Lucius stood before the steel cage while looking at the poison spider rampaging inside it. Its loud screeches were echoing around the room, making Lucius frown.
Lucius could not stand its screeches anymore, so he turned to the system and made his hack: "System, hack it and put it too sleep. I have enough and no interest in dealing with its annoying screams."
---
[Hack Initiation: Sleep Mode]
[Cost Required: 0.5 Hack Points.]
---
The system hacked it and put the spider to sleep. Lucius looked at the sleeping spider, crossing his arms and smirked. "That's better. Now that it had stopped screaming, let's check it."
He turned to the system and pointed at the beast, "Display the beast's data. I want to know how useful it is before evolving it."
---
[Species: Poison Spider]
[Element: Poison]
[Level: 2 Star]
[Stats:]
[Str: E (2★)]
[Vit: F (2★)]
[Agi: E (2★)]
[Int: F (2★)]
[Skills:]
[Poison Fang: Bites the enemy, injecting a weak poison that deals damage over time.]
[Toxic Web: Spins a sticky web infused with poison, slowing and damaging trapped enemies.]
---
Lucius looked at the screen and read the data. He chuckled and thoughtfully said, "That's not bad. Your skills are good, but your stats are pretty laughable. Fortunately for you, I am here."
He turned back to the system. "Show me the evolution options that I can give to his poor poison spider."
---
[Evolution Options for 2-Star Poison Spider:]
[3-Star Poison Fang Spider: 10 HP]
[3-Star Acid Web Spider: 10 HP]
[3-Star Venom Spider: 100 HP]
---
Lucius smirked after reading the list. He looked at the third option and ignored the first and second options as it was the most expensive one.
"Venom Spider... A perfect display of power for this exam that will make me stand out even more. Let's make it more interesting, shall we?"
Lucius looked around the room and found a lot of scattered materials that were already prepared by the attendants. "System, analyze the materials in this room." Explore more stories with empire
---
[Analysis Complete:]
[2-Star Materials: 50]
[2-Star Materials: 4]
---
Lucius smirked after reading the system's analysis. "Quite a lot. System, absorb all of the materials. Don't leave even one."
---
[Hack Initiation: Material Absorption.]
---
All of the materials began to disintegrate into shimmering particles and disappear into the air because they were being absorbed into the system.
Lucius was quite satisfied watching the room being emptied by the system. He only chuckled after the process was complete.
Lucius amusely said to himself, "If anyone asks, I'll just say the spider's poison destroyed the materials during its berserk state. Let them make of that what they will."
Lucius turned back to the sleeping spider. He was now excited as he began to evolve it: "System, initiate evolution. Transform it into a 3-Star Venom Spider."
---
[Hack Initiation: 3-Star Evolution → Venom Spider]
[Cost Required: 100 Hack Points.]
---
The poison spider began to tremble violently, signifying that it was in the middle of the evolution process, even though it was still sleeping.
Lucius leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and smirking as he watched the evolution process. "Bad dreams, little spider? Don't worry. When you wake up, you'll be stronger than ever."
The spider's glossy black exoskeleton began to change color to green and its fangs began to grow even longer, dripping with greener venom that was stinkier than before as it was more potent.
The spider's glossy black exoskeleton began to change color to deep, venomous green. Its fangs were longer and more menacing than before.
Its fangs were also dripping with a greener venom that exuded a pungent stench, evidence of its higher potency.
The spider twitched slowly before stopping, signifying its evolution process had completed. Lucius leaned forward and was satisfied after looking at its current appearance.
"Good. You've become something worthy of my time." Lucius spoke before turning his attention to the system. "Scan this beast for me. I want to see just how powerful it is now."
---
[Species: Venom Spider]
[Element: Poison]
[Level: 3 Star]
[Stats:]
[Str: D (3★)]
[Vit: D (3★)]
[Agi: D (3★)]
[Int: D (3★)]
[Skills:]
[Venomous Bite: Bites the enemy with fangs dripping in poison, dealing initial damage and inflicting poison over time.]
[Poison Thread: Shoots a sticky, poisonous thread to immobilize enemies and deal continuous poison damage.]
[Toxic Burst: Releases a cloud of venom around itself, damaging and poisoning nearby enemies.]
---
Lucius read the Venom Spider's new data and chuckled. "D-Tier across the board, huh. Your skills are quite good too. They will be in shock after scanning you, but still, I am not finished."
Lucius looked at the system again and smirked. "Wake it from its sleep and make it more aggressive—fierce, but not uncontrollable."
Lucius further clarified his intentions to ensure the system didn't make a mistake, saying, "What I want is that its personality will be more aggressive, not rampaging around like a buff."
---
[Hack Initiation: Personality Adjustment → Increased Aggression]
[Hack Initiation: Sleep Mode Erasure]
[Resources Required: 5 Hack Points.]
---
The spider twitched as it was being hacked by the system. Its personality then changed. It had become even more aggressive than before.
Lucius looked at the new personality of the venom spider and smirked. "Perfect. You will be a surprise they won't see coming, especially those Kryndals."
He reached the beast ring on the table and put the aggressive Venom Spider inside it before it could even attack Lucius.
Lucius leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms while looking at the empty room. "All that's left is to wait. They think they've set a trap for me, but they've only handed me the means to outshine them all."
He chuckled as he glanced at the door, thinking about what their expressions would be. "Kaelix's family thought they killed me. Instead, they've given me an opportunity to humiliate them further."
"Let them see what true strategy looks like. This isn't just an exam—it's a stage. And I intend to steal the spotlight." Lucius said while laughing evilly in wait.