[Please begin writing your story.]
Shiraori, having evolved into the Undead Spider Queen, left the Great Labyrinth and encountered the Demon Lord Ariel.
Due to the vast difference in power, Shiraori was slain by Ariel in a single encounter.
Thankfully, her Immortality skill allowed her to eventually awaken on the sea.
After escaping Ariel, Shiraori dodged the Demon Lord while systematically eliminating the Queen Taratect's minions, ultimately killing her mother after a long battle.
After successfully killing the Queen Taratect, Shiraori encountered her former classmate, Sophia.
To protect her, Shiraori remained in hiding.
During this period, because the Goddess Cult's teachings included the Spider God Beast, she was worshipped by the uninformed public. Shiraori earned the Ruler skill of Redemption through continuously saving the people.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long.
While Shiraori was participating in the war alongside the Sariella Kingdom's army, Ariel suddenly appeared before her.
The reason Ariel was able to track her down was because the Earth Dragon Clan had been attacked for helping Shiraori.
At this point, the Earth Dragon Clan's superior, Administrator D, appeared and stopped Ariel's actions. To apologize to his subordinates, D teleported Ariel directly to Shiraori's location.
Fortunately, Shiraori was prepared. At the critical moment, she teleported her consciousness into an egg she had previously laid in the labyrinth, escaping certain death.
Ariel refused to give up on hunting Shiraori because the Queen Taratect's spiritual channel had been forcibly closed after her death, and one of Shiraori's Parallel Minds had infiltrated Ariel's soul during the battle, constantly eroding her consciousness.
Later, Güliedistodiez approached Shiraori to apologize for teleporting Ariel to her, explaining that Administrator D had specifically requested she be protected.
Ultimately, Shiraori evolved into an Arachne with the aid of the large number of Earth Dragon corpses Güliedistodiez provided as an apology.
"Done."
Azrael returned to the real world and breathed a sigh of relief as he gazed at the card floating before him.
As the person who created the card, he could immediately sense the difference between promoting Shiraori and creating [Eternal Bond]. The former was undoubtedly much easier.
[Arachne · Shiraori]
Rank: Diamond
Quality: Red
Category: Creature
Skills:
[Ruler: Wisdom] [Spider Race Inherent Skill] [Ruler: Pride] [Ruler: Endurance] [[Parallel Minds]] [Ruler: Sloth]
[Ruler: Redemption]: Casts a large-scale healing spell centered on the player, restoring health while simultaneously removing allied status effects. Possesses the derived skill [Miracle Magic].
Miracle Magic: Heals the target as long as they are not already dead. The mana cost of this skill depends on the target's specific injuries.
Traits:
[Style Correction] [Ruler: Wisdom] [Immortality] [Goddess System] Current Materials Required for Promotion: Three pieces of blue quality or higher, Sovereign-level materials.
[White Scythe]: Shiraori uses her front scythes and other legs, combined with spider silk, to form a weapon. Killing creatures absorbs energy and enhances her own stats.
Description: So what if she's reincarnated as a spider!
Advancement Path:
Iron Rank [Small Poison Spider · Shiraori] → Silver Rank [Scythe of Death · Shiraori] → Gold Rank [Shadow of Death · Shiraori] → Emerald Rank [Undead Spider Queen · Shiraori] → Diamond Rank [Arachne · Shiraori] → Sovereign Rank [God · Shiraori]
Bond Effects:
When appearing with [Queen Taratect] and other series, the effect [Loving Mother and Filial Daughter] is activated. When appearing with [Vampire · Sophia] and other series, the effect [26 Unlucky Guys?] is activated. When appearing with [Demon Lord · Ariel] and other series, the effect [Grandma, Love Me Again] is activated.
Compared to the Undead Spider Queen, the Arachne form only gained the ability [Ruler: Redemption].
Of course, that didn't mean her other skills hadn't improved. After all, the red quality was clearly there, and the remaining skills had naturally been significantly enhanced with Shiraori's advancement.
Besides that, there was the added trait of [White Scythe].
At first glance, it seemed unremarkable, and in reality, it didn't appear very useful.
However, Azrael's attention wasn't currently on Shiraori's card information.
"It's still red quality?"
The young man rubbed his chin in confusion.
"So it really has something to do with the source?"
According to the controlled variable method, the difference between Shiraori and Eternal Bond was that one was "borrowed" by Azrael, while the other was his own creation.
Before today, Azrael had always believed that his ease in card creation was due to, as Tempest had said, a bias from the world consciousness.
But after creating two cards just now, he had a different idea.
While there may be bias, it didn't seem to be as significant as he had always imagined.
However, without more clues, relying solely on his imagination would be impossible to uncover the truth.
After a brief moment of thought, Azrael summoned Shiraori.
The next moment, a large, half-human, half-spider creature appeared before him.
"Hehehehe, this body is just perfect for me!"
A perverted laugh echoed in Azrael's mind.
The young man looked helplessly at the Arachne before him, her human torso swaying constantly.
Admittedly, Shiraori had considerable assets, but Azrael didn't harbor any romantic feelings. After all, she was still a spider monster.
While he could tolerate Fury, he wasn't quite that open-minded.
Most importantly, Azrael had a serious reason for summoning Shiraori. "Shiraori, can you sense the [Superior] now?"
Hearing his words, Shiraori gradually calmed down from her excitement.
She carefully felt it for a moment and shook her head. "Still no."
Despite his preparedness, Azrael couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
It seemed that even at Diamond level, [Ruler: Wisdom] was still a one-way connection.
Honestly, it wasn't even a one-way communication. After all, based on his previous encounters, the World Consciousness didn't seem to have any desire to communicate with him.
"Alright, go have some fun."
After sending away the ever-joking Shiraori, Azrael couldn't help but sigh.
He felt as if his situation wasn't quite normal. It wasn't quite the genius under the watchful eye of the World Consciousness that Tempest and the others had talked about.
Several days had passed since Azrael's upgrade, and there had been no movement from the Crimson Oath Society.
Just when he thought things would remain peaceful, a message on his secure communication device silently reminded the young man to put an end to his daydreams.
[One: See you tonight at the old place.]
[One: Remember to disguise yourself.]
[Six: Got it.]
Looking at the silent device in his hand, Azrael couldn't help but frown slightly.
The old place was simply the Crimson Oath Society base near the [Demon's Nest].
But One's purpose in calling him there was questionable. After all, if there was any activity, they could have just announced it directly on the device. There was no need for him to go to the base.
He had even specifically instructed him to disguise himself.
"An outsider?"
Thinking of this possibility, Azrael's face suddenly grew serious.
He pulled out his communication device and sent a message to his teacher.
[Azrael: Teacher, the Crimson Oath Society has asked me to go to the base next to the Demon's Nest tonight.]
[Azrael: I hope you'll be careful.]
[Lucian: I understand. Be careful.]
The young man did this to prevent the possibility of his identity being exposed.
Although he believed he hadn't revealed many flaws so far, who knew if there would be a slip-up.
However, due to the presence of Eternal Bond and Shiraori, Azrael wasn't too worried about his own safety.
Night quickly fell.
Azrael, disguised as Bruce for the first time in a long time, concealed his presence and arrived at the Crimson Oath Society headquarters.
Gazing at the deep crevice before him, he plunged in without hesitation.
Having been there twice before, the young man was familiar with the structure of the headquarters.
However, Azrael hadn't been there for long when he couldn't help but frown.
"Why is there no one here?"
He knew that the headquarters had been filled with many low-level members on his previous visits, but this time, it was eerily quiet.
"Is my guess really correct?"
Azrael's heart tightened.
Soon, he reached what was supposed to be the main hall of the headquarters.
However, the sight of the scene startled him.
There were indeed outsiders.
One of them even looked familiar to Azrael.
At this moment, a fox-faced man said with a smile, "Six is here."
Since there were outsiders present, Azrael wouldn't let his emotional intelligence drop so low as to embarrass One.
While Four's provocation a few days ago was partly due to One's tacit approval, the young man wasn't prepared to jeopardize the relationship.
That wouldn't benefit him in gathering information.
So, Azrael simply nodded slightly. "Big Brother."
"Who are these?"
He gestured to the two other strangers present.
One chuckled and introduced them to Azrael. "This is Mel, one of Lord Marcus's subordinates."
Azrael's gaze shifted to Mel, a black woman with a circle of small skulls around her neck.
"Marcus?"
The young man instantly recalled hearing that name long ago in the City Within City.
If he remembered correctly, she was a Master-level Lore Cardian.
"But why are his subordinates in Velkairos?"
Before he could even consider it, One revealed the identity of another person. "This is Timothy, a subordinate of Lord Skinner."
Timothy was a brown-skinned man.
Besides his skin color, the most striking thing about him was the red and white markings on his face.
However, compared to Mel, Azrael wasn't particularly surprised by Timothy's identity.
He had already seen him behind Skinner in the City Within City.
"Mel and Timothy will help us implement our plan later. I asked you, Six, to come here just to get to know them."
One turned to Mel and the others and said, "This is the member of our Crimson Oath Society who will be coordinating with them in Velkairos."
Mel nodded slightly, while Timothy looked at Azrael with curiosity.
After a moment, he scratched his face and said, "I was about to ask you last time in the City Within City, why did you disguise yourself?"
Azrael was startled at first, then frowned.
He had never expected the other party to be able to see through Pride's disguise.
The expressions of the Crimson Oath members on the scene varied.
One seemed to have not expected Timothy to see through Azrael's disguise, and he was briefly stunned.
Two and Three maintained their indifferent expressions. As for Four, he had a look of anticipation.
Five, who was only at the Emerald level, hadn't even appeared.
As if realizing he'd said something wrong, Timothy gave an awkward smile. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"
One couldn't help but internally wonder why Skinner would send someone with such low emotional intelligence to support him. He then spoke to ease the situation. "Six's identity is quite sensitive, so I hope you two will understand."
His words were undoubtedly weak and ineffective.
After all, there were only a handful of Diamond-level Lore Cardians in Velkairos.
Mel and Timothy could easily deduce Azrael's identity.
Thinking of this, Azrael, somewhat speechlessly, dropped his disguise. "Big Brother, no need to hide."
Timothy gasped at the young man's appearance, and Mel's eyes flickered, evidently recognizing him.
Seeing this, One couldn't help but chuckle. "Six, you..."
Azrael couldn't help but curl his lips at the fox-faced man's pretense, skeptical that he wasn't aware of Timothy's abilities.
Ignoring the young man's subtle movements, One composed himself briefly before continuing, "I might need you to take action in five days, Six."
"Is that convenient for you?"
Azrael feigned contemplation, then said after a moment, "I don't think I have any mission scheduled."
But in reality, the young man's mission in Velkairos was to keep an eye on the Crimson Oath Society. If the Crimson Oath Society didn't make any moves, he'd be free.
"Until then, Six, when you return, send me the information about Nirvale District's secret realm rotation."
"Okay."
Azrael agreed calmly, though a lingering doubt welled up within him.
You know, the last time a secret realm went out of control was also in Nirvale District.
The young man pondered, "So what's so attractive about Nirvale District?"
Unaware of his thoughts, One sighed softly. "That's all. Six, you can go back."
Azrael nodded slightly and left the Crimson Oath Society stronghold.
After he left, Timothy asked hesitantly, "Boss One, are you sure he's reliable?"
"If I remember correctly, he's a highly sought-after talent in the Empire of Aetherlight, right?"
"Don't sell us out."
The man's concerns were justified. Anyone would have the same thought upon seeing someone like Azrael mingling with the sewer rats of the Crimson Oath Society.
Yet, in the face of Timothy's doubts, One smiled confidently. "Don't worry. Six has provided us with a lot of intelligence over the years."
"If it weren't for his intelligence on Lord Lioren's last incident, you wouldn't even be seeing us now."
Of course, the fox-faced man didn't mention that, more than anything else, he trusted his guild leader's contract even more.
While Diamond-level members had a preliminary chance of escaping the contract, Jin couldn't have been unaware if it were truly terminated.
Furthermore, Azrael had signed the contract while still at Bronze level.
Hearing this, Timothy shrugged. "Alright, since you're so confident, I have nothing to say."
Meanwhile, Azrael, returning home, sat on the sofa, lost in thought.
"Why would Skinner and Marcus send someone here?"
"Did Jin make a deal with them?"
"And why didn't [Inverted Cross] Chris send anyone?"
This was the young man's biggest puzzlement. After all, judging by the meeting in the City Within City, the Fallen Cult in Europe was undoubtedly in league with the Crimson Oath Society.
Just as Azrael was racking his brain, Lucian appeared in the living room.
The old man had been keeping an eye on Azrael's movements tonight and was aware that he had returned home.
"It doesn't look good, Azrael."