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

Death was such a taboo concept sometimes. I didn't mind it, of course. Hell, it was even pretty common in my old field of work. We had jokes of people 'expiring,' or we'd have other colleagues that had the 'last touch' on a dying patient, so to speak. They were all superstitions coming from a job that dealt with human lives on a daily basis. I've had a fair share of seeing people die too, drawing blood from a guy in the ER only for them to die before their lab results even came out. Now those were the hilarious stuff. You'd see their lab results were astronomically off the charts, which you'd then have to relay to the doctors via phone, only to then learn that the patient was already dead, rendering your hurry to complete a STAT order completely obsolete...

But I digress. I guess that's what I got for being bored out of my mind somehow.

Blinking away the distracting monologue in my head, my focus returned to the fact that we were now somehow deep in the belly of the [Rig]. The mobs we encountered were practically a non-issue, with Guidance practically directing our every move like the veteran raid leader that she was. Maruki was doing his due diligence in keeping us safe, while Shizu and I did our best to make sure every pull went away as quickly as possible.

[Moriya: Level 25]

[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 4625/4800]

[HP: 270/270]

[MP: 220/220]

[4 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION]

[QUIRK AVAILABLE]

[MOVES AVAILABLE]

And the [EXP] was great too. Already, I was on the verge of yet another level up. Granted, it wasn't as fast as when we first came in, but I'd take what I can get right now. I didn't know when I'd get this kind of opportunity again, seeing as for some reason, I wasn't getting any [EXP] back in the overworld.

"We're here."

With a raised eyebrow, I announced our arrival to what I knew to be the engine room. The journey on the way here had been dark and dank, and the engine room was no exception. With the temperature rising to what felt to be a few centigrades above 30, we were sweating bullets as the dim red glow of the [Rig]'s heart ominously stood in front of us. There weren't any monsters in sight though, so we still didn't know what to expect.

"This is the end then," Guidance repeated aloud, a questioning tone almost seeping forth as she spoke. "I don't see anything though."

"Yeah. What're we supposed to beat up here?" Shizu seconded. "And what would happen once we're done, you think?"

"I'd think that we'd be presented with a way to go back to the entrance," Guidance postulated. "Which means we'll be back on the bridge. Well, hopefully."

Maruki simply stood vigil in front of us as we all surveyed the area, assuredly waiting for his signal to charge forward and do what he did best. Then again, what else was he supposed to-

"Moriya."

Guidance? "What is it?"

Turning to face the dev, she had a pensive look on her face as she spoke. "This isn't a dungeon I designed, so whatever might be waiting for us in there, I can only hope that I can read its moves."

"You've done a fine job so far though," I reassured her with a smile. "I'm sure you can, well, guide us through this as well."

"I suppose you're right," she chuckled. "Still, if things go to hell, just know that I'm not monopolizing the shot-calling position."

"Hey now, I just said you're doing just fine," I repeated with a lighthearted scoff. "If anything, having two shot-callers would just make things worse."

"That only works when this was still a game," Guidance rebutted with a frown. "Shot-callers can still call shots even while they're dead back home. In here though..."

"We don't even know if we'll respawn, huh," I finished off her thought with a sigh. "Still, if you designed this game with us dying over and over again as a part of the gameplay loop, surely we won't die in one hit, right?"

"We can only hope so," the dev let off a resigned sigh. "For all we know, we might not even know if we ever died or not. We'll just be stuck here until an iteration of us solved the fight."

"Hey, don't say that," I nervously scratched the back of my head. "Shizu might hear us."

"She already did."

I blinked as Guidance thumbed to her side. Sure enough, Shizu had been listening in on the conversation the whole time. I didn't know how much she'd heard, but with the way her shoulders were shaking, I could only assume that she heard more than enough to make her question reality again.

"W-We won't die here, right?" she shakily asked, her childish naive hope sharply contrasting her current mature look. "We're not... gonna be stuck here forever?"

"We can only hope, Shizu," I humorlessly chuckled. "All I can say is that we'll do our damn best not to die. We don't know what we're up against, so we'll play it safe."

"Besides, this might not even be too bad," Guidance scoffed out loud with confidence. "If the first two bosses were any indication, this might just be another walk in the park."

"Y-Yeah... Yeah!" Shizu bravely cheered. "Those things died so fast I didn't even get a chance to enjoy myself!"

"That's the spirit," I smiled, patting the princess on the head as I chuckled. "Think of it as practice. We'll have to fight stronger enemies eventually, right?"

"Right!" Shizu beamed. "That's gonna be fun too!"

"We'll be going in pretty soon," Guidance helpfully smiled. "Go ahead and wait with Maruki. We'll catch up pretty soon."

If Shizu suspected something, she didn't show it as she promptly nodded and went ahead near the entrance. As soon as she was out of earshot, Guidance spoke aloud. "I hope we're not lying just now, Moriya."

"Yeah," I sighed. "Still, I didn't lie when I said we'll try our best."

"Fair enough."

With a shared nod, we two off-worlders walked towards the last boss of this dungeon. If this was where we died, then so be it. But we could at least hope that Shizu and the others wouldn't share the same fate.

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