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

Cinematic cutscenes were something that I honestly found myself skipping some of the time. It depended on how well-made and attention-grabbing they were, but I usually didn't care enough for me to not just skip them and get to the gameplay faster. Then again, if the music was great, then I might just let it play out just to see how well it mixed with the cutscene itself.

[Port Khong]

[Call of the Deep]

As the prompt above me floated lazily into the [Rig]'s walls, I suddenly found my mind's eye zooming all over the place. Like an actual drone shot of the supposed dungeon, I somehow saw where exactly to go, how many enemies were ahead, and just what type of place we were expecting to get into. It was as cinematic as it was unnecessary, but the way it was presented was both aesthetically pleasing and highly informative.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean that there weren't any side effects.

"U-Ughh..."

"Moriya?"

I raised my hand in a show of confidence as I shook my head with a smile. "I'm fine, Shizu. I just saw something that I didn't expect to see."

"What is it then?" the princess asked.

Instead of addressing her, I turned my gaze to Guidance as I chuckled. "Did you really have to go all out just to present this dungeon, Guidance?"

"Huh? What're you saying?"

I twirled my right-hand pistol as I explained, shaking off the nausea with a chuckle, "I just saw a brief cinematic of the entire dungeon play itself out. It's gonna be a linear path all the way into the engine room, and we're fighting against.... fish people or something?"

At my words, the entire party all looked at me like I had just lost my mind. Guidance, especially, looked mortified as she began mumbling to herself again.

"You saw everything we're fighting?" Shizu excitedly asked, her eyes glowing brightly as she almost clapped to herself. "How many? Is it gonna be a challenge?"

"I too must know of these things, Moriya!" Maruki promptly bellowed out with his shield at the ready. "To better protect you all, I must know how much power I'll need!"

I could only chuckle as I began recalling the contents of the cinematic. Thank god they didn't question what a 'cinematic' even was. Maybe Shizu would say a word about it later, but I just know that Shade would've opened his mouth about it before we could even get to the information that we actually needed.

"Before all of that, I need to know," Guidance suddenly chimed in, a serious tone staining her voice as she looked at me. "Did these... fish people look all tentacly and slimy?"

I blinked at Guidance's question. "Uhh, yes? Wouldn't all fish be slimy? That's just the virtue of them being fish."

"But did they have tentacles?"

I hummed in recollection as I paid closer attention to the images that I still found inside my head. Yeah... they did have a few tentacles to them. They looked straight out of a horror movie, now that I thought about it. Coupled with the blaring red lights throughout the hallways that we had to go through, I could only hope that I actually remembered where to go from the brief cutscene I just went through.

"Yes, Guidance. They did," I curtly replied. "The hallways are all blaring red with alert lights too. We're supposed to follow a linear path as well. Don't know if we'll face any sort of bosses, but I'm sure we can handle it."

"I see! So we're simply fighting against the [Eld]'s machinations!" Maruki wrongly concluded. Not that I'd correct him at this point. "Worry not! My duty will see us through!"

"An [Eld] machination?" Shizu curiously asked, the tone of her voice obviously directed to me and Guidance as she pondered. "Shouldn't we just fix it then?"

"No," Guidance quickly shook her head. "This isn't something I originally designed. Well, I did some of it, but I deleted it after I realized that having to go through a dungeon before you can even use a [Rig] was just stupid."

"Wait, so this is just cut content being recycled?"

"Seems like it," Guidance sighed. "At least it isn't too high leveled. And it's not as random as [Eld Alley] back in [Kotosa]." She sighed, "I could only imagine what the Engine cooked for us there once we do run it though..."

I nodded at Guidance's assessment. So we're running through cut content. I could only assume then that the eldritch fish people wouldn't be showing up in this story again after this. But then, the Engine might just find a way to recycle whatever throwaway story beats that Guidance threw at the kitchen sink just to pad out the game.

"A dungeon, huh," Shizu smirked, cracking her knuckles in anticipation. "I don't know what this all means, but I'm ready to kick some butt!"

"Likewise, my Princess!" Maruki declared. "We shall clear the path for the rest of the group!"

I couldn't help but smile in anticipation as I positioned myself just behind Maruki. Shizu was already by my side, while Guidance was taking her position behind us two DPSs. As our tank, Maruki easily slotted himself to our front, his shield already raised as he waited for my word to proceed.

"We're doing this then," I chuckled. "Everyone ready?"

"Of course!"

"Ready when you are!"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Giving each of our [Half Party] a quick look, each and every one of them all had their weapons at the ready. I didn't know what Maruki had up his sleeve, but I could only assume that whatever [Manifest] he might have, it'll probably suit his personality. Maybe he'll actually have a tank-oriented fighting style. Then again, Guidance probably designed him that way...

...

....

"Well?" What?

I turned to Guidance. "What is it?"

"Are we going or what?" the dev scoffed at me. "We've been standing here for a while, and we're not getting any younger."

Oh right. "V-very well. Let's proceed."

With that, Maruki began moving forward. I didn't know what exactly we'll go up against, but I sure as hell wouldn't slack on my job. If I was the DPS, then I'll pump my numbers as high as they could go.

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