Alwin was glowing, bathing the already bright room with unnecessary shine.

It was a weird feeling, just like his first Dark Devolution. Not the usual sensation of welling up with power, nor feeling so invincible that nothing could take him down. But at least the pain in his body disappeared as his jelly-like ooze miraculously replenished itself, filling in the holes that the White Tiger had torn through him.

The room around him seemed to grow bigger. The walls pulled away, and the floor stretched wider with each breath. And just like that, the light vanished. Well, most of the light.

Alwin looked down, and all he saw was white. Not just the floor, but his body was well. It didn't take a genius to know that he had successfully Devolved into a Light Slime. It might've been successful, but was it really worth it? He was purposefully making himself weaker. That didn't seem like a good way to spend his time.

At the very least, he did have a brand new Species Skill that he could try out. It had been carved into his mind the moment he achieved his Light Slime form, and he was excited to try it out. In his opinion, it was his coolest skill yet—not counting the literal cold Ice Elemental spells.

Light rushed out of his Core faster than he could even blink. A beam of white light shot out, charring the other side of the room.

Only then did his mouth catch up as he yelled, "Glimmer Ray!"

It wasn't as strong as the lasers that the White Tiger shot, but it was just as fast. Probably. It was hard to tell when you were running for your life and couldn't even see your attacker, much less the beams that blended in with anything and everything.

As cool as his new Species Skill was, even taking a nap would be better for his growth than these Devolution experiments.

But before Alwin could continue to make more arguments against Devolution, the door slid open, and in came Lapis, accompanied by her entourage of drones.

The mini-Lapis' rushed from her side straight to Alwin. They circled around him, scanning his body with beams of light that shone out from the tips of their diamond-shaped head.

"How are you feeling, slime boy? Any pain? Nausea? Weakness?" Lapis asked.

"Weakness," he said.

"That's to be expected. You did Devolve. If you got stronger from Devolving, then you must've done something wrong."

The drones stopped their scanning, the sweeping light receding into the tips of their heads before flying back off to Lapis' lab. All except for one.

It went up to Lapis' side, chirping a series of 'beeps', 'boops', punctuated by rapid flashes of light.

She nodded, mumbling, "Uh-huh. Okay. I see."

Before bursting out a loud," I knew it!" that nearly shattered Alwin's eardrums.

"Knew what?" Alwin said, but through the ringing in his ears, he couldn't tell if he shouted it out or whispered at a volume so low that not even he could hear it.

"A bunch of stuff that you won't understand. But since I'm such a great teacher, I'll break it down into simple, easy-to-digest, little pieces of information."

"Like a nugget?"

"Not at all!" Lapis said. "Basically, you know how we were trying to figure out how Essence influences a monster's evolution?"

"Maybe."

"Well, anyway, it's evident that the more of a certain element of Essence you possess, the more likely you are to evolve into a species that has that as a primary element."

"Uh-huh," Alwin said, pretending to follow Lapis' terrible explanation. It's a good thing she wasn't an English teacher because he'd be failing that class. Deep inside, Niwla was taking notes of whatever she was saying, extracting key information from the lengthy phrasing.

"What the scan revealed is that your new Light Slime form is one hundred percent Light Essence! You're as pure as can be! That's amazing! Think about what this could mean! We need to conduct more studies!"

This time Niwla hijacked control from Alwin, pushing away his mental form with a swat of his turkey wings.

"But what about that first Devolution into a Dark Slime? Was there anything significant from that scan?"

"Oh, hey there, other something boy, apprentice of mine, who is not a demon. You're quite the inquisitive one." Lapis said. "I'm assuming you're not ant boy?"

"No," Niwla said. "I'm technically a turkey, but enough about that. Was there anything significant about that first Devolution?"

"Actually, there was. I didn't want to say anything until the results could be replicated," Lapis said.

"Are you saying?"

"Yes, I'm saying. That's called a conversation."

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"Not what I meant." Niwla rolled Alwin's eyes. "Could you just get to the point?"

"You're not as fun as slime boy, turkey boy," Lapis said. "But if you must know, then yes. That first Devolution into a Dark Slime essentially purified you. It was a hundred percent Dark Essence, unlike before, where it was a mish-mash of different Mana and Essence."

"That's amazing!" Niwla said.

"It is!" Lapis echoed. "It makes breaking that tiara totally worth it."

Alwin tacked Niwla out of the control seat just to yell out, "Crown!"

"Oh, slime boy. Welcome back."

"Don't care!" Alwin shouted. "I broke a crown!"

"Technically, the Tribulation broke it."

"Whatever. It's still a crown."

Niwla leaped in with a kick, sending Alwin spiraling out of the control seat.

"So, what does that mean? A monster with a pure Essence count?"

"I have no idea, turkey boy!" Lapis shouted. "And that's the fun part! We get to experiment!"

"Okay, how do we do that?"

"Well, first you go back into a Dark Slime."

"Got it."

Niwla closed his eyes and activated his Core Skill, trying to morph back into a Dark Slime. Nothing happened. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the transformation, but all it did was make him look like he was on the toilet.

"Are you okay?" Lapis asked.

"Just some technical difficulties," Niwla replied.

Why couldn't he turn back into a Dark Slime? Was that a consequence of Devolving? There could only be one pre-evolutionary form?

Niwla gave it some thought for half a second and realized what a fool he had been. Of course, he couldn't jump from a Light Slime to a Dark Slime. They weren't connected, not directly at least.

He closed his eyes again, focusing on his Core Skill. There was a flash of light, amplified from being a Light Slime, as he reverted to his Yin-Yang Slime form. With his eyes still shut, he honed in on his Dark Slime form.

"Wait!" Lapis' voice came, breaking his concentration.

"What is it?" Niwla asked.

The drones came back into the room, bathing Niwla's body in scanning beams of blue light that shimmered from the tip of their diamond head. The lights shut off, and all but one drone zipped back into Lapis' lab. That solitary drone beeped, booped, and flashed information to Lapis before zooming off to join its friends.

"What was that?" Niwla asked.

"Another scan to see how the status of your Tier 1 form might affect your Tier 2 one."

"And what are the results?"

"So far, there doesn't seem to be any correlation between the Essence purity of your Tier 1 form and your Tier 2 form."

"So, my Yin-Yang Slime form is just a mish-mash of different types of Essence?"

"Yup."

"And the concentration of Dark Essence and Light Essence hasn't changed?"

"Nope. Now turn into a Dark Slime."

There was a flash of light, and Niwla lost all of his white coloration, growing slightly smaller as he reverted back into a Dark Slime.

"Okay. So, what do you have in mind?"

"I have a lot of things in my mind. But in your case, I want you to use Dark Tackle."

The moment Lapis said those words, the floor split open once again. Rising up from beneath the ground was a Wooden Training Dummy, similar to the one in the Training Ground Classroom.

Alwin tackled Niwla with so much force that the little mental Turkey crashed into the side of their brain, giving all of them a headache.

The sight of his mortal enemy triggered something in Alwin. He would make that dummy pay for making him look dumb.

Without any hesitation, he activated Dark Tackle. Darkness exploded out of his Core, engulfing his entire body. But this time it felt different. It felt darker. More condensed. More pure.

Alwin surged forward with more force than normal, crashing into the dummy. Unfortunately, that extra burst of power still wasn't enough. He flopped onto the floor, face sore as the wooden dummy remained unscathed.

"Good job, slime boy," Lapis said. "And turkey boy, if you're somewhere in there, it seems that the more pure you are, the stronger your attacks of the same element are."

"But if my Dark Tackle is supposed to be stronger, why's that big dummy still standing?"

"Because at the end of the day, it's still a Dark Tackle. A stronger than normal Dark Tackle, but still a Dark Tackle."

"Well, that still doesn't make sense." Alwin pouted.

Okay, it did make sense, but he was in the middle of throwing a tantrum, so that meant he got a free pass on all of the nonsense coming out of his mouth. Less than one year old, remember?

Niwla didn't share the same sentiment. He came flying in with a vengeance, pecking Alwin with his beak before picking him up in his wings and throwing the little slime ball out of the control seat.

"What a fascinating discovery," Niwla said.

"Thank you, Turkey boy, but we still require more evidence."

"What can I do to help?"

"I require more evolutions!" Lapis declared as thunder and lightning crackled throughout the white room.

"Excuse me?"

"Man, you're no fun, turkey boy. I even added special effects for dramatic flair."

"You're rambling."

"Oh yeah, I vaguely remember we had that system set up. Okay, basically, I want you to try and evolve into a Yin-Yang Slime again."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly as I said. Trigger a Tribulation as a Dark Slime, but this time, instead of that random assortment of Essence, we have an even split between Light and Dark Essence."

"Is that even possible?"

"Fifty percent Dark Essence and fifty percent Light Essence? Yes, it should be doable unless you're really bad at math."

"Not that! I meant evolving again. Who's to say I'll even be a Yin-Yang Slime? Can I even evolve into something I've evolved into again?"

"I guess technically, Cor's to say. Plus, I'm pretty sure you'll become a Yin-Yang Slime again. If it's even possible. But that's the whole point of experimentation. To find out!"

"Can I at least know what makes you so confident that I'll even end up as a Yin-Yang Slime, if it's even possible to do that?"

"Well, Yin and Yang are about balance. So if we have fifty percent Dark Essence and fifty percent Light Essence, you should probably become a Yin-Yang something. But since you're a Dark Slime, you'll most likely end up as a Yin-Yang Slime. Again, if that's even possible."

"That's your basis?"

"It's a theory. I didn't say it was a strong theory, but it's the best I've got."

"Whatever," Niwla rolled Alwin's eyes. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

"Yay!" Lapis cheered.

"No!" Mind Alwin thought.

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