As the saying goes, the rich rely on technology, while the poor rely on mutation. Since he was currently still poor, the only way to become stronger was through mutation.
Since he couldn't become Spider-Man, he didn't mind turning himself into a Lizard monster.
However, he now possessed intelligence far surpassing ordinary people and had fully mastered all the scientific technologies from the other world of NieR: Automata.
Therefore, he could completely transform this inferior version of the Lizard Serum into a perfected version of a physique-enhancing agent.
That was the entire goal of his current experiment. Interspecies gene fusion technology was a type of biological genetic engineering with vast and incredibly promising potential.
Once this technology matured, it could completely integrate the superior traits of various organisms into a single being, thereby creating an absolutely perfect creature.
This could be described as a heaven-defying technology capable of rewriting the rules of biology itself. But precisely because of how heaven-defying it was, the difficulty was astronomical, and the success rate was extremely low.
It was by no means something that could be achieved using a few theoretical formulas and conjectures like the ones Peter Parker's father had originally proposed.
As a transmigrator, Peter clearly remembered that in The Amazing Spider-Man universe, Dr. Connors used Peter Parker's father's theory to create the Lizard Serum, which allowed him to regrow his arm.
However, the result was far from perfect. Instead, it came with massive side effects. The Lizard Serum eventually transformed Connors into a half-human, half-lizard monster.
Whenever he became too angry or emotionally unstable, he would lose control and transform into the Lizard.
What was even more frightening was not just the physical transformation—Connors's mind also became twisted. As the Lizard, he was unusually irritable, extremely aggressive, and preferred to hide in dark, damp places like a real reptile.
At this moment, Peter wanted to gain the Lizard's power—but without becoming a mindless monster.
He wanted the abilities of the Lizard while retaining full consciousness, remaining the master of his body, not a slave to it.
Thus, he needed to modify and upgrade the Lizard Serum. If this had been in the past, such an idea would have been nothing but a pipe dream.
But now, possessing extraordinary intelligence and immense knowledge from high-tech sources, it was no longer impossible.
With a do-or-die attitude, Peter poured all his effort into improving and reengineering the serum.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed. On the morning of the third day, Peter let out an excited low growl:
"It's done… it's finally done!"
After more than seventy hours of nonstop work, and utilizing the technological knowledge he had learned from the NieR: Automata world, Peter finally completed the transformation of the Lizard Serum.
He removed all the unstable genetic factors, leaving only the superior traits.
These included the Lizard's extraordinary self-healing capabilities—like tail regeneration—its keen senses, powerful vision with almost no blind spots, farsightedness up to 300 meters, and skin as tough as iron.
Humans didn't naturally possess any of these traits. Even just one of them would be enough to make a person stand out. Now, Peter had the potential to gain all of them.
However, despite the improvements, due to the crude conditions of his lab, the success rate of this new serum was only 60%.
Moreover, this 60% success rate didn't guarantee full gene integration—it depended on luck as to how many superior traits would fuse successfully.
While it seemed like the chances had worsened, the reality was quite the opposite. This 60% chance now represented a 100% benign mutation rate.
To put it plainly, there was a 60% chance that injecting this serum would grant powerful Lizard abilities without turning into a monster.
Even if it failed, the user wouldn't suffer any severe side effects. As long as there was more serum available, further injections could be made until success.
Enhancement potions with no side effects were exceedingly rare, even across the entire Marvel Universe.
In fact, most enhancement serums in the Marvel world—whether it was the Super Soldier Serum, the original Lizard Serum, Norman Osborn's human enhancement agent, or the terrifying Sentinel Serum—all had serious side effects.
And it was precisely these side effects that had given rise to many of Marvel's most dangerous villains.
Red Skull, Lizard, Green Goblin, Sentinel—each one had gained power from a serum, but had also become a victim of its flaws.
But now, Peter had succeeded in creating an enhancement potion with minimal side effects. One could imagine how heaven-defying this serum truly was!
Staring at the serum in his hand, determination flashed in Peter's eyes. Without hesitation, he plunged the syringe into his arm and injected the entire dose into his bloodstream.
As the serum flowed through his body, Peter immediately felt like he was on fire. His body temperature spiked rapidly.
It felt as though his flesh and bones were being crushed, reshaped, then reconstructed.
The intense pain made him collapse to the ground in agony. He instinctively wanted to scream, but he clenched his teeth and held it back.
He was in a chaotic slum, a place where lawlessness reigned, much like Gotham City from the DC universe.
It was still early, and the neighbors were likely asleep. If he made too much noise, they might show up with guns—or worse, call the police.
Neither of those outcomes was acceptable right now. So no matter how much it hurt, he had to endure it.
As time passed, the serum began to take effect. The pain gradually subsided and was replaced by a warm, comfortable sensation, like soaking in a hot spring.
Peter no longer felt any pain. Instead, his entire body felt relaxed, like after a long marathon followed by a full-body massage.
When the pain was completely gone, Peter slowly stood up.
He was immediately surprised to find that his eye level had noticeably risen. Excited, he walked to the full-length mirror nearby.
In the reflection, his once-thin frame was now tall and muscular. Thick pectoral muscles and defined abs formed a chiseled torso.
He also realized his vision had changed dramatically. Normally, he wore glasses, but now they blurred his view—he had to take them off.
To his astonishment, his 800-degree myopia had completely vanished.
He could clearly see the headline on a poster over 500 meters away—far beyond a Lizard's typical visual range of 300 meters.
He guessed this was thanks to the enhancements his brain and five senses had already received from his golden finger.
With the fusion of the Lizard's superior genes, Peter was now even stronger than a typical Lizard monster.
Touching his muscular chest and abs, Peter was thrilled. This was proof that his modified serum had worked!
His original height was only 173 centimeters, but now he stood at 183 centimeters. This 10 cm increase explained his altered field of view.
Aside from his taller stature, muscular physique, and superhuman vision, Peter had successfully integrated nearly all of the Lizard's superior genes, granting him multiple superpowers.
Among the most valuable was the regenerative healing ability—he could now regrow limbs, though not his head, of course.
He also gained incredibly tough skin, comparable to a Lizard's scale armor.
While he didn't transform into a grotesque monster like Dr. Connors, his skin was equally durable—resistant to blades and even small-caliber firearms.
This gave him strong defensive capabilities.
And he had another deadly gift: retractable claws. At will, he could transform his fingernails into sharp, black claws—similar to the mutant Sabretooth.
Testing his claws, he lightly dragged them across the lab table—and the tempered glass top split cleanly in half.
That was the power he now wielded. Those claws could cut through human flesh like butter.
"Those guys who wanted me dead... your doomsday has arrived," Peter muttered coldly, a chilling gleam in his eyes.
As the sun rose fully, it was now 7 a.m.
He glanced out the window at the bustling street below, frowning in thought.
According to Hada's instructions, he was supposed to stay in this rundown safehouse until Hada returned.
But three days had already passed with no word. He couldn't wait any longer.
Thanks to the serum, his wounds had completely healed. There was no need to stay hidden anymore.
He didn't go to such lengths to improve the Lizard Serum just to cower in hiding. He had a revenge to carry out.
He quickly packed his lab equipment into a suitcase and returned to his former home—Aunt May and Uncle Ben's old house.
Though it was aged and humble, it held his most cherished memories.
Of course, sentiment wasn't the only reason he returned. He knew the gangsters were after the cross-species genetic research left behind by his father.
They wouldn't stop until they got it.
So rather than hunt them down, Peter decided to let them come to him.
Sure enough, not long after he returned, his house appeared on a surveillance screen inside the New York Police Department.
A monitoring officer noticed Peter and quickly picked up the phone.
"Chief George, we've located the kid. He's at his own home."
Half an hour later, Chief George Stacy stood at Peter's doorstep. Peter wasn't surprised in the slightest.
The moment he entered his home, he noticed the surveillance cameras—ones that hadn't been there three days ago.
That meant someone had installed them after he took the serum. And whoever dared monitor his home wasn't a gangster—it had to be law enforcement.
And since he'd had prior dealings with George Stacy, it was only natural the man would show up.
What did surprise Peter, however, was that George was accompanied by a beautiful blonde with wavy hair—none other than Gwen Stacy, George's daughter.