Chapter 2:

The translucent blue booklet displayed numerous items for sale, including daily necessities and weapons. Wait, they were even selling magic and Sword Aura as skills...

Ah, of course there are activation conditions.

"Mana..."

The item shop clearly had Mana Potions to increase the mana within one's body.

But the price...

"Enough mana to use 1st Circle magic about 10 times... costs 500,000 won."

However, if I drank the Lowest Mana Potion and continued training, there was a possibility of becoming a Lowest Expert.

Of course, I could also become a lower 1st Circle magician.

Considering these possibilities, the Lowest Mana Potion was an item I needed.

And the Low Mana Potion, which was higher than the Lowest Mana Potion, cost 2 million won.

Of course, I had to drink the Lowest Mana Potion first before I could purchase it.

In other words, drinking the Low Mana Potion would preserve enough mana in my body to use 1st Circle magic 50 times or 2nd Circle magic about 10 times, and with effort, I could handle 2nd Circle magic or a Low Expert's Sword Aura.

Plus, it would naturally recover...

"The Lowest Expert's Sword Aura is also 500,000 won. Sigh... Well, I need to get stronger first."

I didn't know how long I could last in this mansion, so I needed to get stronger now.

From the current family atmosphere, the family of four seemed perfectly harmonious—except for me.

In that sense, I was interested in the Partial Appearance Change Ticket selling for 100,000 won, but...

Let's focus on getting stronger first!

So I purchased the Lowest Mana Potion and the Lowest Expert's Sword Aura skill and gulped them down.

"Ugh... such a bland taste."

When I drank the Mana Potion from the small glass bottle, the bottle shattered with a clinking sound and evaporated.

And then...

Ding!

[User's mana has increased by 100.]

Ding!

[User has acquired the skill .]

I looked around and grabbed a fruit knife from the table, then slowly channeled the foreign sensation I felt within my body through my right hand into the knife.

Woong...

As a very small and weak Sword Aura was generated, I jumped around in excitement.

Finally...! I had gained an opportunity, however small, to get a job as a knight.

After about 10 minutes, I was out of mana and placed the fruit knife back on the table, breathing heavily.

At the same time, I knelt down, rubbed my hands together, and prayed to all the Koreans on Earth.

"I apologize for the rushed and sloppy ending. Please give me strength."

I wished I could ask my parents for help, but they only knew how to make calls and send texts on their smartphones.

For now, I prayed to my editor and used my remaining 180,000 won to purchase a "Partial Appearance Change Ticket."

When I used the item, a mirror floated in front of me, reflecting my face.

Still plain-looking, I see.

[Please select the part you wish to change.]

"First... the chin."

As if recognizing my voice, it displayed various chin shapes as options.

I would have preferred a gender change ticket, but it seemed that changing gender was impossible as the item didn't exist in the shop.

I chose to make my chin slightly slimmer into a V-shape. And then...

[Changing appearance. Time required: 72 hours. Do you wish to proceed? Yes/No]

I pressed "Yes," and when the translucent window disappeared, I left through a hole in the wall to meet Lilith, Allet, and Daris.

The next day, my face became slightly slimmer. On the second day, it changed more in the direction I had chosen, and finally after 72 hours, my jawline became closer to a V-shape.

It was still a bit chubby, so it wasn't completely a V-line jawline, but once this baby fat was gone, it would be a 100% V-line. If I had to be a woman, I might as well live beautifully.

Just like on Earth, lookism doesn't change in this other world.

That's the same everywhere.

No matter how much people cry out against discrimination, it's meaningless.

That's why plastic surgery was so popular on Earth.

I dreamed of becoming a beautiful and noble female knight.

To do that, I would first need to become a guard in the royal capital.

Or demonstrate great achievements and skills.

"Let's do my best today too!"

Although I could handle the Lowest Expert's Sword Aura, my swordsmanship was terrible.

Even when I tried to swing like I'd seen in webtoons, it looked awkward and sloppy.

Comics are just comics.

No, if someone were truly formidable, even these clumsy sword strikes would look cool.

"Hyah!"

Swish!

Over the next ten days, Daris and Allet played around with small wooden sticks, saying they wanted to become mercenaries after seeing mercenaries return to the city with a giant boar.

Lilith watched them from a distance, and I, having left that group, observed the soldiers and knights training in the baron's training ground and sneaked out to the city at night to swing my sword on a hill where a large tree grew.

Yes, I thought technique was important since I could handle the Lowest Expert's Sword Aura, but even more important were physical strength and stamina.

"Haa... haa... haa... This is tough."

After swinging the wooden training sword only about 20 times, I was breathing heavily.

No matter how well I could handle Sword Aura, if there was no strength behind my strikes, they wouldn't be effective.

So I forced myself through harsh training—running during the day and swinging a wooden sword at night.

After a month passed, money was deposited into my shop system twice.

Probably the payment from the contracted publisher on the 15th and the combined amount from 12 sites at the end of the month.

The total was a whopping 3,270,000 won!

"Yahoo!"

I jumped up and down in excitement and quickly opened the booklet to find the Low Mana Potion.

The problem was that I needed another 2 million won to rise to Low Expert.

My current balance was 3,350,000 won.

That included the 80,000 won balance from the previous month.

"...Well, even if I could use a Low Expert's Sword Aura, it would be useless with my current body. Besides, if 3,270,000 won was deposited, that means... I can expect at least 1 million won next month."

Thinking positively, I purchased the Low Mana Potion.

Gulp gulp

"Ugh...."

Ding!

[User's mana has increased by 500.]

My mana was now 600.

The time I could maintain the Lowest Sword Aura had increased sixfold.

I purchased a "Partial Appearance Change Ticket" for 300,000 won, leaving a balance of 1,070,000 won.

[Please select the part you wish to change.]

I selected my small, flat eyes.

Next, my large, blunt nose. Then I selected to remove the freckles on my cheeks.

Changing the eyes took 72 hours, the nose 144 hours, and removing the freckles 216 hours.

Meanwhile, a middle-aged man wearing noble purple clothing suddenly visited the mansion today.

"It's been a long time, Viscount Lates."

"Ho ho, it has been a long time, Baron Terres. I came to introduce my youngest son today. Isn't he engaged to your daughter?"

"Ah... y-yes. Hahaha."

My father, Balkis B. Terres, showed an awkward smile while scratching his head.

It was indeed a very old matter.

Something he had blurted out while drunk, but Viscount Lates remembered it clearly.

The troubled Balkis hesitated before reluctantly ordering a maid to bring his youngest daughter.

Lates's youngest son looked at the baron's family and blushed slightly.

If she resembled the baroness, she would surely be a beauty with a promising future.

But his expectations soon crumbled completely.

The same was true for Viscount Lates.

"Ahem. Is this girl..."

"...Yes, this is my youngest daughter, Eliana."

"Pleased to meet you. I am Eliana B. Terres."

As I greeted them with noble etiquette, Lates fell into slight contemplation.

I seemed too composed and clever to be thought of as a 7-year-old.

He was slightly inclined by my first impression, but soon sighed after looking at his son's face.

"Have you explained to your Eliana?"

"...Well... I'm sorry."

"No, I'm not blaming you. I think we should have a conversation."

Eventually, Viscount Lates headed to the guest room with his son and Balkis.

I followed them in confusion and sat down, turning pale as I listened to the two fathers' conversation.

*What? F-fiancé?! C-crazy...*

Fortunately, though, the other party was from a viscount's family.

Well, judging by the situation, the expression of the boy in front of me didn't look too pleased either.

It meant he didn't like me.

After a while, Viscount Lates left to have a conversation with his youngest son, and soon returned to the guest room alone.

From the atmosphere, it seemed the engagement was heading toward dissolution, and Balkis accepted it as well.

Ignoring my opinion, of course.

*It seems... my opinion doesn't matter.*

For me, the youngest daughter of a baron's family with no talent, the youngest son of a viscount was too good. That must be what they meant.

Even so, his fate as the youngest—or rather, the third son—would be to either fight for the position of heir or escape that struggle to become a knight or merchant.

Farewell, my "former" fiancé.

"Whew... feels like I've been brought back from the dead. Is this good luck? Or bad luck?"

If he had come after 216 hours, he might have seen my completely transformed appearance.

Well, I still don't know exactly how my face will change... but it would be troublesome for me too if the engagement had gone through.

Despite the broken engagement, Balkis treated me coldly, ending with "Go back to your room."

Isn't this educational environment too harsh?

Even the nanny disappeared as soon as she finished her duties, having earned her salary.

How is it that not a single family member comes to visit me?

"I want to escape from this miserable environment."

Of course, I plan to eventually gain experience as a mercenary and join as a knight.

But with my current age, body, and strength, the possibility of defeating monsters called Demonic Beasts was infinitely close to zero.

So... I worked even harder.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

I started running around the large tree on top of the hill and trained my basic physical strength by swinging the wooden sword.

No matter how late I returned, my family didn't care much.

I had long since turned my back on that family, and after three days, my thin eyes gradually became rounder and brighter.

After not having meals with my family for a while, I had transformed into quite a cute girl after another three days.

Although not completely straight yet, it seems the nose changes little by little as one grows.

Still, this was enough to escape from that blunt, huge potato nose.

Finally, after 216 hours, I was able to transform into a splendid beauty by removing my freckles.