"Long ago, the world was filled with light.

Many races lived together in harmony, as their joy and pleasure radiated like sunshine.

Then, all of it was lost... when the looming darkness came.

The world was robbed of its light... and was plunged into a cycle of eternal night.

Monsters began appearing from the shadows. They struck fear and terror into the hearts of all. Roaming around the darkness of the land, sea and sky like they own it all.

But that's not all... For the Umbra Lords showed their faces. Robbing towns and cities from the people, turning them into a birthing ground for their creatures of darkness.

And yet, despite all that have been lost, the people of every race did not despair.

The Valiant, the Cunning, the Strong, the Wise. Many adventurers of such began to take arms, learnt many crafts and studied many spells. All in hopes to eradicate the darkness, liberate the cities, eliminate the Umbra Lords and restore light to the world.

You are one of many adventurers, wishing to do the same.

What your future holds, however, will be entirely up to you. As your story begins in a little town called...

...Lily Corvo."

And that's it for the opening cutscene exposition. I wished I had some popcorn.

But now, onto the game!

Upon opening my eyes to the sight of a lively town square, I took a minute to immerse myself at this glorious view of the town in eternal night, illuminated by the ambient lights from street lamps stationed all over the place.

It was a surreal yet beautiful sight to behold.

Next, I opened my menu and checked my status. There was a bit of trouble finding out how to do that, since I wasn't unfamiliar with the UI. But, I figured it out pretty quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Yoru

Class: Magician

LV: 1

Race: Dark Elf

Gender: Female

============

HP: 60

MP: 200

STR: 0

DEX: 0

VIT: 0

INT: 30

AGI: 20

LUK: 0

Attribute Points (AP): 0

=============

Weapon 1: Old Tree Staff

Weapon 2: none

Head: none

Top: Beginner Magician's Robes

Bottom: (Beginner Magician's Robes)

Feet: Beginner Magician's Boots

Accessory 1: none

Accessory 2: none

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok ok. Everything looks norma— Wait... Am I looking at the gender correctly? It says that my character is female. No way that's true, right? Right??

I won't lie, I was in denial. However, the moment I looked straight down, I knew that I had to accept the fact, no matter how unbelievable it is.

I have become a woman in the game, with chocolate dark skin colour because of my race as a Dark Elf.

What's more, my chest is also moderately large and my height seems to be a bit shorter than I am in real life.

I shouldn't have used the Random button, should I?

But then again, it's not like I can just undo it now.

I heaved a sigh.

Come to think of it. Right before being transported here, the game called me "Miss", didn't it? Darn. I should've realised that sooner and saved myself from the surprise.

No... I would probably still be surprised even if I were to be aware of it.

"Hah..." I heaved another sigh.

I wonder how I look though. That thought then came to my head.

Approaching the water fountain which was just right behind where I had spawned, I looked straight into the water to see the reflection of how my current self looked like.

"Oh wow." I let my voice out to my amazement.

With an exotic pair of purple eyes and fairly long lashes, my character has the face of a model. And in addition to the lusciously long black hair, it wouldn't be an understatement to say that my character is an incredible beauty.

Also, the water looks so realistic!

My god! It also feels realistic!

"Hey! The beautiful Dark Elf young lady over there!"

Suddenly, I was approached by a random player; a dashing, blonde haired man with a well-built body for a character.

Successfully gaining my attention, the blondie whistled amazed upon gazing at my face.

"Wow~ What a beautiful face."

"Do you need something from me?" I asked the blondie.

"You're a newbie, aren't you? I can tell from the way you were acting earlier and from your outfit."

"Well, you're not wrong. I am new to the game. So?"

"Want to form a party with me? It'd be nice to team up with a beautiful girl like yourself. Plus, I can teach you the basics of this game, if you like."

Ah, I see now.

"So you're hitting on me."

"Hahaha! Was it that obvious? So what do you say?"

Well, I won't lie. It sounds nice to be invited to a party right off the bat. Especially when I rarely play games. But the reason the blondie is inviting me is because he thinks that I am a girl.

"Sorry. Despite how I look now, I'm actually a guy inside. So, I'll have to refuse."

As much as I may need the useful guidance from another player, I hate being dishonest, which is basically my reason for refusing. Although, upon hearing my answer, the blondie blinked twice as if he didn't catch that properly.

"Wait, what? You're a guy?"

"Yeah..."

"Seriously? You're not actually lying to me, are you?"

"Nope. One hundred percent a dude inside. I just somehow ended up with a female appearance." I said, making him even more perplexed.

"Huh? How can you 'somehow' end up with a female character? Didn't you customise it?"

"No actually, I didn't want to get stuck in character customisation for hours, so I just hit the Random button once and went with whatever appearance I got without looking at the character until after it was completed. This is the result I got."

"You're kidding me, right?" the blondie asked with the most dumbfounded-looking face. But when he realised that I wasn't kidding, he started to laugh.

"Hahaha! Oh my god. That's hilarious and terrible at the same time! I'm surprised you're handling it quite well, considering that you have become a girl in the game."

"I mean, it is quite literally the consequence of my actions. Besides, it's not like I have become a girl in real life as well. So, I don't really mind it, to be honest."

"Haha! You got a point. But maaan, this sucks. And here I thought I've actually my soulmate."

"Riiight... sorry about that."

"Oh, it's no biggie. It means I simply have to search somewhere else."

Hahaha... the blondie then laughed.

Glad that his optimism did not die one bit.

"Anyways, sorry to bother you. I'll be searching for my soulmate now, if you don't mind."

"Good luck with that."

I waved the blondie goodbye and started exploring the town on my own.

Still... What an interesting fellow that blondie was. I hope he finds his soulmate eventually.

Now then...

I opened my inventory and skill windows to see what I got.

The only items I have in my inventory are forty HP and MP potions each.

And I have two skills: Mana Bolt and Meditation.

Mana Bolt is a non-attribute magic attack skill that costs 5 MP per use. Whereas Meditation is a passive skill that allows me to naturally replenish 1 MP per second whenever I am stationary.

I see...

Understanding what I can do now, I continued exploring the town for a bit longer. Familiarising myself with the area before heading to one of the town gates where I can go to fight some monsters in the wild.

But when I was about to pass through the gate, one of the NPC guards shouted out.

"Hey! The beautiful Dark Elf young lady over there!"

I turned to see what he wanted.

The guard then gestured to me to come over to him, which I did, and started talking to me.

"I've never seen your face before. You're a new adventurer, aren't you?"

Adventurer? I'm guessing that's what the NPCs refer to the players as.

"Yes, I am. You trying to hit on me too?"

"Oh, no. That's not why I called you here." the guard replied. "Seeing how you're new, you probably do not have a Lamp Bug, do you?"

"A Lamp... what?"

"It's this thing right here." the guard said, pulling out a big firefly from who knows where.

It has the size of a tennis ball and is somehow... kind of cute actually.

"It's dangerous to go outside without any light, you see. You can barely see a thing in the darkness and the monsters out there will swarm you with numbers, if you do. Which is why typically, you will want to have a Lamp Bug for yourself before going out into the wilds. The light from these guys will keep most monsters away from you. However, that doesn't mean it will repel all monsters. You will still encounter some of them while you're out exploring. But at least the numbers will be few."

"Uh... huh." I kind of get what he was saying. "So, where do I get a Lamp Bug?" I asked the guard.

"Oh. You can have this one from me."

"What? I can? Really?"

"Of course. That's why I called you here to begin with. It's part of my duty as a town guard to make sure that every adventurer has a Lamp Bug with them."

Ah... I see. So it's basically his role as an NPC to provide every new player with the Lamp Bug.

"If that's the case, then I'll take it. Thank you."

"No problem. Just doing my job, Miss. We wouldn't want someone as beautiful as you to die so soon now, do we?"

"Beautiful, huh?"

I was quite disturbed by that word being said to me. Reason being that I am a man inside.

"What's the matter? Nothing wrong with stating a fact, no?"

"Weeeeelllll.... Ah, never mind. Thanks for the bug. I'll be going now then."

"Okay. See ya! Be careful out there, Miss!"

And so, after receiving my Lamp Bug, I can finally begin my adventure in this world filled with darkness.

I wonder what kind of monsters I will encounter out here?

The anticipation from that thought filled me with excitement, as I ventured out alone with a big firefly illuminating my surroundings by a few meters.