When Alwin got to the training grounds classroom, his heart didn't skip a beat, it skipped fifty beats and even did a double dutch routine. He didn't recognize any of the monsters that were pummeling away at his arch nemesis, the wooden training dummy. Did he walk into the wrong class by accident? Did they change the location of their classrooms after everyone evolved? Time to skedaddle before anyone notices he bounced into the wrong room.

A second after stepping out of the room, a voice called out to him, "Alwin!" It wasn't a voice filled with longing, happiness, or concern. No, it was just plain angry. There could only be one person who ever called him in that manner. Uchronia!

Alwin turned around and was face to face with a Potted Sprout. Oh right, he had forgotten that Uchronia had just evolved. Silly him. In his defense, he just faced his own tribulation and almost got sent to the realm where naughty kids go when they pass on. It may have only been less than an hour ago, but to him, it felt like a whole day had passed. Where was he going with this? Oh right, now he was going to describe Uchronia inside his mind for the second time, just so that her new form could take root within his mind. Plant puns am I right?

The familiar sight of the leaf-tailed green blob had disappeared, replaced by something far more peculiar. Uchronia now stood as a flower pot. From the bottom of the pot, two tangled masses of roots served as her new feet. Emerging from the top of the pot was the rest of Uchronia, now resembling a vibrant green plant bulb. Her eyes peeked out from the bulb's surface, and her mouth formed a frown beneath them.

"Congratulations on evolving, but where do you think you're going?" She scowled.

"Who's Alwin? I'm Winal."

"Right. Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you just because half of you turned white? Now, don't make me ask twice."

"Uh, bathroom?" Alwin flashed her a smile showing off his pearly whites and jet-black teeth because of course half his teeth were white and the other half were black. And no, that was not the result of poor dental hygiene, it was just a quirk of his new form.

"I've known you long enough to know that you're lying. I want you to come back here and stop slacking. I want you to try out your Species Skill and what monster are you now?"

"I'm a Yin-Yang Slime now, sadly. I thought I'd evolve and go from blobby to all tall and muscly. I thought you were anti-Human-Hunter-Academy, so why are you working so hard."

Uchronia leaned in close, invading his personal space bubble. "Not so loud, you dingus. Tonight after dinner, I'll tell you more, but for now, pretend that everything is normal. Now, look alive, Flintlock is coming."

"That's Flintlock? What happened to him?" asked Alwin.

Flintlock, the Furball cowboy wannabe, was hardly recognizable now. His squishy, round body covered in orangey-brown fur was gone. In its place stood a lean, bipedal monkey-like creature with a coat of ash-gray fur. Black leather chaps hugged his legs, and a black bandanna was tied around his neck, making him look like a true gunslinger ready for action, or maybe it was just cosplay.

"You know, I could say the same thing about you, but it's called evolution, pardner. Now, after you tell us what in bloody tarnation happened to you the past few days, you're gonna tell us what sort of weird slime you've turned into. Fyi, I'm a Powder Chimp now"

"Us?"

The rest of the class had gathered around him, a strange menagerie of monsters that he didn't recognize at all. If this was going to happen every single time they go out to gather Essence, maybe he should propose staggered Evolution times, just so he didn't have to spend a ton of brainpower on re-learning everyone's faces.

"Still a slime? You really are an Al-loser," a voice called out from the back of the crowd. He didn't even need to ask to know who that was.

The crowd parted way for Bion. The Dark Slime had changed forms and Bion was a slime no longer. Good. That meant Bion wouldn't tarnish every single Slime's reputation anymore, and instead tarnish whatever lame species of monster the no-good snot-eating monster had evolved into.

A black jellyfish-like monster slithered towards Alwin on his innumerous tiny little tentacles. The creature's umbrella-shaped cap, as dark as a starless night, loomed over the equally shadowy tentacles that writhed like a mass of tiny serpents. That was all of the description Alwin was going to provide to that no-good booger-eating Bion.

"Now, now. Hold your horses there, Bion. No need to get all hostile up in here. We're all friends and Alwin's been through a lot," said Flintlock.

Bion clicked his tongue if he even had a tongue. Do jellyfish even have tongues? Anyway, Bion made a tongue-clicking noise. "I bet it's cause of that no good Al-loser, that my darling Uchronia nearly died. Isn't that right?"

"Buzz off!" shouted Uchronia.

"Yea, buzz off, you spineless coward!" shouted Alwin.

"I may be a Shadow Jellyfish, but that does not mean I'm spineless!"

Gears began to seep out of Bion's body, coating the jellyfish's whole body. Minuscule gears even coated the paper-thin tentacles. Bion's dark form became a metallic silver that reflected the crystal lights of the classroom as the gears continued to multiply. That was his Core Skill: Mechanize. A single mass of geared tentacles darted towards Alwin, inching closer and closer at a blinding speed. Alwin wasn't going to go down without a fight. In fact, he wasn't even going to go down at all, the only one going down was Bion.

"Stop it!" a girl called out.

A large tower shield came slamming down in front of Alwin, blocking the path of the charging tentacle. Rude. Alwin was about to fight back and now he couldn't even test out his Yin-Yang Blast without looking like a jerk. Moving on, Alwin recognized that tower shield. The so-called Impenetrable Shield by the one the only Testudine or Tess for short.

"If you want to fight then have a proper sparring session, not this ridiculousness," Tess said.

The tower shield disappeared into innumerous particles, giving Alwin a view of the new and improved Tess. The girl had started out as a Leafling, but like Uchronia, autumn had arrived early. Tess' new form was akin to a turtle gaining a sturdy armored build. The only thing reminiscent of her plant heritage was the giant lotus pad, vibrant and green, that acted as a natural, protective shell.

"Hey, don't you dare talk down to my precious, Bion, you dirty Lotus Turtle," another girl's voice called out.

Leaping over the crowd and landing on the ground causing cracks to form on the marble tiles was Brie. Like Uchronia and Tess, autumn had come early for her. The only problem was that Brie had started off as Furball. Now she was nothing but a bald ball. She shouldn't be allowed to procreate if not she'd spread the female pattern baldness gene around, if that even was a thing. Monster physiology was a tough subject and what would a two-month-old slime even know?

Brie hopped over to Bion, nuzzling her spherical body against his gear-covered jellyfish cap. The sounds of metal clanging against the ground with every hop echoed throughout the room, each landing leaving cracks in the ground. Oh, the poor floor. Looks like there was another contender for the best ground attacker. Right, time for a better description of Brie other than Bald Ball.

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It was true that Brie had shed her fur, but that was an understatement of what she had become. Brie still retained a spherical form, but instead of a soft fleshy exterior like pretty much every normal monster, her body had transformed into a hard metallic surface. Even her eyes had taken on the same silver-gray-like texture as the rest of her body. The most striking thing other than her apparent weight—don't tell her Alwin said that about her—was the set of large razor-sharp teeth protruding from her mouth. She could probably give a vampire a run for their money. Maybe the school should invest in a chain, in case those chompers of hers ever got loose.

As Brie grinded her metallic cheek up against the gear-laden Bion, they produced the world's worst symphony. The two metallic bodies scraped against each other. It was like a cheese grater married a rusty hinge and their child just found out how to rub its metallic body up against a chalkboard. The whole class winced as their eardrums were assaulted.

"Stop doing that you, MetalBall!" yelled Tess.

So that was the species that Brie had evolved into. Between all of the errant sounds being produced, Alwin was surprised he was able to make out her yelling.

Just as the horrible ear-piercing grinding was reaching its crescendo, the sweet beautiful sound of silence graced the classes ears. Brie was still nuzzling Bion, who had his tentacles crossed as he stared daggers at Alwin. Did his body dislike the sound to the point where he went deaf? That was definitely in the realm of possibilities.

"Thanks, Cord," said Tess.

Cord? Either she was thanking a sentient rope or she was talking to Concord, the third and final member of Bion and Brie's team. Considering Concord's Core Skill was named 'Silencer' chances were that she was talking about the latter. But the probability wasn't zero! So maybe Tess had made friends with a walking talking piece of rope! Or maybe Alwin was losing his marbles after the soundwaves rampaged around inside his head.

A figure emerged in front of Bion and Brie. When Alwin said emerge, he didn't mean that she had suddenly walked out of the crowd to join her friends. Nope, Alwin meant that the figure suddenly materialized out of thin, thick, or however wide amount of air in front of them. Almost as if the figure had been standing there the whole time.

Putting two and two together, Alwin could deduce that the mysterious figure was none other than Concord. Now, enough with this figure nonsense. Like Uchronia and Tess, Concord had been a Leafling, unlike them who shed their leaves in favor of other plant-like characteristics, she had fully embraced it, becoming more Leaf than Ling.

A cocoon of overlapping green leaves draped the monster's body. On the left side of her face, a large leaf obscured most of her visage. Underneath the mask of green, a single yellow eye stared back at Alwin, the rest of her face including her mouth and nose was hidden behind even more leaves.

"Thanks?" Alwin said. Also, he could hear his voice. He wasn't deaf. Praise be thee whichever God was in charge of hearing!

Concord shivered, shook, and trembled. If she allowed it—because Silencer—Alwin would've probably heard her whimper. The color of her leaves began to morph. From the vibrant characteristic green, it began to desaturate, taking on the hue of Brie, Bion, and the dull classroom. In other words, she was camouflaging, blending in with her surroundings.

"Don't mind her, pardner," said Flintlock. "Ever since she evolved into that whatchamacallit Chroma-something."

"Chromaflora!" shouted Tess.

"Yeah, that. She's been dipping in and out of sight."

"It's okay, Cord. We all love you!" shouted Tess.

"Thanks," a tiny whisper in the wind replied.

Bion was shaking that bulbous cap of his, that swayed and flowed around with every movement—just because he was boneless doesn't mean he wasn't a bonehead. He pointed a mass of tentacles at the nuzzling Brie, mouthing something that no one could hear thanks to Concord's influence.

"I'm on it," said a floating block that hovered above his classmates.

A floating cube... From a Dark Slime to a floating cube. Was the system really running out of ideas? To be more specific, this was a floating cube roughly 60cm by 60cm by 60cm. The dark gray coloration along with the cobblestone texture made Alwin wonder if that monster actually came from the pavement—because he sure looked like he got dug up from the ground. Maybe it was from the road outside a locksmith because the cube had large keyholes inscribed on all six sides.

In case anyone had forgotten who this mysterious monster was because they forgot since it had been two months since Alwin had actually interacted with them. It was Clavis. The monster who could pick locks with his Lockpick Core Skill—got to love redundancy. A lock manifested on top of Brie's head and given the metallic nature of the girl, it didn't look out of place. What did look out of place were the tension wrench and pick that had manifested alongside the lock. They got to work, twisting, turning, and prodding the lock, until a click could be heard alongside all of the pins falling into place—for some reason, the sounds evaded Concord's skill.

The lock and tools vanished into particles, while Brie's movements began to slow. Alwin had almost forgotten about how Clavis could lock things up using his Lockpick.

Bion separated himself from Brie, leaving the metal girl in place. Clavis had most likely sealed away her strength, leaving her stuck in place, and given how heavy she was—don't tell her Alwin said that—she needed all of the strength she could muster.

"About time," said Bion the boneheaded Shadow Jellyfish.

"You've got to let Brie get some cuddles in or she'll get cranky," said Clavis. He reminded Alwin of Lapis because he had no idea where their mouths or eyes were.

"I'll show you cranky," grumbled Bion. "And you." Pointing a mass of tentacles towards Alwin.

"Who me?" Alwin asked, turning around to make sure that Bion wasn't talking to someone behind him. Could you imagine the embarrassment if that happened!

"Yeah, you, Al-loser. You and me. Spar. Now."

"Spar as in fight or spa as in we're getting facials?"

"Fight you dipwad. Why would I invite you to get facials? I'm here to teach you a lesson for endangering my dear, Uchronia."

"Buzz off!" shouted Uchronia.

"Seconded," said Alwin. "And counterpoint, why wouldn't you invite me for a facial? I've been through so much and life has been hard for poor little me." Alwin summoned his Spirit Hands and placed them on his forehead palm up, with a look that tried to mimic despair as he shook his head and sniffed a few times, only stopping to wipe away fake tears.

"Enough with your nonsense. This is why Uchronia nearly died! Now fight or I'll make you fight me."

"Buzz off!" shouted Uchronia. She really needed more colorful insults. Maybe Alwin could help come up with some for her in his free time.

"Sparrin' is always a surefire way to toughen up," Flintlock drawled. "But it looks like the sparrin' room's tied up right now. Gus and Galeo's whole crew is in there kickin' up dust."

Galeo the monster who kept butting heads with Tess? No wonder it was so quiet and that wasn't because of Concord's influence. Galeo just wasn't here to create a ruckus with Tess. Since when did they have a sparring room? The only thing Alwin remembered were the wooden dummies that they would practice their skills against. You're saying now they could legally fight each other without getting in trouble? This was too good an opportunity to pass up. Plus, he'd show Bion who's boss.

"Sure, I'll fight," said Alwin.

"But, Alwin. You've just evolved. At least take the time to get used to your new self," said Uchronia.

"I'm pretty much the same, just lighter. Not lighter as in I lost weight, but you get it."

"Good. When I win, I'll take your place in Uchronia's squad," said Bion.

"Firstly, I don't think you're allowed to do that and secondly, what makes you think you're going to win?"

"Because you're a weakling who nearly got Uchronia—"

"Oh, my Cor! Enough! We get it. You're like a broken record. At least a broken clock still tells time right twice a day, but you're just stuck on loop. And not even on the good part, just the boring part that no one likes but you still have to sit through to get to the good stuff. Let's just go and fight. You're taking up too much time talking."

"Fine." Bion huffed. "And when I win—"

"Let's just go," interrupted Alwin. "So where's this new fancy shmancy sparring room?"

"It's this way," said Tess.

The Lotus Turtle crawled on all fours towards the backside of the training grounds classroom. Surprisingly, the turtle was in fact not slow, just at normal speed. As Alwin hopped behind her, the sounds of combat grew louder. Alwin placed his head against the wall. He listened using all the ear muscles he could muster. Yup, this was where the sound was coming from—on the other side of the wall. It was obvious. But did it give him a comedic moment to shine the light of joy on everyone who witnessed it? Nope. They just looked at him as if he had lost his mind. At least it got a chuckle instead of an eye roll from Uchronia, which was a start.

Tess, using her Spirit Hands, grabbed onto a doorknob which Alwin was pretty sure wasn't there before, revealing the fight taking place. Soon that was going to be him and Bion.