Chapter 3 : Whoa, it actually worked!

“?”

Lena’s eyes flashed open.

Her refined, jewel-like, golden eyes—smooth and clear—darted around, scanning up, down, left, and right.

The sky remained pitch black.

The bonfire was dying, its warmth fading, and a cold midnight breeze brushed across her face.

Lena frowned, her brow furrowing.

“Aish.”

She hadn’t slept much at all.

Why the hell had she woken up at dawn?

No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, her body refused to relax.

Everything was fine—except that falling back asleep felt impossible.

Everyone has experienced this at least once: waking up in the early morning, unable to drift off again, and suffering through the day as a result.

Still, what could she do? She had to close her eyes and try to sleep.

To be active again in the morning, she needed to get her required rest.

Just as she was about to doze off, a strange smell mingled with the wind.

It was foul and fishy, difficult to put into words.

It reminded her of the stench from her friend’s dog when she’d looked after it before a long trip.

The reek of an animal.

…The stench?

Her sleep-fogged mind snapped awake, as if doused with cold water.

[Survival Instinct (Lv.1) is activated!]

[Survival Instinct rises to Lv.2 due to accumulated experience!]

Something was lurking in the darkness, hidden by dense bushes in the direction the wind blew.

An intuition bordering on instinct told her so.

Lena rose slowly.

Sudden movements would only alert the hunter.

As naturally as possible, pretending to be unaware, she stood up—and then what?

Confusion clouded her mind.

Humans had built civilization using tools, rising to the top of the ecosystem.

But that also meant a human without tools was weak.

What could she do with her bare hands? Against an animal—a beast?

Run? Fight back?

True, her physical abilities had transformed dramatically with her gender change.

But would that be enough to outrun a beast in a game of tag?

And fighting back?

They say bears tear people apart—how could she tell if this was a bear or not?

Her time to think was brief.

It lasted only as long as a single deep breath.

But that was enough time for a beast to begin its hunt.

A black mass burst from the darkness.

It was fast.

She’d barely registered its leap, and already it had closed half the distance.

Lena’s eyes pierced the gloom, using the bonfire’s faint glow to identify her foe.

[Toothed Jaguar]

The name hovered above its head.

The rest was blurry, unreadable, but like her own name—Lena—it stood out clearly.

Was it because it was a name?

Or because she wasn’t qualified to read more of the status window?

Whatever the reason, now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Her reaction was almost reflexive, like when she’d snatched a fish midair after it leapt from the water.

She ducked and rolled forward.

Her back stung as it scraped across dirt and rocks, but she ignored it.

In her upside-down view, a massive beast soared just above her.

The jaguar—a creature third in size among cats, behind only tigers and lions—was enormous.

Even without knowing it weighed nearly 100 kilograms, its sheer bulk was undeniable.

In a fight, strength scaled with size.

It might not rip her apart like a bear, but being struck by that mass would feel like a car crash.

Common sense screamed she was outmatched.

How could a modern person—too lazy for the gym, content to lounge at home—defeat a beast?

Seeing the toothed jaguar’s size with her own eyes only cemented her odds: zero.

Run.

If she climbed trees and darted around like a monkey, it couldn’t follow.

That’s what reason dictated, but her body had other plans.

Her slender waist twisted, launching her off the ground with elastic force, her feet soaring skyward.

Not after rolling and standing—no, mid-roll.

Her kick slammed into the jaguar’s stomach with a resounding thud!

The beast let out a pained yowl, lifted higher by the blow.

Its body flipped midair, and Lena crashed into the tree trunk that had blocked the moonlight and stars.

Wow, that worked.

Lena marveled inwardly.

Though it took time to describe, the jaguar’s charge and her forward roll had unfolded in an instant.

Their paths—hers below, its above—crossed in a fleeting heartbeat.

And in that split second, she’d landed a precise kick to its stomach while rolling.

It was a beastly move, outshining even the toothed jaguar.

The jaguar slid down the trunk, dazed and disoriented.

It was a miracle it wasn’t dead—caught off guard, it had slammed headfirst into the ground.

Lena finished it there.

She leapt onto the tree beside it, defying physics with her ascent, then somersaulted midair when her momentum peaked, driving her foot down with crushing force.

The toothed jaguar’s neck snapped with a crunch! beneath her heel.

“Ew.”

Lena grimaced.

The crunch! wasn’t just heard—it was felt through her foot.

The sensation of shattering bone sent a chilling shiver down her spine, making her shudder.

“That’s what you get for attacking.”

Not that she felt overwhelmed by guilt for taking a life.

If she hadn’t killed it, she’d be the one dead.

Besides, hadn’t she killed fish to grill them?

The jaguar’s size and the vivid sensation didn’t change the act.

More pressing was—

“What is this?”

Lena shifted her body, testing it.

She knew her physical abilities had spiked abnormally.

But fighting a beast and dominating it with this body? That was another matter.

It was like a child swinging a knife, only to be subdued by an adult’s slap.

No matter how powerful the body—the tool—her skill had to match it, or it was useless.

Lena had never studied martial arts.

She didn’t know how to control her body.

So how had she just done that?

Rolling across the ground, kicking the charging jaguar mid-motion, leaping up a tree as if gravity were a suggestion, and snapping its neck without hesitation.

The unfamiliarity hit harder because it wasn’t deliberate.

Her body had moved on its own.

Instinct had taken over.

“I thought only the hardware got upgraded to the latest model—but the software did too.”

What was instinct?

A reaction driven by the body.

This body—changed in gender—came not just with enhanced physical power, but a beast-like survival instinct to wield it masterfully!

[You have realized Martial Arts (Lv.1)!]

[Survival Instinct (Lv.2) affects Martial Arts (Lv.1)!]

[Martial Arts (Lv.1) changes to Wild Martial Arts (Lv.1)!]

“Are you late again?”

Lena clicked her tongue.

Useless.

Others wielded their systems like cheat codes—why was hers so slow?

This time, one word even blinked in gold, begging for attention, narrowing her eyes.

Did it know the time?

It was still early morning, the moonlight sharp.

Her eyes, adjusted to the dark, stung under the glowing text, struggling to stay open.

This wasn’t help—it was a hindrance.

Lena glared at the unfair system.

[‘Rule of Survival (3)’ completed!]

[Additional rewards granted for perfectly resolving the imminent threat!]

[Growth points have reached a threshold—choices are presented!]

“You really don’t listen.”

Instead of addressing her complaints, the flood of text muddled her vision.

She’d told it to vanish, yet it spewed more, making a fuss.

She didn’t even understand it—pure frustration.

She nearly dismissed it all in annoyance, but a sudden tingle in her chest stopped her.

Had a bug crawled into her clothes and bitten her?

She tugged at her shirt, inspecting her chest—no red marks, no bites.

It wasn’t surface irritation.

It was deeper, an itch where her mind resided.

“Ugh, itchy.”

Lena scratched near her sternum.

She couldn’t rip open her chest to dig it out.

And instinct told her that wouldn’t help anyway.

It was mental—should she meditate?

Lena closed her eyes, sinking her consciousness inward.

It felt right.

All external stimuli, once sharp to her heightened senses, faded.

She stood at a crossroads.

A strange one.

Hundreds of paths sprawled before her.

“Wow.”

She gasped.

She understood what these countless roads were.

Fate.

“This is a job change window.”

The system had finally done its job.