Nero woke up naked and felt sand everywhere. He even suspected he had sand in regions that caused him a lot of discomforts. This was not how he expected to wake up, having gone to sleep in his own soft and comfortable bed. The last thing he remembered was making a cup of instant noodles. After eating and performing his daily needs, he had gone to bed.
The sand on which he woke up was very uncomfortable, scratching his whole body and producing an itching sensation at the same time.
Nero turned and sat down. He was feeling very uncomfortable, beyond the current circumstances. He didn't feel like he was himself... It was as if he was in a confused state, leaving him baffled. But strangely enough, he also felt much more energy in his body. It was a very different feeling from anything he had ever felt before; it was a feeling of power as if he could do things he could never dream of doing before.
He got up and started to evaluate his environment. Looking at the sky with his eyes, the moon was high and the air was cold. It reminded him that he was still completely naked, making him shiver a little because of the freezing night breeze.
He looked at his hands, but it didn't really seem to be his because it was different from what he was used to having... it looked like female hands? His feet and arms were also different; his skin was a little pale, too. He touched his head and felt the hard and long hair, was it hard due to the beach water? He pushed a lock of hair away and soon realized it was white.
"What the hell is going on?" He looked down. The moment he did that, he saw something he shouldn't have.
"Do I... do I have breasts?" Nero went beyond the confusion.
Like it was listening to his question, something came up in front of him. It looked like a touch screen, floating in the air. Nero stretched out his hand to touch it with a finger.
The canvas flickered when his finger went straight through it.
"Hologram?"
He looked one way and the other, up and down, looking for some kind of projector, but when he started to move, the screen followed. There was a text on the screen, which he began to read.
_____________________________________________
First mission: [Survival]
Objective: Your current body is infected by the soul-eating worm. If you do not stop it within 30 minutes, you will lose your life. Remaining time: 2/30 Minutes.
Tip: You are on the eastern side of the nudist beach. Go unnoticed to the north, enter the Forest of the Beginners of the Nan Empire, and find the Monster Plant: Mandrake; your cry will cause the soul-eating worm to be destroyed.
Warning: The moment you pull the Mandrake Plant off the ground, you have 4 seconds to cover your ears and stay with them covered for at least 1 minute.
Reward: 5 Essence of Currency.
_____________________________________________
"More what?"
Nero looked around, suspicious. He even carefully examined his surroundings, looking for hidden cameras. Not far away, he saw some people walking, talking naked. And there was no sign of cameras or that it was all a prank or anything like that.
"That's crazy!"
Nero looked at the floating screen and then became alert, for if that were true, his life was at stake.
But was it really his life that was at stake? He's sure he's a man in his 25s, but now... he was in a woman's body...!
"I must be going crazy!" Nero also felt something strange on his back, "What's that on my back?" The moment he touched it/played with it, he felt it was soft to the touch. It was even softer to the touch than a baby's skin.
"Urgh!" The moment he took a sample of what it was, he felt pain slightly, although it was only a bit worse than pulling a strand of hair. "A feather!?" He was so surprised to see that it was a black feather with some details in pink that he almost screamed loudly in surprise.
But, as it was written in the translucent screen warning in front of him, he tried not to draw attention and left unnoticed. He couldn't put his life at risk, even though what was experiencing now was nothing but a weird dream.
Even before he thought about how he could identify this Mandrake monster plant, the moment he looked at the plants and trees, etc... their names were seen on top of each one of them. It was identical to an MMORPG game he had already played.
"Urgh, I hope I can wake up soon!"
He moaned low as he escaped north of where he was.
At first, he could not feel any discomfort in his body with this soul-eating worm in his present body, but as time passed, he groaned when a pain ran through his whole being.
"I must hurry!" He said to himself. He also noticed that even his inner voice was sweet and feminine.
"Urgh, that's too weird!" He couldn't help but scream in his heart. It was all very strange for him because, as a man, he got excited with his voice, a sweet, feminine, and beautiful voice.
Looking from side to side in a state of urgency and confirming that there was no one nearby, Nero started increasing his pace. He could see through the translucent screen in front of him, which now indicated that he had already spent five minutes of his time, leaving only another twenty-five minutes to find the Mandrake monster plant.
He searched wherever he went, as if his eyes were the eyes of an eagle, letting nothing escape from his sight. After a long time, he began to believe more and more in his current situation and the pain he felt was getting stronger.
"I don't know this place where I am... that doesn't make any sense. If only I had a map."
As if responding to his thoughts, a new canvas appeared with this thought of hers. She stood beside the canvas where it showed the mission. Although he was surprised by this, he knew there wasn't much time left. Not wanting to waste much time, he turned his attention to the map floating in front of him. It looked like a map from any video game, complete with a list of locations.
_____________________________________________
Zone: East of Praia do Nudismo (Nan Empire)
_____________________________________________
Like many video game maps, it was obscured. The only part revealed was the part next to him and that he had already explored. He tried to move the map with a mental command, discovering that he could zoom in and out on his command with ease.
Zooming in, he had an enhanced view of the nudist beach he was currently on. Although he could see the names of the various continents, the details were hidden in the regions where he had not explored, but he did not expend much time to think much about it. Even though it was just a glance, Nero observed that it consisted of geography with names of continents to which he was not accustomed.
Nero's fear was getting stronger and stronger, for he had not yet arrived at the forest which the mission mentioned him to reach, but fifteen minutes had already passed.
Time passed while he still continued to walk all the way towards the Beginners' Forest on the map.
_____________________________________________
Zone: Beginners' Forest (Nan Empire)
_____________________________________________
*
_____________________________________________
Time remaining: 24/30 Minutes.
_____________________________________________
After scanning through the map and the mission, he could not really be happy about it.
"Damn it! How will I find this Mandrake monster plant in this forest with so little time left?"