Chapter 20: Gotcha

I traveled north for a while before I finally realized I was actually going the wrong way. Just as I changed my direction I got a glimpse of something out the corner of my eye. It was hard to miss considering how bright it was.

The object possessed the appearance of a golden pillar composed entirely of translucent golden light. The light stretched up high like one of those searchlights you see beaming through a night sky. Though in this case it was clearly daytime.

The need to explore was growing inside me till finally it popped and overflowed like an angry soda. I wanted to see what it was, so like a curious cat I parkoured my way over.

a few telekinetic powered jumps later and I’d landed safely in front of the mysterious object. It looked like a machine of some sort.

The thing was mostly comprised of glass. Inside the glass was a bunch of plastic red balls. The bottom half of the machine was made of metal and had a metal dial.

There was a slot that was obviously made for coins. Isaac’s memories gave me a glimpse of something, something he called a gotcha machine.

The label showed a picture of different plush toys. They must be really small since the red spherical plastic capsules were the size of my palm.

I was gonna leave it alone but something tickled my interest. There was a plushy on the label of a teddy bear. It was no ordinary bear. If Isaac’s memories served me right then this was the hidden boss you could only find in the black forest.

Black bear Grothug. The fact that it was the hidden boss of the black forest wasn’t what interested me it was the aesthetic of the toy that made me want to adore it.

The plushy itself looked like a normal teddy bear only it had long claws, red eyes, and a mouth full of fangs.

Like all black bears its fur was a smoky brown. It looked so cool! It even had arrows and swords stuck to its back just like the actual boss!

I've never actually seen the boss myself but Isaac has. Just from encountering this one plushy I now understood the appeal of collecting these adorably soft toys. Maybe I can try for the bear.

The cost was one gold per try. So expensive! That’s highway robbery! I gave it some thought….. I should leave right now but…. but I really want the bear... I have lots of coins so I can at least try once. It'll be okay.

Snowball seemed to tell me not to play but I really, really, really want it! It’s not fair! Isaac gets to have all sorts of things! I want something of my own to!

I was about to throw a tantrum of which the world has never seen. When Snowball relented and said it was okay to play one time.

I pumped my fist into the air. “Yay!”

I thanked her and pulled out a gold coin. The coin fit in the slot and I turned the dial. It made some satisfying mechanical ticking sounds followed by a ding.

A translucent blue screen popped up. It told me I'd acquired a gotcha capsule. I hit manifest and a big red ball flashed into the new world. It was a lot bigger than in the machine.

I popped it open. It split into two. The red plastic shell turned into a bluish white light and faded away leaving behind a plushy. The whole process felt so unreal.

As for the toy itself it was Snowball sized. It wasn’t Grothug. Instead I got a painfully common mob called a green slime. My disappointment was immeasurable.

Interestingly enough the item was labeled as a summoning totem. I thought those were supposed to be crystals not plushies? That must be why their so expensive.

After a bit more exploration I found an option to change its form. Either turn it into a crystal or summon the slime itself. The summoning was grayed out seeing as I didn’t have the skill — much less the class — to actually summon it.

That’s fine, I didn't really feel like messing with an acidic goo monster so I dropped it into my inventory possibly never to be seen again.

I looked to Snowball who was floating next to me. Tears threatened to spill as I looked deep into her eyes. She sighed and said go ahead.

“Thank you!” I pulled another coin out and tried again. I got another slime, this one was of the red variety. It looked kind of spicy. I ignored it, and tried again, and again, and again.

So far I’ve gotten multiple slimes, a ton of gray wolves. Some wyvern, a bunch of ghost foxes, a few mushroom men. A bunch of man eating plants, and one zombie which was rare rank. He was cute in a scary way so I named him Joe.

I even gave him a little backstory. Ahem, Joe was originally an office worker when the zombie outbreak happened and he got bit by a co-worker.

He now wanders the streets during the night and shows up for work every morning. He has to work in order to pay for his embalming fluid.

Without it his body starts to rot. How else will he keep his zombification a secret from his zombie hunter girlfriend who comes from a family of zombie hunting fanatics.

Ah, yes. Truly a love that could never be. Like Romeo and Juliette, or Taco bell and my toilet. Okay so maybe there’s some kinks that need to be worked out but it sounds like a cool back story. Maybe I can add in werewolves or like a mummy or something. Nah, that’s dumb.

Believe it or not the joe plushy was actually the highest rarity I’ve gotten so far. Some how I managed to waste all of my coin on just this. “This sucks! I didn’t get what I wanted! Its not fair!” I cried.

I kicked the machine. “How come it’s like that! This game is rigged! I’ll blow it up!” I tried to use my telekinesis on the machine but found it impossible.

This must be what Isaac calls god mode or an unbreakable object. That doesn’t make sense though this isn’t a game. How was it doing that?

I activated my third eye and got a better look. It showed me the object was covered in a powerful aura. The aura was stronger than Cindy’s! That’s probably where that golden glow came from.

The aura was so strong that it had a physical form. Clever way to prevent theft. Actually a bit more like overkill. This had to be put here by the lady.

It was like an immovable mountain. I couldn’t really see what was creating the aura due to the fact that the aura was so thick.

It was like trying to see through the surface of the ocean to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Who knew gotcha machines could sign up for VPN scramblers.

It had to be circulating power somehow. Yeah. You know what, if there was a way to drain that power maybe I could break it. Then again… what if it has a fail safe.

Auras can basically do anything if you take the time to mold them properly. There like Legos. You just have to stack them right and they’ll be whatever you want. There goes that idea.

I really didn't feel like stepping on a landmine today. No thanks. But then how should I approach this then? Are there nukes in this game?

Snowball had been telling me to stop a while ago but I was ignoring her for the moment. Maybe I should listen.

I've already run out of money. That means I'll have to wait till pay day to try again. I can't wait that long! I kicked the machine again, except this time it glowed red.

I wasn’t sure what was about to happen so I just stood there somewhat petrified. Maybe It'll give me another try since I clearly deserve a Grothug plushy.

I was wrong again. A blue portal opened up next to the machine and a lady wearing fancy robes walked out of it.

Her hair was black and tied up into twin braids. She wore square framed black glasses and carried herself like a librarian.

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The women looked around spotting me with her baggy eyes. “Stop it” her aura was directed at me, and I felt like I was about to die.

Satisfied she went back into the portal and it vanished like it was never there. I was relieved. I gave Snowball a hug. “Well, that was terrifying.”

I looked to the machine and decided attacking it was a bad idea. Who ever that lady was she was stronger than the machine. I couldn’t even get a read off her with my third eye or via status screen.

I know I’ve gotten distracted but I just feel like this is important. I don’t own anything I can really call my own and to have Grothug would be so amazing.

Okay, So maybe I own a bunch of plushies but I really want a Grothug. I opened my menu and looked through my inventory.

You know there’s a lot of stuff in here. Stuff from different classes and other things. This is all Isaac’s stuff though.

A thought came to me then. It would be really funny if I sold all of Isaac’s things. I bet he would be so mad. Oh… on second thought… I’m totally gonna do that!

And that’s exactly what I did. I had to go to more than one store but I managed to sell every last item aside from the clothes on my back, the plushies I collected, the new sword, about 20% of the potions, and a picture I found of Isaac and his wife. Not sure how Isaac got that but it wouldn't sell so I had to keep it.

It didn’t feel right to sell off my plushies. Not when they were my friends. Even if there not the ones I wanted there the ones that wanted me.

I came back with all my new coins and started feeding them into the machine. One by one they went poof and were quickly converted to plush dolls.

In the end I still didn’t get Grothug. He was just to rare. The machine was mocking me. It’s aura was giving off these tremors like it was laughing at me.

I wanted so bad to blow it up but stopped myself when I remembered the power of that bookish girl. Instead I stood there watching the machine like a hawk.

Even the centipede was laughing at me. How rude! It was supposed to be on my side! Well, at least it was enjoying itself enough to where it wasn’t actively trying to traumatize me.

Maybe I can ask the citizens for help. Poppy and Cindy were so willing to help me out. Why couldn’t I exploit their love for coin? It's not like they actually liked me. They only cared about Isaac.

You know the way they look at me kind of creeps me out. It’s unnatural to love someone like that. The question “What should I do?” continued to haunt me.

The more I thought about it the more tears threatened to spill. The more tears threatened to spill the more the centipede laughed.

The more the centipede laughed the more Snowball told me to leave the machine alone. Meanwhile all I could think about was how badly I wanted my own teddy bear.

How is this fair! It’s so not fair! It ate all my coins for nothing! I guess it’s still kind of funny how Isaac lost all his gear to this thing but still I expected to be rewarded not taken advantage of! I’m only a kid I don’t know any better. I should be given a refund!

It was only then that I realized I’d been staring at this thing for way longer than I should have. The only reason I knew that was because the thing was sweating nervously.

At least those were the vibes I was getting from watching its aura. This thing had actual emotions. It made me wonder if someone was reincarnated into this thing.

What did Isaac call it. Isekai? Yeah that. Was I dealing with an actual person. You know I might be able to reason with it.

“Mr. Gotcha machine. You’ve taken all my coins and all I want is a Grothug. Is there anyway you can help me out?”

It did not respond. Was it really ignoring me? Maybe I was just seeing things. That’s when a little girl skipped over. She was a little shorter than me. Maybe like a five year old.

In her fingers she held a single gold coin. That’s a lot of money for a kid. I hope no one tries to take it from her. I thought about doing just that when Snowball stopped me by pinching my arm.

“Ow.”

I looked around to see if there was a parent around and surely enough the little girls father was off to the side watching.

At least I hope that’s her dad. They both wore expensive clothes. The girl had a fancy dress and the dad dressed like a noble.

I don’t think we have nobles in Entropy. Maybe he’s visiting from a neighboring country? A refugee perhaps? Then again he wouldn’t look so fancy if he were one. Best guess was he was something of a traveling merchant.

The girl got her own gotcha capsule and opened it. The shell turned into a multi colored light indicating she'd gotten something good. Possibly the jackpot.

No way! She got Grothug! If I had one more coin he would’ve been mine! That’s not fair!

I could totally take it from her. She doesn’t deserve it. That’s how I felt and I might of gone through with it if it wasn’t for the fact that the girl started crying. The dad rushed over to her.

“Are you alright? What’s the matter?” The dad tried to console the child but she wasn’t having it.

“Pa- papa! I didn’t get the one I wanted! Can… can I try again?” She cried.

You know, I couldn’t help but sympathize. That’s exactly how I felt. It made me want to cry to. That’s when I got an idea.

“Sorry sweetie you know the deal. I told you, you could only get one. Don't cry you’re a big girl remember.” He patted her head.

Her crying started to quiet down as if she’d found hidden strength. Aren’t children supposed to be bratty especially the rich ones?

I approached them. “Excuse me, which one were you trying to get?” They both looked surprised as if noticing me for the first time. The man instantly recognized me.

“Lady Aku! It’s nice to meet you.” He bowed politely.

I don’t think the girl knew the status of my vessel. She was the one to answer my question. “I wanted the dragon.” She pointed to the wyvern on the label. Then sniffed as if she were still crying. Her dad ran his hand over her head.

I nodded. “I see. How about a trade then.” I produced one of the wyvern plushies I’d gotten. The girls eyes lit up. She nodded her head and we made the trade. Both her and her father thanked me profusely.

I thanked them in return. These guys are idiots. Don’t they understand the value of this thing. They wasted their coin on a painfully uncommon rank plushy. Maybe the dad wasn't a merchant after all.

The girl giggled and smiled showing her dad her new toy. She went ahead and named it Cuddles. She hugged it and smiled.

The girl jumped around and made the toy fly through the air. The dad smiled watching his child blissfully play.

I was left wondering. Maybe it wasn’t a waste. I looked to Grothug and smiled. It looked even better than on the label. I gave him a squeeze. He was soft enough to hug but firm enough to where it felt like I was actually hugging a person.

I floated off with the bear in my arms. Snowball followed behind me. The two NPCs didn’t even realize I was gone.

As I jumped roof top to roof top I couldn’t help but snuggle with my new friend. Snowball floated beside me unsure of whether she was proud of me or not.

On one hand I made a little girl happy, on the other…. I spent all my money on a scam! Her words not mine. It didn’t matter to me it was worth it.

Exploring Isaac’s memories I searched for a name for my bear. The name Grothug was cool but that was just the name of the boss.

I came up with the name Kuma. It was kind of childish when you think about it. It was like naming your cat, Kitty. Not super creative but I like it.

Ovule street

This place was fairly normal. The people here were just like the ones ten blocks over. The only difference was there were a few more unsavory characters walking about.

They were mostly players. You could always tell just by looking at them. They always seemed to give off an “I don’t belong” vibe.

Quite a few were scantily dressed women offering services. They thought they were being sneaky but I could tell what they were up to.

It wasn’t illegal to do that in Entropy, but that’s not why I came here for. The girls would flirt for a bit before the guys would walk with them into a building called the black rooster.

Regardless of escort or not they all seemed to hang out there. It was like a tavern but it also had a bit of gambling going on along with running an inn and apparently a brothel of sorts.

That’s what I was able to gather from my observations and chatting with the residential NPCs.

Most of them were unhappy about living next to such a sinful establishment. While some actually enjoyed the services provided by them.

The ones that were unhappy were the NPCs with children while the ones that were neutral and or happy were the adults without children.

I actually got complaints and was asked to relocate the black rooster to a red-light district. Not sure what that is but my best guess was they wanted me to create an area for places that provided adult services and have the black rooster open shop there.

People were a lot more complicated than I thought. The black rooster was definitely on the corrupt side of the services and goods spectrum. Yet there was a customer base for it.

Burning it to the ground would probably make more people angry than solve anything. After all you cant just force someone to shut down just because there doing things your not okay with.

Adults can pick and choose what they want to do with their lives. Weather it be doing a bunch of drugs or building orphanages for blind homeless children.

Surprisingly drugs aren’t actually against the law here, so I’m not sure what Isaac was trying to accomplish. These guys were operating in accordance with the law. If Isaac doesn’t want drugs then he could just ban them.

The only real issue would be if the black rooster was selling to kids and I haven’t seen that happen. Only then would it be time to step in.

Normally I’d just leave them alone except there were other strange things going on. These guys had made a huge mistake. I’m pretty sure they don’t actually own the building. The NPCs that ran the place weren’t any of mine.

My NPCs told me they hadn’t seen the original owners and that the original owners sold off their property to the new ones. Except I checked the logs and no such purchase had happened.

I was a bit confused. I thought the guild owned those buildings. Turns out they belonged to the NPCs now, as long as they paid their taxes that is.

You could own anything you wanted but if you hadn’t paid the taxes on it then the government would show up and take everything you owned.

These guys hadn’t been paying any taxes. Not a single coin had been deposited into the guild. That was mistake number one.

Mistake number two. The NPCs that originally ran the black rooster — or what it used to be called the black barrel — Are now dead. And the name brave Jack’s was all over their death logs.

It apparently happened about a week ago. Right around the time these guys moved in. Coincidence I think not. The reason Isaac never realized this was because it happened before he got here.

To be fair my brother is an idiot. He should of realized it the moment he saw the deaths of the NPCs.

I guess he was more worried about the criminals than the dead Bodies. He did kill off a bunch of people when he handed out gold coins.

I’m surprised the citizens didn’t get angry when they found out their taxes were being handed out to addicts.

There’s a bit of an unnatural love for my vessel. It’s a little creepy at times. Almost religious in a way. Strange indeed.

Makes me wonder if the NPCs aren’t hiding their actual feelings in fear of the raider’s God like powers. A country entrusted to a bunch of morons. I’m sure that’ll turn out grate.

I can do it. I’m better than Isaac. My brother wanted to build an army and train them up first. He doesn’t believe in his own power.

Hell, he doesn’t even know how to use these grate gifts that the lady bestowed on all the stupid players.

They’re to ignorant to see the full potential of all the power systems. Not like me of course. I could actually rule this world if I tried, but for now I think I’ll just fix this country up.

I don't want to kill but if I don't. The monster will hurt me. If I can kill only the bad people then it should be okay.

Snowball protested. As much as I wanted to listen to her. I couldn’t. Someone had to die. The centipede was hungry and if I didn’t pick its victims then it’ll just eat anyone it comes across. It doesn’t matter if there a good person or not.

The centipede chittered in my ear. It was asking for blood again. it seemed way more desperate this time.

The pressure of it’s presence was slowly crushing me. Like I was stuck between two fat dudes on an airplane. At least that’s how Isaac would put it.

For a second I felt like I was back in the hole. I almost scream but then the pain vanished in a gust of wind.

The centipede wanted me to know what it would do to me if I didn’t obey. I fell to my knees and started crying. My arms wrapped around Snowball.

It continued to surround me in a screeching cage. It’s voice like harsh static. It was getting worse. The longer it went without food the more pain it inflicted upon me.

“Shut up! I know! I’ll get you your dam bodies just stop it! If you break me you’ll never get anything!” I could hear it chitter like it was laughing at my torment. Was I really free? Was this all worth it?

The world shook and I was back where I was a moment ago. It was as if time had stopped and finally begun flowing again. I was currently standing on the roof across the black rooster.

My stealth was active and Snowball was in my arms watching. These were just people but I had to do it. They needed to die so that I could keep living.

I was just waiting for my focus to top off. There was also the need to mentally prepare myself.

It was time. I checked my reserves. My HP was full so was my focus. In my hot bar were spells, and potions.

Seeing as I didn’t know how to cast spells myself this was probably the best use for the hot bar. Even then they would only be used in an emergency. I probably didn’t need them. My third eye could do all sorts of things.

The Zen potions would come in handy since my cultivation was so slow. One Zen potion would easily top me off. I didn't see the point in wasting them.

Just in case I also had a single healing sacred art. You never know when I might need immediate healing. I looked to my partner in crime Snowball.

She gave me a thumbs up…. Was that real? I know for a fact she doesn’t have thumbs. I decided not to question it seeing as she had been doing all sorts of crazy things lately. I still wasn’t sure if it was actually physically happening. Either way it was cute.

Snowball floated into my left arm and I hugged her close to my side. Kuma was tucked away safely in my inventory. I opened that said inventory and drew out Edge Of The Abyss.

The sword rested in my right hand. Using telekinesis it floated up and stuck itself to my back.

The sword was being held there with my third eye but it looked almost like it was attached by some kind of magnetic force.

The centipede called for souls. By itself it was a hungry mindless monster but together we were something more. Hopefully a force for good. Though I doubt that.

This was the only way forward. The only way to have some form of freedom. My hands were shaking. I couldn't calm myself. Can I really do this?

Sharp pain started to radiate through my arm. I almost screamed. There was something stabbing into me! “I’m sorry I'll do it!” I cried. I was wrong this wasn't a punishment.

Something dark was crawling around my body slowly wrapping itself around me. My hands were finally steady. The entirety of my body was covered by the centipede. It's legs were bone deep releasing a numbing poison throughout my body.

There was no pain. There wasn't really much of anything anymore. My legs were being guided and I moved forward. I guess I no longer had a choice.