New Species

[Commencing creation,] Paris announced. James stood up and walked to a section of the lab blocked off by a massive glass wall. Beyond the wall was an empty space.

At that moment, Paris could be seen standing in the vacant area, her hand outstretched as a burst of black and white energy materialized before her.

One crucial detail about Paris is that she is, for all intents and purposes, nigh-omnipotent.

She could do anything and everything she set her mind to, but she refrained for one reason: her power, while virtually limitless and near all-powerful, was illusionary in nature.

Cosmic cubes could warp reality, but their omnipotent abilities were flawed.

Anything she created out of nothing through reality warping would disappear if she were destroyed or if it was taken out of this dimension—dissolving into nothingness.

This limitation restricted her options, but her matter manipulation powers were as real as they came.

Paris theorized this was because she used existing matter rather than creating it from nothing, as with reality warping.

James watched as she crafted a symbiote from "nothing," observing the strange, grey-colored creation. It felt different from other symbiotes.

Normal symbiotes couldn't truly be considered life, as they were magically formed from Knull's shadow. But this one was different—it felt alive.

James could sense life emanating from it. Paris had created a new type of symbiote.

"Paris, I don't think that's an actual symbiote," James said, surprised.

He could even detect life energy from it, something absent in the symbiotes he'd seen on Klyntar.

[True. While its genetic structure is based on a normal symbiote, this one is fundamentally different,] Paris replied.

She didn't fully understand how the symbiote she created differed from Knull's.

It was immune to conventional symbiote weaknesses and free from Knull's control, but that shouldn't have made it alive.

[The entire symbiote is like one giant cell,] she added after scanning it.

"Or maybe it's because you created this one instead of copying Knull's work," James suggested.

Unlike Knull, Paris had crafted the symbiote from normal matter rather than darkness. This subtle difference might have resulted in it being truly alive.

[I think so too, but let's not dwell on that. The symbiote lives and has all the abilities we need,] Paris said, shifting the focus.

"True. Now, let's test it," James said, pressing a button on the panel before him.

A man of equal height and build to James appeared—a lifeless clone created for testing experimental products.

Paris mind-controlled the clone as it entered the testing room and grabbed the symbiote.

As soon as it touched the symbiote, the substance wrapped around the clone's hand, eventually engulfing its entire body.

After a few tense seconds, the symbiote receded, revealing the clone now clad in a skin-tight suit.

"Paris, how does it feel?" James asked nervously.

The symbiote was meant to protect his family, so any failure could spell disaster.

[I feel fine. There's no excessive hunger or urge to cause trouble. We can confirm it's self-sustained and doesn't influence its user mentally,] Paris replied.

"Good… that's good. Proceed," James said, releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Paris continued testing, pushing the symbiote to its limits. She examined how far its tendrils could stretch, its strength, the extent of physical enhancement it provided, and the limits of its healing capabilities.

Over the next few hours, they discovered the tendrils could extend up to 10 meters and were as strong as spider silk.

The symbiote enhanced its user to slightly above super-soldier levels, granting 1 ton of strength and speeds of 40 mph.

Its healing factor was remarkable—losing a limb would prompt the symbiote to replace it automatically.

[Sir, Smith Biotechnologies just made a breakthrough in synthetic cell creation. They've developed a cell that can duplicate without transforming into a different cell. They've created the first "artificial" non-artificial heart,] Paris suddenly announced, drawing James's attention from the clone.

"That's great. Now we can take complete control of the medical department," James replied, genuinely pleased.

He had long since mastered synthetic cells—the clone before him was proof of that.