Chapter 51: 10.1 Particle Effects?

In any game, one could always expect a few visual glitches here and there. There will always be some minor screw-ups in the presentation no matter how hard a dev would try and polish it. A stray code here, a missing file there, the likelihood of a screw-up only lessens up to around ninety percent even if you throw in all the resources you can in the development cycle. Then again, I'm saying all of this despite not even having a passing semblance of experience in game development in general, but I can only assume as much based on what general knowledge I had with machines and computers in general. After all, when something breaks, it can either be inconsequential, or something so hilariously bad that you just have to laugh at how it even happened.

And right now, I was definitely on the latter part of the equation.

"HAHAHA!!! W-What the hell is this?!" I couldn't even stop myself from laughing out loud, the utter ridiculousness of the sight before me just breaking my funny bone in ways I hadn't thought possible. "It's a literal sea of errors!"

After all, what else could you describe a sea of red words all spelling out the damn word? Even as the waves below lapped at the cliffside, small red errors floated up into the air, what was assuredly supposed to be water particle effects being completely replaced with tiny errors as they then disappeared into the wind.

"M-Mmmhhmm...."

I felt Shizu stir behind my back. I guess my outburst woke her up. "Back to the world of the living, Shizu?"

"W-Where are we..." she blearily whispered out. "Are we..."

"Well, I followed a [Star] all the way up north," I casually explained. "We're in front of a vast sea right now. Well, at least I think it's a sea."

Blinking at my words, Shizu shuffled out of my back, her one hand holding onto my shoulder for support as she gathered her bearings. Dusting off her kimono, I could see her eyes widen in slow-motion as she stared out onto the laughable sight.

"Is... Is this the [Shallow Deep]?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I was about to ask you about it, but I guess you also don't know anything?"

"No no! I've learned about it during my studies," she insisted, her eyes still glued to the sea of errors. "It's just that... I didn't expect it to look so..."

"Red? Wrong? Incomprehensible?"

"W-well.... yes?" the princess almost questioned. "The [Shallow Deep] is the sea that contains the three [Great Powers] of the world; [Kattleyna], [Marquee], and [Vestyge]..."

I nodded at her words. More lore for me to digest then. "And I'm assuming that there's more to it than that?"

"The war is currently being fought for supremacy over this very sea..." Shizu trailed off. "I knew that it was important, but I never thought that we were fighting for something so... simple?"

Huh... Then again, "Wars are fought for a lot less, Shizu. Trust me on that."

Still, I guess we were going out to sea? I didn't even know why I was doing this quest in the first place beyond making some progress and getting levels. I wasn't really that much of a story person unless I really psyched myself up to read it. Heh, I guess my story-skipping tendencies were coming back to bite me right now.

Looking around, I surveyed our current surroundings as I looked for this mythical Kattleynan Outpost that I was supposed to go to. Barring the vast error vomit below us, the cliff we were standing on was apparently the highest point in our vicinity. We seemed to be in some kind of natural opening, with two peninsulas jutting out from either side of us with an open mouth leading out to sea right in front of us. Huh... If I were to build an outpost, I would've built it right where we were standing...

"Shizu?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have an idea where this outpost would be located?"

Despite my question, the princess's gaze still locked itself out to sea as she replied, "It would probably be somewhere around here... Kattleynan Imperial Doctrine states that we make ports in defensible places such as these..."

Oookay? Her voice came out more restrained and absent-minded than usual. I guess she was just overwhelmed with her first foray out to sea. I suppose that's how every person that hadn't seen something so vast would react.

Still, we needed to move. "Are you gonna stay here?"

"I'll... I'll follow behind you..." she practically whispered out. "I... Can I just look at the sea for a moment?"

I let out a chuckle, "Sure thing, Shizu. Although, that isn't even what it's supposed to look like. It'll be more beautiful once Guidance gets to fixing it."

"I see..."

I sighed at her answer. If she was already this mesmerized at the sight of a broken sea, then what more once it actually looked the part? "I won't be far, okay?"

Leaving Shizu to daydream to her heart's content, I set off towards what looked to be a way down the cliffside. There weren't any small animals or monsters of any kind as I scaled down the cliff. Then again, when was the last time I even saw a stray animal or monster walking about since the last time I saw them a few days ago?

Another bug? I scoffed at the thought. I guess this Re:Mind Engine was already chugging to its limit with me being the ultimate wildcard in this world.

"Oof... Steady...."

Pacing myself, I grabbed on to whatever outcrops of rock I could use as support, scaling the cliffside with nothing but my wits and surprising dexterity as I made my way down. To be honest, I didn't even know I was capable of such a feat, let alone actually complete it as my feet touched solid rock. Huh... I guess pumping a bit of [DEX] actually helped?

"Yay me..."

Shrugging at the thought, I gave Shizu a passing look as I turned my eyes up above. Sure enough, she was still looking out to sea, her kimono billowing in the breeze as her green hair shimmered in the starlight. Aaand I saw an upskirt of her. Great. I'll just pretend I didn't see the silk.

"Moving on!"