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Apparently I Grew Wings

"Hmmm…"

I twisted and turned the mirror I had on hand, dexterously manipulating it in order to check myself out. I slowly examined every last nook and cranny, with my expression remaining serious throughout the process.

For the most part, I looked no different from usual. My hair was black, and my facial features were all exactly as I remembered them. To be honest, I was just another guy. I wasn't especially handsome nor particularly ugly. My eyes carried a bit of a sharp glint, but they were honestly the only part of my face that didn't scream average. My height and build both fell within the norm as well.

The reason I was scrutinizing myself wasn't because I was some sort of narcissist. I wasn't particularly interested in taking in the appeal of my own body. I was merely checking myself over because it was absolutely necessary.

I gave the mirror yet another twist and started to gaze at my back: the most abnormal part of me. For some odd reason, I'd grown wings. The pitch black protrusions sprouted out of the area around my shoulder blade. They looked like the kind of thing you'd expect to see on a dragon, or maybe even a bat. I couldn't tell which.

Having wings was weird. I'd never had them before, so they almost didn't feel like a part of my body despite clearly being attached to me. It was a bit difficult for me to control them due to my unfamiliarity with them, but focusing on them allowed me to flap them, thereby confirming that they weren't just some sort of decoration.

The second and only other weird part of my body was my right eye. My eyes were both originally black. Keyword: were. My right iris, however, had gone through some sort of change. It had somehow dyed itself a brilliant shade of crimson.

It seemed that the change in colour was linked to one of the skills innate to my race. Specifically, it was one of the so called "magic eyes," the cringy things Japanese kids in middle school loved going on and on about. I myself had gone through a similar phase in the past, so seeing the piercing red eyeball had caused a series of embarrassing memories to resurface. I immediately started feeling ashamed of myself.

Though my body had changed, my clothes hadn't. I was still wearing jeans and a t-shirt. The overly casual apparel starkly contrasted my less than normal body parts. My appearance was all over the place; I felt like a shitty, low budget cosplayer.

Wait a second. I'm wearing a t-shirt over my wings? Oh god damn it, it's probably torn, isn't it?

I couldn't quite get the angle I needed to see the supposedly torn part of my shirt, but I remained absolutely certain that it'd suffered damage nonetheless.

"You know what? Screw this. I'm going to bed."

The act of examining my body had caused me far more mental fatigue than I was comfortable with, so I decided to just stop thinking about it. I used a bunch of dungeon points, or DP for short, and purchased a futon, a japanese style bed.

I appeared to be in some sort of throne room, but I decided to just flat out ignore it for the time being. I laid the futon out on the floor, tucked myself in, and closed my eyes.

***

General Information

Name: Yuki

Race: Archdemon

Class: Demon Lord

Level: 1

HP: 2100/2100

MP: 6700/6700

Strength: 651

Stamina: 685

Agility: 550

Magic: 897

Dexterity: 1250

Luck: 70

Skill Points: 5

Unique Skills

Magic Eye

Translation

Skills

Item Box

Analyze Lv. 1

Titles

Demon Lord from Another World

DP: 900

So what exactly happened?

The answer to that question was surprisingly simple: I reincarnated.

My death was a boring one. It wasn't accompanied by any extenuating circumstances. I wasn't involved in any sort of major incident, nor was I intentionally killed for any particular reason. I simply died in just another everyday accident. And then I was reborn.

I never met any sort of God. I wasn't informed that I'd been killed. But I was certain that I'd died. The sensation was still vividly ingrained in my mind. I could still recall the feeling of the truck crushing my bones and mutilating my body beyond repair. I could still feel the blood and pain simultaneously seep from my body as my consciousness slowly sank into the abyss.

A shiver ran up my spine as I recalled it. It was far too explicit a memory for it to be fake. I really had died. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my nerves and stopped myself from trembling. I chased the unpleasant memories out of my mind and set them aside. No good was going to come out of dwelling on the past.

When I came to, I found myself in what could only be described as a throne room, one filled with expensive looking chandeliers, walls, and pillars. There weren't any windows, and it honestly seemed quite small for what it was. Behind me sat a single throne. It wasn't overly decorated or particularly gaudy in any which way. Rather, it gave off a sense of majesty. A large blue carpet ran from one end of the room to the other. I followed it with my eyes as I observed the room in its entirety. There were very few ornaments placed within. The only expensive looking thing was the door that lay at the end of the hall.

All in all, the room gave off a sort of sinister feel. It looked like the kind of area that would likely be accompanied by a demon lord or some other sort of final boss, with the only difference being that it seemed a bit small.

My mind was blown. I couldn't help but blankly stare as I slowly took in my surroundings. It took a good while for me to finally recover and realize that I needed to get a better grasp of my current situation.

I stood up. And as I did, my line of sight changed.

"The heck is that?"

I immediately spotted a rainbow coloured gem as I got to my feet. It was situated right behind the throne, and seemed to be be radiating a colourful light. The gem was circular, and seemed to be just a bit smaller than a basketball.

For some odd reason, I decided to reach out and touch it. I had no idea why I made the decision, but I did.

"What theaaaaaaaaaarrggh!?"

A head splitting pain assaulted my mind the moment my fingers touched the orb. It was like my brain was being tampered with against my will. Unpleasant, unnatural sensations coursed through my body as I fell on my hands and knees. Tears began to spill from the corners of my eyes.

All I felt was pain. It hurt so bad I couldn't see straight; the world had started rocking back and forth, tilting left and right. I felt nauseous, I almost wanted to vomit.

The hellish headache persisted at full strength for several seconds before slowly beginning to abate. It came and went in waves, fluctuating in intensity every few moments.

"I…see…"

I managed to squeeze out a few words between rapid, shallow breaths. I felt as if I'd suddenly been injected with knowledge, as if a dictionary had implanted itself inside my brain.

And that was exactly what had happened.

"Menu."

I recited one of the words the dungeon itself had taught me. A translucent, glass-like pane appeared in midair, materializing itself right in front of me. The knowledge I'd suddenly gained informed me that the menu I summoned was adaptable. Its appearance would change based on its beholder; it would morph in such a way that it always appeared as intuitive as possible. I used to be an avid consumer of video games, and for that reason, the dungeon seemed to have judged the that its menu should appear like that of a game's.

If I was a goblin, it probably would have manifested as something along the lines of a stone slate instead, given how primitive they were.

I still felt a bit dizzy, so I placed a hand against my forehead to prevent the world from staggering as I looked down at the menu options. It seemed to have four buttons: Status, DP Catalogue, Dungeon, and Gacha. [1]

The last of the four immediately grabbed my attention. Rolling a gacha and trying my luck sounded tempting, really tempting. That said, I understood it wasn't a good idea for me to try it without first obtaining a more robust understanding of my current situation.

For the time being, I decided to start off by checking out my stats. I manipulated the menu by tapping it, as I would a smartphone or other touch device.

"Wait… I'm an archdemon?"

Well, so much for being human…

[1] I didn't localize this term because I feel that it's already used enough in English. If anything, localizing it would make less sense. Anyway, for those that don't know what these are, they're machines with capsules inside of them. The capsules contain toys, and you never know what you're going to get until you insert your money and give the thing a spin, but the prizes are sometimes listed somewhere if you look for them. They are commonly used in video games, particularly MMOs and asian mobile games, and typically function as a premium feature for paying users. Wikipedia link here for those that are still confused.