New dawn, new day, and new skill to improve. Where was Alwin, well he was in class once again. Milvus, was being Milvus, and lecturing the class.

"Remember class, spotting weaknesses in your opponent’s defense, as well as understanding the terrain, is crucial when facing an equally matched human. You might follow your strategy to the letter, but eventually, you’ll need to adjust to what the enemy is doing. Adaptation is the key to victory."

Uchronia the Potted Sprout, also known as the previous teacher's pet, was still paying attention in class. She jotted down notes with the help of her Spirit Hands, copying down diagrams that the triangular-tentacled monster had drawn on the whiteboard, even going so far as to use a ruler of all things! That was way too much effort for dear ole Alwin, freehand all the way baby! That’s assuming Alwin was actually writing down notes. Newsflash, he wasn’t.

Every once in a white she would glare at Milvus, while muttering something under her breath. Alwin leaned in closer—they sat next to each other—in an attempt to eavesdrop on her, his butt hanging off the side of the chair, while tilting where he assumed his ears were towards her mouth. Alwin even closed one eye and bit his tongue as if it would make him hear better—it just very well might, don't judge.

"You might follow your strategy to the letter..." she whispered.

Before he could eavesdrop further, Uchronia snapped her gaze to him. "What are you doing? Pay attention."

Busted. Looks like Alwin's super sneaky attempt to eavesdrop on her had been foiled. Maybe after he sorted out his Yin-Yang Blast he would find a skill that would make eavesdropping easier. Maybe something like how the black-armored goblin could dive into the shadows. Yes, that would be perfect. He would hide amongst the shadows while he eavesdropped on people talking to him. Also, Uchronia was reciting what Milvus was saying for some odd reason—must be a teacher's pet thing.

Gus, the Fluffpaw, was focusing in class in his own way. After every sentence, he would reward himself with a muffin. Now, he didn't even require the use of Spirit Hands, he had two large paws to do the job. They would pull muffins out of seemingly nowhere, and shove it into his mouth.It's been a while since Alwin brought this up, but where the flippity flapjacks was he hiding those muffins\? Seriously! It felt good to relive the past.

The rest of the class were paying attention in their own ways. Brie and Bion were stuck together by the hip, not like Bion had a choice. Brie the Metalball had shifted their desks together and sat on one of his many tentacles, preventing him from even thinking of leaving her behind again. With no other choice, Bion had to live with a living ball of metal nuzzling up against his Shadow Jellyfish cap as he tried to pay attention in class and take down notes as well—that no good bonehead was actually a decent student, curse him.

Tess the Lotus Turtle and Galeo the Finclaw chucked balls of paper at each other when they thought Milvus wasn't looking, but he was always looking. Milvus always knows. Don't ask Alwin how he knew that. Also there were balls of crumbled paper on the floor of their desk after every lesson, which may or may not have played a part in Milvus figuring out what was going on. Only a master of observation could deduce what had transpired behind his back!

Flintlock the Powder Chimp, was taking notes as well, but he used his tail to grip a pencil to write down everything. While his tail was occupied with enriching his knowledge, he was presumably working on his dexterity—either that or Flintlock needed to do something with his hands to keep him stimulated. With both of his monkey hands outstretched he rolled bullets between his knuckles. Why bullets? It's because this was the monster who could summon a Gun of all things.

Deb the Piggy Bank had her routine down pat. She'd “borrow” everyone's notes after class, make photocopies, and select the best ones for herself. The rest she'd distribute to anyone who hadn't been paying attention—which, Alwin realized, probably meant him.

In other words, after class today, Alwin would wait for Deb to finish sorting through all of the notes before he received a copy that he could use for his revision. That’s assuming he ever revises. Now, Alwin still wanted to be Valedictorian, but since the first year's exam was a practical one where they had to kill humans, he would just practice in the simulation room—assuming he ever found time to find it inside of the library and actually take on the library challenge.

"Okay, class. Remember to get some practice in this afternoon, as always I'll be available for any consultations," said Milvus.

Just like that morning lectures were over and Alwin had paid attention to it in his own unique way. As always it was true the power of multitasking that allowed him to pay attention to Milvus' lectures while also paying attention to his classmates' actions. Of course, there were some classmates that Alwin had not actually listed down, but that's because they were too boring! Simple as that.

"Hey, Alwin," a voice said. It was a girl's voice, but it wasn't the girl Alwin that may or may not be secretly afraid of—although the hint of plant aftertones in her voice did send a shiver right through the split between the dark and light side of him. It was Tess the Lotus Turtle.

"Oh, hey."

"Oh, you can finally talk. I've been trying to get your attention the past couple of days but you kept mumbling something about a Dark Tackle?"

"That wasn't me, that was my twin brother." It was in fact Alwin who had succumbed to the Dark Tackle repetition disease—also he had no twin brother and everyone knew that, so... yeah.

"Right... anyway, I wanted your help with something."

"With what? Also, could you just spell it out earlier without me having to prompt you?"

"Sparring practice. I'm trying to improve my Core Skill."

"Why me? Is it because you like me?" Alwin flashed her a half black and half white smile, while giving her a wink.

"Well, I like you better than Galeo and only in a platonic way. If you do anything, I will whack you. Reason is, as far as I can tell, you're the only monster who has an attack that goes—" Tess raised her stubby little turtle arms up as she yelled out 'boom!' with the utmost enthusiasm.

"Boom? You mean my Yin-Yang Blast?"

"The move that you used on Bion near the end. I want to practice against that move. Blocking bullets had kind of gotten boring."

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"Hey now, I'm standin' right here," said Flintlock.

"Sorry, Flinty. I didn't mean it that way."

"Well, if I ever get the itch for some target practice, you best believe you ain't sayin' no," he said, before sauntering outta the class to rustle up some grub.

"So, are you up for it?" Tess asked, turning back to Alwin.

"Now? What about lunch?" He glanced longingly toward the door.

"Not hungry. Unless you are?"

He hesitated. "No, but I was thinking of being lazy for a bit."

She sighed. "I've waited long enough. Last thing I want is Galeo surpassing me. Come on."

Alwin put on his biggest frown and largest puppy dog eyes as he sniffled behind Tess, who led the way to the far corner of the classroom. As she placed her hand close to the wall, a handle appeared right in front of her hand. Pushing down on the handle revealed a door so flush with the wall you wouldn't think there was something there. Finally they were in that white room also known as the sparring room.

As Alwin stepped inside the sparring room, a thought dawned on him. He never actually said 'yes' and simply went along with what Tess said. All those days of being bossed around by Uchronia had conditioned him to follow orders. Damn that Uchronia was good. With just a word, she might be able alter his goals. But, no! Alwin wasn't going to allow that! He was going to break her programming. From now on, he was in charge of his life and wouldn't be under the behest of anyone.

"Are you okay?" asked Tess.

"Yea. Why?" said Alwin.

"Your face was getting all scrunched up and weird. I thought something had happened."

Curse that subconscious need to move his face about whenever he was deep in thought also curse his conscious self for not allocating enough brainpower to suppress the subconscious side of him.

"Nope, nothing. Let's start."

Right now he would be the one in charge. That's why he initiated the fight. Never mind the fact that he had already been suckered into a sparring session and that any sense of agency had been lost. Also, it was a good excuse to train his Yin-Yang Blast. Wait. How did she know that Alwin wanted to improve his Yin-Yang Blast? Was she a mind reader!

Testing, testing. Get it? Tess-ting? Tess, can you hear me? If you can, I'm about to launch a Yin-Yang Blast at you right now. If not... good luck. Actually scratch that, I'm saving the good luck for myself. Bad, bad, bad luck for you.

Alwin prepared the Yin-Yang Blast. There wasn't much conscious preparation that he had to do. Just the intent to launch a Yin-Yang Blast caused the mana in his core to move on its own. Once again, two streams of mana began to flow upward from his mana pool. One side began to turn bright white while the other became darker than black. The two strands of mana compressed down into spheres without the help of any mental hands before they jettisoned themselves out of his core.

The dual spheres of mana manifested itself in front of Alwin and launched straight at Tess. The white and black balls of mana orbited around each other as they traversed the white sparring room, the white sphere blending in with the background that it was almost impossible to see.

"This is what I've been waiting for."

Tess called on her Core Skill: Impenetrable Shield. A steel tower shield materialized in the air right in front of her. The shield had grown—not in the physical sense. The once plain shield with a muted gray finish now boasted a giant golden starfruit emblazoned in the center of the shield. It slammed down on the ground stopping the incoming Yin-Yang Blast. The skill collided with the shield causing an explosion that formed into a cloud of black and white particles in the shape of the Yin-Yang symbol.

That darn shield. Looks like Alwin had found a new rival in case his old rival called it quits on him—stupid wooden dummy. Alwin launched blast after blast at Tess. Each time, through some mental connection of sorts, she telekinetically moved her tower shield to intercept all of his blasts.

Blast from the front, blast from the back, blast from her two sides. Each one exploded against the tower shield rather than Tess herself. As the explosion cleared the only difference was that the gold starfruit in the center had lost some of its shine. There were no cracks, or other marks on the shield. This was not what Alwin had hoped. Annoying Impenetrable Shield.

Good thing, Alwin was a smart slime with a smart plan. Alwin summoned out his Spirit Hands, garnering a weird look from Tess—furrowed eyebrows, eyes squinting at him, you know the drill. As per usual, they lined up and tossed Alwin at high speeds straight towards Tess. Using that telekinetic connection with her shield, she placed it between her and Alwin, defending her.

Alwin knew this was coming the moment he hit the steel wall with a wet splat. His body spread across the shield like an inkblot before snapping back together into his usual blobby form. Darkness shrouded his body, obscuring even the light half of himself. The Dark Tackle forced himself forward, and with a twist, he angled himself just right—perpendicular to the shield—slipping around its edge.

Tess readjusted the positioning of her shield, but Alwin was too fast. His Dark Tackle blasted past the shield, his body leaving a trail of black. Pivoting on his backside, he whipped around to face her again. Another burst of Dark Tackle sent him rocketing toward Tess, his body a speeding bullet of darkness and Tess was his target.

"Dude, we're supposed to be practicing against that blast!" Tess shouted in a panic.

As Alwin was closing in, she sealed her eyes tight. Yes! Tess was afraid of the all mighty Alwin. The lotus leaf on her back that also doubled as her shell began to grow in size, engulfing her completely—Lotus Leaf Shield if Alwin heard correctly. He crashed into the giant leaf shield, shredding through it, spreading plant bits everywhere as if it was the lawn and he was the lawn mower. The Lotus Leaf Shield consumed his momentum, finally bringing him to a stop right in her face. Well, this was awkward.

"Hey," he said.

"Don't 'hey' me. If I wanted to deal with melee attacks I would've recruited Gus not you. Now get back there!" Tess shouted.

The giant lotus leaf began to shrink back to its normal size, the part where Alwin had shredded through hadn't grown back, leaving Tess with an Alwin shaped hole eaten out of her lotus leaf shell, except scaled downwards of course.

"Great and you ruined my shell," she grumbled, feeling the hole where leafy greens should have inhabited.

"Sorry?"

"You better be, now get back over there and only use that black and white blast."

Alwin sulked all the way back to the other side of the sparring room. Why was it always Gus? Alwin could be a great melee attacker if he wanted to, but he didn't. Shooting blasts of magic was way cooler than tackling, clawing, or kicking. There were only so many variations before it got boring.

He'd show Tess not to mess with him. Alwin squinted his eyes, making sure that Tess got a good look at his look of disapproval. He had his head held up high, face pointed at the ceiling, as he let out a 'hmph'. Tess didn't hear it. So, Alwin in his infinite wisdom, let out an even louder and sharper 'hmph!', just so she would get the hint.

"Can we just start?" Tess said, shaking her head.

Why were all the girls here so mean? It made Alwin turn his big defiant smile upside down. If it's a blast she wants, then it's a blast she'll get. Alwin launched multitudes of Yin-Yang Blasts at Tess. Each one exploding into the Yin-Yang symbol as they clashed with that tower shield of hers. Each blast only served to tarnish the gold on the starfruit of her shield.

If Alwin couldn't destroy the shield, he just had to find a way to by-pass it. He circled around her, running laps as he shot Yin-Yang Blast after Yin-Yang Blast at her. She would maneuver the shield to block. This was getting frustrating. Blast after blast was blocked and Alwin had to come up with a strategy to defeat her. But, he'd do that tomorrow because after one whole day of blasting Tess, Alwin was exhausted while Tess was none the worse for wear. Hey, at least he had made some progress.

Skill Mastery Increased: Yin-Yang Blast(F) → Yin-Yang Blast(E)