The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Zrudread University- Main Campus)

Sophie held her head high as she walked around the campus. She tried her best to ignore the stares and whispers that seemed to follow her around.

Only the top students were at the Inter- University tournament so there was still quite a lot of people left on the campus.

Classes were held as normal and those who went to the tournament would be given special make-up lessons to help them catch up.

Sophie hummed softly as she walked along a gravel path and headed towards a certain building at the end of the walkway.

Squeak! Squeak!

Moon flapped his wings a few times and moved around on top of Sophie's head before finally getting into a comfortable position.

The enormous frostwing bat yawned sleepily and then closed his eyes. His wing span was now around four feet in width and he was still continuing to grow.

Honestly if it wasn't for Sophie's high cultivation level, there was no way that she could possibly handle having her pet sit down on top of her head.

He was just so heavy!

Buzz! Buzz!

Sophie tilted her wrist upwards and checked her communicator for the incoming message.

Cleo: [Morning Babe! Why didn't you wake me up when you were leaving?]

Sophie: [Sorry… you just looked so cute when you were sleeping… I didn't have the heart to wake you up]

Cleo: [Aww…]

The hybrid girl smiled softly as she chatted with Cleo for a few more minutes. Being back on the campus was comforting in a strange way.

This place helped her to regain a sense of normality. She was far from an ordinary student but walking to class made Sophie feel… at peace.

The last few weeks had been a whirlwind of administrative matters, funeral planning, succession planning and other tasks.

Now… she could just relax and study.

With a bit of a spring in her steps, Sophie finally arrived at a large five story building that had been made out of reinforced metalloid alloys.

The Von' Donern Laboratory.

This was the place where second year poison cultivator lectures were usually held.

The building had state of the art technology to prevent leakage of the poisons, toxins and viruses that were made inside.

The first floor contained multiple classrooms while the second and third floors were the ones with the laboratory equipment.

Sophie approached the heavy metallic door that blocked the entrance to the building and reached into her storage bag.

She pulled out a flat thin card that contained her student ID.

"Alright Moon… you can head home now," Sophie whispered gently.

Her little frostwing bat hummed grumpily but jumped off his mistress' head and flew in the direction of Sophie and Cleo's shared mansion.

Sophie turned her attention back to the door and held up her student ID.

A green light burst out of the scanner in the middle of the door and the light swept up and down Sophie's body.

It only took a few seconds for the scanner to confirm Sophie's identity and the door quickly swung open.

The hybrid girl entered the building and the door closed behind her with a heavy thud. She found herself standing at the beginning of a long and winding corridor.

There was a room to her right which Sophie entered. This room contained white lab coats and a kit with basic safety equipment and tools.

Even though today was a lecture day Professor Macabre expected them to wear their lab coats while sitting in her class.

She wanted her students to develop the habit of automatically putting their lab coats on when they entered the building.

Sophie walked towards the back of the room where she found the lab coat that had been specially designed for her unique physique.

Four holes had been sown into the back of the white fabric to allow her blade-like appendages to poke out comfortably.

Sophie put on the lab coat without much difficulty and headed out of the room. She politely nodded her head at the students that she passed.

Most of the students in the elite class had been chosen to go to the Inter University tournament but a handful had not made the cut-off.

Sophie was not particularly close to any of them but after she had attended a group study session last semester, she was not on bad terms.

Speaking of the Inter University tournament, Sophie was pretty sure that the only department where all the elite students went to the tournament was the mech controller department.

And that wasn't all that surprising considering that there were only three students enrolled in that major.

The hybrid girl walked for around ten minutes until she finally arrived at a large hall-like classroom with benches and seats set in a semi-circular formation.

She headed for a seat in the corner of the front row.

Sophie liked to sit in the front but knew that her height would block the vision of the students behind her so she usually sat in the corner.

Professor Macabre was already standing near the podium and she shot a small smile at Sophie as she walked into the room.

Sophie nodded at her teacher and made a mental note to talk to her after class ended.  She wanted to get a head start on the work that she had missed.

The professor waited for a few more minutes for the last students to trickle in and then began the lecture.

"Good morning class… today we will be learning about the history of biological warfare and the impact of genetically engineered viruses," Professor Macabre spoke slowly.

"In some respects, viruses are perhaps the most dangerous of all the tools that you will handle as poison cultivators."

"Can anyone tell me why?"

Sophie raised up her hand slowly so Professor Macabre pointed at her and gestured for her to speak.

"Because viruses can mutate rapidly which means that the prepared cures and vaccines may become ineffective," Sophie said in a clear voice.

"Correct!" Professor Macabre replied with a wide grin.

"Viruses always have a chance to mutate which can improve their transmissibility or lethality with each subsequent generation."

"In a laboratory setting it is possible to figure out the rate of mutation but in the real world… there are simply too many factors for the computers to model."

"Complicating the matter is the effect that the viruses may have on different species."

"A disease that is lethal to Servies might be harmless to the Mendolesa."

Sophie pulled out a notepad and a pen from her storage bag and began to write down notes about what the professor was saying.

She found the topic quite fascinating.

It was a dangerous field to study to be sure but as a poison cultivator she would not refuse having another tool in her arsenal.

Professor Macabre spent the rest of the morning going over notable examples of outbreaks due to enhanced viruses such as the 'Plague of Noxien' and 'The Red Death'.