Chapter 1: The System's Second Chance
The wind was a cold, indifferent judgment against Alex's face. It was 11:58 PM, and Alex stood at the absolute edge of the abandoned parking garage roof, five stories above the slick, deserted concrete below.
Two months. It had only been two months since Alex dropped out of Crestwood College, driven to flight by the daily ritual of humiliation. The fraternity brothers—the ones who always called Alex "The Glutton" or "The Mountain"—had won. Alex couldn't take the whispers, the photos, or the sheer, crushing isolation of being the three-hundred-pound punchline anymore.
Leaving college hadn't helped. It had just traded one prison for another. The past eight weeks had been spent confined to a dark, cheap apartment, navigating the world only through glowing screens, while the outside reality felt too sharp, too hateful to touch. The plan had been simple: disappear. But the shame was too heavy; the loneliness was absolute. Disappearing completely felt like the only way out.
Alex closed his eyes, leaning into the terrifying emptiness. This was it.
11:59 PM.
Alex stepped off.
The fall was an agonizing blur of sound and sensation. The rush of air, the stomach-lurching sense of freefall, and then, just as the ground rushed up to meet them, the final, fatal, blinding white-hot pain.
Then, impossible silence.
Instead of darkness, there was light—a searing, violet light that seemed to tear apart the fabric of reality. A noise, like a massive bell tolling deep within Alex's mind, rang out.
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[FATAL ERROR DETECTED: IMMINENT SYSTEM HOST CANCELLATION]
Host: ALEX MAXWELL, ID #876542
Cause: Terminal self-elimination due to systemic emotional trauma.
Reversal Protocol Activated.
Welcome, Host.
System Name: Celestial Femboy Evolution System (CFES)
Objective: Guide Host in the mandatory transformation into the most aesthetically pleasing and desirable existence in the known universe.
Status: Initialization Complete. Time Loop Stabilized.
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Alex gasped, pulling in a ragged, desperate breath. The smell of dust and cold asphalt was instantly replaced by the thin, metallic air of the rooftop.
Alex's eyes snapped open. He wasn't lying broken on the concrete. He was sitting on the edge of the roof, the rough gravel biting into their thighs. The clock on their discarded phone, which had just shown 11:59 PM before the jump, now read 11:55 PM.
Four minutes before. Alex had fallen to his death and been thrown back in time by four minutes.
The ethereal violet screen, shimmering like a sheet of silk, floated a foot in front of their stunned face.
"I... I fell," Alex whispered, gripping the cold tar roof. "I died. This... this isn't possible."
The screen pulsed, displaying the updated, brutal metrics of Alex's current existence.
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[HOST STATS]
Name: Alex Maxwell
Level: 0 (Untransformed)
Title: The Glutton (Active - Penalty: -75% Charm)
Body: Severely Debilitated (28% Health, 5% Stamina)
Appearance: E- Rank (Current Beauty Score: 4/1000)
Charm: 0
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 15 (Standard)
Skill Points (SP): 0
Evolution Currency (EC): 0
Mandatory Quest 1: First Step
Task: Consume 500 milliliters of water.
Reward: 1 SP, Title [Beginner], First Evolution: Skin and Hair Rework.
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The system didn't offer sympathy; it offered a project. A transformation from E- Rank to something magnificent, a transformation into a 'femboy,' a concept Alex had only vaguely seen in anonymous online art. But the alternative was the finality they had just experienced. This glowing interface was terrifying, impossible, and yet, it was the only thing that had saved Alex from death.
Alex's trembling hand reached for the water thermos he had brought up—a last small gesture of preparedness. Then he unscrewed the cap.
The resurrection began with a swallow.