I woke up with a long stretch and a big yawn. "Ah, I slept well. Oh right, I forgot to check my status last night. I guess I should do it now." The memory of turning 40 and the unfulfilled dreams tied to the family legend lingered in my mind.
Even after I turned 30 and the family legend about magic proved false, I kept checking my status every birthday. I knew it was useless, but it had become part of my life. Last night, I was tired, and after 10 years of no change, I finally gave up and forgot to check.
Maybe drinking three cans of chuhai was too much for my 40-year-old body, especially after the emotional weight of the past decade.
"Status, open."
The usual status screen appeared, but this time it showed strange words and numbers.
Shutarou Hanaoka – 40
Job: Great Magician
Int 59
HP 37
Skill 48
Attack 40
Defense 43
Magic Attack 999
Magic Resist 999
Magic Power 999
"Huh... wha... what is this?"
Was I still half-asleep? Or was I still drunk from last night? Three cans of chuhai... I didn't feel hungover, but maybe it was too much.
I took a breath and looked at my status again.
"No way, is this some kind of joke? Did my status break? That can't be real."
It had to be real... right? The strange numbers were still there.
This was bad. My status was broken. Could a status even break? I had never heard of that.
What was an Great Magician? Yesterday, I was a normal office worker. No, I still was an office worker. And now I was an Great Magician!?
I understood the term. An Great Magician was like the pinnacle of magic users, a position of immense power and respect. But no one around me had ever had that job.
And those 999 numbers for magic attack, magic resist, and magic power—what was that? I couldn't use magic at all, so they were all zero until yesterday. I was sure they were zero! How could they jump to 999?
In this world, the average score was 50. Did 999 even exist?
My head started to spin.
Why? How? What happened?
Was I still drunk? I just couldn't understand it.
"Ow!"
I pinched my cheek to check if I was dreaming, and it hurt. Such a classic move, but the situation remained surreal.
I tried to think, but nothing came together. It was too much.
"Phew... maybe I should drink a can of chuhai to calm down."
I never drank in the morning, even on days off. But I had no better idea, so I took a chuhai from the fridge and began to drink.
"No matter how many times I look, it doesn't change. What is this status? What happened to me? And what am I supposed to do now?"
The only logical explanation was that it was a system error, a glitch in the status screen.
I didn't know if errors like this existed, but it sounded more real than me becoming an Great Magician.
Still, an error sounded like a problem too.
Could this error affect my physical health or reality?
Was I going to die?
The more I thought, the more scared I became.
If it could go up to 999 out of nowhere, maybe tomorrow it would drop to zero.
Something was wrong with my situation.
Maybe I should seek medical help, or perhaps this was a matter for the Defense Bureau, given the nature of the status change.