Chapter 2
The person stared at the balled paper on the ground and it slowly disappeared until there was no trace of it left.
Seeing that, the person massaged their temple.
"This has got to be a dream..."
"No way this is real…"
"Status Panel...?"
A neon sky blue panel with words appeared right in front of them.
***
Name: Vivian
Class: Thief
Race: Human
Age: 24
Affinity:
• Poison - x1.4
• Fire - x1.2
• Dagger - x1.2
Stats:
• Str - 11
• Vit - 9
• Agi - 12
• Int - 8
Mana: 16/16
Skills:
• [Dagger Mastery] - Level 1 (x6.2) (Max/16) - Dagger Stab (10 mana points)
• [Dagger Mastery] - Level 2 (x6.2) (??/81)
Lore:
• Village Girl
• Adventurer
• Zhey/Zhem
• Otherworldly - Grants [Growth] - all affinity x5
***
"Vivian, huh. So this body's name is Vivian..."
Vivian continued looking at the status panel.
"Oh, adventurer and the class is Thief. So these things exist here."
She continued reading the details displayed on the panel.
"I don't know about this stats and skills. But looking at the skills, I'm assuming this person is weak. Very weak. Most likely a rookie."
She glanced at her arms.
"No fats, but not muscular either."
She tried jumping.
"Hmm… Just a normal fit girl I guess."
She jumped once again. But this time, she felt the weight of her boobs, causing her to stopped and looked at them.
"Feels heavy. Feels like I'm in my bulking phase and I jog -- but heavier."
"I wonder what sizes are these? C-cup?"
She threw a punch.
"The range is too short. I really have to get used to this body if I'm going to fight or else I'll miscalculate."
An idea appeared inside her head.
"Oh, what about the [Dagger Stab]?"
She looked around to find the dagger she saw earlier and found it on the ground scattered among the items from the satchel.
"Maybe later. I don't want to waste my mana points."
She resumed looking at details displayed on the Status Panel.
"Lore?"
"Village Girl, Adventurer…"
"So the city I'm going to, I'm not from there?"
"Zhey/Zhem…"
A dark expression appeared on her face.
"Otherworldly - Grants [Growth] - all affinity x5…"
"Affinity? I have Poison - x1.4, Fire - x1.2 and Dagger - x1.2, and the owner of this body chose Thief as their class..."
"Although I don't have any poison-related skills, the fact that the owner chose Thief as their class, does this mean I'll eventually have poison skills…?"
"Whatever, let's just level up fir--"
"Wait! Why is there no level?"
She reviewed the details on the Status Panel once again.
"Name, Class, Race, Age…"
"The only level is the skills..."
"So no base level…?"
"Does this mean, this will be my stats forever…?"
Her eyes bounced between her Intelligence and mana points.
"Int is 8, mana points is 16 and [Dagger Stab] costs 10 mana points to cast…"
"No matter how you look at it it's too low…"
"Yup, I definitely have to save my skill for emergencies only…"
"Hmm… I wonder if there are healing skills…"
"Nevertheless, if this is how low mana points are, I definitely should focus on passive skills…"
"If there are any…"
"But how do I learn one…?"
Her head started to ache.
"Whatever, the zhey/zhem god said that they will be giving me monsters, right? I'll try to kill one and see what happens."
"But first…"
Pah!
She slapped herself again.
But this time it was the other cheek because the other one from earlier was still throbbing in pain a little bit.
"Ouch... That hurt... But still not waking up though…"
She stared at the Status Panel once again.
"I don't think the world was this advanced to pull off this hologram…"
"I mean, it's called a hologram, right...?"
"But I'm still wary if this is real or not…"
She looked around if there were any hidden cameras.
"I can't find them…"
She shook her head.
"Even if I find them, how do I explain this body of mine…?"
She stared at her hands and formed a fist.
"This is too real…"
She focused her senses to feel her body -- her breathing, her heartbeat, the solid ground that she was standing on and etc.
She touched her hair.
She could feel that it was long but it was tied securely in braids and into a bun.
"I can't even explain it…"
She returned her gaze to the Status Panel one more time.
"Now how do I close this?"
She thought about closing the Status Panel and it disappeared.
Seeing it, she raised an eyebrow.
She thought about opening the Status Panel and it appeared.
"I see. So that's how it works."
Satisfied, she grabbed the dagger and satchel before heading out of the forest.
***
A couple of steps from the spot where Vivian had woken up, she encountered an animal.
At least that was what she thought it was.
In front of her was a 3ft-tall sunflower walking around with 5-inch legs made of what looked like to be roots.
Vivian got into a fighting stance.
"This has to be a monster, right? I've never seen an animal like this. And it looks too good to be fake or a robot."
The sunflower turned to her and began heading her way.
"Wait! How do I kill this? Also, what if it attacks me? Does it bite or something?"
She made a quick overview of the sunflower's appearance and couldn't see any teeth or anything sharp.
When the sunflower got within Vivian's range, she aimed her dagger for the stem or about 3 inches below the flower.
Whoosh!
Psssh!
As her blade cut through the sunflower's stem, the sunflower also managed to cough out a gas of orange dust from its flower.
"FUCK!" she cursed under her breath.
The orange gas got into her face and her eyes and she immediately felt a burning sensation. But despite that, she didn't drop her dagger and pointed it in front of her as she stepped away in case the sunflower monster was still alive.
She forced herself to open her red and teary eyes and was able to see a little bit.
The sunflower monster was decapitated and laying down on the ground unmoving.
Seeing that, she dropped her dagger and started rubbing her eyes.
"FUCK, I'M GOING TO BE BLIND!!!"
Spit!
Spit!
She also spat on the ground as she continued rubbing her eyes.
A couple of seconds later…
Vivian's eyes were so red, but the tears and the burning sensation she felt earlier subsided. Her eyes and eyebags still hurt, but she surmised that it came mostly from rubbing it violently.
"What the fuck was that?!"
She opened the Status Panel.
***
Name: Vivian
Class: Thief
Race: Human
Age: 24
Affinity:
• Poison - x1.4
• Fire - x1.2
• Dagger - x1.2
Stats:
• Str - 11
• Vit - 9
• Agi - 12
• Int - 8
Mana: 16/16
Skills:
• [Dagger Mastery] - Level 1 (x6.2) (Max/16) - Dagger Stab (10 mana points)
• [Dagger Mastery] - Level 2 (x6.2) (??/81) -
Lore:
• Village Girl
• Adventurer
• Zhey/Zhem
• Otherworldly - Grants [Growth] - all affinity x5
***
"There's nothing. I don't see any changes."
In Vivian's mind, given that she has a Status Panel and got attacked by some gas attack, she was trying to see if there was something like "poison effect" or "abnormal status" on her status, like the ones seen in RPG games.
"I also can't tell if I leveled up..."
Since she had [Dagger Mastery] - Level 1 (x6.2) (Max/16) - Dagger Stab (10 mana points) and [Dagger Mastery] - Level 2 (x6.2) (??/81), she was expecting there would be changes.
She closed the Status Panel and picked up her dagger.
"If I see another sunflower, I have to make sure not to let it spray whatever that gas was."
Vivian resumed making her way out of the forest.
***
A couple of steps later…
There was another sunflower monster.
But this time around she hid behind the bushes and observed it.
Looks like it hasn't noticed me yet…
She stealthily approached it from behind.
Whoosh!
Once she got close, she swung her dagger between the stem and flower, killing it immediately.
She stared at the sunflower's decapitated corpse.
"Hmm… Now that I think of it, I don't see any drops…"
"Assuming this is like a video game, there should be crystals or something, right?"
"Or maybe it has some parts that I should sell…?"
"But which one…?"
Vivian knelt down and began dissecting the body with her dagger.
Sliiit…
"Heh~ it's insides look like a plant."
A couple of minutes later…
Chopped-up parts of the sunflower monster's corpse were each laid out on the ground and sliced open.
"No crystals and gold."
"And if these were robots, I don't see any metals, wires and screws."
"Maybe there's a part of this monster that I should cut as proof or part that I could sell?"
She stared at the opened dismembered parts.
"It can't be the sunflower's head, right?"
The sunflower's head was as large as an adult male's hand.
"I'd be lucky if I could carry more than five of these things..."
"Damn that zhey/zhem god, at least give me some useful information!"
An idea popped inside her head.
"Can this be eaten?"
She picked up one of the parts and pressed it near her nose.
Sniff.
Sniff.
"Smells like a plant…"
She put it down and resumed heading out of the forest.