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

Before I could even participate in the conversation, a small halo materialized above my head. It was bright, annoyingly so as it seemed to linger and overstay its welcome a bit too much. Looking at my bars, the tooltip I saw earlier flashed faintly in time with the halo. So it was related then?

Seeing as I couldn't just hover my mouse over the damn thing and read the tooltip, I went for the next best thing, "Guidance? What's happening to me?"

*Y-you leveled up?* she responded confusedly. "That's the level-up status."

I raised an eyebrow. Level up, huh...

[Moriya: Level 2]

[HP: 105/105]

[MP: 105/105]

[2 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION]

True to her word, what was once a humble [Level 1] sitting beside my bars has somehow turned into a [Level 2]. My bars actually moved by about five as my [HP] and [MP] now both registered at [105/105]. And I also recovered health when I leveled up? Well, that was fairly convenient to my previous problem... Wait...

"Why do you sound surprised?"

The dev audibly choked on something as she coughed, *W-well... T-that monster... wasn't supposed to die to anything...* Guidance coughed a bit more before her tone stabilized again, *I didn't really code in any [EXP] values on it.*

Huh... "So it's a fluke?"

Shrugging at her explanation as I studied the halo floating above my head. It reinforced the usual stereotype of a haloed angel. In fact, it was honestly reminiscent of an old MMO that I used to play where an angel appeared on top of the player character when they leveled up. I guess this was a reference?

*Uhh... Yes?*

I sighed as I returned my gaze back to the city below, "I see..."

I've been noticing things for a while now. And while the beauty of the world and the novelty of the situation almost made me forget about my earlier observations, this fight and the subsequent result of it all just reinforced a theory of mine that I had all the way back in the character creation area. This whole game reeked of being something that was rushed or incomplete. With some areas outright not working, poor game design choice, and just Guidance's overall insecurities and constant apologizing, there was a nagging feeling inside me that this game was a broken mess.

But was it really? It wasn't like this game was built to operate as an isekai world. Anyone with half a brain could probably tell that this thing was made with a mouse and keyboard in mind, not to be manually manipulated with their own hands or mind. I couldn't really fault Guidance for some of the more egregious stuff, right? Maybe they were just minor errors that she missed due to being a solo dev.

With a smile, I stared at the massive floating orb of land in front of me. This truly was a new world. With a gaming system I could possibly exploit, there was no way that I'd die or fail at anything if I played things correctly. And with Guidance with me, I'd be unstoppable against whatever big bad she actually designed for her game! It's so damn perfect!

Hello, Brave New World! I'm gonna have fun exploring and finishing your quest lines!

But first...

"Say, how do I level up my stuff?"

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This was so exciting! The act of leveling up was such a vague notion in real life that just saying the term unironically was making a part of me cringe and wither away out of shame. But this wasn't something vague anymore. I actually had a HUD in my vision with actual bars and numbers everywhere I looked. It wasn't just on a computer or phone screen anymore...

This was real life!

I sat down at the cliff overlooking this [Kotosa] city as I waited for a response. The dev hasn't responded to my question since I defeated that tentacle thing earlier. I could only suppose that she went for a short bathroom break or something. God knows that her tone left nothing to the imagination in terms of how she was feeling.

"How long is she gonna be gone though..."

It's been a few minutes, and with her leaving me alone without warning, I was left to my own devices as I kept myself busy just admiring the world that she built with her own two hands. I mean, not that I could really attest to the beauty of our own world when compared to a literal fantasy setting, but the detail even from afar was just... superb. Whatever joint Guidance was smoking when she designed this world was probably top-notch if she somehow managed to make a city with another city floating above it on a miniature moon. Granted, it probably wasn't that hard to think up of especially if you're creatively inclined, but having the necessary skill to properly bring one's vision to life? Now that was a rare talent for someone to have.

*O-okay... Sorry about that...*

The knocks and sounds of something hastily hitting a desk marked the return of my unwilling navigator as she seemed to reorient herself back in wherever it was she lived in back in the old world. The clinking of what I could only describe as silverware hitting a plate was something I didn't expect to hear, however.

"You're eating, aren't you?"

The sound of her gulping water was heard for a brief second before she responded, *I-I was hungry. I haven't had breakfast yet, so...*

I visibly recoiled at her explanation. I just knew that I was probably the cause of that even happening. I'll never fault anyone that would stop working in favor of taking an early break to eat. Hell, I've done it before numerous times. Sometimes even in front of the microscope, no less.

When you're hungry, you eat. It was the few things that my family constantly talked about during familial gatherings.

"So you mean to tell me that you haven't eaten after all this time?" I asked incredulously, deftly hiding my shame from causing the scenario in the first place.

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