Silence descended upon the classroom as Milvus began.

“I'm sure that you all are aware that final exams are coming up.”

More exams? Great, what a bother. But, this was the new Alwin we’re talking about. He was prepared for everything and anything. And if he wasn’t then he’d correct that.

“And as long as you have been paying attention, it's no surprise that you'll be facing off against cultivators as part of your final exams. Although rarer, cultivators are typically stronger than adventurers of the same rank. That’s why you all faced off against adventurers during your midterms. Now that you all are more experienced, it's time to test your skills against them.”

Alwin’s chair scraped against the ground as he shifted his body. Cultivators or adventurers, as long as they were human, none of them posed a threat.

“You don't have to be so stressed. Remember the Pop Quiz against the Five Elemental Cultivators? Since you all were strong enough to defeat them, the final exam should be easy to pass. But do not be complacent. The real world is full of many dangers, a simple slip-up is enough to cost you your lives… or worse, the lives of your squads.”

There was a heavy pause after Milvus’ last words. But, Alwin wasn’t afraid. He was ready and gunning for action. As if sensing his eagerness, Milvus continued.

“The goal of this final exam is to gain experience in dealing with cultivators, absorbing enough Essence to evolve is secondary. The exact details about where you will be going and your specific tasks will be revealed on the day itself. For now, you will have two weeks to prepare, so remember to polish up both your individual skills and teamwork. That's all for the big announcement.”

With that Milvus turned around and faced the board, writing down something using the chalk provided by the academy. “Now, we carry on our discussion about cultivators and what types there are."

Too excited about the big news to pay attention, the entire class erupted in whispers and conversations. Questions of curiosity burst forth. Despite the ever-burning desire to focus on Milvus' lecture—really, he did—Alwin ended up participating, although most of it was in his head.

Were they going back to the Forest of Beginnings again or somewhere new entirely? Would it even be another forest or something more tropical like a beach? Maybe a swamp? Desert? And more importantly—what exactly counted as passing the exam? Did they just have to eliminate a single cultivator? Or a group of them? But if you failed, what then? Be forced to retain a year or take a make-up exam?

So many questions flooded Alwin's mind upon hearing the news. However, among the flood of doubt, there was a single drop of certainty—this was his chance to prove to Uchronia that he had changed.

Now, rather than pondering about the ins and outs of the upcoming tests, Alwin began planning how he'd show that he was dependable, reliable, responsible, and most importantly—serious. Two schools of thought emerged amongst the congregation of ideas. He could either work on himself and showcase his individual prowess or he could cooperate with Uchronia and be the best team player that ever lived.

However, this decision could be debated later. Right now, he had to focus in class. It was a tough feat, but it was something he had to do. Words escaped Milvus' lips and entered Alwin's ears. For once, they remained inside his head rather than escaping immediately. It was a near impossible task locking up the newfound knowledge in the chaos that was his mind palace—but this was the new Alwin we were talking about, he could do anything. Sweat beaded down his slimy body as he did his best to subdue the unruly nuggets of information that tried to break free from their confines.

Alwin persevered, pushing himself to his limits and then beyond.

Even more, sweat continued to ooze out of his body, pooling around his seat. It was the toughest workout that he had ever done, the part of his being that he had neglected the longest—his mind. Eventually, class was over. Milvus dismissed everyone, and Gus was already a blur of lighting shooting out the door even before the words had fully left his mouth.

Now that class was over, he could relax. Alwin collapsed from the strain, attacking his desk with his face as he caught his breath. A throbbing headache beat against his brain like a jackhammer. How could everyone pay attention in class with such ease? What kind of crazy creatures were they?

After spending all of his available energy focusing on class, Alwin was too exhausted to do anything else. Sleep took over him once again. It was a peaceful slumber, until something poked him, forcing him to get up.

It was Uchronia. A disappointed look on her face told him that he had somehow messed up. Again. Was it really that wrong for a guy to take a nap during his lunch break? Either way, Alwin shot up in an instant. He then realized that the desk he was using as the world's worst pillow had disappeared. A puddle of drool lay on the floor where the desk was supposed to be. Presumably, it had sunk into the ground when the classroom morphed into Training Ground mode.

How embarrassing. But, at least Uchronia being upset with him felt more justified.

"So..." Alwin said, in an attempt to break the tension. "Want to train together?"

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"I would, but I think you and Gus will only slow me down. Remember, I still haven't forgiven you yet. And please try not to get in my way during the actual exam."

Ouch. Cold and cruel. If she continued on like that she might evolve into a bowl of cold salad. Now that Alwin had gotten his defense mechanism done and over with—jokes—it was time to figure out what to do. Working on their teamwork was out of the question, seeing how she thought that he and Gus were nothing more than burdens. That just meant he had to improve on himself so that only Gus was the burden of the squad and not him. Wait, how was Gus a burden? Wasn't he—as much as Alwin hated to admit it—stronger than him?

Now begs the question, how would he go about working on himself? This was the new and improved Alwin in control. He had to look at all of the possible outcomes and choose the best one, if not he would just regress back into his carefree nature. Alwin could hone his current set of skills. Perhaps he should spend this to come up with new combinations using Mix. Finally, the only other thing he could think of was picking up new skills.

Out of all his choices, the last one was the most captivating. The idea of adding to his repertoire ticked a special part in his brain. But was it the best course of action?

It was time for even more introspection!

Although he had spent a majority of his time goofing off, Alwin was confident that he had already brought out the vast majority of his skills' existing potential. There was no point in working on them right now.

Although Mix led to fun and chaotic combinations, he was beginning to understand why Milvus was against such a skill. It required vast amounts of time and effort to come up with a combination, but even then there was a high likelihood that the resulting product was useless. Sure, he'd continue to work on it, perhaps to the point where his mastery over it allowed his combinations to become permanent—truly combining two skills into a brand new one—but now wasn't the time for that.

All that was left was learning a brand new skill.

This option came with its own set of problems. What type of move should he learn? There were so many variables to consider. Aspects like how compatible it was with his fighting style, how strong it was, and how long would it take for him to learn and have it be combat-ready. Those were only some of the factors he had to keep in mind. There was no telling whether the effort he invested into this choice would pay off in time for the final exam. Overall, Alwin could conclude that this choice was the riskiest one of them all.

As serious as the new Alwin was attempting to be, the little goofball in him still prevailed. High risk meant high reward. He knew what he was going to do today.

However, the serious bug that had infected his mind kept nagging at him, telling him to spend more time thinking things through. This time, rather than ignoring it like he normally would, he did something that shocked even him—compromise.

He'd learn a new spell, but not just any random spell taught by any old random book. It was a combat spell taught by arguably the best magic user in the kingdom, Lapis. That was enough to appease that nagging feeling in his brain.

Not wanting to waste any more time, or even run the risk of falling into another introspection trap, Alwin dashed to the cafe where Lapis was undoubtedly working on another piece of confectionery again instead of researching Essence. For some reason, that thought was filled with more disdain than usual. Was serious becoming the new default?

Alwin shook his head clear of those thoughts as he navigated through the familiar halls of the academy, the bustling streets of the city—which had zero traces of his handiwork the day before—and finally straight down to the hidden lab in the cafe. Ignoring the sweet and yummy scents that Lapis was cooking up, Alwin went straight to business—who was this person, and what had they done to Alwin?

"Lapis!" Alwin shouted. "Could you teach me a new combat spell?"

"Oh, hey, slime boy! Sure, I don't mind. But first, drones!" Lapis shouted back.

An army of drones swooped in from the staircase that led up to the cafe. Even those who had been busy stirring, mixing, and other adjectives that described baking paused their work and joined in. They closed in on him, aiming the spray bottles atop their diamond-shaped heads.

Alwin looked around the room with fear on his face. What was the meaning of this? Before he could come up with other thoughts about how absurd the situation he found himself in was, the drones let loose. Droplets upon droplets of extra virgin holy water were forced out of the plastic nozzle, drenching Alwin in its exorcism properties.

He was completely soaked to his Core, holy water covering every inch of his bulbous surface. A large puddle of holy pooled below him, slowly spreading around the crumb-covered floor. Alwin was still in the middle of processing the impromptu shower when the drones flew away to continue their duties as Lapis' assistants in making yummy treats. A few returned, this time carrying mops, cleaning up the mess that they had made.

Lapis stared at Alwin, inspecting him for any abnormalities. "Well, that was a waste of holy water. I'm pretty sure you're still possessed."

Alwin shook his body, sending water spraying everywhere as he dried his body, before finally speaking up. "Lapis, I'm not possessed. Not partially and definitely not fully. So can we please stop with all of the exorcism stuff?"

"Nope, you're definitely still possessed. But, I'll deal with it another time. So what kind of spell do you want to learn?"

"Like I said before you decided to drench me with water, a combat one."

"Cool, that doesn't really narrow it down at all. Combat is such a wide range that I have no idea what you want. Do you want to buff yourself, debuff enemies, range attacks, melee attacks, repositioning spells, etcetera etcetera because I forgot the other types."

A blush rose on Alwin's cheek at the embarrassing blunder. After all of his efforts trying to seem serious, here he was looking like a fool—by Lapis no less. He should've been more specific about his request and not thrown out such a wide blanket statement that ended up giving the requestee the brunt of the work.

"Come on, slime boy apprentice of mine. Tell me what your heart desires."

It was an easy choice. Alwin was the main attacker in his squad, so something that dealt damage was obvious. Plus, one way or another, he had become a ranged attacker, so that was another no-brainer.

"Teach me a ranged attack please!" said Alwin.

"Ranged? Safe and boring, but sure," said Lapis, turning around and floating toward her private training room—the white room.

However, inches before she entered it, she paused. Slowly, she rotated her floating diamond body, turning around to face Alwin. "You know, I actually have been working on some fun stuff. Willing to be my guinea pig again?"