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

Frankly, I don't know what the big deal was with just letting big buildings be big buildings. Sure, they were an eyesore at times, and they kind of made the air around them even hotter somehow, but there was just this weird grandeur to seeing tall skyscrapers piercing through the clouds. Well, that was a metaphor, but the idea was the same either way.

Then again, I didn't exactly live in a skyscraper-filled environment.

[Marquee: Centrax]

"This is..."

"Yeah... I kind of overdid here a bit..."

Shizu and Guidance's exchange almost made me laugh as we found ourselves walking to what appeared to be a massive metropolitan city with skyscrapers jutting out from every conceivable angle. While there were a few small buildings and blocks here and there, the sheer amount of metal rectangles reaching up to the sky far surpassed even possibly New York City.

"You think?" I let out a soft chuckle. "It's even starting to blur out the farther they went."

"Well, I'm sorry for making sure that the draw distance wouldn't overload the memory," Guidance pouted. "I'm just doing my job."

"By only having this place be affected by it?" I amusedly questioned. "I distinctly remember not seeing these kinds of problems back in Kat- the starting area."

Predictably, some of my theories had been proven correct the moment we stepped out of Port Decim. The moment we managed to put some distance away from the place, the blurred blue glow that we once saw out at sea returned, enveloping the entire place in obscurity. Shizu looked at it with her eyes for confirmation, and sure enough, she was blinded just trying to take a glance at the port again. Hell, even our [Rig] seemed to dematerialize the further we went, the massive ship sitting out by the red waters as we decided to leave it during our travels.

I just hope that the moment we get back, the thing would still be in one piece. I paid a premium for the [Empire's Wrath] to be sitting in the premium dock, and I'll have a mind to lodge a complaint if it ever happened. Assuming that our reputation in this country would still be standing by that point.

"Welcome to Centrax!" Nicole greeted aloud, the cuffs around her wrists seemingly doing little to dampen her mood. "The best place for innovation! The place where genius and grit come together to- OW!"

"Quiet, kid," Lewis sighed, yanking on the chains connected to the poor woman's cuffs. "We don't want you racking up another small misdemeanor before we get you out of trouble."

And of course, the surreal sight of why were here in the first place once again asserted itself. After all of the debacle that happened back in Port Decim, Lewis gave us an ultimatum that we simply couldn't refuse at the risk of getting found out. Shizu obviously protested, as did Shade and Shen, but surprisingly, the detained herself seemed resigned to her fate. Hell, she even only looked annoyed as the Academic slapped the cuffs on her.

"What was that for?!" Nicole complained aloud, completely uncaring of the few people that were starting to look. "Isn't it every citizen's duty to show the splendor of the capital?!"

"Not like this, lass," Lewis sighed, slackening the chains just a bit as he placed his other hand on her forehead. "Seriously, why do you always end up in cuffs like this... Don't you want to be an Academic?"

I kept my silence even as I watched the two's dynamic with rapt attention. Behind me, the rest of my party followed my lead as they kept a close distance, making sure that we wouldn't be separated in a foreign land with god-knows how many enemies. Sure, we were being led here under the protection of an Academic, but we were still foreigners at the end of the day.

And somehow, it just felt as if the city itself had eyes on us.

"This is... this feels so wrong..." Shizu whispered, her anxiety barely hidden by the perpetual smile on her face. "Where's the nature? The trees? The air itself feels like it's more man-made than anything..."

"Marquee prides itself on innovation," Shade shrugged. "They might say otherwise, but they're just as bad as Vestyge when it comes to using the environment to their advantage."

"That could never be farther from the truth, kid," Lewis scoffed. "The Board at least knows that sustainability is important for the longevity of the nation. Unlike the Vestygian savages, Marquee uses solid fuel for its power needs."

"As if that's not just as bad," Nicole openly mocked aloud, having zero consideration for anyone that might be hearing her. "Burning solid fuel produces smoke that, while not as bad as black fuel, is still just as annoying and obnoxious to inhale."

"Again, miss Alset, there is currently no safer and more sustainable alternative," Lewis shook his head in exasperation. "Marquee is the second largest producer of wood made to produce solid fuel, and at the rate we're going through them, we're far from running out any time soon."

I blinked as I filed that information down for later use. That sounded like strategic information that shouldn't really be shared with foreigners. Or maybe he was just running counterintelligence and was just feeding us information that he knew would make them sound more powerful...

God... Why was I being so paranoid today?

Shaking my head, I focused more on sightseeing again as I mentally tried mapping out where we were going. Currently, we were on our way to the massive spire jutting out by the center of the city. It was the administrative building, supposedly. Maybe I should think about it with capital letters, but it felt as if there was simply no name to describe it other than that.

Looking away from the distant skyscrapers, the streets themselves looked sleek and clean, a far cry from Kattleyna's where the Kotosa still had unpaved roads in some areas. Comparing the two capital cities, it almost seemed like night and day.

And somehow, the Empire was still more powerful between the two?

"Guidance?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you even balance this world?" I asked out in a hushed tone, making sure that our footsteps were still somehow louder than our voices. "And don't tell me you just put in some numbers and hoped that the engine would fix it."

The dev blinked, her steps almost faltering as she gave a smile that showed little of what I was hoping for.

"Guidance?"

"I didn't! Honest!" she adamantly refused, the blush on her cheeks making her adorable denial only more suspicious. "I did most of the initial balancing by hand, as is required for any game that has this many moving parts."

"But I didn't hear you telling me that you fully did it that way."

She sighed in resignation. "Unfortunately, I'm only one girl. I can't possibly remember every single thing or detail about this game," she lamented. "I already dumbed down the equipment mechanics to just have them give out flat armor and stats, but even then, I couldn't possibly balance around user-generated [Manifests]. On that end, it's the engine's job."

I almost wanted to sigh, but I held it off in favor of just pulling the dev towards me by the shoulder. It was an open act of affection, and I knew that it would draw a bit of a few stares, but there was still admirable to what she attempted to do.

"I understand," I smiled. "It's the best you could've done with your circumstances."

"I just wish I could've done more," she sighed, her warmth sufficing to my sides as she walked alongside me. "I mean, I remember you just screaming at me desperate to live another day. That was scary, you know?"

"I know," I let out a small breath. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"Nah," she weakly chuckled. "It's more than understandable. I did almost kill you in more ways than one."

I flinched at the way she said that to me. If I didn't know her any better, it almost sounded like she didn't care one bit about my safety.

"Let's not think about this stuff, for now," I chuckled out, diverting the topic away from the awkwardness. "Do you think we'll be staying here for long?"

"Depends on what our objectives even are," Guidance shrugged. "Depends on whether or not Shizu would be satisfied with what we'd uncover in this place."

I let out a breath as my eyes turned to the princess in question. Shizu was busy talking animatedly to Shen, the two clearly distracted with gawking at the new batch of architecture we were witnessing. With her being like this, no one would even think she was the Crown Princess of the Kattleynan Empire, even with the gaudier than normal clothes that she was wearing.

"And here we are in the most important place in all of Centrax: the Central Administrative Building!"

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛