-----
The sky is freezing.
Not death-freezing — more like an extreme, bone-deep chill. But given my current situation, that's already more than enough.
I didn't particularly enjoy it, either. The air itself felt like it was trying to pry my eyes open and tear them apart.
Why they were still working at this point, constantly exposed and wide open, was genuinely beyond me. ¯(◉‿◉)/¯
After a little while, clouds began to appear in the distance.
Which, honestly, did nothing to reassure me.
"OKAY HONEDGE — THIS IS GOING TO BE FINE FOR BOTH OF US — !!"
I wasn't sure about that. But I needed to believe something good right now.
"SCREE!!" (◍•ᴗ•◍)
Honedge let out a rather cute sound, and I quickly realized it had been floating freely around me this whole time.
That caught me off guard for a second — before the obvious clicked into place.
Honedge can float. I wasn't sure if it was the Ghost typing, the design, or just the general nature of being a living sword — but I was glad I'd noticed when I did.
I just stared at it.
"Scree!" (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
It kept floating beside me, perfectly content with the sudden attention.
"— YOU DO SEEM WAY TOO RELAXED FOR OUR CURRENT SITUATION — !!"
-----
— PING —
Out of nowhere, a sharp sound cut through the air — and the world around me simply stopped.
The chaos of the fall, the wind, the noise — all of it froze in an instant, like someone had hit pause on reality.
The colors around me shifted. Royal blue bled into absolute black.
Honedge and I hung suspended exactly where we'd been mid-fall, before drifting gently downward and landing on a transparent surface that appeared from nowhere — solid enough to hold us, invisible enough to be unsettling.
Then, directly in front of me, a glowing blue panel materialized.
Followed immediately by a second screen — opaque this time, not semi-transparent like the first. It filled my entire field of vision without asking permission.
The background was a cool bluish-white, text rendered in clean black lettering across its surface. And in the top left corner, someone had drawn a small Pikachu playing with a red ball.
I stared at it.
"…What the hell—"
-----
{ SYSTEM INITIALIZATION }
[ WORLD : SLIGHTLY ALTERED DANMACHI ]
[ SUBJECT : NOAH ALEXANDRIE ]
-----
A beat of silence.
"…Oh."
I blinked.
"So I get a personalized system too?!"
"Scree??" Honedge, still hovering nearby, tilted slightly — the floating sword equivalent of a confused head tilt.
I let it drift around the area while I turned my attention back to the panel. It floated in a slow arc, examining our surroundings before making a U-turn back toward me.
"So, Honedge — what do you think about—"
The panel updated before I could finish the sentence.
-----
[ Analyzing Origin… ]
→ World Origin : Earth ✔
[ Transmigration Method : Soul Drifting. ]
[ External Systems… ]
→ PokeGacha : Integrated ✔
[ Conclusion : ]
→ Class Assigned : Pokémon Trainer.
-----
"…That's fine. I think. Well — that one I can live with."
The panel continued regardless, entirely unbothered by the fact that I was screaming internally.
-----
[Somatic & Energetic Diagnostic Report Initiated…]
→ Baseline Structural Integrity:
Anthropoid biological framework exhibiting suboptimal muscular density and below-standard biomechanical output relative to normative human performance parameters (Classification: Human- / Degraded Physical Index).
→ Energetic Reservoir Capacity:
Exhibits an abnormally elevated internal energy storage potential, suggesting hypertrophic expansion of bioenergetic reserves or anomalous core accumulation systems.
→ Energetic Conversion Efficiency:
Critically impaired energy transduction pathways; systemic inability to effectively convert stored energy into usable kinetic, thermal, or functional outputs.
→ Energetic Affinity Profile:
Near-null resonance with physical-domain energy channels. Demonstrates extreme incompatibility with matter-based interaction systems.
→ Innate Aptitude Matrix:
Absence of detectable specialized talent vectors. Neural plasticity and skill acquisition pathways appear baseline or below expected thresholds.
→ Phenotypic Presentation:
Externally exhibits disproportionately high aesthetic valuation metrics. Morphological symmetry and visual desirability index rank within upper percentile thresholds, despite underlying systemic deficiencies.
*(Flag: Suspicious Top-Tier Visual Profile.)*
[ Conclusion : A biologically anomalous entity presenting a hyper-androgeny-suppressed, estrogen-dominant somatic architecture, resulting in a phenotypic expression aligned with extreme gynomorphic androgyny. The organism exhibits a neuro-psychoactive threat response system, likely mediated through rapid emission of fear-inducing stimuli — possibly pheromonal, psionic, or cognitohazardous in nature. Despite these traits, its biomechanical performance remains severely limited, with locomotor output and environmental interaction parameters analogous to a gastropod-class organism.]
-----
"…"
"…"
I stared at the screen for a long moment.
Then stared some more.
*(For anyone who just glazed over that entire block of text — fair. I'll ask it to translate.)*
"…Can you reformulate that in words an actual person can understand? Please."
-----
[ Analyzing Body… ]
→ Base Form Strength : Human- (Below Average)
→ Energy Capacity : VERY HIGH
→ Energy Efficiency : VERY LOW
→ Affinity : EXTREMELY LOW Physical Affinity
→ Talent : None
→ Appearance : Suspicious Top Tier
[ Conclusion : A life form with a femboy body, a suspicious estrogen factor, the ability to induce acute fear responses in nearby subjects, and the overall functional utility of a slug.]
-----
"…"
The system's tone was clinical. Cold. Faintly condescending, like it was genuinely enjoying this.
It reminded me of something.
*GLaDOS.* Obviously.
"…Okay, GLaDOS — I'm choosing to take that as a compliment and moving on."
The panel didn't respond. It simply continued.
*(Which was somehow worse.)*
-----
[Taxonomic Classification & Compatibility Assessment Protocol Initiated…]
→ Current Biological Classification: Quasi-anthropoid entity (Designation: Pseudo-Human)
→ Cross-Species Compatibility Matrix:
Human Lineage: Fully compatible ✔
Elven Lineage: Fully compatible ✔
Dwarven Lineage: Incompatible ✗
Half-Breed Pathways: Partial compatibility
Beastman Lineage: Partial compatibility
Divine-Class Entities: Incompatible ✗
Amazonian Variant: Incompatible ✗
Demonic Lineage: Fully compatible ✔
Monstrous Taxa: Conditional compatibility
-----
"Human. Human is fine. Human is great. Lock it in — I'm picking human—"
-----
[User Response Override Detected…]
Preference Input Registered.
[Unique Trait Identification Subroutine Engaged…]
→ Skin Tone : Dark
→ Energy Response : Reactive
→ Aura : Unsettling / Attractive — Hybrid Field Confirmed
→ Ghost Affinity : CONFIRMED ✔
[Running Optimization…]
…
…
...
[RACE UPDATED : DARK ELF]
-----
"— What the f—"
The pain hit before I could finish the sentence.
Sharp. Sudden. Radiating outward from somewhere I couldn't quite locate, like the signal was coming from inside the bones themselves.
"— AH — !!"
My whole body jerked. Muscles contracted on pure instinct, like they were bracing for an impact that had already happened. For a moment I couldn't even process what was going on — I just reacted, some deep biological alarm firing before my brain had caught up.
Then I felt my ears.
Something was wrong with my ears.
A twitch first. Then a slow, deliberate stretch — like something being gently pulled into a new shape from the inside out.
The pressure built gradually. Not quite pain, but deeply, fundamentally wrong. The kind of sensation that makes your stomach drop not because it hurts but because it absolutely should not be happening.
My hands were shaking when I reached up.
They were changing.
*Actually* changing.
The cartilage shifting. The shape elongating. Real and undeniable beneath my fingertips.
"What the — WHAT THE HELL?!"
My vision blurred — then snapped back sharper than it had ever been.
"OKAY — WHY CAN I SEE SO WELL — ?!"
My eyes burned for exactly one second.
Then cooled.
Something was different. I could *feel* it — not just see it. Like a new frequency had been added to the signal, one that had always been missing without me knowing.
-----
[Racial Traits Granted:]
→ Enhanced Agility
→ High Mana Sensitivity
→ Night Vision
→ Physical Affinity Boost
→ Ghost Affinity : Added ✔
-----
Before I could process any of it, Honedge suddenly spun toward me.
"SCREEEEE??"
Its ribbon brushed against my arm.
And just like that — everything stabilized.
The pain dissolved. The disorientation cleared. The new sharpness in my vision settled into something that felt, strangely, natural.
"…Oh."
I exhaled slowly.
"…Okay. Okay. I'm… alive."
A pause.
"…And apparently not human anymore."
-----
[Finalizing Integration…]
[WARNING]
→ Impact Imminent.
-----
I looked down.
My brain finally caught up with the situation.
The ground was right there.
"…Oh."
*(Think. Think. THINK.)*
My eyes swept the landscape below in desperate, rapid passes — scanning for anything that wasn't solid rock or hard earth.
A forest at the horizon. Too far.
A mountain range. Absolutely not.
Hills. Rocks. Hard surfaces in every direction—
Then — a flash.
Light reflecting off something.
Water. A small lake, sitting almost directly below our current trajectory.
I was fairly certain this wasn't Minecraft — but I was equally certain that water was a significantly better landing option than the alternative.
*That's the target.*
I grabbed Honedge mid-air.
"Alright, partner — I need you to help me with something right now, so don't take this the wrong way—"
I gripped it sideways, angling the blade to catch the air.
The plan was simple: use Honedge as a makeshift glider, bleed off enough speed to shift our trajectory toward the lake, and aim for the center to maximize the chances of surviving the impact.
The lake wasn't far. We had maybe four and a half minutes before we hit something.
We angled. We glided. The water rushed up to meet us faster than I would have liked.
Then —
Impact.
The surface exploded around me. The shock drove the air from my lungs in one brutal instant, the sound cutting out as the lake swallowed us whole.
Silence.
Complete, cold, absolute silence.
For one long moment — I didn't move.
Then —
I kicked.
Hard.
And shot back up through the surface.
"— GAAAH — !!"
Air. Real air. I gasped it in, coughing, soaked to the bone, every nerve ending in my body registering the cold at once.
"…I'm alive."
I floated there for a second, just breathing.
"…I'M ALIVE — !!"
Beside me, something rose from the water.
Honedge. Still floating. Perfectly composed. Not a single thing wrong with it.
"SCREE~!" ✨
I looked at it for a long moment.
Then, through the exhaustion and the cold and the still-processing reality of having just fallen from the upper atmosphere and survived — I grinned.
"…You are the best decision I have ever made."
-----
*— END OF CHAPTER 1 —*
-----
*[ Author's Note ]*
And that's a wrap on the first real chapter — or the tail end of a very long prologue, depending on how generous you're feeling.
Fair warning: the next chapter is where things actually start moving. New world, new faces, and Noah trying to figure out how to exist as a Dark Elf with the energy reserves of a power plant and the physical output of a garden snail.
It should be fun.
If you spotted any remaining errors or anything that felt off, drop a comment — I genuinely read them and they help more than you'd think.
And if you've made it this far and are enjoying the ride, leaving a stone costs nothing and means a lot.
See you in the next one.
*— The Author*