The next day at around seven in the morning, a time much too early for the normal Adrian to be up and about, he finally started coming back to his senses. Immediately, he could tell that something was wrong.
'What the—' He thought while staring at the ceiling from his position on the floor. 'Strange, I feel so… clear-headed? Seeing as I woke up on the floor again, shouldn't I be hurting more? I'm not even groggy.'
It was inconceivable for him to be in his current state as he had cultivated a body of lethargy. Getting through the mornings were the worst part of his day.
He picked himself up off the ground, but then felt distinctly odd. He took a look at himself and wordlessly entered a state of short-circuiting.
'What the fuck is this?' He asked himself.
The clothes that he went to sleep in didn't fit him and now sagged uncomfortably off his body.
They were an XXL blank t-shirt and sweatpants. Elastic ones, too. But the shirt essentially covered his entire body as the sweatpants literally slid off the moment he stood up. His sense of balance also seemed to malfunction as well, as he had trouble not hunching over. His chest seemed to be leaning forwards at all times.
'Did I magically shed a hundred pounds or something? And what's with these —'
As he patted himself in wonder of the odd changes to his body, two new pieces of information threatened to shock him dead. The first was the realization that his nether regions were in their 'normal' state and not their 'morning' state.
It was information that would usually be well-received as Adrian, in all his antisocial glory, hated having to deal with his male urges in the morning. Those were distractions that took time away from his games. To most people, that would make him a truly sad individual.
However, the reason this 'good news' almost gave him a heart attack was because his hands just so happened to be checking the front chest area of his torso as he made the discovery. From his hands, he could feel two sizable masses of supple flesh.
With his previously obese body, having breasts was normal, but they never developed like a woman's nice and shapely breasts. Rather, as a fat guy, he was used to having extra flaps of meat on his chest and the sides of his torso.
The changes to his body had yet to finish their relentless attempts at shocking him to death, as the first thing he saw when walking out of his room and into the bathroom was his reflection on the wall-sized mirror. The previous discoveries were shocking, but their full effect wasn't realized until Adrian actually saw his face.
'No fucking way,' he thought.
"That can't be me, right?" He asked aloud.
His previously greasy facial features and unkempt natural white hair had morphed into something disturbing. At least, from his perspective. The previous ugly fat bastard he would honestly have admitted to being had turned into a delicate little girl.
Phoenix red eyes with an impish nose and flawless skin. His previously knotted and untamed hair turned obedient and perfectly straight. Upon taking a closer look at other areas of his body, it seemed like the transformation was all-encompassing as even his arms and legs looked untainted.
The beautiful and delicate facial features he had adopted were of sharp contrast with the horrified look on his face.
Heart beating furiously as an unsightly thought crossed his mind, the look of disgust on his face threatened to transcend reality as Adrian looked down to confirm whether the transformation was truly as all-encompassing as he initially thought it to be.
He slowly reached into his underwear to check whether or not he was still a guy.
He wasn't…
After confirming his manhood, or lack thereof, Adrian went through a rather reasonable reaction of shock which left him frozen in the bathroom for a few minutes. He didn't even have the energy to summon more curses to hurl in response to his impossible situation.
Even if he previously was a shallow recluse with hatred towards all social matters... Even if life outside his room was as important as dirt to him... Adrian, up until last night, had always been a guy. He had grown up as a man and of the personality he had, regardless of how insignificantly indistinct it actually was, it was still masculine.
Being turned into a girl was quite literally the most emasculating thing that could happen to a guy and he was caught unprepared to experience it. Still, through his shock and disbelief, Adrian took the news better than most, as his circumstances and lifestyle choices dampened the shock value enough for him to not go insane from his situation.
"Hmm," a groan leaked as he thought over the pointlessness of rejecting his transformation.
'So what if I'm now a girl?' He thought. 'It's not like anyone will be around to bother me about it if I keep living as I am. Turning into a girl won't change my life save for having to confront mom and dad. If they ever they came around, anyway.'
'I can just keep going with my sheltered life,' he concluded. 'With the increasingly progressive state of the world, if someone bothered me about my transformation, I could lie and buy my way out of any problems as always.'
Adrian had a debit card. He was, after all, fifteen. With it, he could withdraw money and pretend to have spent it on genital reconstruction surgery. He could buy a bunch of girl's clothes through the internet and pretend to want to be like a girl. Just like he pretended to have a worthwhile personality when his parents were around.
In a matter of minutes, Adrian had found a path through what would have been a life-crippling phenomenon for most. Gradually, as he came to terms with his plan and thought up details to refine it, the disgusted expression on his face shifted from a frown to a smile.
Alas, peace for Adrian was not meant to be, as the world came to a stop once again. Time froze and the colors of the world faded monochromatically.
A familiar overpowering voice from the heavens returned, but this time its capacity to knock Adrian unconscious wasn't present. Furthermore, unlike the amused and direct tone of the first voice, this one seemed to be more personal and flirtatious? It was definitely a feminine voice.
The seemingly omnipresent voice said, "Are you serious? After all the trouble I went through to change your life, you're just going to go back to that depraved state you were living in from before? I changed your previously worthless male physique into that of a charming young girl and you still want to live your life as an antisocial recluse? Curse this damnable luck of mine and that ********** for recommending you to me!"
Adrian felt his stomach toss and turn. His mind froze and burned at the same time as the voice resounded around his immediate environment, wreaking turmoil within his body. He couldn't understand who it was that the voice was cursing at, as all he understood was static noise when the name was mentioned.
Eventually, the wrathful yet sultry smooth voice stopped its crusade against Adrian.
No longer affecting the world with its voice, it said "Well, I guess it's no use crying over spilled milk, and it's not like I didn't know of your background before picking you. So, let's just get this party started and begin your new life, right away!"
"First of all," The voice didn't give Adrian a chance to get a word in before it continued to soliloquize away. "You and I are going to be a team from now on, so you better get used to having me by your side. For now, you can just refer to me as P."
"Now, along with having me around," P continued, "You've been blessed with a Goldfinger. As for what that is…"
P faltered for a second before scrambling noises emanated through whatever medium P used to communicate with Adrian. It sounded remarkably similar to someone flipping through pages on a book.
P found whatever it was she was looking for and continued saying, "Oh, here it is. Treat it as your system interface or user interface. This was after all your customized choice. What with you establishing contact with us through a game, and all."
"Anyways," she continued, "At the start. Meaning now. It can only provide you with, er… Wait a second," More page-flipping noises ensued before P continued.
"Here it is," P's tone had been steadily growing annoyed the more she stopped, "It can provide you with Status Functions and Quest Functions. Other than that I guess you can go ahead and receive your…"
"God damn it! Why'd my Chosen have to be a gamer of all things?!" Even more flipping noises rang to Adrian's amusement, but by this point, the still-frozen air around Adrian felt a bit colder.
Accompanied by a sigh of relief, P said, "Here it is. I can now give you your 'Starting Pack.' Now go to your room to receive it, or the materials will just spawn on the bathroom sink."
Adrian, all throughout the time the voice spoke, couldn't move a muscle as the world was literally frozen with him included. It was only after the voice finished its half-soliloquy half-introduction, that the world seemed to be back in working order and he could finally move. However, before making any movements whatsoever, Adrian first needed some time to process his ever-increasingly complex situation.
'Alright, ok,' Adrian took a deep breath to calm his nerves before he retreated to the only asylum he had. His mind. 'Let's try to add up what's happening to me from what I know. I woke up today better than I've felt in years, only to discover that I transformed into a girl. Now, there's a time-stopping deity claiming partnership with me after I contacted her?'
He shook his head with the confidence of an adult explaining common addition to a child as he thought, 'No, no. That just can't be. As far as I know, I never even considered it a possibility for there to be gods. I'm neither religious nor have I ever been bored enough to go looking through the occult as a source of entertainment. So, just how can this P goddess, or whatever she is, claim that I contacted her?'
Adrian knew for a fact that he wasn't hallucinating as he had never dared to take any hard drugs in his life. Aside from the occasional hit of caffeine from tea or coffee, he hadn't even tried alcohol.
Furthermore, his gaming addiction, while definitely extreme, was never taken to the point where it risked his health. Every couple months he would regularly schedule visits with world-class doctors in the name of being able to push himself to the limit while still retaining acceptable levels of health.
This extended even to his previously obese weight. Even if he was previously overweight it wasn't morbid. He only had a couple dozen extra pounds.
Now, as he stood dazed and confused, deliberating on his current predicament, the disembodied voice of what he considered to be a goddess spoke to him. Only this time, the world didn't freeze over.
Evidently annoyed, P said, "Stop dilly-dallying and go to your room to receive your starter pack."
Shifting tones to show what Adrian recognized as seriousness, P added, "Time is an asset you're about to learn you're severely lacking. So do yourself a favor and stop wasting it any further."
Her words managed to startle Adrian out of his stupor. Knowing better than to challenge an entity capable of stopping time, he mindlessly started a weak trek back to his room. He bled pessimism for what was to come all the while.