Winal nodded and smiled at Alwin's request. His pair of Mental Hands gave a thumbs up as well.

Immediately after, a swarm of Mental Magnifying Glasses popped into existence. As they fell, the Mental Hands that made up Winal's throne separated from the seat. They split up, each hand zooming toward an individual magnifying glass, snatching them before they plummeted to the ground.

Now, only a small handful remained, just enough to support Winal's ant body.

"What's next, boss?" the Mental Hands signed.

Boss. Alwin was all giddy inside from that word. That's a title he could get used to.

"Get as many buckets of Mana as possible. But, the buckets have to be completely see-through like this one." Alwin's Mental Hand pointed at his glass bucket of Light Mana. "And leave some Mental Hands and Mental Magnifying Glasses behind. Let's see if we can refine some Light Essence."

Winal closed his eyes and focused. Right next to him, buckets identical to the one Alwin possessed—minus the Light Mana part—appeared.

The Mental Hands shifted their grip on the magnifying glasses from their palms to between their fingers before they surged forward, grabbing the glass buckets by the handle. They dove into the Mana Pool, filling their buckets to the brim, before dropping them off in front of Winal and grabbing another bucket to repeat the process.

As they did that, Alwin started issuing orders to the three Mental Hands that had been blessed with the opportunity to help him refine Light Essence.

"All of you aim your magnifying glasses at the bucket. One on top and two at the side."

The Mental Hands moved into position. They adjusted the Mental Magnifying Glass, tilting and moving it side to side. Alwin could see the light produced by the artificial lightbulb sun bent through the circular lens, being concentrated into a fine ray and beaming the bucket just as he had hoped.

He looked at the screen produced by the Mental Hands and broke out into a smile.

Light Essence: 0.5%

Light Mana 98.5%

Yes! Light Essence was slowly being refined into Light Mana.

But that smile broke into a frown. Now, Alwin may not be the best at math, but the percentages here weren't adding up to hundred percent. And yes, he triple checked. Even using the Mental Hands' fingers to add the numbers up.

He looked up from the screen and instantly realized what had gone wrong.

In the corner of the bucket, a small, teensy-weensy spot wasn't shining bright like the rest of the liquid. It had the characteristic translucent light blue of Spirit Mana. The culprit was none other than one of the Mental Hands. Specifically, the one positioned above the bucket.

Though it tried its best, the tip of its little pinky obstructed the light from the artificial lightbulb sun, casting a small shadow and undoing all of its efforts.

Alwin could've commanded it to reposition itself. Perhaps even further away or maybe at some odd angle, but he could already predict the results. It'd help, but at a cost. The concentrated beam produced would be weaker, slowing down production.

And that was only for a single instance of Light Essence refinement.

If he wanted to scale up, the Mental Hands would undoubtedly interfere with neighbouring buckets. Sure, they could spread out, but space was a luxury, especially with the factory definitely expanding in the future.

As much as Winal would be happy to demolish and rebuild different sections of the factory whenever they required it, it wouldn't be very nice to him. Plus, it would be a huge waste of time.

So, Alwin proposed a solution.

"Winal."

The half-fire, half-lightning ant looked up, focusing his attention on Alwin.

"Do you think it's possible to create Mental Hands out of glass? Something that can let light pass through."

Winal didn't even need to give it a thought. His Mental Hands immediately started signing for him.

"It's possible. A bit more tiring, but doable. Do you want all of them to be made out of glass or just some?"

"All please."

"Anything for you, boss."

"Oh! And could you make the magnifying glasses completely out of glass, too?"

"Gladly."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"You're the best!"

"Thank you." Winal smiled.

The Mental Hands carrying the buckets of Mana disappeared mid-flight, along with the Mental Magnifying Glasses they held.

All at once, a brand new swarm of glass Mental Hands, equipped with a Mental Magnifying Glass made completely out of glass, appeared right next to Winal.

They zipped off toward the buckets, grabbing them by the handle before they all splashed onto the ground.

But Alwin understood why Winal said it might be tiring.

Some of the Mental Hands, unused to their new brittle forms, didn't slow down in time. They crashed into the handles, exploding into a million tiny pieces, along with the glass bucket and glass magnifying glass, splashing the collected Mana back into the pool before disappearing back to wherever Mental constructs resided.

"Sorry," Winal signed. "I'll be more careful next time."

"Don't worry," Alwin said. "I believe in you."

Winal smiled even brighter.

The destroyed hands, buckets, and magnifying glasses were replenished. And soon, Alwin had a bunch of glass buckets filled with Light Mana all lined up right next to each other. Above and to the side of each bucket, a glass Mental Hand held their Mental Magnifying Glass. The concentrated light lanced downwards, refining Light Mana into pure Light Essence.

Unsurprisingly, the light refracting through the glass Mental Hands helped to speed up the process, the whole area blazing in a brilliant white glare.

It was a slow process, but infinitely faster than whatever Niwla could come up with.

Speaking of the slacker of the group, here he was.

"Hey, Niwla. Glad to see you're helping," Alwin said.

"Hilarious."

"So did you figure out how to replicate my awesomeness?"

He grumbled, "No. I gave up for now. I thought that if I tried to help out, I could get a glimpse of your process and maybe even replicate it in the future."

"Sure! Though I doubt it," Alwin said, giving him a smug wink. "Make some glass Mental Hands, glass Mental Buckets, and glass Mental Magnifying Glasses, then hop to it."

"Using glass to concentrate the light from your fake sun. Certainly something even I could come up with."

"Then why didn't you?" Alwin said.

"What makes you think I didn't? The issue isn't some glassware; it's the light source. I have no idea how to replicate it, but using that artificial sun of yours, even I can make Light Mana."

"That's a lot of words to just say that I'm awesome."

"Whatever." Niwla rolled his eyes before getting to work.

Together, the three of them continued to refine Light Essence, with Alwin dividing his consciousness in half. One half to maintain that artificial lightbulb sun and the other to allocate all of the absorbed Essence to the Devolution Meter, until they received the coveted message.

Devolution Meter maxed out. Unable to absorb any more Essence.

With that, he shut down production of Light Mana and Light Essence and got ready for the Tribulation. Not like that there was anything to worry about. It was just going to be another Tribulation Being, being confused about what was going on.

He couldn't wait to see how they'd react.

Maybe Lapis would be able to record their faces.

"Hey, Lapis," Alwin shouted toward the ceiling. I'm ready."

Static buzzed as she spoke over the speakers.

"Okay. I'll be here in case anything goes wrong. And take this."

The floor right in front of him split apart, and two stands rose from the opening. Each one with an item placed on top of it.

On the left stand were two vials, one red and one blue, no doubt filled with Healing and Mana Pills, though whether they were Small, Medium, or something bigger, alluded him.

And on the right was a crown with a black gemstone embedded in the center—maybe an obsidian or onyx. It was definitely not a tiara. Nope, not in the slightest. Just because it was thin and opened at the back didn't make it a tiara. It was just a crown on a diet. Yup, that's what Alwin told himself.

"These are the best quality Healing and Mana Pills suitable for your Evolutionary Stage, and this tiara—"

"Crown!"

"What?"

"It's a crown!"

"Okay… This 'crown' is the best light-resistant piece of equipment that I could get on such short notice. Given the level of Tribulation you're going through, it should be overkill, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

That didn't sound like Lapis. Since when was she actually worried for him? Maybe it was an impostor?

Either way, he couldn't be bothered to find out right now.

Plus, Alwin didn't need any crown or pills. It was just going to be another easy Tribulation that he'd pass with no effort at all.

He summoned out his Spirit Hands and his Status Screen.

Begin Tribulation?

[Yes] [No]

'Yes.'

Unlike the Dark Tribulation, light erupted from the System Screen. A bright, blinding, flashing, strobing white that consumed the area around him.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, circular spots still dancing in his vision, Alwin realized that the room looked exactly the same—just a glaring, bright white box.

Where was the Tribulation Being holding their own tiny System Screen in their hands, looking all confused?

Did something happen to the Tribulation?

Alwin wasn't a novice when it came to seemingly empty rooms. He knew what to do.

First, he turned around.

Nope, nothing there except more white.

Then, he looked upwards.

Still, more white—this time, glaring due to the ceiling crystals.

Lastly, he glanced downwards.

A blanket of white with two black dots staring at him.

Alwin leaped into the air, terrified of the creature that somehow blended in with the floor. The creature emerged from the ground like it was coming out of a pool of water, minus all of the splashing.

Its white fur allowed it to blend in with the background, becoming nearly invisible if it weren't for its dark pupils and equally black stripes that went down the length of its body.

That thing was some sort of White Tiger.

That thing also lunged at him, claws and fangs first.

This was not part of the script!

Where was the Tribulation Being presumably named White!

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