I looked up towards the large arching gate, where two guards wearing red uniforms just like Eleanor’s were stationed on both sides. Swords were strapped onto their wastes, while their left hands held a kite shield with a silhouette of a giant red panda on all fours.

'Talk about school security. Who are they even protecting? Her Majesty The Queen?'

As I walk towards them, they held their hands up, indicating that I should stop, before they get violent.

“Halt! State your business” said one of the guards

'Wow, he even speaks so formally'

“Uhmm, I’m here to see Professor Natalia. It’s about the request she put out in the guild.”

“The madam’s request…” after a few seconds of deliberation, he told his partner to open the gates

“Follow me” as he motions for me to follow him

I walked a meter behind him, trying to check out the place.

“Hoh~, this place is pretty huge for an academy” looking around while walking

I saw that there were dozens of buildings on both sides, spanning for a few kilometers before seeing a larger building with a working fountain in front of it.

The place seems lively as people were moving from one building to the other, while others sit on the ground or chairs that’s strewn about, chatting with one another.

“That’s only natural, as this is Lome, one of the ‘Research Hubs’ of the Empire” he said, with a proud look on his face. As if his own kid’s been praised by a teacher for getting a correct answer in school, grinning to the side while saying ‘That’s my boy/girl, so smart!’ to the other parents there.

“What do they even research here anyway? Monsters and stuff?” I asked the man in front of me

“Anything that may help the Empire really. Food, artifacts that’s been found in ruins, new forms of transportation, monster origins, mutations, new weaponry and others. Each topic has a designated building allocated for them. But their funding depends on what they’re doing and results, those who can’t, get their departments axed” pointing at the buildings on both sides.

“Oh, which one’s Professor Natalia’s?”

“There” he points towards a wooden building, with a broken door that’s been put to the side

The walls were missing some wooden boards, and a flock of crows occupies the black roof, cawing in a melody that I translate in my mind as ‘Hey guys, look. Someone volunteered to be our food for the week’ while looking at me with their soulless eyes.

“Are you sure this is the Professors? This place looks like the next set for Alfred Hitchcock’s movie” as I stare at the crows. A shiver runs down my spine and it’s not the good feeling one.

“Alfred who?”

“Alfred ‘The Master of Suspense’ Hitchcock of course…never mind. Is this really Professor Natalia’s building. It looks run down and shabby with a tinge of ‘someone’s going to die here soon’ feeling to it”

“Yes, this is madam Natalia’s research building. Well…at least the madam still has a building to use. From what I’ve been hearing from the other professors here, she’ll get her funding terminated if she doesn’t make any real progress soon” gesturing me to go inside

When I didn't immediately enter, he gave me a tap on the shoulders

'Woah there buddy, don't rush me to my death' he was blatantly pushing me now

“This is as far as I can accompany you. The madam should be inside doing her ‘experiments’ and please don’t cause a ruckus while inside the campus or we will be forced to remove you from the vicinity”

“Why would I cause any trouble anyway? It’s just taste testing some juice right?”

“Oh, she made it about food this time…good luck kid. I’ll see you real soon, if it doesn’t go well that is” walking away while wearing a tired expression.

“Eh, if it doesn’t go well?”

The guard keeps on walking without responding to my question.

"Then let's go in" psyching myself up

With nothing left to do, I walk towards the entrance of the building

“Hello, Professor Natalia. I’m here for the request from the guild” peering inside the building, it wasn’t as shabby as the outside, hell it looks decent to say the least. The walls were painted turquoise-blue, with furniture’s and decorations on the walls.

A picture was on one of the tables near the stairs.

'The professor?' I walked closer and looked, seeing two people where on it.

One was a handsome middle-aged man with black hair combed to the side and a young cute girl with the same colored hair as the man, but she had wavy hair extending to her shoulders. She was holding a brown stuffed teddy bear, cradling it in her arms, as if it was her baby. The man was kneeling to the side of the girl, smiling as they looked towards the camera.

“What do we have here? A new student that’s willing to be my assistant?” I heard footsteps coming from the stairs next to me.

Looking at the origin of the voice,

I saw a young woman with black wavy hair that goes down until her hips, accentuating her sharp nose. She was wearing an opened white lab coat that extends up to her knees, pieces of paper and pen were sticking outside the pockets of it. With a grey shirt underneath and a black skirt to go along with it,

“Professor Natalia? I didn’t expect someone like you…” I didn’t finish my sentence as she cut in

“Who else might I be? And didn’t expect what?” said the woman, folding both her arms in front of her chest while making a sour expression

“Oh, uhmm, I wasn’t expecting someone so young to be a professor” trying to finish the sentence that I was saying before she cut in

“I’m here to do the request that you put on the guild and also for the ‘Gene Mutation” getting straight to the point of why I came here

Her frown disappears, as she reveals a smile. Eyes narrowing as she looks at me with her jade colored eyes, as if she found a new toy to play with…I thought she kinda looked cute when she stares at me like that.

“Ohhh, are you now? Then let’s do a little taste test first, before we talk about the other one”

She goes to the room to the left, while gesturing for me to come along with her

As we entered the room, it wasn’t what I expected either. Instead of pots and pans that should have been inside a kitchen, there were test tubes and monster parts inside of them, preserved within a green liquid solution. Flasks, Bunsen burners, scales and other stuffs also filled the tables.

“Sit down somewhere, while I get some stuff done. Don’t touch anything, and when I mean don’t touch anything, I’ll cut your hand off if you touch anything. Understand?”

She smiles at me, while she grabs some test tubes.

‘Why do I find her so attractive whenever she looks at me that way?’ rattling my brain of these thoughts

She continued grabbing and mixing substances in one container.

‘Is this what those people who find 2D girls/women to be attractive feel? But she’s an npc inside a virtual reality, so maybe I shouldn’t compare her with those?’

Five minutes of sitting in a chair later, she came over. Holding a transparent glass mug, with red liquid inside of it. Handing it to me, while making a satisfied smile.

“Umm…what’s this supposed to be?” examining the contents of the mug

“It’s good for you” as she continues to smile

“No, what I meant was, what’s inside of this mug”

“It’s juice and its good for you” she comes closer trying to make me drink the unknown liquid

“I’m not too sure I want to drink it”

I try to lean back from the chair that I was sitting on, backing away from her advance.

“You ask too much questions. It’s nothing lethal anyway, so why not just drink it?”

“I real- *glug*”

Before I could finish what I was saying, she took my hand and poured the contents of the mug into my open mouth. With the sudden unexpected move, I swallowed some of it, before spilling some on the floor.

“What the fuck!” wiping away my mouth with the sleeves of my coat. I look at the woman and saw that she took out a watch from one of her numerous pockets.

“Feel anything yet?” she asked, while she turned her sights on me

“I’m pissed off, if that answers your question” after saying that, I suddenly felt light headed

“What did you make me drink…” my voice trails off as my vision darkened

'Ah, I'm going to die again' was my final thought before I lost consciousness

-----------------------------------------------------------

*Buzzzzzzz**Buzzzzzzzzzzzz**Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

“Urghh…”

I woke up from the buzzing that I was hearing. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was laying down on a sofa.

“Urghh, what happened?” I try to sit my body up, but it won’t budge

"Huh?"

I tried to move my body again, but it just wouldn't listen to me

“What’s happening? Hey! Anyone there!? Professor Natalia!” I shout as I try to move my body

“Hey hey, don’t shout, I’m right here beside you”

Her head then appears upside down in front of me.

“Good Morning sleepy head~ or should I say good night?” as she giggles

“What was in that thing! Why can’t I move my body!” I asked, while I tried to shake my body left and right

“Oh, that? It really was just juice that’s slightly special~ It’s made from a newly discovered plant that produces neurotoxins. I wanted to test some of its properties, so I 'borrowed' some of its fruits from the botanists next door while they weren’t looking and poof, you suddenly showed up in front of me” revealing a mischievous smile

“Don’t worry about it too much. You’ll get a feel of your body again in a few minutes after waking up”

Her head disappears in front of me, and I heard footsteps going out to the hallway.

Three minutes of staring at the ceiling later, I finally got my body to move again.

Getting up from the sofa, I twist and turn in place. Jumping five times then throwing out kicks and punches in the air, shouting ‘HWA! HIYA! I am water and I will fucking crash on you!’ remembering some old kung-fu documentaries that I watched.

“Seems like someone here want’s to take another swig of Vaiya juice~” said Professor Natalia, carrying a cup in her hands.

She put it in front of me, while I back away from the nutty professor.

“No, thank you, I had my fill for the day!” waving both my hands in front of me

“Relax, it’s just normal water, see? You must've been thirsty for sleeping that long” as she takes a sip from the cup, showing that there was nothing in it.

“Hmm…” she hands it to me again.

She smiles, but this time there wasn’t that toying look in her eyes from earlier

I take the cup and drink the contents of it, a refreshing feeling flows down my throat, giving me a surge of energy that you’d get for drinking five cups of coffee and that energy disappeared after a few seconds.

My heart then started to beat faster and faster, I could felt the blood coursing through my veins, feeling like I was having a heart attack. My vision started to waver and I was hearing a *ngggggggg* sound.

“That wasn’t water! What did you give me again!” as I sat down on the sofa, trying to calm my piston like heart

“Eh? But I really did just give you water. I didn’t put anything in it” she pondered there for a few seconds, with me on the sofa, feeling like I’m about to die.

“Hmm, so what are you feeling right now?”

She stares at my face and body, checking for something. She then put her index and middle finger on the artery near my neck.

“It feels like…I’m dying” it was getting harder to breathe

“Anything else that could be helpful?”

“…heart’s beating too fast…feels…hard…breathe”

My vision completely turned black

“can’t see…” and the noise from the surroundings suddenly quieted down. I was starting to lose my other senses as well, trying to keep myself conscious over this horrific situation.

“…ey…ter?..llo..llo!” a few seconds later, I could hear something

Gradually getting my sight and hearing back, I see that the professor was in front of me, kneeling while injecting numerous things in my right arm.

“Hello! Hey! Can you hear me now?” she was asking me questions, while inserting another needle connected to a syringe in my arm again

“Will this kind of thing keep happening while I’m here?”

“Oh, good! You can talk again. Feeling any better?”

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to feel right now”

“That’s good~ It’s better than the feeling of death, right?”

She takes the needles off my arm, one by one. With each one she takes off, sending a slight tickling feeling through my arm.

“Care to explain why that happened? Hmmm???” as I give her a long questioning look

“Oh, ahaha, about that. Funny thing is, I forgot that my saliva’s poisonous~” making a ‘tee hee’ gesture

“YOU! How can you forget something that important!?”

“Well, you did make me test if it really was water right? I think it’s both our faults”

“Urghh…am I done now then?” giving up, I look out the window, seeing that it’s already dark.

I went here when it was still noon, and more than seven hours has already passed by then.

“Hmmm, I did want you to drink something else, but let’s call it a night for now. You will come back, right? I got no one left to help me here” making sad puppy dog eyes, like it’s owner just left it in the streets.

'Why would I even come back to this insane place to drink concoctions and be a lab rat for a woman who forgets she has poisonous saliva!'

“Fine”

Well, I kinda have a teeny-weeny crush on her…

------------------------------------------------------------------

A new day, a new beginning. I say to myself, while struggling to go up the stairs with my knees shaking.

“You okay? We can stop and rest for a moment you know”

With Mrs. Lanes left hand underneath my right armpit, assisting me to go up the stairs

“It’s fine, the sooner I can walk properly, the better” forcing out a smile

“Hmm, after we get up from here, we’ll take a break” she gives me a stern look

“But, I can still go on though”

“No, we’ll take it slowly. We don’t want to strain your body too much while it’s still recovering” Mrs. Lane insisted

'If you put it that way, then I guess I'd stop'

And I conceded fairly quickly

“Fine, but can I use the gift machine?”

“Again? It’s still nine in the morning, but you already want to go play again? Did you even finish reading the educational materials your classmates brought before and have you even done your homework yet?”

“I still need to encode and research something from the internet, but after that I’m done. Since we’re taking a break, you can go back to teaching Didy and Dymo. After you’re done, we can go back to me, climbing the great steep mountain ‘Stair’s to the second floor’”

“Then go finish that first before you play” as we reach the second floor

I put my left hand towards her

“I can do this on my own now. You can go ahead. Thank you” I say to Mrs. Lane

“Okay then, be sure to call out when you need to go down okay?”

“Okay”

Mrs. Lane then goes down the flight of stairs

I open the door to Mrs. Lanes room, since the only computer that’s usable in the house was in her room.

Mrs. Lanes room was very neat with a double bed in the corner, alongside a nine feet wooden cabinet. The computer was on the other corner of the room with a table to the side of it.

It was an old model, with a flat screen and a still decent enough hardware that will let you run any software for work, but it can’t be used for playing modern games.

“Let’s get this over with” as I crack my knuckles.

I finished my work thirty minutes later, searching and encoding three elements on the periodic table and what are their uses.

'Why do I even need to study these things if I'm not going to use it in the future?'

I then saw a video of someone streaming her playthrough in ‘Beginning’.

'Oh, other player's perspective?'

I started watching when they were in a large courtyard at the back of an old castle.

She and her eleven other companions were fighting floating green balls with flames covering their mucus like bodies and skeletons holding an assortment of weapons. The green blobs were igniting it’s surroundings aflame, barring their way towards the inside of the castle.

One of the players casted something and a water bubble appeared in front of him, while the others fought off the oncoming skeletons. He aimed it towards the burning bushes, grass and weed that’s growing there and extinguished the flames by using it like a pump.

'This man is a genius. He used common sense!'

With a clear path, they charged inside the castle, ignoring the flaming green balls and skeletons that were chasing them in the courtyard.

When they entered the main hall of the castle, there were two ten feet tall skeletons appearing before them. One was holding a large scythe in black spiky armor and the other was holding a shield with thorns in front of it, with the same armor as the first one. They had names, ‘Richard: The Tyrant’s Sword’ and ‘Elric: The Tyrant’s Shield’ on top of them.

They fought for a good twenty minutes before their supports died from the horde of skeletons that the bosses summoned. With the supports gone, they died one by one, sliced by the scythe or crushed on the wall using the shield as a ram.

‘Ouch, all that effort for nothing. Well, maybe not all for nothing, they did learn what the two bosses did now’ as I closed the stream

Checking the site where I saw the stream was from, I searched for ‘Beginning’ in the search tab. There were tens of thousands of streamers online, streaming ‘Beginning’ with their own playthroughs. Some of them were getting views in the hundred thousand range.

‘Should I start streaming too? That's additional money for just playing a game…but I’m too low leveled to go on any epic adventures and I don’t think I’m that entertaining enough to keep my viewers interested…’ tapping the mouse, thinking if I should do it or not

‘Meh, not today, maybe when I get strong enough to explore’

I then checked on Grand Gift Corps. site, and clicked on ‘Beginning’. Checking for any news about the game, I saw an announcement of a maintenance next week, spanning for eight hours, before the servers go live again. I also saw an auction button to the top right, where people were selling items and gold for real money. With the conversion rate right now of 2 gold is to 1 dollar.

‘Maybe, I could just sell the items that I got in game that aren’t useful for me for some money. That would go to my college tuition funds’ after checking the items on the site, I closed the browser and turned the computer off.

I walked slowly to the other room and entered the gift machine, waking up inside the academy, near the arching gate.

‘Well, it’s time to go meet her again’

I started walking for a few minutes through the campus.

When I reached the building, I saw the professor sitting on the stairs on the porch. Holding a long stick, scribbling some numbers on the ground.

'Clearly someones bored' as I walked closer

When she saw me coming, she smiled, like a kid who just met up with her old friend after a long time of separation.

"Hah...I'm a sucker aren't I?" asking no one in particular

“I thought you wouldn’t come back!” standing up, fixing her lab coat

“Why wouldn’t I come back?”

Aside from almost dying due to her carelessness and being made to drink a juice that paralyzes your whole body, I’d say I’m fine…I think?

“Well, you’ve been away for four days now. So, I assumed you wouldn’t come back” gesturing for me to go inside with her

“Do I need to drink anything else? Or are you going to feed me something this time?” I asked, so I could get my head ready for what’s to come

“Not today, I still don’t have the other one that I wanted you to taste"

"Great! I get to live another day" glad that she didn't make me ingest anything

"Let’s talk about the other reason why you came here” she opened a door near the stairs that leads towards the basement

“Can you really do it?”

You might be asking why I said that to someone who's a professional at what they were doing

Well it’s because from what I heard of from Shen, this place wasn’t the best for changing your race due to the lack of any safety measures. There were other’s who tried here, but they experienced a ton of pain from the process and drawbacks from the aftermath. The other academies out there like, Ferrun or Vaelen would be a better choice since they have departments that specialize in these kind of things, but they’re very far from where I am right now, like half the continent away far.

...And the professor was also one of the reasons why most people don't like to come here.

“Of course I can! Who do you think I am?” turning on the lights on in the basement.

“A dangerous and careless woman, who serves poison to their guests?”

“Very funny. I’ll have you know, I am the best of the best when it comes to this sort of things. So you can just relax and leave everything to me”

I was going to say ‘self-proclaimed’, but I didn’t want to know what she’d do if I said that.

“Really? Then why are you the only one here inside this shabby looking building?” I asked while I looked around.

There were three incubation chambers in the corners. A pod that looks like a gift machine in the real world and a giant cylindrical glass that’s connected by big bulky wires to the pod besides it.

“I don’t know, people don’t like me I guess? First time I came here three years ago, I had people working for me and I was using one of the buildings near ‘Main’, the farthest building from the entrance that has a fountain in front of it. After a few months they just went and left. I got relocated here a year after” she replied while pushing a few buttons on the pod

“What were you doing before you came here though?” looking at what she was doing

She looked at me for a second before she continued what she was doing

“I don’t really know. Last thing I remember, I was inside the academy directors office, facing an old man with a stupid haircut, lecturing me about some things that I should and shouldn’t do” as she pulls the pod open

“Eh? But aren’t you the little girl in that picture near the stairs?”

“As I said, I don’t remember anything else back then, besides the lecture from the old man. I don’t even know how that picture ended up here”

“Oh…that’s odd” it left me thinking for a minute before she called my attention

“I need a core or an essence for the mutation. Do you have any on you?”

“Do I need a core and an essence for it to work?” I asked while opening my inventory

“You can use either. But, If it’s the from the same species then you can use a base core or essence and add another one in the process to gain some additional attributes from mutating. Though, there is a chance that it might not add anything at all when mutating”

'Those things that I got came from Mutatio also, right?' thinking that the essences that I got from the zombies and slimes came from Mutatio

'Eh, it should be'

I hand her Mutatio’s core and all of the Essence of Immortality that I had.

“Okay then, take off your clothes and go inside of it while I finish up preparing” she opened the cylindrical container, putting the core and essence inside of it.

“Do I really need to take my clothes off?”

“Don’t get shy on me now~ just take your coat and pants off and go in your underwear” giggling while she went to the incubation chambers to get some vials.

"Don't peek okay? You'll see greatness if you did" as I was unbuttoning my coat

She laughs at my statement

What? I do think I'm fit with some muscles here and there, and my body is pretty slim eventhough I haven't worked out that much. It's a gift from God that I have a body like this.

"Oh, I'm sure it's anything but greatness"

I then took off my clothes and went inside the machine.

She comes back and closes the pod, pressing some buttons to the side, making beeping noises every few seconds.

“Don’t worry about anything, you’re in good hands” she was assuring me that everything was going to be fine with the same smile she had when we first met…I was attracted, but I sure as hell wasn’t assured of anything going right.

“It’ll take a few hours for the mutation to take effect, so just sit tight and enjoy the ride~ I’m starting the process now”

She pushes a button and my body felt a buzz. Nothing else happened, but after waiting for thirty minutes, my body began to convulse inside the pod.

“Hey! Is this normal!?” I shouted inside the machine

“Yes, that means your body’s starting to integrate with the base” taking a sip from her mug

An hour later, the convulsing started to get worse and a prickling sensation started happening all over my body. It didn’t hurt, but it was kinda tickling me all around my body. My head was spinning, as I started to hallucinate. Seeing floating colorful balls around my vision, turning from one color to the other. But, that didn’t stop me as I grit my teeth, closed my eyes and endured.

Two hours later, it finally stopped. The door of the pod opened and the professor greeted me with a smile.

“Did you have a great time?” she extends her hands in front of me

I grabbed both her hands and she pulled me out of the pod

“It was shit” I said, still slightly disoriented

I checked my body to see any changes, but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary that I noticed

“Feel any different? Stronger, feistier, anything at all?” she asked while handing my clothes back to me

“I don’t think so. Should I feel something else besides what I normally feel?” putting my pants back on

A window then appears in front of me

Mana Point has been replaced by Miasma Point, skills now use up Miasma Points instead of Mana. Int and Wis has been replaced by Miasma, stat points allocated to them have been reset.

“That’s odd, you should at least get some of the physical traits from the base” she was looking at my uncovered body, while I tried to hurry up and put my coat on due to embarrassment.

“Give me a sec, I’ll check something”

I opened my stat window

Status Level 31(3165/85600)

Name RedGender Male

Class CookSubclass N/A

Affiliation Grand Crimson EmpireRaceAbyss Crawler[/td4]

State Mutatio’s Savior: Vit+20%, Str+20%, Dex+10%, Agi+10%. Miasma Body: Incoming magical damage of certain elements from outside sources will deal 1.5x their normal output to you

Physical attack 95Physical def 21

Flexibility35

Evasion .2%Critical 4%, +44% added to damage

Resist Wind/Fire/Water/Earth -50% resistance

Status Points48

Str 42+8Vit64+13

Agi 88+9Con18

Dex 58+6Luk 21

Miasma1

Skills Basic Human Necessity( First Aid, Disassemble, Camp, Inventory, Improvised Cooking), Mixed Cooking, Butchers Instinct lvl15, Knife Sharpening, Knife Finesse lvl25, Culinary Expertise, Poison Treatment, Julienne lvl17, Insatiable Hunger, Miasma Body, Trait Integration, Void Eater

“Oh, my race is called abyss crawler?”

“Abyss crawler? From what species was the base that you gave me from?”

“The core is from a humanoid black slime and the essences came from the monsters it summoned”

“A slime? I never heard of a species or subspecies of slime like that one...”

She ponders for a while, as I check my stat window for anything else that changed.

I got another state, but it was a bad one. Any incoming elemental damage would deal 1.5x more on me.

'…I need to work on my footwork and dodging skills from now on'

Another thing that changed was Flexibility, which replaced Magic attack and Magic Defense.

Magic attack isn’t that much of a loss since I didn't have any skills to use it for, but the other one is huge.

'Wait...doesn’t that make me vulnerable to anything magical?'

The last thing was that my Int and Wis stat were gone now, and a new one named Miasma replaced them both.

'It would've been nice if they could explain what these things do though or some instructions' irritated at the lack of information

Moving on down to the skills tab, I only got three new skills.

Miasma Body – The Abyss Walker lives in the void, where unfortunate living beings that wander into it die in a matter of seconds. They are born from miasma that gained sentience eons ago. Gains immunity to most types of poison. Your flesh and blood gains the miasma property, inflicting either burning, paralysis, hallucination or poison status onto those who make contact with it. Damage and duration of effect depends on the miasma stat.

Trait Integration – The strong survive and the weak gets eaten in the abyss. When you eat pieces of monster flesh, you may acquire certain traits from them at a chance. Total number of traits obtained depends on Flexibility stat. 1 trait is equal to 20 flexibility, can reset one trait once per week.

Void Eater – Takes away a part of your life force to form a condensed miasma ball. Eating away at anything that it touches, leaving nothing behind. Rate of devouring depends on miasma stat.

“Now that’s Interesting” a smile forms on my face

“What is?” she asked, tilting her head to the side

“I can take traits from other monsters for myself whenever I eat them”

“Hoh~ now that really sounds interesting! Do you mind if I borrow your hand for research purposes?” she takes out a scalpel from one of her pockets, as her eyes started to radiate a certain blood lust

“I DON’T THINK YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT BORROWING MEANS!” as she creeps closer

“I’ll stitch it back. I promise!”