Versatile: Alternate World

Chapter 3 - Tattoo

Its 5:00 A.M and I am already full after eating breakfast. The good thing is that I still inherited the ability to cook which gave me no problems at all.

It's still pretty early but I need to go to the Reality Verse Company building. I checked my money and a measly 5,000 yen is in my wallet. It's barely enough for a week and fare for the cab, back and forth.

...

Forget it, I have a bike, I can ride it instead. The company is not that far anyway. After wearing my grey hoodie shirt, and my black pants and black shoes, I am ready to go. I started pedaling to quickly reach the company as soon as possible.

...

It took me 10 minutes to reach the place. It was still empty since the opening times is still 7 in the morning. I already heard about the event. And I want to nab the free reality verse. I am sorry for the person who was about to get it in the past timeline. In this timeline, I will be the one to nab it. I parked my bicycle on the side. I am not afraid or would get stolen since its a cheap bike, no one would have the interest to steal it. I stood in front of the door of the company and patiently waited.

The people who have camped to buy the Reality Verse very early have camped on hotels or in their cars. It was a rule by the Reality Verse company that they should stay away from the company's vicinity and wait patiently, therefore, they decided to camp out. They are just waiting for anyone who dares to go before they will also proceed to buy the machine itself. And that signal is me. If I successfully go out with the Reality Verse, then they would immediately rush forward. I focused my mind a bit and tried to sense everything in my surroundings. Although I still have no proper practice in this body, I can still do a bit of it. As I focus myself, I sensed every eye staring at me, either by normal eyes or through binoculars. These guys are ready to strikeout.

My mind is focused on my surroundings that is why I immediately sensed that someone else is there beside me standing in the entrance. Its a girl wearing a striped shirt and skinny jeans. She is well proportioned in every aspect and she is pretty. However, I am not attracted to her, I looked at her on my peripheral eye view and checked her. I also recognized her.

She is Harmless Sparrow, or to be exact, Rika Tsukinara. She is a Magic Knight with a leveled up class Sorcerer Knight in the past timeline. She is the guild leader of the guild, Blue Sky. Since she is here first, then it means that she is the first person to nab a free Reality Verse.

She looked at me and exclaimed as she looked at me.

"Wow! Someone is much earlier than me!" Rika said as she looked at me.

"Uh... is there a problem?" I asked.

"Nope, nothing at all. But it was a rare occurrence for someone to beat me up in terms of the earliest person in every aspect. And you beat me up on it!" Rika said.

"..." Rika is quite talkative.

She started talking and I had no choice o respond a bit. A few hours later, someone appeared on the door. Another person who I admired. I was taken aback when I saw this old man in front of the doors.

"Eh? Two people? I did not expect two would arrive here early!" the old man laughed.

I trembled in excitement. This old man is none other than Nobuhiko Kasaguchi! The partner that Tojiro Akisame partnered in making Alternate World! Who would have thought that I can meet this guy here! Before they can sense my excitement(In which they surely didn't), I remained my confused look like Rika did.

"Eh? Is it wrong?" Rika asked.

"Of course not! You two are pretty lucky! You two availed to get our promo immediately!" Nobuhiko said as he smiled at us.

"Promo?" I asked.

"Yes. Promo, you two are here to buy Reality Verse right? Then you two will be able to avail of the machine much earlier! And what is more, it's free!" Nobuhiko smiled.

I grin inwardly, I was right. The early bird gets the worm, but this time, it was two birds with one stone. One event and two lucky winners get it. This time, I already changed the future big time on this one.

Rika was surprised and excitedly look at Nobuhiko.

"Really? It's free? Without paying a single yen?" Rika asked.

"Yes, not a single yen. You two arrived early so you two would be considered as the lucky first customers of ours! Come, let's get in and process the transaction immediately," Nobuhiko said and opened the doors open.

We entered the hall and Nobuhiko led us to the staff room. straight to the laboratory.

"Welcome to the Reality Verse Nexus Facilities. Since t the two of you are our first customers, you two will be the first people to get the tattoo version of the Reality Verse," Nobuhiko said.

"Tattoo Version? There is such a thing? How come we didn't hear it? I thought its a capsule cabin!" Rika was confused.

"Indeed, it was a capsule cabin, but we already have the finished product of the portable version of the Reality Verse. This is the Nexus version of the Reality Verse. We had proven and tested it. The two of you will be the two lucky people that get to earn the tattoo the earliest. The capsule cabin is the prototype and people need to use it for a month before switching to tattoo," Nobuhiko explained.

"I see, so that is the case, then give me the tattoo then," I said and reached out my left wrist.

Nobuhiko is surprised but he quickly nodded.

"Of course, time is money. However, the two of you need to sign an agreement. This tattoo has a 100% synchronization with your character while the capsule only has 89% percent. That means the two of you will be much more advanced than the others. That is why this agreement is needed to sign so that you two won't say this to others until the time has come," Nobuhiko explained.

"Is that so? Then let's sign it immediately! I can't wait!" Rika said.

"Excellent!" Nobuhiko clapped his hands and handed us two papers to sign. We signed up the papers and Nobuhiko quickly led us to the tattoo area.

The tattoo is the more complicated technology than the capsule cabin. However, it was more portable and can be activated wherever you are. I am in luck that we don't need to upgrade the capsule cabin after a month. I directly got straight to get the final version of the Reality Verse immediately.

The process is fast and we finished immediately. Tattoo Reality Verse has different designs, with four kinds; the dragon, the turtle, the tiger, and the bird. Of course, I choose the tiger tattoo as my tattoo look just like how I have my first tattoo in the past timeline.

Rika and I left the company. I admired the tattoo in my wrist and nodded. The tattoo is back. It's like I didn't return in time. Rika approached me.

"Hey, we didn't properly introduce ourselves, my name is Rika Tsukinara. Let's be friends!" Rika said and put her hands for a handshake.

I accepted her handshake and nodded.

"Manato Tsukasa, nice to meet you," I said and exchanged handshakes.

Before Rika can say anything, I grab my bike and pulled my hood over my head before anyone from the people camping out can find info from me. It would be a bad thing for me if they knew I got Reality Verse Nexus for free. I quickly pedaled away from the vicinity without looking back.

"Ah..." Rika is left behind with a surprised look on her face.

"Am I ugly?" Rika touched her face.

...

I pedaled straight to the market but stopped in the bank to withdraw money. I checked my balance and only have a remaining 10,000 yen in my bank. I sighed and decided to withdraw 6,000 yen. This amount of money can only buy a few amount of vegetables. I sighed, I am a real poor bloke. I headed straight to the market and bought a few vegetables with a cheap amount and a few instant noodles. In the end, I need to resort to eating instant noodles.

I sighed with the amount of food I managed to buy, this would be enough for only three days. I facepalmed myself and sighed. I am so used to the life of a rich man that I forgot that I used to be a poor guy.

My parents monthly send me money from Nagoya as I study here in Tokyo. However, that stopped when they died when I was 19 years old. Therefore, I had to rely on the Alternate World money I get. But it was also not an easy time.

This time, I won't become a poor bloke, I will work hard and earn money immediately. I returned home at around 3 in the afternoon. I stopped in front of my house. The house is not bad. You can say that it was a huge and grand house. It has two floors, and a veranda to sit back and relax whenever the sky in the night is fine. Anyone is willing to live here if they wanted to. But I know that I am the only one living in this house. That means I am solo living here. Its quite a lonely life but I am used to it.

I haven't taken lunch yet so I quickly boiled water and cut a few spring onions to add into my cup ramen. It took me 5 minutes before I managed to eat it and fill my grumbling stomach.

After stuffing myself, I return to my room and locked the whole house. I stare at my tiger tattoo in my hands. So nostalgic. Now that I am ready, I will be diving into the game. I am ready to change my destiny.