Chapter Ninety-Two: Little Black Is Powering Up

So afterward you’re going to put that thing on the man called Peter Parker?

Tornado of Terror looked at the silver-white entity inside the small glass tank and raised an eyebrow at Joss.

After the two of them had defeated the creature, Joss had gone and found a life-support pod to seal it inside, then brought the two of them back here.

Little Black, on the other hand, showed little interest in the creature’s capture; if anything, her reaction had been even smaller than Tornado of Terror’s.

“Mm. For now, let me think a little about what comes next. Bringing that guy into the Avengers will still take a bit of effort.”

The Peter Parker of the original story was basically Stark’s biggest little fan, and under normal circumstances, a word from Stark would have settled everything.

But the Peter Parker of today had changed quite a bit. Though that sort of approach might still work, the biggest problem was still unresolved: his lack of a sense of justice.

Seeing Joss sink into thought, Tornado of Terror and Little Black did not disturb him, but went off to do their own things.

Joss first checked his earlier gains. The main quest had awarded 3,400 points. After all, there was not much in the Life Foundation that could truly threaten him, and most of those points probably came from the trouble he stirred up and the creation of a super hybrid.

“Come to think of it, there was no final movement either. I wonder whether the hybrid can actually be born?” After frowning and thinking it over, Joss did not dwell on it too much.

If it had only given a little over three thousand points, then at the very least it could not have produced some world-ending demon king. Even if a new powerhouse had appeared, it should not have been someone standing against him.

As for tasks one and two, Joss had earned more than seventy thousand points in total. It seemed the enemies who had been killed midway by Little Black and Tornado of Terror had also been counted toward his tally.

Added to that, even though he had held back considerably, ordinary people were still remarkably fragile under his attacks, so in the end that was all he got.

“Mm, I’m still short of ten thousand points before I can upgrade the system. For now, I’ll keep saving them.” After taking stock of everything, Joss did not spend any of it and stored it away once more.

Compared with all that, what Joss valued most was still the reward from the final quest: a chance to strengthen Little Black once!

As Marvel’s original antihero Venom, Little Black, after being altered, had an existence even stranger than Joss’s own.

Unlike Joss, a transmigrator, she had accepted the power of the system as a being of this world. Though she did not seem particularly special at the moment, it also meant she had the possibility of receiving further system enhancements.

“Little Black, come here for a moment.” Joss motioned to Little Black, then placed both hands on her shoulders and put on an expression of “channeling power.”

Although she had accepted the system’s power, she still knew nothing about it. Joss also did not want to reveal such an inexplicable thing, so he simply imitated the way he had strengthened Tornado of Terror before and let her misunderstand it.

“What are you doing? I’m busy, you know. I was just getting to the interesting part of that manga.” Little Black showed no interest in asking about Joss’s odd behavior, only frowning at him.

“Shh. It’ll be over soon.” After soothing her, Joss accepted the reward within the system. At once, an invisible force, following the magical connection between him and Little Black, poured into her body.

“W-what is this power?! It’s coming in... into my body... Such incredible power...”

As the force flooded into her, Little Black let out a rather indecorous moan.

[Target strengthening in progress. Please select a strengthening direction.]

[A. High-Level Symbiote. A more powerful liquid body, capable of splitting and solidifying into limbs and weapons of all kinds. Final form: God of the Symbiotes.]

[B. Super Tool. Can become any weapon in form while also possessing part of its power. Final form: Treasure Vault of the King.]

[C. Heroic Spirit Chloe. Develop toward the form of Heroic Spirit Chloe, possessing a small portion of a Heroic Spirit’s power. Final form: Unknown.]

[D. Housebound Guardian. Parasite on you and eat to your heart’s content, requiring at least ten bottles of sugary soda a day; all the fat will also grow on your body. Final form: Ultimate Shut-In.]

“The hell is wrong with this last option?!”

Perhaps because the system had been out of sight for too long, Joss could not help breaking his own rule of never complaining about it.

“How much longer... is this going to take...”

Little Black’s face grew increasingly sultry, her nasal, broken moans urging Joss onward.

Hearing her voice, Joss swallowed, then looked at her seriously and asked, “Little Black... I want to ask you something. Do you want to become human, or do you want to continue living as a symbiote? This is very important, and I need you to tell me right now.”

Among the four options, the last was just the system being wildly random and could be ignored entirely. The second was to turn Little Black into nothing more than a weapon, and that was something he could never do.

The system had already proposed such a choice once before, and Joss had not accepted it then. Now, after spending several months with Little Black, there was no way he would choose something like that.

As for option A or C, he wanted Little Black to choose for herself. This was the sort of thing that might alter the very structure of her being; he could not substitute his own will for hers.

“Human! I like how I am now! I’m sick of the life where I have to keep parasitizing others just to survive!”

Unexpectedly, Little Black answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Is that so... Then that’s how we’ll do it.”

Though a little surprised that she was so decisive, thinking about how, in the film, this one had also been rather unconventional, turning on her own kind and wiping out a whole group of them without the slightest reason, perhaps she really did love humanity deeply?

After receiving her answer, Joss decisively chose option C. As the thought fell, the system’s strengthening of Little Black rapidly began.

[Target strengthening initiated...]

[Acquired innate skill: Pseudo Projection Magic]

[Effect: Projection magic realized on the basis of a symbiote’s original weapon-forming ability. It can imitate the appearance of Noble Phantasms to the greatest extent, but possesses no supernatural power. However, it does have hardness, sharpness, and toughness far beyond ordinary objects.]

[Acquired innate skill: Mind’s Eye (Incomplete)]

[Effect: An ability that strengthens intuition and the sixth sense, allowing one to act in combat in the most suitable manner by instinct. However, attention is easily drawn by food, causing one to run off and eat during battle.]

[Acquired innate skill: Kiss Magic - True]

[Effect: In the matter of surprise kisses, this symbiote is highly compatible with the Chloe template. The efficiency of obtaining magical power through mucosal contact is greatly increased.]