Pandora knew she had not been born a scorpion. She even knew that her name when she was still human had not been Pandora Fallon. But what could she do when she was trapped in a strange world where everything was built from magic?
Pandora had made only one mistake. When she was still human, she had once stepped on a scorpion that had entered her house. After all, she had not been wrong, right? Who told that disgusting creature to sneak in and get caught in her sight?
But unfortunately, for some unknown curse, one morning the girl suddenly woke up as a scorpion about half a meter long. Quite a large size for an animal, right?
However, in this world, that size seemed perfectly normal. Some adult scorpions could even reach one and a half meters before evolving.
Ah, yes. The only interesting thing Pandora was grateful for in this world was that every creature had a chance to evolve. Of course, there were rules and conditions that had to be met in order to evolve perfectly.
But… Pandora had a problem.
Her qualifications were insufficient for evolution. And that forced her to go to an academy specifically made for discarded beasts. Not to evolve, but to survive.
There, they were not taught how to evolve but how to be "beasts" as they should be — how to hunt for food, kill prey, and everything related to their respective species.
And that meant, even the only thing that had kept Pandora's spirit alive had now been taken away.
Yes, that was what made the female scorpion sulk for days inside her burrow — underground — which she had dug all by herself.
Faintly, from beneath the soil, Pandora could hear the footsteps of a group of other scorpions walking above her home. But she refused to come out, even to move.
She had once tried to peek and watch her kin leave for the Qualification Hall for talent testing. But afterward, she had felt uneasy and fallen ill. Clearly, evolving and becoming human again had been Pandora's greatest hope.
So when the girl lost that, she felt as if she had also lost her life.
"Phew…" Pandora took a deep breath. At least she still had a place to breathe, though it was certainly different from being human.
"I'm starting to miss home," she muttered while clawing at the dirt beneath her with her pincers. "What can I even do here?"
Pandora had once tried to leave this world. She had deliberately walked into the deep forest to surrender herself to wild beasts. But when she met lions and tigers, they refused to come near.
Was it perhaps because Pandora belonged to a poisonous scorpion race?
Who knew? All she knew was that she no longer had any hope. She had thought that if she died, maybe she would have a chance to return to the real world. But in the end, she still came back here.
That time, Pandora thought she had succeeded. She had deliberately thrown herself into a dark, bottomless ravine. But when she reached the bottom, she still did not die. So, what else could she possibly do?
At a moment like that, another scorpion suddenly entered her burrow without permission. It was Eden — a pitch-black male scorpion who had been her friend since the first day she arrived here.
A friend who, fortunately, shared the same fate as Pandora.
"Why are you still staying here? Come on, let's go to the academy." That was what Eden said, in a language they could somehow understand.
Strangely enough, even though Pandora had never studied the scorpion language, the moment she arrived here, she could understand it perfectly without learning.
Since she was still feeling down, Pandora simply stayed silent and ignored the creature behind her. "Why are you so excited? Isn't going there the same as entering a prison for the discarded?"
"Then do you have a choice? Even if we just sit here and wait for a miracle, we'll only end up dying."
"Let it be."
"Huh?"
"I do want to die."
Those words froze Eden in place. He couldn't move his body, as if it were chained. But Pandora immediately walked toward him. "If I can't evolve into a human, then isn't life meaningless?"
The black scorpion blinked several times, even with his small, nearly invisible eyes. Maybe, just maybe, he was also confused by this side of Pandora.
"Pandora, I understand your disappointment. But being human isn't the only thing we can do," said Eden, trying to explain.
"For me, it's the only thing, Eden. I'm sorry. If you want to go, you can leave me here."
Before Eden could open his mouth to reply, Pandora had already moved away, leaving him behind. Eden understood Pandora's sorrow and disappointment, but he couldn't do much if she didn't want to come along.
So the male scorpion could only watch Pandora's body before climbing back up, leaving her underground home behind.
But before that, Eden turned once more to where Pandora had been standing. "If you change your mind, come to the edge of the swamp before nightfall. Liora and I will be waiting there. But if you don't come, I'll really leave and let you stay here alone."
After Eden left, Pandora honestly felt empty. Eden's words clearly disturbed her, shattering the thoughts she had carefully arranged in her head.
"They're good friends. But going to the academy means spending your whole life there. Forever." At that moment, Pandora was truly at war with herself.
Should she go?
In her mind, memories of Eden and Liora replayed. How they searched for food together, shared a place to sleep before she had her own home, even traveled far just to avoid humans.
Because her thoughts kept clashing, Pandora eventually decided to go that night. Yes, she finally decided to go.
"I hope this is the right decision. Even if I still end up dying, at least if I'm at the academy, I'll die with my two friends. Not rot alone without anyone knowing."
---
Just as Pandora arrived at the riverbank, she didn't find anyone. The place was empty — impossible for someone to be there and for Pandora not to notice.
It had been quite some time since Pandora waited while watching her surroundings. But the two beasts who said they'd wait there still hadn't shown up. "Have they already left? They wouldn't lie, right?"
While waiting, her eyes accidentally caught the reflection of the moonlight on the river. She didn't know what she was thinking, but she moved closer to the river and looked at her own reflection.
"A scorpion," she muttered softly. "Why did I have to end up like this? It wouldn't matter if I were a cat or a beautiful bird. Why a scorpion? It's a disgusting creature everyone hates."
No one knew how long she stayed in that position, staring at her reflection in the water. Then suddenly, the water's surface formed a glowing orb that took the shape of a square panel.
If Pandora had a forehead, she would've furrowed it right then. "Huh, what's that?"
Pandora stepped back to avoid the strange shape. Of course, it disappeared because she could no longer see her reflection. She hesitated to move closer again, unsure whether the strange thing was still there.
Pandora wasn't stupid. She clearly knew that what she had just seen was a status screen from a game player. She used to play games herself, though she had never been that good at them.
But the problem was—why was the system here? Wasn't she not even inside a game right now?
After thinking for a while, Pandora gathered her courage and stepped forward again. And sure enough, when she saw her reflection on the water's surface, the thing appeared again.
This time, it didn't just appear—it emerged from the water and stopped right in front of her face.
[Welcome! You've found me!]
That's what the message on the notification board said. If this had been Pandora's first time experiencing something strange, she might've panicked and screamed.
But since she had already gone through the absurdity of turning into a scorpion just after stepping on one, she had grown used to it—though it still felt odd and confusing.
"Why did I find you?" She didn't know. But out of all the questions swirling in her head, that was the one she wanted to ask the most.
It sounded stupid, but it came out spontaneously.
[I am the system. You may consider me as a form of luck for the unlucky ones like you.]
"Unlucky, huh?" Pandora muttered. She wasn't sure whether to trust the system or not. Who knew if she was just dreaming?
But after thinking about it, she realized she hadn't dreamed at all since coming to this strange world. Besides, she wasn't human anymore. Why would she still dream?
So Pandora had no choice but to trust what the system said. Even if it was lying, it wasn't like she had anything to lose, right?
"Alright then. What do you want, and what should I do?" Pandora asked.
Before this, she had enjoyed reading novels and watching films. Some of them were about reincarnation, transmigration, or even isekai to another world. So experiencing this herself, Pandora felt she was somewhat prepared—at least in theory.
At the very least, she wasn't completely clueless and knew a bit about how things worked.
[I will grant you an Evolution System. In exchange, you will carry out many tasks that I assign. If you fail, you will bear the consequences.]
Even though she really wanted to evolve, thankfully Pandora's mind wasn't clouded. She could still think clearly to weigh her options.
Occasionally, she glanced at the floating panel in front of her, then looked around as if searching for the right decision.
[You have 20 seconds to decide.]
Ah, it felt like she was being chased by a work deadline. Why did it feel so stressful?
[15 seconds...]
As time kept ticking, Pandora forced her brain to think. "Oh, come on, when else will you get the chance to evolve? But what if all the missions are too hard? What if the consequences are worse than death?" Pandora thought to herself.
[10...]
"Come on, Pandora! You really want to become human. At least try it and don't care about the outcome! Opportunities don't come twice, so don't waste this one!"
[3...]
"Yes! I accept!" Pandora finally shouted loudly.
But for a moment, there was no response from the system. That made Pandora look at it nervously, her body trembling. She was clearly afraid it hadn't worked—or that her first mission would be something impossible.
Until finally...
[Answer accepted!]
[Processing your new identity, please wait a moment]