CHAPTER 44 - FINALLY LAND

[A.N Extra Chapter because I want to start translating another fic on the side but can't find any I like so looking for recommendations if you have, Prefer it to be about game/manga/anime development, or something DBZ or Naruto. Don't worry about this fics upload times will stay 2-4 Chapters a day. Sorry for long AN enjoy Chapter]

Soon, the two of them returned home. Although NeasJ's horrifying encounter had clearly left a mark on Natalie's nerves, she knew she couldn't afford to let fear get in the way of her streaming career.

After some hesitation, she took a deep breath, brushed off her concerns, and turned on the livestream.

"Hello, everyone! Your favorite streamer is back online!" Natalie greeted energetically.

Chat instantly responded.

"Don't waste time, jump straight into the game!"

"Yeah, we've been waiting forever!"

"Natalie, hurry up! If you don't grind now, other players will outpace your progress!"

"Okay, okay, I got it! We're going in now!"

Without delay, Natalie slipped into her extra sensory suit, pulled on her VR headset, and logged into the game.

As the screen faded in, she found herself seated inside her trusty Sea Moth, gently bobbing in the vast ocean.

"Phew, thank goodness I finished building the Sea Moth already..." She let out a breath of relief as she glanced at the dashboard.

She had to admit, having the Sea Moth changed everything. For starters, she no longer had to tirelessly swim through the water. More importantly, being inside this metal pod gave her a sense of safety. Even though it was just a thin layer of metal between her and the crushing deep sea, it made all the difference.

It was like driving alone through a wilderness, infinitely safer than walking it alone at night.

"Alright, let's head toward the coordinates sent from the Vice Captain of the Aurora. We're off to explore the land there!"

As she spoke, Natalie started the Sea Moth, and the AI companion, Cortana, projected the destination coordinates onto the virtual interface. With that, she had a clear direction to navigate.

Although the land was still dozens of kilometers away, with the Sea Moth, the distance felt surprisingly manageable.

No wonder Tony had designed the game map to be so massive, because these vehicles made long distance travel a breeze.

Natalie guided the Sea Moth toward her destination. Night had already fallen, and the ocean was pitch black. Thankfully, the Sea Moth's headlamp was far more powerful than her previous flashlight, illuminating everything within a ten meter radius.

But ten meters of visibility in the vast, limitless ocean? Practically nothing.

To play it safe, and to keep from feeling too suffocated, Natalie decided to stay near the surface, just a few meters below the waves.

Actually, this wasn't unique to her. Every player in Subnautica subconsciously stuck close to the surface when moving. No one wanted to venture into the unknown depths.

They might not even be aware of this habit. It was just instinct, creatures avoiding danger, staying close to the light. Humans were no different. The deep sea was pitch black. No sunlight, no visibility, no hope.

But Tony, ever the thoughtful sadist, wouldn't let players escape the deep forever.

"Friendly reminder," Cortana suddenly said, "If you ever feel tired, I can take over the Sea Moth's controls and navigate for you."

"Wait... Cortana can autopilot now?"

"Seriously? Tesla's been working on this for years, but New World already has it in a game?!"

"Wow, is this another tech marvel from the devs?"

"Calm down. It's just like auto pathfinding in MMOs. Don't overthink it."

"Yeah, it's just a game. Not real life. Right?"

The chat buzzed with disbelief. The idea that a game AI could drive the submersible automatically was both impressive and unnerving. Especially when you remembered that in real life, companies like Tesla were still struggling with autopilot.

New World Studio always finds a way to blow our minds...

"Alright, let's try it!" Natalie, curious and a little excited, released the steering controls.

"Autopilot engaged," said Cortana.

The Sea Moth glided smoothly through the water. When floating rocks appeared ahead, it adjusted its course slightly to avoid collisions.

Natalie's eyes sparkled. "Whoa, can we dive a bit?"

"Diving now," replied Cortana as the submersible smoothly descended.

"Okay, now rise!"

"Ascending..."

Seeing the Sea Moth respond perfectly to her voice commands, Natalie couldn't help but marvel, "This is amazing... It's like driving a real self driving car!"

"This autopilot's smarter than a Tesla!"

"Yeah, but this is a game. Let's not confuse fiction with reality."

But deep down, more and more viewers were beginning to wonder, could this game tech actually be used in real life?

It was like the studio wasn't simulating futuristic tech. They were inventing it.

That couldn't be real... could it?

"Guh guh guh guh!"

Suddenly, a strange series of clucks interrupted the musings.

"What the heck is that sound?"

"Sounds kinda like chickens...?"

"No, wait, it's way more rapid. It's a group of something."

"Don't tell me... it's another Leviathan?!"

"Leviathan?!" The mere mention made Natalie's blood run cold. She'd just watched NeasJ get obliterated by the Death God Leviathan, a trauma she wasn't eager to experience herself.

"Cortana! Are we near another Leviathan?" she asked nervously.

"The sound likely comes from a group of small creatures. Not Leviathan class," Cortana replied calmly.

"Oh... thank god." Natalie let out a deep breath. If it was just small sea life, and she was inside the Sea Moth, she should be fine even if something got aggressive.

"Alright then. Let's go check it out."

She switched back to manual mode, took hold of the controls, and steered toward the source of the strange noise.

Soon, she saw them, creatures floating lazily in the water.

They looked oddly like Earth seals. Round, chubby, and waddling awkwardly in the water. Each was only about a meter long.

But there was one strange feature, they all had a large, basketball sized glowing orb attached to the ends of their tails.

There were also clusters of glowing green spots on the lumps of meat covering its tail. Densely packed, they looked almost like fungus.

"Ew, why does this thing look so gross?!"

"Right? The top half is kind of ugly cute, but that tail... it's just a lumpy, fleshy blob!"

"Looks like a seal dragging a glowing green basketball. And it's just floating along like it's nothing!"

Although this creature looked disgusting, it didn't seem dangerous. No claws, no fangs, just a weird tail and dopey face. It didn't look like it could fight, so the stream chat wasn't scared. They just kept cracking jokes.

"Stop talking nonsense! Beware the Green Corpse Plague Warning!!!"

Hearing that message pop up in chat, Natalie couldn't help but laugh. "Oh please, this thing looks too dumb to be dangerous. Let's go check it out."

Even though it looked harmless, Natalie wasn't reckless. There were at least a dozen of them swimming nearby, so she carefully piloted the Sea Moth forward.

Once she got close enough, she lifted her wristband to scan it through the submarine's glass window.

DING!

[Toxicgas Fish: A type of slow moving pinniped. Possesses a round, balloon like appendage on its tail. When sensing danger, it releases a highly toxic and corrosive compound from this sac, capable of dissolving most organic matter. Assessment: Not edible. Extremely dangerous when releasing gas. Avoid at all costs.]

Dumb looking or not, this fish was seriously dangerous.

That green gas could melt living things?!

What kind of insane design was that?!

Natalie immediately hit reverse on the Sea Moth. Time to leave.

"Wait, Natalie! Test how toxic it is first!" a message in chat suddenly read.

"How exactly do I test that?" she frowned.

"Try shooting it! I'll donate!"

Right on cue, donation alerts started rolling in.

"Well... okay."

She didn't want to let her viewers down. So she backed the Sea Moth up, then exited the sub and swam toward the fish.

"Cortana, they can't outswim me, right?"

"No," Cortana confirmed.

"Good."

Natalie swam until she was about 20 meters from the school of Toxicgas fish. "Let's test this out."

Under the expectant gaze of the stream, she pulled out a pistol.

"They're far away, but with this many fish, I've got to hit something."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

She fired five shots. The final one hit.

"SKWEEEEEE!!!"

The fish let out a piercing shriek. Its basketball tail started shaking wildly, and then the green light spots exploded, unleashing a vivid cloud of glowing green gas underwater.

One fish released poison, and in seconds, the entire school followed. The water turned into a churning emerald mist, spreading out like a toxic fog.

Natalie flinched and immediately swam away. Luckily, she wasn't caught in it. But a huge area, easily 20+ meters wide, was blanketed in poison.

"Whoa! All of them spraying poison at once, that's insane!"

"Like a big green underwater rave, lol!"

The fog only lasted a few seconds, but once it cleared... a horrifying sight remained.

Everything in the blast zone was dead.

Other sea creatures, rabbitfish, dartfish, anything nearby, had been completely dissolved.

Their bodies were stripped to nothing but globs of organs, some of which were still melting into bloody water.

"Holy hell, this stuff is potent..."

"This makes sulfuric acid look like Gatorade!"

"My scalp is literally tingling, this is terrifying!"

Everyone in the chat was stunned. Natalie was too. Good thing she hadn't gotten too close.

If she had... she probably would've melted alive.

But then, an idea struck her.

As the group of fish swam away, the one she shot floated limply toward the ocean floor. A dead Toxicgas fish!

An opportunity!

Natalie swam toward the corpse. "Cortana! Can I harvest the toxin from this thing?!"

The chat lit up again.

"She's thinking two steps ahead!!"

"Genius! That poison might even work on a Leviathan!"

That was exactly what Natalie was thinking. Knowing Tony, he wouldn't create a monster like this for nothing.

It's slow, herbivorous, looks silly, but has a terrifying attack. That had to mean the player could make use of it somehow.

Imagine, harnessing that kind of flesh melting toxin. Even giant sea monsters would fall before you!

Haha, she knew she'd cracked Tony's design!

DING!

[Insufficient conditions. Unable to collect.]

"...Huh? It doesn't work?"

Natalie frowned.

Had she misread his intent? Did Tony really put this in just for a joke?

Was it really that pointless?

Well... knowing his trollish sense of humor, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Oh well," she sighed. "It's still been fun."

"Yeah, come on. You think the dev's gonna just give players a weapon that powerful?!"

"Exactly! When have they ever been nice to players?!"

"Whatever! Let's move on!" Natalie said, pushing the thought aside. She'd ask him about it next time they talked.

She climbed back into the Sea Moth and set off again.

After a smooth ride, something appeared on the horizon, a giant shadow above the waves.

Land.

"LOOK GUYS! LAND! I SEE LAND!!!" Natalie shouted.

"No way! Natalie's the first streamer to reach land!"

"I think so! No one else has made it yet!"

"Honestly, being stuck underwater this whole time has been so claustrophobic... I can't wait to explore dry ground!"

Even for Natalie, after spending so much time submerged, just seeing land gave her a rush of relief.

"And maybe we'll meet other NPCs!" she added. "Didn't Vice Captian say this was a survivor outpost?"

Up until now, she hadn't met a single proper NPC. Even the woman in Cabin 2, who she'd tried so hard to rescue, was just for enabling multiplayer.

Maybe this time, things would be different.

She pushed the Sea Moth to max speed.

But as she approached the coast, she was stunned by what came into view.

A colossal building standing right on the shoreline.

It towered into the sky, easily 400 meters tall.

"What the hell... what is that?!"

"Some kind of skyscraper?!"

"It's a building, but the design is insane!!"

No one had expected this.

"Whoa... it's gorgeous!" Natalie gasped.

The structure was dark blue-black, covered in complex carvings that shimmered with a soft green light, utterly alien and majestic.

In this flat, endless sea, the building stood like a monolith. Unmissable. Intimidating.

Natalie stared up at it, suddenly feeling very small.

She parked the Sea Moth by the shoals and swam to shore, her focus now fully locked on the massive structure.

No doors. No windows. Seamless from top to bottom.

"Let's see what Cortana says," she muttered, raising her scanner.

DING!

[Alien Structure. Identity unknown. Material unknown. Function unknown.]

Not even Cortana knew what it was.

One of the most advanced AI's and she'd hit a blank.

And just like that... things had gone from strange to truly otherworldly.

2091 Words.