The Value Of Data?

Akiol opened his eyes. A few days had passed and he wasn't any closer to finding the next strand.

It was troublesome, originally he thought he reached a decent point in his Aura to find the next one, but life wasn't as simple. Despite all this he wasn't discouraged, if he lost hope this quickly then he'd only have to apologize to his past.

Givale and Mira were sparring near him, upon noticing him stand up they stopped their duel and turned their focus. Akiol smiled and spoke, "You guys can keep going."

The two returned to sparring without hesitation, daggers and an axe cutting through the air. Akiol watched them for a bit before his mind drifted to possible reasons. Thinking about his past ascensions they all definitely had something to do with Aura. So surely this is the right path?

It was a shame, unlike the others who knew their paths and took steps to walk further down it, Akiol was forced to find clues to this path given to him. Maybe to some players he was considered lucky, many haven't even found their own path, yet to him it was just another case of being told what to do.

Akiol shook his head, perhaps his control over Aura wasn't enough. To be fair the consumption rate was absurd, perhaps he needed to figure out a more efficient way of spending it? Or maybe his quantity wasn't enough. Was there even a way to increase its quality?

His train of thought was interrupted when he got a notification for a message. With a faint smile he put aside his concerns for now. Turning towards the two sparring he called, "Alright we gotta move!"

Givale and Mira's weapons moved almost touched the other until they paused. Givale rapidly placed her daggers back and boldly claimed, "My win!"

Mira frowned, "But we didn't finish?"

"No matter!"

"If you want to continue sparring I'll join in next time."

Akiol noticed the two look sideways as if not wanting to meet his gaze. With a teasing face Akiol asked, "No? Not something you want to do?"

"Sparring with you is like. . . it's not sparring. It's just us not able to do anything.", Givale explained.

"Let's not exaggerate. But we have a place to go, Stars!"

Givale and Mira disappeared as Akiol brought out a scroll. Using the teleport scroll a series of white lines transported Akiol to his location. A familiar place came to vision, granted some changes happened. A robotic figure waved, "That was quick!"

"Should I have come later?"

"It's fine! Although you rarely come to me for favors, this time it felt like you weren't asking me for something?"

"An accurate judgement. How's your robots progressing?"

"Excellently. I've reached a point where I don't have to lift a finger."

"Mass produced army."

"Bingo!", Torch's voice lacked the voice modulator and still sounded incredibly robotic.

"How do you feel about using them?"

Torch paused upon hearing this. Unsure if he understood he asked, "My army?"

Akiol nodded.

"What for?"

"I'm planning on launching an attack against the undead. My target is the Lich. Despite my power I'm not arrogant to go alone. Against their ever growing army I needed an army of my own."

"Unceasing dead versus relentless robots. . .", Torch mumbled but Akiol couldn't gauge his interest without a tone of voice.

"I extended this offer to the top Guilds too. Whether or not they're joining will be figured out later. I'm still gathering the help."

"Who else are you planning on asking?"

"Don't overestimate my connections! Besides the top Guilds, I only have some contact with some of the top player from the professional competition last year. . ."

Torch felt like such a statement was put in the wrong tone of voice. Akiol made it sound like it was a shame that was all he had, but compared to a majority of the playerbase having contacts with even a decent Guild was considered fortuitous! This guy was upset despite chatting with some of the top Guilds?!

"What would I get out of this? Despite me practically mass producing an army, the costs are probably beyond your imagination. Just throwing them into some random war isn't necessarily ideal."

"Normally I would say combat data, but that's been used a little too much recently wouldn't you say? Equipment and money doesn't really suit your tastes either. So I'm not entirely sure what I could offer, unless you want to run a field test for those giant mechs you're keeping hidden."

"Hmm?"

Akiol glanced about and pointed in a direction, "Although I'm still not entirely used to the feeling, I presume they're beyond that wall?"

Torch would feel his heart leap, but he had a mechanical body devoid of one. Considering the good relationship he had with Akiol he didn't try to hide anything, "Yeah they're in storage in my secret bunker. But I guess it's not secret?? How did you know?"

Playfully shrugging Akiol could only answer simply, "I improved again."

"What!! Listen I finished those mechs after what you did to the original one. You mean to tell me you went and surpassed that data too?!"

"I had a very fortunate encounter."

"Alright fine, I'll bite. Your war or whatever, I'm in. I can only run so many simulations, I do need data on how they perform large scale. However! You versus my mechs, no time to wait!"

Akiol's confidence wavered at Torch's casual remark, "I. . . I thought I just mentioned that data was a bit old?"

"Do not underestimate the value of data! There's a reason why it's always being gathered, I am no exception. Ah, how long until you plan on launching this attack?"

"A few weeks real time, I'll message you the specific date when I gather more help."

"As long as it's longer than two weeks, then I can repair the damage you do to the mechs."

Torch suddenly gained vigor and began to push Akiol towards the bunker, "No more chat! I need that data!"

'I wonder what he does with the data?' -Stars

'He collected a lot of it when Mira and I were training.' -Givale

'Maybe it's like teaching the robot. . . things?' -Mira

Akiol asked the thoughts of the others, "What do you do with this data precisely?"

"Precisely? That would be a long explanation."

"Then uh. . . a dumbed down version?"

"The data isn't really from your actions, but how the robots perform against you. Their movements, execution processes, decision making. It's a constant trial and error. You can run simulations and theory craft, but nothing really beats the real experience. So I need to figure out what errors they make when facing a powerful opponent."

Torch suddenly looked up, "Oh. . . making a robot based on someone else's data? Hmmm."

"Pardon?"

"An idea.", Torch pressed a few things on his wrist.

Turning the corner he suddenly asked, "How would you feel coming back here in the future for more data gathering?"

Akiol felt helpless, "I can. . ."

"If it's too much of a problem then don't worry about it."

"It's not that, I just feel like I receive too much in exchange for this data. . ."

"Well if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be in this situation."

"So you say, but I think we're past the point of favors being owed."

"True.", Torch looked up, "But we're here. Need any prep?"

"I'm fine.", Akiol said unhesitatingly.

"Confidence, nice."

"I don't have to hold back do I?"

"Erm. . . if possible could you avoid the cores in the depths of their chest? It's not like you have to avoid them, they're just really hard and expensive to make and I rather not have to make more from scratch."

"That's it?"

Torch felt the response was wrong in tone again. Akiol made it seem like it was a small matter, but the chest was the biggest target to hit! With the temptation of valuable data Torch ignored this feeling, "That's it!"

"Then when do we start?"