CHAPTER 52 - ARCADE MACHINE AND MECH

[A.N Found another novel about creating manga, I like it and am starting to translate, so I will probably be doing 2 Chapters a day here instead of 2-4. Chapter length will stay the same 1-2k words. Won't be publishing that novel until I stock up on Chapters, its a mistake I made on this novel I can't really fix. Enjoy the Chapters.]

The chat in Natalie's livestream exploded with frantic complaints, everyone was practically roasting the games devs.

Even though they all knew it was just a game and that the monsters couldn't really hurt them, the psychological pressure was overwhelming!

After all, before the game Subnautica was released, didn't they personally say it was going to be a calm, wholesome experience?

Calm? Wholesome? More like pure trauma!

After sitting on the scorched deck for a while, Natalie finally managed to calm down.

At least for now, she had survived.

"But now I've got a serious problem," she muttered, frowning. "The Seamoth's wrecked thanks to that damn Reaper Leviathan. How am I supposed to leave now?"

She was stranded on the Aurora The sub was gone. And the ocean outside? A giant sea monster waiting to snack on her.

It felt like a trap, like she'd never leave this place.

"Natalie, don't give up!" a viewer in chat urged. "Explore the Aurora first!"

"Yeah! There's gotta be loot in there to help you escape!"

"The devs might be cruel, but they always leave a path forward."

"True. No matter how twisted the story gets, the devs always gives the players a way out."

Natalie nodded slowly. "You guys have a point." With a deep breath, she pushed herself up. "Alright, let's keep going."

As she climbed higher along the deck, the heat grew more intense.

The wreckage of the Aurora was catastrophic, scraps of metal everywhere, fires still burning bright. Only a narrow path lay ahead.

"Warning," the ship's AI, Cortana, announced in her calm voice. "Hull integrity critically low. Collapse imminent. Proceed with caution."

Natalie immediately slowed down, her steps becoming more careful. Along the way, she found supply crates scattered across the deck. Opening them, she discovered plenty of water and preserved food, more than enough to sustain a player stuck on the ship.

"Scanning... Biological tissue traces detected nearby."

Cortana's alert made Natalie pause.

"Tissue traces...? Oh no..."

Her heart dropped.

That could only mean one thing, casualties.

Considering how massive the Aurora was, there must've been hundreds even thousands aboard when it crashed. The death toll had to be horrific.

"Please don't let this place be haunted..." she muttered, scanning the surroundings nervously. But no, this wasn't a horror game like Silent Hill. This was the future. A sci-fi game.

Still, she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling.

Eventually, her path was blocked by roaring flames. Looking around, she noticed a large breach in a nearby wall and darted toward it.

As she entered, the temperature dropped dramatically. She'd stumbled into an interior compartment of the Aurora, some kind of room, not very large, with scorched walls and storage crates stacked in rows.

The fire here had already died out, leaving the area quiet and eerie.

"Wait a sec... this layout looks familiar..."

"Is this... a bathroom?" chat guessed.

Natalie laughed. "I think you're right."

Curious, she opened one of the crates, and inside was a small ceramic device.

She scanned it with her wristband.

Ding!

[Smart Toilet. Functions include flushing, waste processing, and material extraction. Blueprint acquired!]

"It really is a toilet!" Natalie groaned. "Seriously? All this advanced tech wrecked, and the one thing still intact is a toilet?"

The chat burst out laughing.

"This toilet sounds kinda OP though!"

"Wait, what does material extraction mean?!"

"Go try it, Natalie!"

"Yeah, test out the high tech space toilet!"

"Are you all insane?!" Natalie retorted. "This is a game, I'm not gonna sit down and take a shit for science!"

She shook her head and left the bathroom, stepping into a larger chamber, a hall, partially on fire but still intact.

She grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and doused the flames.

The place was a mess, scorched and littered with debris. But as she explored, she started getting notifications again.

[Blueprint unlocked: Autoplay Symphony Device.]

[Blueprint unlocked: Card Battle Disk.]

[Blueprint unlocked: Smart Billiards Table.]

"So this must've been the Aurora's recreation area." she murmured.

Made sense, on a ship this massive, there'd have to be spaces for downtime and entertainment.

She looked around curiously. Most of the equipment was too damaged to be useful, but her attention was suddenly drawn to one machine in the corner.

It looked old, ancient, even. But strangely... it was intact.

Wait a second.

Was that... an arcade machine?!

"No way, is that an arcade machine?!" Natalie ran over, her eyes wide with surprise.

It was! A full on retro arcade machine. It looked exactly like the ones she used to play as a kid with her brother.

"What's this doing in a futuristic game world?"

"This has gotta be an easter egg, totally something the devs would do."

"Try it out!"

Natalie didn't need to be told twice.

She reached out, grabbed the joystick, and mashed the buttons.

To her amazement, the screen lit up.

Two big words appeared on screen: Dinosaur Kombat.

"Huh?! Dinosaur Kombat? This thing actually works?!"

She hit the B button, and the game entered the character selection screen. Four playable characters popped up.

The chat lost it.

"WHAT?! It's real?!"

"I've never heard of this game!"

"Is this something the devs made up for the world? That's hilarious!"

Natalie selected a character wearing green with a yellow hat and entered the game.

The screen shifted. Her chosen fighter appeared on a rooftop, surrounded by enemies.

And now... she had full control.

Joystick. Buttons. Combos. She laid into the enemies, sending them flying.

"This is actually... kinda fun!" she exclaimed, grinning.

As she fought, she quickly learned her character's special moves.

"Whoa! Look at that dash attack, so OP! Let's gooo!"

Chat exploded again.

"Yellow Hat Scud Attack for the win!"

"The devs strikes again, never expected to play a fighting game inside a survival game!"

"Man, this game has everything! Horror, sci-fi, survival, and retro arcade brawlers?!"

Soon, Natalie reached the first stage boss, a muscular brute riding a dinosaur. The battle between the two was intense and exhilarating.

Even the viewers in the live stream were going wild.

"No way, they actually made a full on arcade game inside another game?"

"Four playable characters, smooth graphics, all kinds of mobs, and even bosses at the end of each stage, this isn't just an Easter egg, this is a legit game!"

"Not gonna lie, watching Natalie play this is oddly satisfying."

"Who would've thought I'd be watching a streamer play a game inside a game today?"

This was why players both hated and loved the New World devs. They loved to mess with the players, but their craftsmanship was undeniable. Even the tiniest detail, even a throwaway Easter egg, was polished to perfection.

Natalie played non-stop for over twenty minutes. The farthest she got was the second stage boss, a chubby guy dual-wielding cleavers. Despite several retries and using every available character, she kept getting defeated and had to reluctantly give up.

"This little arcade game is seriously addictive," she sighed. "Guys, I swear this game can be beaten, just not by someone like me. I'm counting on you. If you ever get here, make it past that cleaver wielding fatty for me!"

"Alright, alright, I'll hop in-game later just to try this Dinosaur Kombat."

"But first, don't get eaten by the Reaper Leviathan!"

"Fair point!"

The audience all sighed. As fun as it was, this Easter egg wasn't easy to reach, you had to make it aboard the Aurora first.

"Let's keep moving and explore the next area," Natalie said reluctantly.

She ducked through a collapsed gate and found a flight of stairs leading down... though half the staircase was already underwater.

"The Leviathan probably can't swim in this deep, right?"

With a bit of hesitation, she dove in.

She didn't move right away. Instead, she paused, listened carefully, and only moved forward after confirming the monster wasn't nearby.

Ahead was a long hallway, ending in a fork. She took the left path. The terrain sloped upward, eventually bringing her back to dry land, and straight into another room.

Natalie's eyes lit up. The layout looked familiar. Just like the room where she found the Seamoth vehicle last time.

Three big characters were written on the wall: Vehicle Bay!!!

"Vehicle bay?!"

She nearly screamed with excitement and hurried inside. She knew what that meant.

Sure enough, in the center of the room were two Sea Mantis crafts. Even better, there was a massive figure embedded in the display area behind the counter.

It was a humanoid robot, over four meters tall, with a sleek silver finish and a transparent chest plate that shimmered like glass.

"Holy crap, is that a robot?!"

"No... wait, it's a MECH!!"

"Future tech is seriously next level!"

The live chat exploded with hype. Natalie was just as thrilled. She rushed forward and scanned it with her wristband.

Ding!

[Sea Mantis Mech: A next-gen exosuit equipped with nano-level waterproofing and pressure-adaptive regeneration tech. Designed for extreme environments. Offers full isolation from external hazards, with hydraulic limbs for enhanced strength and a high-thrust propulsion system for exceptional mobility.]

As soon as the AI assistant Cortana finished speaking, the chat absolutely lost it.

"IT'S A MECH!!!"

"Power armor? Are you kidding me?!"

"Dude this is insane, she can pilot a mech!!"

"It's so cool, my fists are clenching on their own!"

"What are you waiting for, Natalie?! Get in and try it!!"

Most of the stream's audience were guys, and there's nothing that sets a guy's heart racing quite like a mecha.

Natalie didn't need convincing. She bolted toward it.

"Cortana, Cortana! I want to pilot the Sea Mantis!"

"No problem," the AI replied. "Please press the activation switch on the back of the unit."

Following the instructions, she pressed the switch. The Sea Mantis slowly crouched down as the hatch on its back opened.

Natalie fought to contain her excitement and climbed in.

The hatch sealed shut with a soft hum. Instantly, she felt completely encased in a high-density alloy shell. Her arms rested on the control handles, and her whole body felt connected to the machine.

"You may now operate the Sea Mantis through physical gestures and the console," Cortana instructed.

"Okay, let's try standing up..."

She straightened her legs, and the mech rose to its full four meter height.

The feeling was exhilarating. Looking down from inside the armor, she felt like a titan.

She took a step with her right leg, and the Sea Mantis followed suit with a heavy stomp.

"It's moving, it's moving!"

"It's fully operational! This game really lets you pilot a MECH!"

"The devs knows exactly what the players want!"

"Tsk tsk. I gotta say it, the devs are freaking geniuses!"

"Screw it, I don't care if the Reaper Leviathan eats me alive, I have to get on that Aurora. I need that mech in my life!"

"Agreed. This is a goddamn mecha! Who in their right mind would pass that up?!"

1830 Words.