Lan, being Lan, ignored the warning.
The DoppelGanger shattered. The corrupted Mr. Prog fizzed into blue confetti.
He copied the file to his PET’s root directory while Rockman EXE 4.5 was running. The screen flickered. The usual title screen—with its rotating 3D model of Rockman—shattered like glass. In its place, stark white letters appeared against a black void: rockman exe 4.5 real operation title key
Then a virus outbreak hit. Not a game virus—an actual, corrupted Mr. Prog that spilled out of the PET’s wireless signal and began eating Lan’s desk lamp. The game’s battle screen expanded, covering Lan’s entire bedroom.
Lan saved the REAL_OP_TITLE_KEY.bin to three different backups. Then he started a new game. Not as a spectator. Lan, being Lan, ignored the warning
That’s when the Title Key’s second function activated. A new menu appeared in Lan’s vision:
As a partner.
The note attached read: "For Yuichiro. A fragment of the 'Synchro Chip' project. Do not load. The title key bypasses the operator simulation layer. It enables something we couldn't balance: Full Real Operation."