Chapter 15: The Growing Photons

By her count, Luo Yan had already spent three nights in this strange new world—one that looked remarkably like Earth—since transmigrating and becoming a girl.

Maybe she was starting to adapt to her new identity.

But whenever she thought about the “then” and “now,” she couldn’t help but feel a quiet, complicated emotion stirring inside her.

Honestly, even though she was finally living a proper urban life, the feeling she had now was… a little odd.

Her living space was no longer a plain otaku’s room, but a lavish, young lady’s suite.
The little noises she made while stretching or yawning now sounded like natural, seductive moans.
Even the air around her carried the faint fragrance of her own body—sweet, soft, and faintly intoxicating.

If this is a dream, it’s definitely a sensual one. Maybe too sensual.

If I were a girl… no, I am a girl now. So, when I wake up in the morning… what am I supposed to do first?

Luo Yan sat dazed on the edge of the bed, her nightgown slightly askew.

Underneath the wrinkled fabric, soft shoulders peeked out, her porcelain neck gleamed in the early light, and a glimpse of deep cleavage stirred the imagination.

Let’s see… I should probably wash my hair. Then makeup. Oh, but I need to get dressed first, don’t I?

She recalled Miss Lu mentioning that she had prepared some clothes for her.

Sure enough, a neat stack was waiting on the bedside table.

Folded next to it were her old gear: the tight-fitting combat suit, a pistol, lipstick, and a compact mirror—courtesy of Nico.

Seeing the lipstick and mirror again, Luo Yan froze slightly, realizing something awkward:

No wonder Lu Xiaona had given her such a strange look back at the hospital—she’d probably seen these.
And where they were stored.

Luo Yan shook her head, helplessly amused.

It wasn’t her fault that the combat suit had no storage pockets. She’d had to improvise.

Miss Lu had kindly prepared two sets of clothes for her.

One was relatively gender-neutral—a white printed round-neck T-shirt paired with black women’s trousers.

The other was more feminine: a short-sleeved V-neck top with a black pleated miniskirt.

After comparing the two, the second outfit was definitely cuter…
But skirts were still a bit outside her comfort zone, so she opted for the first set.

As for the underwear… Miss Lu had gone all out.

Among the styles was a lace-themed full-cup bra, with sheer fabric across the top and delicate embroidery below—clearly designed for someone with her figure.

She chose a more conservative bra, but even then, putting it on gave her an indescribable sense of shame.

Let’s not talk about that.

It had to be said—only after becoming a girl could one truly understand how troublesome it was to be a girl.

Clothes, hair, makeup… so many steps.

“Ughhh, it’s too much. I give up, I give up…”

After fumbling around for a while, Luo Yan finally gave up on doing her makeup.

Sure, she had inherited various “talents” after syncing with this body, but expecting her to suddenly manage herself like a refined lady was asking a bit much.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

Thankfully, I’m naturally beautiful.

Even with the most casual appearance, she was still strikingly pretty.

She couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of herself.

Checking the time, she saw there was still a little while before Lu Xiaona arrived. She decided to make use of the time to check her status panel.

After a battle like that, there should be some gains, right?

She’d gone to a lot of effort saving Miss Lu.

Surely she’d earned something.

Nico had even mentioned she left her a bunch of “gifts.”
Maybe this was it?

Maybe… the “rewards” had already arrived?

[Advent Project – In Progress]
[Name: Luo Yan]
[Age: 18]
[Height: 170 cm]
[Weight: 52 kg]
[Measurements: 100-62-90]

No changes in personal info.

Her three measurements were still wildly unbalanced, and the mysterious Advent Project was still listed as “in progress.”

But her attribute interface had changed.

Luo Yan blinked.

“Photons… when did I get so many?”

[Level: Awakening]
[Next Stage: 0/500]
[Photon Count: 54]
[Current Skills: Combat Instinct (Lv.1), Weapon Mastery (Lv.1), Language Proficiency (Lv.1), Vocal Talent (Lv.1), Dance Talent (Lv.1)…]

She distinctly remembered spending all her spare photons two days ago to level up from Aberrant to Awakening.

Yet now she already had 54 photons again?

If I poured all of these into leveling, I’d be a tenth of the way to the next stage.

At this rate, she could hit the next level in just a month.

And considering how massive the jump from Aberrant to Awakening had been…

She couldn’t help but wonder: What kind of transformation would the next level bring?

But there was one problem:

How were these photons generated?

“So dumb—there’s not even a history log for photon gains…”

Luo Yan frowned and tapped around, hoping for a clue. But there were no prompts, no logs, nothing.

She could only sigh and resolve to monitor things more closely going forward.

If she could pinpoint exactly how photons were generated, it’d speed up her progress by leaps and bounds.

She glanced at her skills again.

Right now, skill upgrades didn’t cost too much—only 100 photons to raise a skill to level 2.

But she hesitated.

Leveling up skills was different from leveling up stages.
You couldn’t preview the next level’s effect.
There was no way to judge whether it was worth the 100 photons or not.

It’s a bit of a gamble.

At least leveling up her core stage was a guaranteed boost.

“No need to rush skill upgrades. I can’t just spend photons the moment I get them.”

She understood this very well.

When she played gacha games before, because of her habit of being a “moonlight clan,” she had failed to pull a must-have character for a certain version, and then had to endure being beaten for half a year.

Points had to be saved.

So did photons.

Being a disciplined hoarder was key.

She didn’t have to wait long.

Soon, Lu Xiaona arrived, accompanied by her female bodyguard Atlanta and a middle-aged man named Chen En, whom Lu Xiaona called Uncle Chen.

It had to be said that this middle-aged man was indeed formidable.

He’d drawn a lot of enemy fire during the battle, yet still managed to retreat without injury.

Without serious strength, that was impossible.

Come to think of it, this was the first time Luo Yan had met this Awakening-level master formally since saving Lu Xiaona.

Chen En offered a polite smile and extended his hand.

“Miss Luo Yan, thank you very much for helping our young lady the other day. On behalf of Mr. Lu, please accept our sincere gratitude.”