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

"We... We have a lot of work to do, don't we..."

"Yep. And that's only the start of it too..."

Predictably, with me not having access to this mythical [Rig] interface, the entire thing essentially looked like a shiny new chest with nothing in it. The cabin was barebones, and the bridge where all the fancy navigational tech was supposed to be was pretty much just a garbled mess of missing textures. Shizu's excitement bled away after that, her eyes almost constantly roaming towards Guidance as if begging her to help her fix it.

"This seems to be a problem now, is it?" Shade casually commented, stating the obvious as he ran a hand over the missing textures. "Although, these might just be Imperial heirlooms touched by the [Eld]'s influence. Perhaps Lady Guidance can purge them of their taint?"

"Taint?! The [Eld] works in mysterious ways!" Maruki called his partner out. "If this is by their design, then just have to pray for their guidance!"

"You Kattleynans and your worship," Shade scoffed. "The [Eld] are nothing more than an annoyance. They're better off-"

"Stop it!"

I blinked as the brewing argument between the two men was stopped by Shizu's forceful tone. There was anger in her words, however, which was pretty understandable seeing how religious she seemed to be.

"There will be no slander for the [Eld] here today, Shade," Shizu glared at the man. "Don't forget that you're still in Kattleyna. Heresy will not be tolerated, no matter how much power you think you might hold."

Oh? So Shade wasn't a native Kattleynan then. And judging by the way he just smiled the princess off, I could only assume that he brought something to the Empire's table for them to tolerate his presence. A [Manifest] maybe? Probably. Pretty sure that a person's stock here in this world could be heavily affected by how broken their [Manifest] is.

"Apologies then, my Princess. I'll do my best to curtail my heretical tendencies," Shade smoothly bowed, a sly smile adorning his face as his rose glowed ever so slightly.

A beat passed, Shizu seemingly letting her anger go with a sigh as she smiled. "Just tone it done, yeah? You're not in [Vestyge] anymore."

"Of course."

I raised an eyebrow at what I just saw. One would think that this guy was just a smooth talker with the way he snuck his way out of Shizu's crosshairs, but a part of me was telling me that there was more here...

Oh well. It probably won't come up again for a while. I'll just put it in a mental cabinet for future thinking.

A round of silence settled between the four of us after that, a tinge of awkwardness seeping into the air as we all waited for the first person to suggest our next move. And seeing that this was Shizu's show, most of us just looked to her for answers.

Which was kind of funny, seeing as she then looked to me and Guidance for answers of her own.

Well, I did offer to be her adviser. I might as well own it. "The first thing we have to do is fix the ship, right? Do we even know what we need to fix?"

"There's the obvious," Shade scoffed with a flick of his hand. "As for the hull's structural integrity, we'll need a real mechanic to assess its sea-worthiness."

"Then I shall go post-haste and fetch for one!"

"Maruki, wait!" I called out. Thankfully, the tin can stopped just before he was all the way through the bridge's door. "Not yet. We'll do that as a party. In the meantime, we can try and fix what we already have. Guidance?"

Turning to the dev, she took the hint as she whipped out her [Manifest] and began her preparations. Shizu was then quick to pick up the pace, moving closer to Guidance as she closed her eyes in preparation.

"Hmm?"

"What are they doing?!"

Hearing Shade and Maruki's questioning tone, I simply smirked as I leaned on the nearest wall. "They'll do a preliminary check-up on the ship. Whether or not they'll be able to fix everything, I don't know. But it'll be a start."

Shade looked at me with raised eyebrows as he leaned at the nearest counter. Crossing his arms, he smirked, "I see. Their [Manifests] complement one another then?"

"Just watch," I shrugged. "It'll be a treat, at least."

"The Princess will reveal her [Manifest]?! I must see so that I can better protect her!" Maruki shouted out beside me, making me shake my head in resignation. At least he wasn't as loud as last time.

As one, the three of us all turned our attention to Guidance and Shizu, the former already stretching her fingers as Shizu took in a few deep breaths. This'll probably be quick depending on the dev's assessment, and she would probably try to limit herself to fixing only the stuff that a mechanic can't touch. Most likely, it'll be limited to the bridge for Shizu's sake.

"Ready?" Guidance asked.

"Ready," Shizu smiled.

"Hit it."

To my surprise, Guidance's [Keystroke] began to emit an aura not unlike when she's casting a spell, her fingers moving at lightning speeds as if to hit the ground running. Beside her, Shizu slowly opened her eyes, a black and green glow already showing itself as she made her power known.

"[Code Watcher]."

What happened next was the same thing that always happened whenever Guidance and Shizu fell into their flow state. This time, however, Shade and Maruki were by the sidelines gawking in awe as they watched the two work.

"This power... It's..."

"Such a power is fitting for the Princess!" Maruki proudly declared, cutting Shade's dramatic epiphany off as he leaned into the bridge. "What does it do?!"

....

.....Wait... did I hear him correctly?

"Did you just compliment a [Manifest] that you have no idea on how it works?" Shade asked before I could do so myself. "Are you daft?"

"If it belongs to the Princess, then surely it must be powerful!" the tin can strongly worded. "Such a [Manifest] only befits her duty as the future heir of-"

[BZZZTT!]

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