Spiteful Healer

Chapter 129: The Trigger

“Here ya go, the first shipment of stone. More are on the way.” Tullan called out to Aegis as he was working on the framework for the walls of Rene on the western side of the village. Ruffily, Yuki, Darkshot, Rakkan, Amlie, Princess Savika and quite a few other players and NPCs were working alongside them. They were making good progress setting up sturdy wooden logs and planks, but everyone was eager to get started on the actual masonry.

Tullan approached them with 15 wagons in tow, all being pulled along by various beasts of burden, primarily horses, which were led by a mix of NPCs and low level Night Hunter members.

“If ye’d like a hand, I’d be happy to help out.” Tullan offered, and as he did he looked up to a strange whooshing sound he’d heard above him, only to see Lina falling out of the sky nearby.

“Shadowstep!” She quickly shouted, causing her to teleport out of the air and reappear in the shadow of a nearby building. It was still fairly dark out as the dawn of the following morning was setting in. “Sorry… almost had it that time.” Lina huffed as she watched Snowflake, the gryphon from which she had fallen, slowly land on the street beside her while Tullan watched. Snowflake let out a playful screech and nudged Lina to get her to hop back on his back, and she did, taking off into the sky a few seconds later as Aegis and Tullan watched her soar upwards.

“Yeah, actually that’d be a great help.” Aegis replied to Tullan, fidgeting with his interface to invite Tullan into the construction project.

“How much longer until we go on an adventure?” Darkshot asked as he moved to stand beside Aegis, taking a break from working on the framework.

“Well…” Aegis panned around the surrounding lands as the sun slowly began to creep up over the horizon and set it aglow. “The Portal Altar is finished, we’re just waiting on Trexon.” Aegis motioned to Tullan.

“Aye, he’s on his way, they ought to be here soon.” Tullan answered.

“Then, Lina’s making good progress on taming Snowflake.” Aegis motioned up to Lina flying above on Snowflake’s back. “We’ve got the stone and most of the framework done for the wall, so, the quicker we get it done, and the barracks, the quicker we can go.” Aegis patted Darkshot on the back with enthusiasm.

“Can’t you just wake me up when it’s all done?” Darkshot forced a yawn.

“Did your dreamstate Simbox arrive already?” Aegis asked him.

“No.” Darkshot sighed.

“Well c’mon, the faster it gets done, the faster we can leave Rene without having to worry about it being unprotected while we’re away!” Aegis tried to encourage him.

“You’re a slave driver.” Darkshot mumbled as he reluctantly waddled his way back to work, but he stopped when he saw Aegis start walking away from the construction project and towards the townsquare of Rene. “Hang on, where are you going? Why aren’t you helping with the wall?” Darkshot asked him as Darkwing cooed from his shoulder expectantly.

“Oh me? I’ve got one last secret task to complete. Speaking of that…” Aegis went into his interface again and began pressing some buttons. “I’ll be back in a bit guys, some secrets can’t be revealed.” Aegis winked at his audience before shutting the livestream off.

“Hooh. Can I ask what the secret is?” Tullan asked with intrigue.

“Nope.” Aegis grinned back mischievously before heading off further into the city.

“Hope he doesn’t get himself banned doin’ somethin shady.” Tullan shook his head to himself.

Yuki, who was working on the wall nearby, had a habit of always having a livestream viewer open in her peripheral vision to watch something while she was crafting, in the corner of her eye. Typically she watched over her friend Yumily’s livestream, but lately she had taken to watching Aegis as well, and this was one of those times. As Aegis turned off his stream a few meters away from her, she looked over towards him and watched him walk away from the wall’s framework they’d been setting up on the western end of Rene, and saw him disappearing into Rene towards the town square.

As she stared at him for a few seconds, she heard the light plop of talons and paws landing behind her, and turned to see Lina on top of Snowflake, walking towards her curiously.

“Hi, Yuki.” Lina smiled and waved at her.

“Hi.” Yuki waved back nervously.

“I wanted to say thank you, for, you know, getting Aegis out of that situation.” Lina replied with a smile.

“Oh. No problem. I remembered Hae-won said he’s bad with girls, so I don’t even think he realized that Cheryl was flirting with him.” Yuki shook her head. “It’s my job as council member, and his friend, to help out with stuff like that. Since he already has a girlfriend.” Yuki smiled as she caught Lina looking over her shoulder to stare off at where Aegis had walked. “But, now his stream is off. It’s going to be tough for you.” Yuki said sympathetically.

“Hm?” Lina wasn’t sure what Yuki meant.

“I mean… Well, when Yumily got famous, a lot of fans started getting really flirty with her. It was really annoying for everyone. She had to hire a high level Samurai player to join her party as a bodyguard.” Yuki explained with a shrug.

“Oh… I’m not worried about Aegis. I trust him.” Lina smiled warmly, and as Yuki eyed her carefully, she could tell Lina was being truthful, and felt a hint of jealousy creep into her heart. “That Loki player, on the other hand.” Suddenly Lina’s expression changed, she gripped the hilts of her daggers tightly, and Yuki could’ve sworn she saw her eye twitch. The only thought that went through Yuki’s mind after that was that Lina was a little bit scary.

“Well, I guess we should get back to work.” Yuki said with a forced smile as Princess Savika waddled over to them, struggling to carry a wooden plank. Yuki quickly helped her balance it.

“Okay.” Lina nodded politely before kicking off the ground with Snowflake and soaring up into the sky.

“What was that about? That was totes sus.” Savika said in a weird dialect.

“Don’t copy lingo from other-worlders.” Yuki scolded her as a mother would.

“Okay.” Savika pouted.

Aegis sat down inside the town hall by himself, watching the sun shining in its dark blue morning light through the windows around him. It was nice to be alone and get some peace and quiet, and he found himself missing the days back when Rene was much less populated. As he began to fidget with his interface to open his livestream viewer, he started daydreaming about what sort of keep or castle he should build in Rene to have more privacy, as sitting in the public town hall was far from ideal.

Aegis was searching through old video archives online using his livestream viewer to find videos of interviews with Averon Inc. developers from the early testing days of the Shattered World online's inception. He wanted to find any solid information on how AI worked within the game, to possibly assist him in building up a plan on how to make them Elite. He had a weak theory on how to do it now, but he wanted something more concrete.

Being alone in the town hall with his livestream off and no one to bother him was the perfect opportunity to do that, he thought, and eventually he landed on an interview from the early beta testing stages of the game, titled ‘Meet the NPCs of the Shattered World Online’. Aegis made the livestream viewer big enough that it dominated his peripheral vision.

The start of the video had two individuals sitting across from each other in comfy blue chairs, with a screen behind them playing footage of NPCs interacting with one another in the game world.

“Welcome back everyone, here at VGN we’re continuing our exclusive coverage of The Shattered World Online, an up and coming VRMMORPG that promises to take the world by storm. With me today is one of the lead AI engineers, Thomas Yuselph. Nice to meet you Thomas.” The interviewer said politely to him.

“Nice to meet you.” Thomas bowed politely. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about our game with you all.”

“Absolutely. So, tell me a bit about what we can expect from the AIs in The Shattered World Online.”

“Well, AI and NPCs are the lifeblood of the game, really.” Thomas adjusted himself in his seat as his eyes filled with excitement. “Our predecessors in this genre have fallen short in bringing their VRMMORPG worlds to life, which is the state we believe they need to be in, in order to fulfill the fantasy of existing in another living, breathing world that our players can explore. It is through the AI system that we hope to solve that issue.”

“Well, how exactly do the AI NPCs bring the world to life?”

“It’s simple, really. We’re taking advantage of the technology being used in other fields of study and engineering today. We’ve taught our supercomputer to emulate various personalities that real people possess by studying billions of terabytes of data freely available on the internet today. By having our Averon SuperAI, as we call it, study why people act certain ways to certain situations based on their families, where they were raised, what foods they ate growing up, what clothing they prefer to wear, the music they listen to, and so on - it’s possible to recreate these very same personality traits and simulate them to be so realistic, you can’t tell the difference between them and a real person.”

“Yes, of course, AI has become quite advanced in recent years. But, doing something like that would require massive computing power, wouldn’t it? I assume, from what we’ve seen in your beta tests, that your world will be massive, filled with hundreds of thousands of NPCs.” The interviewer asked curiously.

“Yes, millions actually.” Thomas corrected him. “You’re quite right, even with recent advancements in computing technology, the computing power required to simulate a realistic AI for every NPC in the game just isn’t feasible. And frankly, it isn’t necessary.” Thomas adjusted himself in his chair again, motioning to the screen behind him which displayed a goblin encampment where goblin NPCs were walking about, interacting with each other.

“We’ve actually separated our NPCs into two types. Normal, and Elite, as fans of the genre may be familiar with these terms. A normal NPC doesn’t use advanced AI systems to simulate a real personality. They simply act out a set of code and instructions. Very low on computing power. It’s what you would typically expect to find in any other VRMMORPG.” Thomas explained. “The Elite NPCs, however, will have more computing power dedicated to them, with fully developed interests and personality traits based on who and what they are in the game world. Who their parents are, where they live, what diet they have in that region, and the threats present there - all of this will help form who they are as an NPC. And in turn, once they start interacting with players, they will learn more about the players and remember them, and be able to form relationships with them, and so on.”

“Could they fall in love with players?” The interviewer joked.

“Very possible, yes. Just as a real person would. Or hate them, depending on how they are treated. The fully functioning Elite NPCs will be indistinguishable from a real person, save for the fact of course that they can still give out quests, and don’t respawn when slain.” Thomas replied with a nod.

“That’s a unique choice to not have them respawn. Doesn’t that open up the potential for bad actors to cause havoc?” The interviewer asked.

“Yes, possibly. But Elite NPCs will be smart, and strong, and there will be consequences for committing crimes against them. In order to make our world feel as real as possible, actions need to have consequences, and the threats of the world need to be threatening. For example, if you were to kill the King of a Kingdom, only to have him respawn an hour later, it wouldn’t be very engaging for the players right? Players wouldn’t feel obligated to protect their king, and wouldn’t be invested in the people of the kingdom.” Thomas explained.

“But, should the King be slain and not respawn, the city loses its leadership. It falls into chaos. The NPCs you were selling items to, or doing quests for, stop feeling safe coming out of their homes. The facilities of the world lose their workers and stop functioning, and it all falls apart until a new King is put in place to bring order back to the land. It’s a living, breathing world that lives and dies based on the choices made by the players.” He added.

“But let's say the players take it too far. You know how gamers can be.” The interviewer leaned in with intrigue. “They decide they want to run things their way, and don’t like the NPCs, and wipe them all out. What happens to the Kingdom?”

“There are two sides to every coin. Both good, and evil. If players in a region decide to take a darker, more sinister route in their gameplay, there will be evil NPCs waiting to take advantage of their dark hearts.” Thomas shrugged.

“Very interesting.” The interviewer grinned excitedly as he paused to think on this answer for a moment. “Let’s get back to talking about Elite versus non-elite NPCs. How do you decide which NPCs will be elite, and which will not?” The interviewer asked.

“Great question.” Thomas leaned forward. “When the game launches, there will be a select few NPCs that will be elite out the gate. This will be Kings, Queens, Princesses, Princes, major villains, and such. In addition, the harder dungeons of the game will have a variant of the Elite status where the enemies will be able to fight as a real person would, but won’t exert much in the way of a realistic personality beyond that.” Thomas explained.

“But let's say I meet a shopkeeper, she’s an NPC but she’s really cute, and I really want to get to know her better. Can I do something like that? Will she ever be elite, or will she remain a typical NPC?”

“That’s the most important part about our system. I don’t want to reveal too much information about how it works, lest I risk players gaming the system too much as we both know they love to do in this genre.” Thomas smirked and the interviewer chuckled. “But let's just say that if you show her enough love and care, and involve her enough in your life, the system will possibly begin to allocate more resources to her personality and raise the chance that she is moved from the Basic AI system over to the advanced AI system, turning her from a normal NPC to an Elite NPC.” Thomas explained with a grin.

“So it is possible? Players can decide which NPCs act human-like, and which ones just behave like NPCs?” The interviewer asked.

“Yes, it’s possible. For most NPCs.” Thomas paused. “There are exceptions of course, most basic monsters that respawn out in the open world will only ever be non-elite. This is both a restriction of our technology, and for gameplay reasons - it can be mentally stressful to constantly be battling lifelike enemies. Sometimes you just want to kill some goblins and not feel bad about it.” Thomas explained and the interviewer nodded, the two chuckling.

“Oh I love me some goblin murderhoboing.” The interviewer chuckled. “Still, this all sounds very interesting. I’m eager to see how it all feels to play when the game comes out.”

“Well, we’re still in beta right now. The beta test is limited to a small play area, but anyone who pre-orders the game and has a Simbox that meets the minimum system requirements is able to jump in and play now. We’re looking for any and all feedback as we prepare for launch in the coming months.” Thomas smiled at the camera.

“Well, there you have it folks. Thomas, thank you very much for this interview and this insight into how the AI and NPCs will work in your upcoming title. I wish you the best of luck with the launch.” The interviewer bowed to him.

“Thank you.” Thomas bowed back, and the video cut off.

Aegis closed his livestream viewer and began tapping his finger on the table as he went deep in thought, pondering everything he’d learned so far about Elite NPCs. He knew that if they left Rene before making Farlion and Celestian elite, they’d have a hard time defending it against real threats, regardless of how high level Rakkan managed to train them.

“Clara… Leonard’s spouses… those guys at the Leadership quest. Erikson and Josephine’s kid… allocate more resources to develop their personality, the more they are interacted with. That explains why Celestian and Farlion have names, but no other guards do. They were allocated names because players asked for them.” Aegis thought out loud as he stood up, pacing around the room.

“Clara… priestess of Orm. She had so many players interacting with her, she undoubtedly was forced to have many personality traits assigned to her by the SuperAI. Just like those guards at the Leadership quest…” Aegis said as he scratched his chin. “But there’s something missing. The other NPCs that gave out intermediate weapon mastery quests were not all elite. Some were, but most of them were not. And they get constant interactions with players.” Aegis continued to ponder as he sat back down and scratched his head in frustration, trying to work it out.

“Celestian already exhibits a lot of personality. So does Farlion. They have a lot of resources already allocated to their AI. But they need a trigger. Something to force them to make the switch.” Aegis concluded. “Making love to them seems to work as a trigger, but I’m not about to seduce them.” Aegis leaned back in his chair and stared up at the roof with a sigh. “Clara’s trigger… How does what happened to Clara relate to making love? What do the events have in common? It has to be something that could also have occurred for those guards at the Leadership intermediate quest.” He asked himself as he remembered back on what had happened on the Airship just before Clara stepped out as Elite and began casting smite to save them from the reapers.

It wasn’t long after that before it all slowly came together in Aegis’ mind, and a big grin grew on his face.

“There’s no way it's that easy, is it?” He said to himself excitedly as he stood up and rushed out of the building, looking to find Celestian and Farlion.