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

As the telltale sign of the world changing washed over us, the usual wave of nausea almost made me double over as I held in a retch, as did Guidance and Shizu as they held onto each other for support.

Naturally, it also meant that the three of us looked like we were all collectively sharing a brain as we all grabbed onto the nearest available support we could find. For me, that was the wall beside me as I leaned on it just to keep myself upright.

"What the- Are we under attack?!" Maruki glowered, the sound of him drawing his sword somehow coming in louder than it should in my ears. "Shade! Secure the perimeter!"

"On it," I heard the suited man quickly reply, much to my surprise as I barely made out the fact that he wielded his rose like an actual weapon. His footsteps echoed across the bridge, audibly coming close to the two women as he defensively positioned himself. "Nothing off the bow, at least."

"Keep alert! They might be using a [Manifest]!"

I let out a sigh as I heard Maruki shout out his orders. Surprisingly, the tin can actually sounded competent like this. I guess he was just too military-oriented or something. Not a lot of people had talents in the broadest of spectrums, after all. In comparison, I just had the pleasure of being painfully mediocre in everything I touched.

"S-Stop," I called out, having shaken off most of the nausea out of my head as I stood upright. "This is just the effect of Guidance's [Manifest] changing the world."

"What?" Shade raised an eyebrow at me as he cautiously raised his rose at me. "Explain."

I let out a sigh as I took a passing look at Guidance and Shizu. Predictably, the latter was just on the verge of vomiting, while the former was busy trying to soothe the princess's roiling stomach. It was probably only a matter of time before-

"BLEEUGHH!!!"

Yep.

"Princess!"

"My Princess!"

Immediately, the two men sprang into action, Maruki seemingly standing guard as Shade kneeled down to poor Shizu's level.

"Are you hurt?" Shade worriedly asked. "If this is the work of an enemy [Manifest]..."

"She'll be fine," Guidance sighed, her hand rubbing Shizu's back. "This is just the side effect of my [Manifest] making it hard for her to adjust."

"Told you it wasn't an enemy," I sighed, following Guidance's lead as I moved closer to the group. "Whenever Guidance needs to make any meaningful changes to the world, she needs Shizu's help to see the minute workings of the world. And of course, as Shizu sees the changes happen in real-time using her [Manifest], she gets the full brunt of it."

"I see," Shade frowned, standing up to his full height as he crossed his arms over his chest. "If so, then why did you and Lady Guidance also feel the effects? Maruki and I didn't feel any of these so-called changes."

I opened my mouth to respond, only to close it as I found myself speechless. Why did we get affected by it and not them? In fact, even back in the throne room with the Emperor, nobody there seemed to even be remotely nauseous when the dev fixed the chandelier.

"...We don't know," Guidance weakly chimed in, having stood up herself as she helped Shizu up. "Shizu, we understand. But Moriya and I never really understood why it happens."

I raised an eyebrow at Guidance's obvious half-truth. It was a nice save, but I feel as if her words just helped dig a bigger hole for us to fill the moment our secrets went out. Then again, did I really want to have this talk again?

Yeah... no. Actually, now that I thought about it, we should probably have a pamphlet ready or something. Pretty sure it'll save us a lot of grief in the inevitable future that was us gathering a ton of party members.

"...Very well," Shade simply hummed, obviously not buying the answer he was given. "In the meantime, what exactly was fixed?"

Hearing his question, I quickly turned to the bridge's main controls. Sure enough, they were all sparkly and shining with how new they were.

"S-Shade.... The [Rig]'s systems..." Maruki stammered out in awe, using his normal volume for the first time since I've met him as he stared at the new additions. "They're..."

"Yep," I sagely nodded, walking towards our boat's newest additions with a small smile on my face. "This here is the power of Guidance's [Manifest]. She can fix the unfixable, do the unthinkable... so long as she can see what Shizu's seeing, of course."

To my own smug satisfaction, I watched as Shade ran his hands through the [Rig]'s new additions, a hint of wonder and awe adorning his face as he stared out into the red sea. For a brief second, I think I also saw a hint of malice gracing his face, but I ignored it for now. If he had some sort of hidden agenda, then it'll come to light eventually.

"So this is the power of our two beautiful ladies," Shade whispered out. "And to think I was even worried that we wouldn't survive the trip."

"Hah! Truly, the Empire has been blessed by the [Eld] with the power to smite our enemies!" Maruki proudly declared. "What an unbeatable combination of [Manifests]!"

Quickly taking another glance at the two women, the grimace on their faces was telling as Shizu brushed her hair back up. And based on Guidance giving me a look that screamed 'take control,' I suppose I'll do my best to steer the conversation back to the task at hand.

"Okay, now that's taken care of," I shrugged. "All that's left is to see the hull's integrity, cause I'm sure that Shizu's had enough of looking at the world's inner workings."

"I only managed to fix the bridge," Guidance quickly followed up, on hand still supporting Shizu by the arm as she spoke. "Below deck, the engine might not be up to standard, and the hull might still have something that only a true mechanic can take into account."

"So we need a mechanic then," Shade nodded. "There's a lot of them in a port, hopefully."

I nodded. "That's the next order of business then. And seeing as I'm not doing anything, I volunteer to do the recruiting."

"What? Are you-"

"Very well, Moriya. You can go ahead while Guidance and I try to look over the [Rig]," Shizu suddenly spoke up, cutting Shade off as she commandeered the situation. "You can find someone good, right?"

"I can most certainly do my best," I chuckled out, spotting Guidance's skeptical look landing on me as I shrugged. "I'll just ask about, you know. And while I don't look like it, I can tell when someone's lying."

Turning around, I gave them a wave as I walked out. I just had to find our healer, and seeing as I already have Guidance's description of our future mechanic, it was only a matter of scouting this person out.

How hard could that be?

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛