Only three hours later, the forced reboot of my body kicked in on schedule.
I opened my eyes with effort.
Normally, after scrubbing the place for hours last night, my weak body should've been aching all over. Every joint should be protesting.
But this morning, nothing hurt at all.
I sat up on the bed slowly, lost in thought.
Could it be…?
I walked into the bathroom and stood in front of the toilet to take care of business.
The sound of water splashing against porcelain echoed in the small space.
When I finished, I looked up out of habit… and froze.
Huh?
Did I… get more handsome?
I leaned in closer.
The shape of my face looked sharper, like an unseen hand had carved a little more precision into my features.
My skin was still pale, but no longer that lifeless kind of white, it now had a smooth, cool tone that seemed vividly healthy.
The shadows under my eyes hadn't gone away, but on this new, more sculpted face, they looked more like deliberate makeup, adding a quiet kind of charm to my always-tired eyes.
A gloomy-yet-attractive guy vibe?
Damn it, this was straight-up Sasuke-level handsome.
My eyes dropped lower as I lifted my wrinkled T-shirt.
Where my stomach used to be flat, muscle lines had appeared, streamlined, tight, and athletic, not exaggerated like a gym junkie's.
It was more like a panther right before it pounced, every inch of it hiding restrained power.
My shoulders had widened too, filling out the collar of my shirt.
I stared at my reflection with a calm and clear mind.
This body had completely transformed overnight.
Thinking through it logically, the exhaustion last night, that ridiculous title Absolute Defense: The Holy Virgin Shield, and the skill Goblin Hero...
[Passive Effect: Unyielding]
[Body and posture: Permanent enhancement to physical functions, including dynamic vision, reflexes, muscle power, and bone density.]
Makes sense.
All my doubts were solved at once.
"So this means… long hours of homework won't wear me out anymore?"
I gave a quiet chuckle at my own bad joke.
A translucent panel blinked into my view again, its numbers confirming my guess.
{PERSONAL PANEL}
Name: Luke
Charm: 8/10 (Your already good looks have taken another step forward, giving you an even more dangerously appealing presence.)
…Yeah, am fucked.
I frowned.
What good was it to look as handsome as the readers watching this?
Sure, it makes me easier to relate to, but in a world driven by lust and danger, being eye-sugar is more like painting a target on your back.
Better to look average.
Better to vanish into the crowd and stay safe until the mission ends.
So…
I brushed my hair forward, pulling down the strands that had been pushed back in my sleep. Because my hair's soft and a bit long, it fell easily, covering my forehead and most of my eyes.
Half the killer charm was immediately gone.
The angled light cut deeper shadows across my eyes, making the faint darkness beneath them look heavier.
Then I grabbed a pair of black-rimmed glasses from the shelf beside the sink.
The lenses weren't real, I had them made after moving south, just to hide my face.
I slid them on.
The cool frame rested against my nose, the lenses catching a dim reflection that softened my gaze even more.
Looking in the mirror again, the combination worked perfectly.
Long bangs hiding my eyes, black rims muting my best features, and the still-visible dark circles sealing the effect.
Now I looked exactly like the gloomy shut-in type who spent every night binging anime and avoiding sunlight.
"Perfect."
The status panel flickered again, reacting to my disguise.
[Charm: 5 (8) / 10]
The 8 in brackets was the truth. The 5 was me after camouflage.
From heartthrob to nobody.
"Finally, some peace of mind"
I closed the panel, took off my sticky shirt, tossed it in the laundry bin, and stepped into the shower.
Warm water ran over my body, washing away everything unpleasant from the night before.
Under my skin, I could feel quiet strength thrumming, a power coiled and waiting.
Useless for most normal men, but in a broken world like this, it might finally mean protection.
"Not bad"
I dried my hair, put on the blue-and-white school uniform that had zero design sense, and appreciated how the oversized fit perfectly hid any physical changes.
Bag over shoulder, shoes on, I opened the door.
A click echoed behind me as the lock fell shut, sealing off my little safe haven.
The humid coastal wind swept in as I stepped outside.
I took the bus, keeping my head down among students in the same uniform, silent blending in like a drop of water lost in a rushing river.
…
When I got to class, I walked between the rows of desks toward my quiet corner in the back.
Dropping my backpack on the table made a dull thud that shook a few eraser crumbs loose.
"Morning! Lilu"
A round figure squeezed into the seat beside me.
That was Baron Wallace, one of the only two friends I'd made since high school to maintain my low-profile act.
His pudgy face lit up in a grin.
"Morning," I said, pulling out my chair. "Also, please stop calling me Lilu."
That nickname always reminded me of some cartoon goat who kept betraying his dad.
"Why not? You're Luke Lin. Lilu sounds cute." Baron pouted.
Yeah, no. I ignored him.
"Good, you're here," came a voice from the front, a bit raspy from a still-changing throat. "Did you stay up all night gaming again?"
That was Dexter, nicknamed Monkey.
He was all bone, no meat, with a face full of acne that made him easy to spot from orbit.
"Look at those dark circles. They're about to slide off your chin."
He leaned sideways over his chair, grinning like he had me figured out.
"What can I say? All for the glory of the Goblin Tribe," I said with a half-yawn. "Unlike you two degenerates, at least I wasn't wasting my night worshipping folders."
"Ha! Wrong," Baron snorted, his cheeks shaking. "I was studying the Lanshan Fantasy swimsuit PV. The texture, the animation, man, it was perfection."
"Yeah right," Monkey shot back. "On your trash laptop? Probably watching pixels."
Then he leaned closer, his voice dropping.
"Listen, I've got something premium. Full VR. You won't believe how real it feels…"
"What the hell!"
He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes went wide. The noisy room went completely silent.
For one breath, even the fans seemed to pause.
Then the whispers started again, low, excited.
I glanced over.
The cause walked in through the front door. Light pooled around her like a film effect turned up to max.
My eyes almost hurt from it.
Seraphina Xavia.
One of the top-ranked school beauties, officially voted in by the campus forum.
An unspoken dream girl for half the ordinary goblins on campus.
Her jacket was unzipped just enough to show the top of her chest.
Each step made the soft curve under her shirt move slightly, a dangerous and captivating sight for adolescent hearts.
Her pants had clearly been altered, the fabric tracing the line of her hips.
Her face was striking; bright eyes shaped like hooks, a small smile that worked like a spell.
Right now, that faint smile wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, but every guy in the room felt like it was meant for him.
"Morning, Class Rep!"
"Lemy, your new haircut looks great!"
"Victor, nice game yesterday!"
She greeted everyone by name.
Top students, random kids who barely spoke, didn't matter. Everyone basked in her calm, effortless warmth.
The Saintess of our school. No debate.
I didn't bother looking any longer.
I pulled a stack of textbooks and notebooks from my bag, one by one, building myself a paper wall against the outside world.
Beside me, the other two were already gone, mentally, at least.
Baron's mouth hung open as he swallowed hard. Monkey leaned forward, eyes almost glowing.
"Holy shit… look!" Monkey whispered, breathless. "That waist… and her ass…"
Baron's breathing grew heavier. "And her chest, pretty sure that's bigger than last semester. Damn, that growth rate..."
I paused mid-movement when Monkey's twitching leg hit my desk, knocking my books off balance.
I frowned and fixed the stack.
What a dumb world.
Shouldn't NPCs talk like normal teenagers, not like walking hormone ads?
Everything they said was loud, crude, and honestly exhausting to listen to.
Watching them spiral into their nonsense, I sighed.
"Cut it out. She's like a princess sitting above commoners like us. We're the goblins scraping food from the sewers. You really think we're qualified to touch her shoes? Wake up to reality."
Also, you're distracting me from studying.
That splash of truth cooled them off immediately.
Monkey slumped down. "Can't we at least dream?"
Baron sighed. "He's right, though. Guys like us can only dream."
"Good students," I said, nodding as I stacked the books neatly again.
Then I opened a math problem set.
To me, that girl walking in just now didn't mean any more than the periodic table on the wall.
Pretty? Sure.
Good body? Probably.
But after three years under the curse of my so-called talent, insomnia mode permanently active, perfect bodies were just biology. Bones, flesh, blood vessels, nerves.
Beautiful, yes. But still just walking red-pink skeletons.
No appeal whatsoever.
I turned to the first problem.
Time to study, kids.