The city wasn't as futuristic as you'd expect from the game's lore. There were long marble buildings, fruit trees on the corners, and perfectly manicured lawns instead of streets and sidewalks. Maybe going barefoot wasn't a bug after all. And now, people… people were something else. They all looked like they had stepped out of some legend, or a mashup of several…
"What are all these monsters?"
"Monsters?"
"What race are they?"
"Humans, of course. Otherwise, they couldn't get into the city."
"Diamond, look at me: I'm human, you're human, but that over there is a centaur, at least that's what it's called. And that is some kind of… like a satanic fairy godmother… or a succubus, I guess. And that… well, I don't know what that is. But that is a sphinx… What the hell…"
"Wow, finally something that surprises you…"
"Do they have some curse or something?"
"They transformed. Didn't people in your time transform?"
Diamond began walking in one direction, and Zera forced himself to follow her when a man with goat legs, dragging an enormous appendage resembling a tail, only not hanging from his ass but from his pelvis, gave him a wink with two pupils…
As they walked toward the Sanctuary in what looked like a tour of the hellish zoo, Diamond explained that people in this world could access their first transformation when they turned 20. They entered the hospital as humans, and a couple of hours later, they came out transformed into almost anything they wanted. There were some limits, though, in fact, Zera didn't see anyone who was excessively huge or minuscule. No dragons, no goblins… From what Zera gathered, not only could they change their gender, they could have more than one at the same time. They could also have more than one head and up to eight arms… They could even slither like snakes without limbs… And a year later, the hospital would give them another chance for a free transformation. If they wanted to transform earlier, they'd have to pay with their contribution points…
"And here I was, overthinking what tattoo to get next."
If there was one thing that became crystal clear, especially after a bearded mermaid jumped by him, flaunting her four tits, it was that this game wasn't for minors. A rather strange marketing strategy, considering that kids were the main players in the world.
"And when can I get my avatar?"
"What do you mean?"
"The transformation, when can I transform?"
"When you've thought it through very carefully. It's really hard to get your hands on transformation tickets, so chances are you'll stay in your first form for a whole year."
"And you? How many transformations have you done?"
"None. I've been trading my transformation tickets for skill tickets."
"Were you born that way?"
"It's a bit weird, I know. But I really need a new skill, and I haven't had any luck at the Sanctuary…"
They had arrived. Zera had expected the Sanctuary to be some sort of medieval church, but in reality it was just a random corner with no trees or buildings—only a circle of giant stones standing on the grass. Like a stonehenge, but smack in the middle of the city. Diamond stayed outside the circle and motioned for Zera to walk to the center.
"And wha…?"
Before she could finish, a floating prompt appeared in front of him: "You have a chance to invoke a skill. Do you want to use it?"
"Of course."
Instantly, he felt a tingle rising up his legs. The sensation faded as it reached his head, only to come back up from his feet a second later. The second time the feeling repeated, his skin started glowing with a green light. The third time, it glowed blue. Zera realized that each color corresponded to the skill's rarity: green for common, blue for rare. After the tingles made him glow violet (surely SR), Zera held his breath while waiting for the final tingle. And the system didn't disappoint, suddenly, his skin shone much brighter, a dazzling golden color. So bright that he had to close his eyes. When two seconds passed without another cycle of tingles, a woman's voice whispered directly into his head: "You have obtained a unique skill."
Zera felt another tingle, this one more natural, rising from his stomach. For the first time since waking up in this virtual reality, he was really nervous. He thought of the word "system" and his status began to float before his eyes. Without missing a beat, he glanced down at his skill list and there, written in golden letters, he saw two new words: "Absolute Immunity." He focused on them and read: "After a suicide-style training, you have finally developed the long-awaited Absolute Immunity. Now, nothing can affect you."
As Diamond lunged toward him, shouting what appeared to be the future's expletives, Zera could only think how unlucky he was. This was some antidebuff shit. I'm a loser… an asshole… yeah, it has to be that, the system realized I'm a fucking dumb druggie and gave me a fucking antidebuff…
"Zera! This is insane! No one has ever managed to…"
"It's just a fucking antidebuff."
"What?"
"IT'S JUST A FUCKING ANTIDEBUFF!"