The Spider Queen

(Zrudread University Main Campus)

(St. John's Science Center- Lab Room 302)

"So, on the question about the implications of modified hydrochloric acid… what did you write down as your answer?"

"Bro… I didn't even reach that part… I ran out of time…"

"Fuck… I'm going to fail… I knew I shouldn't have spent last weekend playing virtual reality games…"

"I studied for like three weeks and halfway through the exam I was completely lost… I don't know why Professor Macabre always writes hard questions."

"Is it too late to drop out?"

Sophie walked into the classroom and heard the conversations happening between her fellow students.

The lunch break was over, and the practical exam would start in around ten minutes. 

The theory exam to put it mildly… was extremely difficult.

Even Sophie had been surprised with the obscure knowledge that was tested. 

The short answers and essay questions in particular could not be answered by just memorising the information given in class but required them to apply the knowledge that they had learnt.

"How was the exam?" a soft voice nervously called out. 

A hybrid boy with two bone-like wings jutting out of his back walked up to Sophie.

"Oh, hey Rafessa… it was… okay?" Sophie replied hesitantly.

"I mean I wasn't sure about the answer to the last ten multiple choice questions, and I wrote an extra page for my essay."

"Hopefully she doesn't deduct marks but Professor Macabre is pretty strict so who knows…"

Other students saw that Sophie was discussing the exam and hurriedly walked over to her to ask questions about how she felt.

"Did you get 'B' for the second multiple choice?"

"What essay prompt did you pick?"

"The answer for the last short answer was 'Covalent Bonds', right?"

Sophie patiently answered their questions since this was a good opportunity to solidly her image as someone who was warm and friendly.

Sophie was aware that her over seven-foot-tall height along with her bladed appendages and fangs made her look quite scary.

The time passed quickly and just as Sophie was about to discuss her theory on the last essay prompt, Professor Macabre walked into the room.

"Alright students get to your stations," Professor Macabre sternly spoke. 

The students dispersed and Sophie walked towards the back of the classroom and sat down on an empty chair.

Professor Macabre stood in front of the room with a disappointed expression on her face. 

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked directly at her students.

"I have begun marking your exam and let's just say… I hope that many of you perform better on the practical exam this afternoon," Professor Macabre hoarsely whispered.

"It is worth around thirty five percent of your final grade so please do not assume that it will be easier than the theory portion."

She reached into her storage bag and pulled out a heavy stack of papers. 

The poison cultivation teacher walked around the room and placed a sheet of paper on each table in front of the students.

Professor Macabre had significantly less enthusiasm than in the morning and her sharp gaze sent shivers down the spines of the unlucky students who suffered her silent wrath.

The professor handed out the last sheet and then walked to the front of the room.

"The practical exam will have two parts that test different skills. The first part will require you to modify a random poison formula that has been assigned to you," Professor Macabre explained.

"I expect the lethality of the base toxin to at least double its initial strength. Bonus marks will be granted for any additional side effects."

"This can range from infectious pus-filled boils to milder symptoms like a rash or pox-like afflictions."

"You have two hours to complete this task and the reagent cupboard will be fully available during this time."

Professor Macabre gestured towards the storage space in the back of the lab where hundreds of vials, chemicals and other strange mixtures were stored.

"Please begin," Professor Macabre spoke coldly.

There was a frantic rush of movement as several students immediately headed for the storage space to choose ingredients.

Sophie remained in place and turned the paper over to get a closer look at the formula. 

Randomly adding chemicals and hazardous materials to a toxin was just plain foolishness. 

It was better to look at the poison assigned to her first and then make a plan to modify the formula.

The name of the poison that Sophie had been given was called 'The River's Sorrow.' 

It was a particularly nasty toxin that got its name from the madman who used it to poison the water supply of an alien planet.

The poison was colourless and tasteless. 

It was an insidious toxin that attacked the body's breathing apparatus and rotted away the alveoli walls.

Victims would die a slow and painful death of suffocation as air would no longer be able to flow into their lungs or gills.

Sophie closed her eyes and tried to remember all the information that she knew about this poison.

Professor Macabre had mentioned it in class once but she had only spent around three minutes briefly discussing it.

"Hmm… how can I change this," Sophie muttered quietly to herself. 

The lab benches had drawers placed underneath, so Sophie pulled one open and got a notebook and a pencil from inside.

She also opened another drawer and took out two laboratory apparatus to help her in the modification process.

The first was a poison detector that would measure the lethality of different poisons using a relative scale of one to ten.

The second was a poison crucible which was a device that facilitated the breakdown of toxins into separate components via heating which allowed for mixing.

In addition, Sophia grabbed a few volumetric flasks, a scale and some measuring cylinders.

The first step was to make the poison according to the formula so that she had an idea of its lethality.

Sophie had not forgotten Professor Macabre's instructions to double the lethality of the original toxin.

This exam unlike the theory exam permitted students to use the Virtual Net so Sophie powered on her wrist communicator and started to search for more information.

There were several articles about 'The River's Sorrow' but most simply discussed the incident when it was first used.

There were few scientific articles that discussed modifying the toxin. 

Sophie narrowed her eyes and began to look up the individual components that made up the poison.

She finally made a breakthrough since one of the components was the leaf of a Feren plant found on Planet Hrin.

This rare plant took several years to grow, and the ingestion of a single leaf would cause one's organs to gradually collapse.

Sophie spent around fifteen minutes looking up the other components before a plan gradually formed in her mind.

What if she modified the poison to transform it from a water-based toxin to an airborne one? 

This would be quite the difficult feat, but Sophie was quietly optimistic about her chances of success.

She got up from her chair and headed for the storage space to pick out some chemicals.