Watching TheSeventhSnake’s replays impressed Ves. The ch pilot’s flamboyant piloting of his Seraphim showed a remarkable mastery of its capabilities. The Seraphim domineeringly claid the skies, fighting particularly well against other fliers, and launched aggressive attacks against opponents on the ground.
Though Ves knew little of ch piloting, he still recognized TheSeventhSnake’s remarkable skill. His aggressive play style and continuous risk taking hid a keen sense of timing. If this Snake wasn’t at the threshold of promoting to Silver, he was absolutely in the upper tier of Bronze League.
When Ves noted that TheSeventhSnake had co online and entered matchmaking, he chose to spectate his match. What he saw of the young pilot’s performance reaffird his judgent. Snake piloted the Seraphim in ways even Ves hadn’t imagined.
"But does he have the X-Factor?"
Good piloting didn’t necessarily an one has the X-Factor. Disregarding the phenonon’s vague definition, the X-Factor might not even work in a virtual reality environnt! Perhaps TheSeventhSnake was only a good pilot, and nothing more. Still, Ves believed it would be beneficial to his understanding of his chs if he had a talk with the pilot.
When Ves initiated a call, the ch pilot answered imdiately. "Hello. I saw you spectating my last match. Who are you?"
"I’m the ch designer who created the Seraphim variant you’re piloting."
"Wow." The pilot gasped. "No wonder I found your nickna familiar. So you’re the famous Fantasia customizer."
"I’m researching a new project, and I need so feedback from the people who pilot my older work. Can you spare a mont of your ti?"
"Yes!"
Ves was taken aback at TheSeventhSnake’s enthusiasm. This was the first ti since he beca a ch designer that soone afforded him respect.
"Hey, calm down kid. I just want your thoughts on so stuff, so don’t be too stiff." Ves told the player, hoping he wouldn’t be paralyzed into silence. "Let ask you my first question. Your records show that you’ve been piloting the Seraphim ever since you bought it. What makes you stick with the model? I think you must have realized by now that it isn’t the best ch in its weight class."
TheSeventhSnake paused as he tried to formulate his words. "I can’t describe it. I never thought about replacing my Seraphim. I love it far too much to get rid of it. The chs that I’ve piloted before are all good machines, but they don’t fit my style."
"What do you an when you use the word ’style’?" Ves asked, wondering if it had anything to do with the X-Factor.
"My play style. My way of fighting. Sothing like that. The Seraphim just clicks with in a way no other flier could. It’s like we’re part of the sa brain wave. I can feel my passion engulfing the entire ch when I’m deeply engaged in a fight. No other ch can make feel this good."
"Alright. Let ask you sothing else. Have you ever experienced a mont where your ch gave you a push? For example, did the ch warn you of danger while you were unaware of it? Were there monts when you thought doing sothing was impossible, but you still managed to achieve it because your ch gave you a helping hand?"
TheSeventhSnake fell into silence. "I don’t recall any monts like that. I’m always in full control of my ch. What I’m pretty sure of is I feel more at ease with the Seraphim. It’s easier to play at my best when I’m piloting the Seraphim than with any other ch. I’ve even bought your Phantasm and Nomad models, but I never could get quite as comfortable when I play with them. Maybe it’s the lack of wings. I’ve fallen in love with flying."
Ves asked TheSeventhSnake so other questions. What distinguished a good pilot and a great one? Are chs better when they are smaller or larger? Does he believe in taphysics?
The young pilot’s answered revealed no surprises. The boy wasn’t aware of the X-Factor, nor did he seek to pursue anything magical. Ves ford an image of the young potentate. Young, wealthy and well-trained, his view of the ch world had been colored by the many teachings of his tutors. It was therefore no surprise that they avoided telling him about the X-Factor. A young man like him had no business chasing after a fantasy.
"I have one last question." Ves wrapped up the interview. "Try to take a mont before you answer this. Do you believe your ch is alive?"
"Uhh.. I don’t know." TheSeventhSnake replied with a confused expression. He scratched his head, trying to recall the tis when he piloted the Seraphim. "I’m not delusional. Of course its not alive. The Seraphim’s a great ch, but it doesn’t have an AI as far as I know. What I can say is that piloting my Seraphim makes feel more alive than anything else."
"Alright. Thank you for taking the ti to tell about your experiences."
"Goodbye. I hope I helped."
"You certainly did, don’t worry about it."
"Uh, can I ask you sothing before you go? Are you going to put more 1-star chs on the market?"
Ves shook his head. "I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t plan to do so. I’ve sold most of my 1-star licences so I can’t construct any new 1-star chs. My hands are kind of full trying to start up my real universe ch business."
"Oh, so you’re a real ch designer? No wonder."
"That’s not to say I still don’t have a use for Iron Spirit." Ves responded carefully, naturally not ntioning that earning massive DP was his main reason for sticking around. "Once I earn so revenue, I’m transitioning to 2-star chs. The profit margin is better in that tier."
He would also have an easier ti to reach beyond his limited custor base in Cloudy Curtain. In a few months, he’d hopefully gain enough skills to produce a competitive design.
After shutting down the ga, Ves stood up and stretched his limbs, ntally reexamining the interview. TheSeventhSnake spoke with a peculiar accent that reminded him of the officials working in the capital of Cloudy Curtain. Despite his good upbringing, the young potentate described his piloting in the sa vague way as the veterans did when describing their incredible feats that others thought involved the X-Factor.
In other words, the interview provided inconclusive results.
Ves hadn’t co much closer to understanding the elusive X-Factor. Was it so kind of energy that hid inside a ch? Was it so evolutionary catalyst that manifested in only a couple of pilots?
"There’s one thing all interviews about the X-Factor have in common."
Love. Affection. Grief. Vengeance. Whatever was the case, most of the extraordinary performances ntioned in the galactic net were backed by strong and unrestrained emotions. It seed unrelated. What do emotions have to do with the performance of a ch? That’s like suggesting that an aircar can fly faster if the driver felt happy or angry. It made no sense.
"But an aircar doesn’t have a neural interface." Ves remarked as he thought he found a clue. "The neural interface allows ch pilots to receive sensory input from the ch, allowing them to treat the fra like its their own body. Any decision a ch pilot makes is sent as output through the sa interface, thus causing the ch to move according to its commands."
Ves went back to his terminal and sought out a few articles about the neural interface.
The neural interface was a highly restricted and highly controlled piece of hardware. Under no circumstances did any manufacturer allow the neural interface to leak out unnecessary signals. Excessive sensory input would overload a pilot’s brains, while excessive movent output would cause the ch to lose control. The neural interface was strictly programd to detect and block unauthorized signals, and technicians checked them frequently if they weren’t tampered with. Pretty much every ch designer and technician trusted the neural interface to work as advertised.
"If thousands of industry insiders are sure there’s nothing fishy with the neural interface, then its not the source of the X-Factor."
Emotions also elicit brain signals, and since those were different from the sensory and movent signals, they were explicitly blocked by the neural interface.
"But.. what if those signals are inseparable?"
Could emotions be conveyed through the sa signals, therefor making it impossible for the neural interface to filter them out?
For example, if a ch held a sword over a fallen enemy, did its pilot’s desire to kill his opponent get blended in with the sa signal that commanded the ch to thrust down its sword?
If a ch spotted missiles flying in its direction, did an emotion like fear accompany its sensor signals of the incoming threat?
Unfortunately, Ves had no background in the neural sciences. Everything he learned about the neural interface in college was how to install it and how to maintain it. A designer had no need to know how the gadget worked in order to use it in their designs. This left Ves unable to answer this question.
"I don’t think all those other people who have hunted down the X-Factor are that stupid. If soone like can think of it, I’m sure they exhausted themselves to death trying to see if the neural interface was capable of doing more."
In the end, Ves was stuck again. With no solid theory on how to achieve the X-Factor, Ves had no starting point in designing a ch that incorporated it. With the huge interest paynt looming over him, ti began to run out for him. He could not waste the remaining days on a fruitless quest.
Lucky chose this ti to barge inside. With a nonchalant walk, the chanical cat dropped the shiny blue sapphire before Ves’ feet. It then nuzzled his legs with its slim but lively body.
"Another gem I see. At least you didn’t bury it in the backyard again." Ves picked up the sparkling blue gem and inspected it briefly before storing it in a small safe. "Good job, buddy."
Ves took a break. He picked up his gem cat and sank down on a sofa. He scratched the cat’s tallic hide, not really sure if the cat even felt his fingers, but sure acting like it did. Lucky closed its eyes as it lay down comfortably on Ves’ lap.
As he looked at Lucky, a strange thought inserted in his head. "Are you alive?"
The cat kept purring as if he didn’t understand the question. But Ves knew the gem cat was smarter than he looked. It possessed an AI way more sophisticated than the thoughts of an average household cat.
"What is life?"
The age old question of life engendered a lot of controversy over the years. Many scientists ntioned that life had the ability to learn, adapt and reproduce. These clinical definitions of life try to encompass all manner of life, including even the tiniest bacteria. That made the definition far too broad to be of use in this situation.
Instead, Ves wondered if Lucky could be called a living being. Sure, he probably couldn’t mate with another chanical cat, but Lucky was no different from any other pet. Whether Lucky’s responses ford spontaneously or through a large script of possible responses, it didn’t matter. Humans worked in the sa way if one pulled up their microscopes and sunk deeper into a person’s cells and DNA.
"I don’t care what the scientists and experts say. Since you’re capable of expressing your emotions, you’re alive in my book."
Ves was also pretty certain the key to unlocking the X-Factor lay in emotions. If Lucky could express emotions like Love, hate, fear and disgust, why not a ch? Certainly, a ch didn’t possess the programming to fernt such redundant thoughts in the eyes of scientists. But what if a ch bypassed the neural blockade? It could borrow the pilot’s complex neural system to form its own emotions.
Since the ch neurally connected to its pilot’s brain, its emotions mirrored the pilot’s own feelings. A ch’s anger would neatly mirror its pilot’s own hostility towards an opponent. This would only enhance a pilot’s current mood and not display anything abnormal in the neural interface.
"I’m kind of reaching out there. How can a novice designer like get it right while countless of experts missed this gap?"
At this point, Ves stopped caring about the opinions of others. He kept it simple.
"Lucky is alive. The System is also a living being. If these two entities are capable of life, then I believe that chs can also live."
If he presented these words to one of the researchers who studied the X-Factor for decades, he’d be laughed and ridiculed at. It was a stupid sounding argunt that relied entirely on subjective anecdotal experience. But when he looked down and stroked Lucky’s back, he felt no regrets.
"I can’t phrase it in any better way, but my faulty logic doesn’t matter. My belief is enough. My heart tells I’m looking in the right direction, and that’s good enough."
Now, Ves had finally obtained a sowhat coherent picture of the relation between life and the X-Factor. He felt as if a weight had disappeared.
"Now I have to put theory into practice."
Ves was ready to design a new ch. One that hopefully unlocked the X-Factor.
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