Nero woke up naked and felt sand in every corner of her body. The sand was extremely uncomfortable and stuck in all possible areas, causing her a lot of annoying sensations. The last thing she expected was to wake up in a different place from her pleasant and comfortable bed. Her last memory was of going to sleep after eating instant noodles and taking a shower. The uncomfortable sand made her whole body itch as she tried to brush the excessive sand off her.
Nero finally sat down and noticed more awkward feelings. In addition to the odd circumstance of waking up in a different place, she didn't feel right about herself… or could we say himself? Even her thoughts were as if a woman was talking. The only voice in his, or rather, her mind was feminine. She was in a state of pure confusion. Her mind was astonished by the sensation as her body gave completely new and strange feelings. But even more strange was that her body felt a lot more energetic. It felt very different from anything she had ever felt before; it was a feeling of power as if she could do things that she had never dreamed of doing before.
Nero stood up and tried to recognize her environment. Looking up at the sky, the moon was highly bright and the air was cold and clean, reminding her that she was still completely naked. Her body shivered a little because of the cold wind touching her exposed skin.
The first look at her hands felt odd. These were no male hands, but rather a woman's. Her arms were also different and her skin was a little pale. When she touched her hair, Nero realized another thing: As she brushed away the sand with her own hands, a small strand of hair was visible, making her even more astonished to discover her hair was white.
"But what the hell is going on with me?" As she replied to her own mind, her eyes were caught by another peculiar part of her body. The curiosity got the better of her.
"Do I... Do I have breasts?" Nero had blown way beyond confusion.
As if listening to her question, something rather suspicious appeared in front of her. At first Nero gasped due to the sudden manifestation floating in the air; it looked like some sort of soaring screen. When she tried to touch it with a finger, the manifestation wavered like the surface of water, yet Nero couldn't touch it.
"A hologram?"
Nero looked in every possible direction trying to find some kind of projection machine or device, but as soon as she tried to move away from the floating board, the screen followed her. A text message popped onto the screen, and she was able to read it.
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· FIRST MISSION: [Survival]
· Description: Your current body is infected with the soul-eating worm. If you do not stop it within 30 minutes, you will lose your life.
Time remaining: 28 / 30 minutes.
· Tip: You are on the east side of the Nudist Beach. Go unnoticed to the north end and enter the Forest of Beginners in the Nan Empire and find a Monster Plant: Mandrake. The Mandrake's cry can destroy the soul-eating worm.
· Warning: The moment you pull the Mandrake Plant out of the ground, you have 4 seconds to cover your ears and keep them covered for at least 1 minute.
· Reward: 5 Essence Coin.
_ _ _
"But what?..."
Nero looked around suspiciously, but even looking carefully in every corner, she couldn't find any hidden cameras. Not far away, she saw some people walking and chatting naked, but there were no signs of cameras.
"This is crazy! What kind of joke is this?"
Nero looked at the floating screen and went on full alert because of the previous description. If this was true, her own life was at risk. But was this really happening? Nero was sure she was actually a man in his 21st year of age. How could he even know if this body was his? Was it really his life that was at risk?
"I must be going crazy!" Nero also felt something strange on her back. "What is this?" The moment she reached back, she felt something soft to the touch. It was even softer and more delicate to the touch than baby skin.
"Urghhh?!" The moment she took a sample of what it was, Nero felt a slight pain. It was worse than pulling a strand of hair out of her head. "A feather?!" Nero was completely surprised to see that it was a white feather with some pink colored details. She almost screamed out loud due to the confusion and shock she was experiencing.
But, as it had been written on the transparent screen in front of her, she needed to avoid drawing attention. She couldn't put her life on the line, even though the situation might simply be only a weird dream.
Before even thinking about how she would be able to identify this Mandrake monster plant, the moment she looked at a plant closer, a tiny interface popped up, giving specific details about the plant: Seaside Plant - Wax myrtle. When Nero paid closer attention, every plant had their name shown by this interface. It was identical to an MMORPG game she had played from time to time.
"Urgh! I hope I can wake up soon!" she grunted under her breath as she escaped north from the edge of the beach.
The worst part at first was the excitement she felt when she first heard her own voice. It was extremely strange how she could feel excited by it, and other than that, at the beginning there was no odd sensation in her body, even though the floating screen announced some sort of worm was wriggling around inside her. But as time passed, Nero started to feel the worm's presence in the form of flashes of pain.
"I need to hurry!" Nero told herself. Her sweet voice made the worries seem like nothing; it was too gentle. Indeed, it was something pleasant just to hear. 'Urgh, this is too weird!!' She couldn't help screaming in her heart. It was all very strange for her to look, think, and talk like a woman even though she had been a man not too long ago.
'I could actually get famous on the internet with a voice like this...' Nero thought as she walked.
Looking from side to side in a state of urgency, she noticed that there was no one close. Nero began to accelerate her steps. She could see on the semi transparent screen that she had already spent 5 minutes of her available time, now having only 25 to find the Mandrake.
Nero was walking and searching around in every possible way imaginable, as if her eyes were those of an eagle: letting nothing escape her vision. For a long time, she began to believe more and more in her current situation, and the pain she felt was getting stronger.
'I don't know where this place is that I am... It doesn't make any sense. If only I had a map…'
Then a new screen suddenly appeared when she thought about a map. A holographic screen of a topographical map opened up next to the previous screen which showed her mission and the countdown timer. Despite being surprised by this, she knew there was not much time left. Not wanting to waste precious seconds, Nero turned her attention to the map floating in front of her and started to analyze it. The map was very similar to that of a game: huge and full of different locations.
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• Nudism Beach: East Zone (Nan Empire)
_ _ _
Like many video games maps when one starts out, most parts of the map were obscured. The only part revealed was where she had already explored. Nero tried to move the map with mental commands, discovering that she could zoom in and out in a very easy way with merely a thought.
Zooming in, she had an enhanced view of the nude beach she was on before. Although she could see the names of the different countries and continents, the details were obscured in every part where she hadn't gone yet. However, Nero didn't have time to think about it much. Her attention was caught by the strange names of that land; none of them were names she recognized.
Nero's fear was growing stronger and stronger. It had been 15 minutes and she had not yet arrived at the so-called Beginners' Forest, where the screen indicated for her to go. Time passed as she walked and finally the forest was near, as indicated on the map.
_ _ _
• Beginners' Forest (Nan Empire)
• Time remaining: 6 / 30 minutes.
_ _ _
"Damn it! How am I going to find this Mandrake monster plant in this forest with the little time that I have left?" Nero cried out frustratedly in the dark, gloomy forest, with only scattered patches of moonlight illuminating the place. She wasn't happy about it; there were only 6 minutes left as indicated by the floating screen.
The pain she was feeling was intensifying. She could only clench her teeth and continue to search for the Mandrake monster. Fortunately, she could still see the names of everything she laid her eyes on.
"These things that bounce around, are those…?" Nero murmured, sighing heavily. As she looked around looking for a Mandrake, a tiny pink, round thing came towards her, jumping like an energetic rabbit.
_ _ _
· Name: Pink Slime
· Level: 1
· Monster Rank F
_ _ _
'Ahh, I'm really confused! This thing clearly came straight out of a game and is now coming towards me!'
Even thinking about it, she still couldn't deny the pain she was feeling, which made her want to believe that even if this were just a dream, she could be in for a world of pain. But this was just Nero trying to convince herself of the reality before her eyes. It was almost like she was no longer on planet Earth and somehow managed to transmigrate to another planet, in a female body, with wings on her back...
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{Edited by: Azurtha}