Today wasn't really a productive day.
But it wasn't all that bad.
I had gained a new ability.
Shrine.
Though it had the name of a building that received prayers.
It had nothing to do with that.
This ability.
It was about cutting and slashing.
But...
I couldn't even use it.
It needed one thing.
Cursed energy.
My body worked differently than others.
I didn't have mana. Nor cursed energy.
So even trying to use this ability was useless.
So what was I supposed to even do?
And a single thought came out.
'What about the erotica system points?'
What were they used for?
[Erotica shop]
I found my way here. After thinking about it, what was I expecting?
I scrolled further down.
Because apparently I couldn't even find useful things.
The more I scrolled, the more it became apparent
how shitty this system was.
[Infertility Pill — 24 Hour Grade.]
[Cost: 2 Points.]
[Effect: Upon ingestion, renders the user completely infertile for exactly 24 hours. No exceptions. No accidents. No consequences.]
[Passive Bonus: During active duration — grants the user an unusual and inexplicable calm. Stress resistance +40%. Decision making clarity +30%.]
[Note: Peace of mind is its own kind of power.]
[Note 2: This item can also be given to others.]
[Note 3: We don't judge.]
I scrolled even more.
[Passive Charm — Novice Weave.]
[Cost: 5 Points.]
[Effect: A permanent, invisible field surrounds the user. Females within a 3-meter radius experience a mild but consistent increase in baseline receptiveness. Not mind control. Not a compulsion. Simply.]
[A door that is slightly more open than it would otherwise be.]
[Passive Bonus: Social checks with female characters succeed at a higher baseline rate. First impressions are consistently positive. Hostility takes longer to develop.] [Note: This does not make people like you.]
[Note 2: It makes them willing to find out if they do.] [Note 3: There is a difference.]
I stared at that one for quite a while.
It was actually tempting.
In this world that was filled with beautiful females.
This would be the first thing to acquire.
But I didn't need it.
But I scrolled down.
Even more.
Until I couldn't even find anything I could buy.
The further I went down, the worse it got.
Some things.
A person sees once.
And would carry it with them for life.
Whether they wanted to or not.
I closed the shop.
And reopened it. Like I was resetting an app on my phone.
When I opened it again, I had noticed something.
In the top right corner.
There was a small icon.
I had missed it before.
But it said.
[GACHA]
[Cost: 1 Point Per Spin.]
[Prizes range from Common to Mythic.]
[The system does not guarantee good results.]
[The system does not apologize for bad results.]
[You have: 1 Point.]
I had looked at it for a long time.
A very long time.
One point, for one spin.
The shop had nothing I could even buy to begin with.
As everything in the shop was at least 2 points.
The cheapest option was The Infertility Pill.
Which I did not need.
Nor did I want it.
And I had only 1 point.
So this was my only shot.
One point.
One spin.
What was the worst I could get?
I pressed spin.
The wheel appeared as I pressed spin.
It spun.
Colors blurring past: grey Common, blue Uncommon, gold Epic, red Mythic.
The wheel slowed.
Past grey.
Past blue.
Past purple.
But..
It landed on gold.
Ding.
[EPIC PULL.]
[Congratulations.]
[You have received:]
[Orc Physique — First Awakening.]
[Note: Sub-Effects of Orc Physique are also included.]
Oh.
Right.
[Mating Dominance — Passive.]
[Fertility rate when active: 100%.]
[Breeding Lineage — Passive.]
[Minimum children per birth: 2.]
[Orc Presence — Passive.]
[Surrounding females will be aware of your presence.]
[Integration beginning.]
[This may be uncomfortable.]
"What does uncomfortable mean—"
It felt like my entire body was being ruptured.
It hurt.
Beyond belief.
My hair changed from solid black
into
platinum white.
Blood poured out of my nose like a faucet.
Drip...
Drip...
My body was feeling heavy.
Extremely heavy...
To the point I couldn't even stand.
Inside my room.
I had collapsed.
Thud!!!
It felt like I was being reborn.
A new me.
I was gasping for air.
My vision went blurry for a second.
Then returned.
I managed to stand up. Stumbling to the bathroom, the sudden weight of my own frame making each step an effort.
I gripped the cold porcelain of the sink and forced myself to look in the mirror.
The person staring back wasn't me.
Not really.
The hair was the most immediate thing, a shock of platinum white, a stark contrast against my skin. But it was the face underneath that truly felt foreign.
The jawline was harder, the cheekbones more pronounced.
A subtle, brutish quality had settled into my features.
The system called it "Orc Physique." Seeing it now, I understood. This wasn't just a buff. It was a rewrite.
My body felt denser, packed with a new kind of muscle that wasn't lean or wiry, but solid, like ironwood.
I looked down at my hands.
They were bigger.
The knuckles were heavier.
A thought, a simple question, surfaced in the sudden quiet of my mind, cutting through the phantom aches of the transformation.
What was the point of all this?
This new body, this "Mating Dominance," this "Breeding Lineage."
A new wave of heat washed through me as I looked at my reflection. The changes weren't just cosmetic. I could feel it, a coiled energy in my gut, a raw, predatory instinct that hadn't been there an hour ago. The "Orc Presence" the system mentioned felt real, a palpable aura radiating from me, so thick I felt like I could taste it on the air.
It was a presence that demanded attention.
I tore my gaze away from the mirror and splashed cold water on my face, the platinum hair sticking to my forehead. The water did little to cool the fire simmering just beneath my skin.
This wasn't just about being stronger.
It was about something far more primal.
And as I stood there, dripping water onto the tile, a different kind of hunger began to stir, one that had nothing to do with food.
Creak!!
The wood beneath me cracked
under my own newfound weight.
The floorboards groaned in protest,
a sound that was both alarming and oddly satisfying.
I took a step back, testing my footing.
The solid thump of my foot on the wood was heavier than I was used to. My entire center of gravity had shifted.
I needed to get a handle on this. Fast.
Thinking back to the system, to the frustratingly useless "Shrine" ability, I tried to focus. I needed cursed energy to use it.
But what if this new body... what if this Orc Physique had changed something fundamental?
I closed my eyes, ignoring the alien reflection in my peripheral vision.
I reached inward, not for mana, not for the strange power I'd seen others wield, but for something else.
A spark.
A flicker of anything.
But...
There was nothing.
Just the heavy, solid thrum of my own heartbeat, a bass drum beat in a chest that felt too big for my ribcage.
Then it happened.
A faint, familiar warmth began to pool in my stomach.
It wasn't cursed energy. It wasn't the ethereal, flowing energy I'd seen described in texts or felt from a distance. This was different.
It was viscous.
Thick.
And hot.
It felt like molten lead, a dense, heavy power that coalesced in my core instead of flowing through my veins. I tried to push it, to direct it down my arm like the descriptions of cursed energy.
It didn't flow.
It plodded.
The energy moved with a sluggish, deliberate weight, like tar being poured through a narrow pipe.
It was slow, but it was undeniable.
As it pooled in my right hand, the air around my fingers began to shimmer, not with a clean, magical light, but with a hazy, distorted heat, like the air over asphalt on a scorching summer day.
This was it.
Aura.
Heavy, crude, and potent.
I opened my eyes and looked at my hand. The air warped around my fingertips, a subtle but visible effect. It wasn't elegant. It wasn't refined.
A grim smile touched my lips.
It wasn't the power I'd been told to expect.
It wasn't what anyone else had.
But it was mine.
And for the first time, the "Shrine" ability didn't feel like a dead end.
It felt like a weapon waiting to be loaded with the wrong kind of ammunition.
I had looked at my desk.
There was a Coca-Cola bottle.
Just sitting there.
An empty Coca-Cola that I had already drunk.
Red label and all. It wasn't old. I had just bought it yesterday.
But.
I stared at it for a long time.
Then.
I had raised my hand.
The vicious aura clung to my hands, like a river flowing into an ocean.
It was sluggish, heavy. The molten lead feeling inside of my palm was there. It felt like a hard, indestructible stone was there.
Aura flowed.
And accumulated.
Then it was released.
A singular cut.
Invisible to the naked eye.
A white line shot through the world, painting it white.
My hands were the direction.
And it was pointing towards the bottle.
Dismantle.
Creak!!!
The bottle was split open.
The bottle didn't shatter.
Nor did it explode.
It was cleaved in two.
Perfectly.
The top half, complete with the red plastic cap, slid a fraction of an inch to the left before tipping over.
The bottom half remained standing on the desk, a clean, impossibly smooth ring of broken glass marking the division.
No jagged edges.
No stray shards. Just a single,
definitive cut,
as if a razor-thin blade had passed through solid tin, plastic, and the empty air inside without resistance.
My arm trembled.
Not from exhaustion, but from shock.
The power that had coursed through me hadn't been a violent burst.
It was a focused, deliberate slice. A controlled release of that dense, heavy energy.
This was Shrine.
It was about slashing or cutting in the conventional sense. It was about dismantling things at their most fundamental level. Separating the whole into its constituent parts with absolute precision.
The heavy, sluggish energy I possessed was perfect for this.
It wasn't meant for rapid-fire spells or elegant techniques. It was meant for this. For one powerful, overwhelming strike.
The two halves of the bottle sat there
as a silent testament to the fact that....
I wasn't useless anymore.