"Hey, little Milvee. How you doing?" said Lapis, floating into the Evolution Chamber while Alwin hopped behind her.

"M-minister Lapis. Good to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure?" stammered Milvus.

"Can't a teacher check up on her student? You called being all sad that your first star pupil was giving you the cold shoulder, so how's that working out for you? Was my advice good or what?"

"Well, Uchronia is definitely treating me warmer now, but I can still sense disappointment and unease whenever she looks at me."

"She'll get over it or maybe you'll get over it. One of you will get over it eventually just depends on who first. When that happens ring me up and I'll give you some more Ministerial advice. Anyway, want to watch your last student evolve? I know I do. You know he's also my student now which means I'm his grand teacher. That's something he came up with, by the way. I'm disappointed that I didn't think of it first. But this guy is a hard worker and he's helping me with my research right now."

"Hey, teach," said Alwin.

"Hi, Alwin. I heard everything from Uchronia." There was a solemn expression on his face. "I'm sorry you had to find out about your origins this way. It's a bit sudden and shocking so I understand if you bear any resentment towards the academy, but just know that it was all done for the great good of monster kind. You and your classmates are the hope for the future, believe it or not. With the recent influx of the 'isekinds' things have been... difficult. Just know that we never meant you all any harm and—"

"Blah, blah, blah. Droning on and on and on," said Lapis. "Actually, that may have been a result of me being your teacher. He gets it. I think. And he doesn't mind whatever's been done to him. Probably. Long story short, humans are too strong so we needed help. Countless prayers, rituals, and a sacrifice or two and we managed to get twelve eggs to be blessed with Core Skills. I'm sure you know how strong those are and how difficult it is for a regular monster to obtain one. Just threw in that 'you know' part to fulfill info dump tropes. Also, me and Milvee here are core monsters, but we had to work for it. Where was I? Oh yeah, the council couldn't wait for you kids to grow up and start fighting back against the humans and that's where the information download came about. Fast forward your formative years and give you a bunch of information, then presto you're ready to start training at the ripe old age of one day old. The only downside is that you lose your childhood with the minor probability that you start garnering resentment and become hellbent on destroying the very nation you were meant to protect. Oh and that you have no idea who your parents are."

"That was more of a medium story than a short story. I'm actually quite okay with it. But, who are my parents?" asked Alwin.

"No idea. We got you guys from the orphanage," said Lapis.

"Any more questions? If you do rapid-fire them. Chop, chop. Time's a tickin and I'm growing older just waiting for you."

"Hold on, give me a second,” Alwin muttered, gears turning in his head. Stupid Bion—enough sidetracking. “So... what are your Core Skills and who else knows about this child soldier experiment thing?"

"That's confidential military information. We can't spread details about our abilities all willy-nilly and the child soldier experiment—it sounds disturbing but has a nice ring to it— is confidential council information too."

"Why did you even mention that you and Milvus have Core Skills?" Alwin was growing frustrated with Lapis' never-ending word vomit. "So is there anything I can ask?"

"How about asking about how to prepare for your tribulation. You saw your friend's tribulation earlier. The Spirit Tribulation is known for throwing in elements of every tribulation, so don't you want to know how to get ready for it? Come on. Ask me. This is one of those rare times when I want to be prompted. Come on. Do it."

"You didn't take my advice?" Milvus interrupted, concerned.

"Shush, no interrupting, Milvee."

"Do I prepare for it by taking every single Elemental Resistance Pill and wearing every single type of protective gear?"

"Boo. You didn't ask me. And you're kind of right for the gear part at least. But your pill usage is more reactive than preventive."

"So you're saying that when I encounter a Lightning Tribulation I immediately take a Lightning Resistance Pill or when I encounter those vines from Uchronia's tribulation I take a whatever-element-that-was Resistance Pill."

"Boo, you're right. How are you both fun and un-fun at the same time? But you didn't mention your reasoning so as your grand teacher I am obligated to tell you why it's done this way. At the same time since I am a grand teacher, I therefore have the right to shove this responsibility down to those under me." Lapis hovered forward and floated above Milvus' head. "Since Milvee is under me, he now has the task of explaining to you. Have fun, Milvee. I'll be evaluating your teaching, no pressure."

Milvus looked up at the floating Lapis over him, casting a shadow across the entirety of his body. He let out a sigh, shaking that triangular head of his. "This was supposed to be covered in class in about a month's time, but basically pills take a toll on a monster's body. If you've been paying attention you'll realize that pills use your mana to achieve the desired effect. If you consume too many pills you'll eventually fall into mana exhaustion."

"Milvee. Milvee. Tell him about the mana pills. The mana pills," said Lapis from above him.

"I was just getting to that, Minister Lapis."

"A common solution that people tend to propose is consuming more mana pills, but that usually works in the short term. The way mana pills work is that they temporarily boost a monster's ability to passively accumulate mana from the surroundings. After the effects of the pill run out your ability to absorb mana is briefly reduced. Consuming too many mana pills in a short period of time will permanently affect your ability to absorb mana."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"That's good, Milvee. But you've got to ask follow-up questions to see whether your student understands everything. Go on, ask this Dark Slime, whose name I totally remember."

"You're right, Minister Lapis. So, Alwin. Can you tell me why we have to use a reactive measure for your tribulation?" asked Milvus.

"Hold on, just give me a second to process." Alwin closed his eyes trying to piece together and extrapolate what Milvus had just said. "So because there are a lot of elements there are a lot of different resistance pills and so if I take all of them at the same time, I'll need a lot of mana and because I don't have a lot of mana, I'll need to take a lot of Small Mana Pills which will cause my mana absorption to be permanently shot, which is bad."

"That's pretty much the gist of it," said Milvus.

"See, asking follow-up questions is essential for teaching. And this kid is a smart kid. Would you believe he's only two months old? Maybe we should add Language lessons into the curriculum too, because that was one long run-on sentence. Anyway, Milvee, why don't you go prepare for Alwin's evolution. I'm sure you want to watch, who wouldn't? This is the first ever tribulation fueled mostly using Essence that our dear little Dark Slime here refined himself. Would it be the same? Would something happen? Who knows? We'll know soon enough. Let's go. Milvee dear, go prepare the area for our precious student," said Lapis.

"Yes, Minister Lapis, I'll go prepare the resistance pill and armor for you first. Alwin, you should discuss strategy with Minister Lapis," said Milvus before walking towards the console panel, switching all of the mirrors back into cupboards that housed the essential pills and equipment for Alwin's tribulation.

"Strategy, shmategy. You're a Core Monster, just use that Core Skill of yours and you'll be as good as gold," said Lapis.

"About that, there might be a slight problem..." Alwin's voice trailed off.

"Oh, don't tell me, let me guess. You actually weren't blessed with a Core Skill, or, or maybe the monster who was blessed with a Core Skill died and you somehow managed to take his place, or maybe—wait, I got it. Your Core Skill is so amazing that it would spell the destruction of the academy—no—the city if you used it. It's the last one, right? Right?"

"It's none of those. I have a Core Skill, but I have no idea how to use it."

"Wait, really? And you didn't ask Milvus for help? Not even your friends? Come, show me your status. Let grand teacher, Lapis, show you the light young one."

Lapis floated back down to ground level, hovering behind Alwin as she inspected the status screen that Alwin opened up for her to see. A couple of mutters escaped from Lapis as she scanned through the information.

Name: Alwin

Species: Dark Slime

Core Skill: Devolution (F)

Skills: Dark Tackle (E), Spirit Hands (B), Spirit Barrier (F), Spirit Blast (A), Spirit Scatter Blast (A), Spirit Burst Blast (A), Spirit Feet (F), Refinement (F)

Evolution: 100/100

"Okay, it's theory time. You can only use your Core Skill when you evolve because you can't devolve back to nothing. Probably. What happens when you Devolve? That's speculation for later because we need to prep you for the tribulation. Milvee there is gathering every single Elemental Resistance Pill and placing them in pouches which are then fixed to a belt, so you basically have a utility belt of Resistance Pills, pretty cool right? Anyway, you take those whenever the corresponding element pops up and don't worry we'll be shouting out the element that comes up. Now where was I? Oh right, strategy. Yea, you actually need one. Boys!"

Three of Lapis' drones appeared from thin air, their shiny diamond bodies reflecting the crystal corridor lights. They zipped off down the corridor, returning moments later with a whiteboard and a marker in tow. The whiteboard clattered against the floor in front of Alwin, while the marker sailed through the air into the hands of Lapis' Spirit Hands.

"Am I the best at coming up with a strategy? Absolutely not. Am I better at it than Milvus? Nope. But, you're my responsibility so I've got to do something," said Lapis, writing out 'Alwin's Tribulation Strategy' in red letters on the topmost part of the board. "We've already covered what to do with pills, now it's time to what you can do with your skills. So you've got a useless Core Skill, one Species skill, five Common Skills—three of which provide no combat capabilities—and two Uncommon Skills. So based on what I'm working with... just blast them and pray."

Wow, that strategy was absolutely horrible. And that's coming from the guy whose only strategy was blasting and praying. What does that tell you? It tells you that dear young Alwin was growing up. Ever since that miserable encounter with Gary Stew, he’d figured out that maybe, just maybe, he needed a new game plan. Scratch that, it was a definite yes. Blasting and praying was fine until his mana ran out and he hit the floor. If that happened with no backup in sight, he was toast. An all-or-nothing strategy didn’t sit well with Alwin—he wasn't much of a gambler.

Now he just had to refute Lapis' strategy while being cordial at the same time. Could he do it? Sure. Could he whip up a diplomatic counter-argument in 0.1 seconds? Not a chance. Nope. And that's all the time he allocated to ruminating because he was on the cusp of evolution, and having it delayed due to conversation after conversation was becoming frustrating.

"Really? That's the best you can come up with? Even I thought of that and that's the reason why my friends nearly got turned into a Meatball Wrap. When that strategy works, it works. When it doesn't work, I'm as good as dead. I'm sure I can think of something else," said Alwin, hopping towards the center of the room.

"Ouch, someone's grouchy. But that's fair. I'm the Minister of Magic, not the Minister of Coming-up-with-good-last-minute-ideas-with-very-little-to-work with. I'm sure you'll be fine. Milvee taught you and he's one of the best at fighting. Then again, maybe he's only good at fighting but not good at teaching fighting. Oh well, guess we'll find out soon. Wait for me!" Lapis zoomed towards the center of the room, levitating a meter away from Alwin. "Come on, Milvee. Show us what you've been working on."

"Sure, thing, Minister Lapis." Milvus held up a brown belt fastened with multiple small pouches big enough to hold one singular pill. Each pouch was labeled with their respective element: Fire Resistance Pill, Lightning Resistance Pill, Plant Resistance Pill, etc." In his other tentacle was a gold chain necklace that held a bundle of rings, each with a different colored gem embedded in it. "This necklace has Resistance Rings of every single element. They're preloaded with mana so you don't have to worry about that. When you're ready you can begin," said Milvus, placing the necklace around Alwin's neck and the belt strapped across Alwin's body, before heading into the protective glass chamber.

"That's where you're wrong, little Milvee," said Lapis, as she floated over to the protective glass chamber as well. "If the rings run out of mana then our dear little student has plenty of things to worry about. Unfortunately, we don't have any spares, because budgetary reasons or something ridiculous like that. Other than running out of mana and facing impending doom, you have nothing else to worry about. Let's go! Start!"

Alwin swallowed the lump that had formed in his slimy throat. Materializing in front of him were the five pairs of Spirit Hands. If Lapis had eyebrows to raise, she would surely be doing so right now, wondering about what sort of strategy her grand student was concocting. Alwin opened up the status screen and using his Spirit Hands, tapped on the Evolution Meter.

Begin Tribulation?

Yes No

Alwin selected Yes.