Chapter 74 14.2 Party Finder?

A tank, huh.... "And, what? Do we need more people than that?"

The dev worryingly hummed in her seat, her brows furrowing as she thought long and hard about a game that she was supposed to already know. "As of now, a four-man stack would be enough for some of the content. But with how unpredictable the engine is right now, it'd be much better if we can get a full party of eight."

I nodded, "A party of eight, huh. And I'm assuming that there are NPCs scattered throughout the world that we can possibly recruit?"

"There's technically four here in [Kattleyna], but we only need to recruit one if we just want a [Half Party]," Guidance explained. "That's the four-stack if you didn't get it."

Weird way to indirectly say that I was slow, but I'll let it pass for now.

"Shizu isn't supposed to be recruitable till way later in the game, actually. But with her being with us now, that's one powerful DPS on our roster," she rambled on, her own gamer brain coming alive as she considered our options. "There's a tank, a healer, and another DPS left out there, but we don't need a healer right now with me being around..."

"Wait, so we only need one healer even for a party of eight?" I asked, weighing in my opinions on the matter. "If it's just doubling up on a [Half Party], then we'd need two healers and tanks, then four DPSs, right?"

"Yes? But having an excess of healers wouldn't necessarily be efficient," Guidance muttered. "Healer damage isn't that great. Still considerable on high-end raids. But for basic fights, they might as well be Green DPS."

Huh? "Green? Are the classes color-coded?"

"You haven't noticed?"

I'm pretty sure I haven't. "No. My HUDs not showing me anything, not even my own class."

The dev let out a sigh as she raised her arms, her stance shifting to that of a teacher giving out a lesson. "Okay, [The Seams] have a three-way Role System. Green is [Healer], Red is [DPS], and blue is [Tank]."

"Okay?" I slightly nodded. "Sounds straightforward enough. But that doesn't fix the fact that I can't see these so-called distinctions."

Guidance blushed in embarrassment, "W-Well, it'll show itself as soon as we form a party."

"I see," I hummed, turning my gaze back forward towards the wall. "We'll see it soon then."

Huh... For some reason, I felt like I just wasted time on something that I would've figured out on my own given enough time. Then again, wasn't that the case for any sort of skill or knowledge in the world?

A comfortable silence settled between the two of us as we sat side by side, waiting for our veritable princess to call us back to wherever we were needed. Guidance returned to her own keyboard, while here I was ruminating and thinking to myself about stuff regarding the world. Cause what else was I supposed to do? Hmm... I feel like I'm forgetting something...

"Oh right!"

"What is it, Moriya?"

I let out a soft chuckle as I turned to Guidance, an inquisitive look coloring her gaze as I replied, "I didn't get any [EXP] earlier. Any reasons for that?"

The dev blinked at me like I had just grown a second head. Her gaze quickly found themselves glued to the holographic screen in front of her, her fingers hastily moving to seemingly pull up a few more windows in front of her. "That... shouldn't be possible? But I'd be lying to myself if I didn't expect it at this point."

"Figures," I let out a hollow scoff. "Engine problems then?"

"It's pretty much the source of all our problems at this point," Guidance weakly sighed. "The Re:Mind Engine's rewriting the entire game as we speak. At least, that was what I noticed it doing so far."

My eyes widened, "It can do that? Wouldn't that basically mean it's an AI?"

"Didn't I explain this to you already? And yes, it's pretty much AI," the dev rolled her eyes at me. "And what's wrong with that? Aren't computer programs basically AI? It's built to respond to certain user actions, and it'll try its best to fulfill its programming instructions until it either succeeds, or it crashes."

"But the Re:Mind Engine doesn't work like that?" I asked.

"It's a programming engine, which means it can write its own code," Guidance exasperatedly shook her head. "And- wait, why are we even discussing this?"

"Cause it can mean our continued survival in this world?" I sarcastically responded. "And on the subject of our continued survival, about those party mem-"

"Moriya. Guidance."

Before I could finish my thought, the door to our room swung open, revealing a Shizu that was pretty much dressed to the nines when compared to her earlier clothes. Now wearing what was ostensibly an Imperial kimono, her green hair was done up in a bun as her hands were hidden beneath her sleeves. And dare I say, if she didn't already look the part of a princess back then, what more could I use to describe her now?

"You're- back...." Guidance trailed off, her jaw dropping slightly as she stared at the princess. "W-wow...."

To her credit, Shizu either ignored the obvious complement to her looks, or she was just that oblivious as she walked right in front of the flabbergasted dev. Even with her being fully clothed, it did little to hide her assets, assets which Guidance was creepily staring at.

Wow...

"Is there something wrong?" the princess worriedly asked. "Do you need me to use my eyes again?"

"I don't think she needs help, Shizu. Don't worry," I chuckled. "Still, you're here for a reason, right?"

At my seeming reminder, the princess quickly composed herself as her back straightened once more. With a breath, she announced, "You two are being invited for an Imperial Dinner later tonight. In the meantime, please follow me to the throne room."

"Okay."

Standing up, I pulled Guidance up and out of her stupor as we followed the princess back to the Emperor's abode. Putting my hands in my pocket, I couldn't wait to see what would happen next after everything that had just happened.

After all, who knew? Maybe I'd get some of the [EXP] I was owed.

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