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

I mentally took note of the commands she gave out. I could only assume that she'd be unavailable again for a few hours, and if I can grind while she was out I should at least know how to get it started.

*Anything else...*

"Is there a beginning quest I can take to get me started?" I quickly asked, knowing that she was probably on the verge of collapsing on her desk. "Something that would get me into the story?"

Guidance let out a tired groan as she replied, *It's... There should be an NPC by the entrance of the city...*

Entrance, huh... "What do they look like?"

*I... don't remember....*

Her voice lazily echoed from the ether, a telltale thud soon following which I could only assume meant that she was down for the count.

"Oh well..."

Removing myself from the wall, I made my way out of the alleyway as I let the stat screen linger in my general HUD. It was kind of intrusive, but it'll have to do for now.

"Huh... At least I knew how to close this thing if I wanted to..."

Still, looking at it, the fact that my physical and mental capabilities were neatly arranged into a neat spread was kind of surreal, to say the least. It'll trivialize intangible progress like brain power and general strength; things that were always hard to measure back in the old world. And it kind of tickled my gamer brain to think that I'd somehow get motivated to actually exercise or something.

Assuming that exercise even did anything to affect the stats.

"Hmm... [SS2]."

[CHIME!]

At my command, the window before quickly shimmered in and out of existence. What was once a collection of numbers and abbreviated words were now replaced with actual words, some numbers, and a bunch of other stuff that I couldn't fathom to guess what they could mean.

[SS1][STAT SCREEN 2][SS3]

[MANIFEST: Blanc and Noir]

[MANIFEST LEVEL: 1/10]

[MENTAL FORTITUDE: 0]

[MANIFEST POINTS: 0]

[MANIFEST QUIRKS]

[Blood Bullets: [Blanc and Noir] utilizes the Somatic's blood as ammunition. Drains 3% of Max [HP] per shot.]

Letting my feet carry me to my supposed destination, I focused more on divining just what the hell I was staring at. At first glance, it was clearly the [Manifest] portion of the stats. With my weapon's name, its level, and some other numerical values that I didn't have at the moment, it was obvious that there was some sort of customization options available for my new power.

"Quirks, huh..."

And of course, how could I not notice the obvious implications of such a word? Quirks meant that they could either be chosen or automatically given. And that was not to mention if there were even negative quirks in the circulation.

"That'll suck..." I let out a breath as I hummed.

I've played some games that were ridiculously brutal with their quirk system. I still remember one game that was so damn unforgiving that your character was basically done if you were given a certain slew of quirks in rapid succession. And while some of them were beneficial despite their downsides, simply getting unlucky at the draw would pretty much ruin hours of progress. At that point, it was better to just start from scratch and hope the RNG won't screw you over again.

"So that's how it works..." I found myself nodding as I read my [Manifest]'s first quirk. "I lose three percent of my max health every time I fire this thing..."

I blinked as I quickly did the math. If I were to fire ten shots in rapid succession, I would immediately lose 30% of my total [HP]... Damn! That was pretty demanding!

"Yikes..."

I let out a sigh. I suppose this was the system's way of balancing out a weapon that ostensibly had infinite ammo. It probably would've been fine if it took my current [HP] instead of going for the max bar, but it was still a hefty drawback for such a simple power.

Then again, I probably shouldn't have made up something that was gonna be powered by the literal blood from my veins.

"Oh well," I shrugged to myself as I took a glance at where I was going. "I can probably offset this somehow..."

If I was going to shred through [HP] like paper, then I'd just have to make sure that I could regenerate the damage faster than I could burn through it. [VIT] quickly came to mind as a dump stat, but then I'd have three dump stats for me to squeeze out the maximum amount of damage I possibly could. Maybe there were quirks that I could get that would make it easier?

"Hmm... [SS3]."

[CHIME!]

Ignoring the other empty numbers for now, I moved on to the last bar still available in the window.

[SS1][SS2][STAT SCREEN 3]

[QUIRKS]

...

...

Okay? That's it?

I blinked in seeming confusion as I found myself staring intently at the blank window before me. With nothing but the word [QUIRKS] on it, I was still half-expecting for something else to pop and actually give me some information. But after a few more steps back towards the city entrance, the window before me still exhibited signs of not changing its stance on being completely devoid of information.

"Figures..." I sighed.

I supposed that at the very least, seeing this gave me an idea of what to expect. I could only guess that there was another quirk system in place beyond the weapon quirks, if this window was just gonna be nothing but quirks in the immediate future, that is.

"I just needed levels to unlock this thing..." I sighed. "[CLOSE]."

With but a word, the windows before me disintegrated back into motes of faint light. Once more, I was left with my background HUD and a clear shot to what I remembered as the city entrance. Brimming with an urge to learn about these new additions to my life and get my bearings, I sped up my pace and made my way to the massive arch beyond.

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