No. Nope. Nu-ah. No way. Not happening. Absolutely not. One billion times nope. This is absolutely a crime. If this was a cartoon or a comic this would be burned before it even left the production line. I honestly didn't know what to expect but, this most certainly was not in my expectations. Oh, dear creator in heaven smite me now for I have sinned. Wait, no I didn’t mean it literally. Hey! OW! I wanna a mulligan. Teacher entered her workshop and noticed me butt naked staring at myself in the glass. I would be embarrassed but, I think my emotions are well past their expiration date at this one.

It took a while before she spoke up, “I have to admit, I was worried how you would turn out but, this is one of my best masterpieces.”

At times like these, I’m reminded that Teacher was an excellent biologist who specialized in gene mapping. Me being a masterpiece is digging pretty deep into my soul if it's even still there.

I’m gonna ask the question that should have been asked at the beginning, "Teacher. . . What exactly is a loli?”

The temperature of the room definitely dropped below 0 degrees kelvin. The air didn’t dare to move. Teacher had become impossibly pale. No words were exchanged for a long while. At this point I can very much guess what a loli is but, I need to hear it. If my reality is going to collapse I need at least that much dignity.

“I. . thought. you. . . knew,” Teacher pretty much whispered to the air.

I know this is mostly my fault for purposely pretending like I knew what I was getting myself into. However, that was because I did think I knew more or less exactly what I was jumping into. Even as I thought about it, Teacher gave me a fair amount of warning. Yet I arrogantly ignored it. This is in no way her fault. Except that doesn’t help right now. She should have said something right.

Not stepping down in the least I pressed for an answer, “How would I know what that is? It's not in any dictionary in any kingdom that exists in the Maeia Realm!?”

“Well yeah. But, it was one of your vocab words when you were 8,” Teacher, slowly coming back to herself, replied matter-of-factly.

Teacher, you have some pretty unrealistic expectations of an old man who’s pushing 5000. How in the world am I gonna remember a vocab sheet you had me do when I was 8. I don’t even remember what was on the extinct species list you gave me when I was 200. Where’s the nearest lake, I need to cast that spell again.

Teacher clapped her hands together and declared, “Oh well, what's done is done. Teehee.”

“I hate this so much right now,” Was all I could really say.

“Look, it's fine. You don’t look all that angry so, that means we're good,” She responded trying to smooth things over.

I wanted so desperately to deny that. I mean how much anger can this body even really manifest. However, at some level, I’ve kind of already made a bit of peace with this. When I undergo my apotheosis ceremony I can get my real form back. This was simply temporary. Not that I would admit it openly.

Pretending like everything has been solved, Teacher continued, “Alrighty then, I’ve set aside some clothes for you. Granted they might be a bit big on you as I wasn’t expecting you to reach the 9th step so suddenly.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

I really hope they're normal but, knowing her she probably had Jade sew her a mountain of them. For the record Jade’s sense of style is not in line with mine at all. I let out a deep sigh at my fate for the near future. Doing so, I was reminded of a pretty big issue. One that still has me worried for my safety.

“Hey Teacher, actually I want you to scan me. I think I underwent some sort of energy mutation,” I asked rather desperately. This could be a matter of life or death.

It didn’t even take her a moment to reply, “Oh, that? Don’t worry it's not life-threatening. So, what if you have a couple of extra hearts? It would just make the awakening of innate cute energy more efficient.”

So, forget it even happened, gotcha. Brain delete all memories about hearts then empty the recycling bin. Heading into the backroom I see the change of clothes along with a handful of other things. The two modified techniques for one but also a handful of legal documents. While we live outside the influence of any governmental system at the moment it won’t always be that way. Entering an industrial civilization or further without any sort of identity is impossible. I leave them in the flowery bag that they came with. That is definitely Jade’s craftsmanship. No, ignore that for now. I can sort the papers out later.

Dressed in what I can only assume was something meant to give me nightmares for the rest of eternity, I returned to the living room of Teacher’s residence. Having a workshop connected to your own home must be nice. I was never much of a crafter in my last life so, I never really used them outside of the smithy here every once and a while.

I wonder what arrangements she made for this ordeal. Well better to be in the light than in the dark. I’m quite afraid of what happens next, mostly because I’m really not prepared. It doesn’t hurt to ask but, it most certainly hurts to hear. No, I gotta man up, and no the irony is not lost on me.

Well here goes nothing, “So. . . what happens now?”

Teacher, in the middle of making dinner, answered, “Well, you can’t go back to your old dorm obviously. Don’t worry I’ve already moved all of your things here. I’ve also handled the rest of the logistics during the 10 months you’ve been out. You certainly gave me more than enough time to get that all sorted. Oh, and don’t let me forget but, we will need to talk about your time slip escapades as well.”

10 months, huh. I couldn’t really tell because she was wearing the same thing then and now. It makes sense, I was in a state of heightened concentration for a long time and time felt like it was flying. With that in mind destroying a whole body probably only took a couple of seconds but, building a new one would definitely take months. Even babies need at least 9.

At any rate, if I’m going to be staying here for the meantime I might as well make the most of it. I’m also not surprised she knows I’m not from this time. She is a being at the Legendary level after all. It would be weird if she didn’t notice, especially when I was just a soul and mind in a tub. That was probably why she didn’t question too much on how I knew the “Dragon Heart Rebirth” cause if it wasn’t obvious before, I’m pretty bad at lying.

For now, I just slip into autopilot and eat what she sets in front of me. I know where the guest room is so I excuse myself after I am done. If anything I’m pretty exhausted. I can figure it all out later. Again, it's not like this is permanent. As long as this doesn't tamper with the shape of my mind and my soul I can fix it eventually. There is an infinite number of body transformation, reincarnation, and rebirth methods out there and none of them mess with anything outside the body. I would have to be amazingly unlucky for this to be the one that does. With that last thought, I slip into a mindless sleep.

The next day in class I hear one of the girls ask, “Teacher, it's been several months now. When are you going to tell us what happened to Shane?”

Oh, man. I hate this. I hate this a lot. I hate this more than I can ever express. Where is my shame? I feel like a pervert walking around in this school girl dress. I really don’t want to show my face to them. I might just die from embarrassment. This is the end. This is how the once Legendary Sage who destroyed evil empires and helped countless heroes, falls. What makes this all worse is that I can clearly see myself in the mirror while I’m waiting for my que. Even I have to admit that I’m cute. Shoot I need to be careful. If Vane picked that up with his empathy I would never live it down.

Teacher gave a knowing nod before answering, “Yes, I think that now would be an appropriate time. Before that, I would like to introduce your new classmate and my daughter, Shana.”

. . . 1 NONILLION TIMES NOPE. . .