Lucius had seen the effects of Hell energy on Keith before, although it was not for the entire duration. Still, Lucius knew that the Hell energy could change the person and transform them into a version of the Lost even in this world.

Even their gift would be corrupted and a different version of it would be created depending on the original gift that they had. Lucius had also seen that the gift that Keith had was inactivated and did not know how it could be unlocked.

While Lucius did have some theories about it, they could not be said to be accurate. That was the entire reason why Lucius was testing it on the Rune beasts now. If it worked out as he hoped, Lucius would be able to increase his power quite soon.

In the steel alloy cage, the Bore Shrew was trembling. It did not make any noise and was simply lying on the bottom of the cage without struggling. But the reason for it not crying was not be because it was not in pain, rather it was because it was in so much pain that it could not move at all and was paralyzed.

Keith was still human and thus had a higher tolerance to the hell energy, but the Bore shrew did not have that luck. It was now bearing the full power of hell energy despite its size that was twenty times smaller than Keith's.

Still, Lucius had not used the same amount of Hell energy that he had used on Keith, rather he had only used ten percent of that entire amount. He knew better than to go overboard and to start with a smaller amount.

He would increase or taper the hell energy depending on the result that he would get. He just hoped that he needed fewer attempts to do so. The more attempts he did, the more hell energy he would need, and for that he would have to generate that much hell energy.

This would mean that Lucius would have to wait for days upon days to get the results he wanted. 

'Hopefully, I'll have more than enough time, even if this one does not work out…' Lucius thought to himself.

Lucius kept on watching the Bore Shrew and realized the very first difference between it and Keith.

"This Bore Shrew reacted to hell energy far quicker than Keith. It took Keith four hours to show the transformation, but for the bore shrew it took just a few seconds." Lucius muttered to himself.

The bore shrew was slowly getting more and more stressed and it was visible on its body. Its fur that was like small bristles started to shed as well and about thirty minutes later, it completely fell off.

During these thirty minutes, the Bore Shrew did not really move. Its eyes were also closed and Lucius wondered if he should try to touch and see its response, and that's what he did. He picked up one of the many metal rods that he had gotten with the parts that he had gotten made and poked the Bore Shrew through the grill.

~poke~

"Oh? No reaction?" Lucius was a bit disappointed by this but just kept on watching for now.

Thirty more minutes passed and the veins of the Bore Shrew started to bulge out more and more. Finally, they were fully covering the beast and made it increase in size. Its muscles were also getting buffer with each passing minutes.

One and a half hours passed before the Bore Shrew gave a response.

~KREEE~

It let out a loud cry that was much more hoarse than before. Lucius guessed that its vocal chords must have been deformed due to the change as well. But even after letting out a cry, the bore shrew did not really move.

It seemed like its limbs that had become buff were not under its control. All it could do now was to let out cries and move around its eyes. Even moving its head was a hard task for it, and it could barely do that.

And since its body had swollen up a bit, its neck had shrunk, which only made it even more difficult for the Bore Shrew to move its neck. Overall, the beast was not in a good condition.

"Will this beast even be able to move? If not, then this will be a failed experiment…" Lucius said upon observing it all till this point.

But he did not give up. Lucius had seen that Keith only showed the major changes after over four hours. He wondered if him being unconscious and injured had delayed the effect of the Hell energy or not. 

'If it truly got delayed due to him being unconscious and injured, then perhaps this is how the normal reaction is supposed to be. I'll observe it for a few more hours just to confirm this all.' Lucius analyzed.

Time passed and the bore shrew kept on making noises at several intervals. In between that, Kiana also came and brought Lucius some food. She obviously heard the strange and slightly scary cries of the Bore Shrew and was surprised by it.

She took a look at the beast lying in the cage and felt a bit disgusted.

"What happened to it? Or rather… what is that?" Kiana asked as she put two trays of food on one of the tables.

"It's a bore shrew," Lucius answered.

"A Bore Shrew?! That thing is a Bore Shrew?" Kiana asked in a shocked tone.

"Yes," Lucius replied.

"What happened to it?" Kiana questioned.

"Hmm… how can I say this… it's just undergoing certain changes and I want to see how these changes happen and what they cause?" Lucius answered.

Kiana didn't know what to think of Lucius's answer. It did not truly answer her question and was more of a way to dodge the true core of it. But she didn't decide to push him and let it be for now. It was not her place to interfere, and she wanted to let Lucius do whatever he wanted to do.