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

In the world of games, one would expect that any self-respecting RPG would have you building some sort of party to help you kill the baddies. Whether it was a rotating roster or a static number of allies, all party members had some sort of niche that they alone could fill. Maybe one had overwhelming stopping power, maybe one was pretty much the god of utility. Having a distinct niche filled by one character ensured that they won't ever be completely useless depending on the player's needs. And if that one party member that rounded out your kit somehow disappeared without your consent, then I could only say that the dev pretty much wanted their players to suffer. After all, why make a single-player game that's only completable with actual competent allies if they'll just take them away from you?

"Guidance?"

"Yes?"

Then again, not all devs were expected to play a wide variety of games.

"Why does your single-player game play like an MMO?"

After the debacle with the Emperor was finished, the man actually shook our hands as he stood up as if nothing happened. Guidance had succeeded in healing him, and Shizu was ecstatic with her father being up and running again. Meanwhile, the dev admitted that her head was pretty much throbbing from the number of hoops she had to jump through to heal him. I could only guess that NPCs weren't meant to be healed in the first place, and yet Guidance did it anyway?

Huh... Now that I thought about it, if the Emperor was meant to die back there, wouldn't that mean we just broke the game even further?

"What kind of question is that?" Guidance scoffed, her eyes still trained on her screen as she fiddled with her [Manifest]. "It's to my taste, of course. That, and it'll save me time from coding in more complicated AI."

"Fair enough."

I hummed in silence, Guidance and I staying in one of the palace's opulent rooms. Shizu was off with the Emperor in god knows where, and she just told us to stay here while she hashed things out with her father. As to why? I didn't know, but maybe the woman that actually wrote the game might.

Assuming that she'd stop working on what she was doing and actually told me what to expect, that is.

"What're you doing anyway?" I asked. "You've been at that for a while now."

"I'm setting up my support macros," Guidance nonchalantly blinked. "You're the one that told me to be the ultimate support, and I was an accomplished healer for my previous Guild back in the real world anyway. I might as well embrace it."

I whistled, "Wow... An MMO then?"

"Yep," she replied. "Final Farewell X. Heard of it?"

"You mean that hardcore MMO with all of the world-first races or something?" I raised both eyebrows in remembrance. "I never really got into that. Well, I tried it for a while but I fell off."

The sound of Guidance's keyboard clacking abruptly stopped with one last keystroke, her screen disappearing as she turned to me in earnest.

"And that's done. I'll be able to heal anyone on command, among other things without seeing the code now," Guidance hummed in satisfaction. "Also, you missed out then. I'll have you know that being a top raider is some of the most fun experiences I've ever had."

"Wow. I'm guessing you're pretty hardcore then."

I've heard of the lengths and ridiculous amount of effort that high-end MMO raiders had to go through to even play their game. Weeks of grinding for the top gear, spending copious amounts of in-game currency just to upgrade them, and only then did they then attempt the fight itself. And while I've played my fair share of hard games, the sheer coordination needed in MMO fights was nothing short of a spectacle.

"As I said, I'm a top-tier raider," the dev preened. "My Guild held one of the top spots in Final Farewell X in terms of world-first races. We progged till the sun came up, and we did everything blind without even so much as a guide."

"Uh huh..." I hummed, not really caring too much anymore as I crossed my arms over my chest. "So I could only guess that's the game you lifted most of your own game's mechanics then."

"P-pretty much," Guidance admitted, her tone coming back down to her usual as she continued. "Still, it's good, right?"

I furrowed my brows in deep thought. I wasn't gonna lie, the fights were pretty thrilling so far despite the mortal danger they posed against me. The fact that there were status effects and all that, as well as the indicators on the attacks, meant that they were pretty much doable blind. The visual acuity was there, and avoiding attacks was fun in general.

"It's good so far," I neutrally replied. "The scaling and the mechanics are still pretty basic from a player's standpoint, but I can only assume they can get as ridiculous as you want them to be?"

As if remembering something, Guidance froze, her eyes wide as she whispered, "O-oh... Oh no...."

"Why? What's wrong?"

The dev started trembling in her seat, her own nervousness now seeping into mine as she struggled to maintain her composure. Why? Did she design fights so ridiculous that we'd just outright die?

"I designed this game to be like an MMO. It means some fights will most certainly kill us just so we can figure out what they're doing."

I stilled in my seat. "What..."

"I can tell you all what to do, but even then I made sure it'll take a few wipes before they'll be beaten," Guidance muttered out. "If we can't confirm that we can respawn after death in this world, we'll surely die."

"Wait! You mean we have to die over and over again unless we can figure out what the boss is doing?!"

"That's how progging a raid works, Moriya..." she hauntingly whispered out. "And with us still not being a complete party, we'll surely die even more so..."

"So, what? We have to find a few more people?"

"A tank..." Guidance blinked. "We have to find a tank."

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AN: Kindly vote so that I can get back to 2 chaps per day ^^