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

"Only the three of us can actually remember that the port wasn\'t that bad a few minutes ago," Guidance promptly explained. "When asked, Shen told us that it\'s always been that way since we first saw it."

I blinked at the news. So the world just glitched out again. Only this time, and entire port town had been rendered entirely inconceivable with how buggy its textures were.

"I\'ve made contact," Shade suddenly called out. "I managed to get us permission to dock, but we\'ll have to keep our stories straight."

Hearing Shade\'s more important news, I gave Guidance a nod before answering, "We\'ll talk about it after we get some time to ourselves. For now, we focus on not getting ourselves arrested by the local authorities."

Guidance frowned, but she nodded anyway. "Okay then. I just hope the damage isn\'t too far-reaching."

"I hope so too," I sighed.

Turning my gaze back to our destination, I could let out a pensive sigh before I gave Shade a look. He returned my gaze, his eyes clearly saying that he was just waiting for me to acknowledge him.

"So, what\'s our story then?" I asked.

Shade stood up before he began. "For now, we\'re sellswords selling our services to the highest bidder. Our [Rig]\'s callsign is MDRV Wrath, and we\'re here to resupply."

"Fair enough," I nodded. "And where are we supposed to dock?"

"We\'re to dock in Port 3," Shade relayed. "From there, we go to the Portmaster\'s Office and get ourselves registered."

I winced, "And how do we register?"

"That\'s... unfortunately our current problem," Shade shrugged. "We can\'t very well use our real names. Maybe we can sign using our first names, but the Pri-Shizu\'s distinctly Kattleynan appearance will raise some eyebrows."

Oh?

Turning to take a glance at our resident princess, Shizu was clearly affected by what our acting comms officer just said. Her golden eyes were back to normal now as she looked at her battle kimono like it just became a hindrance to her. As usual, the frown on her face looked unnatural on her, even though her other faces were more than beautiful even for my now elevated standards.

"I don\'t think it will?" Guidance chimed in, stepping up near the console. "Marquee doesn\'t care much about nationality. They\'d care more if we caused enough of a ruckus that would disrupt their day to day lives, however."

"That\'s not what I experienced the last time I was here, but I\'ll take your word for it Lady Guidance," Shade nodded, his tone partly turning back into its suave origins. "So it would seem that nothing will go wrong then."

"Don\'t say that," I frowned. "You\'ll jinx us."

"Luck isn\'t a problem so long as we have Lady Guidance is with us though, correct?" he chuckled. "She could easily sway the tide to our favor, perhaps even sway the Portmaster to our side should she so desire."

I gave Guidance a passing look, quickly taking note of the frown that quickly developed on her face. She just said that Shizu couldn\'t see anything with how blinding the glitches were around the port, so I\'d only assume that her ability to change things would also take a massive hit along with it. That... That might be a big problem.

"Should I tell the news then?" I asked.

"I don\'t see why not," Guidance shrugged.

"What news?" Shade asked in both surprise and curiosity.

"Well, Shizu\'s [Code Watcher] is constantly being blinded whenever she tries to look at the port right in front of us," I began, pointing towards the massive blob of wrongness out into the horizon. "If she can\'t see the code, then Guidance won\'t be able to manipulate it."

Shade hummed in understanding. "So you\'re saying that two of our Somatics won\'t be able to fight then," he sighed. "That\'s problematic."

"Who says I can\'t fight?" Shizu hollered in defiance. "I can still punch people no problem."

"Likewise, I can still do all the supporting we need," Guidance scoffed. "This also doesn\'t mean that we won\'t be able to fix the world at anywhere else. It looks like the problem is just specifically for this one port. Maybe the surrounding areas wouldn\'t be as badly affected."

From the way she gritted her teeth, I could tell that the dev was itching to try and see what\'s exactly wrong with this particular place. I mean, just looking at it from a distance already evokes a sense of eldritch wrongness to it. What more once we were on land?

"Yep," I popped my consonants, letting out a small sigh as I began my maneuvers. "Let\'s just dock and get this over with."

Steering the [Empire\'s Wrath], I kept our engines on cruising speed as we made our way to the port. I could only assume that all port would be compatible with the [Rig]. And if not, then-

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[Marquee]

[Port Decim]

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I blinked as the world suddenly went black there all of a sudden. It felt as if time itself had skipped forward, our position moving closer to the port that when reality blinked out of existence... Another loading screen then. Only...

"Guidance?"

"Yes?"

"Since when did the game have splash art during loading?"

It was both rather unnerving, and yet beautiful at the same time. When the world blacked out, the usual quirks of a loading screen came and went, but this time, a massive image of what looked to be a city built like a circuit board flashed right across my face. Along with it, the prompt displaying the name of our current location flashed along with a font so futuristic I almost cringed at how stereotypical it was.

"Splash... art?" Guidance dubiously asked. "I never did any of that stuff..."

"So it\'s new then," I clicked my tongue. "Just as I thought..."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Guidance worriedly asked. "I could only assume we passed another loading threshold by going near Marquee, but you\'re saying that the loading screens have art now?"

"Yep," I shrugged, steering the [Rig] right near the docks. "It didn\'t have that when I first loaded into the game, and it didn\'t have that everytime we had to load back in between each wipe."

Taking my attention away from Guidance\'s pensive look, I focused more on not crashing the [Empire\'s Wrath] onto the docks as I parked ourselves right in the middle of the port. The place seemed more normal than when we last saw it from a distance, at least. Somehow, everything looked... fine?

"And here we are," I declared, dropping the anchor and disengaging the engines. "New lands, new stuff to discover and explore."

"And a whole new slew of dangers," Shade wisely added. "Also, the Portmaster\'s expecting us. We should be disembarking as soon as possible."

"I shall be by the deck then!" Maruki declared. "Protecting the [Rig] from any and all potential enemies are a must until we are sure that we will be welcomed!"

"Good call," I nodded. I then turned to the others. "Shizu, Shade, and myself are already a given to go to the office. Guidance, Shen, do you two want to come along?"

"Of course, I do," Guidance scoffed, her eyes still visibly studying our new, surprisingly normal surroundings. "Shizu, I need you to do some stuff for me while we\'re here as well. Think you can handle that?"

"I think I can," the princess nodded, her eyes already glowing black and green. "Strangely enough, it\'s not as blinding anymore as when we were out at sea."

"I wanna come along too!" Shen eagerly voiced out. "I don\'t wanna be left here being all boring!"

"Fair enough," I nodded. "I suppose only Maruki will be left here on the [Rig]."

I turned to tell our resident tank of his new arrangements, only to shrug when he was already missing from his usual position. I guess he was just that eager to stand guard for us.

Stepping out of the console, I let Shade do the honors of leading us as Shizu and I trailed behind him. Shen was trailing beside Shizu, while Guidance took her place beside me.

"Let\'s go! Let\'s go!"

"New stuff! New stuff!"

I couldn\'t help but chuckle as Shizu and Shen both chanted their respective excitement. Guidance was smiling, and I could see Shade holding on to his laughs as we walked out of the bridge. Soon enough, we were walking out of the [Rig], making our way down to solid land as we finally set foot on Marquee.

"Here we are then," Shade declared, his tone taking on a smoother texture than usual. "Follow me, and don\'t get left behind. We\'re not allowed to stray far yet, and we don\'t want them to be suspicious of us."

"Remember, we\'re sellswords," I added. "Don\'t go about referencing Imperial stuff now, okay?"

"Exactly."

"Right!"

"Sure!"

With the exception of Shade, the rest of us all sounded off their word of acknowledgement. Shizu and Shen still looked like they were about to fly off on their own, but I suppose that was the best we could get for now as we left the [Rig]. For now, we\'re in foreign territory, and hopefully, it would stay that way instead of turning into something worse.

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