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

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."

?????????

*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...*