There were myriads of reasons why his anticipation in respect to this tab was high. Aside from the fact that it promised the most tangible rewards in a literal sense, he was highly expectant because, from what he had seen from the flash of memories, the aspect beasts which he had gotten from Tyrant of the Symbiosis, also known as Chromo, were nothing if not overpowered; a mirror that, from what he gleaned from the visions, took over complete control of anyone who dared to look at its polished surface, an Elt-like beast, at least in shape and structure, that specialized in conflict and waging war, an augment whose purpose, usage and extent of power he had not yet come to fully understand,and control over the Drant forest, also known as, the proliferating forest, which even if he had not gotten it directly from the tyrant of the symbiosis, but from his ritual of homecoming, promised to be the one of the most powerful weapons that would be in his arsenal. Thus, like a baby Elt eager to check out his or her new toy or an adult Elt eager to check out his or her new acquisitions, like a car, a house, or a business venture, he was burning with anticipation. As for whether the [Aspect beasts] page would turn out empty, he totally doubted that possibility.
Those, and more, were the reasons why he was very eager to check out the [aspect beasts] tab. So without wasting any more time, he opened the [aspect beasts] tab and accessed the page behind it.
The page was dim static at first, reminiscent of the last two pages that turned out blank…only to burst out with a blinding combination of celebratory lights. When the lights dimmed to the point where he could not see what was on it, Mike viewed the page.
Unlike other pages, which were behind the other previous tabs, this one was special in the sense that the aspect beasts that were described in the page were shown on the display as cards, depicted just the way he remembered seeing them in the flashes of memories…
It read,
[Aspect beasts]
[Symbiotic one of negation: A symbiotic creature born from the Mystic Gas, from the very concept of negation, it is capable of totally severing its target's connection to mystical or supernatural powers in varying degrees, which depends on the number of augments pieced together. In its final form, with all its five augments pieced together and used to augment any weapon type, it would sever all forms of connections to supernatural and mystical powers. It lives to forever shatter any connection anyone unlucky enough to be its target has with the Mystic Gas but lacks the edge to do so. Thus, in a free state, it will readily bind with anyone or anything that indicates readiness to help it to live up to its goal, granting them its formidable powers. When it is claimed, it can only symbiotically augment anything at the will of the owner, though it may rebel if not actively used for a long while.
Due to the fragmentation, this creature of wondrous power was bound to a fragmented path and given the label of an aspect beast. This aspect beast can be summoned with a thought and, at the will of the wielder, can augment anything: concepts, other creatures of nature or the Mystic Gas, and any other thing the wielder can think of. This aspect beast, like all other aspect beasts that still exist after the fragmentation and that are subject to the laws of the fragmentation, can be summoned either in its full form or in the form of a card. The card form is to facilitate situations involving the appraisal, display, or transfer of the aspect beast. Even if the card form gets lost, the owner can summon it back to himself with just a thought. Transfer of the aspect beast can only be completed with a final, uncoerced approval from the current owner.
"With a thought, huh!" Mike asked himself rhetorically with both of his arms stretched out at full length and both of his palms opened. And so, just thinking about summoning it, not even trying to visualize the process, he saw five cuboid muddy-brown-colored metallic bars appear from thin air and fall into his opened palm before his very eyes. These metal bars, if anything, looked more ordinary than what he had expected to see given the elaborate and, in his opinion, grand description the View had given it. It also appeared worse than he had seen in the visions of them, given that these five metallic cuboids showed varying degrees of corrosion.
"Don't judge a book by its cover, Mike; this thing's value lies in its power, not in its appearance." He schooled himself.
"Now that I think about it, I have not completed my find-a-weapon goal, so what am I to use these things to augment?" That was when he took note of his surroundings since the conclusion of his remake.
The Drant forest—that is, the portion of the proliferating forest that sat after the Aldom river and which hosted his spawn point—was still covered by the perpetually dark sky that characterized the Genesis-Remnant Mountain Cluster; the twisted and haunted-looking trees were still in their various positions, and everything looked the same as when he was first transported…
…or almost.
When he was first spawned in this place, he had noticed that the Drant forest was stratified, not just into tree layers, but into more than he could possibly count, the trees that he had come to suspect to be the spawn point of others being some of the highest, with other trees, their purpose which he had not been able to decipher even now, trailing behind those which he suspected to be the spawn point of others. Lately there were those trees, which, as he suspected, were created when creatures who wandered into this place were turned into trees….
…now the only tree type he could see was that of the last category. Also, when he first came here, he felt as though the whole forest was interconnected somehow and that it spread farther and wider than he could actually or ever see with just his two eyes. Now, however, when he looked at the forested expanse of morphologically twisted trees before him, he felt as though it had lost those two properties. Even worse was the fact that the white mist, as well as the tingling sensation that he felt when he looked at the first expanse before, which had caused him to conclude that the forest was haunted, was also gone.
"... Well? That's… what should I even say? Yeah! I can use that; it should be somewhere here…"
Before he could continue his thought process, he felt a chill run down his spine, as though a terrible beast was behind him that would snap up his head the moment it knew it was discovered or snap his head up either way if he failed to discover it on time. In essence, he felt as though there was a terrible beast stalking behind him.
"I'd better die knowing who my killer is than die in ignorance about the cause of my death!" Mike said to himself, the fear in his voice being masked by a defiant hint of bravery. He just had a brush with death and survived, so he thought it better to at least know what was after his life or who his would-be killer was than to bury his head in the sand and hope that the danger tides over.
So psyching himself up, he turned around to see his would-be killer…
"No way!"
There behind...