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17.44% This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System / Chapter 49: 9.5 Skill Tree?

Chapter 49: 9.5 Skill Tree?

Oh dear... Shizu probably just had her worldview destroyed again. I could actually see her brain blue-screening beside me.

"Y-you... You mean...."

*You weren't supposed to get that, Shizu,* Guidance sighed. *You aren't even supposed to get that grown-up body of yours till you actually grew up.*

To my side, Shizu found herself sitting on the ground, her eyes wide with disbelief as she muttered out, "It... It was all a mistake?"

"Well, they were cool mistakes, at least," I chuckled. "I'm sure Guidance wouldn't try to take them away from you now."

*And even if I wanted to, I literally can't,* the dev backed me up. *Your designation in the system is that of both a Player and an NPC at this point. You're locked out of my capabilities.*

"But... But then...."

A part of me felt guilty for laughing, but I couldn't help myself as I kneeled down to help Shizu back up. She was still muttering stuff about her own existence again, but I can probably carry her all the way through if she remained despondent while having her brain process it all again.

"Guidance, I have a quest telling me to go north to a Kattleynan Outpost," I explained as I piggy-backed Shizu behind me. "Seeing as I don't see a minimap, can you at least tell me what it looks like?"

The dev hummed at my question, her thinking tone apparent as she spoke with hesitance, *To be honest, I don't know either. Also, you should have a minimap somewhere. I'm sure I coded that in.*

Oh boy, here we go again... "Guidance, I wouldn't be asking you this if I can see it."

*Fair point...*

I shook my head at Guidance's words as I moved my feet forward towards what was hopefully north. It'll probably turn up sooner or later... As soon as we get out of this swamp, at least.

*You should at least be able to follow the [Midasean Star],* Guidance spoke out from the ether. *If the minimap's not working, that's at least a landmark you can use up in the sky.*

"Gee, thanks," I sarcastically called out. "Care to tell me what it looks like?"

*It's the brightest [Star] up in the sky,* she pointed out, returning my sarcasm. *If you have working eyeballs, you should be able to see it.*

I scoffed, "Wow. Lost the shy streak now?"

*It's already night and I've skipped my train stop,* she weakly sighed. *I've lost what little amount of care I can give today.*

"I can honestly relate," I chuckled as I looked up to the cave ceiling above, locating the brightest star and turning my bearing towards it. "Hard day at work?"

*Almost lost my job today,* Guidance chuckled. *They still can't get rid of me though.*

"Good for you then," I returned what little enthusiasm she showed right back at her. "Still, we're in kind of a bind here. And I have a few questions for you while we're at it."

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*Ask away.*

I let out a small breath as I felt my feet get bogged down by the mud beneath me. Shizu had stopped mumbling on my back, her snores replacing her frantic tone as she drifted off into sleep. Well, at least I didn't have to deal with her moving too much and making it harder for me to carry her.

"What are [Moves]?" I began as I waded through the muck and vegetation. "And what's the command for it?"

Guidance let out a small gasp as she seemingly got my question. The faint sound of a rumbling train echoed from the distant ether as I waited for her to reply.

*[Moves]... I think that's what I called my skill tree system,* Guidance hummed in self-deprecation. *It's honestly kind of barebones really.*

Huh... "It's still a skill system, one that I'd like to access somehow."

*Unfortunately, I don't have a convenient way of accessing the master list of commands outside my house,* she apologetically sighed. *Although, I don't think the command for it will be that different from the name itself. It's just one tab, if I recall correctly.*

"I see," I nodded to the void as I took a glance up to my impromptu compass in the sky. "Then theoretically, it should be Move or [MOV] or-"

{CHIME!}

*Moriya?*

I chuckled, "I actually got it."

*O-Oh...*

[MOVES]

[Level 4: Bloodwork: Causes the Somatic's blood to thicken. Adds the amount of [HP] drained every shot to damage dealt.]

Looking at the newest window added to my arsenal, I raised an eyebrow as I silently read out my new ability. Well, it wasn't so much an ability, more so that it was a passive that makes my attacks stronger. But while it was much appreciated...

"That's it?" I couldn't help but voice out loud. "Only one ability and it's not even an active skill?"

*W-Why? What did you get?*

Guidance's sleepy voice filtered through the back of my head as I let out a light scoff. "Just a passive that gives my bullets more stopping power. It scales to my [HP] at least, but I expected something flashier."

While I could understand that low-level skills weren't meant to be the one-all-be-all in terms of stopping power, I at least kind of expected something that would be the building blocks of my basic skill combo. Well, that was assuming that the game revolved around using skills in that way. I was currently playing it like an action game, but depending on the skills I get, that style of fighting could change drastically.

*I... kind of don't know how the Re:Mind Engine would even interpret it,* Guidance weakly admitted. *Since every player's [Manifest] could be wildly different, I coded it so that the engine would just randomly generate skill trees that would suit the player's needs.*

"Figures..." I let out a light chuckle. "Your scope is just that ridiculous, especially if it's just you working on the game."

*At least I know it works now,* she audibly smiled. *I just have to tweak it a bit more once I have the time...*


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
ChellyArks ChellyArks

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

Creation is hard, cheer me up!

Chapter 50: 9.6 Skill Tree?

I hummed in agreement as I listened to the dev mumble about her own game. At that point, I just let her ramble about what she still needed to fix with her code. All the while, I just let out a grunt or word of acknowledgment every time she gave me a lull. It was kind of therapeutic, listening to someone gush about their passions while you yourself are doing some menial braindead work. There was just a way with how animated she sounded whenever she actually talked about her work, no matter how buggy or broken it might be.

*Oh right... You might've noticed something in your [Manifest] bar before? Something about [Manifest Points]?*

"Hmm?" I looked up, my attention peaking up as I remembered. "Wait a sec, [SS2]"

[SS1][STAT SCREEN 2][SS3]

[MANIFEST: Blanc and Noir]

[MANIFEST LEVEL: 1/10]

[MENTAL FORTITUDE: 0]

[MANIFEST POINTS: 0]

[MANIFEST QUIRKS]

[Blood Bullets: [Blanc and Noir] utilizes the Somatic's blood as ammunition. Drains 3% of Max [HP] per shot.]

Opening up the window, I quickly trained my gaze on the aforementioned points that Guidance told me. It was still firmly at zero though, so I won't be doing anything with it anytime soon. "Yeah? I see it now."

*Okay...* the dev sighed as she then explained. *This... might sound strange to you, but that actually correlates with the [Moves] system.*

I actually stopped midstep, my brows furrowing in growing confusion. "Come again?"

Guidance let out another sigh as she replied, *[Manifest Points] are spent to acquire [Moves]. I... just forgot to move the UI element of it to the [Moves] tab.*

My face scrunched up at what she was saying. What? "You mean... I should treat these points as skill points? They're not even directly related to the window that they're at?"

*Please don't remind me...*

Wow....

I couldn't help but let out a laugh, my utter disbelief translating to genuine humor as the weight of the bug slowly settled in. It wasn't that dangerous of an error. In fact, it was only a minor inconvenience in the long run. But the fact that it even existed just further cemented the fact that this wasn't a world with logic... Wait, why am I only now even realizing this...

*Moriya?*

I blinked as Guidance's dejected tone echoed through the back of my head, my attention solely back on the land of the real as the swamp below me slowly settled back into solid ground. Huh... I guess I made decent progress. "Yes?"

*Are you... Are you mad?*

Huh? "I'm not? What makes you think that?"

*Well, you keep screaming at me for one...*

Ouch... That actually made guilt flare up inside my chest. "Oh..."

*The game's a mess, and it keeps trying to make your life in there miserable, right?* she whispered out, her voice almost drowned out by the train she was riding. *I just thought that.... that you might be mad at me.*

"Don't think that," I quickly replied. "I might be annoyed, but don't think I'll be mad at you. And even then, I'm pretty quick to forgive. Don't worry about it. I'm managing right now, right?"

*Y-Yeah...*

I let out a sigh, "Look, just focus on what you can do. I'll keep telling you stuff that you might've missed, and you can work to fix them on your end. Sound fair?"

Guidance didn't reply to me with words, but her hum of reluctant acceptance was just as good as a nod of assent. Either way, I guess this was gonna be our dynamic for the foreseeable future.

A comfortable silence followed suit, the sound of the marshy swamp barely filling in the idle quietness around me as Guidance's surrounding background noise faintly threatened to spill over to the pristine quiet of the nature around me. Eventually, my feet finally stopped sinking into the muck as I found myself back on solid ground once more.

*Oh! M-My stop's here...* Guidance suddenly chimed up. *I honestly don't have the energy to do things tonight... Can the fixes wait till I get some free time?*

I nodded despite knowing she couldn't see me. "Sure thing. Take care of yourself out there, wherever you are."

*T-thanks...*

Letting out a sigh, I tuned out Guidance's ever-present aura as I returned to the task at hand. The forest was thinning out the more I pushed myself forward. Shizu was still quietly snoring on my back, and judging by the salty smell in the air, I could only surmise that we were near some kind of sea or ocean... or whatever a body of water inside a world-spanning cave was called.

"I'm liking where this is going..."

With a grin, I picked up my pace through the surrounding trees and shrubbery. Using the [Midasean Star] as a guide, I kept going north, the smell of the sea only getting stronger as faint ocean waves began crashing against my ears. It was a good thing then that I never seemed to get tired as I practically power-walked through the brush, still making sure that Shizu's beauty sleep wasn't getting disturbed. Finally...

"Oh wow.... this is really nostalgic..."

Predictably, the strong aroma of salt water hitting my face made some memories from my childhood pop up in my head. They weren't relevant, but I just couldn't help the correlation as I moved past the last brush barring my way and... and....

What...

I stood dumbfounded, my eyes wide open as my brain struggled to process just what the hell I was supposed to see. "Eh... Am I seeing this right?"

Standing just above a sheer cliff, the strong sea breeze hit me right in the face even as I failed hilariously in recognizing just what was even in front of me. A sea of red stretched out all the way to the distant horizon, the same five-letter word repeating all jumbled together in what I could only describe as a literal ocean of utter hilarity.

"Seriously, Guidance? How?!" I yelled out in disbelief. "This is just embarrassing!"

I mean, how could someone screw up simple water textures?! It's literally just water!

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
ChellyArks ChellyArks

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

Creation is hard, cheer me up!

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