Castle Carnation
~Chapter 9~
[This file is marked CONFIDENTIAL under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Unauthorized access will have consequences.]
[The following content remains under analysis as evidence in case 001 of the Virtual Storage and Networking Extraordinary Circumstance Division, referred to generally as the Castle Carnation incident. This incident is ongoing, and this content is sensitive.]
Official Record for the 33rd Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence. Time: June 5th, 2019, presentation slot 17B. Special Presenter: Akihiko Kayaba.
I guess we'll get started. Welcome, everyone. My name is Akihiko Kayaba. You all may not recognize me that well-
[There is laughter from the audience. A prototype of the device which will be released under the name of NerveGear was demoed at the 2019 International Consumer Electronics Show, two months ago. Kayaba has been interviewed on nearly every major TV network, and is on the cover of more than a dozen publications, both in popular science and academic circles. The seating for this session was completely filled.]
... ah. Well, as you may already know, my primary field of expertise is not artificial intelligence. Yet, I submitted a request for a presentation slot at this conference, as there my research seems to have uncovered clues which many of you may find interesting in your own projects.
Traditionally, AI research has been distant from neurobiology. Most ongoing AI projects are careful mathematics and vector manipulation to achieve functionality that only vaguely resembles something organic. What we call 'neural networks' are just artificial operators, with nothing in common with actual neurons. Only in the past several years have we seen the development of processors to more closely model neural activity [...]
Now I'll move to my own research. The NerveGear is a kind of «BMI», or Brain-Machine Interface. It precisely sends electromagnetic signals to sensory neurons. For this to work, we've thoroughly scanned the active human brain with some of the most accurate techniques we can safely use. And, so, we have a near-complete map of a human's nervous system. [...] In all of that data, we discovered something shocking.
The base units for sub-cellular electromagnetic fluctuations seem to be microtubules within the neurons, which gravitate towards integral activation levels. We don't have the data to say definitively, but we hypothesize that this is evidence towards the «quantum brain dynamics» theory [...]
But we've discovered that we don't need to prove the existence of quantum brain dynamics to harness our information in the field of AI. With the high-density scans, we can save the electrical patterns that represent human response to a myriad of inputs. This database... We have every reason to believe an intelligence built this way, off of measurements taken from a real human brain, could behave just like a real human.
Though none exist yet, I've recently given these intelligences a name: «Manifested Animus Projection». 'Map'... like a road map, but with, ah, let's call them pathways of thought. Of course, a «MAP» is nothing as dramatic as a copy of the human soul, which, if the «QBD» theory is true, would require [...]
A «MAP»'s fundamental code would be no different from existing learning machines: Cleverbot, Wilson, and the like. It should be able to run on any modern computer system. But if we created a specialized hardware environment [...], allowing the intelligence to manage calculations on a high level... the potential for this kind of intelligence is magnified by a hundred times.
There are two classifications of artificial intelligence. One, the kind that controls NPCs in games: part analytical program, part pre-written dictionary of responses... we call it 'weak AI.' The other, the kind that can develop concepts, that has the ability to learn, adapt, create, like and dislike... what's called 'strong AI.' A «MAP» would be a weak AI, essentially not any more complex than a look-up table, but on the surface, it would appear to be a strong one... its human-like responses would make it seem to have emotion... its updating of its internal databases would make it seem to learn. Then again, you know what they say: observed behavior is what matters; if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... it should likely be considered a duck... Anyway, let's move on; classifying AI is not my area of expertise...
[End of relevant information. Remainder of file has been deemed extraneous to the investigation.]
~25th of March, 2023: Five months after release day.~
"The coliseum," Harry One wondered, "...has it always been here? What was the point of it before this tournament was announced?"
"Beats me," Klein answered. "I mean, of course the building's always existed. It's pretty convenient that it was left without much of a purpose until now."
Fuurinkazan (minus Dale, in order to stay under the 6-player team size limit) stood in one corner of the SkillCap arena, waiting for the other team to get ready. The floor was the 75th, the realm of scrap. Everything—crates, pillars, walls and floors—respected the dull colors of gray and brown. The arena was a round coliseum, with architectural features reflecting its Roman inspiration. It was made mentally incongruous yet all the more impressive by the material it was composed of: rather than expected marble and stone, classical columns and arches were cobbled out of the same rusted metal that composed nearly everything else on the floor. Filling in the arena were short, ramshackle buildings, arranged so that roughly straight roads manifested in a grid. One might have mistaken it for an actual section of the floor's main city, if not for the quite obvious elliptical border.
"So, who are we beating today?" Kunimittz said, smirking.
"Kibaou's team," Sinon said, succinctly. She leaned calmly against a wall, checking on her gun.
The weapon Sinon had found for the event was an accurized bolt-action Arisaka, with a low-magnification scope attached. It held just five rounds and lacked interchangeable magazines; fresh bullets would have to be loaded directly into the gun, either one-by-one or with grouping clips. However, it was a more agile weapon than her normal «Hécate», and, more importantly, it dealt just 245 base damage, making it legal for use in the tournament.
"Kibaou? «ALF»'s 'official' team? Those buffoons?" Dynamm grumbled.
They waited for their tournament round to begin. The tournament had many entrants, but their matches had passed by in a blur. Most, they had won with little effort. Sinon had yet to feel that a match wasn't going to end in certain victory. But now they were past the majority of the bracket, and facing teams who had managed to make it just as far without any losses themselves.
"I'm annoyed they even made it to semi-finals," Kunimittz said. "What is it, five matches they've had to go through so far?"
"Yeah," Issin said. "Same as us."
"Hey," Klein offered. "They may be arrogant... uh... twats... but you got to admit that running a guild the size of «ALF» is no mean feat. Kibaou's group isn't entirely incompetent."
"Or, they just rigged the results," Harry suggested. "Used their influence as the «ALF» to get their opponents to throw the matches."
"Hah," Klein said. "I guess I wouldn't put that past them."
The clang of a bell snagged their attention, and a text notification appeared in a purple window in front of each of them.
[All players have arrived and are within the starting areas. Match begins in thirty seconds.]
"Doesn't really matter," Klein said. "Let's get ready."
Nearly everyone had obtained cheap, tournament-friendly submachine guns - everyone besides Sinon, with her bolt-action, and Klein, who opted to go with a weak pump-action shotgun. The choice of SMGs was a conscious one. Since just a single solid hit would knock out a player, weapons with a high rate of fire, capable of locking down an area thanks to fear of getting hit by a stray shot, were clearly advantageous.
"OK," Klein said. "Everyone set? Stick to the plan, and we'll take this game for sure. Let's show 'em that having a big guild isn't everything."
Kirito rapped on the doorframe. "Hello? Liz? You in here?"
"Come in!" came the reply from the back of the store.
He made his way to the rear workshop. Lisbeth was leaned over her workbench, fiddling with what seemed a veritable pile of miscellaneous components,
"Hey," Kirito said. "How's, uh, business been?"
"Marginally profitable, as always." She stood up straight. "Good timing on your visit, by the way. Check this out!" She pointed at the mess of parts on her desk.
Kirito wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking at. "Check... what out in particular?"
Lisbeth tapped on a few things and returned them to her inventory, leaving only a slight clutter on the bench. "That, there. The square copper plate. See how it's wired to the piston? The connection hand-pattern for those sensor links are crazy hard. Try pushing down on the plate."
Kirito placed his palm on the metal and pushed. It gave a little, moving down about an inch, and made a loud click.
"Ta-dah! It's a button!" Lisbeth said. "Or switch! Or something. A pressure-sensitive doohickey."
"Okay," Kirito said. "...does it do anything?"
"No, not at the moment."
"...so what's the point?"
Lisbeth scratched her head. "The point? I don't know. But it's cool, isn't it? I wonder what kind of stuff it could be connected to. Oh, maybe it's possible to make a door or something that opens when you press a button."
"Don't most doors have a game-interface open function already?"
"I don't think you get it," Lisbeth said. "This 'button' is an object in the game that is made out of some base «Engineering» parts. Normally, But it's got functionality, a 3D model, and if you put it in your inventory it'll show up as «Large Copper Pressure Switch», not the generic «Assembled Mechanism» that you get from sticking any random parts together. It's like making a model of mech, but it doesn't gain AI; it just has some hybrid function."
"Yeah, I really don't get it. Does do anything to help us beat the game?"
"Of course it does! It means there are pre-defined combinations of parts that result in compound parts, which might be used to make even more complicated parts. Silica told me about this one way of making a button. I think, by trying odd combinations of parts, I've discovered maybe five or so other parts. There's a whole hidden crafting system that we're supposed to discover by fiddling around or using blueprints."
"So it really doesn't help much," Kirito summarized, "unless we stumble across some super awesome secret recipes."
Lisbeth sighed. "It's about the potential," she grumbled.
Kirito pushed on the plate a few times, making clicks echo through the room. "Oh, Silica. You're keeping up with her? She okay?"
"She's holding up. Did you know that the Floor 47 main city doesn't have a safe-zone?
"What?"
"Yeah. No outdoors safe-zone protections. Only the insides of lodgings like inns are protected."
"Weird," Kirito mused.
"Seems like it was pretty tough when they first got up there, but it's settled down as they've gotten used to the place. Kiting them around, taking them on one at a time, having a lot of mechs ready for drawing fire... pretty clever tactics, relying on the mechs soaking up bullets so no one has to take huge risks. Silica says someone sent them this whole booklet of information on how to deal with enemies that level advantage."
"Hmm," Kirito said. "Silica's putting together the mechs for that, I guess?"
"Yup. I've been sending her a bunch of parts every other day, through the post."
"Oh, the post. Right, that exists."
The 'post' referred to the system which served as an analogue to physical mail. Every city had a 'post office' building. Items could be brought to it and sent 'through the post' to another player, with an accompanying fee based on the value of the items. The recipient themselves would have to go to a post office in order to retrieve the items.
Because of the fee, which could be avoided by just trading in person, and because Kirito didn't find himself sending items to others very often, Kirito had never had any real use for the post, and had mostly forgotten about it.
"You're... not mad at the info broker?"
"Oh, I'm plenty annoyed. I've never liked info brokers anyways, so this hasn't changed my opinions too much. Silica's fine at the moment, though, and that's what matters."
Lisbeth walked over to a storage box and began putting items in her inventory. "I'm about to head to town to send today's parts, actually. Want to come with me?"
Kirito shook his head. "I was actually just passing by. Someone asked me to run an errand. I'll get going, I guess."
"Someone?"
"...info broker."
Lisbeth frowned. "Well, try not to get yourself into too much trouble."
"So why isn't the «Floria» safe zone on?"
Argo looked at him. "Because we haven't beaten Floor 46's boss yet. That's the trigger that enables the next floor's safe-zones. There's a message which pops up after every floor boss that says this, remember?"
"Ah."
Argo was quiet. They stood just inside a forest that ran along the main road leading out of «Taft», the main city of Floor 11. A slight breeze rustled the oak leaves which shaded them; small gaps in the leaves let a hint of light ripple across the forest floor.
"So..." Kirito started. "Why am I here today?"
"Because I don't like death," Argo said. She pulled something out of one of her pockets. "Here, catch."
He did, and examined the round object. "This... is an apple."
"Yeah. Picked it up in «City Alpha». There's a tree. It drops them sometimes."
Kirito subjected it to close examination. Color: red. Type... Fuji? Reasonably firm. Unbruised. Fresh?
He looked up. "Are you trying to make a biblical reference, or..."
Argo sighed. "I was trying to give you a snack. Aren't you supposed to eat apples, not analyze them?"
"With you, I never know." Kirito bit into it. It was cool, sweet, and crisp.
"Ish pretty good," he said, slightly muffled.
"Really? I poisoned it."
Kirito stopped chewing and stared at her.
Argo smirked under her hood. "Just kidding."
Slowly, Kirito resumed chewing.
"See," Argo said. "You don't like death either, I'd bet."
"No," Kirito said. "That's a pretty safe bet to make of anybody."
"Not everybody."
She pointed out of the forest, across the road, at a solitary gray concrete building.
"Surely the name «Laughing Coffin» means something to you by now?"
The match went about as well as Sinon could have hoped. It was almost disappointing how predictably the other team acted. Used to fighting predictable mobs, not players, Sinon supposed. Was there even really a good reason to hold a tournament like this? What use was there for practice fighting other players, anyways?
Fuurinkazan's only player loss was Dynamm, who had stood up in the middle of the last firefight with the one remaining opponent to taunt them and got tagged by friendly fire.
The players collected around the coliseum exit.
"Oh, great," Harry said. "Look out, Leader, Kibaou's coming over."
Klein turned to face the man as he approached, footsteps pompous as always.
"Alright, Klein," Kibaou grumbled. "You win this time. But this stuff's all screwing around, anyways. Don't know why you're still actin' like you can take on the world with six people. Push comes to shove, little bitty guilds like yours just aren't gonna work. Get with the program."
Klein snorted. "And join your «ALF»? Let me tell you something. We're not fighting a war here. We're trying to beat a game. And in my experience, 'little bitty' groups like ours work wonders for that. The last boss fight? It was a disaster."
Kibaou's eyes narrowed. "I don't want to hear about that from you," he said. "That fight wasn't perfect, but we succeeded. We lost people because there wasn't enough cohesion. Because the non-ALF parties wouldn't coordinate enough to fill out our defensive screens. Because some of the people who should have been at that fight weren't."
Klein looked down. "...yeah," he admitted. "You're right. We should have been there. But still, it was Heathcliff's party that turned the fight around, wasn't it?"
"And if he started talking with us, that'd have made it go even smoother." Klein saw Kibaou's eyes look up and to the right. "I've got to go manage business. You think about what I said. The longer you stay separate from «ALF», the more you'll miss out on."
"I'm having a hard time believing that, mister-just got eliminated from the tournament."
Kibaou emitted a short 'humph' and strode off.
"I hate him," Kunimittz said.
Klein sighed. "Sometimes I feel like you just hate everything."
"I'm entitled to my opinions, aren't I?"
And so Fuurinkazan moved on to the final match. Sinon swiped open her menu and checked the results of the other semifinal to see who they'd be facing.
The results did not surprise her in the slightest:
[«CRoO» defeats «FuMG» and advances to the final round!]
Sinon tightened her grip on her rifle.
They'd be facing Heathcliff's team in the finals. Now this... this was going to be an interesting match.