Chapter Text
Knight to f3.
Tetsuya observed silently as Kayaba placed one of the white knight pieces onto f3. He was expecting Kayaba to use one of the pawns first, but he already knew that Kayaba was planning something, even this early into their match, even if it was just the first move.
'What exactly could he be up to...?'
As Kayaba leaned back, he assured Tetsuya that this wasn't blitz chess. There was no need to rush to make a response.
"You can take your time before making your move. Of course, for you, time is of the essence, so I would understand why you would want to quicken the pace, but I assure you, Tetsuya. It would be most beneficial if you thought things through first."
Tetsuya narrowed his eyes slightly.
'He's taunting me. No matter which option I choose, playing chess or trying my chances with that secret boss, he'll still think I haven't given it enough thought.'
He glanced down at his own pieces. They were all still in their original positions.
For a brief moment, he panicked, feeling overwhelmed at the myriad of possible defenses, wondering if it would be effective or not.
'Just one wrong move is all it takes for this to fall apart... Shit... What do I do...?'
He willingly took this choice to play the game. After all, he didn't want to risk the possibility of further deaths amongst the Clearers, especially in a what-would-be rescue attempt for him.
Kayaba was in no rush but Tetsuya already felt like there was an hourglass on top of the table, beside the chess board, sand grains already beginning to fall through.
If he took too long, the Clearers might already be mounting a rescue attempt and might have already encountered the secret boss by then, and he wouldn't even be aware.
Tetsuya felt that he had to be decisive. Each move had to be leading closer to a victory in his favor.
He was already hovering his hand above various pieces but he still didn't know which one to pick.
'Come on... What should I do...?'
Expert chess players are typically renowned for being able to see the pieces play out before the actual moves are even used. Tetsuya was trying to tap into that but to no avail. He was still staring at the same board from earlier and couldn't think of any advancements.
Backed into a corner mentally, Tetsuya placed his fingers on the same side knight as the one that Kayaba moved, the one in g8.
However, seconds later, he felt that he wanted to put the queen into play quickly and realized that the pawn at c7 being moved to c5 would be a better choice for that strategy.
Just as Tetsuya took his fingers off the knight at g8 and was about to grab the pawn at c7, Kayaba spoke up, disapproving Tetsuya's gesture.
"You already touched a prior piece. That's the piece you'll have to move. It's the most basic rule in chess. Surely, you haven't forgotten it, even if it's been a while?"
Tetsuya clenched his hand that was currently under the table into a fist. He groaned silently.
'Shit...'
Tetsuya would have to move the knight in g8. With his options being so limited, Tetsuya caved in and decided to just buy himself some time, mirroring Kayaba's move by moving the knight to f6. Now, both Kayaba's knight piece and his own knight piece were out on the front lines.
It felt like a rather unoptimized move. Tetsuya felt disappointed about that, even feeling slightly upset. He knew that he could have done better there.
As Kayaba sat up straight again and began pondering over his options, he suddenly glanced over at Tetsuya and started a rather strange conversation.
"While we're here, I suppose I'll allow you to ask me a few questions."
Tetsuya's eyes expressed confusion as he glanced back at Kayaba.
"Questions? What, you want to do small talk while playing now?"
Kayaba nodded.
"Well, yes. Or would you rather just spend forty minutes in silence and just focus on playing? Quite boring, I'd say, even to someone like me."
Tetsuya scoffed in response.
"Someone like you... Right. More like someone as crazy as you."
Kayaba conceded, not even bothering to dispute Tetsuya's accusation of insanity. In fact, he seemed to wear that as some badge of honor, happily showing it off.
He even went as far as accepting it.
"Fine, someone as crazy as me. Brilliantly crazy, we can dabble in that too, but whatever. The point still stands. Anyway, what also still stands is the fact that forty minutes of silence is unfathomably dreadful. Do you really just want to let ambient noise and the sound of wooden chess pieces hitting the wooden chess board every now and then be the only thing we hear throughout this game?"
Tetsuya groaned a bit more audibly this time, not letting his annoyance with the death game's maker go unnoticed, and rolled his eyes a bit to the side.
"Alright, fine. I'll ask some fucking questions. No conditions on this one then? I get to ask whatever I want?"
Kayaba nodded, even motioning his hand towards Tetsuya to give him full permission.
"Fire away."
Tetsuya tilted his head slightly to the side.
One question was in his mind from the start. A question that lacked any real answers. He had his own opinions on the matter, but now that he was here, now that he had a chance to hear from the game maker himself, he was not about to let this opportunity slip past.
He copied Kayaba's prior posture of leaning back into the chair and asked the question that served as the smoking gun.
"Why did you trap us here?"
Kayaba leaned forward a bit, resting his "chin" on his fist as his elbow rested on the table. To say chin was a bit loose, it looked like something was resting on his hand, but it really just looked like the hollow inside of the hood of the red cloak was levitating with the fist resting inside of it.
He expected such a question. The fact that he was expecting it was what took the fun out of it for him.
"That's a boring question. Surely, you can do better."
For the first time since meeting Kayaba here, Tetsuya decided to stand his ground.
"You set things the first time, you don't get to change them again on a whim. I made my move and didn't take it back. Do the same."
Kayaba wasn't disgusted or insulted. In fact, he seemed rather impressed.
"Twisting my own words back on me. Well played. Okay then, I'll humor you, but at the very least, phrase the questions to be a bit more interesting."
Even when Tetsuya got his way, it still felt like Kayaba was poking fun at him. It felt incredibly infuriating.
"I'll break down this major question into multiple small questions then. First, what brought on the need for this experiment?"
Now, the conversation was turning in a direction of Kayaba's liking.
This time, he gave an actual answer, but Kayaba being Kayaba, his answer took shape in the form of a question back to Tetsuya.
"What do you know about artificial intelligence? Prior to what you've seen here."
Artificial intelligence, shortened to A.I., a topic that has been at the forefront of science and computer development for years now.
Manmade intelligence was often thought to be a myth due to the natural processing power of the brain. The brain that humans had were far more advanced and capable than those in other mammals and animals in general.
That was the belief of the early days in computing and programming. However, within just one hundred years of innovation, technology had developed to a point where processing power was getting smaller, more capable, and also more complex.
Tetsuya wasn't as knowledgeable on the subject. His experience was very limited.
"I only know around three things. One, bots in old single player games, especially RTS games, were a pain in the ass to deal with. Two, people are on the fence about A.I. art because while it provides a convenience, some A.I. steal from artists without consent, damaging the artist's reputation. Three, we weren't just discouraged from using A.I. for academic work in high school, we were out right banned from it."
Kayaba began laughing, shaking his head slightly, seemingly in disbelief from the absurdity of the last statement.
"Handicapping our own students. Typical."
Tetsuya wondered what Kayaba's own thoughts on the matter were.
"Handicap?"
Kayaba wasn't afraid to let his true opinions slip.
"They're a pack of fools, all of those idiots in government, those policy makers of ours, and it's no better with those running our educational institutions. How will our students maximize their studies when they're not allowed to use all the tools at their disposal?"
Tetsuya focused in on one word.
"A tool? That's what you see artificial intelligence as?"
Kayaba raised his finger at him.
"Don't simplify my words so easily. Think of artificial intelligence as a spectrum. Now, for the purposes of aiding in academic works and studies, then yes, it is simply a tool. If it's a tool, why should it be so looked down upon? Why should it be outlawed? It's no different than typing into a search bar and pressing enter, is it?"
Tetsuya was siding with the perspective of the teachers.
"Maybe it's because they want their students to actually put in effort to find the answer instead of just typing things in and having some A.I. do all the work for you."
Kayaba proceeded to make a counterpoint.
"Tell me, who's failed by that point, then? The student, whose primary motivations stem from just hoping to pass their subjects and trying to make it through the next deadline and has gotten to the point of desperation where they enlist the help of a more than capable entity to assist with their homework, or the teacher, who is only focused on the paycheck and performance reports and has gotten rather complacent and has not elected to put enough effort into their teaching thus directly harming the motivations and capabilities of their students?"
Tetsuya frowned slightly.
"That's very prejudicial against one side."
Kayaba explained the statistics.
"Well, one side is directly responsible for the development of children, pre-teens, teens, and even young adults. The other side is just trying to pass. How's that for prejudicial?"
Tetsuya felt whiplash from seeing Kayaba take a seemingly moral stance.
"If you're suggesting that teachers should exhibit more responsibility and effort, maybe you should also consider, I don't know, raising their pay and benefits."
Kayaba then snapped his fingers.
"Bingo. In that case, who should really shoulder the blame then? Both parties mentioned or the ones responsible for governance and policy that implemented this system in the first place?"
With the context of this point provided, Tetsuya thought back on Kayaba's argument as a whole and realized something rather sinister. He narrowed his eyes slightly and frowned.
The answer was hidden in plain sight, but Tetsuya felt rather cheated by it.
He confronted Kayaba about it right away.
"You're not actually trying to advocate for either side. You're just using it as justification for as to why artificial intelligence should not only just be improved but also used in everyday life."
There was no moral stance taken. There was just an opportunity.
Kayaba also didn't deny this point.
"Hmm, well, I won't lie about my allegiances. I do believe artificial intelligence has a place in this world and is currently being underutilized but that's my opinion on the matter. Let's talk through the three things you think you know about artificial intelligence then."
Tetsuya remained silent as Kayaba took back control of the conversation.
Kayaba went back to Tetsuya's first point about the usage of artificial intelligence in video games.
"Let's do a small tangent here, a little history lesson for you. What's the first video game ever made?"
The question confuzzled Tetsuya right away. He didn't know how this was specifically related.
"Pong. From Atari. Everyone knows it's Pong."
Kayaba began shaking his head a little.
"Looks like a lecture is in session."
...
Mito ran back to the others when she heard Tetsuya's name being shouted.
As she got back, the fourteen other members that were with Tetsuya prior were shouting amongst themselves.
"Where'd he go?!"
"What the hell happened?!"
"He disappeared in front of us!"
Mito pushed everyone away to the side to stare at the opened chest with no contents in it and no Tetsuya in front of it.
She demanded answers right away. She turned to Lind to hear them.
"Tell me what happened."
Lind described it as best he could, even if it pretty much looked like magic to them.
"Kid noticed that chest, and we all thought it seemed a bit strange that it was just sitting here. The boy wanted to open the chest to check the contents but Tetsuya decided to do it himself. And that was when..."
Kid stepped in to take over. After all, he was directly beside him.
"...He suddenly disappeared. The moment he opened the chest, he just vanished in front of our eyes. We... We didn't even know how it happened... Just, like... A snap of the fingers and he was gone..."
Mito decided to check if she could recreate those events. She closed the chest before opening it once again. However, nothing happened.
Checking the corner of her HUD, Tetsuya's HP bar was still visible and hadn't dropped one bit.
He was still alive anyhow, which made her feel incredibly relieved. She quickly shared this information with the rest of the Clearers.
"He's still alive. I can see that on the party menu too. He's okay."
Lind was also relieved by Tetsuya's well-being but still wanted to know his whereabouts.
"But where is he?"
Mito opened the friends tab from the main menu and checked Tetsuya's location.
[Tetsuya]
[Location: 18th Floor Labyrinth.]
She sighed a bit. As always, whenever a game mechanic would have been more convenient for them, it didn't exist. It would've been nice to know where exactly he was.
"It doesn't say where specifically, but, it does say that he's still here in the labyrinth with us."
Kid was a bit worried.
"You... don't think he's been teleported to the boss room by any chance, do you?"
Mito shook her head.
"Tetsuya's a rational guy. If he did get teleported to the boss room, he'd run out of there. He wouldn't face it alone."
Jiro then chimed in.
"Whatever the case may be, if he hasn't reached out to us yet and if he hasn't made his move, then it's very likely that he's in trouble. We have to go find him."
Mito was inclined to agree. They had to go find him fast. Who knows what exactly he might have come across to have forced complete silence on his end?
"Let's go. We'll turn this place upside down if that's what it takes."
The Clearers then set off in search of their leader, unaware of the fact that the limited time they were competing against was the ticking time bomb of their own possible demise.
...
Pawn to c4.
The moment Kayaba moved the pawn from c2 to c4 , Tetsuya began to realize something.
'From this angle... And it's white too... Wait, I recognize this.'
Tetsuya began to see fragments of what Kayaba had been planning. He recognized these opening moves. He saw it in a video online before, when he decided to research a few openings when he was first starting out in chess.
He decided to test the waters, checking if his intuition was correct.
Pawn to g6.
Kayaba then placed his hand on the other knight that was still in its original position.
Knight to c3.
It was in the row behind the pawn at c4. This was the moment that confirmed it for Tetsuya.
'I knew it. This is definitely the Grünfeld Defense... But with an extra knight on the board... It's the Three knights Variation.'
Tetsuya knew by now that Kayaba was setting his sights on the c5 square. By sheer luck, had Tetsuya played his original move of pawn to c5 earlier, he would already be putting things into motion without being ready just yet, putting him at a disadvantage.
'The pawn to c5 characterizes it as the Grünfeld Defense... I'd be challenging him for an extensive center... It can be beneficial for either him or me... He'd either use it to attack aggressively or I'll use it as a liability against him. I have to go for the latter.'
Tetsuya decided against going on the aggressive right away.
'I need to wait it out. I have to play it safe first. First things first. If he wants to fight for a strong center, I'll develop other areas of the board first.'
As Tetsuya pondered on his next move, Kayaba continued his discussion from earlier, regarding the question about the first video game ever made.
"It's understandable why you would think Pong is the first video game ever made. I have to give credit to whoever did that marketing. What a display of genius it was. To plaster the words, first video game, on everything associated with it. For us in the modern times, it seems like the obvious answer. It's simplistic, crude at worst, but still interactive and familiar enough to be called a video game, and also be called the first of its kind."
From the current tone of things, Tetsuya understood that Kayaba was providing some necessary context. He wondered what would be the end result of this sort of rambling.
"Where exactly are you going with this?"
Kayaba continued his explanation.
"Video game consoles were once referred to as pong consoles. That's how ubiquitous they were with the birth of video games as an industry. However, the origin of video games as an... entity were nobler than capitalism. Video games and artificial intelligence go hand-in-hand like bread and butter."
Tetsuya rolled his eyes a bit to the side.
"Alright, so, obviously, pong wasn't the first video game. What was it then?"
Kayaba did some typing gestures for a bit before doing a swiping away gesture. It was only after that Kayaba bothered to answer Tetsuya's question.
"With the invitation of Alan Turing, a man named Christopher Strachey went to University of Manchester and, through the Ferranti Mark 1, a digital computer, created a working program of draughts in the summer of 1952. According to scholars, this is widely regarded as the first video game ever made."
Tetsuya needed a few terms to be defined first.
"Draughts?"
Kayaba provided an alternative term.
"It's also known as checkers. There have been reports of certain prototypes of tic-tac-toe on other computers in the late 1940's, but Strachey's draughts is a significant endeavor because it's also one of the very first instances of artificial intelligence in video games. The computer took control of the other pieces."
Tetsuya raised his eyebrow slightly.
"It was a single player game?"
Kayaba nodded while crossing his arms.
"Most games from the infancy of video games were multiplayer. Pong, especially, focused on the social aspect. The inventor of pong, Nolan Bushnell, went as far as saying that the video game had a role as a social lubricant."
Tetsuya soon opted to go with bishop to g7, freeing up some space to allow castling later on. This was his response to Kayaba's intention to have a strong pawn center. He'd move the king to a safe spot while simultaneously beginning to put the rook into play.
He commented on the fact that pong and other similar games being multiplayer was a strange twist of fate regarding its own origins.
"It's kind of ironic, I must say. The first ever video game was single player, but the first popularized video game was multiplayer and was even something of a downgrade in terms of mechanics. Just two lines bouncing a square back and forth."
Kayaba expressed further reasoning as to why he considered Strachey's draughts to be the first ever video game.
"There's also cultural relevance and impact. The 1952 draughts helped inspire chess engines and other practical applications of artificial intelligence as we know it today. Pong, meanwhile, is nothing more than a historical bookmark. A point in time. Quite cheap, to be honest."
Tetsuya thought about Kayaba's statement for a while.
It was a cruel twist of fate, sure, but given that Kayaba and other scholars still remember Strachey's immense contributions while Atari went under and bankrupt despite having been at the top of video game industry in the 1980's, it seemed that things returned to a balanced state of form.
He thought about why Kayaba would bring this up now. When he focused on the words 'inspire', Tetsuya discovered a similar pattern.
The very first video game introduced artificial intelligence. While Kayaba did ask about what Tetsuya knew about artificial intelligence prior to Sword Art Online, the context provided by Aincrad itself was indispensable.
He then soon realized why Strachey's work was so important to Kayaba and why it was relevant to their discussion.
"The first video game introduced artificial intelligence. You're attempting to pioneer artificial intelligence with the first Full Dive Virtual Reality game."
Kayaba began to clap slowly.
"No wonder you're their leader. You're smart. You learn quick. You know how to question things. You must have been a straight A student, huh?"
Tetsuya didn't respond to that last question, which only made Kayaba want to poke more fun at him.
And he did, by revealing more about what he knew about him.
"And you were one. Despite your transferring-from-club-to-club antics, you had good grades. But you weren't a teacher's pet. You weren't a suck up. That's good. Reminds me of myself sometimes."
Tetsuya glared slightly.
"Don't make that comparison."
For once, Kayaba actually respected Tetsuya's boundaries and didn't say anything of the sort further.
Just as Tetsuya expected, Kayaba followed through with his plan to gain a significant portion of control in the center, taking the pawn from d2 to d4.
While he risked Kayaba allowing to gain further ground with his pawns, Tetsuya knew it was of utmost importance to castle, so that was his next move.
The rook at h8 moved to f8. At the same time, the king at e8 moved to g8.
With a free move available, Kayaba finally went on the offensive, taking the bishop from c1 and placing it on f4.
Tetsuya began to ponder on what threats this bishop posed to his position at the moment.
'If I move the c7 pawn, the knight at b8 is easy pickings for that bishop, but... At the same time, the rook can trade for it. No... Even if I trade with the rook, that rook is still trapped by both the b7 pawn and the bishop at c8... The bishop at c8 is also further trapped by both the b7 pawn and the d7 pawn... Any attempt to free those pieces to develop them will be wasted. I should think of a different approach.'
He shifted his focus back to the center.
Understanding that a response here was more urgent than responding to the threat of the bishop, he decided to play the risks and fully complete the Grünfeld Defense.
Pawn to d5.
Kayaba was looking to challenge over this area of the board, so Tetsuya didn't shy away from it.
'If he doesn't take the d5 pawn, I'll take his pawn at c4. From this position, my pawn will stop the b2 pawn from further. Even if he takes two tiles forward with that pawn, I can still take it via en passant. It'll also stop his queen from taking the b3 tile or even the d3 tile, since those areas are guarded by the pawn if I take c4. Well... Only if he doesn't take the d5 pawn.'
The other option wasn't so bad either.
'If he does take the d5 pawn, I'll trade it with my knight from f6, and he'll take the knight with his own knight from c3. When that happens, I'll try to force the knight away with the e7 pawn or the queen... But not the c7 pawn. If I move that, my knight at b8 is dead. Either way, giving up some pieces for more space seems worthwhile.'
Kayaba's next move did allow Tetsuya to follow through with his original plan but there was a caveat.
Queen to b3.
Tetsuya frowned in response. He glanced slightly at Kayaba, who was glancing back at him. He couldn't actually see it but he knew there was a smile there.
'He stopped my plans for advancing against the b2 pawn... Instead, the queen is guarding that position... Do I still go for it?'
Going over his options, if he did refuse to take it, the c4 pawn would just take his pawn and advance white's line further. If he tried to trade it back with his f6 knight, the b3 queen would swoop in and take it right back.
'But at the same time, my queen at d8 can take his queen at that position. Also, the bishop would be freed up, allowing it to take the pawn at d4, which will pressure the knight at c3... Do I go for that?'
Tetsuya eventually decided against that latter option.
A lot of things would unfold in such short notice. It might prove to be overwhelming later on. There was another thing that felt more important though.
So far, things were going Kayaba's way. While Tetsuya might not be able to change that anytime soon, he needed some form of agency.
'I have to do it.'
With that, the first piece of the game was captured.
Tetsuya's d5 pawn took Kayaba's c4 pawn.
There was a brief moment of silence that occurred. Kayaba began to nod slowly, and soon enough, actually proceeded to compliment Tetsuya on his actions.
"Going on the offensive already. Not bad."
Kayaba responded in kind.
With the b3 queen now being pressured by Tetsuya's pawn at c4, Kayaba had to trade for it in order to keep the queen in play and not have an early queen sacrifice.
Queen to c4.
Tetsuya began scanning the board quietly. He had a free move here since Kayaba had to trade just to keep the queen alive. That meant he was free to explore other options.
'But, what exactly should I do now? Should I bring the queen forward...? No... Not yet. I want to use it for a decisive play later on, if I can get the chance.'
Putting his focus on the queen for a bit did reveal more answers though. The answer was not in a straight path. It was a diagonal one.
'Wait... The a5 square. The queen can move to the a5 square. From this position, I would pressure the knight at c3. But, moving it away will also be tricky for him, since if the c3 square was made vacant, there's an open path towards his king. That's an easy check.'
There was just one issue. The path to the a5 square was being blocked by the c7 pawn.
'The moment I move this pawn forward, he's going to know what I'm trying to do.'
Any slight hesitation or doubt was quickly squandered. He was on the offensive already. He was not about to take his foot off the gas.
Pawn to c6.
Tetsuya began to ponder over what possible moves Kayaba was going to bring out next. It was imperative for him to keep up with Kayaba in order to not let this game slip.
'I might not be able to stay a step ahead of him... But as long as I can keep up, I can find the chance to overtake him later on.'
Rather than attempt to meet Tetsuya's challenge, Kayaba circumvented that pressure point, and instead challenged Tetsuya to meet him head on.
Pawn to e4.
Tetsuya was a bit surprised by this.
'What? Pawn to e4? Why?'
He began to analyze Kayaba's pieces on the board, wondering what his angle of attack was. It took Tetsuya a while, but eventually, he discovered where Kayaba wanted to exert pressure.
It certainly was a layered attack.
'Shit... The f1 bishop's now supporting the queen at c4. I also didn't realize it earlier but... The queen at c4 is already pressuring the f7 pawn. If the f7 square was made vacant, the king would immediately be vulnerable... At the same time, the f4 bishop is pressuring the knight at b8.'
Tetsuya took a breath to try and calm himself down.
'Relax. Not all is lost. He won't target the f7 pawn right away. He's not willing to sacrifice his queen just yet. That's why he took the c4 pawn earlier. I have to focus on immediate threats first. The f4 bishop... If I don't respond, my knight's going to be taken away... And while I can trade it with my rook, that rook won't be in a position to be used after anyway, rendering it mostly useless.'
From forcing Kayaba to move his queen out of harm's way to Kayaba now forcing him to move his knight out of harm's way, Tetsuya had to acknowledge that Kayaba was no easy opponent.
'Where should I move the knight...?'
Moving the knight to a6 would be easy pickings for the queen, who had a direct line of sight with the a6 square. While he could technically trade it back with a pawn, the loss of a knight at this stage of the game would be huge. He wanted to maintain some strong maneuverability in his pieces. That left the other option.
Knight to d7.
From the way that the pieces were now set up, Tetsuya figured that Kayaba's defenses were fully built. There wasn't exactly any move that he could do without Kayaba having an instant response right after. The front line was ready and waiting.
Tetsuya estimated that Kayaba's next move would not be one to set up an offensive, but rather, to try and target other areas of the board.
However, once Kayaba placed his hand on the rook at a1, Tetsuya's predictions were slightly off the mark.
Rook to d1.
'Huh? He didn't castle.'
The more that Tetsuya analyzed it, he soon eventually agreed with Kayaba's course of action.
'Ah... I get it now. If he castled, the king is left in a precarious spot in c1. Even if we just go through hypotheticals, it's much easier for his king to be cornered from that position.'
With the knowledge that Kayaba spent a move to place his king into safer hands, Tetsuya wondered if he had a free move at his disposal. If he did have one, he wondered how exactly he should proceed.
Remembering his thought process from earlier about wanting to remain on the offensive, Tetsuya pondered over what pieces had angles of attack available to them.
'The bishop at g7 is trapped. The queen can move to target the knight at c3 but she can be easily traded. The knight at f6 can disrupt the pawn front line but I'd be shooting myself in the foot with that, because his knight at c3 will simply just trade it, and I'll gain nothing from that exchange.'
There was a much simpler angle of attack that was hidden in plain sight. Tetsuya soon gained the insight to see it.
'The knight at d7, the one I moved earlier. One move is all it takes to get it into a position to pressure his queen. The b6 square. Even when he doesn't respond and I take his queen, the only piece capable of trading it is a bishop. That's a worthwhile exchange.'
With his mind set, Tetsuya went for it. Knight to b6.
Kayaba then broke the silence by speaking up again, deciding to engage in conversation once more. He continued their discussion from earlier, about the origins of video games and their connection to artificial intelligence.
"Now that you have the necessary context to understand the significance of artificial intelligence in relation to video game development, why do you think the first tidbit of knowledge you mentioned about A.I., the one about bots in old single player games being incredibly difficult to deal with at times, is something worth analyzing?"
Tetsuya narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You're saying my knowledge is suddenly relevant now?"
Kayaba tilted his head a bit to the side.
"Hmm? Your knowledge forms part of a collective experience. That singular perspective forming that paradigm is as relevant as the paradigm itself."
Tetsuya frowned slightly.
"Wonderful, I'm a part of a sample that also happens to be a part of a population that is relevant to your problem. What's next? Am I going to perform ANOVA for you or something?"
Kayaba didn't bother answering Tetsuya's question, knowing it was purely meant for sarcasm and nothing more. Instead, he moved things along, explaining more about why the first piece of knowledge that Tetsuya brought up about A.I. was relevant to their discussion.
"Why do you think that A.I. and bots aren't that prevalent in most of today's games?"
The obvious answer surfaced in Tetsuya's mind.
"Well, because multiplayer games are the trend. There was a game developer company that said that single player games are dead. Sure, some titles weather the storm and all, but the overall trend continues to play in favor of multiplayer games and live update services."
Kayaba conceded that Tetsuya brought up a great point but still felt that it was missing the mark slightly.
"That's part of the reason why."
Tetsuya nodded briefly.
"Okay, so, tell me the whole reason then."
Kayaba pointed to the fact that while artificial intelligence was crucial to the development of early video games, the scope of the application of A.I. could no longer but limited to game development in the modern age.
"The simplest and best answer is that artificial intelligence is no longer needed for video game-related applications. There's so much more you can do with it now."
Before Tetsuya could even say anything, Kayaba continued to speak his mind, expressing genuine curiosity on what the next application of such technology would be.
"Really, its application to video games could be summed up to just numbers. That's all it is. Numbers. The famous estimate for the possible moves in chess is 10120. Eventually, a more-than-capable A.I. is going to just breeze through every permutation and combination there is. It doesn't even have to do it perfectly the first time. They'll just do it through brute force but they'll calculate it in the blink of an eye either way. And we have evidence of that already. The most advanced chess engines in the world are more than capable of defeating current grandmasters, and that started all the way back in 1997, when Deep Blue defeated Kasparov. It's been 27 years since then, surely, you don't think A.I. hasn't developed even further?"
Tetsuya narrowed his eyes slightly.
"What could we be possibly using A.I. for that's somehow more advanced than a chess engine? That sounds inconceivable. Almost like it's something out of science fiction."
Kayaba seemed to be smiling. There was no smile on the blank dark space, but, Tetsuya felt it. He was smiling.
"Oh, I assure you, Tetsuya. It isn't science fiction. It's real."
Tetsuya felt unnerved and even scared by Kayaba's statement. A chill ran down his spine right after.
Kayaba seemed amused by his expression. It seemed that he planted the right seeds in Tetsuya's mind, subtly guiding him towards the answer. It was just like he planned it.
After a few seconds of silence passed, with Kayaba opting to remain quiet for a while to let the gravity of the situation fully settle in, he soon continued speaking once again, once more hinting towards Tetsuya that the guesses forming in his mind were accurate.
"The look on your face tells me you know exactly what I'm talking about."
Tetsuya slowly shook his head.
"That can't be. Artificial intelligence can't even solve a riddle, let alone get past drawing two right hands."
Kayaba looked away to the side, seemingly glancing at another screen that showed up for him. Once again, though, Tetsuya couldn't see it. It felt like dealing with a higher dimensional being. It was almost like he was incapable of perceiving it, even if that wasn't actually the case.
He decided to correct Tetsuya's preconceived notions about the capabilities of AI in this modern world.
"You should already know that if something's commercialized, chances are that it's also outdated."
Tetsuya was almost tempted to look away. Of course, averting his eyes wouldn't actually change the truth that Kayaba spoke. However, Tetsuya also understood that what Kayaba was about to reveal would most likely change his view of the world itself.
There was a fear of the unknown.
Kayaba went about it as if it was just a fact of everyday life. The worst part was, it was just that.
"Artificial intelligence already controls a sizable portion of our society. Algorithms. The most popular technology buzzword of the 21st century. I'm sure you already know that algorithms control what show up on social media apps, what goes trending, what goes hidden, what is advertised, and even what is discouraged. But it hardly stops there."
Tetsuya prepared himself for the worst. It was the only thing he could do now.
The more unpleasant details were soon also revealed when Kayaba just kept talking.
"A similar application has also been found for IT healthcare systems. Health insurance. Algorithms are used to analyze a person's lifestyle and everything related to it to see if they are more likely to be healthy or sick. These insurance companies then price their plans accordingly. For the healthy person, cheaper, because the insurance companies understand that they're a safe option. As for the sickly person, more expensive, because they are, in essence, a risk. A gamble. A chip that they will most likely have to pay out to in the future."
That was its relation to the right of life and health care. Next was its relation to the responsibility of proper judgement.
"Some police departments are also beginning to test the practicality of artificial intelligence-run algorithms in analyzing their database, being able to tell whether or not a person is more likely to become a repeat offender. As for those yet to commit a crime, some algorithms are also becoming so advanced to a point that they are able to predict whether or not they will become first time offenders."
Kayaba then moved on to labor. The movement of efficiency and simplicity that began since the Industrial Revolution had reared its head once more.
"There also exists a... rumor in the air. Some artificial intelligence systems are beginning to train themselves for customer service work, thus introducing the possibility of the worldwide industry of business processing outsourcing to be eliminated overnight, all in the name of globalization. Of course, don't let this distract you from the fact that artificial intelligence has already largely replaced most jobs on the assembly line."
Tetsuya was left horrified.
What should have been obvious from the surface alone was left completely hidden in plain sight, like an iceberg with more than half of its size submerged under the sea level.
Once Tetsuya was able to seize back his own voice, what he spoke next was not another matter of fact, but rather, a question appealing to Kayaba's own insanity.
"If it already controls half our world then what the fuck are you trying to do with it here...?"
Kayaba just continued 'smiling'.
"That's more like it - a human answer."
Tetsuya began to frown more and more.
"Tell me."
Kayaba wasn't feeling any urgency at the moment.
"It's a bit funny, don't you think? Schools are so quick to ban the use of artificial intelligence but they're unaware that it's already being used everywhere else."
Tetsuya slammed his fist onto the table, causing the chess pieces to shake a bit but they still remained in their positions on the board.
"TELL ME!"
Kayaba began to arrange the pieces back into order with each one being centered back on their own tile. By now, he decided to not ignore Tetsuya any further.
The reason for not only his use of artificial intelligence but also its cultivation.
"I'm eliminating human bias."
Tetsuya was left confused.
"What...?"
Kayaba explained further.
"These artificial intelligence systems, no matter how advanced they may be, are still limited by the vision of their makers. For A.I. to truly succeed, it has to let go of any preconceived notions that we have as a species. Only then can it truly think out of the box. That is the only time where artificial intelligence can truly help change the world for the better."
Tetsuya was having none of that.
"You're talking about turning a relative infant of an A.I. system into something that will somehow save humanity."
Kayaba gave one definitive proof of such progress.
"You saw the elves. You fought for them, despised them, then came to respect them, even going as far as weeping for one of them."
Although rather uncomfortable at another mention of a rather personal fact relating to himself, Tetsuya continued to press on, unwilling to let Kayaba continue to step over him as if he was just some ant.
"I made my distinction clear. They were like us, so I treated them like us. Some like enemies, others like friends. You expect me to believe that the artificial intelligence in those NPCs is going to be the next big breakthrough."
Kayaba sighed a bit, feeling disappointed, all while shaking his head.
"Did you really think I was referring to inner machinations of mere NPCs? How insulting. I'm talking about Aincrad. You and the Clearers saw it firsthand, I'm sure. The way it changed. The way it adapted. The way it sometimes conformed to your actions but other times opposed them. The Elf War was nothing but a mere preparatory stage. You of all people should know that. You've already witnessed its brilliance, even at such an early phase."
Tetsuya was reminded of past encounters.
The battle against Reverie the Knightshade Gladiator, against both the Ancient Dragon and Accursed Drake, and the events that recently took place on the 1st Floor - tracking down a scammer, hunting down a killer, and the Clearers' own problems - having to deal with a two-faced traitor.
A replication of human society, all without outside interference. Things turned out this way because they made it this way.
The way Kayaba talked about Aincrad - almost like it was his own child - it was incredibly unsettling. Tetsuya just didn't know what to feel about that.
Any kind of comment about that now would yield in an uncertain fate, and no matter how uncertain his own fate was at the moment, Tetsuya was certain that Kayaba could make it a lot worse.
Tetsuya knew he was close to the answers he was seeking. By now, he was demanding them.
"That's what you meant by rat in a cage and all that sample and population bullshit. Numbers. Numbers, at the end of the day, are nothing more than mere data. And you view us the same way. Data. All to be fed into your artificial intelligence system."
Kayaba decided to not comment directly on Tetsuya's statement, treating it as mere accusation.
"You're already answering your own questions, so I suppose I shouldn't say anything further."
Tetsuya stood his ground, firmly.
"I'm not done asking questions."
Kayaba knew that very well. He had already anticipated it. That was what he used to persuade Tetsuya to continue their game of chess.
Placing his hand on his queen, Kayaba, although proceeding to state a humble request to invite them to keep playing - it sounded off more like an order.
"If you want my answers, perhaps you should start taking away some of these pieces."
There was no easy way out. The only way through was to keep playing.
Tetsuya didn't decline. He already made his move. Now, he was just waiting for Kayaba to respond.
"Your move."
And the game continues.
| Danse Macabre, Part 2 |