During my hazy thoughts of mushrooms, Inv has been gathering all the corpses of the lizards and dropwig into one pile near me. With this much it should already be enough to fill his food pips.
It's funny to think we came here for food, but we found all the food he needed along the way. I still need at least 2 batflys but I should be fine… I can just ask Inv to catch 2 for me once he's done eating…
Looking up I can see some batflys lazily flying around minding their own business. If I had the strength, I would be trying to catch a couple right now…
Looking back down I see Inv drag the last corpse into the pile and immediately start eating. Having seen this twice by now, I am somewhat used to the noises of flesh being torn apart and eaten. The sight is still a little bad but it's something I can handle.
'Just have to wait a bit longer and we can get back to the shelter' I think to myself, hoping the mushroom's effects will last long enough until I can eat something myself.
Turning my head I look towards the lit-up area where the scavenger treasury is. Under the mushrooms effects I able to see more clearly what the area looks like no-
…
…
…
'What… the fuck?' I think to myself as I widen my eyes when I see something here that shouldn't be possible.
Using my uninjured arm, I raise my paw and weakly wipe my eyes. After wiping my eyes, I look back at the scavenger treasury to see if what I saw was just an illusion. But looking back again, nothing has changed.
In the glowing area where the scavenger treasure is, I see what looks to be a long wooden table with a bunch of items I can't recognize at first glance. Behind the wooden table I see a scavenger.
'What the fuck????' In severe confusion I try to make sense why I'm suddenly seeing a scavenger standing behind a table. How did I not see this until now? Was I really that distracted to not see this until now?
…
The only thing I can make out about the scavenger is light brown fur, with completely black eyes… staring right at me…
'Am I seriously tripping right now? This can't be real…'
Letting curiosity get the better of me, I use what little strength I have and start limping over to the table.
Getting closer I can see the scavenger's eyes locked onto me the entire time. I've never seen a scavenger look so… docile before? All the scavengers I've run into in this world always react in either fear or aggression. This one isn't… reacting at all. Just calmly staring at me as I limp closer to the table it's behind.
Finally reaching the table I stare back at the scavenger. Coming to the reality that this is in fact real.
'What the fuck…' I mutter to myself for the third time.
…
…
…
"Hello?" I say aloud to the scavenger who is staring at me. Seeing it not react at all is sorta creepy. Not moving a single muscle at all…
…
Not getting any response at all I raise my paw with my uninjured arm and wave it in front of the scavenger's face. I'm able to do this since the scavenger is barely just taller than me. Which is pretty short for a scavenger.
Even with waving my paw right in front of its face it still does nothing. Seeing I won't get any reaction from the scavenger I give up.
'What is this thing? Some sort of robot waiting for a command?' I think to myself and I move my attention to the stuff on the table.
'Woah…' abruptly I reach my paw out towards something on the table.
There's other stuff on the table but seeing this one item first makes me forget to even look at them.
Picking the item up I can't help but feel shocked from what I'm looking at! An item like this shouldn't be possible in this world! Since it only exists in my old world!
Looking down at my paw I'm holding a rubix cube!
'How is this here?! Why is this here?!' I urgently think to myself. Seeing an item from my old world be here is already shattering what I've learnt so far since starting life as a slugcat.
Looking up at the scavenger I ask in confusion and a hint of hope. A hope that maybe, just maybe, I can return to my old world.
"Where did you get this item from?! How is it here?!" I ask the scavenger in desperation hoping for an answer this time.
But the answer I get completely turns what I know so far upside down.
Welcome to Trading post #14320548, Seeing that you are a first-time user please give us a moment to scan your available Karmic Energy to offer the best available deals.
Hearing a different robotic voice go off in my head I can't make any sense of what's going on before a sudden foreign energy envelops my body.
Before I can even start to freak out from the feeling, it disappears almost right after the feeling appeared.
Error detected. Negative Karmic Energy has been found in the user. Running diagnostics on why the user is able to access trading post. Please wait a moment.
"W-what the fu-
Again, the strange foreign energy wraps around me again but much stronger this time. At this point I'm starting to freak out. I want to yell for Inv but with the state I'm in and whatever strange energy is surrounding me, I can't even find the strength to scream.
Scan complete. Error has been identified. Usage of a passive to bypass the requirement of using a trading post has not been seen before. An update is required to circumvent this issue to allow user to smoothly use the trading post. Please wait a moment.
"U-update? Wha-
Update will start now.
Immediately I start losing all the energy I had before and fall to the ground. Dropping the rubix cube along the process.
'W-wait… I can't… fall… asleep now…'
"JOEY?!" I can barely hear Inv's scream as my vision grows darker and darker.
Before complete darkness covers my vision, I can feel my head turned upwards and I can see Inv's head. I can see his mouth moving but can't make out what he's saying.
The last thought I have before I succumb to the darkness is…
'Ah… an angel…'
With this last thought, darkness overtakes me.
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A/N: we are getting close to finally seeing how the system works! but for now with Joey passed out, Inv has to make it back to the shelter with an unconscious Joey...