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

I raised an eyebrow at the dev's over-the-top reaction. What was so bad about the quest?

"I don't see the problem?" Shizu questionably pointed out. "It's a final attack, right? That means we're dealing a blow to the enemy?"

"Yes, but it's too sudden," Guidance worriedly intoned. "That quest is the final quest of the game."

Now it's my turn to gawk in surprise. "What?! I'm not even beyond level 30 yet!"

"Exactly," the dev worriedly muttered. "If it's the final quest that I wrote into the game, it'll be tuned for level 99."

I winced at what I just heard. The prospect of going into an endgame area with what were pretty much starter items and horrible stats was daunting, to say the least. Shizu and Guidance will survive with their inherent level advantage, but what the hell was I supposed to do?!

"Can we just, delay it?"

"We can't," Shizu replied. "Father ordered us to go to the enemy, and so we shall."

Oh no... "But I'll die, Shizu. And that's on top of you all dying along with me if we all screw this up."

To my surprise, the princess only blinked at me with eyes resolute. Her back straightened as she addressed me, "And so what? Father said you will get stronger, and I'm inclined to agree with him."

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My eyes turned to Guidance for help, only to feel even more distraught as Guidance only laughed at my predicament. Seriously?

"Guess I'll die then," I shrugged in defeat. "Either way, how far is this [Vestyge] place anyway?"

At my question, Guidance finally stopped herself from laughing at my expense as she answered, "It's on the other end of the [Shallow Deep]. Based on how large the map is, I'd say it'll take weeks, even months to get there."

Oh wow. "And I'm assuming we'll be sailing the sea of errors then? That'll be fun."

Guidance perked up, "What do you mean, the sea of errors?"

My eyes widened, a sudden realization popping up in my head as I smirked. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

I sniggered as I flashed Shizu a warning smile, silently telling her to shut up and let me have my fun. "You'll figure it out soon enough."

"Fine, be that way," the dev scoffed. "Let's see you nag me once you need healing."

Rolling my eyes, I let a short bout of silence settle between us as I remembered that we were still technically supposed to be talking about the plot of the game. Then again, real-life conversations will always shoot off into tangents so long as there was nobody to moderate the exchange. Cause why else would meetings take so long?

"Aren't we supposed to be talking about the game right now?"

Why thank you for remembering, Guidance! "Exactly. And care to tell us what will happen?"

Placing a finger under her chin, the dev hummed as she spoke. "If I remember the script, the ending will depend on which state you allied yourself with. Since we're allied with [Kattleyna], the game will end with an Imperial victory."

Shizu visibly lit up at the promise of assured success. Her smile stretched out from ear to ear as she asked, "You mean we'll win?! The Empire will win, right?!"

"On paper, yes. But with the Engine as it is right now, on top of what Moriya just received as a quest, I'm honestly not sure," Guidance hesitantly intoned. "For all we know, we might just face something far more stupid. Or worse, cut content."

I actually stared at Guidance for a second there. "Cut content? You mean you actually cut content?"

"Every dev cuts unsalvageable content," Guidance scoffed. "I know my limits, and if something just isn't cooperating with the code, then I just write them out of the equation."

"Fair enough," I hummed, giving poor Shizu a sidelong glance as I watched the princess look absolutely lost in our conversation. "And for the princess's consideration, can we use something more... general to describe stuff?"

Turning to Shizu, Guidance actually looked apologetic as she replied, "I suppose so. And sorry about being incomprehensible, Shizu."

"I-It's fine! Really!" the princess insisted with a wide smile. "I'll catch up eventually. For now, I'll just listen."

"Okay then," I nodded. "To continue, cut content?"

At my lead, Guidance returned to the conversation. "Right. Those things aren't meant to exist anymore. But the engine might just say 'they're decent' and just add them in anyway. It wouldn't be too out of the left field with all of the bugs we've been seeing."

"And by bugs you mean..."

"Errors in the world," I replied to Shizu's question. "Things that aren't what they truly seem. Like that one dungeon down at the capital."

"And that is just a larger symptom of what's truly happening," Guidance cut herself in once more, her keyboard now in front of her as she absently ran her fingers through her keys. "This world isn't stable. At least, as stable as I last left it."

A heavy atmosphere blanketed the entire room. Stability was always one subject that anyone could easily relate to. It wasn't always that great, but at least your world wasn't going down right from under you. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, apparently.

"W-wait... so you mean to say that this world... This... My world.... is going to fall apart?"

The dev let out a heavy sigh, "It's just a theory, Shizu. I don't even know what's happening anymore." She smacked her lips together, "It's not a guarantee, okay? I could be wrong. And even if I was, I'm sure we can fix it."

"And we still have a war to win," I chuckled, steering the conversation away from the downer subject. "If we're gonna go into the heart of the enemy territory, I need more levels."

At that, the two visibly relaxed as the subject was steered away from the possible world-ending apocalypse. Truth be told, even I was getting rather nervous at what Guidance was telling us. But if she says she can fix it, then what else was there for us to do than to believe her?

"Based on what I've read, there are hundreds of islands scattered across the Deep," Shizu recalled. "Maybe you can get stronger on the way?"

"Even if the main quest is bugged, surely the side quest system is still working," Guidance chimed in. "They give out a ton of [EXP] if you know where to look for them."

I let my silence do the talking as I listened to the two suggest random ideas on how I could grind my levels up. For some reason, I feel like I was going to be used as a guinea pig more often than not....

That... wasn't a good sign, I think.

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AN: Kindly vote so that I can get back to 2 chaps per day ^^