They were evolving.

"Let me have control of the main body, Alwin," Niwla said.

"But I did all of the work. I should be the one who gets to experience the evolution."

"And what if I took control of the main body during your evolution. How would you feel?"

Alwin shifted his chin left to right and right to left, staring at the Turkey with beady black and white eyes. He huffed, "Fine."

Alwin got out of the control seat, rolling himself to Winal. The slime pouted. If he had arms, they'd be crossed right now. Winal, the ever considerate ant, gave Alwin a couple of pats on the head using his legs.

Finally, Niwla was back in the control seat and got to experience the feeling of the main body undergoing the transformation into a Tier 3 monster form. Not just any Tier 3 form, his Tier 3 form—barring the occasion when Alwin would forcibly steal control from him.

Though he couldn't see anything through the blinding white light, he could feel it. That huge pouch of a belly was shrinking. Conversely, it felt like his head was growing larger. Even the space of their shared mindscape seemed to reflect so.

Not only that, he could feel his body elongating, wings growing longer, stronger. If his guess was correct, finally, he could have better flying capabilities than a Turkey. Would he still be a Turkey? Maybe some sort of other avian monster?

He was about to find out very soon.

The light died down, revealing that same old white room.

Niwla inspected his brand-new body, ignoring the sound of the doors opening as Lapis and her drones rushed into the room. Lifting up his wings, he realized that they were indeed longer and bigger than his Cold Turkey form.

Looking down, he saw that he had indeed lost all of that belly fat that had been plaguing his Cold Turkey form. Now, he could see his legs! That was a good sign. He was more maneuverable, able to run and dodge out of the way even better.

A stifled laughter broke him out of his admiration for his brand-new body.

He looked up to find Lapis. Her crystal body bobbling up and down as she tried her utmost to suppress her laughter. Even the drones by her side bobbed up and down, muffled beeps and boops coming out of them.

"What is it, Lapis?" Niwla asked. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Nothing," she wheezed out. "Drones, could you do the scanning thingy?"

The drones flew away from Lapis' side, releasing those blue scanning lights as they circled around him. Instead of smooth circles, they were choppy. The drones were still trying their best not to laugh, but obviously failing to do so.

Was that going to affect the results of the scan?

More importantly, why were they laughing? What was so funny?

Looking straight at Lapis, he caught sight of his reflection on her body. He was still a bird; that much was a given after seeing he still had wings. But he wasn't a Turkey anymore. He was an owl? Not just any owl. An owl with a really big head. Did all of his fat move upwards?

No wonder they were laughing at him. He looked ridiculous.

Wait, what if the reflection was just distorted, causing his head to look abnormally big? Those types of mirrors existed. Deep down, Niwla knew that wasn't the case. He had evolved into some sort of owl with an abnormally large, veiny head.

"Lapis! What am I? Why do I look like that?" Niwla squawked, flapping his wings.

Unused to his new wings and the lack of weight holding him down, Niwla took off into the air. But his huge head meant that his center of gravity was way higher than he had expected, which forced him to bend forward, literally flying headfirst.

Instead of panicking, Niwla knew what to do. Whether it was instinct or the new ability to perform more complex calculations in his head, he subtly adjusted the way he flapped his wings. From the amount of strength used to the angle of the flap, and the cadence of his rhythm, he managed to orient himself until he was flying upright once more. Slowly reducing the amount of thrust he generated, he landed right back on the ground.

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"Do you still need me to answer your question, bird boy? Or should I call you brain boy from now on?"

"As much as I hate being called bird boy, it's infinitely better than being called brain boy. And I understand what you're insinuating with your first question. I can extrapolate a lot of things, but that implies I have the necessary prerequisite information to do so. So, yes. I still require you to answer my question."

"Whatever you say," Lapis shrugged by hefting her entire body up and then down. "You're a MODOC, at least I think you are. Well, if you can figure out what MODOC stands for, then you're pretty much a MODOC."

Niwla paused to think. Within the confines of the shared mindscape, the area started to heat up as he tapped into his enlarged brain, innumerable neurons firing off at a rate that would make even Winal's electrifying side jealous.

"Mental Owl Designed Only for Chilling," Niwla said.

"Wow, you really are a MODOC. Congratulations, bird boy. How do you feel?"

"Like my head's on fire."

"Yeah, that happens. I'm sure you already know a way to figure it out. Anyway, you can do that later after I ship you off to class. Right now, we've got the results of your Tribulation."

Inside, Alwin blurted out, "Wait. What do you mean, go back to class? Aren't we still on vacation?"

Realization dawned on him.

"Wait! I've been too busy being a good boy, helping with the Ice Essence. I completely forgot that we were just wasting away our vacation doing work. Oh, the horrors! I just thought that if we quickly did all of the work stuff, then we could just spend all day, every day playing. I didn't realize it would take so long. Now we have to go back to school?"

Alwin started crying, burying his face into Winal and rubbing his tears and snot all over his body. Instead of strapping his mouth shut, the ant gently patted Alwin on the head, bringing his body closer with his other legs for a warm embrace.

Completely unbothered by Alwin's outburst, Niwla asked, "What's the percentage?"

"Guess!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"What if I offer you a cookie?"

Inside, Alwin had changed his sobbing into screaming, demanding that Niwlaa accept the bribe.

"No."

"Man, I really miss slime boy. Is he still there? Did he get absorbed into you or something?"

"Yes. No. So what's the percentage?"

"Party pooper. It's 150%. Happy?"

"More intrigued than happy."

"Well, me too," she huffed. "You're no fun. I don't even care about the effects of that increase in Essence purity. Nor do I care about why your tribulation got triggered early. Well, I do, but not right now."

"It's okay, Lapis. As long as you provide the necessary equipment, your presence won't be necessary."

The crystal gasped, "The audacity. Have you no respect for your elders? Especially your master?"

"I do respect you for your knowledge and command over magic and mana. My earlier words meant no harm. I was merely stating facts."

Niwla gestured over the entire room with his wings.

"Though hidden, I know that you have set up various cameras and instruments within this room. Therefore, your presence while… appreciated, is not required."

"Wait! What was with that pause before you said appreciated? Are you saying you don't appreciate me? Your master?"

"I never said that."

"Well, fine. Be that way," Lapis huffed. "Drones! Let's go."

Lapis turned around, letting out another huff as she did so. As the drones flew by Niwla, they too let out little beeps and boops of huffs, leaving Niwla alone, for now.

The ceiling above him opened up. Niwla took a quick hop back, using his wings to balance himself. A Stone Training Dummy dropped down, wobbling as it crashed onto the floor.

As theorized by Lapis, the higher the Essence purity, the stronger the effects of spells made using the same element.

Just to retest that theory again, he shot out a regular Ice Arrow, watching it condense in front of him before flying off. It struck the Stone Training Dummy, shattering into hundreds of pieces while leaving the training dummy intact.

Though noticeably stronger than an Ice Arrow shot when he was a Cold Turkey, it wasn't strong enough to pierce through solid stone. It was, however, able to pierce through the Ice Resistance Enchantments.

But in the end, when it came to a contest of strength between solid rock and an icicle, the rock tended to win. Unless, of course, he utilized his Homing Ice Needles to strike at its weak points, but it would be a waste of effort and stone to repeat such an experiment when he was certain that he wouldn't learn anything new from such an endeavor.

Instead, he decided to take the time to focus on his new Species Skill.

Even without opening his Status, Niwla intrinsically already knew what it was.

"Brainfreeze!"

Like Withdrawal a huge flood of gaseous Ice Mana rushed out of his Core, though not through the huge super freezer set up by Winal.

It poured out of Niwla, wafting the air around him in a light blue gas. Using his wings, he propelled the air toward the Stone Training Dummy. And as expected, it did nothing. There was no brain to freeze after all.

Well, no enemy brains.

All of that thinking he had been doing had caused his new brain to literally heat up. It was becoming uncomfortable, though not unbearable.

Another wave of Brainfreeze gas diffused out of him. Using his wings, he propelled them towards his enlarged head. A sigh of relief squawked out of his beak as the chilling effects of the skill cooled down his brain.

This was an amazing Species Skill. Not only would it restrain enemies, but it could also prevent his brain from overheating.

With his brain able to fire on all cylinders once again, another thought entered his mind. Today was the first day of his second year. And he was late, though he could blame Lapis for that. But since Milvus started out their very first day with a tournament in their first year. He was most likely going to do the same.

A smile curved on his beak. It was a perfect way to test how far he had come.

And if his calculations were correct, the moment he changed forms into a Yin-Yang Slime, he would be forcibly teleported by Lapis straight into class. Though he could've used his Core Skill right now and piloted the Yin-Yang Slime, it would give Alwin a justifiable reason for him to pilot the MODOC. And the last thing he wanted was for his brain to become permanently fried.

Inside his mindscape, he turned to Alwin.

"As compensation for wasting your holiday, Alwin. You get to have control of the main body."

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