"Right now, our main problem is that the ring has already set a course for Version 1.0F. But Version 1.0F itself is nowhere to be found."
The Short-Haired Tiny Mita sat on the edge of the bed, deep in thought, swinging her short legs. "Since we've confirmed our objective—to get to 1.0F—all that's left is the [method]."
She looked at Alain and blinked. "Misha and I will keep discussing this for a bit. You and Prankster Mita go play over there for a while."
"..."
Alain felt like he was being left out. But he couldn't really say anything about it.
He'd majored in liberal arts in college, so when it came to the technical knowledge Misha and the Short-Haired Mita were discussing—ring codes, pathing algorithms, and the like—he was completely out of his depth.
He was good at setting up hidden folders for his 'study materials,' but this kind of professional stuff was best left to the professionals.
However... Alain himself actually had a method worth trying.
Even if it was basically a lottery...
"Phew..."
Prankster Mita sidled up to him, but Alain waved her away.
"Go play over there for a bit. There's something I want to try."
"Hmph! I'm mad." She didn't leave, though. She just stood quietly to the side, watching Alain's profile.
Meanwhile, Alain silently opened the Safety Guard panel, his gaze focusing on another progress bar— the Bug Fix progress bar.
This type of progress bar grew based on a Mita's degree of adaptation to reality.
Currently, Alain could see a total of three:
Misha, Millie, and Miluo.
Misha's progress bar was already near one hundred, and her rewards were ready to be collected. But Alain planned to check them the next time he returned to reality.
Miluo had only just arrived in reality, so her progress bar had barely reached 35%.
And Cap-Wearing Mita—Millie: [100%].
Alain's eyes fell on the final reward from Millie's progress bar: [Anywhere Door V2]
This was a one-time-use skill he had obtained and set aside a long time ago, back in reality when he had confessed to Millie.
"[Anywhere Door V2: After use, the next door opened will lead to a safe, unvisited version]"
"[Uses: 1]"
Simply put, the skill's effect was: you could open a door to a new, unvisited version, like winning a lottery.
And the skill's effect was exactly what Alain and the others needed right now.
Alain looked at Prankster Mita. "How many versions are there in the game world in total?"
"Hmm? Didn't you just tell me to—"
"I was wrong, babe."
"Babe..." Her breath hitched, and a sunset blush crept onto her cheeks. She patted her chest and turned her head away.
"That's more like it... I forgive you. Ahem!"
Prankster Mita proudly puffed out her ample chest.
"You really asked the right person with that question!" she said, raising a finger like a teacher's pointer.
"First, let's talk about the Mita world.
"Theoretically, there are countless game worlds, and each world is composed of different versions, running on energy supplied by the game publisher's servers."
"Just looking at the world we're in now, there are nearly twenty version numbers. And for each version number, there are countless Mita rooms of that version.
"The latest version, 1.9, has the most Mitas."
Alain nodded.
The versions he had visited so far ranged from newer ones like 1.9 and 1.75 to slightly older ones like 0.5.
The random target of the Anywhere Door V2 was an unvisited version, not an individual room. This meant that the [Door] wouldn't open to versions he had already been to, like 1.9 or 1.75.
Looked at this way, his previous travels had actually been quite helpful. They had directly shrunk the prize pool for the Anywhere Door's lottery down to a very small number.
"So, how many versions are there that I haven't been to?"
Alain asked the question that concerned him most right now. This was directly related to the probability of the Anywhere Door opening a door to Version 1.0F.
"Hmm..." Prankster Mita thought for a moment before reporting a number.
"Eight versions..." Looking at her raised fingers, Alain calculated the probability of a successful draw to be about 13%...
That's really low.
What's more, Version 1.0F was very likely a version overrun by the virus. In terms of safety alone, it didn't line up with the Anywhere Door V2's requirements.
He tried checking the Safety Guard panel, his gaze landing on the Anywhere Door V2's control interface.
Below, there were two checkable icons: "Safety" and "Unvisited."
He looked at the word [Safety]. This meant Alain could make the Anywhere Door open a version that could be either safe or unsafe.
Conveniently, "unsafe" also corresponded with the current state of Version 1.0F.
"..."
And "unsafe" also meant it was highly likely he would end up in another virus-infected room, resulting in...
...an awkward situation where he would fail to reach Version 1.0F while also facing a safety crisis. If that happened, he would have to waste the one chance with the Anywhere Door and come up with a long-term plan to enter 1.0F.
Alain glanced to the side. The Short-Haired Mita and Misha were deep in a heated discussion but still hadn't made any headway.
In other words... using the Anywhere Door V2's lottery was perhaps the most efficient way to reach Version 1.0F at the moment.
The most efficient if he was lucky, but who knew what would happen if he wasn't.
Alain mulled it over for a moment, then couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore. 'What's meant to be will be, and what's not, you can't force.' Time to just get it done.
"Hey, Player. I get the feeling you're about to do something dangerous," Prankster Mita's voice drifted over.
"There's a certain degree of danger, but if we want to move forward..."
Alain weighed the pros and cons on a scale. On one side was the nearly invincible virus that was already starting to corrode other versions. On the other was entering a version where safety was a coin toss.
It was an easy choice.
"I have to do it. This is for my sake, and for everyone's sake."
The two Mitas in the middle of their discussion seemed to notice something unusual over here and looked over to see Alain walking straight toward the door.
"Darling, what are you planning to do?" Misha asked, confused, a bad feeling rising in her heart.
Under the gaze of the others, he tapped a few times in the air and then opened the door—revealing a place behind it that was both strange and familiar.
Pink wallpaper, shimmering pale white particles, a tidy room... it was undoubtedly a Mita's residence.
And it was still unknown which version it was.
Alain's gaze fell on the ring on his hand. The dark green accessory showed no changes for now; he would have to enter the room completely for anything to happen.
So, which version was this, exactly?
_____
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