Alain lamented his own denseness. He hadn't even noticed his bro was jealous.
Back in version 1.5, Alain had unintentionally mentioned that, in a sense, he could also be considered a Mita. Millie must have started feeling jealous then. But on the surface, she still acted as flighty as usual. In reality…
Alain looked at the palm of his hand. Then he turned his gaze back to the hatted girl's face. She was lovingly stroking the guitar's gleaming surface. Perhaps she was a bit hung up on this matter?
"J-Just because of a casual remark I made, you rushed back and snatched my guitar for me?" Millie turned to gaze at him, her eyes reflecting a deep and mysterious light, an indescribable seriousness. She seemed to be anticipating a certain answer.
Then, she heard Alain's flat denial.
Millie breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want her bro to waste too much time on her. Alain and Misha were the most compatible; this was an idea she had been certain of since encountering the two in the version 1.75 room. That's right. This is good, this is good...
The hatted girl stored the guitar in her equipment bar, crossed her arms, her hat brim slightly obscuring her eyes, her thoughts unknown.
"It should be said, not just for the guitar, but also for our shared room." Alain walked past her, patted the girl's shoulder encouragingly, and then headed for the second door.
Hearing the answer, Millie turned back to look at his retreating figure. At the same moment, a box appeared before her: [You have obtained usage rights for the room]
Then, his next sentence made the girl smile again.
"A shared room... could it be called a bridal suite?"
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't let my best friend hear you say that!"
"It's fine, she agreed to let me have a harem."
"...I didn't agree to that!" Millie quickly walked behind Alain, her lips curving into a playful smile, her thick-gloved hand firmly patting his back.
Prankster Mita, who was enjoying the show from not far away, smiled knowingly and also joined the squad's pace.
Until—Alain stood before the second door. He looked back at the two girls; each could discern the answer in the other's eyes. This door… if their deductions weren't wrong, the answer behind the door was only 1.9 or 1.3B.
Alain's hand reached for the doorknob. He had the two girls step back a few paces before pulling open the curtain of the problem.
After the soft "click" of the door opening, a tender pink room and gradually diffusing pale white particles came into view. The photos hanging on the wall depicted a low-ponytail girl with a charming smile. Clearly, it was version 1.9. As for Crazy Mita herself, she was nowhere to be seen.
Thankfully... Alain breathed a sigh of relief. If he saw the 'bad woman' now, he would inevitably have to squeeze out time to deal with her.
Alain reconsidered; wasn't this also an opportunity? He glanced at the two behind him, softly said, "Wait for me a moment," then left the dark room, walked into version 1.9, and subsequently closed the door.
Millie and Prankster Mita exchanged a look, neither understanding what Alain intended to do.
And the hatted girl quickly recalled the time in the real world when he had wanted to use her as casting material… Once that thought arose, she seemed to know what Alain was up to.
Could it be, what wasn't settled in the real world, had to be finished in the game world? No way... When she entered Alain's real-world bedroom back then, she had secretly told her best friend—Misha, to try and get Alain a few more times... Could Alain's stamina be that good? Or did her best friend not follow through?
As her thoughts spiraled, her bro also emerged from the version 1.9 room.
"Alright, shall we go to the third door?"
"Wait a minute..." Millie grabbed Alain's hand, causing the young man to glance back at her.
"...What?" Alain gave a dumbfounded assessment, then turned and walked towards the third door without looking back. Did he get caught by the hat once, and now he had to bear the crime of "doing it" for the rest of his life?
As for the hatted girl, whose shy thoughts had been exposed by his words, her face flushed red, and she was speechless.
"Then what were you doing in Crazy Mita's room! Tell me, tell me!"
"Not telling, not telling~ Pooh pooh~"
"Stop imitating my tone!"
Prankster Mita smiled wryly, trying to mediate from the side, "Alright, alright, Alain must have his reasons for doing this. For now, we still need to check the third door."
Alain's steps halted before the last door. Millie's curiosity still burned, and she tugged at his sleeve. "What were you doing? Going in for such a short while, it's not enough time to 'do it,' right?"
Millie, her curiosity really is boundless. Alain sighed helplessly.
"I just wrote a love letter."
"...DA?" Her instant reply made Alain think he had misheard, only to see the hatted girl suddenly burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright! We need to get on with the mission! Yes, that's right!"
Seeing that she wanted to know, Alain decided not to hide it anymore. "Actually, Crazy Mita still owes me a gift. So, I left her a letter. Just asking for the 'gift,' that's all."
"A gift? Ah, speaking of which, I haven't given you my return gift yet..."
Seeing Millie start to ponder again, Alain simply patted her hat. Then, his gaze focused on the last door. Here, if there were no surprises, it should be the door to version 1.3B.
Alain's current progress bar was at 100%, yet he had no thoughts of returning to reality first, instead planning to deal with the 1.3B matter. Three progress bar skills, the Gauntlet of Failure, Memory Optimization, Cloud Recovery's revival, and the gift Crazy Mita owed him. Everything was ready. Right now, he was in his "complete form." Just do it.
However, he then recalled the large human-headed spider + slime hybrid monster he had seen when first entering 1.3B. That thing, if he were alone, honestly... would take quite a bit of effort.
Prankster Mita added from the side, "After entering 1.3B, I won't accompany you. But..." She lowered her voice, "I'll try my best to secretly help you! But please don't have any extravagant hopes."
"Thank you, I feel relieved." Alain glanced at the version 1.9 door again. Finally, his gaze returned, and he opened the door to 1.3B.
Through the crack in the door, it wasn't a corner of the 1.3B corridor that was revealed. But a peeping eye. Pale, lifeless, its face stuck with deathly white strands of hair. And... its height reached the very top of the door.
The three people in the dark room stared blankly at this scene. And in Alain's peripheral vision, he also saw a long, narrow leg standing on the ground, and beneath it, a mass of dark, flowing, murky water.
Upon seeing them, the monster was about to let out a startled scream, but Alain, out of muscle memory, thrust his greatsword forward. The monster's shriek, along with the solid cutting sensation of the greatsword, and the door was slammed shut by him without hesitation.
With a loud "Thud!", silence returned.
"...Um, why did you close the door?" Prankster Mita was puzzled.
And Alain... "Sorry, it's muscle memory already." The earlier "anywhere door" had left too deep a shadow on him, and now he had developed the good habit of "closing the door immediately upon encountering a door-opening kill."
He took a deep breath, raised his hand, and looked at his greatsword. This entry... was going to be a tough fight. Alain sighed helplessly. But there was no other way.
"Hmm?" In his peripheral vision, the version number on the ring still remained at 1.3B, unchanged. But the dark green light flickered constantly, making him puzzled.
"Sorry. I removed the interference with the ring earlier and forgot to tell you. You can use it after restarting it." Prankster Mita looked a little embarrassed. She received a comforting head pat from Alain.
He tapped the ring; the numbers displaying the version number flickered into garbled code. "Is this... searching for the version?"
And Alain's hand reached for the door again. At the same time, he gripped his greatsword, ready to face the enemy at any moment.
"Roger." Prankster Mita seemed to retreat into the version 1.5 room, but actually concealed her form.
Alain raised his alertness to the maximum and opened the door.
"...!" He first held his greatsword in front of him to block. However, after waiting for a long time, no attack came.
"What's going on?" Puzzled, he lowered his greatsword and looked through the crack in the door.
It was... a normal, sunlit corner of a corridor.
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