After seeing his Yin-Yang Blast in action, Alwin had a revelation, a breakthrough, an eureka moment—mixing their energies rather than making them crash together like a kid playing with their toys. In all fairness, Alwin was a literal kid.

However, like many things in life, performing such a feat was easier said than done. How exactly would he even go about mixing their energies together? What does that even mean? Alwin was literally making it up as he went along. If only Lapis were here to answer his questions. The tantalizing aroma of sweet chocolatey goodness wafting through the room told Alwin that the cake was nearly done baking. But how long would it take to cool? And then there was the frosting, the decorating—who knew how long that would drag on? Lapis certainly wasn’t in any rush to answer his questions.

Thus, Alwin was about to perform the biggest brainiest move ever conceived. An action so large he could feel his slimy, mucous-coated brain, expanding with every passing second. His other organs were being pushed away, making way for the ever-enlarging brain. Alwin remembered having debates about whether he was more head or body, but now without a doubt, there was an answer to the debate. He was clearly more head.

It was time to execute his magnificent plan. A scheme so grand, so wondrous, that it caused his very brain to expand just to accommodate the idea. What was his glorious plot, you ask? Why, it was none other than walking out of the room. Why wait for Lapis to come back when you could just go to her? Alwin was proud of himself. Thinking outside of the box was his specialty after all. No one else in a million years could've come up with such an ingenious idea.

Alwin hopped out of the white room, filled with more pride than ever before. In the mess-filled lab was Lapis, floating in front of a chalkboard writing down numbers. Around her were drones holding test tubes filled with different colored liquids. Another drone stirred the concoction within. She would scribble another formula on the board, while the drones played mad scientist. In the center of the room, was where the oven stood. A rich aroma leaked out from within, filling the whole room with its delectable scent.

Alwin wasn’t falling for her ruse again! She wasn’t working on a life-changing invention, it was something far simpler—she was working on her baking skills!

"Lapis! Lapis!" Alwin called, hopping over to her.

"Slime student apprentice of mine, what are you doing here? I thought you were practicing Mix," replied Lapis.

"I was, but then I hit a wall."

"Have you tried looking where you're going?"

"I meant it metaphorically speaking."

"Oh..." There was a short pause before Lapis continued, "I knew that. But, I did say I would come back once the cake's done baking."

"I know, but you didn't say I couldn't just leave the room and ask you for help directly," said Alwin. He could feel his ego start to swell up even larger than his brain. Any more and he was going to burst apart, and not in a fun way—then again when was blowing up ever fun?

There was another short pause. Alwin could feel it. Praise was about to enter his body through the sweet melodious words of Lapis. Yes! Let her words lift him higher! Let him bask in the glory he so rightfully deserved. He worked so hard after all.

"You're a smart kid, even smarter than lil Milvee. He would just stay put and do his work, more often than not failing until I swooped in and saved the day."

"Are you saying I'm smarter than Milvus?" asked Alwin.

"In a way."

This was it. Alwin was on the precipice of no return. One small little nudge in the right direction and he would explode from the dangerous levels of egotism that permeated throughout his body—consumed by the unbearable weight of his own self-importance.

"So, will you explain how I'm supposed to Mix the skills together? How am I supposed to combine their energies and very beings into one?"

"Not really. If I could shrug I would do it, but I can't so you'll just have to imagine me shrugging. As your reward for being such a smart student, you get to figure things out yourself," said Lapis.

Rumble and tumble Alwin's mind went, as he plummeted down from the clouds of glory into the rocky slopes below. The ground came hurtling closer and closer till impact. Everything exploded into a flash of light and Alwin woke up back in the empty white room.

Darn it! She teleported him back into the room without even giving him a say. Well, that was a massive waste of time. An annoying waste of time too. Just spill the secrets, woman! Don't leave ya boy, Alwin, hanging!

Time to restart the loop of endless failures. Yay! That was sarcasm, for those whose brains weren't as humungous as Alwin's. It was so big, it was Alwin-sized. Enough rambling about his ego already—which was definitely not an excuse to stall. Nope. Not at all. Alwin was definitely looking forward to the very tough, very painful, and most importantly of all, a very mind-numbingly boring training session. Let's get back to it!

If Yin-Yang Blasts were the key to his insights, he just had to keep firing them off one at a time, observing every detail, big or small, as they collided with each other. Alwin kept his eyes peeled, not allowing himself to even blink. Spirit Hands were by his side, holding onto his eyelids. Although painful, it was another form of training. Alwin was training his eyelid muscles, while the Spirit Hands were working out their fingers.

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Gusts of wind, formed from the explosion caused by his Yin-Yang Blasts, bombarded his delicate eye holes, tears welled up inside of them, but still, he had to persist. It was working, he could feel it. The way the white Yang orb swirled about an invisible axis, the way the black Yin orb matched its movements, their energies leaking out into each other before they even collided. That was it! Another piece of the puzzle was added to his collection—now he just had to solve it. If only this puzzle came with a picture on the front of the box. Or, you know, all the pieces in the box. Actually, if there was even a box. Needless to say, Alwin was procrastinating again.

What caused such a phenomenon? More testing was required. Alwin launched even more Yin-Yang Blasts. More Yin-Yang symbols exploded to life, more gusts of air blew in his face, and more tears fell like rain. Underneath the cascade of watery droplets, Alwin continued his research, eyes glued to the scene before him. It wasn't until after twenty Yin-Yang blasts that Alwin realized something.

Distance!

Yin-Yang Blasts that traveled a greater distance generated a larger explosion and Yin-Yang Symbol, and vice versa. Obviously, there was a cap on how large the resultant blast was. If only he could let the blast travel an infinite distance and create an infinite-sized explosion—oh, the possibilities.

Not wanting to lose his choo-choo train of thought, Alwin forced himself to get back on track. The answer couldn't be just distance—it couldn't be that simple. Occam's razor has no business here; the devil was in the details! There had to be something else he missed, something he overlooked. Thus, it was back to the blasting board.

Alwin observed the twin orbs with even more intensity, even more vigor. Not even the ocean of tears that coated his eyeballs could deter his acute gaze. What was the difference other than distance? What caused the energy within the orbs to coalesce with each other? It wasn't a case of the orbs smashing together. No, it was something before that stage. Something was causing the mana within them to be drawn out. Alwin was staring at the answer, he could feel it. Now if only the answer had a huge neon sign pointing to it with a big flashing arrow saying "I'm here, doofus."

Blast after blast left his Core. From the sprinkler system set up in his eyes to the constant stream of mana being jettisoned out of his body, Alwin was getting frustrated. Impatience was beginning to settle in, driving him to fire off Yin-Yang Blasts even more frequently. Wait a second! Frequently? That reminded Alwin of frequency. Everything in this world had a natural frequency—a resonant frequency. Alwin could taste it, the breadcrumbs of revelation were beginning to decorate his plate. They were almost there, just a few more steps, just a few more clues, just a few more leaps of logic, and it would finally click.

What else did he know about frequency? That's it! Constructive Interference! When the skills had the same frequency and if they got close enough, they would essentially amplify each other. But, how was he going to ensure the skills had the same frequency? That's it—again! The reason Lapis made the skills rotate and orbit around each other, it wasn't just for theatrics, it was to adjust their frequencies. That must've been why shorter-traveled Yin-Yang Blasts didn't create as big of an explosion—they didn't have enough time to match frequencies. The bigger the distance covered, the more time given for them to align themselves with each other. Then boom!

That had to be it. The secret sauce to mastering Mix! Was it a stretch? Well, slimes were flexible, so it was a definite yes. Was it a leap of logic? Well, slimes mainly get around by hopping, so if anything Alwin had been leaping since he was born. Would it work? Only one way to find out.

Alwin shot out two Spirit Blasts, forcing them to orbit around each other. They rotated, spun, and swiveled, turning around an invisible axis before colliding into a puff of magic particles. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Theory was one thing, but practice was a whole other beast he had to conquer.

With hope in his heart, Alwin launched both Spirit Blasts again and again and again. Going through a whole list of parameters trying to narrow down the perfect condition for them to successfully combine their essences. He made them rotate faster, made them travel farther, changed the shape of the orbits, anything to try to make it happen. Before long, Alwin had entered the zone. This was his jam, his groove, his bop.

Soon enough, something he did triggered a reaction. Moments before the two orbs collided with each other for the umpteenth, small tendrils of blue-colored mana began to leak out from them. The two blasts mingled with each other, lasting less than half a second, before they exploded into a flurry of magical particles. Alwin was getting even closer. That meant his theory had weight behind it. Who cared how making things spin and travel faster influenced their resonant frequencies? What was he a physicist? No, he was something beyond that. He was a slime!

Failure after failure with tiny specks of minor successes sprinkled throughout followed suit. Step by step, Alwin honed his craft. Learning and memorizing every subtle quirk the skill showed, tucking away all the little nuances for later use. While others would grow tired of repeating the same process over and over, Alwin welcomed it. To him, this was learning, this was research, this was better than sitting through lectures. Most importantly though, this was progress. And Alwin loved nothing more than making progress. Sadly, progress didn't love him. But, that could be remedied.

After many dates, courting rituals, and flirtations, Alwin finally got progress to admit they loved him. In a display of affection, he called upon his new mate. Two Spirit Blasts flew across the room, curving their trajectories to spiral towards each other, to orbit one another. Like magnets, they attracted each other, their presence influencing their very beings. Small currents of energy leaked out of them, rushing towards each other as they touchedmid-flightt. Together, they fused into one singular orb of magic—into one being. Alwin had done it! His very first successful attempt at Mix!

What was the result of such a wondrous skill? Alwin had created a blast twice as big as a regular Spirit Blast and twice as powerful, but more importantly, it cost more than twice the mana. It would've been more cost-effective to simply launch two Spirit Blasts instead of wasting even more mana Mixing them.

Yeah, he was beginning to see why most people haven't caught on to the skill. Was it a skill issue? Technically, speaking yes and no. The skill was fine, but it was the user's skill that came into question. Alwin wasn't going to let such minor issues deter him from bringing out the full potential of Mix. With unlimited options, the only limit was his creativity and ingenuity, the fun was just beginning. Plus there were some added side benefits during his journey of self-improvement.

Skill Mastery Increased: Spirit Blast(A) → Spirit Blast(S)

"This? This is what you've been teaching him?" a voice called out from within the lab. That voice belonged to a male and boy—or in this case man—did he sound angry.

Playtime could wait, it was time to investigate.