VERSATILE: ALTERNATE WORLD

It's a hot sunny day. Perfect for sunbathing or even going to the beach since it's summer. And yet, I am holed inside my room, busy formulating different plans and studying magic circles like a crazed madman.

It's been a month since the revelation I got from Nobuhiko and right now, I am helping the elves with our secret project on deciphering the Nexus Tattoo.

Also, ever since I learned about the Alternate World as not being a game anymore, I stopped treating it as a game as well. It is now an alternate reality that I can go in and out of.

Despite my big urge to find the Tree of Life as soon as possible, I decided to postpone that for now until we finished deciphering the Nexus Tattoo. If I started searching for clues on the Tree of Life immediately, Nobuhiko might sniff out that something is wrong and he might know that I still retained the memory of what he said that day.

Based on our study with the Nexus Tattoo, the tattoo is composed of 30 different magic circles that were put on top of each other. It shouldn't have worked but it somehow managed to connect properly and allowed it to function like a normal magic circle and activate all of its effects all at once.

Renatta and the two elves are also working hard of replicating the magic circle and make use of it for themselves. It is now confirmed by me that they are true, denizens of the Alternate World.

Also, the moment they checked on the Nexus Tattoo, they found out that it has a tracker of some sort. I gave them a task to find a chance of modifying it and change the tracker into something beneficial to me. If I wanted to move properly and find the clues for the Tree of Life and get the info first before Nobuhiko managed to get intel first.

While I just finished one of the magic circles being deciphered, I heard a knock coming on my door.

"Master Manato, Renatta has a report to give you."

It was Pixie's voice. I stood up and opened it, revealing Renatta and Pixie currently holding a bag of food and drinks alongside a big notebook and a few papers with elvish language and some magic circle stuff.

"Master, we have modified a bit of the tracker on that magic circle on your neck. We will be explaining what it was and how we managed to do so."

"Is that so? Come in, is that why you guys brought food and drinks?"

"Yeah, Renatta-sama was saying that it will take long enough for us to explain things so she brought a few stuff to eat to continuously explain the stuff she discovered."

The two entered the room, I looked outside for a while to check whether there are others. I even double-check using my aura identifier to see whether anyone else is around. Thankfully, no one else are there but I locked the door just in case.

"Alright, let's hear this out."

"Okay, but first, can you show us your tattoo for a bit?"

I nodded and revealed the Nexus Tattoo, then Renatta touched it with her fingertips and I felt a painful little poke."

"OW!"

"Wait for a bit, Manato-sama, she is almost done."

After a bit, she stopped and nodded in satisfaction.

"What did you just do?"

"You can ask the questions later, Manato-sama, since it is part of the explanation according to her. Renatta-sama will converse with me using telepathy and I will translate what she was saying, Manato-sama."

Renatta pulled the little whiteboard I folded on the side and assembled it, before pulling out the marker and starting writing. It seems she has now been able to write kanji now as she easily writes them with ease. She studied a lot I guess.

"According to what she has found out, it seems the tracker is just there for the sake of tracking your movements. It even has a built-in recording spell as well that records whatever you have done at some point. And from the looks of it, it works both in this world and in the Alternate World. Which is why she did what she just did to you earlier."

"Ah..." I unconsciously touched my neck where the Tattoo was located.

"From what she gathered, although it's not as effective in this world compared to the other world, it still works so in case these explanations they have is recorded, then it will be a bad thing for all of us since we are tampering all of the Magic Circles present on that tattoo. It was easy to disable and although it was "disabled", it is still releasing recorded images but not the ones happening here and just false images to fool the one who is receiving the records."

So that must be the main reason when I fought the one who tear apart the space the other time and tore its limbs, it was recorded and that was the photos I saw.

"Now, here comes the real part. Renatta had found a way to permanently remove the tracker and replace it with something but that would alert them. Of course, if you choose this option, it seems your only choice is to be a vagrant and choose to hide in the other world instead. As for the second option, Renatta will modify the tracker. It will still give them information but only limited ones and you can control what things would be sent, however, this will give you lots of pain as this will be going to be something that will be done to distort the spell and that spell is connected somewhat to your brain. As a result, you would suffer in this option instead."

"Wait, so it either I remove the thing in my neck, or I let it be modified but suffer in the process?"

"That's the gist of it. She found no alternative ways other than those two so you would be really in a bad spot on this one."

Tough choice but the first one doesn't sound too bad, the only thing that would be bad is that I will remain in the Alternate World and will not be able to return to the real world for quite some time or even forever. On the other hand, I can just modify it but there is a chance I will go crazy in the end which would solve the problem of the first option but would take a toll on my body. This is a hard choice.

"According to Renatta-sama, she will not be doing the change just yet as she still hasn't finished creating the same stuff as well. If you choose the first option, she and the other two will join in as well as they are also going to be a conspirator as well. But if you choose the second option, we can start doing it now."

It's a very tough choice. And I can't meet the others now if I choose the first option, I can still meet them in the Alternate World but that would also reveal my location which would be bad.

"You can choose, later on, Manato-sama. She is not forcing you to do it. So think carefully. It's not mandatory after all."

"Thanks."

Renatta and Pixie continue to explain things but most of it is about the other magic circle that is not that important aside from the magic circle that allows our body to be transported to the Alternate World. Other than that, it's a normal explanation. Also, it seems they are not finished checking all of the magic circles so she will have to make a follow-up next time once they have already analyzed the rest.

"Master, I can see that you are a bit troubled at what is happening, and it seems you are having trouble with the choice huh? Are you worried about the others?" Pixie asked.

"Yes. I wanted to tell them but I am not sure I wanted them to be dragged along with me on this problem."

"Then perhaps you should talk with them. You guys are friends. It would be not a good idea if you just disappear on them and do not tell them what is up. Communication is key if you wanted to avoid miscommunications and misunderstandings, Manato-sama. So please, make sure you talk to them." _{Google search 𝗳𝔯𝒆e𝘸𝗲𝗯𝓷𝗼𝘃𝘦l. 𝒄o𝓂}

After that, the two left after cleaning up the trash that was left after the explanation and talking they did. As for me, I am left thinking about what to do next. It's not an easy task, and it's not even something I wanted to choose. But just like many choices I made in the past, I needed to choose something and this will turn the tide of destiny. Forget about the revenge I have with Kazuki, I can just do it anytime and end it, as for this, the fate of the two worlds hangs in the balance and whoever wins from the two of us, will depend a lot on my choices.