over ti. Current enhancent limit: Black Iron level.
Introduction, "Join the Glorious Evolution.
Bonds:None.
Azrael studied the results with analytical detachnt, noting both the positive and negative aspects of his creation.
The lack of progression paths and bonding effects was disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. Despite using two gold-level materials, Pride had only achieved gold-level quality, rather than the red classification Azrael had produced with single gold components in previous attempts.
"There's definitely a cost involved," he concluded, though he lacked sufficient evidence to determine the exact chanism. Perhaps the mysterious room required a greater material investnt when modifying established characters, or perhaps his narrative had been too derivative to warrant higher ratings.
Regardless of the theoretical implications, Pride possessed the defensive and regenerative capabilities Azrael desperately needed. More importantly, the [Minor Physical Enhancent] trait offered sothing unprecedented, a direct improvent to his own physical abilities rather than just the performance of his cards.
The importance of this could not be overstated. Card Makers were the most vulnerable component in any battle, despite the trendous power they wielded through their summoned entities. Even master-level Lore Cardians could be eliminated by sufficiently precise attacks that bypassed the protection of their cards entirely.
The ability to strengthen one's body, even increntally, was a crucial insurance against such scenarios. While the current enhancent only reached the Black Iron level, the trait's description implied potential for future growth as Pride regained its strength.
Azrael had long suspected that powerful Lore Cardians possessed thods of personal enhancent. Otherwise, battles between Diamond Masters would be far too dangerous for the combatants themselves; the collateral damage alone could easily kill unsuspecting humans.
With growing anticipation, Azrael prepared to summon Pride for the first ti. The mont of truth had arrived, he would finally learn if his investnt had produced the protective partner he so desperately needed.
The symbiotic evolution was about to begin.
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