You have a message.
Loli frowned slightly when she saw the floating announcement before her eyes.
"Who the hell sends messages now? I probably won't even see it again for weeks," she muttered disinterestedly, though a spark of curiosity lit up inside her. In her world, curiosity was dangerous… but it was also the only thing they hadn't taken from her yet.
[Hello, dear user. Would you like to escape the world? Live a completely different life? Conquer lands and protect the weak? Why not try playing this fabulous game called DRUNAI? This invitation is unique. It could change your life forever.]
[Do you accept? (Yes) (No)]
Loli sighed with a bitter laugh.
"Virtual ads… typical. A scam or just another broken game from the old ghost servers?"
She raised her hand, already set on pressing "No". But something inside her made her hesitate. Maybe it was despair disguised as boredom. Or a longing to feel something… even if it was artificial.
"It's probably just another obsolete game someone salvaged from one of those pre-magic ruins… but whatever. I've got an hour. One hour of mana flask. Ugh, how luxurious."
She tapped "Yes".
[Please enter your player name.]
"'Loli'. Annoying, but simple," she muttered, typing it in without much thought.
[Welcome to Drunai, Loli. Your physical and mental data will be used to create a character tailored to you. Enjoy your journey!]
The screen shone. A blue light emerged from the center, enveloping her. And she vanished.
She opened her eyes.
The first thing she noticed was the silence.
Then… the air.
The air didn't burn. It didn't smell of rust, or smoke, or cheap chemicals. There was no constant hum of generators, no creaking of factories, no distant screeching of a city slowly dying.
No. Just the sound of wind brushing through leaves. The chirping of birds. The soft murmur of life… real life.
"What… is this?" Loli whispered.
The ground beneath her feet was soft and cool. Green. There was grass. Real grass. She felt the moisture of the earth on her soles, the warm sun on her skin. In the distance, a forest rose like a living painting, filled with tall trees, trembling leaves, and life.
In her world, mana had been devoured by the elves for generations. Without it, the land turned barren, the atmosphere toxic. Rivers were liquid poison, clouds a smoky gray, the sky a faded tapestry of despair.
Nothing grew. No one laughed. And humans merely survived.
The factories, ruled by the elven elite, produced artifacts and luxuries for their masters while humans worked themselves to the bone, receiving in return barely enough mana flasks to survive a few more hours… or to escape into broken digital dreams.
And yet, right now, Loli was breathing clean air.
"Is this real…?" she asked softly, a lump forming in her chest.
She looked at her hands. Small. Delicate. Her dress was blue, simple and shining. Her skin, smoother. Her body, lighter.
She felt something on her back. She turned her neck slightly and saw them: four translucent, vibrant wings fluttering with a slight tickle.
"I'm… a fairy?" she murmured, part surprised, part amused.
She tried to move them. And they did. As if they'd always been part of her. She fluttered them, first slowly, then faster. The ground began to shrink below her. She lifted off—only a few centimeters, but enough to make her heart pound like it hadn't in years.
She smiled. For real.
"This… this was worth every second," she whispered with tears barely held back.
Then she remembered.
The time.
"Damn it! These immersion engines devour mana like crazy," she cursed, touching the flask still hanging empty around her neck. "If it's like the last one I tried with Sig, I've got less than a minute."
She looked around, trying to memorize every corner with her eyes. She sat down, counting under her breath.
"50… 51… 52… 53…"
She waited for the ejection. The whiplash back to reality. But it didn't happen.
"I'm still here?" she asked, confused. "The other game ate the flask in 60 seconds. Does this one consume less? Or is it not consuming at all?"
A shiver ran down her spine.
"What if… I died? And this is the afterlife?"
"Exit!" she shouted, a knot in her throat.
A window popped up instantly:
[Do you want to exit Drunai Online?]
She sighed in relief. The fear disappeared.
"Thank the heavens… so it is a game. Though honestly… it feels more real than anything I've ever lived."
She looked ahead, more determined now.
"Since I'm here… let's see… Status Panel."
───────────────────────────────
STATUS PANEL
───────────────────────────────
Name: Loli
Level: 1
Race Level: 0
Race: Magic Fairy (Initial Class, Magic Type)
Title: None
───────────────────────────────
STATS
───────────────────────────────
HP: 100 (base)
Mana: 230 (200 base + 7.5 × 4 Intelligence)
Damage: 1 (base, Strength <10 adds no extra damage)
Defense: 1 (base, Resistance <10 adds no extra defense)
Strength: 2
Resistance: 3
Intelligence: 4
Speed: 3
Dexterity: 3
Luck: 10 (fixed) (max)
───────────────────────────────
SKILL
Fairy Luck (Multiplies luck for 10 seconds)
───────────────────────────────
EQUIPMENT Magic Dress
───────────────────────────────
Available Titles:
– Player #1
– Wow, What Luck
– Goddess of Fortune
– Otherworld Player
– Tasty Fairy
───────────────────────────────
Loli scanned each line of the panel with interest. But her eyes stopped at the titles.
"Tasty Fairy?" she muttered, raising an eyebrow.
She tapped the others first, one by one:
Player #1:
You are the first player. That's insane! Welcome to this fabulous game. If you have this title, you're the first and will be rewarded accordingly. (We're poor, sorry.)
+20% EXP gain. +10% loot drop rate. +5% skill EXP gain. Title shines golden above your head.
Wow, What Luck:
If you have this title, it means you were born with enough luck to change your own fate.
+25% EXP gain. +20% loot drop rate.
Goddess of Fortune:
Praise be the goddess who holds max luck in this rotting world.
+80% loot drop rate. +20% EXP gain.
Otherworld Player:
A title earned by all players. Don't feel special, it's just a label. (Can't be equipped)
@#@#. @#$##.$@@.#@#.@#$&#$.#@#@#$@#.@#$#@@$&&-.#+&#@-.
Loli squinted as she read the last one.
"What kind of keyboard was the victim of this monstrosity?" she murmured, unaware that this was precisely the title that had brought her into the game with an immortal body, free of limitations, and with all permissions as a visitor from another world.
And finally, she read the strangest of them all:
TASTY FAIRY:
Don't look back. Don't look back. But I think a beautiful Oni is watching you with interest. It might be as a predator… or something else.
+100% friendship growth with the beautiful Oni Lua.
Loli blinked as she read the last title, confused, before turning around.
Her now-blue eyes met a pair of crimson-red ones staring at her with intense interest. But it wasn't just that. There was something in that gaze… something that made her forget how to breathe.
Loli's world stopped.
The beautiful woman behind her had a cold yet mesmerizing aura. Her blue hair swayed gently in the wind, and the two horns protruding from her forehead glowed a vivid red, just like her eyes.
Her clothes were a rough patchwork of animal hides. And when a smile formed on her lips, sharp, enchanting fangs came into view. Not just cute—they were perfect. Terrifying, seductive, and with a wild touch that made Loli's stomach flip.
She was a temptress—captivating and deadly.
"Is… is it even legal to be that perfect?" thought Loli, paralyzed. Her cheeks burned, and her legs threatened to give out.
"Exit!" Loli shouted suddenly, her voice high-pitched and nearly choking, before pressing "Yes" with almost inhuman speed, vanishing as if her life depended on it.
Leaving Lua frozen and bewildered.
Meanwhile, in a place no one could hear—not even its host—the system was laughing. It thought, at last, this job had become interesting.
...
Loli emerged from the blue immersion pod that had held her. This bubble was created to protect users from being disturbed during deep dives. A slight touch would notify the user, and heavy damage would force an emergency ejection.
She stepped away from the desk, her heart pounding like crazy. A deep blush stretched from her neck to her ears.
The same person who had always said romance didn't interest her—since school, or honestly, forever—had just fallen in love at first sight. And ran away like a coward.
"What are you doing?" a voice interrupted her thoughts.
Loli turned toward it and saw the source.
It was a young man who looked quite similar to her. The difference was, he seemed slightly older—maybe two years at most. He leaned against the doorframe, dressed entirely in black with a matching cap, eating peanuts from a can.
"Brother Gilbert!" Loli exclaimed, surprised, then overjoyed as she hugged her brother. "You're back!"
Gilbert smiled as his sister clung to him. Then he gently pulled away and said, "Not just that. Look," pointing at the table.
A large bag lay open on it, filled with mana vials.
"Those are… high-quality mana vials!" Loli said in shock.
"With these, we can live peacefully for one or two years. Maybe five if we ration them," Gilbert replied with a proud smile. "I can finally take a break."
Then Loli remembered something—and her joy turned to fury.
"You arrogant brat! What if you hadn't come back? We didn't hear from you for a year! If you died out there, you'd have left us all alone!" she shouted, hitting him hard while Gilbert took the blows silently. "Stupid! Stupid!" she cried, tears of relief streaming down her face.
Gilbert An. Eldest sibling of the family. A year ago, the elves came looking for humans to send to a mining colony on another planet. In exchange, they offered a considerable amount of mana vials. But the job was dangerous—only three out of every ten returned.
Gilbert joined as a miner. Even though his sister and grandfather didn't approve, he simply packed up and left. And now, finally, he was back. All to support his family.
The commotion drew the attention of the old man in the house.
"Gilbert! Is that you? You're back, boy!" he cried, rolling toward them in his wheelchair. Tears of joy streamed down his wrinkled face. "You finally came home! I was so worried!" the old man said.
"Grandpa. I brought some good medicine for you," Gilbert replied with a smile.
"Tsk. I'm already old. Just use it for yourselves," the old man scoffed.
"Stop that, Grandpa. You know if you leave us, we'll be all alone. Don't say things like that," Gilbert replied.
"Well… I wouldn't mind sticking around a bit longer—for you two," said the old man with a smile, as the three reunited after so long.
Meanwhile, Loli didn't notice that on her computer, the mana vial still showed 95%. Without realizing it, she'd spent 10 minutes in Drunai—but only 5 minutes had passed on Earth.
...
Meanwhile, in Drunai.
After Loli vanished, Lua remained frozen for a moment, utterly confused.
"What just happened?" Lua whispered, clearly puzzled.
She had just seen a beautiful fairy appear when the system announced the arrival of the first player. But the girl had fled the moment she saw Lua.
Lua kept her expression as composed as ever, but inside, a whirlwind of questions and a flicker of surprise stirred. For a moment, something stirred in her chest.
Upon seeing a fairy, her interest had immediately piqued. Fairies were a legendary race among spirit monsters. When a spirit is born, it has no form—just a speck of light. Only upon their first evolution do they gain a body. But some rare spirits are born with a physical form from the start—those are fairies.
They were hard to find, but starting with a body made them evolve faster and rank up more quickly. The Ten Spirit Gods had all started as fairies. Even Lua, as an Oni, was a descendant of the fairy evolutionary path. That's why they both had blue hair.
But then, when the little fairy turned around and showed her face, Lua smiled.
It was such a small, fleeting gesture that not even SIA noticed it. A laugh she hadn't let out in ages. Something warm… unfamiliar.
Confused, she touched her cheek.
"Maybe I scared her?" she murmured, her tone unchanged, but her thought sincere—for the first time, directed at someone.
"Maybe she had something to do, Mistress," SIA said softly.
"If that's the case, it doesn't matter. Send out more invitations," Lua said, more interested than before, though her face remained unreadable.
"About that… I can only send one. The world gave me energy for a single invitation—and then for a few specific things," SIA said slowly.
"Energy? The world?" Lua asked, puzzled though it didn't show.
"Well… to put it simply, we both work for the world now. It's the one providing the energy. But since it hasn't developed a proper intelligence yet, it gave just enough to maintain the system, modify players' bodies, and interact with them. A few other things too—but nothing for summoning. I just used what was leftover from the rest," SIA explained.
"So where do we get more energy?" Lua asked.
"Oh, it's not produced. The energy it uses is mana. But neither the system nor the host can absorb it. So when players kill enemies or level up, 20% of the mana they gain as EXP will be absorbed by the system," SIA answered confidently.
"But the only player is…" Lua said, pointing at the empty spot.
"...", the system fell silent. "Then all we can do is pray," SIA said.
"What a hopeless system," Lua thought with a nearly imperceptible frown on her lips—though she still didn't quite understand why that little fairy… had made her smile.