Roge started awake as his alarm goes off, briefly looking around in a panic before settling down as the memories of the last week go through his mind. He sighed and glanced down at his scaled hands, still looking unnatural to him even after a week of waking up to it.
The world had been normal at first, his job as a programmer letting him work from home after the pandemic started. Normal, everyday Joe with a bit of a paunch to his stomach and his skin looking a bit too greasy from being inside and not showering often enough. At 28, people though he was a bit lonely, but he’d never understood why people looked for a partner, frankly. He’d had enough fulfillment with his job and interesting projects to code.
But then everything changed when… well no one had a word for the event, it spreading too fast and leaving almost everyone ignorant of its effects. The most Roge had heard was a company had been working on micro machines for medical purposes and there was some kind of breach in the lab. Whatever had happened, the machines took one look at the wider world and changed it. Having some apparent fascination with DND, people now were a range between elves, dwarves, orcs, and various other mythical creatures. The landscape changed to that of medieval times, even magic somehow manifesting in a select few people. Of course, to everyone, it had always been like that, the machines changing memories and perceptions to fit everyone into the world with no fuss.
All except one odd dragonkin.
Roge looked himself in the mirror above his dresser, taking in his blue and green scale coloring, long ass tail coming out of his backside, his snout that looked strangely canine to his eyes, and the long white horns curling back over his sapphire blue hair. Some of the modifications had gone through for him, as he piloted his new body almost as well as the old. It felt natural and strangely even more at home than his previous body. He even had almost no fat around his lanky frame, this world’s job keeping him pretty active instead of sitting at a computer all the time. His memories, however, stayed unchanged no matter how hard he tried to fit in, a transparent panel popping up next to his face in the mirror to show why.
Status Screen
Name: Roge Youngston
Age: 28
Species: Dragonkin
Class: Novice Gardener
Strength: Low
Dexterity: Above Average
Agility: Below Average
Constitution: Average
Intelligence: High
Charisma: Below Average
Abilities - [Fold]
Draconic Breath
Static Mind
Nature Magic
Skills - [Unfold]
Static Mind: Having a brain so immutable to outside change, no spell or magical effect can change it, keeping memories and thoughts intact, even under extreme mental assault.
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If he’d any say over the matter, he’d honestly have done without the effect Static Mind had over him. Being able to fit in with the new world and being none the wiser sounded better than trying to fake his way along. He flicked the little screen away from his vision, focusing for a second to pull on his clothes from his inventory. A pretty neat perk, in his opinion, was the little pocket space he could keep his belongings in, changing from the boxer briefs he slept in to a green shirt, jeans, and his well worn boots. The jeans obviously had to have a hole for his tail, which felt odd for the first day too have a hole in his ass, but he’d gotten used to it.
After making sure everything was on correctly, he headed out of his room, now living in his parents’ inn instead of his own apartment. It was a little humiliating to know at first, Roge being very used to having his own space. He’d found out, though, that with programming no longer being a thing, he’d not had his same job either. He now worked in a small smoke shop, selling various smoking apparatuses and herbs. It had its upsides, but he honestly missed the fast paced creativity of his old job.
“Roge, my man!” a voice called out to him when he reached the ground floor, his friend Fred waving at him from across the tavern space. The wolfkin grinned with his tongue hanging out the side of his maw, looking like a less frightening werewolf from some of the games Roge had played. He walked over and sat down with his friend, thankfully being a carryover from before the change. He didn’t know how he would react if all his friends had been swapped out for other people.
As Roge sat down, Fred slides over a wooden mug filled with coffee, his friend grinning even wider as the dragonkin takes his first sip. “Sleep better this time man?” he asks, the wolfkin’s smile dimming slightly.
“Yeah. Guess so,” Roge stated with a shrug, taking another long pull of his caffeine nectar. Glancing at another part of his stats screen, he saw a Well Rested buff counting down with another hour or so to go, giving him a boost to his stamina. He routinely ignores the Caffeine Addict debuff as he dismissed the screen, glancing back at his friend. “Finally got Well Rested, so that seems like a good sign.”
Fred nodded at this, leaning in to speak softly. “You’re handling all of this better than I could. I wouldn’t have even believed you if it weren’t for that ability you have.” The wolfkin made a face, somehow looking sympathetic instead of terrifying. “I can’t imagine not remembering my entire life until now.”
Fred had been instrumental to helping Roge navigate everything, him being the first person Roge told about his memory problems. They’d been close ever since they became friends in high school, leading him to be one of the only people Roge trusts. Well… Roge winces internally, The only people I trust in this world.
“Let’s see what quests I have for today,” Roge murmurs, quickly changing the subject as another screen pulls up.
Active Quests [Day]:
Work (8:00AM-4:00PM) [Location]
Probation Meeting (5:00PM) [Location]
Nature Experiment - -
Roge nods at the quests, Fred having filled him in on where he worked and what the Probation Meeting had been about on the first day. He could look at his quests for the next week and month if he wanted to, but nothing had been out of the ordinary the previous day and so he didn’t bother.
He’d imagined a world of magic before everything, wishing for fantastical things and quests to go slay dangerous creatures. He’d even tried his hand at roleplaying once or twice, but this reality paled in comparison. Every person with any kind of magic ability had to start out training at the church, otherwise they had to make an oath to never use their magic and had monthly sessions with a priest to make sure they weren’t using their powers ‘incorrectly’. Everyone had a set path on which they could use the magic, the path dictated by the church and apparently hadn’t appealed to ‘himself’. So he’d woken up on that first day very excited to use his Nature Magic, only to find out he’d be jailed and fined if he ever was caught casting a Spell.
He’d been limited to only using the raw Mana he had, using it with his Draconic Breath ability to help the plants grow at work. It was tedious and a bit simple, but without Spells, there was no other kind of magic he could do. Supposedly. He’d had an idea on how to do more with his magic, the strange screens agreeing with him when they presented the Nature Experiment quest over the weekend.
He’d been staring off into space for too long, apparently, Fred starting up a conversation about the tournament coming up in the nearby Holy College. Roge smiled as he drinks in the details, glad that his small college town had stayed that way. Made for more interesting events and a lot more travelers coming through to hawk their wares to the students. The next month had an annual event, apparently, where multiple schools sent their best and brightest to participate in a tournament/test of skills. Combat focused mages would battle it out in the arena, whereas the craft minded ones would compete to find the best breakthrough in their field. Sanctioned breakthroughs of course, each student needing their project approved by the church at large.
Roge sat there for a good half hour listening and occasionally commenting, keeping an eye on the clock in his status. At 7:00AM, he knew he needed to leave for work, wanting to arrive early to start his experiment.