"Damn it, it's the Simulator Mod that I used to hack in the games…" Alex slowly sat up inside the dimly lit sub-level of the Gene Association, his heart racing against his ribs with uncontrollable excitement.
He finally knew the truth of this half assed System that saved his life from the Silver haired ghost.
It's the same game mod he used in his previous life, however now it is more real and his only hope at survival in this new world.
The blue translucent screen of the Survival Simulation Interface hovered before him, filled with his basic data, together with a full body holographic figure of himself on it.
"Storage Slots? Appraisal Eye?" As he looked down at the newly opened functions mused, pushing himself up from the cold floor of the rented utility room. "Are these the same functions as before I played, or did something change?"
He tapped the air where the [Storage Slots] tab floated. Instantly, a sleek grid of ten empty, dark square boxes appeared in his vision.
"How does this work?" He looked around the small room. His eyes landed on the Star Leaf extract.
He picked it up, feeling the cool glass against his smooth palm. "Store," he commanded mentally.
Poof.
The glass tube vanished from his hand into thin air. In the first box of the floating grid, a tiny, glowing 3D icon of the Star Leaf glass tube appeared.
He willed it back, and it materialized perfectly in his grasp just as quickly.
"That is incredible," Alex breathed out, a genuine smile breaking across his flushed face. He always wanted to buy a storage ring, however he was poor and couldn't buy one.
But now he doesn't even need one.
Moreover, compared to ordinary storage rings, his own Storage Slots seemed more secretive and secure.
If needed he could just buy an ordinary ring and pretend it as a storage ring in front of others to hide his ability.
Next, he focused on the [Appraisal Eye].
As soon as he activated it, his vertical pupils flared briefly behind his dark irises. He looked down at the black silk-blend pants the Half-Elf, Vara, had sold him.
A small, sharp text box hovered directly over his leg:
[ Item: Shadow-Weave Silk Pants ]
[ Rank: F (Basic ) ]
[ Durability: 100/100 ]
[ Effect: Minor temperature regulation. Frictionless interior. ]
"It's really just basic data, nothing much, however can be used to identify unknown things." Alex muttered, amazed.
He then turned his attention back to the main problem: the Professions.
"Mage, Warlock, Martial Artist..." Every choice felt like a door to endless possibilities, and there weren't any restrictions on the number of professions he could choose or when to choose.
It's just that they were all locked and needed certain professional specific items to unlock, combine or evolve them.
The Rarer the profession the harder to find the specific items needed to unlock.
There were more than twenty different professions to choose from, mostly divided into four types:
The Martial Archetypes (Body & Weapon specializations)
The Arcane Archetypes (Mana Projection & Manipulation)
The Divine, Demon & Nature Archetypes (Attack, Defense, Restoration & Buffs) and The Specialist Archetypes (Supernatural type).
Not to mention each Archetype was subdivided into multiple levels and variations according to their professional rarity, from Ordinary, Elite, Leader and so on.
It was a lot to take in, but as Alex kept scrolling through the interface, as the core of the Survival Simulation system was not just the professions or storage ability but the ability to simulate all things by consuming the source power.
Like a Knight's breathing technique or a Swordsman's sword skills, he could simulate himself practicing the breathing technique by spending the source power, or instead simulate his understanding of the technique itself to improve his efficiency of the breathing technique or sword skills from entry level to master level or even beyond.
"Finally, with the System... I can cheat time and hard work," Alex whispered, his throat feeling a little dry.
He then found a small bar at the top right corner of his vision with a soft, golden glow.
[ Source Power: 82.8]
"Although not much, but should be useful," Alex stared at the glowing number floating in his vision. He looked at the eighty points sitting right there, practically stolen from the Black Abyssal Lizard's skeleton.
He then checked at his skills and found that he could really simulate them as he thought, however he hesitated.
"It's better to unlock a combat profession and use the source power to improve my strength," he thought to himself and just then the cool glass vial in his hand caught his attention.
"Right, the Star Leaf extract," he muttered. He needed to stabilize his new Yin-Serpent Mana Circuit before he did anything else.
He had almost forgotten about the Star Leaf extract Mira made for him to stabilize his mana.
He brought the small vial to his lips and tilted his head back, letting the glowing blue liquid slide down his throat.
It tasted like crushed mint, the moment the liquid hit his stomach, his body reacted violently.
"Ah!" Alex gasped, his back arching.
The Yin-Serpent Mana Circuit inside his body flared to life converting the mana into Yin attribute and the cold energy rushed through his newly formed, thin veins, pushing against the walls of his mana pathways.
He dropped the empty vial. It shattered on the metal floor with a sharp crash, but Alex barely heard it.
His hands flew to his chest, gripping the soft, seamless fabric of his new black inner shirt.
Although the chaotic mana inside his body began to stabilize, the heat was back again, but this time, it was even more concentrated.
It felt like a warm, heavy liquid was pooling directly beneath his nipples.
"Nnn... no..." Alex whimpered, his knees buckling, his hips swaying awkwardly as he tried to catch his balance.
The silk pants slid smoothly over his skin, offering no friction to ground him, only highlighting the agonizing sensitivity of his thighs.
The "phantom" heavy feeling from the alleyway was back, but this time, it wasn't a hallucination created by the Empress. It was real.
His body was desperately trying to adapt to the massive influx of Yin attributed mana.
To a Naagin, Yin attributed mana as the core of their lives.
But a male body was the worst possible container for it.
So, the body simply did what the system warned him it would do: it started reshaping the container and began to accelerate feminization.
"Hot... why is it so hot there..." Alex whimpered, clutching the front of his tight black inner shirt.