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

In any incomplete game, there will always be some kind of placeholder to be used in the place of actual assets. While I never made any games, it still held true for any kind of creative outlet. Hell, even at work, there's still some kind of placeholder system for a missing piece of equipment or broken machine that would fulfill the function of the malfunctioning part. But while placeholders could sometimes work for the time being, they should never become the thing that they were meant to replace in the first place. One shouldn't expect duct tape to keep two sides from falling apart when a screw was meant to do its job. In the same vein, a placeholder asset shouldn't be in the final product unless it actually looked good enough in the first place.

Then again, there was nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.

"Shizu! Use your eyes!"

The poor princess clearly didn't know what was going on as she just stood up and looked to me for some kind of explanation. Well, I'd give it to her if I could, but I honestly didn't know what was happening either.

Giving her a slight nod, Shizu let out a deep breath before making her eyes go all dark and green again. Already, her nausea was starting to develop even as she waited for Guidance to give her instructions.

"Look at me and tell me what you see," Guidance sternly ordered. "I'll update every once in a while so that it won't be too harsh."

Uhm... "I don't think that's how it works, Guidance."

"Then how in the world am I supposed to change my designation from 'NPC' to 'Player' then!?" the dev yelled out in a panic. "I don't want to be-"

"Calm down!" The room fell into an eerie quiet, the two women looking at me nervously as I frowned at them both. "Shizu, turn that off. Guidance, explain. Calmly this time."

The princess let out a small sigh of relief as her golden irises returned to the forefront. Meanwhile, the panicked dev was shaking in her seat, her fingers trembling as she took in a deep breath.

"With what little I've seen earlier, I'm currently designated as an 'NPC' by the system," Guidance explained. "And as someone that knows how each designation is coded, I know full well that I don't want to be an 'NPC.'"

I let out a sigh. Seriously, what's so bad with being an NPC?

"Err... What's an NPC?"

At Shizu's question, the dev turned to face her creation as she replied, "An NPC is a non-playable character. Usually, nothing will ever happen to them in any other game. However, I coded the NPCs here to be killable. In truth, being a Player will be safer for me in the long run."

"I see..." I sagely nodded before realizing something. "Wait... Wouldn't that mean that you can kill item shop vendors accidentally?"

"It wouldn't be too much of a problem, I think," Guidance hummed, her professional tone seeping back in. "I put in a few triggers that would help the player if it ever comes down to it."

At that point, the dev then devolved into a mumbling session about the intricacies of her own systems. All the while, poor Shizu clearly looked lost as she gave me and Guidance a few passing glances.

"M-Moriya... You're also not from here, aren't you..."

"Yeah," I scratched the back of my head. "I come from the same place Guidance here came from."

"Does that make you an [Eld God] too?"

I sighed. This poor woman... "No, Shizu. And sorry if your life's getting pretty confusing. These terms we're using are commonplace for us back where we came from."

Shizu only nodded at my explanation, a glint of hope and understanding shining through her eyes as I turned my attention back to the mumbling developer. She was still talking to herself about the failsafes she coded into her game; failsafes that I highly doubt would even work if the whole world's gone topsy-turvy on us already.

"Guidance."

"Yes?"

"Why be a Player?" I seriously asked. "Aren't you strong enough as it is? I mean, you're level 99 already."

To my surprise, her eyes widened in surprise. "I am?!"

"Yeah."

[Guidance Level: 99]

[Administrator]

Giving her nameplate a small look, my own jealousy was starting to flare up the more I stared at her daunting levels. The fact that she also had the title of Administrator just cemented the fact that she didn't really need to change her designation.

"Besides, wouldn't changing it screw something up in your code?" I reasoned. "You might start back at level 1, for all you know."

Guidance quickly paled at the possibility. "On second thought, maybe I shouldn't mess with my code for a while..."

I shook my head with a sigh as I gave Shizu yet another comforting gaze. Her confusion was still there, but she really had the patience of a saint if she managed to sit through all of us having one argument after the other. And here I thought she could be a spoiled brat at times.

"Right, back on the matter at hand," I announced, clapping my hands together to gather the two's attention. "What're we gonna do now?"

"Follow the story, I guess?" Guidance weakly suggested. "I don't wanna think about it anymore..."

I winced. Well, that was a downer of an answer if I ever heard one. Looking at Shizu, the hope in her eyes only shined brighter the more I looked at them. I could already tell she knew what I was about to say, and dare I say, what else were we supposed to do other than that anyway?

"Then I guess we might as well go with Shizu's plan on stopping the war," I shrugged.

"Thank you so much!" the princess quickly stood up and gave me a low bow. "Shall I take us to the Imperial Palace right now?"

Taking a glance at Guidance's disposition, or lack thereof, I was left with no choice but to agree. "Sure."

"Excellent!"

The excitable princess beamed as she practically zoomed towards the door. With Guidance following behind me, we made our way to Shizu's actual home.

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