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

Chapter 204 37.5 Story Beats?

I couldn't help but feel like a lot had happened since the last time we saw signs of actual civilization across the horizon. Upon Shizu's request, I turned the [Empire's Wrath] towards Marquean territory, the nearest port thankfully near enough that our engine wouldn't stall out on us due to lack of fuel. And speaking of fuel...

"We're running out on supplies, Moriya."

Yep... That was to be expected.

Turning around, I was greeted by the ever-worried Shade as he glared at me like it was my fault that we were in this predicament in the first place.

"So? What's the plan?" Shade asked me with a scowl on his face.

"Well, the plan is to reach port before we run out of fuel and supplies. Maybe both if we're lucky," I sarcastically replied. "There's no easy answer here, Shade. Unless you want to magically be able to resupply the [Rig] in the middle of the sea, then, by all means, do so."

"That's not what I meant, Moriya," Shade growled.

I let out a sigh as I reached back into the console, keeping our path to the straight and narrow before I crossed my arms in front of my complainant.

"What do you suggest we do then?" I lobbied out. "Shizu seems content to just play around with Shen in the meantime, and Guidance is still busy figuring out what she could actually do with her newfound time."

And that wasn't even an understatement. Our nominal leader was practically acting like a child while Shen just egged the princess on. It was like they had already forgotten that the latter was still stuck in a child's body despite being a teenager. Meanwhile, Guidance was fiddling with her [Manifest], probably checking to see if she could come up with a few more [Moves] or fixes for our current problems.

Heh... maybe she was already well at work on some kind of magical contraceptive.

"I suggest that we keep our eyes peeled for any gulls swarming a patch of water," Shade suggested. "From there, we fish to resupply our stock so that we won't be running on empty by the time we reach port."

"A sound suggestion," I hummed. "Do we have any fishing rods?"

"We can get Shen to make some for us," he quickly replied.

"Then go do that then," I chuckled. "I'm going to assume that you also have bait to use and not just casting blind hooks out into the water."

"I was hoping that you'd be the one to ask," Shade sighed.

I blinked at the dashing debonair that I once thought was just a smarmy flirt when we first met. More and more, I was starting to look at him like he was actually the responsible one out of all of us. He was still a flirt, of course, but he had mostly relegated himself to actually reminding us about our upkeep along with the occasional cooking.

"Shade, you don't need permission for small stuff like that," I shook my head in amusement. "As long as it benefits us, then go ahead."

"Wouldn't that be breaking the code of conduct?" he asked. "We're still the Princess's retinue, after all."

"I don't think Shizu cares about stuff like that."

Looking out towards the deck, the sight of the princess running across the bow of the [Rig] almost made it look like she was a kid running around the park. Shen was leading her along, of course, the two playing tag with Maruki occasionally giving directions to them like some kind of tour guide. It was kind of cute, actually...

"I suppose so," Shade sighed, looking alongside me as he shrugged.

"See? Just get down there and ask," I chuckled. "I'm sure she'll even want to help."

Shade simply nodded before he left me on my lonesome again. It had been like this ever since a few days ago once all of the excitement died down. Slowly but surely, the entire [Rig] became some kind of floating home, with the bridge being the main office where everyone went to do honest work. And since it was considered work, only the responsible usually hung out with me while I drove the damn thing.

I sighed as I casually focused on the chart in front of me. We were only around a day away from shore, and the [Empire's Wrath] hadn't sustained that much damage from our earlier altercations. Well, except for maybe the engine, but that was more because it was still punching way above its weight class in terms of sustainability.

"Got to have that replaced somewhere down the line," I mumbled to myself as I leaned on the console.

There was a lot of stuff to be done once we got to shore. For one, I had to get the Leafs I have converted into whatever it was Marquee had as a currency. Then, we'd have to make sure that we wouldn't get apprehended on the spot by having a literal enemy princess on our party. Then again, the fact that our [Rig]'s callsign reeked of Imperial allegiances probably made that a much harder task than usual.

"I don't even know what we're doing anymore..." I sighed.

What else... maybe the fact that we were here to supposedly investigate the existence of a WMD would mean that we'd have to stay at Marquee for some time. That would mean leaving the [Rig] unattended while we were running around the Marquean capital city or whatnot...

"Ugh... So much to do..."

Making sure that our heading was solid, I absently pulled out a chair and sat down, placing my feet on the console as I properly looked at my HUD for the first time in a long while.

[Moriya: Level 33]

[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 2100/716800]

[HP: 319/319]

[MP: 261/261]

[0 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION]

The [EXP] values I needed to get another level were frankly ridiculous. The fact that I needed twice the amount of [EXP] every level meant that I'll be well within the billions by the time I get to max level, and that wasn't even the worst of it.

[qEUast prOGress: Final War@#$asdjh2]

[sadoiW*ery892e4hjf]

By the barest corner of my vision, my quest bar was practically unusable. All I could see was that one quest I got from the Emperor and nothing else. And even trying to interact with it had yielded nothing but hot air as it mocked me with its brokenness.

I let out a sigh as I let my mind wander at the things that had happened... and maybe on the things that could happen in the near future. Maybe I'll somehow get a kid at the worst possible time, which was always. Or maybe I'll actually get some kind of overarching plot that would finally tie all of this adventuring together. As of now, the only big bad I could theoretically see was the guy that runs Vestyge. And even that guy didn't feel like the final boss.

"Completing the game..."

Was it even possible in the first place? The world was practically incomplete, and I had the feeling that Guidance was doing her damn best to quietly work on it even though she was already a part of it in the first place.

Looking out towards the [Star]lit skies, the ever-present darkness seemed to be all-encompassing even as the light of our [Rig] shone against the red error-filled seas. It wasn't much, but the sense of danger seemed to lurk at every corner the further we sailed away from Kattleyna. Still, life seemed to continue. Shizu and Shen were having fun, Maruki and Shade were doing their usual stuff, while Guidance and I did the occasional nightly meetings alongside actually getting to know each other more. Of course, Shizu begged for us to take her with us every night, but we decided that it was for the best that she didn't.

We didn't want to get the princess too addicted to us now...

"Moriya?"

I smiled as I heard Guidance's voice echo from the bridge's entrance. Craning my neck, the dev gave me a smile as she stood beside me.

"Guidance," I greeted with a nod. "How's your work?"

"It's been moving along rather fine, all things considered," she shrugged. "As much as hexadecimal is easier to read, I underestimated just how much time I need to program more complex stuff without a programming engine to work with."

"I see," I hummed. "And for the contraceptive?"

"Don't worry. Shizu and I already managed to have one working," Guidance scoffed. "You're that worried about knocking us up?"

"It's a death sentence right now and you know it," I shook my head. "We can't have either of you waddling around in the middle of a warzone or dungeon."

"Fair enough," the dev chuckled.

A comfortable silence settled between us. I didn't know why but I had a gut feeling that this peace we currently had was going to be the last time we'll be able to have it in a long while. It had some logic to it, I suppose, but maybe... just maybe... we'd get to have this peace for just a bit longer...

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