Versatile: Alternate World

You can say that people keep inventing different things just to improve the lifestyle of the people around the world. Some have developed something that has been used until today, while there are also failures that became the stepping stone on developing a more advanced and improved than that of the failed ones. As years pass by, technology no longer became something of a spectacle, it is now part of human lives and you can say that humans can no longer cope up without them.

After technology keeps on progressing, various kinds of inventions and types of machinery appeared that slowly shape up what we are now enjoying today. Although technology to keep the chores for every day gets advanced and makes many different kinds of jobs convenient, the game industry is the first one to experience a major leap after the plan to create a technology to access the Full Dive Virtual Reality became successful.

In the past, Virtual Reality only allowed people to view some computer programs manifest right before their eyes using a special type of headgear and can manipulate your character by yourself using some sensors that will allow you to "control" your character and experience many things that you cannot do with just a mouse, keyboard or controller. Of course, it isn't a real virtual reality dive but it was the first step of the development.

The Nexus, a company that was leading the development of Virtual Reality suddenly announced one day that the Full Dive version of the Virtual Reality is finally available and a game that is compatible with the Full Dive has finally been developed.

That was the time the game that changed the whole world appeared shaking the game industry's norm and later on, the whole world.

Alternate World.

For some unknown reason, this game is the only compatible game that managed to develop a Full Dive mechanic. Some game companies tried to also experiment on Full Dive by collaborating with the Nexus but for some reason, most of their games ended up as failures, and the compatibility to run it on Full Dive does not work. Many tried to replicate Alternate World's genre but it all failed which ended up the game, Alternate World, to reign the Virtual Reality's Full Dive system.

Some players were somewhat disappointed with this as Alternate World is an MMORPG genre of a game. Many games in horror, adventure, First Person Shooter games, and many others tried to also access this but it all failed. Even the company Nexus was also saddened by this and has given a formal apology to all the gamers who were looking forward to the technology to develop a new variety of games.

Alternate World launched and gained popularity all around the world. It was a slow-climb pace at first since the machines called Reality Verse were too expensive and only a few people can afford it. But the time went by and all of a sudden, the Reality Verse suddenly got a drop of the price and even those people who can't afford it at first can now use it. There are even some internet cafes that used this chance to buy a few to use for players who wanted to play the game but has no money to buy the console at all.

A few months later, players discovered that they can develop fantasy powers that can only be used in the game back to the real world. At first, the abilities that manifested are masteries of different kinds of jobs like cooking, sewing, blacksmithing, and even brewing suddenly appeared to players who didn't have any sort of history about them. The only thing that connects them at this is that they have the mastery of this job back in the game. It was only a myth at first, however, suspicions suddenly arise when the company "upgraded" the Reality Verse into a more portable version which was called Reality Verse Nexus, a tattoo version that allowed players to access the game without the original Reality Verse which is a cabin.

At first, it was just speculation by people but it became a solid fact when an incident known also as the [Awakening Manifestation] hit the final nail to the mystery. A young man who played the game was currently doing a transaction at a local bank when a hostage-taking took place and he was one of them. The details were somewhat obscure due to the rumors exaggerating the incident but one undeniable thing is that the kid fought back and manifested his powers to fight against the hostage-takers.

It was revealed and tested that players can now manifest abilities similar to the game. Due to this, it changed the whole world's mindset about magic and superpowers. Of course, this is not the only change that occurred. The world almost plunge into chaos about this and many criminals tried to use this chance to develop powers and gain the chance to commit crimes differently.

But it wasn't until these criminals discovered that they cannot do anything just like that easily due to the beings called the "Judges." After the upgrade of Reality Verse, the cabin version was immediately labeled as a phase-out version and every single one of them has been retrieved by the Nexus company and as a result, they gained the Nexus version. The progress that they have done in the game is already saved in the databank so they don't need to worry about the loss of account. The Nexus Version also heightened the security of accounts as there are always some who wanted to hack into the systems.

As months passed, it was soon revealed that the Nexus version is not only an upgrade but also a security measure that will limit people on how they can use their abilities. Once detected that the person tried to use the ability they learned for bad purposes like committing murder and other heinous crimes, the "Judge" will appear and will immediately strip them off of the chance to use the ability again and they will lose the ability to ever use a Nexus ever again. There are even serious events where the "Judge" kills the offender even after the abilities and chance to use the Nexus was already disabled leading to many protests.

It turns out, the "Judge" is a joint project of the government and the Nexus company to punish the troublemakers and people who are on the thirst for power. The "Judge" is being monitored by people of the Nexus company and once they deem the usage of powers were inappropriate, it will immediately deploy the "Judge." As for what is deemed to be a tolerable usage of it, they can also just turn a blind eye. No one knows but the system is pretty much always right and never did a single wrong initiating the "Judge system."

As for people who used this ability to fight back against an assault or to defeat criminals who are considered to be really dangerous, they are deemed good people which leads to the creation of the division dedicated to this sort of incident.

It was chaotic at first but in a few years, the people gradually got used to it and soon enough, it became the new norm for everyone around the world. Although I am behind about the situation about the changes since I never cared for the news, I know the basic knowledge about it so it isn't so bad.

Of course, this story is not about the development of Virtual Reality that changed the whole world and how it turned out. This is the story of a person who just wanted to change his end and obtain his happy ending.

...

After every hardship in my life that I have experienced, I finally managed to gain my own happy ending. Tomorrow will be my wedding day with my beloved girlfriend, Akari who is my girlfriend for almost 3 years. Who would have thought that I would be able to marry my girlfriend like this? And to top it off, we are both players of the game I am playing called Alternate World. It didn't occur to me that I would be able to accompany her for the rest of our lives.

We lived together with my girlfriend for 4 years as teammates in the arena tournament of Alternate World. I courted her and we became a couple after a few months of doing so. Right now, my girlfriend and my other teammates in the arena are celebrating the upcoming wedding day. I didn't bother to join them as I really don't like going to parties and my alcohol tolerance is pretty bad. You can say that I am a loner or just a social recluse but that doesn't mean I despise the people in my team. You can say that the only person to who I got too close enough that allowed me to open up my heart is only Akari since the people I cared for the most already passed away including my lifelong friends due to some accidents that I have no way to stop it.

As I sip tea on the balcony and stare at the moon, I heard someone enter the room. I look behind to look if my friends have already arrived along with Akari but there was no one inside.

'Is it just my imagination?'

No, I don't think so. Since my hearing has been enhanced by the ability [Sensory Hearing], subtle sounds are easily picked up by my ears. I am not just imagining it. Someone broke inside.

I materialized my weapon out of thin air and readied my stance to attack in case the person who broke in is armed. I am not just going to let this go and let this guy just go and take whatever he wanted.

Carefully treading around the place, I heightened my senses so that whoever was trying to break inside will not be able to backstab me before I can react.

Someone is moving inside the room of Akari and the light in her room is somewhat dim but I can tell that someone is inside since shadows are moving in. I activated my [Extra Sensory] to feel the situation for a bit. After many years of playing the game, tactics against enemies are just pieces of common and basic knowledge.

With [Extra Sensory], I detected at least 3 people inside Akari's room and two more people outside the mansion.

After pinpointing their location via [Extra Sensory], I opened the door and lunges towards the first person who entered Akari's room. My sudden appearance didn't seem to make a big impact since they managed to block my assault and counter it.

Those movements, I can't be wrong. Those movements are clearly from an Alternate World Player playing a Ninja class.

He didn't engage against me and entered [Stealth] and disappeared. The other two also disappeared as they enter [Stealth] as well.

"You f*ckers think you can run? Fat chance!"

Without hesitation, I cast [Frost] and freeze the entrance of the room.

"Now, it's either I die or the three of you die in here."

Seeing that they are now trapped, they can't continue to keep doing the stealth since the room is pretty small.

They have no choice and they canceled their stealth and attacked together. But too bad, they are fighting against someone they shouldn't underestimate.

"[Ice Shackles]!"

KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG!

Shackles made of ice appeared in their hands and legs and one by one, chains appeared and held them in place.

As soon as they are captured, I took the chance and incapacitate them all in one go. After I get rid of their consciousness, I tied them up with [Ice Shackles] and summoned my Magic Sword. After knowing where the remaining people are, I also incapacitate them.

...

...

I didn't kill them since it might also activate the Judge mechanism. I haven't let them attack me with their abilities so the Judge didn't activate either. But what are they doing here?

There is a chance that these f*ckers won't just tell me who send them here and what they are doing here. I am quite sure that they aren't just here to steal, they are here for something else.

As I was preoccupied thinking about how to obtain information on them, my holophone started to ring inside my pocket. The call is coming from Akari so I answered it without second thoughts.

"Hello?"

"Sup..."

My eyes squinted when I heard an unfamiliar voice. It was deep and a bit disoriented which means the owner of the voice is using a voice changer to change the pitch and tone of his voice on the phone.

"Who are you? Why did you have the phone of Akari?"

"Heh. Just talk to her and we can discuss later after hearing her voice."

The next voice that I heard is none other than Akari.

"Manato! Help me! I don't know where I am, it's too dark in here! Please, help me!"