Liz blinked and stood in stunned silence for a few breaths, really taking it all in. So she just got a whole lot of free magic things as a new life gift.. meaning she really had died. That pretty girl actually killed her! And they'd only spoken like what, twice? Was she still Elizabeth Parker?... Yeah, she was, but this wasn't Earth anymore, right?
"Correct."
Liz yelped and raised her arms across her chest protectively. "You...you can read my mind?"
"Temporarily, until you update your status window and confirm once more with a written signature that you wish to stay here, yes, and the System can as well; however, the System will only respond with written text."
"Okay," she muttered and rubbed her face with her hand to ease the tension that had started behind her eyes. She must control her thoughts... Well, that is, if she really had much to think about that she actually needed to hide.
She had never stolen anything since she was a toddler and learned what stealing even was and why it was bad. She had only cheated on one History test in middle school because the substitute had set them up for failure by not really doing the teaching part of his job.
She had never been in any relationship, nor had she cared to. Too much drama.
Man, she really hadn't been very adventurous, had she? She had never even dyed her hair before! The essence of a straight and narrow, vanilla life...
Swallowing her self pity, she jumped into action and thought about how to open her menu when a thin, translucent screen popped into existence in front of her. It looked like one of those plastic sheets needed to place over a projector light that you could write on.
Displayed in crisp, simple letters was a list.
Name: Elizabeth Parker (confirm/edit name)
Level: 1
Age: 20
Race: Human (confirm/edit race)
Health: 20/20
Mana: 5/5
Status: Sub-Optimal- stressed.
Occupation: Undetermined
Items: Occupation Ticket, Full Recovery Potion (3), Physical Appearance Alteration Voucher, Mystic Clothing Voucher, System Menu Appearance Alteration Voucher,
Large(S) Storage Bag:empty
Medium(S) Frozen Time Storage Bag:empty
Medium(S) Accelerated Time Storage Bag:empty
Armor set: none
Weapons: none
Companions: none
Party: none
Pets: none
Relationship: single
Okay... That was a lot.
First thing's first: if she was starting a new life, she wanted to at least look different. She attempted to reach out and touch the Physical Appearance voucher text when it disappeared from her menu.
Instantly she was standing in front of herself, but not like a mirror. It was a perfect copy that stood still and stared straight ahead, unnervingly emotionless, with her arms slightly out and her legs slightly spread, like a character creation model from a video game.
After the initial shock wore off, and she started to circle herself to avoid seeing her face yet, Liz blanched. There was a sizable amount of blood staining the back of her collar and running down along her spine. Even if there were no injuries anywhere on her, it was still shocking to see how she had died.
"Can I change my clothes with that Mystic Clothing Voucher thing?"
"We advise that you finish altering your physical appearance first before applying the voucher. Even if you continue to chance what your body looks like, once the clothing has been selected it cannot be altered."
"Oh." Well that makes sense, if she used it now but made herself taller or something, the legs of the outfit would be too short or too tight. Never mind then.... Could she at least get the bloody clothes off of the model so she could stop focusing on it?
Liz immediately regretted that thought as she was suddenly staring at her own naked backside. Panic seized her and she darted her eyes around to make sure she was alone, at the same instant she was checking to make sure the clothes were only removed from her model.
"Do not be alarmed. We are far from any other people, and only you can see your model."
Liz sighed in relief before she paused. Far from any people, huh? That was a useful piece of information.
Shaking her head, she got a look at herself again. She wasn't too bad looking, maybe a bit disappointing on the flat squareness of her rump. No wonder it hurt to fall back on it. Maybe she could...
Surprise and a strange mixture of glee and shame settled in her stomach as her rump slowly filled out into something softer looking, with a nicely smooth and round shape. It looked more supportive now, but not too plump as to make it difficult to sit in a normal chair.
Blushing at her own butt, Liz looked at literally anything else for a few seconds until she built up the will to continue with the alterations. Her next target was her legs.
Short little legs with not much toning. She made them tall, toned with just a little feminine muscle, and fixed her winter cracked ankles from not having any socks in the arid university buildings. She altered those stupid ingrown toenails that always dug and pinched and needed regular trimming into something much more even and pretty.
Much better! Now for the front.
Forgetting to prepare herself, she blushed vividly a second time when her bosoms caught her eyes. Then again, she'd seen them in the mirror almost every day. This wasn't as bad as seeing her hindquarters in all honesty. The real problem was below and she decided that could definitely wait.
Her breasts were already a decent C cup, and a nice shape, so she left them alone and focused more on smoothing out the cellulite that lined her hips and the stretch marks on her stomach from dropping weight along her waistband due to the college diet of Ramen and the occasional lunch meat.
She wasn't aiming for perfection, in fact she deliberately left the vast majority of her freckles, smaller moles, and even her slightly out of place bottom tooth. The only thing she changed about her face was the pimple scars and sun damage. She'd always wanted clearer skin, anyways.
Now... About her hair. That common dead leaf brown with a very flat texture and little to no gleam. For her entire life she felt sidelined, as if the gaze of everyone simply passed over her due to how well she blended into with crowds and her surroundings. Since she didn't want to change her face, it was the only option left.
But just to check... "System, what is the most common hair color in this world?"
A word popped up on the blank page next to her status menu.
'Orange'
Liz blinked. So that meant... Most people were red heads? "System, please list by percentages all the natural hair colors from greatest to least."
'Orange: 18%, Sky Blue: 9.5%, Pastel Pink: 9.7, Red: 9%, Silver: 9%, Opalescent: 8.5%, White: 8.3, Black: 8%, Green: 7%, Brown: 7%, Indigo: 3.5%, Yellow: 2%, Violet: 0.5%.'
Oh. So by red heads, this world meant ACTUAL red hair then.
Liz started to think hard for a moment. If she kept her current hair color it would actually be less common this time, but if she were honest with herself she was rather used to being able to hide in a crowd. What if things got sketchy?
"System, what about Teal? Does it fall under the blue percentage?"
'Correct.'
"Then what percent of Blue is Teal calculated as?"
'7%.'
That little? Wow... Wait. "How many people is that?"
'7% of 9.5% is 30,072 people with Teal hair.'
"Okay, how many people are on this planet?"
'4,522,105 individuals not counting those yet to be born.'
"Wait... That's... It? How big is this planet?"
'Just under twice as big as your previous world.
Holy crap. That's massive... with so few people.
"How far away are the cities and towns from each other? Wait, don't answer that, my brain hurts from all the math. Uh, oh, how close is the nearest town from me?"
'2 kilometers.'
"I'm American."
'Congratulations.'
Okay, the sarcasm was new. Liz cracked a smile for the first time in months before shaking her head.
"I meant 'please tell me the distance using the metric system'."
'1.3 miles.'
"Thank you."
Liz found this entire thing to be both ridiculous and exasperating, so instead she turned her attention back to her other self.
She changed her short, dull, flat brown hair into luxuriously full, glimmering dark teal curls and ringlets that reached just above her newly amplified backside, adding a few lighter teal highlights to balance it out. She contemplated making the underhalf of her hair into a more of a greener blue color but changed her mind.
Liz looked up, not knowing where else to look to ask her question. "Wasn't I supposed to sign something?"
"It would be wise to wait on your final confirmation until after you have used all the vouchers. Precautions are needed if the instance occures that the changes make the System Menu inoperable. I can repair damages or provide replacement vouchers if such an issue arises, but once I leave you, you will only have the System to rely on."
"Have there been others who messed up their Systems through customization before?"
"Please continue with or confirm your physical alterations and apply your Mystic Clothing Voucher."
"Can't tell me, huh? Nevermind then. I just thought of something. Can you make my new face look a little more native? I have no idea what the people look like."
"If user Liz wishes, examples can be displayed on the System Menu. Select one option to see further details."
"That works," she said and looked at the screen. Fifteen different faces were lined up in rows like a high school year book, but only one of them looked like a human women. Most of the others were... very much not human.
Completely thrown for a loop because she had missed the edit race option in her first glace of the system status, Liz's jaw dropped.
One of the fifteen characters was very ape-like, and another looked like a massive bird. She had a bit of trouble trying to decide if the third one was a mermaid or a siren.
There was a humanoid lizard, a kitsune, a deer person... There was apparently also Ogres, Orcs, Goblins, Elves, and Dwarves.
The four remaining that still looked human were listed as something different: Vampires, Werewolves, Werecats, and Shifters.
Selecting 'Shifters' because she had no idea what they could be, she was pleasantly surprised when a list of creatures was displayed.
'User Liz has selected 'Shiters' first. As a result, user Liz may select up to five creatures as a starter pack.'
"Wait, wait... What starter pack do other races get?"
'Benifits may vary per race, but if User Liz changes her selection, the starter pack will be reduced to three creatures.'
Aw that's bull... "Fine. 'Shifter' it is."
'User Liz has selected 'Shifter' as her race. The Shifters can morph their physical forms into that of the natural creatures found in this world through physical contact, information gathering, or by killing the creature.'
That last option was a bit morbid...
Liz's hesitation made the screen display a new segment.
'Does user Liz wish for the animals to be randomized? Likelihood of rare animals increases. Once animals are selected they cannot be undone unless User Liz forfeits them, however the five available slots will still remain if unclaimed. If this option is not appealing, User Liz will have to encounter them in the wild.'
"Why not? Let's randomize." What did she have to lose? She got freebies and if she didn't like them then she wouldn't have to give up the slots.
Hearing a faint clicking sound and peered around her copy at a Wheel of Names spinning through several dozen options. At that point it had already slowed so she could read a few of them before it stopped.
Ball python. Savana canine. Field mouse.
The spinner slowed and hovered over the one labled water bug, barely moving at all....
Aw, well, that's fine, she didn't have to keep the shift if she found something better, and if she didn't at least had something semi-aquatic!
'Does User Liz wish to keep the Shift: Celestial Dragon?'
...huh?!