The Experimental AI.

"What makes Dynasties Online unique is its organically grown stories with no script whatsoever."

"Each player's story will be different in one way or another."

"Whether it is in the part they play or the friends they make along the way."

"The game will always develop organically, with no large quest being the same as any other, and each one having a profound effect on the world at large."

"Players will be able to take part in great battles."

"And change the fate of a nation."

Ryong Tae-Hee, Chief Operations Director for Dynasties Online. 

….

Deep in one of the resplendent control rooms of Dynasties Incorporated, the game company owned and controlled by James Larant responsible for developing, upkeeping, and updating Dynasties Online, a group of people milled about, each at their own desks and watching over different players enjoying the game and making sure nothing amiss was happening and the game was going in the right direction.

Everything was calm until all of the operations managers and the director got a notification from the Friend System that made their blood run cold. Notifications from the friend system were rare and only appeared when something big happened.

Or, in this case, huge.

[Warning! A11X21 is close to understanding the truth behind Dynasties Online]

[Due to the Stator Rebellion, all the nations in Dynasties Online have become suspicious of players, with some gaining rare insights into the truth behind the game]

The NPCs were starting to figure out the truth behind the game!

"Director Ryong, w-what should we do?"

A nervous operations manager asked the chief operations director, who, unlike everyone else who had worried expressions, was calm as if she had expected such a thing to happen and sighed when she saw the blue notification that had undoubtedly shown up as an alert on everyone else's computers and game monitoring devices.

Ryong Tae-Hee is a Korean-born woman whom James Larant personally recruited after he saw her management skills and calm demeanour whilst visiting South Korea. She is one of the few people who know about and share Railius' complete vision, knowing all the ins and outs of the game that only a few specially selected and trusted people know, unlike some of the others who only understood the game's principles but not the whole picture.

This meant that, unlike many other operations managers, she was aware of just how terrifying the self-learning humanlike AI was. The AI of the code-named NPC A11X21 was experimental, but it ended up creating one of the greatest geniuses the game world had ever seen, allowing that NPC to become a powerful, unique existence and even to become one of the youngest grandmasters in the game's long 4000-year history.

Amulius Lunaris is the Chavarain Minister of War, the man who was critical in creating the southern continent's superpower, the Chavarian Empire, and an NPC with one of the highest growth potential and intelligence ever seen in DO's 4000-year history.

Even the Friend System acknowledges him, which, considering that he acknowledges no one but James, his creator and James' butler, showing how much influence he has had on the game as a whole.

After all, while the game was allowed to grow mostly organically, something like the Chavarian Empire should not have been formed, but it was because of this exceptional NPC who had the help of a phenomenal player.

She was also smart enough to understand the implications of these notifications and problems that had occurred because of the Stator Rebellion and the stupid way the players thought they could take advantage of the game's system and because the players repeatedly ignored the game companies' advice to treat the NPCs as more than just code.

'If you're gonna do something like that, at least have the talent to pull it off or come up with a good justification!'

Chief Operations Manager Ryong thought to herself, annoyed at the player's antics, which had given the NPCs many clues about Dynasties Online and its true reason for existence. But the deed and damage were done, and there was no going back now that the NPCs had managed to extract much useful information from the players they captured.

Even if the players logged out of the game, their knowledge was not safe, as an AI immediately took over with all the memories of its original host, including the players' thoughts. While certain information about Dynasties Online being a game would be protected, their reasons for rebellion and the organisational system and mechanics they used would not be protected.

This included things like the way they communicated, amongst other things that the players thought they could protect when they logged out, forgetting that DO has a persistent world, and so like many survival MMO games in the place where players make bases and attack each other instead of disappearing when you logged out your character stayed but instead of sleeping in Dynasties Online an AI will take over.

It was because of this that the Kingdom of Oovere knew so much about the players and managed to pass it on to all the other countries in the game world, which allowed them to guard against the players and Gods Favoured more as the NPC were just as vulnerable if not more vulnerable than players to medieval torture techniques as at least players with a higher pain tolerance could lower their sensitivity to offset the pain a privilege an NPC does not have.

And anyone even remotely familiar with medieval torture techniques would understand just how brutal and sickening they could be.

Ryong's thoughts were interrupted by the commotion amongst the operations managers in the control room as the door to the large control room suddenly opened. A 30-year-old with rough shoulder-length chestnut brown hair the same colour as his bright irises calmly walked in and looked at the chaotic officer. Each operations manager had a look of worry etched on their faces, unsettled by the most recent development.

"Boss!"

One called out, followed by the others, relieved that the company's number one had come to deal with this problem. However, this also showed how problematic current events were if they forced the usually lazy CEO to make a personal trip to the control room.

James Larant, the CEO of Dynasties Incorporated, smiled slightly as he sat at the head of a large table that dominated the centre of the room. This was where the operations managers met to discuss the game's systems problems and future updates.

Motioning for everyone to sit down, the employees all rushed to obey their boss quickly, who provided the money for the livelihoods of all sitting at the table. Only Ryong Tae-He calmly walked to the other side of the table to James as the eccentric CEO gave nothing away or any of his thoughts on recent events and calmly asked his anxious subordinates.

"What are your thoughts on the recent developments inside the game?"

James asked the table, remaining as stoic as ever. Due to their close relationship, he revealed his emotions only with his old butler and the Friend System.

"I think we should remove the recently acquired player knowledge from the NPCs and limit their free will?"

One of the operations managers said.

"Do you think that is easy? You do know that the self-learning AI we use is based on the human brain, right?"

"Each NPC is, in effect, born with the same brain, intelligence and sentience we have! They are more than just code!"

"This allows our NPCs to not only have emotions but also learn and improve their skills as time passes, just like the players do, and it is not like any other game on the market. It took us ten years to properly make this AI, and now you want to mess with it!"

"How would you like it if someone suddenly edited your memories or messed with your brain?"

"Have you ever seen what happens when you try to modify a human brain or the dire consequences of it going wrong?"

Another said passionately, as a key part of the game development and watchers of the world and all the events and stories that were created in the game, these operations managers were intimately familiar with the AI. However, few knew exactly how it worked or how terrifying it was like Chief Ryong did.

This also represented the two factions present within the game company, the hidden battles behind the manoeuvres of every country, company, and organisation in the world, and all its major decisions, of which even James Larant's company was no exception.

One was more aligned with the vision of the majority of the shareholders apart from James, who view the game and NPCs as nothing but code and a platform for them and players to exploit for their own benefit, while others see the NPCs as no different from themselves and as sentient beings.

After all, despite the human-like nature of the NPCs, many people saw them as nothing more than code. Actually, many of the shareholders have wanted James to open his game market to businesses all over the world since the game was released, as tens of millions of players had joined the game worldwide, and so provided a massive market like Gamazon does, but James refused every request they made. 

"Why should we care about that? This game is for the players and a way to occupy people so they don't revolt. We should not care about the thoughts and feelings of the NPCs. I never understood why your boss wanted them to have so much sentience and freedom."

The same manager continued as all the people in the control room knew James Larant's ambitions for the game but was a person who clearly distinguished the game from reality and saw it as a tool and not a second world.

 "Do you know what makes DO unique, Gerion?"

Chief Ryong said, her voice commanding, finally deciding to butt into the conversation.

"Our ability to attract the lower classes by offering them a chance to earn money by playing the game."

Gerion, the manager who had spoken up, said confidently, unlike Chief Ryong, that he had come from a privileged background, and while he understood the necessity of the game to prevent a mass revolt, that was all he saw DO as.

As a way to control the discontented masses and nothing more, which made Chief Ryong shake her head and let out an audible sigh.

"That is the primary motivator for people initially and will remain one helping them to get through the more tedious bits of the game. It is a unique point that we can include thanks to the great risk and support of our boss, but what sets our game apart from the rest is its realism, the fact that it is like a second world and the many unique NPCs and stories the players can create."

"There are many people who will come to love to play such a sandbox game where they can become anything if they have the talent and effort, but what people like is how good the AI, the world, and gameplay of a game is just as important as the player's ability to make money in it."

"It must give tangible while also being fun and a unique experience for all players." 

"The humanlike NPCs and respecting the player's actions and their consequences also makes the game unique."

"Players like a game where their decisions and actions have a large effect on the world, not one that is just a bunch of repeatable quests and bosses that they have to defeat again and again."

"Don't think the lower classes are a bunch of stupid gammon who will thank you for the scraps you deign to give them from your ivory tower. They need to see you struggle as much as them for them to respect you."

 Chief Ryong said as she knew all of James' plans and why he was not allowing the business easy access to his new game, which had become a market for people to buy and sell not only in-game items they had acquired but also goods in real life.

Due to the system's convenience, players began to buy more things in the game. The virtual system store within the game sells all kinds of products, from food to hair dye.

But they still went out to some shops in real life at times, and as with the rise of the internet, people started to slowly buy more and more things online through the game, as it was not much different from doing it in real life on the computer; they could just do it more conveniently while working.

As long as this trend continues, all James has to do is wait a few months for the businesses to really feel the burn. Once they do, these businessmen will rush to join the game to prevent their customer base from collapsing, helping to alleviate James' burden of essentially financially supporting the entire player base, which is something that he can only do for a few years alone.

"But now the players are crying out for this change. If too many leave, wouldn't that be a huge loss? Wouldn't it go against our boss's initial goals?"

"Also, is it not risky for the NPCs to find out the truth that they are living in a game where their lives and deaths mean next to nothing."

Gerion smiled, using the outrage on the forums as a cudgel to get his way, even trying to persuade James by using his ambitions against him.

Unfortunately, just like Reginald was not your average player, James was not your average CEO, and it would take a lot more than Gerion and a few pissed-off players to get him to abandon his current course.

"Yes, let's get back on topic. This is about the risk of the NPC figuring out that the players come from another world or realm, not about making the players be responsible for their own actions."

Another operations manager said as they had deviated quite far from the reason for the meeting in the first place.

"We cannot risk the NPCs turning hostile to the players and breaking the game's immersion, which has taken so many people in just because they are angry! It endangers the whole project!"

One of the other managers said he was an ally of Gerion and was forced into the control room by the shareholders to increase their influence over the game's direction.

"Amulius Lunaris is too intelligent and influential. If he comes to know the truth, who knows what the consequences will be? He is an entity that has changed the fates of entire kingdoms. We cannot allow him at least to retain the knowledge he has gained and risk the players' well-being."

Gerion argued, he didn't think he would get James to agree to all his demands, but the wealthy billionaire was just too bloody and stubborn! But he may be able to get James to agree to erase some of the NPC's knowledge, as the game would become pointless if the NPC's just killed all players on sight. 

No matter what, they must never lose sight of the original purpose of the game!

"If we fix every problem the players create, they will just keep making havoc again and again. The NPCs have not completely turned against the players. They have just become more wary of them, which is actually progress when you think about it."

"Also, didn't Amulius tell Leon to stay by Railius Aurellions' side despite suspecting him as a God's Favoured? I think you, Gerion, don't understand just how intelligent the AI is, so in my opinion, this is not an issue.'

Another operations manager said as the table erupted into arguments, neither side backing down.

BANG!

James Larant's hand slammed against the table, making everyone suddenly turn quiet. Like a receding tide, the bickering stopped in an instant.

 Everyone looked to James for a decision, but only the sound of his finger rhythmically tapping against the smooth table could be heard throughout the control as he rested his head against his left fist, slouched in his chair, his arm supported by the armrest of his crimson leather chair.

The eerie silence dominated the room, making all the operation managers, with the exception of Ryong, feel uncomfortable as they gazed at the calm figure who was pondering his decision able to direct the future of the game world. At the end of the day, he had the power, not them, not the shareholders, this eccentric CEO. They could only give him and the friend system advice as all significant changes and patch notes like this one would have to be approved by James personally.

"We will do nothing. At the end of the day, the players are merely suffering the consequences of their own actions. The NPCs have not turned completely against the players, so there is no need to intervene."

James said in an authoritative voice that seemed to cast a spell on his employees, who just gawked as he left the room and headed back to his private office with a flourish.