The young man's eyelids trembled slightly. Clear light projected into his pupils, making Alain, who hadn't seen the color "white" for a long time, feel surprised.
Thoughts that had sunk to the bottom gradually surfaced. He recalled that he should have reached the "Core."
What met his eyes was a stretch of pure white railings, with crisp, tender green plants placed nearby.
It was then that he realized one side of his face felt a little cool, and his vision was tilted. He then knew he had been sleeping on the pristine ground.
"...Was it really a dream?"
Alain checked his entire body. There was no severe pain like in version 1.3B. This time, it could be said he had dealt with the Modified Entity without a scratch, and had some contact with "that woman" mentioned by Short-Haired Mita.
The battle could be considered quite successful.
He supported himself on the railing and stood up. He shook his head, casting off the weariness in his mind.
Looking around, Crazy Mita was lying not far from him, still holding the electric saw he had given her.
From this angle, her panties looked pretty good. He should compliment them when she woke up.
Alain nodded, his gaze sweeping past Crazy Mita and settling on their surroundings.
It was a pure white labyrinth, forming a winding shape. A few potted green plants scattered around dispelled the pure white solitude.
Looking further, there were also two passages nearby, leading to unknown destinations.
Presumably, this was the White Labyrinth Misha had spoken of.
His thoughts couldn't help but return to the scene where the smaller and giant Black Balls merged. At that time, the labyrinth was still purely black, presumably a result of the Modified Entity's erosion.
Now, everything had returned to normal. He breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The Modified Entity had always been a thorn in his side, a constant worry until it was removed. What if, while he was progressing in future versions, the Black Balls caused trouble behind him? That would be a headache.
And it was proven by facts: if Alain had been a few steps slower in clearing the Black Balls, who knew how far the situation would have escalated.
Not to mention the White Labyrinth, which would have been completely eroded, even the Gray-White Room would have become a virus-occupied territory. And then... it would have eroded into the Infinite Corridor, a crucial version transit point.
Fortunately, none of these things would happen now.
As his thoughts wandered, his gaze surveying the corridor noticed some distinct markings on the ground.
[DLC:kL8$ #mX@3zP%qR9!&]
Another Golden Legend DLC Code, a reward for him defeating the complete virus form.
He slowly walked over, and with a thought, opened the Safety Guard panel.
According to past instances, DLC Codes were usually used to enhance his current progress bar skills. Cleanup Acceleration and Safety Protection had already been enhanced after he defeated the Mother Monster possessed by the Devourer and Parasite.
At this moment, only the Virus Scan skill remained un-upgraded.
"..."
Thinking of this skill, Alain couldn't help but sigh.
Virus Scan was somewhat useful in the early stages, helping him find the hidden "bad woman" and the Devourer. But after he gained some combat experience, it became somewhat insufficient.
Current viruses were strong enough to openly engage him in direct combat, or they were mechanic-based monsters. Virus Scan was difficult to make effective, becoming a white elephant.
And the upper limit of this skill was actually not very high. Even if upgraded, Alain couldn't think of how it should be improved...
At this point, he had finished entering the DLC Code, but unexpectedly, a reward box popped up.
One of the options was an enhancement for the Virus Scan skill, which Alain didn't think much of:
"Virus Scan usage count increased to three times?"
Alain's mouth twitched. The number of uses wasn't the fundamental problem, was it? The scanning precision and functionality were what mattered.
Just like the Mother Monster in version 1.3B: Alain had used Virus Scan back then, but the scanned object only showed the monster's main body, not the Parasite itself.
The logic extended well: If the virus mechanism was special, like a Parasite residing within a body, even if scanned twice or thrice, the result would be the same.
"Flying Dance 720—"
Just as Alain was about to complain as usual, his gaze focused on another reward box. Right, although there was only one reward, there were two boxes.
The two large golden reward boxes seemed to offer him a choice, separated by an "or." A choice between two...
Alain's gaze landed on the second box.
"Hm?"
The content displayed there, however, surprised Alain:
"Intranet Firewall?"
A new skill? Alain exclaimed, "Well, I'll be!"
He had thought the Safety Guard only had three progress bar skills plus Teleport Home at most. He proceeded to check the skill's description.
The system's explanation was verbose, but it could broadly be interpreted as providing a one-time defensive effect similar to Safety Protection.
It was a defensive skill.
However, its defensive scope was completely different from Safety Protection. If Safety Protection defended against active, malicious, substantive, and physically damaging attacks from people or things within the game, then Intranet Firewall could defend against non-aggressive, more abstract "controls."
That is, the "dream" he just experienced, or the "dark room" of the bad woman—these hard controls that forcibly dragged him to a place and messed with him repeatedly.
It was a specialization for this aspect.
Furthermore, at the end of the skill explanation, there was a special reminder:
[This skill can be used in any scenario]
Any scenario... does that mean any scenario in the game world?
"Quite good, then."
Alain's thoughts couldn't help but recall that woman in uniform. She still had the ability to create dreams.
That ability was like a dangerous sword, hanging over Alain's head at all times, threatening to pierce him at any moment.
Because he could only passively react to everything in the dream world. But if he had this skill, it would be different.
Intranet Firewall's skill description was "defend once."
If a "dream within a dream" effect was cast on him, even if the situation remained tricky, Alain would not be utterly helpless. At the very least, he could seize some initiative in breaking out of dreams.
As for dealing with "dark room" situations, Intranet Firewall was even more proficient.
Alain chose this skill without hesitation. Directly above the progress bar, a plump, sesame-sized icon appeared, along with a small question mark.
Alain's mind flickered, and he tapped the question mark.
According to the Safety Guard's explanation, in simple terms, Intranet Firewall could be used as a skill available at 0% progress, thus replacing any other progress bar skill.
Safety Protection and Cleanup Acceleration were indispensable for offense and defense; and Teleport Home was even more crucial. Therefore, currently, only one could be replaced:
Virus Scan.
Of course, this wasn't set in stone. When the progress bar reached a certain stage, he could still choose to use the skill for that stage (Protection/Scan/Cleanup/Home) or replace it with Intranet Firewall.
When Alain finished all this, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Just then, Crazy Mita, who was beside him, also woke up.
"Ugh... Darling~"
______
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