"Haaah… haaah…"
A sweet-faced little girl—well, actually me—sat panting on the grass beside the remains of a pink slime, wearing a faint, satisfied smile. Not that I was actually tired. The heavy breathing was just for show, in case someone was watching. Better safe than sorry.
Oh, right. That adorable little girl? Yeah, that's me now.
Hello there! My name's Geng. In my past life, I was a nearly-30-year-old dude who worked from home as an anti-cheat programmer for game companies. Decent cook, decent health. Then I got isekai'd.
Why was I okay with it? Well… my life back home was pretty lonely. Parents gone, no one to miss me. Plus, I loved isekai manga, novels, and anime. Getting truck-kun'd wasn't the worst deal—except for missing new anime episodes. But hey, now I'm in one! Anyway, let's move on.
Right now, I'm stuck in the body of a 6–9-year-old kid (rough estimate). Healthy but weak, with a face modified to be cuter and more "this-world-friendly" than my old, mediocre mug. My name's just XXX for now—hopefully, I can pick a real one later.
In this world, everyone has stats, skills, levels, and special abilities. Growth rates vary, skills can be innate, learned, or gear-based, and so on.
As for me…
I pulled up my public status screen (the one everyone else sees). How do I—?
"Status!"
[Status]
Name: XXX | Gender: Male | LV: 1 (50%) | SLV: 1 (50%)
Stats:
STR 2 | VIT 0 | WIS 0 | MAG 0 | AGI 3 | DEX 0
Sub-Stats:
ATK 2 | MATK 0 | DEF 0 | MDEF 0 | FLEE 3 | MFLEE 1 | REGEN 0.1 | MREGEN 0.1
HP: 100/100 | MP: 10/10
Class: Village Kid
Skills:
[Item Box] Lv.1
[Doppelganger] Lv.1
[Perfect Shapeshift] Lv.1
[Stealth] Lv.1
[Overlimit] Lv.1
Hmm… Right. This XXX-named status window is the fake one everyone sees.
Now, for my real stats—the ones I can't let anyone know about. I flopped onto the grass, pretending to catch my breath, and summoned my true status screen in my head. To avoid confusion, let's call this one:
[Status: CurseHBless]
Name: XXX (Geng) | Gender: Male | Age: 8 | LV: 1 (50%) | SLV: 1 (50%)
Stats (27,800 Points):
STR 2 | VIT 0 | WIS 0 | MAG 0 | AGI 3 | DEX 0
Sub-Stats:
ATK 1 | MATK 0 | DEF 0 | MDEF 0 | FLEE 1 | MFLEE 1 | REGEN 0.1 | MREGEN 0.1
HP: 100/100 | MP: 10/10
Class: Village Kid
Skills (755 Points):
[Item Box] Lv.1
[Doppelganger] Lv.1
[Perfect Shapeshift] Lv.1
[Stealth] Lv.1
[Overlimit] Lv.1
Curses: 3
Blessings: 3
Huh. Not much difference on the surface. Time to cheat the system.
Normally, leveling skills gets harder each level:
Lv.1 → 2: 1 PointLv.2 → 3: 2 Points…Lv.9 → 10: 9 Points
Most skills cap at Lv.10 unless you find special items or conditions. But Overlimit, my "rare" skill? It costs 5 Points just for Lv.1 → 2, then 10 Points for Lv.2 → 3, and so on. No wonder the goddesses didn't care when I picked it—it's "broken" but bottlenecked by costs.
Well, joke's on them.
[Curse #4]:
When upgrading [Item Box], [Doppelganger], [Perfect Shapeshift], [Stealth], or [Overlimit] between 4 PM – 8 AM (16 hours), the cost doubles per skill level, and upgrades cannot exceed +1 level per session.
[Blessing #4]:
When upgrading the same skills between 8:01 AM – 3:59 PM (8 hours), the cost divides by skill level (effectively 1 Point per upgrade), and no level cap applies.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
Now, during those 8 golden hours, I can spam upgrades for 1 Point each—no limits.
Cheat activated.
End of Chapter 3
"Just a little cheating, okay?"
----------------------------
Glossary (In-World Game Terms):LV (Level): Overall power indicator. Higher = stronger, but other factors matter.SLV (Skill Level): Determines skill acquisition rate, class changes, and special conditions.STR (Strength): Physical power (melee damage, carrying capacity).AGI (Agility): Speed (attack speed, evasion).VIT (Vitality): Endurance (HP, status resistance).DEX (Dexterity): Precision (accuracy, finesse).WIS (Wisdom): Knowledge (MP, MP regen, support magic).MAG (Magic): Spell potency (magic damage/healing).
Base Stats:
ATK (Attack): Physical damage.MATK (Magic Attack): Spell damage.DEF (Defense): Physical damage reduction.MDEF (Magic Defense): Spell damage reduction.FLEE (Evasion): Dodge physical attacks.MFLEE (Magic Evasion): Dodge spells.REGEN (HP Regen): Health recovery rate.MREGEN (MP Regen): Mana recovery rate.