Alwin looked at Uchronia, who was still scheming, then at Gus, who was munching away upside-down. Time to show them what he'd been working on, he rubbed his hands together, with a mischievous grin. Walking was weird, but thankfully he had some practice in the past when he was learning how to control both Spirit Hands and Spirit Legs in tandem.

Alwin walked up the Uchronia, arms, and legs stiffer than a robot. Clearly, he needed more practice.

"Hey, Uchronia." He waved, there was zero smoothness in the motion like an old rusted-up machine.

Uchronia eyed Alwin. "What the frack is this?"

"This is the plan."

Uchronia let out a deep, guttural groan, "Sure. Whatever."

"Let's go! Back to the village!" Alwin began walking in the direction that they had come from, one slow agonizing step at a time.

"Wait! We still need a plan."

"But, this is the plan."

"Well, your plan makes no sense. You go in and what? Get yourself caught. You look ridiculous in that outfit, and if you hadn't noticed there's a hole in your chest plate where there's very clearly something black and slimy."

Alwin adjusted his sling bag to cover the hole that he was leaking out from. "I don't see a problem. I'm sure they won't notice, because you know, I'm a human now." He tried to add jazz hands but only succeeded in having the armor vibrate slightly.

"Right... So even if you do manage to sneak in, what do you expect to happen? They just tell you what they're doing in the village? And then what? If they are looking to slaughter Maple and the others what are you going to do to get them out of there? Stink them to death? Because, frankly, you smell."

"Well—I mean... maybe?"

After a healthy dose of reality, Uchronia was right. His plan lacked any depth. All he really wanted was to play dress-up.

"Ok, so what you're going to do is go in and try to get as much info as you can. Assuming you somehow manage to pass as a human, you lure them out one by one as far away from the main group as possible. Once they're isolated, we'll jump them. Rinse and repeat. If they even get a hint that something's off, ditch that ridiculous armor and run like your life depends on it—because it does."

"That was exactly my plan! You must've read my mind," said Alwin. That was in fact not his plan.

Uchronia rolled her eyes and hopped over to Gus. She told him the plan, but that was after getting her own pair of Spirit Hands out, picking him up, and setting him back upright. She must be part Tomato because she's always red with rage.

The trio marched back towards the village, Alwin trying his best not to look too conspicuous in his new form. It was tough. There was a certain rhythm to walking that Alwin lacked. Even swinging his arms in tandem with his steps was off. He swung his right arm forward with his right leg, which evolved to walking like a regular person—that lasted for a short while—before devolving into what one could call barely a walk. At one point, he decided to swing both arms forward, take three awkward steps, and then swing them back. At least his movements were becoming less stiff and robotic.

Gus was as chipper as ever. There wasn't a hint of worry or concern on his face. Uchronia was pretending to not be worried, but her quick glances to and from the trees showed the true extent of her concern. She occasionally barked at them, mostly at Alwin, to pick up the pace.

As they neared the edge of the village, Uchronia ordered them to stop for one last rundown of the plan. Alwin nodded, signaling that he was ready, while Gus, being Gus, just smiled like they were heading to a picnic instead of a potentially dangerous mission.

"Alright," she said, "Lure them here one at a time. If anything happens just scream and run away as fast as you can."

"Got it, boss." Alwin saluted, but for a reason even he didn't know, he saluted using both of his hands.

"It's squad leader," Uchronia sighed, pinching her temples using her leaf tail.

Alwin began his solo march back to the heart of the village. Their suspicions were correct, the rest of the humans had returned to the village, all except the man whose armor they had stolen. They were scouring the village, digging through bushes and climbing up trees. Two men in robes sat atop their horses, barking out commands and directing the other humans in their search.

As Alwin drew closer to the village, a human spotted him—a man wearing blue-furred armor. It was the guy who had first discovered them hiding in the bushes! Alwin's first instinct was to wave hello, a greeting the human was happy to return. There was hope yet! His disguise was flawless. Now all he had to do was blend in, like the cool ninja he was.

The man approached, giving Alwin a hearty pat on the shoulder.

"Lei Mao, glad you made it back. Did you take care of those three monsters?"

"Uh... Yes," Alwin replied, trying to steady his voice.

"Great, just remember to pass their Cores to the young masters."

"What—uh, sure thing." Alwin paused, a nervous chuckle escaped his lips. "Pal."

"You okay? You sound different."

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Alwin cleared his throat, his mind racing. "Uh... it's just a cold, you know the one that's been going around lately."

The man groaned, rubbing his own nose. "You got it too? My nose has been stuffed for days, I can't smell anything, and I've run out of sick days. It sucks."

"It does."

"The other day I was craving some durians. I went to the fruit shop uncle and I couldn't even smell anything. I also couldn't taste anything which sucked for my wallet," he sighed.

"There, there, pal." Alwin patted the guy on the back.

They both stopped, staring at each other. Alwin felt a twinge of confusion at the sudden change in atmosphere. Maybe he did something wrong. The man's brows scrunched up.

"Right... Anyway, the young masters want an update. So, good luck."

"Thanks. Actually, I was thinking, why don't you help me?"

"You kidding me? Last thing I want to do is talk to the young masters. You're on your own." The man laughed and was about to continue scouring through bushes looking for any signs of monsters, until Alwin called out to him again.

"Wait! Could you just come over here with me?"

"For what?" The man turned around.

"I need to tell you something. Something important. Just between you and me." Alwin pulled on the man's arm, his voice dropping to a whisper.

The man sighed, scratching the back of his head. He clearly didn't want to bother with this nonsense. "Fine."

Alwin lured the blue-furred man away from the village, bringing him closer to the rendezvous point where Uchronia and Gus were waiting. They were hiding in a nearby bush, waiting for Alwin to get closer. He could almost feel their eyes on him, burrowing deep into his very soul.

"So what's this super important thing you wanted to tell me?" Annoyance dripped with every word.

"Um..."

"Come on, spit it out." The man waved his hand, urging Alwin to speak.

"Could we talk about it over there?" Alwin pointed right in front of the bush where Uchronia and Gus were hiding.

"Lei Mao! Why can't you just spit it out now? Hurry up, before the young masters think we're skiving off."

"Um... Over there has better feng shui?"

The man groaned, shoulders sagging. "SO if I walk over to that spot then you'll finally tell me what you've been dancing around this entire time?"

"Yep. I'll tell you." Alwin gave a thumbs up, feeling quite confident in his skills at pretending to be a human.

The man stomped over to the spot, raising his hands up in anger. "Well, what was so—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Uchronia popped out and cast Slow on him.

"What the—"

The man's hand darted towards the sword at his hip, but he wasn't fast enough. Uchronia and Gus hurled attacks at him, smacking him with a Thorny Leaf or charging at him with a Static Pounce. Alwin had a huge smile plastered on his face, he couldn't believe it worked—he couldn't believe it worked. He had successfully lured someone over.

He wanted to break into a dance, which was extremely difficult given that he was currently squished inside a piece of leather armor. The Spirit Hands and Spirit Feet, however, gladly obliged to their master's request. With the grace of a newborn baby deer learning how to walk for the first time, the arms and legs danced. There was zero coordination, all of them moving in separate directions at different speeds. If there were any passersby who walked past, they'd think Alwin was having a seizure.

"Alwin! Do something!" Uchronia shouted at him.

Oh right. There was a battle going on right now, and Alwin was celebrating way too early.

Despite the onslaught of attacks and his slowed movements, the man managed to unsheathe his broadsword. It was raised high above his head, glowing green as mana was channeled into it. He gritted his teeth, enduring the sting of thorns piercing his armor and the sparks of electricity coursing through his body. That darn armor, crafted with the remains of monsters, was pulling way too much weight. Without it, he would have been defeated already.

The thought of monsters being used to kill other monsters made Alwin's blood—or whatever was pumping through his body—boil. All of humanity had to pay, and he vowed to exact his revenge, one human at a time.

Alwin dismissed his Spirit Hands and Spirit Feet. The armor pieces fell to the ground, shaking and rattling. Alwin's goopy self oozed out of the chest plate, eyes burning with rage. He began preparing his regular assortment of Spirit Blasts. Alwin silently cursed at himself. All that time spent flailing around like a deranged puppet could have been used to create more blasts. Instead, Uchronia and Gus had to shoulder the burden of dealing with this man.

"Strong Slash!"

With a mighty roar, the man swung down, unleashing a blast of energy. Gus with the speed boost from Lightning Legs, caught the blade in his mouth, but all of that extra momentum had to go somewhere. He was sent careening to the ground, the sword snapping in half between his teeth.

"Die you monsters," the man shouted in slow motion. "Lei Mao, come help me!"

He turned to where 'Lei Mao' had been standing and froze. Bits of armor lay scattered on the ground, and instead of Lei Mao, there stood Alwin. His face went white as a myriad of Spirit Blasts came flying from the Dark Slime that was standing over the chest plate. The man raised his sword up, shielding himself from the blasts.

Uchronia grabbed Gus with her tail and hopped away as fast as she could. Dodging Alwin's errant blasts was a challenge in and of itself, but having to dodge while carrying a dazed Gus was nigh impossible.

A menagerie of Spirit Blasts sailed towards the blue-furred armored man. No amount of armor or pitiful attempts at blocking with his broadsword would save him now. Spirit Blasts pelted his body. Spirit Scatter Blasts dispersed and broke apart, spreading the pain across every inch of his form. Spirit Burst Blast exploded, tearing chunks of armor from his body.

Alwin was almost out of mana when the man collapsed. Alwin was also almost out of anger, and with the man down he let out a deep sigh. He wobbled back towards the leather chest plate.

Uchronia came bounding in, dragging Gus along with her.

"Good job. Any problems getting the man here?"

"Not really. I think."

"Okay, then you go back in and try to lure another human out here. Me and Gus will clean up the mess after Gus is done absorbing his essence."

"Okie dokie," Alwin said.

Before Alwin even thought of calling out his Spirit Hands and Spirit Feet, he dug into the bag with his mouth. Popping open the cork with his teeth—painful as it sounded—he swallowed a Small Mana Pill. Strength surged throughout his body, as his mana stores were replenished.

Gus was already absorbing the blue-furred man's essence, both of them surrounded by a veil of light.

After assembling the armor, Alwin set off. Uchronia wished him good luck, but not before scolding him for taking too long to attack. It was deserved, so he had no choice but to apologize. He did put on his best puppy dog face to soften her scolding. The only problem was that he was stuck inside the chest piece, which was not transparent or even translucent in the slightest. So, Alwin was just being an idiot as usual.

This time, he planned to aim a little higher. After all, if he could manage to bring that man over, who's to say he couldn't snag someone even more important? He was going to lure one of the young masters. Both if he was lucky.