Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Silver-Haired Girl’s Resolve

 

When Sora logged out and removed the VR headset, she looked up at the familiar ceiling of her room.

 

“This is my room, huh?”

 

Wrapped in a small sense of relief on her well-worn bed, Sora felt a bit more at ease.

 

However, her body was drenched in sweat, and the sticky feeling of her clothes clinging to her skin was uncomfortable.

 

Her heart pounded heavily in her chest.

 

To steady her irregular breathing, she took a few deep breaths.

 

After calming down a bit, Sora looked up at the ceiling and muttered softly.

 

“Ugh, no way…”

 

It was a wild theory that only she, who had undergone a real-life gender change due to the game, could grasp—a theory that the game might bring to its players.

 

The mysterious system in the game known as “Remaining Life Points.”

 

For a regular player, it would seem like it’s just counting down the days until their character is deleted in ?Astral Online?.

 

But if this really was the remaining lives given to us, then the moment the number hits [0], that player would die in real life as well.

 

Such a thing would normally be impossible.

 

There were similar urban legends in the past about online games.

 

?Meeting a ghost if you logged in late at night.?

?Hearing the voices of the dead at 4:44:44 AM.?

?Being taken to another world if you didn’t send a message of misfortune to other players.?

 

All of these were baseless nonsense.

 

Normally, he would dismiss this latest theory as absurd.

 

But now, things were different.

 

Because due to a curse received in the game, “his” real-life self had transformed from a man into a silver-haired girl.

 

Sora operated her smartphone, input her ID and password on the ?Astral Online? site, and logged in.

 

The details of her current data were displayed.

 

By touching the section labeled “Remaining Life Points,” she could see her remaining lives.

 

?Adventurer? Sora.

?Remaining Life Points? 119.

 

Today, I was killed by the Demon Lord once, so I have 119 lives left.

 

In other words, if I die 119 more times in ?Astral Online?, I will die in real life as well.

 

Whether this number of lives is a lot or a little, I can’t answer that at the moment.

 

If the enemies are strong, I could die even with this many lives, and if the enemies are weak, I might not die even once.

 

It all depends on the monsters that appear in the future.

 

“Well, what should I do…”

 

Should I just tell my master and Kirie about this and have them announce it to all players?

 

At least, if people who know that I was originally a man become aware of this gender change, they might take this unbelievable story seriously.

 

But it’s also true that the connection between “Remaining Life Points” and real-life death is not yet confirmed.

 

The game has only been out for two days.

 

I want to believe that no player will reduce their 120 lives to 0 at this early stage.

 

Moreover, not everything in ?Astral Online? is actually real, so there might just be a chance that it’s a normal life count.

 

In that case, revealing this prematurely and causing confusion among everyone might not be the best strategy.

 

It might be better to keep this to myself for a while.

 

But…

 

“Is it really possible for something like this to happen?”

 

Sora gazed at the ceiling and questioned herself with a fading voice.

 

Having played various games up until now, she had never heard of a game affecting the player in such a way.

 

After all, games are just programs.

 

They couldn’t affect reality, and supernatural “powers” like those in novels or manga don’t exist in this world.

 

That’s why people create virtual spaces to satisfy their desires.

 

“Well then… what should I do?”

 

According to the game’s explanation, I can’t return to being a man unless I defeat the Demon Lord.

 

But if I throw myself into battle and somehow reduce my “Life Points” to 0, there’s a possibility that I will die in real life.

 

The game is still in its early stages.

 

I don’t even know what part of the scenario we are in.

 

I can’t even imagine how many months or years it will take to reach the Demon Lord.

 

If I want to play it safe, it might be better to quit the game and live as a girl until the Demon Lord is defeated by other players.

 

If this were happening to Shiori or my friends, I would unhesitatingly recommend this approach.

 

—But I prefer to fight rather than run away!

 

Having played countless great and terrible games, there’s no game that I can’t clear.

 

I’ve never run away from any game.

 

No matter what the game is, I’ve always persevered and continued to challenge it.

 

And no matter what the game is, I’ve always defeated the final boss and reached the ending.

 

The sense of accomplishment and exhilaration from completing a game is always addictive.

 

So, this time too, no matter how dangerous this game is, I won’t run away.

 

A madman, you say?

 

Ha ha ha, being called a madman is fine with me.

 

Because in my eyes,

 

—I’ll survive the battlefield this crappy game offers and defeat the beautiful Demon Lord Shaitan to return to being a man.

 

That’s the only outcome I can see.

 

Firstly, it’s already better than other terrible games where you’d face gravity-defying actions, invincible bugs that make you immune to attacks, or being killed instantly by NPCs with unfair headshots.

 

Sora recalled with a shudder the fearsome VR action RPG <Demon’s Hunter>, where dying once would reset all previous game data due to bugs.

 

Compared to that, having 119 lives seems nothing short of kind.

 

Even though the Demon Lord was a bit much, the monsters don’t exhibit unreasonable behavior, and, most importantly, the absence of bugs makes this game a breeze by comparison.

 

“Alright, the goal is set. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out what’s needed to achieve it.”

 

The basic strategy in RPGs is to level up and enhance your equipment.

 

To do that, I first need to gather information.

 

By the way, all the “strategy information” for ?Astral Online? has been erased, so I’ll have to get it directly from players on the front lines.

 

Fortunately, I have Shino’s contact details, so I’ll ask for recommendations on efficient hunting grounds and focus on earning money and experience to upgrade my gear.

 

“With that decided, let’s grab a bite and dive into ?Astral Online?!”

 

I feel bad for Shinji and Shiro, but right now there’s too much of a level difference between us, so playing together would benefit neither me nor them.

 

For today and tomorrow, I’ll play alone.

 

After conveying this through a chat app on my smartphone, I immediately received replies from both of them.

 

Shinji declared, “I’ll catch up with you soon!”

 

And Shiro responded with a cool line, “I’ll make sure to level up and gear up to stand beside you, Sora.”

 

If you have a maiden heart, wouldn’t this make your heart ‘flutter’ quite a bit?

 

I’ve seen various girls confessing to him since back in the day, and he still maintains his high level of handsomeness.

 

Well, since I’m a guy, it doesn’t affect me at all.

 

Sora apologized to them, saying, “I’m really sorry for canceling our plan to play together.”

 

After a while, I received this message from them:

 

“It looks like you’re planning to stay in ?Astral Online?, but what about our real-life meetup tomorrow?”

 

“…… Oh, I forgot.”

 

I had indeed made such a promise at school yesterday.

 

However, I haven’t told them anything about my real-life gender change.

 

Meeting them in this form would certainly cause a huge commotion, and I’m also scared of being seen by neighbors.

 

If I meet them and explain the situation, I’m sure my two best friends will understand.

 

But right now, I’m not mentally prepared for it.

 

I trust them, but I’m still “scared.”

 

I’m sorry for being a timid guy in real life, my dear friends.

 

Although they can’t see me, I clasped my hands together in my mind and sent a message saying, “I’ll have to skip this time!”