My room was filled with the noise of a keyboard being abused. There I was, playing an online video game with my friends late at night, when a voice reached my ears.
"Heal me, heal me, heal me!" a cry not uncommon to us.
In the screen in front of me, the form of a warrior was bathed in glowing blue light.
"Gotcha… no need to scream," came the response from our healer.
The game we were playing was a classic isometric MMORPG released back in 2016, Redeemer's Bush. As a free game it was surprisingly among the better ones of the decade, though not exactly at the top. However, as a bonafide MMORPG, it required dedication and commitment to experience the full game in a satisfactory manner. That is, it took time to "git gud", and everyone had loads of free time due to the global pandemics that ruined the decade.
"We're about to end, start praying!" I said to the mic.
We all went silent in order to do our own rituals to increase our luck.
The mode we were playing was a staged game mode that pushed players to survive and kill monsters quickly before a timer ran out. The difficulty increased along with the amount of players and the stages cleared. Every stage had waves of monsters you had to defeat in order for the boss to show up. Once defeated, the next stage would be available. Pretty simple.
This time, just like any previous, the boss showed up and we ground pounded it to oblivion in less than a minute.
The corpse of a being out of my worst nightmares disappeared, replaced by a portal to end the stage. Our expectations rose. It was at the very end of the 10 stages when players were rewarded for their efforts. We were all aiming for different items that had the same chance of dropping.
As the loading screen shifted to the map we were at previously, a pop-up mini screen showed up in my monitor.
[You've acquired a new item!]
[Mythical Weapon (2-H Spear)]
[Alma Pike]
(Attack 9675 – 14281)
(10 Sockets)
-STR + 250
-Crit Rate + 750
-All Skill Levels + 1
-Damage to Large/Boss Monsters + 40%
-Critical Hits apply a Debuff for 5 seconds
-Damage to Debuffed Enemies + 25%
-Damage taken from Debuffed Enemies – 30%
...+
"Wooo! Yeah baby! That's what I've been waiting for!" I screamed to the top of my lungs.
I stretched my arms and legs in joy, pushing me back too fast, making me fall backwards. My keyboard flew away along with my mouse as a barrage of rage-fueled screeches reached my ears. As the back of my head hit the ground, I started laughing and giggling away.
"Did this bitch fall off her chair? Lmaooo!" someone said.
"Fucking classic..." another said.
I stood up while laughing and feeling a wave of satisfaction I hadn't felt in a while.
"Well… I'm off to the enchant gacha, everybody. Have fun and GG." I said as I sat on my chair again.
"Good for you Nash. Have a good one." a familiar voice said.
"You too, Lilly. Talk to you later." I said and disconnected from the group call.
I sighed as I laid back and stared at my large monitor. I opened the game's inventory and used an item to teleport back to town. While the game loaded, I turned to a side monitor and unpaused a stream I was watching. A cute rabbit v-tuber was playing "CraftingMines" and committing war crimes once again.
I saw a few comments saying [Geneva Suggestions kusa].
I chuckled and typed a few emotes on her live-chat and focused back on the game. The town opened up and I went up to the blacksmith dude and interacted with the little UI that popped up, transferred bonus stats from my previous weapon to the new one, filled the gem sockets with max-level stones, ascended the thing to ten, enhanced it to plus one hundred and closed the UI.
I clicked on a scroll in my inventory and began the tortuous process of gacha enchantment.
A small window popped up and flashed as the enchantment took place.
[+ 1.5% Block Ignore]
"… Next!" I clicked the 'enchant again' prompt in the little window.
[+ 11% Threat Reduction]
"… You know you want to give it to me, you little shit!"
[+ 230 Magic Attack]
"Useless!"
[+ 45% Threat Generation]
"..."
[+ 120% Dmg Against Full Plate]
"Who uses that?!"
[+ 400 Magic Resist]
"Give me attack statistics at the very least..."
[+ 10.2% Physical Damage]
"Too low!"
After what felt like an eternity and around 200 enchant scrolls later, I was finally starting to see an improvement in the quality of the rolls, until something happened that I could not ignore.
[+ 45% Physical Damage]
"What? It can go that high?!"
I stared at the screen and re-read the line many times to confirm my eyes were not playing games on me. I quickly went to my second monitor and searched the values of potential enchantments on the official wiki.
Confirming it was neither a bug nor an exploit, I returned to the game and prepared myself to brag about my godly roll to my clanmates. Suddenly, my sight went blurry and my hearing became muddy. My body began to tingle all over with that same crippling sensation you get when sitting on the toilet for too long and your legs become numb.
"Oof! What the fuuu..." And I lost consciousness while mumbling curses to nobody in particular.
In a world far, far away – so far that humanity on earth would never come to know about it, the laws of the universe worked in a very different way from those belonging to the milky way. A force that could be called fantastic or even miraculous was a part of the inhabitants' everyday life, allowing feats that would defy nature in our eyes.
From replacing fuel and allowing combustion in almost every environment, to allowing land-locked species to breathe underwater or fly above unreachable clouds. Some would call it magic, some would call it miracles, some would call it divine powers, mystic arts, etc. No matter the name, it was undeniably there in the grasp of those willing to learn its wonders.
Such a force of nature was ever present in this world. In the trees, the soil, the bees, the water… everywhere. Its people were as varied as were the uses for such a force. The beings who were shaped by evolution were also influenced by this force since time immemorial. While the action of using such a force received many names throughout the ages as well as the force itself, in current times it was widely known by one name. E'er.
In such a world, in a forest drenched with E'er, a figure slowly manifested itself. At first, barely visible lines formed a vaguely human shape. The event began with a few atoms coming together and forming cells, then the cells formed tissue, specialized tissue formed organs, and, in turn, these formed systems. A creature that looked like a human was being created in the noisy symphony of the forest.
Birds chirped, trees and foliage swayed on the wind, millions of insects went about their day, water flowed noisily through streams both far and near, animals of all sizes leisurely moved around, slept, ate, etc. Life was following its natural course in this forest, ignorant of the miracle that was occurring in its midst.
The creation of life.
As the process was coming to an end, the body slowly shifted positions from a vertical – almost standing – position, to laying on its back. When it touched ground, a pulse of concentrated E'er converged on the creature. It soon gained a rhythm.
Do-don-n. Do-don-n. Do-don-n. Do-don-n. Do-don-n. Do-don-n.
Then, slowly, air began flowing on its own into the lungs.
Suu-haa. Suu-haa. Suu-haa. Suu-haa. Suu-haa. Suu-haa. Suu-haa.
Finally, a jolt ran from the top of the body's head to its feet.
Their eyes shot open.
A loud gasp escaped my lips as I came to. It felt as if I hadn't breathed in a million years. I greedily gulped air as I reached for my throat. As my vision cleared from a world of white, and my senses caught up with me waking up, I froze in place.
Green.
All I saw was green.
I blinked a few times, and, soon enough my vision gained detail. As I kept on breathing, my nose picked up scents. I sat up as fast as I could and looked around with wide eyes. My hands dug into the soil I was sitting on. It was warm and pleasant to the touch, even as I felt greenery and a few pebbles that should cause discomfort, it felt good.
I opened my mouth and gently bit the air. The sound of my teeth was loud and crisp, instantly removing the possibility of this being a dream. The rich smell of dirt, weeds, trees, water, and something clean was all too real.
I could hear the wind blowing, the trees doing that tree thing when the leaves sway, a myriad of birds and flowing water.
I quickly noticed a few things. I could breathe with surprising ease. As if years of chronic smoking had vanished into the void. My lungs reached full capacity without any discomfort. That elicited a small hum of satisfaction.
My eyes could see clearly, too clearly. Never had I seen the world with such pristine definition. It was almost as if the world ran at 8k 144fps. I instinctively knew I could see better than before, and not just in details. There was a change in how fast I could see images. It truly felt as if I could see way more 'frames' per second than before. It was incredibly hard to grasp, but the simplest explanation would be that silly comparison.
As I looked around, a strange sensation began to blossom in my heart. Not in a figure of speech, it felt as if something physical was taking form within me. As if pure instinct, I tried concentrating on this odd feeling. It was like taking over the automatic breathing mechanism within my consciousness.
These comparisons need to stop.
The sensation of a bubble gently popping inside my mind overcame my senses. A flood of information assaulted me, but somehow, it was properly processed without causing major confusion. I somehow understood I had become a better version of a human. Faster, stronger, more adaptable, more durable. What came after was like a splash of cold water in a sunny day.
I somehow knew how to use a spear. Not in a sense that could be concretely seen with a skill. Just like you knew you could do a backflip, I knew I could perform various feats. As understanding dawned on me, it all pointed in a direction that both excited me and frightened me. With this knowledge came the realization I could 'summon' objects out of something similar in concept to an inventory.
This was exciting because it screamed fantasy-RPG, and frightening because it was identical to a fault to my character in the game I was playing when I lost consciousness.
I looked at my hands and balled them into fists. I felt unbelievably strong.
Then I noticed something that made me choke and almost faint.
My chest was more or less the same, if not a size bigger. The problem was between my legs.
"Why do I have a massive dick?!" my loud voice echoed in the forest.
I immediately facepalmed.
Those were my first words after arriving in a fantasy world.
"..."
It wasn't just a penis between my legs. I could also feel my female sexual organ.
"I'm a futa?!" I facepalmed again.
The damage was already done. No point in despairing.
While I liked both genders, I leaned more towards men.
"But to like dick so much that I get one for myself..." I groaned. "What kind of man would have sex with a woman who has a bigger penis." I shook my head. "Not including deviants."
Truth was, it didn't feel out of place at all. Almost as if I was born with it and had it all my life. The organ was, in my opinion, quite well endowed. Even in its flaccid state, it was at least 18cm long.
"Anyway. Let's change the subject." I said to no one in particular.
I stood up with little trouble and inspected my body to check if anything else was different.
My toes dug into the warm soil with a satisfying feeling. I tensed up my legs and noticed they were sculpted as if belonging to a sports maniac. My skin was lighter than before, which I lamented. I quite liked the tan I had going. My muscles were rock solid and I happily welcomed the abs I was sporting. I always liked abs.
Who doesn't? I'll fight whoever says they don't.
I didn't have a belly button but shrugged it off.
My body was uncannily hairless, which made me shoot my hands up to my head, where a healthy amount of hair flowed down to my knees. I sighed in relief. Grabbing a good amount, I brought it forward to inspect it. The familiar color of gold made me release a sigh. I furrowed my brows and looked up trying to see if they matched. Gold again. Nice.
I posed in victory. Genes mostly unchanged.
My arms were noticeably more muscular than before, though not in an extreme fashion, more ripped than swole. My back felt right, no longer hurting when stretching or exerting force. I posed like a bodybuilder and tightened all the muscles I could strain. Nothing felt out of order. It actually felt good. There was none of that stinging after flexing muscles to their limit.
"Good bye bad posture." I muttered while posing for good measure.
Once the self was taken care of, I turned my attention to my surroundings. There was a lot of greenery which obstructed view and didn't let me see more than 20 meters in any direction. Trees around me grew close to one another, but sparse enough to allow the rays of the sun ruling the sky to penetrate the canopy. Unfortunately not enough to actually see the king himself. Temperature-wise it was around 20ºC if not above that. With the amount of sounds that were present, it was safe to assume no predator was around.