Even if it was right before her face, Camille still struggled to accept the reality of her situation. Alas, in an age as modern and advanced as this one, such a sight was not that odd. For even the wayward shop, just down the street, had a holographic interface on it's panel.

Could it really be nanomachines? She thought to herself. Just yesterday, she had read that certain governments were putting little machines smaller then even strands of hair in water. Capable of providing sugars, proteins and other nutrients, the whole prospect didn't seem that far fetched...

But, on further reflection, her theory didn't quite add up. After all, for all she was concerned, she had never heard of nanomachines that gave visual interfaces and appeared out of nowhere... To answer her question, Camille decided to no longer depend on herself. Rather, she would rely on the most trustworthy, never dubious source of all, the internet.

With her keyboard below her fingers, she began hastily typing away. Searching up every conceivable theory in mind, whether it be, nanomachines, holographic interfaces, or drugs in her food, she went through every single one of them. Hoping that the government would not deem her a lunatic all the while, she eventually stopped.

"Damn, there's really nothing, huh." Camille looked up to the ceiling as she said this. Then without pause, let out a hearty powerful laugh. Were years of isolation getting to her? Was she truly about to lose her marbles?

No. Camille refused to accept that. There was nothing that could convince her she was insane. So instead of looking within herself, she instead diverted her mind to the outside world yet again. In the Earth that she lived in, magic was no longer the mystery that it used to be. No longer the wonder of fantasy and secrecy, it was instead a widely available concept that even an infant came to understand.

However, even if it was no longer a mystery, that did not mean that it was accessible to everyone. Dependent on innate talent and vessels, the ones who held the ability to access it were either borne of great lineages or extremely lucky. Dictated from the time of birth, there was no denying whatever birthright was thrust upon you. And as far as Camille understood, she was one of the unfortunate ones. Still, she suspected that there was much information left guarded, so it was entirely possible that getting such great powers was a prospect. After all, if everyone had access to such abilities, then surely the damage and change it would cause to society and civilization would be unprecedented.

Power, strength, magic, all those benefits which were once but a distant dream now felt all the more real to her. Barely out of reach, Camille had a strange desire to grab it. Even if she was unaware of how it worked or just to what extent it would make her stronger, it didn't matter. The sheer potential that she felt from it was more than enough to provoke her desire.

"Alright, ain't no time like the present."

To develop her understanding of her power, she tried to recollect whatever memories she had of it. After the menu flashed out of nowhere, she recalled that she clicked the white X button in the top right corner and closed it. But as far as she was concerned, she still couldn't quite understand what it was that made it appear in the first place. To summon whatever ability she had, Camille tried to think really hard about it.

Status, status, stats? Staaa-tuuus, statistics? Gamers' Resilience, gamer bod, stupid fucking statistic summon jutsu? Ok yeah, this is a waste of time.

Reality was cruel to her. No matter how much she squinted or made weird waves of her hands and jumped around, nothing appeared. It truly was unfortunate, well, if she wouldn't be able to summon it via thought alone, then so be it.

"Status."

Strength, dexterity, vitality, resistance, defence and charisma. Each very common stats to be found within video games, their existence required no explanation to the intricate gamer that was Camille. With another tap of her finger, she selected strength.

Able to be increased through training, huh? Now that she formulated a theory on how the stats worked, she sought to verify it. Next, she selected defence.

Sure enough, it too could be increased through training. Enough affirmation for her to move on, she chose to focus on other things. And those were the few things that irked her. First of all, to what standard did those stats scale to? After all, in 'Hammer ART Online', there were a few more stats than the ones listed and were capable of reaching the hundreds, so it was obvious that this wouldn't follow that system. If she was lucky, ten would be above average, and she would already be beyond most people. But as for the second thing that bothered her, was she seriously only level one?

Even with her newly acquired abilities, she had found herself at the bottom of the barrel and at the lowest of the low. Truly, was life planning to disown her and leave her as a talentless hack yet again? To abandon her in the dark and force her to squabble among the others?

Her skin flushed, and the veins of her hands bulged against her skin. Having lived an existence like that all her life, the very idea that she would be average annoyed her.

Staring into blank nothingness, a few moments passed. And given a few more, she had finally recollected herself. With a deep raspy inhale and exhale, she felt her heartbeat stabilize and her mind clear.

"A bit lame, but why not, I guess."

Focusing on the brighter side, she tried her best to be positive. Of course, it shouldn't matter to her if she was but a mere level one. Because all it meant was that she would have more time to grow, develop her skills, and become stronger, of course!

Alright. Now I'm motivated. With newfound vigour, Camille moved on to the next logical step.

"Skills."

Once again, another menu appeared before her. And with only one skill in sight, she clicked on it.

Most fascinating... If the information listed proved to be true then, she was unsure of what to say. It was truly a miracle. To not require sleep, going to the bathroom, or even food? In a sense, she felt like she had become a god. That she had surpassed the frailty of her form and had become something far greater than before. Camille was to put it lightly, deeply mesmerized by the endless possibilities that lay before her. Without requiring sleep, for example, she could be up throughout day and night. Being able to have double the time normal people would have, meant double the time to get stronger, which meant double the time to prove herself!

It was all fitting in perfectly. Well, at least somewhat. By all intents and purposes, she still didn't have any skills to use this great body with. Indeed, although she had all the time and 'potential' in the world to become stronger, she just wasn't at that stage as of now. For example, there wouldn't be much she could do if someone just decided to shoot her. Or maul her with a baseball bat, hit her with a car, or throw a fireball at her, actually; now that she thought about it, she was pretty lame.

"Hmm, well, we can't be having that, can we."

Unable to bear the burden of her own weakness any longer, she set to change the fate that was in store for her. Luckily, she had just the perfect contraption to test her strength on. Right in the left corner of her room, hanging by a single chain, was her test dummy. A boxing bag that was both covered in dust and worn down by the stains of time, it was perfect. Without a second to spare, Camille tracked through the darkness. Her hand raised out, she eventually touched upon it's outside synthetic layer. Cool to the touch, it reminded her of a better more distant time. Amused that she had never forgotten how it felt even after all this time, she took a moment to recollect. And when all but a eternity had passed, she readied herself.

"Here goes."