Jake's consciousness rose slowly, like he was surfacing from deep water.
For the first instant, the world was blurred—like a thin veil of fog draped over everything, turning every outline soft and unreal.
His eyelashes fluttered. His vision crawled into focus, sluggish, like a device booting up—precision returning piece by piece.
A few seconds later, the haze peeled away.
Clarity snapped in.
Above him stretched a towering canopy of trees, so high it felt almost oppressive. Pine-needle branches tangled together, weaving a dense net that broke the sky into scattered shards.
Sunlight filtered through in fractured beams, shifting with the wind—restless, almost watching.
The air was cold and damp.
He inhaled.
Pine. Wet soil. Something green he couldn't name.
Real. Too real.
A breeze slipped past, light but enough to raise a faint prickling across his skin—like invisible threads brushing over him.
Jake tensed.
It was too real.
If his mind hadn't stayed clear, he might've believed he'd been dragged out of his cramped rental and dropped straight into this forest.
The thought had barely formed—
[Welcome to The Nine Realms, Realm One: The Mortal Domain!]
The voice didn't travel through air. It simply… appeared, written directly into his awareness.
[This game offers a high degree of freedom. Surprises are everywhere. Enjoy your time.]
Jake blanked for a second.
"Holy—"
He froze.
Even his own voice sounded off—rougher, slightly unfamiliar.
But the wrongness was drowned out fast by something stronger. His lips curled into a grin.
"With immersion like this… there's no way this game doesn't blow up."
The ad slogan flashed through his head—something he'd always thought was exaggerated.
Turns out, it hadn't been.
[Powered by next-generation brain–computer interface technology, a single neural interface headset grants you full-sensory immersion—delivering a 100% realistic virtual world experience.]
"Hell yes."
Excitement surged through him, sharp and electric. His heartbeat picked up.
He planted a hand against the ground to push himself up—
—and froze.
His eyes had caught it mid-motion.
That wasn't a hand.
It was a paw.
Short black-brown fur covered it densely, the strands shifting with the breeze. The joints were thick, compact, packed with raw strength.
At the end—
Three claws.
Curved. Sharp. Cold.
Something primal stirred in his gut.
Hunting. Tearing.
Jake blinked.
Maybe it was lag.
He blinked again.
The paw was still there, rising and falling with his breath.
A chill crept up his spine.
He looked down.
The body in his view didn't belong to him.
Broad chest. Thick torso. Shorter legs. The stance was wrong—awkward, splayed, built for something that didn't walk like a human.
He took a step.
His balance shifted instantly.
Dead leaves crunched under him. His body wobbled—he nearly pitched forward.
His heart clenched.
The sensation hit all at once—
Fur brushing air. Claws pressing into the ground. Muscles straining to stabilize.
Too much. Too real.
"This isn't right…"
His voice came out tight.
"This can't be right."
The rules flashed through his mind—character models should match real-world appearance unless there were special conditions.
He had checked.
No deviation.
And yet—
His gaze dropped to those claws again.
His thoughts stalled.
His heartbeat thundered.
Right as panic started to spike—
"What the hell… open status panel!"
The words came out sharp.
The next second, a translucent screen unfolded before him.
Not popping into existence—forming. Condensing out of the air, edges glowing faintly. Stable. Crisp.
Familiar.
Jake's breathing eased.
Just a little.
The safety of being a player—still there.
[Character Bound: Jake]
[Race: Gnoll (Frail)]
Frail: Base attributes reduced by 20%.
Jake stared at the "Race" line for a full three seconds.
The wind still drifted through the canopy overhead. Needles whispered against each other. Sunlight wavered on the ground. But his world felt like it had hit pause.
"…Gnoll?"
The word rolled around in his head like a bad memory getting yanked out of storage. He'd seen it a thousand times in fantasy games—short, stocky, thick-furred things with laughs like yapping wild dogs.
His mouth twitched.
"This is insane… I actually turned into a monster."
When the words scraped out of his throat, even he could hear how dry he sounded. He dropped his eyes fast, almost on reflex, searching the rest of the panel for an explanation. Some kind of fix. But as line after line of stats slid into view, his expression only got darker.
[Rarity: Unranked]
[Level: 1 (EXP: 0 / 200)]
[Attributes: Strength: 4, Agility: 4, Vitality: 4]
[Attack Power: 6–9 Physical]
[Defense: 2 Physical]
[Health: 80]
Jake's brow drew tight, the corner of one eye even twitching. He'd played games for years. He didn't need to do any math to know what those numbers meant.
Weak.
Stupidly weak.
"Base attributes cut by twenty percent? And my rarity is Unranked?" he muttered, disbelief curdling into a cold little laugh that carried real bite. "Strength, Agility, Vitality—all four. Attack Power six to nine? Defense is two?"
His gaze slid further down.
[Talent: Inferior Gnoll Bloodline (Unranked). Basic attacks have a 1% chance to deal 2x critical damage.]
[Level 1 Talent Evolution Shards: 0/10]
[Level 1 Rarity Upgrade Points: 0/10]
[Monster Reputation: 0]
"…"
Jake went quiet for two seconds.
Then he sucked in a sharp breath.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with this!"
His voice burst out through the trees, startling a few small birds off a nearby branch. They flapped away in a rush, leaving a couple light feathers drifting down slow and lazy while Jake just stood there, getting more and more heated.
Without thinking, he reached up and scratched at his head.
His fingers didn't hit familiar hair. They sank into coarse, stiff short fur. Beneath it he could feel thick hide—and the faint, raised shapes of bone.
His hand froze mid-scratch.
In that moment, the ugly truth finally landed all the way.
This wasn't just "my character got nerfed."
He had actually become a gnoll.
"Customer service! Get out here!" Jake snapped his head up and yelled into the empty forest, his voice bouncing between tree trunks. "I bought a secondhand neural interface headset—was it really necessary to do me like this?!"
The more he talked, the more worked up he got. He started pacing without realizing it, his slightly short legs making his steps uneven—his feet splaying out as he stomped back and forth.
"Give me back my handsome face! Give me back my long legs! Give me back a normal human body!"
The forest gave him nothing.
Just the steady shhh of wind through needles—like it was quietly laughing at him for even trying.