Eddie's eyes widened as he looked at Shiller and said, "You don't mean...?"
"I'm sorry, but I do."
Shiller's tone turned a bit cold, sending chills down Eddie's spine. Treading carefully, he asked, "Did something happen to the Gray Mist?"
Shiller sighed and said, "Not long ago, some aspect of my psyche evolved, and the aftershocks of this transformation pushed the Gray Mist into a new state of existence."
When Shiller referred to the building bricks that Iron Man and Batman gave for his tower, the Gray Mist benefited as well. Over the following days, Shiller noticed some changes in the Gray Mist.
"To put it simply, previously, the Symbiotic Gray Mist within me was still in its growing phase, but now it has finished its development and matured…" Shiller explained the situation to Eddie in the simplest terms possible.
Eddie's mouth dropped open in surprise. "It was still growing before? Good lord, wasn't it strong enough already? There's not much left in this world that can hurt you. How much stronger does it need to be?"
"Yes, as you said, the Gray Mist almost has perfect defensive power in this world, but don't you think that this is due to its innate nature, not its strength?"
Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, pondered for a while, and then nodded, objectively assessing, "You're right, you almost never get hurt because it's essentially mist. Who can wound a cloud of fog?"
"But I've never seen it use any offensive abilities. As you know, Venom absorbed a surge of energy before and I don't know if that was a sign of its maturity. But ever since then, it has gained a lot more offensive capabilities, not just clawing and biting with its talons and fangs."
"It now has many tentacles that can stretch almost infinitely. These tentacles have great strength, they can transform into wings, allowing us to fly, no longer needing to jump around on the ground. It can also control others remotely for a short time, giving me a clone."
"And most noticeably, since it evolved by consuming the faith power, it can use some spells that I don't know how to describe. The Blue Spirit can do it too, but Venom has more abundant energy, so its spells are stronger."
As Eddie spoke, he stretched out his hand. Black slime spread from his upper arm to his forearm, gleaming at the fingertips. As the glow of energy flickered, a light orb quickly gathered shape. Eddie laughed and jested, "I use it as a flashlight when I walk at night."
Then, he looked curiously at Shiller and asked, "The Gray Mist should also have absorbed quite a bit of energy, but I've never seen you use large-scale magic. Is it because the Gray Mist is still immature?"
"Actually, I prefer not to call this process 'growing' but rather 'awakening'", Shiller, frowning, continued, "The external influence uplifted the Gray Mist's wisdom, allowed it to see through its essence, and remember some details about its origin."
The look on Eddie's face turned serious as he faced Shiller to say, "Origin? Don't all symbiotes have the same source?"
You mean the God of Symbiotic Body, Nal?" With a somewhat detached raise of the eyebrow, Shiller nodded and then shook his head, "For a very long time, both Gray Mist and I thought it too was a creation of Nal, the God of Symbiotic Bodies... But don't you think there were a lot of suspicious points in that?"
"Nal created so many symbiotes, all looking the same, including Venom. Do you think such an ancient chaotic creature would suddenly have a drastic change in aesthetics?"
"To be honest, I've been thinking about this for a while," Eddie gulped down his fizzy drink with some difficulty and said, "The Gray Mist doesn't actually resemble any other symbiote. The Cosmic Special Agents and I have all agreed that if it weren't for you emphasizing that Nal created it, we would definitely think that it was some kind of stolen property."
"As you know, the Cosmic Special Agents are ancient. The Blue Spirit is even one of the earliest generations of symbiotes. They understand Nal better than any of us. They've all felt that Nal wouldn't do something like that, he would not place his hopes on a single special symbiote to save him. To put it bluntly, he despises every Godtar, for they are the primary reason for his confinement."
With a light sigh, Shiller revealed the truth, "It was after the Gray Mist evolved that it told me the only vague memory it had about its origin. Nal didn't create it, he 'condensed' it."
Eddie, being a journalist, carefully examined the difference between the two words and tried to analyze, "What you're saying is, the Gray Mist already existed, and Nal used his ability to bring it together and form a creature that appears to be a symbiote but isn't really one?"
"The Gray Mist is a symbiote." Shiller's firm tone made Eddie confused again. Shiller quickly elaborated, "Or rather, Nal reshaped the Gray Mist. He used the same method he employed to create symbiotes - it's all he knows how to do really. Hence, the Gray Mist behaves as though it requires a host."
"You mean it originally didn't need one?"
Shiller nodded, "The Gray Mist had a previous form which, for unknown reasons, scattered. Nal used his own abilities to gather and reshape it, leading it to believe that it was a symbiote, at least during its childhood."