A groan cwed up my throat, raw and ragged, as my head throbbed like it’d met a sledgehammer. Everything felt wrong—soft where it should’ve been hard, heavy where it should’ve been light. I blinked, expecting the twisted metal of Mom’s sedan or an ER ceiling, but jagged blue runes pulsed above, carved into smooth stone.

  “What the…?” My voice came out high, breathy—not mine. I froze. A glowing panel flickered on the wall: Lily Harper, Age 18, Mana: D-css, Condition: Stable. My pulse spiked. Who the hell was Lily?

  My hands—small, pale, trembling—shot to my face: smooth cheeks, full lips. Lower: boobs. Big ones, real. Lower still: nothing. “I’m a girl?” I whispered, that alien voice cracking. My brain reeled—But I haven’t used my dick yet!

  “Where am I?” The room hummed back, runes glowing, a faint buzz tingling in my fingertips. Footsteps echoed beyond the door—clipped, steady. Someone was coming.

  The door swung open, blue light spilling in. A woman stepped through—mid-thirties, sturdy, her greenish scrubs taut as she moved, sharp brown eyes locking on me. She set a wooden box down with a soft clunk, pulling a glowing crystal rod from her belt.

  “Lily Harper?” she asked, voice calm and low.

  “Yeah—uh, I guess?” My hands clenched the thin gown tight over this stranger’s chest.

  “I’m Nurse Kaelin. Been looking after you a few days.” She tapped the rod against the panel—Heart Rate: Steady, Mana: D-css, Stable—and nodded.

  She then turned to me, her tone softening. “ Your parents… they didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.”

  Parents. Dead. I stared, waiting for tears that didn’t come—they weren’t mine, just ghosts in this body. “Oh. Okay.”

  She tilted her head, studied me momentarily, then smiled faintly.

  “Taking it like a champ, huh? Good.” She set the rod down and pressed two fingers to my wrist, glowing faintly as she checked my pulse manually.

  “You’re a tough one—Academy student, yeah? That’s something to be proud of.” Her voice lifted, a spark of respect cutting through her fatigue. “Kids like you, you’re the future—holding the line against those dungeon breaks. Practically heroes.”

  “Academy?” I echoed, brain stumbling. Dungeon breaks? Heroes? Her curves were still there, distracting, but her words hit harder. She leaned over, adjusting my cast with a gentle tug—damn, those scrubs—and I caught a whiff of herbs off her hands.

  “Entrance ceremony’s today.” She peeled off my cast with a hum of runes, revealing a smooth, pale leg. “How’s it feel?”

  I flexed it, tentative. “Uh… fine, I guess?” The ache was gone, repced by a weird lightness—like the leg didn’t fully belong to me yet.

  “Good. Let’s try standing, and walking.” She nodded at the floor.

  I slid off the bed, bare feet smacking cool stone, and stood. My body lurched forward, off-kilter—weight slung weird, chest tugging me one way, hips swaying like they had a mind of their own.

  “Any pain?” Kaelin asked, watching me steady myself.

  I shook my head. “No, no pain.”

  She nodded, satisfied, and stepped back, tugging the curtains shut with a soft scrape. “Get dressed. I brought you some clothes in that box. I’ll process your discharge—soon as you’re ready, you’re out. I’ll try to get you to the entrance ceremony on time.”

  The curtains swished, leaving me with the box. Inside: a singed folder about the “Arcane Academy,” a leather pouch with copper bits, a silver coin, and rune-etched sbs—one with my face. A cracked crystal sparked to life at my touch, a holographic screen fshing: 11:11 AM, August 28th.

  My attention soon fell to the white t-shirt, jeans, and pin gray hoodie in the box. I gnced down at them, then down at the thing blue gown clinging to this girl’s—I guess mine now—body.

  My hands—Lily’s hands—hovered, uncertain, before gripping the hem. Screw it.

  I yanked it up, slow at first, then faster as the empty gown peeled away.

  Cool air hit my skin—pale, smooth, curvy in ways that made my brain stall. The gown dropped to the floor, and I stood there, bare, breath catching. Boobs—real, heavy, swaying slightly as I shifted. My eyes locked on them, mesmerized. I poked one, tentative, then cupped it, feeling the weight, the softness. A shaky ugh escaped me—high and alien. “Holy shit,” I muttered.

  My gaze slid lower—hips fred wide, a faint bruise staining one side, then down to the neat triangle between my legs. A real pussy. My pussy. My hands twitched, sliding past my stomach, brushing the skin there—warm, alive, mine but not. Fingers grazed lower, curious, tracing the edge of something I’d only ever seen on a screen. My pulse thrummed, loud in my ears, static tingling in my fingertips—

  “Done changing?” Kaelin’s voice sliced through, just beyond the curtain.

  I jolted, hands snapping up to cover myself, heat flooding my face.

  “N-no!” I yelped, that fragile voice cracking. “Gimme a sec!”

  I jolted, hands snapping up, face burning. “N-no! Gimme a sec!” I scrambled for the T-shirt, yanking it on—fabric dragging over sensitive nipples, sending a jolt through me. Jeans next, rough against bare skin—no panties, just denim teasing my slit. I shoved dainty feet into singed sneakers, a dark shiver hitting me imagining them licked, worshipped. The gray hoodie swallowed me st, pouch and crystal stuffed in its pocket, folder tucked under my arm.

  I opened the curtains with a tug and shuffled after Nurse Kaelin. She led me to a rune-lit counter with a bored-looking clerk before she vanished into the hospital’s hum.

  I shuffled up to the rune-lit counter, the clerk—a bald guy in a gray robe, “Torv” on his namepte—scribbling on a glowing scroll. He didn’t look up. “Name?”

  “Lily Harper,” I said, voice high and shaky, setting the phone and pouches down.

  He tapped the scroll, runes fring. “Harper. Crash.” His tone fttened. “Sorry about your parents—rough way to go. Court’s still sorting fault with the truck carriage, but that’ll take time.” He gnced up, eyes narrow. “Got insurance?”

  “Uh… I don’t know?”

  “Can I see your ID?”

  I fumbled the leather pouch open and pulled out the rune-etched ID sb with my picture, sliding it over.

  “Hold on,” he muttered, scanning it. I waited, shifting on my feet. The hoodie’s drawstrings had loosened while I walked, dangling low. I gnced down—caught a glimpse of soft cleavage peeking over the T-shirt’s neckline, pale curves I still couldn’t believe were mine.

  “Harper,” Torv’s voice snapped me back. He slid the ID across, pity flickering in his eyes before he masked it. “No medical insurance. Do you know if you or your parents had auto-insurance?”

  I blinked, brain bnk. “I… don’t know that either.”

  He sighed, long and heavy, rubbing a hand over his bald scalp. “No insurance, then. Self-pay it is.” He grunted, a rune-printer whirring beside him. Two shimmering sheets spat out, and he handed them over. “Upfront or payment pn. Pick one.”

  I grabbed them, Torv’s scowl pinning me in pce. The total gred back: 10.4 Gold Crowns. Big, probably—huge—but my mind bnked. I peeked into the pouch: copper bits and one silver. Not enough. My shaky hand marked the payment pn, too rattled to ask what would happen if I didn’t pay. His cold stare swallowed any questions whole.

  I shoved through the heavy doors, humid air smming into me, and squinted at the street ahead. A line of rune-powered carriage taxis idled along the curb, their engines humming with faint purple light, drivers leaning against hoods or smoking weird glowing pipes.

  I stepped up to the closest one—a dented carriage with "Taxi" scrawled in runes on the side. The driver, a wiry guy with a patchy beard, gnced at me. "Where to?" he rasped, exhaling a puff of shimmering smoke.

  "Uh… Arcane Academy?" I said, voice shaky, clutching the folder tighter.

  He nodded, jerking a thumb at the door. "Should be 8 copper bits."

  nanchengnv