A Strong and Powerful Entrance! (1)

A girl lay on the bed in a pitch-black room where no light could enter. Her eyes were wide open despite being wrapped tightly in her blanket like a cocoon. The instant the alarm rang on her smartphone, she silenced it. Then, like a chrysalis transforming into a butterfly, she shed the covers. The girl in her pajamas rose from the bed.

Five years. She had waited five long years for this moment. This body—seventeen years old and in the prime of youth—had not been waiting since she was a twelve-year-old elementary student. No, it went back even further, to the life that had become her previous existence. She had been possessed inside the game I Became the Savior of the Academy.

Back then it didn’t exactly send shockwaves through the industry, but for anyone who loved RPGs, the game was impossible to ignore. Its greatest feature was a story that branched dramatically at countless turning points, paired with a system that made it impossible to dissect through external data-mining.

The thrill of carving out your own path—one that no one else in this world knew about—was truly one of a kind. In ordinary games, no matter how vast the story, once the internal files were exposed through data mining the mystery born from ignorance vanished. To prevent that, the game had an odd structure for a single-player title: it required an internet connection to play at all. The forced online requirement and the server constantly reading save data sparked controversy in the West, with accusations of legal violations.

The saved files were compared and analyzed in every way imaginable. Only when a specific player reached a locked route would the corresponding data finally download for everyone else. That was the feeling it gave. Of course the game suffered several major leak incidents, but the developer’s swift countermeasures and the bizarre structure that still left content undiscovered even after leaks kept the internet burning hot for weeks.

As a veteran player, I always suspected they were secretly producing and injecting new content behind that unique security system. Like a graceful swan on the surface of a lake, kicking its legs desperately underwater.

Yeah… they were good memories. If only I hadn’t been possessed like this, they could have remained fond recollections from my past life.

Shaking off the idle thoughts, I nimbly leaped down from the bed. At the same moment, the blackout curtains covering the window opened on their own. Dark brown hair, gleaming in the morning sunlight, swayed once before the tips settled neatly at my waist.

The quiet atmosphere wasn’t to my taste, so I grabbed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠remote and turned on the TV. A news channel was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the middle of a segment about the Academy.

Beep. Spoiler cut!

Beep. Boring cut!

“...Therefore the ability-user budget…”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Political cut!

After mashing the remote for a while I finally landed on a decent music channel. I prepared breakfast in time with the relaxing lo-fi beats.

Today’s breakfast was a lava-shark-fin katsu sandwich. The sandwich on the table glistened with appetizing juices between the bread, and the golden fried coating still bubbled faintly with residual oil, as if it had just come out of the fryer.

The only small problem was that I had cooked it last night. When I lifted the bread, one side had burned pitch-black from the heat. The store-bought sauce and bread had also blackened and hardened, unable to withstand the warmth. It was my first time cooking, so these mistakes happened. In the game, even milk items never spoiled no matter how long you left them…

Still, it was good for my stats, so cheers.

I made sure not to forget the consumption effect and jotted it down in my notebook. It wasn’t the dramatic “Status Window!” shout that appears in typical novels. It was simply a notebook where I had recorded every stat fluctuation since the first day of my possession.

I had logged every action that affected stats and skills, and controlled the variables as thoroughly as possible. It wouldn’t be perfectly accurate, but it should be precise enough.

After finishing the painful breakfast, I walked into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. A high-school girl who still carried a trace of youth looked back at me. She was on the short side, and certain parts lagged behind her peers, but it was unmistakably a female high-school student staring out of the glass.

Even after five years, the face I saw in the mirror every time was consistently cute. That was how little it had changed. Still, since my heart was that of a manly man, I washed with cold water!

When I decided that, the girl in the mirror also looked full of confidence. Nice!

“~~★”

Humming a manly tune, I finished getting ready. Please don’t ask why steam rose from the cold water.

Next I opened my bag and packed the necessary items. Admission documents? Obviously required. I slipped them into a file folder so they wouldn’t wrinkle and placed them inside. Writing utensils were essential too. I added a pencil case and a spiral notebook. Since I would eat lunch outside, I packed a lunchbox and tumbler as well. I decided to bring only three refined recovery potions just in case. I had labeled the tumbler containing them separately.

A disposable microparticle barrier was a must. There was no other item with such cost efficiency. I put in five coin-shaped devices. A blessing doll woven from hell grass? In you go!

******

After wrestling with the bag for dozens of minutes while still in my pajamas, it was packed so tightly the contents were on the verge of bursting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back out. Still, because it was an expensive bag, it endured without tearing.

“Whew. Even without artifacts, I’ve packed pretty lightly.”

As I finished packing with some satisfaction, the robot vacuum passing by happened to glance in my direction. Even though it was an inanimate object, it seemed to be looking at me with pity. It was true that I was less prepared than usual, so I couldn’t argue against the cold stare.

The Academy banned any artifacts that hadn’t been officially verified, so I had already submitted the ones I planned to use during the semester for inspection. Even then, most of the artifacts I owned were rare items that, once handed over, would never see daylight again no matter what excuses they gave. It was a shame.

Thinking about the artifacts I lost after helping the Academy personnel clear a Gate back when I was still inexperienced still made my chest ache. Of course I had received considerable special treatment thanks to that incident, but the regret was a separate matter.

Now only the final stage of preparation remained—the most difficult one.

The rustle of fabric sounded as the girl, now fully dressed in her school uniform, was reborn as a complete student. My second school life lacked the proper student vibe because uniforms weren’t mandatory. Besides, I had barely attended classes anyway.

I looked myself over, checking how the uniform sat. A draft around my thighs made me glance down. The skirt hem, ending slightly above the knees, swayed with every movement. Even though the heating was turned up high, the psychological effect made my lower body feel chilly and my knees instinctively bent.

But I had to endure it with dignity. It couldn’t be helped. This body was female now. Unfortunately the Academy placed rules and regulations above personal opinion or preference, so there was no avoiding it. Therefore this could still be considered safe!

I checked my phone. The time was 8:50 a.m. Ten minutes remained until arrival, so I had plenty of time.

I didn’t head for the front door. With a simple gesture, the window rattled open and refreshing early-spring wind blew into the room. It really was nice that fine dust was almost nonexistent in this world.

Standing on the balcony windowsill, the dizzying thirty-story drop below was already quite familiar. The bustling Monday city had roads so jammed that just looking at them felt suffocating. If I took the bus now, I would probably only reach the Academy around lunchtime.

But no matter how many layers I wore underneath, jumping from here in this state still felt a little questionable. I knew there were certain perverts who actually preferred the safety shorts, so I couldn’t feel entirely reassured.

Glancing around, I picked up exactly what I needed, then jumped out the window without hesitation. Yet instead of falling, my body floated in midair, defying the laws of physics. The poor robot vacuum I had been sitting on spun its wheels in every direction, desperately trying to comprehend the situation.

Psychokinesis. That was one of my abilities—the power to move any object, including myself, exactly as I wished. Even if I simply flew the whole way, I would arrive in ten minutes. But that wasn’t all I could do.

I gazed toward the Academy and focused quietly. Target: above the Academy gate. Distance: roughly thirty kilometers. Obstacles: none!

Once the calculations finished, a small crackle! sounded. The girl’s figure vanished without a trace. All that remained was the thirtieth-floor apartment where the heating had been left on and the window left wide open.