I... Didn't hate my body. There were times when I admired things about it, and times when I felt like it was nothing more than an inconvenience. Eating in particular, was a chore. That was probably why the Mana Crystal was offered. It had the ability to digest food, but it wasn't a requirement. Instead, all it required was a small supply of mana.

The idea of being dependent on mana was mildly alarming, but then again... Being dependent on digesting food wasn't really any better. After all, what sane person would want a sack of acid anywhere near them, let alone inside them? As long as I continued to think and feel, I should be able to generate mana and sustain myself.

There may be problems, but... I still had the Evolution menu. Using the refinement pattern was irreversible, but I could always improve anything I didn't like. Swap it for something better. Knowing that, there was nothing to be afraid of. It was only scary because there was no guarantee that I would be happy with the result.

As I was, I might be able to stand in the backline and use magic like a good little wizard. But that wasn't what I really wanted. If I was already unhappy as I was... Better to act and regret it, than to stand paralyzed by anxiety.

…

Well, it was easier said than done. I sighed as I looked back at the forum. It seemed like Amy the catgirl had just realized the same thing I had. Her posts were becoming increasingly erratic, and the other posters were trying to remind her that she could undo the changes to her ears and tail. However, she didn't seem to have a problem with the Refinement pattern. I suspected it wouldn't offer anything the user was uncomfortable with, but that the user could make changes that... Didn't suit them.

An anonymous poster suggested that what she was experiencing was an extreme form of what they called dysmorphia or dysphoria. They said it was a sort of obsession with perceived flaws in a person's appearance. Something not entirely rational, but at the same time critical to their sense of self. It made me wonder if something in the stats could explain it.

Kat the foxgirl(ironic), on the other hand, seemed rather pleased with her changes. She was more alarmed by what was happening to Amy. She practically forced Amy to invite her to a party. As Amy calmed down enough to revert her changes, the forum quietly agreed that it would be best to have party members on standby when using the Evolution menu. However, I had no intention of joining a party.

With that in mind, I could only click the button and see what happened. I pushed myself a little by saying that if something did happen, I could report it to the others in the forum so that they would know better.

And I did it. Such a small action for such a life changing result.

I felt a wave of dizziness, or maybe I passed out for a moment. I managed to keep myself sitting upright however. And suddenly, I felt as if a heavy burden had fallen from my shoulders. I breathed out a loud sigh of relief, and fell back into my bed. A thousand aches and pains I didn't notice having had vanished away like they never were. There was a sweet taste in the air that I didn't recognize - my eyes opened wide in surprise. The air was glowing...

I was stunned. Somehow the pattern had been applied in an instant, and rather than just slightly strengthening me, the entire world had changed around me. It was... my Heart, I think. I could see it clearly. The same flow of mana that the Interface had tried to display for me. Though of course, it didn't end there. The entire room was shining. I turned to the source...

The Crystal Core. Power flowed out of it, and flooded into it at a prodigious rate. So many different colors, and some of it even had different consistencies, like syrup running through water. I could still see the stark stone room, but somehow it felt warmer now.

This may be the result of the Aura Perception pattern. It was one of the less interesting things offered in the refinement, but maybe I underestimated it. Still, there were more significant changes to review.

I carefully stood up from my bed, loosening one of the buttons on my pajama's chest. With the changes, that particular spot was significantly tighter... I was a little pleased. I lifted up my shirt a little so I could see my stomach. It wasn't like I could see the mana crystal sticking out, and in fact, it seemed like little had changed. Which was odd, considering most of my internal organs had been effectively scooped out.

What little fat I'd had had been lost, and my ribs were somewhat visible through my skin. Most of what hid them was muscle, significantly more than I'd had before. I probably still had to work out a little though if I wanted to look a little more human. Right now, the way my skin sunk into the gaps between my bones made me look fairly corpselike. 

I dropped my shirt back down and rubbed at the bones in my elbow. It seemed like the best place to start for the next pattern. The 'Arcane Skeletal Overwrite' was an odd change. It changed the structure of the bones to be more crystalline while retaining all of the fun traits that made bones bonelike. Honestly, they felt exactly the same as before. I shrugged and moved on.

My skin had smoothed out and softened, and all of my scars had vanished. I wasn't sure if that was part of a particular pattern or just a side effect of not being malnourished anymore. Well, the scars were obviously magic of some sort. Theoretically, my skin and bones were much more resistant to damage, but I didn't really want to test it.

Maybe the most notable change was my height? Well, I felt a head taller, but it was only a few cm. I picked up the Interface and checked the Body tab again. 197 cm, 80 kg. Still underweight, but probably only because of the mana crystal. Apparently my eyes were also green-gold now, though I couldn't see them obviously. From Aura Perception, I assume. My hair was the same color, maybe a little glossier, a little fuller. 

The other changes were too subtle to notice, like Thought Reinforcement. In order to get a good grasp of everything, the best thing to do was to move around and test it. I carefully stretched myself out, making sure to move every muscle. I'd heard that stretching was important before exercise, though I wasn't sure I really believed it. With that done, I looked around the room to try and get an idea of what I should do... 

Cipiteca396

Sorry if the first part doesn't make much sense to you readers. I know for some people, death and disease are natural parts of life, and 'natural = good' but I can never understand that. All I can say is, please press the button.