Learning to be a Menace [Monster Evolution/Academy/LitRPG]

Dark Essence was the way to go. It would disrupt his balance as a Yin-Yang Slime, but at this point, he could not care less. If the evolution turned out to be bad, he could always just not use the form and try again. And if it turned out to be super duper amazing, then zero loss.

Loss?

Was he going to lose Niwla and Winal?

Of course not.

He would never let that happen.

If the MOH even dared to try and fix him, he would reject it. Who cared if it meant an early grave? As a one-year-old, he had already accomplished more than most monsters—probably.

You know what? No point thinking about all that. There was a point, but he was not going to admit it to anyone. The best thing he could do right now was something he never saw coming: work.

He was going to refine Dark Essence. He was going to finally get his own Tier 3 Evolution, even if it was all wonky by upsetting the balance of Yin and Yang.

Alwin first started by making Dark Mana using the tried and true method of covering a bucket of regular Mana with a Mental Cardboard Box.

Slowly but surely, the region of his Core that he had declared Alwin-land, away from that huge, ugly freezer and grotesque conveyor belts, began to fill up. Mental Cardboard Boxes lay scattered across the space, providing the foundation of what was going to be his skyscraper city of awesomeness—or maybe Alwinness would be more accurate.

Now that he had gotten a sizable amount of Dark Mana—presumably because he hadn't bothered checking yet—it was time to start refining Dark Essence.

It wasn't the first time he had done it, so there wasn't really much deliberation or brainstorming required. To refine Dark Essence, you just had to make the Dark Mana even darker.

In fact, it was the easiest Essence to refine.

You didn't have to come up with all sorts of fancy-shmancy Mental Constructs. It was just perfectly simple Mental Cardboard Boxes all the way. It didn't even have to be made out of cardboard. As long as the box didn't let any light in, it was good enough.

Although theoretically, there were other ways to make Dark Mana even darker. You could tell everyone else a special secret that only the Dark Mana didn't know, thus keeping it in the dark. You could raise the Dark Mana into a being of pure maniacal evil, thus making it darker. Or you could give the Dark Mana a horrible upbringing filled with gloom, despair, and repeated reminders that it was a failure until it sank into a very dark place, thus making it darker.

That felt a bit too dark—ironically.

So, he went with the dark, but not that dark, method of shrouding Dark Mana in darkness.

A larger Mental Cardboard Box swallowed up the box housing the bucket of what should now be Dark Mana. Then another, even larger one swallowed that second box. A third swallowed the second. And a fourth swallowed the third. It went on and on and on, until seven ate nine—yes, not seven, eight, nine.

The seventh Mental Cardboard Box that appeared didn't get to eat the sixth one; it was actually the eighth one that ate it, which was subsequently consumed by number nine, who was then finally eaten by box seven.

A tad confusing to the uneducated like Niwla, but it made perfect sense to him.

Niwla…

He was an annoying little bird, always getting in his way. But Niwla was his annoying little bird, and he wouldn't allow anyone to pry him away from him.

Now that the Dark Mana was slowly being converted into Dark Essence, there was nothing to do but wait. There was a limit to how many Mental Constructs he could summon, which was annoying, so this was the fastest he could go.

He couldn't even summon out a pair of Mental Hands to play a game of fetch with himself. Or even watch them duke it out in an epic game of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Alwin just sat there. He stared at the towers upon towers of Mental Cardboard Boxes that dotted Alwin-land. This was his section of the Core. His territory. His zone. His little pocket of Alwinness. No one else but him was allowed in.

But…

What if there was no one left but him?

He said he wouldn't allow anyone to fix him, but what if they ignored his request? What if onion-technically-mom and master-Lapis-MOM forcibly fixed him—assuming his Core really was fractured.

Was it?

Whatever Niwla and Winal said made sense. They only appeared once he evolved into a Tier 2 form a second time. But that was his Core Skill, so how could it cause his Core to fracture? Was it even his Core Skill?

It used to belong to some unknown monster who had long since passed. Now, it had somehow ended up with him. So were Niwla and Winal truly a part of him? Or was it some vestige from the previous monster?

Nope. He wasn't even going to entertain the idea. Niwla and Winal were simply a coping mechanism from all sorts of emotional trauma that he, as a less than one-year-old, had endured. They were part of him, not some other foreign entity.

Oh look! He had been spiraling for so long; surely the Dark Essence must be done by now. Now came another problem. He had used up all of his Mental Capacity on the Mental Cardboard Boxes. How was he going to move the towers of Mental Boxes all by himself?

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He couldn't. Not unless he wanted to undo his progress. Therefore, it was reasonable for him to ask for help. He totally didn't plan this so that he could have an excuse to talk to Winal after storming away.

Alwin rolled out of Alwin-land and back towards the huge, ugly DIY freezer box, and the pleasant-looking spaghetti lines of conveyor belts made by horribly misfigured Mental Hands.

Niwla and Winal were exactly where he had left them. But they had not left the place exactly as he had left it. The big-headed bird stood in front of a Mental Whiteboard, scribbling nonsense as he discussed something dumb with Winal.

It was actually Niwla doing most of the talking, while Winal replied by getting his own set of Mental Hands to write on the whiteboard—presumably. Winal didn't sign with his legs, so there was no other way for him to communicate. There was also no way Alwin was going to take a peek at the board to confirm his suspicions. He didn't want to know what they were talking about.

"Oh, Winal!" Alwin sing-songed. "I need your help."

"Alwin," Niwla said. "We'd like to talk to you about something."

"Sorry, Niwla. We can talk later. I've got some Dark Essence to refine. And I need Winal's help!"

"About that, Alwin."

"What? Don't tell me you're not letting Winal help me. C'mon, Winal. Use that free will that Cor gave you—did she even do that? I don't know much about religion."

"Alwin. It might be best if you don't go through another Tribulation. At least not until we know more about our situation."

"You just don't want me to have a Tier 3 form. Did that big head of yours go to your… head?"

"It's not that, Alwin."

"Oh, I know it's that. You don't want me to be super duper awesome. You just want me to be left behind in your shadow. That's why you're always so mean to me."

"Alwin, I'm only mean because you drive me up the wall and try to get us all killed. And that meanness is just me telling you not to kill us all."

"Excuses! Right, Winal?"

The ant shook his head, antenna and mandibles drooping downwards as he glanced back at Winal.

"See! You're ganging up on me again. Fine, I'll do things myself."

"Alwin!" Niwla shouted.

"La la la. I can't hear you."

Alwin started to roll away from the two betrayers in his Core. Except that before he could cross the border back into Alwin-land, something gripped his sides, lifting him up in the air.

It was Winal's Mental Hands.

"Let me go!" Alwin yelled. He squirmed within the Mental Hand's grip, but was unable to slip and slide his way out of the strong hands as they brought him back to Niwla and Winal.

"Winal! Let me go!" Alwin yelled.

Winal shook his head; his antennas drooped even lower. Anymore, and they'd be sweeping the floor.

"Alwin, please. We need to tell you something," Niwla said.

"I don't want to hear it."

"I'm just going to start," Niwla sighed.

"Can't hear you," Alwin said.

"Winal and I have been discussing possible outcomes. One: you refuse treatment and your Core shatters, killing us all. Two: you accept treatment, and we live. Three: you accept treatment, and we disappear. Four: you accept treatment, and either one of us lives. Five: another version of whatever we are spawns. Based on current knowledge, option five is extremely unlikely and doesn't really help our situation, so it wasn't worth discussing. Obviously, outcome two is the ideal scenario. But knowing you… You're going to choose option one."

"What do you even know about me? Big fat meanie bird."

"I know plenty about you, Alwin. Whether I'm some sort of vestige of the previous monster's Core or not doesn't matter. Because, from the day I gained awareness, I have and always will be a part of you. A part of Alwin."

"So, what? You're just trying to stop me from evolving by using some big sop story."

"No, Alwin. We're trying to stop you from evolving until you're okay. You heard what the Minister of Healing said. Evolution places a tremendous amount of stress on the Core. The next Evolution might fracture your Core beyond repair, or even worse…"

"More excuses. You're just afraid of how awesome I'm going to be."

"Alwin. I know you're going to be awesome. The thing is, you won't be able to enjoy that awesomeness if you're dead."

"It's my life. I get to do what I want with it. You can't control me!"

"Exactly, Alwin. It's your life. Winal and I want you to live it to your fullest. That's why we made a decision. You're taking that fix whether you like it or not."

"Are you crazy? What about both of you! You might disappear!"

"We know. But it's the only way to ensure you'll live."

"Live? How can I live without you guys?"

"You've done it before. And hey, you won't be fighting over control of the main body if that happens. You can take all of the forms out for a joyride."

"I refuse."

"But Winal and I accept. You've been outvoted, Alwin. This is what's best for you."

"Nope. Nope. Nope. What's best for me is you two living."

"What's best for you is actually living, Alwin."

"But—but—but what about all of that Ice stuff and the factory thingy. Without you two, I won't be able to use like two-thirds of our spells, right? See, that's why you can't go."

"We've already thought of that. We won't know what will happen, but we'll coach you so that you'll be able to do whatever we can."

"Okay, then do it! You guys can't leave until I learn everything. So, all I have to do is not pay attention. La. La. La."

"We've also already thought of that. Even if we don't teach you how to do it, you'll find a way. You always do, even if it makes no sense to me. You know why? Because you're Alwin."

"What if I don't want to be Alwin? What if I want us to be Alwin? Then what?"

"We are Alwin. Even if we're gone, we'll always be a part of you. Come, I hear the Minister of Healing and Lapis approaching."

"No! I refuse."

Winal walked forward and dismissed his Mental Hands. Before Alwin even touched the ground, he was caught in four of those legs and ferried out of the Core and into their shared mindscape.

There, he watched as Niwla took over the controls, piloting the main body as Winal held him captive.

"I already told you, I've tried this already. That was the first thing I thought of," Lapis said to Sharlotte. The drones beside her were beeping in agreement.

"You might have done it wrong," Sharlotte said. "I'm not going to take that risk."

"Fine, but you owe me for the cost of ingredients."

Niwla hopped up to the two arguing Ministers. "What's going on?"

"Ugh, bird boy," Lapis groaned. "Little Miss Crybaby can do the explaining."

"I want to try something. If it works, it might fix that fractured Core of yours. And if it doesn't, it might stabilize long enough for us to come up with a solution."

"Okay," Niwla said.

Inside their mindscape, Alwin yelled, "Niwla, what are you doing?"

"Like I said, we're making sure you live."

"But what if you and Winal disappear?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. So, let's see what happens."