"So," Fay pressed her hands against y chest, pushing herself away a little. And given the clutter of notification windows still covering my face, I could only feel that she looked right into my eyes rather than actually seeing it. "Isn't either of those options a good thing?"
A long sigh escaped from my mouth.
"In theory, it is. But..." I pressed my lips together, not sure how exactly to bring this point across. "What if something goes wrong?"
This time, I took a slightly longer pause, trying to organize my thoughts before actually speaking out.
"I'm not exactly sure how my portals work. Do they allow me to open a portal to the place where I last did so? Is a new portal going to establish a connection to yet another world? And if it's the first case..."
I shook my head and bit down on my bottom lip.
"No, let me put it this way. Assuming we are in your world and set the stable portal there. Then, we use the normal portal to go back to where we set the stable one. What would we do if my normal portal would lead us back to where we came from? If it did, how would we ever go back to this world?"
This question was actually centered on my greatest worry. The worry of losing the only thing that gave me an edge over all the other humans that existed in Fay's world.
Even if I would bring over all sorts of guns, ammunition, technology, and supplies... they were bound to run out sometime in the future. Run out, decay, get lost... And once that was to happen, how would I be any different from just slightly more powerful people of that world?
I shook my head, my soul filling with worry.
"Don't get me wrong. We would still be able to live happily even while stuck in either of the worlds. But being able to move between them gives us the advantage that I'm not willing to so readily discard. Not yet, at least."
After revealing at least a portion of how I truly felt, I expect Fay to, as usual, comfort me...
"So you are still stuck on this topic..." Fay bit down on her lips. And even with all the clutter of the notification windows blocking my vision, I could tell her expression right now turned too complex for me to read.
Fay then shook her head, sending the long streaks of her wet hair into a frenzy.
"Just do it, then," she encouraged, without even a hint of hesitation in her voice. "The reasons for why you covet the ability to open that stable portal be damned, I can tell that's the pick you want to make."
Fay's voice calmed down, returning to its usual, sweet tone. She even leaned herself forth, resting down on my chest as she wrapped her hands around my neck and gave me a tight hug.
"Even if it will work in a different way than you expect, we will somehow work it out. And if it's about me, even if I will end up stuck in this world forever..."
Rather than finishing up her sentence, Fay simply tightened her hold over my neck, almost pulling my back off the bath's edge to bring me into a tighter embrace.
"If you say so..." as hesitant as I was to make this decision... I actually agreed with Fay on one point.
The stable portal is the choice I've long made, just one my rational side continued to denounce as one that was too risky. But the potential benefits of having a stable anchor in either of the worlds to return to...
They were far greater than just an ability to move between the worlds more frequently!
"Here goes nothing, then," I muttered, allowing the immature, gamer-side of my soul to take the reins of my consciousness.
The side of me that believed that if I could get one stable portal just by reaching the fifth level, then there should be a way to somehow get this or a similar reward again. So, even if I ended up stranded in Fay's world, all it would take would be a small genocide to return home!
And with that in mind, I gave my system the mental command.