Third round

This time I picked Geometry. I had always been good in maths at school and even though some years had passed since I graduated, I believed that I remembered most of the information.

The first question was most likely the easiest one imaginable - the area of a square. The second one, perimeter of a circle was as easy, but they were just to calm my alertness. Third one hit me like a club - the area of a torus. I could probably imagine the shape of a torus off stage in a stressless environment, but even then it would be hard to derive the formula for its area. I was left with a lucky guess and following Murphy’s law it was unlucky.

The perspective of another transformation was unsettling, but I somehow managed to calm myself down and give a correct answers for next question - volume of a rectangular pyramid. The fifth question was again a tough one - volume of an ellipsoid. Once more I had to guess, but this time lady luck was on my side.

Then came the time to draw another transformation.

“Mental Drain” I read the dreadful words out loud.

“Do you want to keep it?”

“Oh no! That’s the worst one, isn’t it?”

“If you don’t like being ditzy Double Mental Drain would be worse. But yes, most of our contestants discard this transformation if they have the opportunity.”

I discarded it and drew two, new ones.

“Hair Extension and Facial Feminization.”

“We had just talked about shaving your face and here you are, you won’t need to shave at all. And the longer hair on your head will nicely compensate for that. If for some reason you cut them down they will grow significantly quicker, until they reach the new length. What length that is we’ll find out when you leave The Chamber.”

The procedure was the same as previously. When I got out the cameras were instantly focused on my face, so I could see myself on the screen. The face that stared back at me was still undeniably mine, but at the same time it belonged to a pretty young woman. I had rather androgynous features to begin with, now I had a narrow chin, delicately protruding cheekbones, large round eyes and sensual lips. All of these were framed by straight fair hair that reached my neck and already had an attractive cut to them.

“How do you like your new face, Nick?”

“I would’ve never imagined that I could be so pretty.”

“I’m glad to hear you’re happy with the change.”

“Yes. Not all of the transformations are so dreadful.”

“You can now go to the fourth round more relaxed.”