After successfully refining Fire Essence and even absorbing it, Alwin continued to repeat the process over and over again. He was so close, he could practically taste it. The deliciousness of evolving into something other than a slime. Fire was the ingredient and Alwin was the chef. Also, all of these food references may or may not be because Alwin was hungry.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, regular mana turned into Spirit Essence, and... you get the idea. Alwin had been working non-stop. From dawn to dusk and back to dawn, Alwin spent every single second working on refining Fire Essence and absorbing it. There was nothing he would rather be doing other than maybe eating food or taking a nap. Okay, there were countless other things he'd rather be doing, but Alwin was lazy. He was too lazy to stop working. His laziness transcended mortal understanding and looped back around to hard work.

Finally after hundreds of iterations of refinement and dumping it out of his Core, he had done it.

Evolution Meter maxed. Unable to absorb any more Essence.

Alwin's eyes shot open. They darted about trying to locate Lapis. It was a simple feat considering that she was a giant floating crystal in an otherwise empty white room. Once again, she was in the process of cooking something. Alwin didn't have the time or energy to deal with his slacker of a master, he had more pressing matters to attend to, like using the little boy's room. Gosh, how long had he spent focusing on his Core?

Alwin was experiencing a mix of uncomfortableness. The insides of his mouth were dryer than a desert, while his bladder was beyond high tide. Without even acknowledging his grand great teacher, Alwin rushed off to the loo to relieve himself. This time he even got his Spirit Hands to use the tap just so the alarm wouldn't trigger.

After all of that sidetracking, it was finally time to evolve. This was going to be great! No doubt Alwin would step out of this place an even greater person than he already was. Before Alwin could begin the tribulation, Lapis' voice stopped him.

"Hey there, student of mine. You done already?" asked Lapis, turning away from the bowl of batter she had been stirring.

"Great! Now let me finish up this batch of brownies, then I'll book the Evolution Chamber for you and you'll get to further my research."

"Aww man, but I wanted to do it now. I just can't wait to evolve again. I'm going to become something cooler than a slime!"

"Technically, you'll become something hotter rather than cooler, but lame jokes aside, go and rest little one. You've spent a couple of days just refining Fire Essence without rest. Also, for research purposes, I'm going to be recording the whole thing, so if you don't rest you might end up looking like a fool and it'll be recorded, never to be deleted for all eternity or until the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first."

What Lapis said struck a chord with Alwin. If he did end up looking like a fool, then that piece of his life would be a permanent fixture inside whatever recording software that Lapis was planning to use. There was no way he was going to let something like that happen! Alwin was going to practice. Visualization was the key to success!

Alwin imagined opening up his status.

Name: Alwin

Species: Dark Slime (Tier 1)

Core Skill: Devolution (F)

Species Skills: Dark Tackle (A), Yin-Yang Blast (A)

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

Evolution: 100/100

Also, somewhere along the way that Refinement skill of his had ranked up to D. After that he imagined himself tapping on that glorious 100/100. Another screen popped up in front of his imagination

Begin Tribulation?

Yes No

Alwin selected Yes.

"What are you doing!" Lapis shouted.

"I'm doing some image training for my tribulation. I don't want to look like a big dumb dumb on video."

"Well, you are a big dumb dumb. You actually activated your tribulation."

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"I did?"

Alwin looked around the room. Lapis, her drones, some cooking utensils, and a system screen were within view. One of those things was not like the other.

"No. No. No. Drones go and get the camera. We need to record this. And my student, you fool! I don't have any magical equipment with me. I'm going to call Milvee and get him to come pronto, so try not to die!"

Alwin swallowed the lump in his throat. Oh crud. Without any Fire Resistance Equipment or Pills, this tribulation was going to be ten times harder. He had really done it now. He had made a fool out of himself.

At least he knew what type of tribulation this was going to be. It was going to be Fire.

A blazing emblem of Fire appeared on the System Screen hovering in front of Alwin. It shone with bright crimson radiance as tongues of flame licked out of its contours.

It began. The Fire symbol seemed to bleed out from the screen before an Alwin-sized Fireball was launched right at him. It shot through the air with flames trailing behind it. The already bright room illuminated even brighter as the fireball gained speed and heat, accelerating toward its target—Alwin.

Alwin jumped to the side, avoiding the ball of fiery death that crashed against the wall behind him. A cloud of ash covered the impact zone as the scorching flames dissipated.

Better be safe than sorry. Alwin had a skill, one that would give him a hand in this trying situation. It was everybody's favorite Spirit Hands! Five pairs of hands materialized next to Alwin. They each cracked their knuckles in preparation for what's to come. Now if only they had Spirit Necks so that they could crack those too.

Two more Fireballs from the screen zoomed towards him. An easy dodge by Alwin who shifted his body to the left, letting the balls shoot past harmlessly. He wasn't even sweating yet! These pitiful balls of fire posed no threat to Alwin. This was going to be easy. All he had to do was dodge those Fireballs and the Fire Tribulation would be over. This was just the most intense game of dodgeball ever.

Another round of Fireballs came flying from the System Screen. They zipped across the room straight at Alwin. Expecting the same outcome as the last attack, Alwin dodged at the last moment for maximum style points. This time, however, the Fireballs curved, following Alwin's movement. What kind of crazy bullshittery was that?! Those weren't even regular projectiles but Alwin-seeking Fireballs! How was that fair?

This time the Fireballs hit their mark, knocking Alwin back and crashing him onto the floor. Alwin groaned in pain. This was not going to be easy. Plus there were still three more Fireballs coming straight at him. Still disoriented from the earlier strike, Alwin remained on the floor staring at the approaching Fireballs. This was not good.

At the last second, his Spirit Hands intercepted the last two Fireballs. They grabbed onto the Fireball, blocking them from reaching their goal. Just before the Fireball could burn away the flesh of the two pairs of spectral hands, they chucked them back toward the system screen. The two pairs of Spirit Hands were still on fire. Their palms burned away as the flames of tribulation ate away at them before they disappeared into a pile of ash. Goodbye, Spirit Hands, you will be missed.

But they won't be missed for long! Alwin summoned the two Spirit Hands again and they were back next to him as if nothing had happened. Alwin was just being a drama king as per the norm. Now, it was Alwin's turn to attack!

The two Fireballs that the Spirit Hands had thrown back impacted against the System Screen. Once the smoke had cleared, there were no noticeable cracks or dents. In fact, the whole screen looked pristine as if nothing had occurred. If only it could be that easy.

Maybe something did happen. Rather than lobbing out more Fireballs at Alwin, the screen was becoming translucent. Then the screen split into two, separating itself into two separate screens, both of which contained the same Fire emblem. They began to revolve around Alwin. He didn't know which way to look or which screen to focus on. That's why he did the most logical thing possible. He himself began to spin in circles, that way he could keep track of both of the screens.

Fireballs began to shoot out of the screens once more. They came in larger quantities this time, numbering ten. The balls of fire swarmed towards Alwin. Too busy spinning to properly dodge, Alwin relied on his Spirit Hands. The Spirit Hands flew toward their designated Fireball and intercepted it. Each hand had their own way of dealing with their personal Fireball. Some punched, some slapped, while some wrapped their hand around the Fireball as if they were playing 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'.

The hands couldn't destroy the Fireball, but they did manage to change their course. Gusts of warmth blew past him. Instead of colliding head-on into Alwin, they crashed around him instead, some even crashing back at the rotating system screens. His Spirit Hands had become Fire Hands, just a name Alwin just made up since they were now on fire.

Unfortunately, the new names of his Spirit Hands did not come without consequence. They disappeared into a flurry of particles, just like last time, leaving Alwin to fend for himself. Thankfully, he could just summon them back, good as new, to defend him. Alwin was once again being a drama king.

More Fireballs were launched at Alwin. By now, Alwin had gotten used to the attacks, dodging almost every single one of them. By Alwin, he meant his Spirit Hands and by dodging, he meant that the Spirit Hands deflected all of the attacks. All Alwin had to do was summon Spirit Hands when they inevitably burned up after sacrificing themselves. It was stupid, but it worked, so was it really stupid? Yea, it probably was.

The twin screens began to slow down, they no longer shot out Fireballs at Alwin. Once they slowed down enough they converged back into a single screen. Was this it? Did he pass the Fire Tribulation? That was way easier than expected. Like the screens, Alwin slowed down, until he stopped spinning. Even though he had stopped, the room still felt like it was revolving all around him. Darn motion sickness!

But, if the tribulation was really over then why was the system screen still staring back at him? Was it the motion sickness playing tricks on his eyes? Now, the system screen was covered in flames, like a portal to hell. Stepping out from the flames was a figure shrouded in flames as well. Something was telling Alwin that this wasn't the motion sickness talking and that the tribulation wasn't over yet.