"Amber… I believe I come from another universe."

Yeah, I went ahead to say it, deciding that it would be better to tell my companions now and let them know about it instead of hiding it from them.

I was fully prepared for Amber to call me crazy, laugh at it and think it's a joke or even just stare at me without saying another word.

What I did not expect was…

"Really? That's cool~" She giggled before taking another sip from her glass.

I blinked at her, "Wait… Are you drunk, Amber?"

"Hmm? Not yet~ Do you want me to be?"

"No but… Did you hear what I said?"

"That you are from another universe?"

I nodded, giving her a serious look to let her know that I wasn't joking.

She smiled, "Yes, I heard that. That's really cool~"

I blinked again, needing a moment to make sure that I actually heard her correctly.

"You're… Not surprised? No saying that it's impossible, that it's a joke or anything like that?"

She shrugged, "It wouldn't even be the weirdest thing I've seen, Tera."

"Wait, really?"

She nodded, "Do you know that the breast enlargement mods were made after humans found a worm parasite that would infect their hosts and lay their eggs in them? The eggs would then cause the host's mammary glands to swell up so that the host can feed the newly hatched parasites when they hatch. It works on both males and females too."

"Ok, that's just plain horrifying. But not as weird as being from an alternate universe?"

"Oh you know about Virtual Dive right? In the early stages of development, apparently there's some people who got their brains fried and their consciousness got stuck inside cyberspace. I think they even managed to capture them and they're being kept in labs to be studied right now."

"Ok… Once again, quite horrifying but not as weird?"

Amber giggled, "So you want something that should sound impossible to happen but yet might still be reality? How about the fact that there's people who can actually use magic?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Magic?"

"Oh you know~ Those fantasy games and stories type of magic."

I mean… I already know the fact that cat girls, dog girls and even elves exist in this universe so I could actually say that there's some fantastical aspects to this place at least… But magic?

"When you say magic…" I trailed off, taking a moment to consider my words. "Do you mean like people throwing fireballs out of their hands and stuff?"

Amber's smile widened, "That's exactly what I'm talking about, Tera~"

"And they aren't doing that because they modded themselves to have flamethrowers, right? Because that doesn't count as magic."

"Oh I wasn't thinking about that but it certainly is true that this is something that people do~ I actually do mean people who are able to materialise fire out of thin air and shoot it at people kind of magic."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I leaned a little closer to her, "Are you actually serious?"

"Ehehehe~ Weird right? But there's people like that who do exist. No one knows why they can do it though but there they are~ So if you told me that you came from some alternate universe or even if you travelled back in time… It really wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've seen so far~ In fact, I would say your cooking skills are even weirder than that."

"How are my cooking skills weird?"

"First, you can change synthfood to taste almost on par with organic food. Secondly, even if we were to do exactly what you did in making those food, it still wouldn't taste the same. Now that is definitely weird, Tera, though I'm not complaining of course. So if you tell me you came from another universe, that would actually explain a lot of things~"

Ok… I guess she had thought about this before and I can see where she's coming from as well…

I took a sip from my own glass before chuckling to myself, "And here I was… Worried that you might change your perception of me when I told you that… I was even prepared for you to not believe me."

"Oh, I know you wouldn't lie to me about something like that Tera~" She giggled, slipping her hand into mine. "And I'm happy that you would trust me with such a secret~ Although I do admit that this definitely changed my perception of you a little."

I raised an eyebrow, "How did it change?"

"Ehehe~ Now I know I'm really the luckiest person alive to be your first partner and that I'm with you~ I'm never giving you up to anyone else, you know?"

"Uh-huh… And what about Lea?"

"Oh, I don't mind others joining your harem, but anyone who even thinks they can monopolise you for themselves or push me out from your life… Ehehehe~ Those I would definitely have a problem with~"

I grinned, thinking she was just exaggerating just to flirt with me so I wanted to flirt back, "At this point, I think I can say that you couldn't get rid of me even if you wanted to."

She gasped, "Oh! Do you really mean that, Tera?"

"Of course, you are already mine aren't you? In case you haven't realised, I don't like other people taking away what's mine."

"Ehehehe~ Can I kiss you, Tera?"

I answered her by leaning forward and she moved the rest of the way to plant her lips on mine, sharing a kiss that lasted for a good minute before we pulled away.

I tasted her alcohol on my lips and I realised it had a rather fruity and mild flavour for hers.

Amber licked her own lips and shot me a gaze filled with what I realised was adoration before she leaned over to rest her head on my shoulder.

"You know… There's some things that I have to admit to as well, Tera…" She muttered, her voice dropping to a low whisper.

"What is it?"

"I'm… Well… My past is actually quite complicated… And I'm not sure if you would also look at me the same way after you know about it…"

I narrowed my eyes at her, "I literally told you that I came from another universe and you're worried about that?"

"It's quite complicated actually… And I would rather not talk about it here. So in the meantime… Could you tell me about your own universe? Like how did you end up here? Wait, how did you know that it was another universe to begin with?"

"Well… To put it very bluntly… I'm actually a guy in the other universe."

"Ohhh~ Is that why you wanted a dick that badly when we first met?"

I made a face at her, "I didn't want it that badly…"

"Ehehe~ I'm more surprised you didn't just change yourself back into a guy then."

"Wait… You can do that?"

"Mmhmm~ There's already gene mods that would increase your testosterone over time and lower your estrogen to the point that you actually transition and turn into the opposite gender of yourself. It's actually quite common now."

"Wait… When they transform… Is it…"

"They do change down to the genetic level, yes. It's been tested and proven. You might like to know that this invention also came from an alien parasite that would turn their hosts into females to make them grow a womb so that they can plant their eggs in them. Humans captured them, studied them and then reverse engineered them to make that into a product."

Ok… Yeah… Remember how I said this place is scary? Seems like I knew nothing yet.

"Are all the gene mods basically reverse engineered alien stuff?"

She leaned her head on her palm with a lazy smile on her face, "Why do you think there's people who only do cyware modding and swore off gene modding? They don't want stuff that's basically researched from alien creatures to be made into a pill and then consumed or injected into our bodies."

I grimaced, "Don't tell me… The mod to make me grow my cock…"

"Mmhmm~ That one was… Hmm… I think it was an alien creature that would attach itself onto its host and fuse with them to either replace the host's original male genitalia or give them one if the host was female."

"Then… That means my cock is…"

"Ah, no no. It's yours, not an alien. Mara can tell you the specifics but I think it's just basically growing out from your own cells so it's definitely yours and not some alien creature attached to you."

Ok, yeah… I can tell why some people might be against using gene mods if they knew about this and found the idea abhorrent…

As for me… Since I've never really seen those creatures before and it kind of sounds pretty cool to me, I don't really have a problem with it.

Anyway, I guess I should just tell Amber about my life in the other universe…