"Loak Joey! U can eet!" Inv pushes the dead dropwig towards me, a smile radiating on his face.
"Sorry Inv… I also can't eat dropwigs…" I awkwardly scratch the back of my head while saying this. Flattered by him so willingly trying to give me food.
"O-oh… u cant eet lizard or drpwig??" Inv asks, his expression a bit more solemn.
"Yeah… sorry Inv…"
"N-nu! Et ok! We fin somting els!" Inv quickly says back to me with a worried look.
A let out a small laugh seeing his concern. Giving a couple pats on his head I say back.
"Thanks Inv, now lemme grab something real quick…" Thanking Inv, I move to where the pearl was that the dropwig placed.
Picking the pearl up, I inspect it. Trying to figure out the new feature the system gave me.
Rotating the pearl around in paws, I feel Inv approach me from behind.
"Wut u doin Joey?"
"Trying to figure something out…" I mutter back, having no luck with it.
Trying out several things. I try squeezing the pearl in my paw. This time something actually happens!
Use Pearl for 25+ Karma Points?
>Yes No
Seeing the prompt appear. I can feel a grin spread on my face. Finally! Something actually useful from pearls!
I know that I can also use these at the trading post but… I'm just too curious to see what happens when I use one for myself.
Besides, I've been staying around here for several thousand cycles. I already have a decent stash of pearls tucked away in the area.
In fact… if there is one thing that is different about this world compared to the Rain World I remember… it's that there's much more pearls everywhere. Like, in actual random spots. Not in predesignated spots like in the game.
Sometimes when I exit the shelter I'll just randomly stumble across a lone pearl. I have no idea how it even appears. It just… appears into existence…
Looking down at the pearl with the prompt floating next to it. I have a weird question on my mind.
'What exactly does a pearl have to do with Karma Points? Isn't it just supposed to be a way to store data?'
…
Letting out a sigh, I let the question go. What's the point in asking a question that doesn't have an answer? This question just leads to other ones like.
What even are karma points? Does karma actually mean anything? Why is it valued in points? How do pearls relate to karma?
Questions that just don't have answers…
'I'll just figure it out later…' With this final thought, I choose the yes prompt.
Immediately after choosing the yes prompt. The pearl that I was previously squeezing with my paw suddenly feels much more fragile in my hand.
With one last squeeze the pearl shatters in my paw which immediately alarms me! Isnt this thing made out of glass or something?!
Before I can worry about it hurting my paw, what should've been shards of the broken pearl. I see it instantly turn into some sort of… bright dust?
For a lingering moment I see the pearl completely convert into this bright dust. Watching the dust swirl around my paw in fascination I see it suddenly shoot towards my body!
"W-woah!" Caught off guard, I feel the dust slam against me and… disappear into my body?!
Feeling utterly confused by the sequence of events, I feel something deep inside me pulse. What…
25+ Karma points acquired.
"W-woa! Joey! Wut wa dat?!" I hear Inv excitedly say next to me as I'm trying to process whatever the hell just happened.
"I uh… I don't really know?" I shrug back to Inv, still slightly confused by what just happened. All I know is I'm slightly closer to paying off my karma debt now…
"Bu da shiny ting tur tu glowy tings! An yur bodi ait et! Hoaw et du dat??" Inv says with extreme curiosity, lowering his head down to my chest.
"Yur bodi eet shiny tings?" Inv looks up at me, as if he just discovered a new secret about me.
Feeling a bit embarrassed by his assumption and his closeness, I respond back.
"N-no Inv, I can't eat things through my body. And those 'shiny' things are not food. it's just uh… another weird ability i have?" I answer, not sure how to properly explain to Inv.
"Lik de weard ting dat apred en my ey dat on tim?" Inv refers to when I accidentally sent him a prompt to see his stats.
"Y-yeah, something like that. The 'shiny' things which are called pearls can be helpful to us from now on"
"I se… prls helful… goat et" Inv slowly nods his head in understanding and raises his head back up.
With this… interesting situation out of the way. I hop on Inv's back and travel further down. Feeling myself tightly snug against Inv's back as he cautiously moves further.
…
…
…
Navigating down the corridors, Inv reaches the corridor that leads to the popcorn plant. But as he gets closer to the edge that drops down to the popcorn plant…
'What the actual fuck?!' I see something that definitely wasn't here before.
Despite being completely out of it the last time I saw one. I still remember what the trading post looked like. The table with the items that shouldn't exist in this world with the plain looking scavenger behind it. Silently staring at me as Inv gets closer and closer to the edge.
"Hey Inv… do you see anything ahead of us?" I quietly ask Inv.
Looking at me and back ahead, Inv answers back.
"Ummm… nu? I onl se da dar clowds"
…I know I can't be tripping. I feel completely fine right now!
The moment Inv reaches the edge that leads down to the popcorn plant. Off to the side I see the trading post in clear view. The weird scavenger just staring back at me.