01x03 - Tesla

[bunniefuu]

Nikola-san the NPC and

I have set out on a journey.

While in the town of Adan,

we ran into Sakai and Sumida,

debuggers from a different company.

They've been abusing debug mode

to entertain themselves in the game.

Sumida tried to take us with them by force,

but we used an in-game bug to best him.

Um, Haga-san, what are we

That Sakai guy might still be after us.

We need to be on guard at all times.

Gotta take it slow. And be careful.

Very careful.

O-Okay.

Haga-san, I think I'm starting to understand.

I don't know why, but this world

feels incomplete in places.

And it's a debugger's job

to find those places, right?

That's pretty much the idea.

You and the other Seekers have a device

called a "debugger stone"

that you use to do your work.

It has strange powers,

which some people use to do bad things.

That's right.

But you don't use those powers at all, do you?

Why is that?

I'll tell you after we reach

the Advent Altar. Is that okay?

S-Sure.

The Advent Altar

That's where Haga-san's companions are.

Tesla

Our latest work.

Let's see

Wow!

Nice job, NPCs!

Boss

Hm?

Oh, Sakai-kun! Morning.

I heard you were late last night.

Were you and Sumida-kun

out having some fun?

Yeah, um, about that

A debugger taking the job way too seriously?

I didn't know anyone

was actually still working.

Why'd you let him get away, though?

Well, I may have let my guard down

Shall I go talk to him myself?

Nah, you don't need to do that!

I'm just worried about Sumida-san

Forget him. There's nothing we can do.

It's way too risky to search

outside the in-game areas.

R-Right?

I'm so glad he didn't order me to find him!

Anyway, check this out!

Oh, got something new?

Sure do. Wanna give it a taste?

Don't mind if I do!

That's good! Sweet and sour.

It's something called garlish.

Tastes kinda like a Chinese onion.

My grandma in Matsuyama used

to send me those all the time.

I made us all this!

Must've been hard

to get the flavor just right.

A taste of the real world,

you know what I mean?

Well then, we'll be going

Say, Sakai, I was about to play NPC darts.

Care to join me?

Sure thing.

If you'll excuse us

C'mon, now. No running away.

Okay

I'll take the first shot.

Go right ahead.

Get over there!

Wow, bullseye on the first try!

No, I was a little off.

Well done, well done!

My turn next.

I haven't played lately, so this is great.

Hey, that debugger Haga, was it?

Huh? Oh, yeah.

I feel like he might be trouble.

Just a hunch.

Maybe so, yeah.

We could catch him when he comes

here to the castle, but

I'd rather deal with him before

he becomes a problem, you know?

Good point!

He said it was half a day away,

but it's already been three!

Okay, we're here.

What an amazing building!

So this is the Advent Altar, huh?

Yeah.

I've never seen ruins before!

My companions are in the

dungeon underground.

Then let's go there, Haga-san!

Wait.

Step back a bit.

Pattern C, huh?

It's a maze down here, so stick close, okay?

O-Okay!

This dungeon is a DLC bonus,

so there are lots of nasty tricks.

Oh, get down!

Huh? Oh, right!

We'll be okay now.

He saw all the traps ahead of time!

Wow!

Haga-san really is an elite Seeker!

There are only five enemy patterns,

and I come here so often

I've got them all memorized.

Oh, that reminds me

Don't touch the walls.

There are randomly placed switches

that will flood the dungeon.

Also, be especially careful not to

A gold piece!

You're amazing!

There are also some monsters

called Coin Boys.

They use coins as bait

and put adventurers to sleep.

Funny, right?

Huh? Nikola-san?

Nikola-san? Nikola-san!

Nikola-san!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering, Wykirie-sama!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering, Wykirie-sama!

Look at all this money I found, Haga-san.

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering, Wykirie-sama!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering!

We make you this offering!

Are you okay?

Y-Yes.

Haga-san!

Wykirie-sama! Wykirie-sama!

Nikola-san! I'm so glad I made it in time!

Thank goodness you're safe.

If they catch you,

it starts this sacrifice event.

Off you go!

Haga-san!

I'm sorry for causing trouble for you!

I was blinded by greed.

I'm so, so sorry!

Nikola-san, it's okay.

It's all good.

It's fine.

All right?

Here.

Thank you Whew.

This place is scarier than I thought.

I promise I'll be on my best behavior.

Um, Nikola-san

Oh, I know!

Where are your companions?

You said they were in this dungeon, right?

R-Right there.

Under you.

Under me?

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAdvent Altar

The Advent Altar is a relic of old times.

It is a labyrinth crawling with magical creatures

from the continent as well as cultists.

Only adventurers who do not value

their lives go near it.

Fighters\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h

People who study sword and shield techniques.

Because there are no skill requirements to join,

the Clayborne Island warriors' guild has

the highest number of registered members.

That's Kuro-chan, one of my companions.

He got stuck in the geometry

while teleporting.

And he's slowly sinking in for some reason.

The other one is over there.

Can you see her?

Wh-What's happening to her?

Namiko-san had invincibility turned on

when she fell into that instakill trap.

So because she's invincible,

Revived

she's stuck in an infinite loop

of reviving and dying.

Instakill

Revived

Instakill

I've tried dragging them out and using

items to help them All kinds of stuff.

But nothing has worked.

For nearly a year now.

We used to be That's right.

We were originally a team of five.

You'll make your reports

with these debugger stones.

They're linked to your ID,

so don't lose them.

I'm sure you understand this,

but use of debug mode is off-limits.

You need to play the game the same way

users would or else this is pointless.

At first, everything was fine.

And guess what happened then!

Something this big came out!

I couldn't believe it!

Wow. So, what did you do?

I beat the stuffing out of it!

I bet you were terrified, Namiko-san!

I was not!

Namiko-san, the second item on this report

You need to shorten the summary.

You'll rewrite it for me,

won't you, Haga-chan?

Thanks a ton!

Namiko-san uses her "thanks a ton" attack!

Oh, fine.

Kidding, kidding! I was just kidding!

I'll do it myself tomorrow!

Haga really does take his job seriously.

Kuro-chan, why'd you strip?

I've got all these muscles now,

so I want to enjoy them!

Man, this is the best job in the world,

getting paid to play video games!

Kuro-chan, don't get the

wrong idea about that.

Your job isn't to play games.

It's working with them.

It sounds like they all

really enjoyed their jobs.

They did.

Until one day, Jin-san said

We can't log out.

What do you mean, we can't log out?!

Are you saying we're stuck in here forever?!

They're reading our reports, right?

If it's a bug, let's report it.

I've been including it on the sheets,

but nothing's come of it.

The emergency code isn't working either.

After that, everyone except Jin-san and I

started to use debug mode

to entertain themselves.

Want to fly to Adan and have lunch?

Hey, I think I can go really high

by messing with this parameter!

And this is the result.

Kuro-chan got stuck.

Namiko-san's in an infinite death loop.

Suzuki-san disappeared into

the sky and hasn't come back.

That's why

I'll never use debug mode!

So that's it.

That's why he's so careful

about everything.

Um, what about the guy

you called Jin-san?

I think he's gone further in the game.

Haga-chan, I'm going to try

and clear the game.

Maybe that will let us log out.

Would you keep trying ways to see

if you can rescue the others?

Okay, I will.

Do you remember what the

two guys we met in Adan said?

That there were people trying

to beat the game's story?

Does that mean they're

Yeah.

It's probably Jin.

He might be traveling

with a party he formed.

I've been trying for almost a year,

but nothing has worked here.

So I've decided to move out, too.

I see.

Kuro-chan, Namiko-san

I don't know if you can hear me,

but I'm going to do the story quests,

so I think I'll be gone awhile.

But I swear I'll be back to save you!

Okay, let's get going.

Nikola-san, the danger has passed

Pat

N-Nikola-san?

This is Haga's. This is Sumida's.

Nikola-san, those are important

N-Nikola-san?

Th-That's dangerous! Get down from there!

No, stay where you are! That's safer!

Why did she take the debugger stones?

And how is a villager NPC like her

able to jump like that?

Make something.

I'm hungry.

Make me a meal.

Um, Nikola-san, should you

really be eating that much?

This body has little stamina.

Take better care of it.

Make sure it gets enough food. And sleep.

Um, I've been wondering

Is it possible you're not Nikola-san?

I'm Tesla, a meta AI.

I'm borrowing this NPC's body,

you could say.

A meta AI?

Yup.

There are three main types

of AIs in this game.

First, there's a character AI

defined for each NPC in the game.

Next, the navigation AI handles

things like environmental data.

Then there's a meta AI

that runs the entire game.

That's me.

I-I see

But why take over Nikola-san?

Because she was the closest

available NPC to you.

If you don't like it,

I can choose another NPC.

No, Nikola-san will do fine!

I see

So it was this meta AI

that revived Nikola-san?

The details don't matter.

What I want is for you to eliminate

from the game those foolish debuggers

who are using debug mode

to play around instead of doing their jobs.

Those foolish debuggers?

If they are not stopped,

the debugging will never be complete

and the game will never be finished.

I can appreciate that much,

but what does eliminating them mean?

The method is very simple.

Take this, and

CHOMP

W-W-W-W-Wait What?!

Don't worry. That was Sumida's.

That's not what I'm worried about.

We'll steal their debugger privileges,

one fool at a time.

You can have yours back.

Continue to eliminate

those foolish debuggers.

But, why?

Why me?

If you're a meta AI, can't you do it yourself?

I don't have authorization

to interfere directly with players.

Also

You're the only one in this area who's

actually doing your debugging job.

Haga.

Work hard.

Y-You're back!

H-Haga-san?

Huh? Weren't we underground?

URP

I feel sick to my stomach.

You ate too much food.

And a debugger stone.

Still eliminating debuggers, huh?

Haga-san has been down since we

left that underground dungeon.

Do I have to keep doing stuff like that?

I can't hack it.

I can't!

I've gotta do something!

Haga-san, look!

There's a village!

Let's stock up on food there.

Good idea.

We went through most of

our food yesterday, after all.

Actually, you went through most of it.

I knew it! This place isn't on the map.

There was a location

I hadn't discovered this close?

Hey, you there!

Who are you?

Where did you come from?

Don't move!

Make one wrong move and you'll regret it!