Regret hit my head with another wave of that nauseating buzz, forcing my eyes shut again. I settled into darkness once more, but my body was awake now under the intense spell of dizziness. I groaned, then stuck out a hand. How did I manage to get sick? Do I have a sick day left for work?
Nothing. Where was it? I murmured, groping around and hoping to get lucky. Did it fall through the cracks between the mattress again? My hand dangled off the bed like a fish stuck in a net. No nightstand either.
Wait. No nightstand?
My eyes immediately snapped open again. No nightstand. No phone. And the window where that evil morning light was coming from was unfamiliar. Now, panic became a companion to the splitting headache rattling my head. Everything was foreign.
This bed was fluffy and white. Too soft to be my bed. That wasn’t my window. The floors were made of wood. There was an astonishing lack of beer cans littering the ground. And the door was fancy, I’d give it that, but it looked like it was straight out of some kind of fantasy novel. This wasn’t my room.
I looked down at my hands. No tattoos on them. The nightgown clinging to me was an ugly white. Not my style at all. None on my legs either. No scars on my wrists, not even cigarette burns. This wasn’t me.
Light reflected off a surface somewhere. A mirror! I shrugged off the pain lingering in my head and shot out of bed, leaving a tornado of blankets in my wake. The wood creaked as I approached the mirror as if it was a live predator.
The woman that stared back at me had clean skin, untouched by scars and piercings. Beautiful. Pure. Young. Framed by raven black hair that went down to my shoulders, with a hint of brokenness to her. The night dress was white like snow, almost matching my cold skin. It seemed to be… old fashioned.
This person was totally not me.
But I can work with this face. It remained completely blank as I suppressed a dawning horror crawling up my skin, copying my movements as I looked at her— or myself now, I supposed— from different angles. I was not me, and I read some fantasy novels that have had this concept during my long overnight shifts at the convenient store.
I wasn’t me, and I was in a completely alien world. Or a nightmare that I can’t wake up from. But how could it have happened to me? Why did the universe, or multiverse, bestow such a bother on a waste like me? Normally, I have to get hit by a bus or something while saving a cat. My horrendous blood splatter all over the ground would traumatize the driver for life, then my soul would proceed to another void of light and talk to some otherworldly goddess who air drops me into another planet.
I know I’m too selfish and introverted to save a child and/or a cat from danger. I never was that exemplary in life. In fact, I was quite the opposite. I might have looked like a tough girl in my old life, but now it seemed like I had to be one for real now.
I suppressed the urge to let out a laugh tinged with primal fear bubbling up my throat. Let’s back up, I thought as the face in the mirror began to crack into a hint of confusion. Looked human enough, but the expression was getting uglier by the minute. I forced it back into a neutral stare, examining what I had to work with.
She looked… cute. Too cute. And she was now me.
Last night, I drank too much. Typical. Before work, during, and after. Not like Bob cared. He snoozed in the back, while I’d ring up the night creatures that somehow wandered in the store at awful hours.
Then it hit me. That pain in my head. Got in a fight with… Tyler, I think that was that guy’s name. He was a regular screw up that harassed me every night. That asshole must’ve hit me in the head with a bottle. I couldn’t tell you who won, but judging that I’m now here I supposed I lost. The cute face gave a wry smile back at me.
Great.
I closed my eyes. The headache was gone, replaced by the scared loneliness that no main characters in the novels seemed to have when they first drop into a new world like this. This was horrifying. I peeked at the sturdy door. I had no clue where I was, who I was, and I was completely alone.
Who the hell is this girl, anyways? Did she just tap out of life too and expect me to live her life now? Like some kind of video game boost?
Girl, you’ve got some nerve leaving me here, I glared back at the mirror. Get out here and face life like a real woman!
The angry look on her face made me feel bad, but then I remembered that it was me again. My shaking hands tentatively moved to the girl in the mirror’s face and hovered an inch above her cheeks. My face.
Like how it looked in the mirror, my skin was incredibly soft when I glided a shaky finger over it. Not an ounce of skin care routine seemed to be anywhere here, but the sensation was real. This place and all the feelings I was going through were real. I was here in the flesh. And apparently, I was here to stay.
The residual pain in my head faded to a dull throb, but I couldn’t remember a thing before I woke up here besides the bottle that hit me. Did this lady also get hit in the head too? I impatiently waited for a sign of her coming back. It seemed like this game was single player, for now. Speaking of that…
Don’t travelers have some kind of cheat code when they arrive to a new world? Where is my newbie starter pack?
That was something I must’ve skimmed over when I read those novels. If I had such a cheat code, it would have bothered to show up by now, right? I waited a few seconds, but let out a loud sigh when nothing happened. I expected too much, didn’t I? Maybe it was because I was too broke to play gacha games. Or maybe I was about to die and this was just a fleeting joke.
That was when I noticed it. At the corner of my vision was a tiny, barely imperceptible symbol etched in my vision. It had a red dot on it in the center of a box, calling me like a notification of some sort. It must have been lurking there quietly until I focused my attention on it, causing it to become more visible and move to the center of my vision.
Heh. It seemed like there was some kind of cheat code for me, after all. Now how to open it, is the question now. Depending on what exactly this strange symbol was, it might not be so bad starting in an entirely new world. Something made my head tingle, as if my expectant gaze on it woke it up. A single word came to me.
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“Status,” I whispered.
The voice that hit my ears was fragile and it was also entirely not my own. The language I just uttered that command in was foreign to my ears, yet my brain understood what came out of my mouth. It was songlike, flowing and beautiful. Enough to make me wrinkle my brows in disdain. A strange, but not unpleasant sensation dinged in my head as an opaque box floated right in front of me.
Wait a minute. I knew what this strange translucent portal meant. And I could read what was on it. The knowledge and understanding of the symbols on it seemed to be a lingering ghost of the previous owner’s memories. When I read the Status, I frowned.
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Kathleen Ravenclast
Human Healer, Level 1
(No party affiliation)
[No Element]
Attack Power: 10 (F)
Magical Power: 15 (F)
Constitution: 10 (F)
Wisdom: 15 (F)
Movement Speed: 10 (F)
— No bio —
———————————————
The red dot in the corner vanished when I mentally closed the screen, leaving a sad little plus sign bordered by a box in its place. I physically winced at the sight of those statistics. It did not take a genius to know that F probably ranked the lowest in power.
And Kathleen Ravenclast? What a hell of a name. Secretly, I was pleased with the choice of name. It radiated a kind of pretentious energy I could come up in my teenaged years.
Unfortunately for me, my new identity was the only good thing on the so-called Status screen. With stats like this and no background to speak of, it’s no wonder why the old Kathleen tapped out early.
The figure in the mirror, tall and slender as she was, folded her arms and stuck out her chin. I muttered to myself. “Kathleen, I’m not much of a better backup plan, you hear me? So, don’t blame me if I screw this transmigration thing up for you.”
And the words “Human Healer” made my limited knowledge in gaming flare up. That title was what people called a “class,” right? That would mean that I could change it eventually, right? I don’t like people, so healing them would definitely not be my style. And this Status implied that the stats could also improve, though they seemed pitiful at the moment.
All in all, the situation with this Plus Menu (I’ve deemed it just now) seemed barely salvageable, I thought grimly. This certainly beats wasting away working in a convenience store, but not by a whole lot. It all depended on how things are beyond… Beyond that door.
I turned my eyes away from it to the rest of the room. Not a single piece of familiar technology in sight. Only a chair and a slim wardrobe sat in the corners next to the bed. This living situation I found myself in was ironically already better than my previous apartment. Plenty of room to work with, just a little bare. If this was the original Kathleen’s room.
I felt like a lost cat sneaking around an unfamiliar place, quickly skirting towards the wardrobe. Standing before it, my eyes flickered over my shoulder before my hands yanked at its handle on their own. A musty puff of dust shot out at me as it opened, making me let out a pathetically cute sneeze. Inside the barren wardrobe was… Exactly what I’d expect.
A sad little outer brown robe and some garments hung up above some worn out boots. These scraps seemed like they came out of a medieval fair. They also were presumably Kathleen’s only set of clothes. The most offensive thing about these ugly things is that not a single one of them was black. Just grey and brown. I sighed, then reached out and threw them on anyways.
Wool. Itchy. Ugh. It felt like I was wearing a heavy vest on my shoulders. Either that or Kathleen was weak as all hell. Probably both. Something clattered against the wardrobe’s wall while I wrestled with the robe. I jumped, sticking my head out like a turtle.
A stick glared back at me.
No, my sense of sight seemed to sharpen when I stared at it. I pulled the robe over myself completely and approached it like it was a poisonous snake. Once I got closer, my head felt a little jolt. It wasn’t magic, was it? The feeling seemed pleasant. It didn’t seem like it was going to hurt, yet. A red dot appeared on the Plus Menu, right on cue. I focused on it, and sure enough a new translucent screen appeared with a notification.
———————————————
— Healer’s Warped Staff. [Common]
———————————————
Well, that explains that. No description, but it seems like I got the healer starter pack already. I hefted the stick up. In one hand, it nearly toppled me over. Goddamn, I sighed. It was heavy as a box of soda I had to move from the trucks during late deliveries. I let it fall, tipping back against the wardrobe with a thud.
Perhaps, I could use it as a barbell and get some strength in this body. Speaking of starter pack, how exactly do I use magic? The magic and wisdom stats in my Status stated they were slightly higher than the rest of them, but what did that mean? I’m not some time traveling goddess with years of experience, I’m a glorified cashier.
I checked the Plus Menu to see if there was any other hints. I didn’t need to use my new cute voice aloud. Nice.
The Status screen brought up my Stats again and brought up the Healer’s Warped Staff tag when I glanced at the heavy stick. When I looked away, the tag vanished. Interesting, I suppose this is something that gamers called… What was it again? Appraisal? Items of interest could probably give me some more clues about this world. Asking anyone about anything could certainly give me away as being possessed or a witch or something.
Still, only the Stats screen remained. The tiny plus at the corner of my eyes now had a capital “X” in a box, which closed the window as if a computer was running inside my brain. I brought it up and sighed. Maybe touching the screen could do something? Like the first time I touched my face, I rose a shaky hand up to the Magical Power stat and swiped at it.
A soft ding lit up inside my ears, startling me again. Alright, now this was getting somewhere! The screen blurred for a moment, then expanded with new information.
———————————————
Magical Power: 15 (F)
Governs magical aptitude in spells. Depending on the rank, new Tiers of Spells might be unlocked.
Spells: Basic Healing [Tier 1]
———————————————
Pfft! I spat. I should have known that was the only spell I was capable of right now. I wonder how I leveled up? The phrase “level up” felt ridiculous when I thought about it, but there’s no time like the present to be that way, right?
I hefted the staff with both hands, while looking at it while the Plus Menu was on. Sure enough, the tag stayed there. I smacked it, but my hand propping it up nearly faltered from the force of my swing going directly through the screen.
———————————————
— Healer’s Warped Staff. [Common]
Compatible with Tier 1 spells.
[Basic Healing]
———————————————
I drew in a deep breath. If hitting that spell window was the way to use it, then this world just got a little harder already. Fortunately, I didn’t have to. My head began to feel that tingling sensation again and my brain seemed to react. Mentally, I could pick out a glowing blue ball of… magic. I could feel it moving around inside a white box, an infinite cavern of light.
Something was definitely pouring out of me, and the sensation felt like I was physically guiding streams of water down my skin. Magic burst out like solar flares, sending their licks of fire off various channels. Channels that I directed them to. But the ball inside my mind was beginning to shrink, and with the change of size, my head began to feel a bit dizzy.
Then, I looked down.
A white glowing ring was visibly shining through my heavy wool cloak, like a ring light from the various streaming services I, ahem, was totally not addicted to before coming here. Pretty! I thought. My mind instantly recoiled. How disgustingly pretty!
This was not good at all. I panicked, tugging at the strobe light having a breakdown on my chest, but I only felt cloth. The staff clattered over and nearly crushed my foot, and the bursting fountain of brightness vanished instantly.
Another ding hit my Plus Menu with a glowing red dot.
———————————————
— Basic Healing [Tier 1] Spell failed. Invalid target.
———————————————
I swiped it away, thoroughly annoyed. I felt a sense of embarrassment well up inside of me. I had little shame to begin with, so the feeling gave way to a sense of awe. So that was casting magic in real life.
In this new life, I corrected myself, glancing back and forth between my trembling hands and the staff on the ground. It was terrifying and satisfying, even if my very first spell in the world flopped. A red dot flashed on the Plus Menu, but before I could open my menu I heard a strong knock on the door.
Oh god. I forgot the bit about the very real possibility that I was not alone in this world.