I stared at the notification, then blinked rapidly.
"Destruction of the world just for not attending an Orientation? Where in the world does that make sense?"
I've written some stupid plot devices, but this takes the cake, eats it, and then shamelessly asks for seconds. I mean, come on. Is the balance of the universe so fragile that it's balanced by attendance records? Is that it?
I shook my head.
"Maybe it's not literally the destruction of the world. But… metaphorical? Like, the plot falls apart, and everything goes to shit?"
Somehow, someway, it made sense.
Just then, I thought of another thing. And muttered, "Status."
A blue screen materialized in front of me.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Aria Fenrir
Level: 2
Talent: SSS (Displayed as S)
Class: Frost Blade (Rare)
Stats:
Strength: 101Agility: 107Endurance: 91Mana: 120Mana Control: 35
Skills: [Absolute Zero] - SEALED
[Swordmanship] - B-
[Fenrir Style Swordplay] - D+
[Ice Manipulation] - D-
[Frost Step] - E+
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
That checks out. Level 2, stats around 100, a few skills, and SSS-grade talent. I was thinking I'd get another grade and class since I transmigrated into her body. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Or I would've jumped out the window.
I know you might be wondering, how is this possible? Such high stats and talent, but only level 2? To understand that, you need to know the power system.
After your awakening of mana, you get a talent grade. It could be anywhere from F to SSS. The talent decides your growth rate. An F-grade might get five measly stat points per level, whereas an SSS-grade could get two hundred.
Then there's your class. Healer, Mage, Warrior, whatever. At your awakening, you get an inherent skill with it, then unlock more skills every ten levels. The better the class rarity, the better the skills.
But here's where things get complicated: leveling up requires killing monsters. Specifically, monsters around your grade level. An SSS-grade can't just waltz into a low-level dungeon and grind goblins for experience. The system doesn't work that way. You need to fight SSS-level threats to progress.
So how did she reach level 2?
You see there is another way. By pushing your body, you could level up. The amount of work needed is determined by your grade. An F-grade might just need a few weeks of practice to level up, whereas someone like Aria needed twelve whole years to reach level 2.
Also, there are talent upgrades. An F-grade could upgrade their talent to E by level 20 or 30. Each tier requires hitting certain level milestones, E to D, D to C, and so on.
Now you might be wondering, being a higher grade sucks, man. But the thing is, those F-grades or even S-grades are never seeing their talent upgraded to the SSS rank. Say someone of F-rank somehow reaches S-rank after grinding for years. How is he going to get enough S-rank monsters to reach level 500+ just to upgrade to SS rank?
And that's just SS rank. To upgrade higher, you might need level 1000+, which is impossible.
At a glance, it's a fair system. But when you look deeper, you realize it's a cage.
If you're F-rank, you might reach E-rank. Maybe even D if you're lucky. But that's it. If you're above D-rank, it's likely you'll be stuck in your rank forever. Above A rank, you're just chasing false hope.
I checked my phone. There were twenty-seven minutes left. There is no choice, it seems. I have to go.
With that, I stood from the bed. First, I would need a bath. My appearance right now was less than ideal. I was wearing an oversized pink t-shirt, wrinkled and half-tucked into white sweatpants.
Staring at the shower stall, my heart pounded like crazy; it was practically about to burst. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
It's just a shower. It's just a shower. But no matter how much I tried to tell myself that. My hand still trembled as I reached for the hem of the pink t-shirt.
How did I even get here? Reincarnation, Ice princess, main heroine. Everything about this situation felt surreal.
I hesitated. There were twenty-five minutes left, or even less.
"Get it together," I muttered to myself. "You don't have time for this."
The fate of the world was in my hands.
I pulled off the shirt in one quick motion, not giving myself time to think about it. And just as quickly, I pulled off my sweatpants.
But I made a mistake. Instead of jumping straight into the shower, I looked down; it was an instinctive reaction. What greeted me was a plain white bra and matching underwear. My face instantly went crimson, and my head began to spin.
I slapped myself hard across the face.
"Get it together!"
I didn't give myself another second and jumped straight into the shower stall. Twisting the knob, the cold water blasted me instantly.
"Ouch…shit…ouch ouch ouch!"
I fumbled with the temperature control, dancing under the freezing stream, but at least it shocked my brain back into working order.
"Thanks for that," I muttered through chattering teeth. "Mind's out of the gutter now."
The water finally warmed up, and I let out a shaky breath, grabbing the shampoo bottle with trembling hands.
There were a few more hiccups, like removing the bra and underwear, then trying to clean the... private parts. But by the time I was done, my brain had completely stopped. Too much stimulation. Too many things I was desperately trying not to touch or think about.
But the torture wasn't over. I realized another blunder.
"Shit, I forgot to bring underwear to the bath."
I checked the time left with the status.
Time Remaining: 00:13:47
I grabbed the towel, wrapped it around myself, and bolted out of the bathroom. The worst that could've happened had already happened. There wasn't any more time to waste around.
In such a rush, the towel got caught on some part of the shower and came loose. I didn't care. My damp hair dripped water on the floor, but I just stopped thinking about it.
I stumbled over to the closet and yanked it open violently. There were many clothes, casual wear, hoodies, and all that. I frantically rifled through the shelves, pushing aside neatly folded shirts and pants.
I found the academy uniform, throwing it onto the bed. I thought, where the hell were the underwear?
From the corner of my eye, I spotted a set of drawers built into the closet's side panel. I yanked the top one open. There were socks and stockings.
I pulled one pair of each as I would need them. Then opened the second drawer. Finally, there were bras and underwear.
I grabbed the first set I saw; they were the same as the ones I was previously wearing. My hands were shaking as I tried to fasten the bra clasp.
After that, I turned toward the academy uniform: a white button-up shirt, a black blazer, a pleated skirt, and a red ribbon tie. I quickly went through each piece. The shirt wasn't the problem, nor was the blazer or skirt. But what was waiting for me was hell.
The stockings.
"How the hell do you put this on?"
It was my third time trying. I bunched them up carefully, slipped my toes in, and started pulling them up my leg. They went smoothly for about two seconds before twisting around my calf.
"Damn it!"
I tried to untwist them while pulling up, but that just made it worse. The fabric bunched and rolled, creating an ugly wrinkled mess halfway up my shin.
I ripped them off and started over.
Fourth attempt. I was even more careful this time, going slowly, making sure everything stayed flat and straight.
They twisted again. This time around, my knee.
I clenched my fists, rage boiling over. I yanked the stockings off completely and threw them onto the bed. Just then, I glanced at the clock.
Five minutes left.
I stared at the crumpled stockings on the bed, then at the clock, then back at the stockings. My hands were still trembling, and my hair was still dripping water onto the carpet.
Over. This is over!
"Is this how it ends?" I muttered, sinking onto the edge of the bed. "Not with a bang, but with my goddamn idiocy."
Should I just make a run like this? Sure, everybody would call me a freak. But it was still better than word ending.
As I was contemplating risking the reputation of the main heroine, the doorbell rang. My blood ran cold.
"Oh shit."
"Aria!" A cheerful voice called from outside. "Let's go to the orientation together! I know you're probably ready already, but I thought we could walk together since it's the first day and all!"
I froze. This cheerful and affectionate voice.
It could be only her.
My brain, which had been running on fumes and panic for the past hour, suddenly kicked into overdrive. The gears started turning.
That voice belonged to Luna Everhart. Aria's childhood friend. The bubbly, sunshine personality to Aria's cold, aloof demeanor. The person Aria trusted most in the world.
More importantly...
Luna was the person who helped Aria get ready for events in the novel. There was even a throwaway scene I'd written where Luna had braided Aria's hair before a formal dinner because Aria "couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters."
Which meant...
"Luna!" I called out, my voice cracking slightly. "I…I need help!"