Chapter 2
I said I'd climb the Tower, but that didn't mean I was going to do it right this second.
After all...
Poke.
Squish.
"Urk."
Seriously, do you think I could climb the Tower in this body?
With this soft, completely muscleless body? The Tower?
"Hell no. Obviously fucking not."
Honestly, this is completely absurd.
Normally, your body gets tougher when you Awaken.
You need muscles to fight monsters, and you need to be able to fight monsters to climb the Tower.
That's why most Awakened are monsters who can casually total 500 kilos across the big three lifts.
And that goes for production types and tool users too, not just combat types.
But...
"Nngh...!"
For some reason, my body was ridiculously soft.
I could barely even lift a one-liter bottle of water lying around my apartment.
Going into Floor 1 of the Tower like this would be suicide.
Even if I forced my way in, I'd end up as bar snacks for monsters, or a nutritious treat for goblins.
And I don't want to die yet.
It's not like I'm some clown who's hopelessly underwater on stocks.
...What?
You ask why someone like that drank 26 cans of energy drinks?
"But I can't resist a top post."
Anyway.
To use Tower Gallery—in other words, to browse the forums through my status window—I had to climb the Tower.
But no matter how I looked at it, my current specs weren't good enough to climb the Tower.
In short, I needed to boost my stats.
For an ordinary Awakened, that would've been impossible.
The only way Awakened could get stronger was by climbing the Tower and beating up monsters.
But I had a way to get stronger without climbing the Tower.
"Gulp, gulp... Pwah!"
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
As soon as I downed a can of energy drink, another notification appeared before my eyes.
I immediately opened my trait window to check my increased addiction rate.
[ Drug Addiction ]
- Rank: EX
- Ability: Consuming drugs increases your stats in proportion to your addiction rate.
- Addiction rate: 2%
"About 1% per can..."
Ah, I see. So that's the extent of this trait.
It was so lame I wanted to die... Not really.
I still couldn't tell, since my addiction rate was only 2%.
It said my stats would increase in proportion to my addiction rate, but I couldn't really feel that either.
But the encouraging thing was that my addiction rate really had gone up.
"Isn't this basically a Lucky Vicky moment?"
I used to drink energy drinks pretty often anyway.
At least five cans a day, sometimes as many as ten.
Drinking energy drinks raised my addiction rate.
And as my addiction rate rose, my stats rose along with it.
Therefore, by syllogism, drinking energy drinks raised my stats.
Which meant...
"Time to work on this trait."
It was time to start farming stats.
I grabbed my wallet and phone and headed to the convenience store.
*
*
*
Beep!
/This product may only be purchased by customers aged 19 or older. Please show your ID./
"......"
"......"
Slide.
[Resident Registration Card]
Geum A-yeon (金兒鍊)
060401-4XXXXXX
"......"
"......"
Glance.
Flinch.
"......"
"......"
"...Put it away and come back later."
"O-why...?!"
Unfortunately, my attempt to buy alcohol at the convenience store failed.
Even after I showed my ID, they wouldn't believe I was an adult.
What? You think I expected them to believe that?
But the convenience-store scene is a standard trope in gender-bender stories...
And I'm Awakened, for crying out loud. I thought they'd believe me...
But other than my phone and wallet, I didn't have anything suitable to use my skill on, so there was no way to convince the clerk.
'I don't even look that young...'
No matter how you looked at it, wasn't I a perfectly respectable adult?
S-sure, my height and a few other things were a little incriminating...
...Well, the ID photo was blonde too, so it did look kind of photoshopped.
And my name had changed to that of some aphrodisiac ingredient.
From the clerk's perspective, it was only natural to be suspicious.
"......"
I cooled my face, which had gone red with embarrassment, and settled for quickly paying for the caffeinated drinks before scurrying out of the convenience store.
With both hands full of a pay-as-you-throw bag packed to the brim with caffeinated drinks, I struggled all the way home, and then...
I cooled my face, reddened by the summer sun, in front of the air conditioner and panted for breath.
"Hah... Hah... Why'd this damn Tower have to simulate global warming too..."
Maybe because my body was smaller than before, I felt like I was completely out of breath.
The moment I set the bag down, the caffeinated drinks tumbled out in a clatter.
Energy drinks of every kind, tonic drinks, canned coffee, coffee in cups, bottled coffee, powdered coffee, instant coffee mix, coffee milk, and the like went rolling across the floor.
I picked up an energy drink first and muttered with an awkward smile.
"Even I think I look like a lunatic, but..."
Even setting energy drinks aside, I might be the first person to guzzle caffeine in every form imaginable.
If I'd livestreamed this, I'd go down in streaming history as a legend.
Even without streaming, if I took a picture of myself drinking all this and posted it to Awakened Gallery, it was only a matter of time before it became a top post...
"...This is all for the skill."
I was doing this to level up my skill.
It absolutely wasn't for the dopamine or the top post.
This was all a foundation for getting stronger.
It'll build blood and muscle... or whatever.
Pssht!
After finishing my self-justification, I immediately cracked open the energy drink and poured it down my throat.
And then.
[ You have consumed a drug. ]
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
[ You have consumed a drug. ]
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
[ You have consumed a drug. ]
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
[ You have consumed a drug. ]
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
[ You have consumed a drug. ]
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
[ ...... ]
[ ... ]
My slightly protruding belly started getting more and more bloated.
*
*
*
The caffeine demon.
Has landed in South Korea.
The following is a list of casualties caused by the caffeine demon.
Monsta, 19 cans.
Hot Seven, 6 cans.
Blue Bull, 15 cans.
Let'sbe, 24 cans.
Cantata, 8 cans.
Maxim T.O.D., 7 bottles.
Starbox, 6 cups.
Coffee milk, 4 cartons.
......
...
Total spent: 197,100 won.
Caffeine consumed: approximately 10,000 mg.
And...
"Gulp, gulp..."
[ You have consumed a drug. ]
[ Addiction rate has increased by 1%. ]
[ Drug Addiction ]
- Rank: EX
- Ability: Consuming drugs increases your stats in proportion to your addiction rate.
- Addiction rate: 100%
The moment I finished the last can of energy drink, my addiction rate finally reached 100%.
Thankfully, the catastrophic incident of turning my insides into blood-soup stew like last time didn't happen.
My heart was beating a little fast, but it wasn't that serious.
Well, of course.
You think an Awakened's squishy body is something to mess with?
[ Drug Resistance ]
- Rank: S
- Ability: Grants resistance to all types of drugs.
...Just kidding. It was thanks to my resistance trait.
If I hadn't had this trait, I'd probably have shown symptoms of an overdose, Awakened or not.
But even with the trait, my bladder capacity hadn't increased, so I had to run to the bathroom dozens of times an hour.
I guess that did help me get used to being a woman faster, if you could call it that.
...Honestly, even I thought this was insane.
Even if it was for trait farming, what kind of lunatic stuffed themselves with this much caffeine?
At this point, eating dirt for thirty days would be more realistic.
At least that wouldn't give me kidney stones.
Ding!
As I was muttering nonsense to myself, a notification suddenly rang out.
Then a translucent system window appeared before my eyes and spat out several lines of messages.
[ The addiction rate for Energy Drinks has reached 100%! ]
[ Consuming more drugs in this category will no longer increase your addiction rate. ]
"So much for farming stats..."
Apparently, I could no longer farm my addiction rate with caffeine.
Was there a limit to how much the addiction rate could increase for each drug?
This is basically filling out a whole drug compendium!
"If I'd known, I should've bought a wider variety."
Of course, now I couldn't buy any more even if I wanted to.
I'd spent nearly all my money buying that stuff just now.
But half a day's worth of caffeine-farming drudgery hadn't been for nothing.
"Hnnngh...!"
When I squeezed a Let'sbe can between my fingers, it crumpled like a sheet of paper with a little resistance.
Tremble, tremble.
Of course, my finger muscles shook like a newborn fawn's as I did it...
Still, I had strength that shouldn't have been possible for a soft little girl.
For the record, only my strength had increased; my body was still just as soft.
...What kind of messed-up physiology is this?
"Would this make me about as strong as one high school girl?"
They say two well-trained special forces soldiers are equal in combat power to one high school girl.
So I guess that was about right, since it was roughly the strength of two adult men.
And strength wasn't the only thing that had increased.
"Transmutation."
Krrrack!
The moment I finished the incantation, an aluminum can shot up into a spike.
It was clearly faster than when I'd made a dagger before.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed to use less material too.
The speed, efficiency, and power of Transmutation were in a different league from before.
"Did my mana increase...?"
I wasn't sure.
It didn't feel like anything had changed...
"...I guess I'll find out as I climb the Tower."
In any case, that wasn't important right now.
Unexpectedly, I'd acquired a decent attack skill.
My body hadn't gotten tougher than before... but my strength had still increased.
So, with that in mind.
"Maybe it's time to start climbing...?"
That was enough preparation for now.
I grabbed my going-out hoodie and stepped out the front door, muttering with a resolute expression.
"I will stand atop the Tower."
It was finally time to start climbing the Tower for real.