This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

I couldn't help but snicker at the obviously fake performance that Shizu was putting up for me. It was why she didn't want to do it in the first place. Apparently, giving someone a quest meant that she had to stick to what she now called 'Elden Script.' Kind of a tacky way to call it, but who was I to judge her own misfortunes?

"Are you a [Somatic] by any chance?"

Shizu's brows twitched as she paused, obviously waiting for me to respond as she stood stock-still like an actual NPC. Well, there was no use for me delaying things. Opening my mouth, I...

...

....Eh?

"Are you a [Somatic] by any chance?"

In front of me, Shizu was visibly struggling to keep herself in check as she repeated her words. All the while, I couldn't seem to utter out a single word even if I wanted to.

What the hell?

"Are you a [Somatic] by any chance?!"

Confusion and panic were starting to bloom in my chest as Shizu was now clearly losing her patience. I tried speaking again, only for nothing to escape my lips as some kind of invisible force seemed to mute my words. It was frustrating. What in the world was even happening?!

"Are you a [Somatic] by any chance?!"

Shizu practically screamed at me now, her eyes begging me to give out a response. But what was the right one then?! If I couldn't speak, then was I just supposed to nod?!

Testing it out, I gave the poor woman a hesitant nod, hoping that it somehow worked as intended.

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"You are?! How wonderful!"

To my surprise, it actually worked. Shizu had a look of absolute relief on her face as she recited her lines. And obviously, I just nodded away at every single question she uttered. It continued for about a few more minutes, my ears slowly tuning her out the longer it went.

"You'll help me? Truly?!"

Giving her yet another nod, I could tell that she was getting just as bored as I was despite the fake joy in her tone. In hindsight, this was kind of spooky; being forced into a mandatory cutscene like this.

"Splendid!" the princess cheered, her eyes betraying her true mood even as she bounced on her steps. "Then please follow me!"

[CHIME!]

Oh?

[Main Quest Accepted: A New Arrival]

[Follow the Girl]

Well, that took long enough.

With what I could only describe as melodious fanfare, the quest prompt appeared in front of me. It wasn't anything special, what with not even showing what rewards I'd get for completing them, but it was good enough progress for me.

And as if a thin veil had been lifted, I found myself being able to speak again. "Well, that was something."

"I'm not looking forward to doing that again, Stranger," Shizu panted, the shackles of the game system removing themselves from the poor woman as her body immediately relaxed. "And I'm supposed to do that every time? I kind of wish I wasn't aware of the truth anymore."

Commiserating with her, I patted her back as I helped her up. "At least we're done with it for the moment. For now, lead the way?"

Shizu sighed, "This is boring, you know?"

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Sure enough, Shizu was correct in her assessment. The tour itself was just her pointing out the various places in the city where I could buy equipment and transact with other important NPCs. Thankfully, she wasn't beholden to the game's script as she spoke, so she simply casually repeated what she already told just a few hours ago back when we first met.

Then again, something was still going wrong for some reason.

"We're moving in circles, Shizu," I pointed out. "Look, we passed the same stall for like the third time."

"And I'm just following the path that the [Eld God] Guidance had assigned for me," Shizu scowled, the expression looking foreign on her usually cheerful face. "Truly, the gods are cruel to me..."

I scoffed, "Stop calling her a god. She's just as human as the rest of us."

"A human that can change the laws of reality with but a simple movement of her fingers?" my guide questioned. "I doubt that, Stranger."

I let out another sigh, "Well, the sooner you stop recognizing her as such, the healthier your mindset will become."

And wasn't that the truth of the matter. Shizu kept calling Guidance an [Eld God] despite all of my protests. Still understandable, but all of her cheer was being sucked out right before my eyes as she clearly questioned her entire existence.

"Can we just finish this so-called quest of yours, Stranger?" Shizu weakly asked. "I want to go home..."

Hearing the defeat in her voice, I gave her a nod as I replied, "Sure, Shizu. Lead the way."

At that, we proceeded to knock the quest out as fast as possible. We were practically jogging as I followed her throughout the city. I could still hear the anguish in her tone, but it decently lessened the farther we got through the tour. And soon enough, we found ourselves back to where we started.

"And that marks the end of the tour, Stranger!" Shizu stated with false cheer, the system returning to shackle her onto the script. "Do you have any questions?"

I quickly shook my head, registering my response to the system as fast as I possibly could.

"Excellent," my tired guide let out a sigh of relief. "Then we can move on to what I was about to ask you for help with."

[CHIME!]

[Main Quest: A New Arrival COMPLETE]

[REWARD: 50 [EXP] 50 Kattleynan Leafs]

At the appearance of the window, I felt a weird surge of power flow through me. My vision swam for a split second before then stabilizing. Blinking, I noticed that my HUD now sported a new addition alongside my health and mana values.

[Moriya: Level 2]

[EXP: 50/300]

[HP: 105/105]

[MP: 105/105]

[0 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION]

Huh... So I now had an atypical [EXP] bar alongside my [HP] and [MP]. Looking at it, I guess the quest wasn't supposed to push me over the first level. Kind of expected, but I've played games that were generous with their leveling.

"We're finally done..." Shizu tiredly sounded out. "Can I go home now? I wanna go to bed..."

"One second," I called out. "Can I at least get the next quest?"

At my request, the princess let out an exhausted sigh. "Can it wait till tomorrow? It's already late and my parents are probably worried by now..."

Parents, huh... Wait... "You're a princess, right?"

Shizu instantly froze, "H-how did you know that?"

I blinked at her frigid response. Did she not think that it was obvious? "You had your title change above you and everything earlier. I can even see your full name."

"You can?!"