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

I let out an inaudible sigh as I stared at my stats once more. Hovering a finger over each stat, I half-expected for a tooltip to appear and explain to me just what these stats even did. However, nothing ever came to it, and I just looked like an idiot pointing a finger at the nearest wall.

It was a good thing that I was alone in that alleyway.

"Uhh... Guidance?"

*Y-Yes?*

"Can I get an explanation on how all of these stats work?" I patiently asked.

The clacking of her keyboards abruptly stopped, a faint hum echoing from behind me as she audibly thought up of whatever it may be that she was thinking.

*W-Well, [STR] is for raw physical damage. Each point it gets should bump the integer multiplier for-*

"I don't need to know how it works on the back-end, Guidance," I thinly smiled, cutting the dev off from flying off into another tangent. "Just give me a general rundown, cause god knows these aren't the only stats I need to pay attention to."

*O-Oh! S-sorry...*

I waited with my arms crossed over my chest as Guidance cleared her through. With the lack of a proper way to tell the time, I could only assume that it was still the same day as it was for myself. Then again, different world, different laws of physics. Why even bother thinking about these things?

*E-eherm... [STR] increasing physical damage for strength weapons. [AGI] increases attack speed and dodge chance. [DEX] increases damage for skill-based weapons, as well as increases accuracy and spell speed.*

I blinked at the first three stats. A part of me was telling me that I've heard of these stats before, but I kept my quiet as I let Guidance continue.

*[VIT] increases [HP] and regeneration rate, [INT] increases spell damage and [MP], and [LUK] is....* Guidance trailed off as if in deep thought before reluctantly continuing, *Uhh... [LUK] affects dodge, and the chance to do critical damage?*

Eh... "Why the doubt on the [LUK] stat?"

The dev sheepishly replied, *That's not all it does, Moriya. I coded it to affect all random chances in the game, including random enemy encounters and drop rates.*

I sagely nodded, "I see."

Huh... It made sense, at least. Luck was a fickle stat, and I suppose that there were some games that somehow made luck builds work. But I wasn't going to go a dump all of my points to such an unreliable stat. That was just asking for the game to punish you with basic problems like lack of damage and poor regeneration.

"So assuming that I want more damage for my weapons, I should..."

Hovering my finger over [STR], I hesitated just as I was about to press it. My weapons were ostensibly not physical weapons. In fact, wouldn't they be more of a [DEX] weapon?

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

"Hey, Guidance, should I just pump [DEX] when I have a ranged weapon?"

A part of me actually protested at the fact that I asked the dev on how to play damn her game. Usually, I'd try to at least figure things out on my own before resorting to guides. But then, this wasn't just a game anymore. This was my life for the foreseeable future, and I wouldn't fault anyone that would cheat just to avoid dying a premature death.

*Umm... It should work like that,* Guidance mumbled. *Ranged weapons are usually coded to scale with [DEX].*

Figured...

Switching my finger to hover over [DEX], I pressed on it once, and the stat quickly went up by one.

"Well, that was easy."

Okay... That was one stat point gone. Time to allocate the other.

Hovering my finger back out, I found myself torn between choosing over another point of [DEX], or if I should get a casual point of [AGI] for more speed. It'll give me more extra firepower, and that would mean fewer long-drawn encounters, which would mean less danger in the long term.

"Hmm...."

I hummed to myself as my finger flew back and forth between the two stats. They weren't bad choices, but- wait... Why am I even thinking about this?

Moving my pointer, I selected the [AGI] stat, watching the number go up by one as I retreated back to leaning against the wall.

[STATS SCREEN 1][SS2][SS3]

[Somatic: Moriya]

[Level 2/99]

[HP: 105]

[MP: 105]

[STR: 5]

[AGI: 7]

[DEX: 7]

[VIT: 5]

[INT: 8]

[LUK: 5]

[AVAILABLE STATS: 0]

Looking at it all, it... really didn't seem all that much. I didn't feel anything. Not even a bit of fanfare happened as the light above my head finally faded. With the lack of a halo above me, the alleyway suddenly looked a lot darker as I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, at least that's over and done with."

I let out a chuckle. I had a way to interface with my stats now, at least. Still, if it was called Stat Screen 1, then theoretically, a Stat Screen 2 should exist, along with other more potential stat windows. And looking at the tabs, I suppose that my guess was on the right track.

Well, I might as well test it.

"Stat Screen 2."

I waited for the proverbial stat screen to appear, for the familiar chime to once more echo at the back of my head...

...

....

Uhm... Okay? "Guidance?"

The silence of the alley was the only thing that replied to me, the hustle and bustle of the city filtering through the small opening of the small street echoing across the walls of the alleyway.

"Uhh... Guidance?"

*O-Oh!*

A startled yelp almost blew my mental eardrums out as I winced. Judging from the sound of her voice, she probably fell asleep on her desk again.

*S-sorry about that,* she meekly apologized. *It's kind of late here already.*

Oh... "Don't worry, I just have a few more questions. I'll let you sleep afterward. Fair?"

*Mhmm...* Guidance sleepily hummed in assent. *It's the least I can do...*

Oof. I kind of felt a bit guilty for that one... Still, "First off, how do you open the stat screen again?"

The woman let out an audible yawn as she responded, *It's 'SS1.' And I guess I should also tell you now that opening the inventory... is 'INV1...'*