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

SHADE

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"Are you sure we should be going back?!"

Maruki\'s loud question almost made Shade shake his head as he led their way back to the Downtown area of Centrax. There was just something niggling at the back of his mind somewhere that he just couldn\'t get rid of, and he was sure that the warehouse he dropped his old acquaintances in had something to do with it.

"We already checked the administrative building earlier, Maruki," Shade stressed out as he stopped his foot against the sidewalk. "And while the Princess had already checked back in and cashed in her contract, the fact that both she and Shen are missing is just grating on my nerves."

And that was not to mention that Lady Guidance and Moriya have also not checked back in on the administrative building. With the two of them arguably having the easiest job out of the three pairs, surely they should\'ve already at least cashed in their contracts before wandering off to who knows where. Sure, Moriya might\'ve caught onto a lead of some kind and latched on, but for them to not even return was alarming as it is.

Signaling for Maruki to remain silent, Shade inched his way towards the alleyway leading to the warehouse. Surveying the area, a sizeable amount of automatons roamed around the area, automatons that he clearly remembered to not exist back when he escorted the Vestygian family to its premises.

\'Something\'s up,\' he inwardly thought to himself. \'I can\'t just ignore this, especially with the standing orders the Princess gave us.\'

Seeing this as both an opportunity and a necessity, Shade turned to Maruki, his friend staring at him patiently as he waited for instructions.

"Right, we\'ll be doing an infiltration into that warehouse," Shade began, his rose already starting to glow in preparation. "You\'ll keep watch, and when you think things are about to go belly up, you do your best to try and help the situation."

"Does that mean that I should follow you and extract you from the premises?!"

"Depends," Shade grumbled, regretting the fact that he didn\'t have the mind to plan ahead like some of the other members of their party. "Just... Use your best judgment. And don\'t be too loud if you can help it."

"Of course!"

Shaking his head at his enthusiastic friend, Shade took a deep breath before he took in his mission in earnest. From his preliminary survey, the warehouse itself sat in the middle of a clearing, making it almost impossible to approach discreetly without looking suspicious. He could use his [Manifest] on fellow humans, but the fact that Marquean automatons were roaming around meant that he couldn\'t bluff his way in. Instead, the only option he had would be to get in the old-fashioned way....

Looking to the sides of the buildings they were in, Shade spotted a decent pathway and began climbing up to the nearest roof to him. It was slow progress, but in the end, he managed to reach the top with only his arms and legs burning from the exertion.

"Okay... Now what..."

With a bird\'s eye view of the general area, Shade quickly spotted what he hoped was a clear shot at accessing the warehouse\'s roof. Trailing his way towards it, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, still being careful as to not actually tip off anybody that might be curious enough to look up for once. Eventually, he reached the access point he saw from afar; a ventilation shaft of some kind connecting one part of the warehouse\'s roof to a building next to it.

Jumping on, Shade balanced himself across the narrow walkway, his arms splayed out for assistance before he finally planted his feet on the warehouse\'s metal roof.

[*thud...*]

The sound of his feet colliding against the roof almost made Shade shudder as he quickly adjusted his footfalls. Practically tiptoing his way across the roof, he tried looking for a way inside. So far, the roof had been pretty much closed off, with nothing beyond the once ventilation that he used to cross over even penetrating the metal cover. Still, there should be some kind of opening or window that he could use to enter. Or if not, he could maybe try and make an opening of his own using his [Manifest]\'s limited offensive capabilities.

"Do I really have to though..."

Shaking his head, Shade tried to look for other options before going in with the last resort. With the warehouse itself almost being twice as large as the [Empire\'s Wrath], there was still a lot of ground left for him to cover. Carefully navigating the roof, he searched every nook and cranny he could find, all while keeping up a low profile to avoid getting spotted by the working automatons below.

\'This is getting ridiculous...\' he inwardly grumbled. \'Surely, not even Marquee would be able to figure out how to fully seal a building.\'

It was only logical, after all. All buildings had to have some source of air pumping into them. And while that one ventilation shaft was one such method, its small size would be wholly incapable of fully ventilating the entire warehouse.

"Found it."

And sure enough, Shade couldn\'t help but smirk as he found his in. A small chimney that billowed out warm air jutted out from the back part of the warehouse. It wasn\'t belching out smoke, which meant that he could easily brave its depths and sneak his way inside.

"Granted, it\'s hot, but I can manage..."

With a bit of self-encouragement, Shade bit the bullet and squeezed his way inside the shoot. Immediately, the heat coming from below made him sweat like no tomorrow. It wasn\'t as hot as the waters of the Deep itself, but it was more than enough to make him pant as he braced himself against the smooth metal walls of the shaft. Inching his way down, he kept his composure in check, his chest seizing up as he did his best not to make enough noise that would echo out of the small confinement.

\'Steady... Steady...\'

Eventually, he reached the first opening that he could find, and it was at a perfect time too, what with the boiling cauldron of molten metal glowing orange right below him.

\'That was close,\' he inwardly sighed in relief. \'Still, I have to be careful...\'

Finding himself in an elevated catwalk, Shade wiped off a bit of sweat from his brow before sticking to the shadows. Looking around, the warehouse itself seemed rather unimpressive. With the cauldrons of molten metal brewing from one side of the warehouse to the next, he would have half a mind to call it a metal processing plant and call it a day. However...

"How are the current projects?" one man in a suit asked to another man who was wearing overalls.

"It\'s not looking good," the man in the overalls grumbled out. "We\'re lacking key critical earth minerals that we need to truly smith out some of the components. Our contacts in Kattleyna hadn\'t given us any answers about their monthly shipments as well."

Shade inwardly suppressed a wince. As far as he knew, the Empire had stopped exporting mining goods for a few months now. For him to hear that Marquee not only had the means of procuring more, but also had contacts within the Empire was something that the Princess would want to know.

"And our designs?" the man in the suit asked. "The defectors had given us certain Republic schematics that we can use to iterate on some of our earlier projects, correct?"

"Y-Yes," the worker stuttered out. "They\'re here right now to finalize the exchange. I\'m hoping that the Chips have been added to our account for the payment?"

"What the..." Shade couldn\'t help but whisper to himself as he shuffled through the catwalk. "They\'re actually selling Vestygian schematics?"

As far as he knew, while Alcian and Carbuncle were no longer a part of Vestyge, they still held some loyalties to President Stein. Surely, they wouldn\'t sell out the Republic for a measly amount of Marquean Chips, right?

"As the overseeing Intellect to this exchange, you have my word that payment for the defector\'s schematics is being added into your account as we speak," the now-identified Intellect spoke with confidence. "All you have to do is pay them to keep their schematics."

"Thank you, Intellect," the worker lightly bowed. "I shall take it up to the boss then."

And with that, the two parted ways, the Intellect walking towards the exit while the worker moved even deeper into the warehouse.

\'This... This isn\'t like them at all,\' Shade inwardly pondered, his eyes never leaving the worker as he began tailing the man. \'Are they broke enough to resort to things like this?\'

Gritting his teeth, Shade followed the worker deeper into the warehouse, walking past the point where he first entered as he hopefully crawled closer and closer to the answers that he sought after.

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