I'm Actually That Kind of Genius Mage (1)

"Hoooo-."

Okay.

Thanks to a fair stretch of time having passed, I'd finally gotten my head straight. Now then, to sum it up, the current situation broke down like this:

①. I'd been summoned to some inexplicable game-stage-like place called the Tower of Ascension…?

②. The spot I currently occupied was… how should I put it, a massive stone chamber that looked like some kind of waiting room?

③. I didn't really get how, but I'd somehow turned into a girl. …In other words, I was no longer male.

"…No, seriously, what the hell is any of this? Even some garbage dream I happened to have would've been more plausible than this. Arghhh!"

I raked my fingers through my hair—fwip fwip—and threw a full-blown fit. Being whisked into a mysterious space that looked ripped straight out of some incomprehensible pixel game called the Tower of Ascension was disorienting enough on its own. But on top of that, my gender had outright flipped—what kind of nonsense was that supposed to be?

"Haaah."

A sigh spilled out of me, but there was nothing to be done. Well, hey… life's a long road! Sometimes you stumble into a mystical experience out of nowhere, and sometimes you turn into a pretty girl!

What, you say no? …Well, thinking that way was a hundred times better for my sanity, so all's well that ends well, right?

…Or not.

'Hnnngh. At least with the clothes, they seem to have provided a separate set to match my changed build… right……?'

I awkwardly plucked at the hoodie and shorts I was wearing in place of pajamas, and a wry smile crept onto my face. If they'd been sized for my original body, they'd have hung off me like a tent—a small mercy, really.

How should I put it… if the fit had been wrong, I would've had to keep hauling the fabric up every other second, and that would've felt deeply weird.

And had I been blessed with curves, my mind might've kept wandering to my chest, if… you catch my drift…….

"Ahem-."

Ugh. …My face flushed for no good reason, and I shook my head briskly. Anyway, it was what it was—first order of business was assessing the situation. I put on a grave face and swept my eyes around the chamber.

"Nobody here but me? That's odd."

For whatever reason, there wasn't a single soul here besides me.

Why, though?

The question crossed my mind—but thinking it over, the answer was obvious.

Because one glance at the system message floating at the edge of my vision… made it clear that 'other people' existed here besides me.

'Floor 0. Common Residential Zone, Village of Parting'─── the numbers blinking yellow beside it said as much. It resembled a game system, so reasoning it out, this was quite literally a tally of 'players' 'currently connected.' If you asked how I knew—pure intuition, no evidence behind it.

'Still, my gut said that was probably right. If they're borrowing a game system, that's the feel it'd have, no?'

Game systems are, at their core, built on intuitiveness, so those glowing yellow numbers were obviously a connected-player count.

"Hmmm."

Well-. It might have included players elsewhere too, but there'd be categorical limits. For one thing, players out in the periphery beyond the ⟨ Floor 0. Common Residential Zone, Village of Parting ⟩ likely wouldn't be counted.

Besides, if it went to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trouble of tallying even that, why bother displaying the total connected count per stage in the first place?

Speculation, sure—but reasonable.

Swish-.

I turned my head toward what looked like an exit at the far end of the gray stone chamber.

Whoooo-.

From beyond the arched stone gate, where darkness pooled thick, an ominous draft came seeping in.

"No matter how I look at it, I'm meant to head out that way, right?"

How to put it-. I wasn't exactly eager.

Call it a black box? Step through, and there was a real chance I'd come out wherever those other people were. Whether they'd be foreigners or fellow Koreans, I couldn't say…… but that wasn't the problem.

'What if I walk out there and a fight breaks out… or there's a trap lying in wait, or something? What am I supposed to do then?'

I didn't know what this place was, but it behaved like a game system, and it had a pixel-game look about it too. If the Tower of Ascension was a stage-crawling pixel game, then stepping out that gate and straight into combat wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. Or maybe interpersonal conflict.

And in a body like mine—practically a child's—resistance would be impossible.

'In the worst case—and I really don't want to think about this… ugh. I'm a girl now, so something like that could happen to me too……?'

Yeah. Thinking about it put a foul taste in my mouth. I swept my hands down over my shoulders again and again, shaking my head hard. Forget it. That kind of thing. Bottom line: I needed a plan before walking out.

"………."

'Hmm-. There's… nothing, huh?'

Okay-. 'Analysis complete,' my ass—like that was ever going to happen. I pressed my lips shut and groaned. I stood there blankly turning it over for a good ten minutes, but no plan worth the name came to me.

At best, my so-called plans amounted to: confirm the water in the gray stone chamber was drinkable, drink my fill, then sneak out quiet as a mouse. That was the whole of it.

'Drink up and tiptoe out—that's the best I've got?'

Laughable the moment I thought it, but that was reality. …Going by game-system logic, water left out in an empty room seemed unlikely to be poisoned. For starters, I'd hold a sip in my mouth and spit it out if anything felt off. That seemed the smarter play.

Step, step-.

I walked up to the spring at the center of the gray ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stone chamber and scooped up a double handful.

It was so clear it carried a faint tint of sky, cold and crisp in a way that felt pleasant—not bad at all.

After a moment's hesitation, I raised my small cupped hands to my lips and parted them—'Aaah-'.

And drank.

"Slurp……."

Mm. How to put it… I got a strong feeling this was safe to drink.

Gulp───.

So I just drank it. Reckless, maybe—but if this really was a pixel-game setup, it'd probably be fine.

In fact, I waited another thirty minutes or so, and nothing happened. No cramps, no creeping chills, no fever slowly setting in.

Granted, I could have kept observing a while longer, but I didn't feel like it.

'That "time remaining until start" is what's been nagging at me.'

Partly because I had a fair idea what the countdown meant. Like any stage-crawling pixel game worth its salt, the moment that countdown hit zero, the story would probably force itself forward.

And even if I was wrong, there was no profit in assuming the best—so provisionally treating that countdown as a threat was the right call.

Gulp, gulp───.

I gulped the spring water down by the handful, then tipped my head back with a 'Pwah-'.

…I'd drunk enough to feel full, and my stomach sloshed in protest.

No joke. Seriously, I was starting to wonder if I'd turned myself into a tadpole belly.

'Belly's all water, ugh….'

Well, at this point, I figured I could worry a little less about wasting away of thirst. Which meant it was time to head for the next stage.

"Hoooo-."

I took a deep breath and, feigning calm, tiptoed forward. Reaching the '∩'-shaped entrance where the cold wind poured through, I hunched slightly and crept ahead, braced for whatever might come.

Step, step───

And then.

───.

There, my consciousness 'snapped-' off—casually, like it was nothing.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was standing in what looked like some small cathedral.

'…Oh, hell.'

Startled out of my wits, I stamped my feet—tap-tap, stomp─. The instant I realized how ridiculous that looked, I froze solid.

'Ugh. A warp system—I did NOT see this coming……!'

For a breathless moment I worried I'd gone and stomped around like an idiot in the middle of an actual crisis without even grasping the situation, but no. Nowhere was there so much as a pixel-game monster, let alone a living soul. Instead, all that kept appearing were the system messages I still hadn't gotten used to, as if this were meant to be a tutorial.

And in fact, it was.

"Ah."

Relief washed over me. Oh, it's that kind of setup-? If so, no problem… That was my immediate read. Apparently this was one of those tutorial stops where they hand you a weapon and let you pick a class.

Swish, swish-.

'Hm. Oh, so that's what this is? I did wonder why weapons were displayed all over the place… so this was it.'

Swords and spears, naturally—plus a massive shield, a whip studded with spikes… there was even what looked like a conductor's baton.

'So now I just grab whatever and head out?'

As if it had read exactly what I wanted to ask, a system message rang out with perfect timing.

Ding-.

Apparently there was more to hand out before I picked an armament to carry out with me.

Status-. Well, first off, it seemed I'd gained what's commonly known as a status window…? Something like that. Fine, sure, whatever. I waited to see if anything else worth a look was coming, and sure enough, something else appeared right on schedule.

'A Community?'

What is this, some knockoff Chinese clone of a pixel game—and it has a community feature? Still, call it a silver lining—relief settled in. At the very least, I could talk to someone. Before I knew it, a soft 'Ooh-' escaped me and my eyes began to sparkle.

Which got me thinking… maybe there was more where that came from?

'A new-user signup package, y'know. Got one of those? Feels like there should be, eh?'

Of course, there wasn't, and nothing appeared no matter how many more minutes I waited.

'Th-this trash-tier operation… I'm the biggest fool under heaven for expecting anything, a total moron!'

Hmph. How stingy can you get—remake a person's gender from scratch and not even throw in a bonus-?

Fine, fine. It stung, but I'd let it slide. I'd been dragged here against my will—what more could I possibly ask for? I gave a sharp click of my tongue and set off, lips jutting in a pout.

"Hmmm."

I poked around here and there, tilting my head this way and that, but nothing among the armaments really drew my eye.

Naturally. This slight body had lost height, lost strength, and its stamina… looked shot to hell too. The face, well… it was very, very, verrrry─── cute and pretty, but that was the whole of it.

Alright-. Let's think this through. Tiny height, stubby limbs, a body that couldn't shake the look of a little kid… and I was supposed to fight with a weapon in hand? That's the question—wield what, and how? Swords, spears, shields—not a single one of them was something I could actually lift.

'A spear made of some lightweight material? That'd be nice, but there wasn't even that… sighhh-.'

Oh. Come to think of it, hadn't it said I could view my Status? In that case, maybe checking it would tell me something. Honest self-assessment is always important, after all—so I figured opening it up might turn up something worth knowing.

I stroked my chin with a thoughtful 'Hm-' and licked my lips.

"Status."

And then.

The moment I laid eyes on the 'Personal Trait' slot sitting at the very bottom of the long status window that unfolded before me─── my eyes went round.

Something so outrageous that the pathetically low physical stats—plain as day at a glance—didn't even register as worth fretting over.

And it was engraved on my status window.

"…Me. Did I, by any chance, get a god-tier starting roll?"

…Is. Is this for real?