Homing Ice Needles Mixed with Withdrawal. That would truly be a sight to behold. Now, he just had to figure out how to actually accomplish it.

Withdrawal was his Species Skill.

The good thing about Species Skill was that one didn't have to meticulously mold Mana using Mental Constructs. You just had to think it, and it would happen.

But that was also the downside of Species Skill. He lacked precise control over the entire skill-shaping process. That made it difficult to modify.

Nilwa sighed.

No time like the present to start experimenting.

First things first, Withdrawal. He had to tame it or, at the very least, mildly nudge it in the right direction. The best way to do that was to actually cast it and see if he could come up with either a smart way or an Alwin way to do so.

Withdrawal.

Mana from his Mana Pool condensed into Ice Mana, only to immediately sublimate into a light blue gaseous vapor. That vapor shot toward the edge of his Core, flowing past every single Mental Construct that had been set up within their spell factory inside of the Core.

It seeped through the threshold, and Niwla felt that familiar tingling in his throat.

"Withdrawal!"

A light blue mist of frozen gas appeared around the Cold Turkey. It spread throughout the room that he was trapped within, diffusing all around him.

He also finally got a good look at the outside world. After spending the past few days stuck inside his Core deliberating the best way to improve his Ice Needles, the room had been cleared. The rocky remains of the Stone Training Dummy had been cleaned. And presumably, Lapis had one of her drones force-feeding him as he focused on his Core.

Talk about excellent service.

All of a sudden, vents opened up from the side of the walls. The light blue mist that permeated throughout the room was sucked out, leaving only pure air.

Static buzzed overhead as Lapis spoke.

"What's the hold up, bird boy apprentice of mine? Also, did you just fart?"

"I'm still experimenting with some spells, Lapis. And no, I did not fart. Didn't you hear me shout out the spell's name?"

"I thought that maybe you were just using that as a cover-up. Never hurts to be careful, you know."

"Only slime boy would do something like that, Lapis."

"In my defense, you haven't exactly used the bathroom in a while. I think. Never really asked the drones about it. You've just been stuck there in the same position for the past week. If it weren't for the drones checking up on you every once in a while, I would've thought you were Cold Turkey from life."

"Noted," Niwla said, as gross as it was. "I will take care of my biological issues in due time. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to resume improving my spells."

"Actually, bird boy, apprentice of mine. I do mind. I just really want to keep the experiments going. It's just been delay after delay after delay. My curiosity is about to explode."

"The delay was only a couple of hours. And that was to read books in the library. And I guess, however long it took for me to break those Stone Training Dummies, but that one was on you. And the rest of this delay that you're probably speaking about is the fact that it takes time to refine Ice Essence, especially since you need even more Essence each time you go up a Tier."

"Man, I really miss slime boy, apprentice of mine. He was less snarky and rude."

"I'm just speaking the truth, Lapis."

"If you want the truth, bird boy, then here's the truth. If you don't do the Tribulation immediately, things are going to go bad for you."

"And what's going to happen to me?"

"I'd tell you, but now I'm in a bad mood," she huffed over the speakers.

Niwla sighed.

"Fine, Lapis. But could you please drop another Stone Training Dummy and give me a couple more hours? The sooner I figure this out, the sooner I will do the Tier 3 Tribulation, okay?"

"Mean, bird boy. Do what you want, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Static buzzed off from the speakers as a Stone Training Dummy came crashing down from the ceiling with a huge thud.

Right beside Niwla, the floor opened up. Ascending from it were two pedestals. As expected, one contained a thick orange and white snowcoat while the other contained three different bottles. A red one to denote Healing Pills, blue for Mana Pills, and a light blue one for what Nilwa assumed were the Ice Resistance Pills. A warning label that was carved into the side of the bottle was mysteriously scratched off. Looks like Lapis didn't get him the Ice Resistance Pills that wouldn't do any damage to him—temporary as it may be.

Lastly, behind him, the floor rose up, more accurately four walls, forming an even tinier room. Though one of the walls was actually a door. Niwla grabbed the handle with his wing, pulling it open. Inside was a toilet, complete with an air vent at the top to pull out any fetid scents.

He rolled his eyes.

Whatever. Now that Lapis's little distraction was over, it was back to work.

Based on what he had observed, the moment he thought about casting Withdrawal. Mana would be converted into Ice Mana, which would then be shaped to fit the skill requirements of Withdrawal.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He knew that it was a gas. Though he had no idea how the gas was shaped to have the properties of a Withdrawal.

However, he didn't need to know. He just needed to contain that gas within his Core so that he could use Mix on it.

Therein lay the other problem.

He didn't exactly know how Mixed worked.

Sure, he had seen it in action where two spells revolved around each other before crashing into each other, which somehow combined them together. There was also the fact that the spin and intensity of the spinning process determined whether the result was a success or a bust.

It was mainly Alwin who did the Mixing. Unfortunately, the slime was out of commission.

Inside their Core, Alwin continued to lie down right beside the Mental Fireplace that he had conjured up. A thick and warm Mental Blanket was draped over him as he took a nap that he rightfully deserved.

It would be okay. He was Niwla. The smart one out of the three of them. He would be able to figure it out.

What was Mixing?

It was the process of combining different substances.

The keyword was combine. If he had learnt anything from observing Alwin, it's that intention was what mattered.

Orbiting around each other was most likely how he solidified that intent to combine two different spells. Something further reinforced after the slime had analyzed his Yin-Yang Blast.

He stared into space, trying to figure out a solution. How would he spin gas? How fast did he have to spin the gas? Could he do it without spinning? What other way was there to create the intent to Mix?

The Cold Turkey groaned.

One thing at a time, Niwla. One thing at a time.

Let's just contain the Withdrawal gas inside the Core first.

He turned toward Winal. The ant hadn't budged a single step, eyes keeping track of the resting Alwin.

Walking up to him, Niwla said, "It's okay, Winal. You can leave him."

"Are you sure?" he signed.

"Yes, he deserves a break. Plus, I need your help with something."

Winal nodded.

Niwla concentrated on Withdrawal once more. Mana froze into Ice Mana, only to sublimate into a gaseous mixture which flooded out of his Coire.

In the real world, he was once again forced to shout, Withdrawal!"

Blue mist seeped out of him once again. A whir of fans kicked on as the gas was siphoned out of the room once again.

Static buzzed overhead.

"I'm still mad at you, bird boy, but seriously, just use the bathroom if you keep passing gas."

"It's—never mind."

Niwla didn't want to deal with any more distractions, so he gave in. He waddled himself into the little bathroom stall that Lapis had set up for him, plonking his feathery behind on the toilet seat.

Back in the Core, Niwla spoke to Winal once again.

"Did you see that?" he asked. "Do you think you could come up with some sort of box or container to trap the gas before it leaves the Core?"

Winal nodded.

As Winal prepared the Mental equipment, Niwla started to ruminate on the Mixing step once again. What if he—

A fiery leg tapped on his feathery shoulder.

It was Winal.

"Are you done already?" Niwla asked.

He nodded once again.

"But, I don't see anything."

The Mental Hands above him signed, "Proof of concept idea before I spend time and Mental resources on building the actual thing."

"If you say so. You're the expert."

That caused Winal and both of his Mental Hands to blush. The flames on his fiery side became a soft tomato red. Even the normally yellow lightning seemed to look a tad bit more orange than usual.

Once again, Niwla focused on casting Withdrawal.

It was the same process once again. Mana in his Mana Pool condensed into Ice Mana, all without any extra input from him. However, this time, right before the Ice Mana sublimated into a gas, Winal's Mental hands flew into action.

They carried with them a Mental Flask made of glass. Moving closer to the Ice Mana, the inverted Mental Flask was plunged into the Mana Pool, covering the Ice Mana. Pure liquid Mana filled the flask, with the Ice Mana chunk floating at the top.

The Mana within the flask started to bubble as the liquid level inside dipped. Ice Mana was being converted into the gaseous Withdrawal, pushing out liquid Mana as more and more of the ice chunk sublimated into gas.

As the Mana level continued to dip, a layer of light blue gas formed at the top of the inverted Mental Flask, until the berg of Ice Mana had been completely molded into Withdrawal.

"Good job, Winal," Niwla said, "I'm assuming you're going to—um, what are you doing?

The ant cocked his head before looking at the Mental Flask. It was rising above the Mana Pool, floating higher and higher, gaining even more speed.

His compound eyes grew wide, antennae whipping around as bolts of electricity zapped between them in panic.

Mental Hands swarmed in. They grabbed the inverted Mental Flask by the bottom and pulled it down.

It continued to rise.

Even more Mental Hands joined in, dragging the flask down.

Winal was sweating, and not because he was made of fire. With all of the improvements to the Core lately, and all of the Mental power required to keep the factory running, the sudden addition of even more Mental Hands was putting a strain on him.

The Mental Hands surrounded the flask, pulling and pushing down on the Mental Construct. It was no use. The flask sped up, shooting straight toward the ceiling of his Core, passing through the threshold of his Core. All of Winal's Mental Constructs disappeared, and so did the strain on his face.

Niwla was once again forced to shout, "Withdrawal!"

Instead of the normal low seepage of light blue gas escaping from his body. A huge explosion erupted. It echoed throughout the small toilet stall, and Niwla blushed. The little vent fan near the top of the stall kicked in, pulling away all of the errant gas.

Static buzzed on, and Nilwa really didn't want to hear what Lapis was going to say.

He quickly dove back into his Core, meeting up with Winal.

"What happened?" he asked.

Sweat poured down the ant's face, though not from the strain of too many Mental Constructs. "I don't know," the hands signed. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I promise it won't happen again. Please, give me another chance."

"It's not your fault, Winal. It's nobody's. Seriously, you're doing great."

"Really?"

"Yes, Winal. You are."

"I'll keep working on a solution, Niwla. I promise that I'll do good."

"Thank you. And I know you will."

Hopefully, that would neutralize the blow to his self-esteem from that failure.

Winal skittered off deeper into the Core, Mental Hands trailing above with him.

Niwla sat his feathery rump on the ground. That was really weird. Why did the Withdrawal gas do that?

Best guess? It was just the way Species Skills worked. Instead of having to manually bring them to the edge of the Core like all the other manually crafted Spells, the shaped Mana would do it on its own, and nothing could stop it.

Well, nothing that they had in their Mental arsenal right now anyway.

Hold on a second.

The past few times that he cast Withdrawal or any of his Species Skill for that manner, all of the rushing Mana never once collided with any of their Mental Constructs. This was the first time it happened.

Did it take the path of least resistance?

If that's the case…

Glancing at the huge super freezer and the line of Mental Conveyor Belts insulated by Winal's Mental Walls, Niwla had an idea.

One that might solve both the containment and Mixing issue.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.