"Of course, aside from the issues with offense and defense, there's only one thing left to mention."
Over the phone, Millie's voice sounded particularly confident, leaving Alain in suspense.
"Good buddy, you can't leave me hanging like this."
"Relax, relax." Millie chuckled twice. "The benefits of cracking your system for us aren't just 'discovering a new enemy' and 'rescuing 2D Mita,' you know. During the modification process, we also opened a little something for you..."
She paused, and everyone else fell silent. You could hear a pin drop, leaving only Millie's mysterious tone in the air.
The Mitas looked at Alain with faint smiles, eagerly waiting to see his excited expression upon receiving this precious gift.
And Millie slowly uttered those few words:
"Fēng·Líng·Yuè·Yǐng~"
"..." Alain was silent. The name Fēng Líng Yuè Yǐng sounded completely unrelated to the current situation.
But in reality, it just meant 'cheating.'
So, what Millie meant was...
"A disclaimer first, okay? To cover our tracks, none of the changes are too outrageous; they're all within a reasonable range." The girl in the cap gave him a heads-up.
"My gift is that progress bar skill—"
Hearing this, Alain checked the Safety Guard panel. Only then did he discover that a slider had appeared next to every progress bar skill. This meant they could be adjusted.
"You can now freely adjust the order of the progress bar skills. If you want, you could even use Accelerated Cleaning at 25%~"
"Whoa! Good buddy, you're way too reliable!"
The skills in the early stages of the Safety Guard's progress bar were all rather conservative, and it wasn't until it reached 75% that an offensive skill like Accelerated Cleaning appeared.
Back when Alain had just entered the game world, such a skill progression would have been perfect for getting through the 'novice period.'
However, for the 'veteran,' the 'pro gamer' he was now, such a conservative skill order was no longer sufficient.
But according to Millie's explanation, adjusting the skill order meant he could face everything in the future with much more flexibility.
For example, activating Accelerated Cleaning right at 25% and just swishing his way through everything was now a viable strategy.
This was exactly a thought that had crossed his mind in the past. His good buddy was truly on the same wavelength as him.
"Ahem... I also made a few minor changes to the skills, like making the greatsword from Accelerated Cleaning retractable for portability and stuff like that. You'll have to explore those on your own later." After Millie finished, 2D Mita took over.
"And now, for my welcoming gift."
To make sure everyone could hear her, she emerged from the Safety Assistant, her gaze focused on Alain.
"Similarly, to avoid being detected by the people at the anonymous port, what I did wasn't too extreme. It's just for the skill [Memory Optimization]."
With her authority over the Safety Assistant, 2D Mita gave a light tap of her finger, and the Memory Optimization icon appeared before his eyes.
"With my modifications, I've added a passive effect to it, on top of it being an active skill."
"?"
A passive effect? What did that mean? As Alain puzzled over it, he went ahead and checked Memory Optimization.
After carefully skimming the skill description, he sucked in a sharp breath.
The active part of Memory Optimization, 'refresh a skill's use count once,' hadn't changed, but a new line explaining a passive skill had been added:
To put it simply, it was [Memory Optimization is specifically directed to optimize the Failed Works Gauntlet, causing the Failed Works Gauntlet's use count to be refreshed each time you enter the game]
At first glance, it didn't seem much different from before. However—
The current Alain had not just one gauntlet that needed charging, but a pair—two gauntlets.
The gauntlets' use count was fixed at 1. Each time he wanted to use them, he needed Memory Optimization to recharge them.
And the use count for Memory Optimization was also 1. This meant that one gauntlet was inevitably doomed to be a mere decoration.
Moreover, he would soon have to face the Corrosive Entity—an enemy that seemed to be countered by the Intranet Firewall. Who knew if a single use of the Intranet Firewall would be enough to deal with it?
At that point, he could only use Memory Optimization once to increase the Firewall's use count, causing both gauntlets to lie idle due to not being recharged.
But now, with the Memory Optimization modified by 2D Mita, it would passively restore the use count of both gauntlets every time he entered the game.
This way, the active skill of Memory Optimization was freed up, giving him more flexible decision-making space: he could choose to use the active skill on the Firewall or the progress bar skills, and so on.
In a sense, this also drastically increased the number of times Memory Optimization could be used.
"And now, it's my turn." Seated on a high chair she'd brought from somewhere, Short-Haired Mita spoke, then stood up and walked over to Alain.
"First, the issue with the Failed Works Gauntlet." She looked down at Alain's gauntlets, stating briefly, "From now on, the Safety Assistant will see both gauntlets as a single entity."
"..." Alain was silent, only half-understanding. What Short-Haired Mita meant was that his gauntlets were no longer 'two,' but a pair.
He didn't quite get it—
"!" He got it, he completely got it!
What Big Sister meant was that if the Safety Assistant's Memory Optimization function was used on the gauntlets, the target of the effect would no longer be one gauntlet, but the pair—both gauntlets would be recharged and take effect simultaneously!
This was truly a precious gift. But seeing the look on Short-Haired Mita's face, Alain knew her offerings weren't over yet.
"Alain, your progress bar increases based on your status as a [Virus], right?"
"Right." What Big Sister meant was that he had to 'bully' viruses to make the progress bar increase.
The [Virus] recognized by the Safety Guard did not refer to the Devouring Entities and their kind. It referred to Mitas, and specifically ones like Crazy Mita or Ugly Mita. Sleepy Mita also worked, but she could be considered an exception.
Alain didn't understand the logic behind it either, which forced him to say some rather embarrassing things.
He considered himself a dapper gentleman, a graceful master of the 2D world.
Forcing him to engage in that sort of behavior...
It was truly mortifying—shameful.
Wait a minute...
Alain's face suddenly turned pale.
Surely Big Sister wasn't about to say that after the upgrade, the progress bar could be increased by killing true viruses like Modified Entities and Devouring Entities, right?
That way, he would no longer have to increase the progress bar by bullying Mitas...
Anything but that...
"...Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Short-Haired Mita wanted to lecture him, but held herself back.
Misha started laughing. "I think I can guess why~"
"Alright, alright, I don't know what you're thinking, but it's definitely not that." The short-haired girl sighed faintly. "From now on, you can freely select a target to be a virus. But since the Safety Assistant seems to be very stubborn, true viruses still can't be used as a means to increase the progress bar."
"You mean—" Alain looked up.
Big Sister scratched her cheek, also finding it a bit hard to say what came next. "You can freely select any Mita and designate them as a [Virus]. And then... increase the progress bar."
She lowered her head. "This is going to be tough on you."
"It's alright." Alain accepted this heavy burden. "For you, Big Sister, I'm willing to do it."
He hugged the girl, holding her tight, so tight she was a little breathless.
"R-Really... As long as you're happy, it's fine." Short-Haired Mita had never been in a situation like this before. Her face flushed red as she leaned against his chest.
And among the Mitas present, the only remaining [Gift]— was Misha's.
___
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