Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 115: Resolution

"Cheers!"

We clink our glasses full of beer together and drink most of them with a smile.

Man, how long has it been since we've had a get-together like this? We've been slaving for weeks in our office just to make some final adjustments to the new AI program. Heck, Tsukino and the boys weren't happy when I was forced to skip our family dinner and game nights so we could finish it at last. But seeing my colleagues' smiles makes me feel relieved that everything wasn't a waste. With two days until the deadline, we've managed to polish and fix all of the bugs as best as we could. I'm still sighing after the drink just thinking about our accomplishment.

"I can't believe it. We barely called this project quits. But you end up saving our asses at the finish line, Adam," one of my colleagues, Derek says. "You really are IceChip's last savior!"

He quickly smacks my back as soon as he says this. Damn, that will sting me for the rest of the night.

But he's right. Out of all of us, I have the most experience with developing high-tech AI, especially on VR consoles like the [Advanced Dive Virtual Reality] system. It's been almost a year since it was released to the public through [Observa Console]. With the next release being the [Veil Console], our team was hard at work with the latest and biggest project that was commissioned to us.

And the person who asked for this project is none other than Midnight Dragon Games' Wilbur Giffard. He's known in the video game sphere for his immersive games such as the Eternal Fantasia series and the Black Heart series, which I heard was infamous for its high difficulty and "get good" mentality. According to him, he is planning to make an MMO for the next ADVR console. A VRMMO, to be precise. He's even told us that he's teaming up with a world-renowned Wayne Enigma, the very same author who wrote Kazuki's favorite fantasy novel series, to work on the game's worldbuilding. Oh, how ironic that he and Giffard were asking the very same company that has the father of a Seraph fantasy novel series' biggest fan. If Kazuki finds out, he's going to tear through my shirt trying to ask me for Enigma's autograph, which might be difficult due to their anonymity.

"Come on, guys. It's nothing really big," I say to my colleagues. "All I did was readjust the parameters and rework the code to fit with the program's algorithm. You just need to find the source if you want to weed out the bugs. Besides, I'm not the only one who had to work my butt off for this project."

"Nothing? Try something!" Another one of my colleagues exclaims. "Don't forget you're one of the super programmers of the company! You not only followed through with that game company's crazy commission but didn't give up when most of us gave up on it. Hell, you're the one who came up with the program's concept all of your own along with its name! "Gaia Live"... Man, wait till the game devs see what we have in store for them!"

I chuckle as I watch them enjoying their drinks and chatting about the project and other things.

[Gaia Live]. That's the name of the AI program we decided on the project. Honestly, the commission was not only strange, but it was also difficult for us to fulfill. We feared that the studio wanted a rushed project for their new VRMMO, which may cause quite a scandal if something happened related to it. However, it's thanks to my tinkering with the [Observa Console] that gave an inkling of what we could play with the virtual world Midnight Dragon and Enigma were creating for their VRMMO. A world where players can do whatever they want while discovering the world's lore and setting. Thinking about it reminds me of my time as a DM on a few campaigns I played with my sons.

Either way, I have a feeling this program would change everyone's lives forever. It might be a game, but it might be a gateway for everyone to find their goals and dreams in the real world.