As thick smoke billowed all around him, Alwin blinked through the haze, struggling to catch his breath. Was something wrong with his attack choices? How could the mighty Dark Slime be beaten by a lowly ant? Clearly, it was not the fault of the attacks themselves. Nope, there had to be some external factor causing him to lose. Okay, lose wasn't the right word. No, this was merely an inconvenient setback. Temporary. Definitely temporary.
But that didn’t make him feel any better as his attacks continued to fizzle out, swallowed by the ant’s flame-coated carapace. A burst of brilliance lit up inside Alwin's head. If you can't beat the pet then just beat the master. Without thinking any further, Alwin gathered up the mana in his Core and transformed them into his usual repertoire of Spirit Blasts. They whizzed past the Fire Ant and headed straight towards the Fire being itself.
Unfortunately, the little guy just let out a yawn before waving his hand lazily. A wave of heat barreled toward him. Alwin barely had time to react before flames roared through the room, engulfing his precious Spirit Blasts and swallowing them whole, their remnants fizzling out into the ether.
Curses! Alwin’s scheme had gone up in literal smoke.
"Last chance," warned the Fire being.
Well, there goes that plan. Now what? None of his Blasts worked against that stupid Fire Ant and any of his tackles would end up hurting himself instead. Talk about an impasse. Think, Alwin, think! If only he could summon help. Help, of course!
Spirit Hands emerged from thin air next to Alwin. Their fingers wiggled in anticipation of action. These guys probably wouldn't work either, but trying is better than dying. Hopefully, they can buy him enough time for a new strategy to brew.
Each hand curled its fingers into a ball and began assaulting the Fire Ant. Fists rained down on both literally and figuratively. They pelted the giant flaming bug mercilessly. Every punch landed with full force, yet none managed to make so much as a dent in the monster's armor. On the other hand, the Spirit Hands were the ones to receive the brunt of the damage. Their normally translucent blue had become a charred black if they were lucky. The not-so-lucky ones became coated in a layer of red and orange—in other words, they were on fire.
But still, it was enough to distract the ant. It began focusing on getting rid of the pesky hands rather than torturing Alwin. It jumped towards each attacking hand with a fiery clash of its mandibles. A single bite tore right through a pair of hands, burning them into nothing but ash. Four pairs remained but they were dwindling quickly. The ant bit at the remaining pairs of hands, taking them out within seconds.
Once again, it was just Alwin and the Fire Ant—technically Lapis and the Fire being were there too but they don't count. The Fire Ant stalked back towards Alwin ready to claim its kill. If only he could use his Yin-Yang Blast, then that Fire Ant would be a Dead Ant. It wasn't the most creative insult but come on, Alwin was on the verge of becoming a Dead Slime. He didn't have the capacity to create mind-blowing humor under duress.
He continued racking his brains for possible solutions, hoping for the miracle of a breakthrough to save the day. The Fire Ant scurried toward Alwin. In retaliation, Alwin shot a bunch of Spirit Blast at the ant. Just like last time, the attacks disappeared without doing any damage to the enemy.
Now, in desperation, Alwin attempted to shoot out Yin-Yang Blasts at the Fire Ant, but once again the only thing to come out was a bunch of system messages.
Skill Currently Not Available.
Skill Currently Not Available.
Skill Currently Not Available.
Skill Currently Not Available.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Skill Currently Not Available.
And this was the truncated version of what Alwin received. The whole thing would've taken up like fifty pages if Alwin hadn't dismissed all those notifications. While all that was going on, the Fire Ant charged forward for the finishing blow.
Out of ideas, Alwin did the first thing he thought of—evolve. It was the only thing he hadn't tried yet. Maybe it'll give him a power-up that'll allow him to destroy that stupid bug. A flash of white light surrounded Alwin as his body grew bigger ever so slightly. Pure white replaced half of his inky black surface, swirling like clouds on a sunny day.
Meanwhile, the Fire Ant was now inches away from sinking its red hot flaming mandibles into Alwin's cute and bouncy body. In a fit of panic, Alwin unleashed a Yin-Yang Blast directed right at the ant. The white and black orbs slammed against the ant creating an explosion. Alwin got caught in the blast and was sent flying backward, whizzing past the Fire being and colliding with the system screen behind it with a squishy splat sound—good thing the screen was no longer on fire.
The Fire Ant barreled out from the cloud of yin-yang, hellbent on finishing its target. Unable to get his bearings fast enough, Alwin watched in horror as the flaming insect rushed towards him. But something was odd, it was moving slower than usual. Alwin decided to put some basic arithmetic to the test.
One, two, three, four, five... where was the sixth? Now unless Alwin failed both basic math and biology, that thing should have six legs, not five. What happened? Obviously, the Yin-Yang Blast did something. Alwin was stupid but not that stupid. Wait, he could use Yin-Yang Blast now? Right, it was a species skill exclusive to his Yin-Yang Slime form. Maybe he was that stupid after all.
Finally, with access to his most powerful attack, Alwin began to prepare the Yin-Yang Blast to end all Yin-Yang Blasts. Like that fight with Tess, Alwin manipulated his Yin-Yang Blast, separating the twin orbs. Multiple black yin orbs flew out from his right and curved towards the Fire Ant, while multiple white yang orbs curved out from the left.
"Well that looks fun," said the Fire being.
The black and white balls converged. Their casings shattered as they touched each other. Dark and light mana oozed from their shattered shells, swirling and intertwining in a chaotic dance until they formed a massive, pulsing Yin-Yang symbol.
An ominous silence followed—then, with a thunderous roar, the mixture erupted in a voracious explosion that consumed the room.
Alwin barely managed to duck behind his makeshift system screen shield as the blast tore through everything in its path. Flames, light, and darkness clashed and fused, flooding the room in a blinding radiance that burned like the sun. For a split second, it seemed as though the brightness might rival Alwin's future—almost.
When Alwin's ears finally stopped ringing and his vision was no longer just pure white, he peeked out from his hiding spot. A dome of flames surrounded him and the Fire being. Was this hell?
"You're welcome," the Fire being said.
The wall of flames subsided and a scorched wasteland greeted him, barren except for the lone Fire Ant whose carcass lay strewn across the floor, nothing left but a burnt husk. Black, blacker than a raven's wings; darker than a shadow on a moonless night; blackest of black. Well, look at Alwin using big-boy metaphors and semicolons.
"Barely passable. Hopefully next time you'll be more entertaining."
"Next time?"
"That's what I said."
With that said, the Fire being stepped through the flaming system screen and vanished along with it. The flame wall that separated Lapis and her drones from Alwin disappeared as well. Standing alongside her was everyone's second favorite paper-thin triangle-headed teacher, Milvus. A slack-jawed expression covered the monster's face as he gazed around the room in wonder. Meanwhile, Lapis was hovering up and down like an excited puppy, shouting phrases of awe.
"Awesome! That was amazing!" she exclaimed. "I managed to record all of that down. So much valuable data. Who was that Fire guy anyway? Whatever, doesn't matter. Actually, wait it does. Does it have something to do with Refinement? Ooh boy, I can't wait to find out."
Just as Alwin opened his mouth to speak, a brilliant white light surged out from within him, flooding his vision and warming his core. He felt his very essence unraveling, his form dissolving and reforming on a scale incomprehensible. Each part of him was being deconstructed, reshaped, and redefined—yet instead of pain, comfort enveloped him.
It was pure bliss, but not in a weird way. Imagine the softest, heaviest velvet blanket, wrapping around him like a tender embrace, resting on a mattress that seemed to mold perfectly to his every curve. The air was perfectly balanced, just cool enough to counter the warmth of the blanket without a hint of chill. That was how it felt for Alwin. This was his evolution.