Adaptation and Progress
Everyone's had that experience at least once. You grip your hand tight, stretch it out thinking, "Maybe I can use magic like in novels?" and shout something like "Fireball!" If you haven't, whatever. Anyway, that's magic—trying it even though you know damn well it won't work in reality, just on the off chance. Magic is mostly manifested by consuming something called mana. In novels and webtoons, it's always depicted as this blue energy flowing everywhere.
...Is that it?
I let out a hollow laugh, wondering if I'd finally lost my mind. I was still adjusting to the gender swap, and now what the hell was this?
"...Should I go to the hospital?"
I thought about it but immediately dismissed it. How do you even explain this? My gender changed—which doesn't make sense—and now there's this mana-like stuff floating around me? Sure, the hospital idea crossed my mind, but I wasn't about to get treated like a lunatic.
Right then, a stinging pain pierced my head again.
"Ack...!"
A flood of information slammed into my brain like nails being hammered in.
"Mana Control, Magic Missile... Light, Fire, Aqua...? What the hell is all this...!"
For three minutes, an insane amount of info poured in amid the agony, and I came up with a hypothesis.
I turned into a witch character and completed my first job change today. This stuff flooding my head... it's all first-job skills. No way...?
The five minutes of torment finally ended, my mind clearing as I sorted through the new info.
First-job skills: eight types...
Mana Control: Makes mana easier to handle.
Magic Missile: Compress mana into a projectile and fire.
Light: Summon a small orb of light to illuminate surroundings.
Fire: Summon a small flame in your hand and control it freely.
Aqua: Summon a small water orb and control it freely.
Charge: Focus briefly to boost attack power.
Threat: Gaze with killing intent; probabilistically breaks enemy will.
Witch's Aura (Passive): Envelops body in a mysterious aura. Increases charm.
...So why all of a sudden...? No way.
I clenched my fist and focused. Soon, I felt a bit of strength drain from my body as a blue arrow materialized above my hand.
"...Magic Missile?"
Magic Missile
Pew—thunk!
I'd only said the name, but the arrow shot forward and slammed into the bedroom wall. It vanished on impact, leaving a fist-sized dent.
"...Huh?"
Lately, I'd been blurting out some pretty dumb shit.
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Yeah, fine. Let's admit it. No matter how I looked at it, I'd become a full-on game character. Not just the appearance— I could use in-game skills too. A real game character.
...So if I die, do I respawn? That's intriguing. Or... if the character dies in-game, do I die too? That'd be kinda scary.
Dying during raids was common, after all. Just in case there's no respawn, I'd treasure my life—in reality and in-game.
"Aqua."
A water droplet formed in my hand. The mana drain still felt weird, but I'd think positive.
I burst the droplet into a stream, filled a pot with water, and started boiling ramen.
Not even wartime, and what's the point of powers like this?
"...Way more convenient than I thought?"
But magic turned out even handier than expected. Higher-level spells later would make life smoother. Using it just for ramen felt a bit wasteful, but it'd come in handy eventually.
Though enduring that skull-splitting pain every job change? No thanks.
It seemed unique to me, so no way I'd publicize it.
...As long as I don't get kidnapped for experiments.
Bubble bubble—the water started boiling. I quickly added noodles and powder, stirring gently.
"If all in-game skills apply to reality, what about life skills?"
Life skills. Unlocked at level 80. Key to growth in Lost World: Cooking, Gathering & Hunting, Pharmacy, Archeology, Jewelry Crafting—five total. Players pick two.
My class was witch, so pharmacy was mandatory for potions. Even had a passive boosting pharmacy proficiency from zero-job skills.
The other one? Efficiency's similar anyway. But if it works in reality, pick something useful for real life.
Bubble bubble—ramen nearly done, I cracked an egg and stirred it in. Of course, this assumed life skills worked too.
Level 80 was far off, so I'd decide slowly.
Ramen boiled with mana-made water? Tastier for some reason.
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These folks had stuck with me to the end, so no surprise they were ahead—normal players would be early teens, tops.
I'd never sent them my character creation pic. It felt like showing my face since it was my face now, kinda weird... but no reason to refuse, so I did.
...Pretty, yeah. That's my face now.
Praise for my looks—no, my character—kept coming. Felt like getting judged on my face, a bit embarrassing.
Streaming? I had enough cash for myself, and playing while minding viewers sounded annoying.
Streaming. With my rep, it'd blow up. Season 1 server rank 1, first to clear all legion commanders, first Demon King Kajea kill, only max-level full job changes. Add this beauty, body, voice? Perfect storm.
But no thanks. Broadcasting my screen? Already felt suffocating.
Sarea. He'd streamed since Season 1, pretty big. I searched NewTube: 350k subs, 130k Twitty followers. Bigger than expected, bit daunting.
We'd raided together 4-5 years ago; he'd streamed through it all. Even during legion commander kills—went fine, so why not? Just talking or not.
Voice only? Sure. They'd known me minimum three years; hiding voice felt rude. Content-wise? Season 1 boss-clear party spilling stories? Gold.
Objectively, my voice was nice now. Soft, soothing, perfect ASMR bedtime vibes.
She sent a link right away. Around 110,000 won, famous for value. Lost World didn't need mics in-game, but external voice chat required capsule mics.
I bought it instantly. Time flew to past 9 PM. Cupboard empty—no ramen left.
"...Ate it all already."
I plopped on the sofa, opened delivery app naturally.
...Just dropped 110k today.
Closed the app, sighed, decided on convenience store run.
"Aqua."
Hydrated with my own mana water, threw on baggy hoodie, masked up.
If you're changing my body, resize the clothes too.
Shopping soon—only one pair of undies left.
Sighed deeply, opened the door, and stepped out.
That night, the full moon shone bright.