Alwin's whole body trembled. Heat coursed through his body flooding every inch of him with its fierce intensity. Yet despite the pain, there was a part of him that yearned for it and wanted more. Instinctively he reached out to it, beckoning for more of it. Power swelled within him, growing stronger with every passing second. The burning heat increased in strength until it surpassed all reason and logic. Still, he craved more. All he had to do was reach out a little further and seize the power that was mere millimeters away from him.

He felt it. A strange sensation started to worm its way through his consciousness. It wasn't painful per se, but it also wasn't enjoyable either. If Alwin had to describe it, the best analogy would be feeling a sneeze coming on but it never fully happened.

Then like the spark that lights a blazing inferno, his eyes opened wide, pupils expanded and multiplied into thousands of microscopic slits. Each pupil stared unblinkingly, a sheer veil of yellow encircling them, examining and taking in every single detail. When he tried to blink, he found himself unable to even shut them. This was terrible. Terrible indeed! How was he going to sleep at night!

There was a weight, a grounding that hadn’t been there before, and for a moment, he dared to look down. To his astonishment, huge chitinous forelegs were sprouting from his sides, stretching and unfolding outwards, casting shadows against the shimmering light. He blinked—or, well, felt as if he would have blinked—staring in disbelief as two stubby legs formed behind them, then another pair soon after. His body felt more solid as if any remnants of his slimy past were stripped away.

The light began to fade and as the glowing dimmed, the details of his new form were revealed. A pair of antennae adorned the top of his head while a pair of compound eyes inspected the changes his body had gone through. Thick and spiny legs stuck out from his side. He brought a leg up to eye level, examining it carefully. From what he could tell, the leg was an insect's leg. Also, the leg was on fire.

Alwin let out a high-pitched scream causing the mandibles that protected his mouth to snap open and close rapidly. That surprise overwhelmed him which in turn caused his screaming to escalate even higher in pitch. It was on fire too.

He ran around the room with all six of his legs pitter-pattering against the ashen floor. Every step he took left a trail of embers as flames flowed out from his feet. There was a genius solution to his fiery predicament. Alwin flung himself to the ground with a thud. With all of the enthusiasm of a tumbleweed in a tornado, he rolled across the ground, scattering embers as he attempted to extinguish the flames that crawled all over his body.

After circling around the room many times over, he paused and gasped for breath. During his dramatic roll, he realized something crucial about himself. He had legs. Not one leg or even two. Six mighty legs he had. Six majestic limbs upon which he could walk with ease. His days of bouncing everywhere were over. Those memories will be cherished forevermore—unless he decided to devolve.

Another probably more important part of his whole inspection was that he was on fire. Good job noticing the obvious, Alwin. Yes, the world would fall to ruin without your keen observations. There were bits of fire spread all over his body, each a smoldering red-orange. Tiny wisps of smoke rose off the tips of the flames as they danced slowly, back and forth, rising and falling in rhythm. They didn't burn or scorch, neither did they cause him pain, nor discomfort. It's kind of like hair—you don't really notice it unless you touch it.

Using the power of observation, Alwin examined the rest of his body. To cut a long rambling session short, Alwin had become the very thing that he had attempted to destroy—and he wasn't talking about that dumb wooden dummy. No, Alwin had became a Fire Ant! Presumably. A simple check of his status would confirm his suspicions but where's the fun in that?

"How are you feeling, Alwin?" asked Milvus.

"Hot, I guess?"

Milvus shook his triangular head. "Are you hurt anywhere? Any broken... exoskeleton? Mana exhaustion?"

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"Look, Milvee, he's fine. Now, let's get down to business. Show me your status. I need to document all of this down."

"I understand your excitement, Minister Lapis, but Alwin, here, just went through what I would call a traumatic tribulation. No pills, no equipment, and some unknown being even invaded the tribulation."

"But my research," she whimpered.

"I'm actually fine, I think," said Alwin. "Nothing's really bugging me."

This time he smacked his face with one of his paper tentacles and let out a deep sigh. "If you're feeling fine then please open your status for Minister Lapis to inspect it. I'm going to head back to the academy and return all of the equipment I took out. And please be safe when you're experimenting with Minister Lapis, your classmates are worried about you."

"He's fine, Milvee. Now, shoo. Shoo. "

With that, Milvus disappeared up the stairs leaving Alwin alone with a very enthusiastic Lapis and her drones. Alwin wasn't sure if it was the result of evolving, but he felt a sense of pride rise up inside of him as he declared confidently, "Here is my status."

Name: Alwin

Species: Fire Soldier Ant (Tier 2)

Core Skill: Devolution (F)

Species Skills: Fire Bite (F)

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

Evolution: 0/5000

Devolution: 3/100

Buffs: +5% Damage Boost to Fire Elemental Attacks

So he was a Fire Soldier Ant. That meant he was two-thirds correct in guessing what he turned into. Plus a new Species Skill that utilized those large mandibles called Fire Bite. Most important of all was the 'Buffs' section. That was a new one, but a welcomed addition. An increase in damage to all Fire-based moves! That sounded too good to be true. But he did have a question.

"Say, Lapis. Why did I get a buff when I evolved?"

"Oh, that just means you're more in tune with the system, so you get a reward or a 'buff'. It sometimes happens when a monster evolves and sometimes doesn't."

"So how come my Yin-Yang Slime form didn't get a buff?"

"Did you not hear what I said? Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. Although it could just be because your Light side and Dark side cancel each other out, so you don't get anything. No idea. Anyway, drones! Come and do your thing."

More of Lapis' drones swooped down from the stairs and into the former white room. They took pictures of Alwin's status, even going so far as to take photos of them at different angles. That sounded like a waste of time or maybe something special happened if you looked at it from a different angle. Alwin walked to the left and viewed his status. Nope, it was still the same. Then he walked to the right. An even bigger fat dose of nothing. What a waste of time. At least he got to put his legs to the test.

Meanwhile, Lapis' drones recorded every single bit of info about Alwin's new form. They circled around him and took dozens of photos and when Alwin was moving about trying to look at his status at a different angle they took a video of that as well. Some of them even took photos of the flaming trail marks that Alwin left behind.

Once Lapis was satisfied with the amount of information, she commanded the drones to bring down a special gift for Alwin. A pair of drones returned soon after, carrying atop their heads a familiar-looking foe. It was Alwin's sworn enemy, the wooden dummy! It wasn't the same one as the one in the training grounds classroom—it was probably its cousin. But, that was good enough.

Alwin didn't even need to be prompted by Lapis before he activated his new skill. The flames covering his mandibles grew brighter and hotter than ever as he chomped down on the wooden dummy. Honestly, “butter dummy” would’ve been a more fitting name—the way his mandibles sliced through it.

He stood over his accomplishment, thorax full of pride. The severed sections of the dummy crackled with flames, and now the parts he stood on were beginning to catch fire.

"Good show, grand great student of mine. I've got all of the data I need for now. I'll call you when I need your help again."

Before Alwin could say anything, a flash of light blinded him. When his vision returned to normal, he found himself back in the academy. The same old boring corridors greeted him. So much for getting to skip class. Maybe next he'll work on acquiring some Fire Elemental skills. Good thing, Lapis had dropped him off right in front of the library.

It was as if she could read his mind. Maybe she was a mind reader or maybe Alwin was slowly descending into madness. Either way didn't currently affect him. Right now, he was going to expand his repertoire of sizzling-hot skills.