After resting and catching some cold air, Klaus went back to his room and got ready for his day at Oracle Inc.
It felt like some ridiculous plot armor, but he was thrilled to dive into it. He would get to fight all kinds of monsters in the name of "testing the system." Honestly, he couldn't ask for anything better.
"Good morning, Klaus! How was your night?" As soon as he stepped out of his room, Lucil was there to greet him. Klaus wasn't surprised by her presence—he'd sensed her standing there, so it wasn't much of a shock.
He figured since she was going to be in his hair for the next four weeks, he might as well get to know her and get used to having her around. That would make things a lot easier for him.
"My night was great, and from the smile on your face, I'm guessing you had a good one too," Klaus replied.
"You have no idea," Lucil said with a grin, leading him to the workspace. What Klaus didn't know was that while he was meditating, Lucil had been online, hosting a Q&A session with a selected group of people called 'The Knights of House Klaus.'
They were die-hard Klaus fans, infamous for leading the charge in any internet clash involving him. Lucil was the leader of this group, so she spent the whole night in a virtual meeting, answering every question they had about Klaus.
While Klaus was planning to learn more about her and figure out Oracle, Lucil was busy getting to know more about him so she could arm the 'Knights of House Klaus with all the ammunition they'd need to defend him in their next online battle.
"Good morning, Klaus," Joon said as soon as Klaus and Lucil arrived at the workspace.
"Good morning, everyone. Are we ready to start?" Klaus asked.
"We're ready if you are," Joon replied.
"Alright then, let's do it," Klaus said with a grin.
"By the way, the first test will have you fighting monsters in an endless tide. It's just like the regional trials, so use this chance to point out where we need to improve. Anything you say inside Oracle will be audible to us, so we'll need every little detail," Joon explained.
"Klaus, how do we make the monsters react to your presence instinctively without making it too obvious?" Logan asked. "I think we tried something like that before, but it didn't really achieve what we wanted."
"Watch closely," Klaus said.
The Lotus Flower appeared, and within seconds, an ice mist spread across the 30 km battlefield. Klaus vanished, using the ice mist to move faster, and reappeared in another spot a moment later.
As the monsters started moving toward his previous location, Klaus said, "See what just happened? After I moved, the monsters kept moving toward where I was. It took them a few seconds to adjust and figure out where I went. This is a virtual world, but to make it realistic, you need two things.
"First, awareness. Instead of these monsters moving in fixed patterns, make them hyper-aware. They need to be aware of themselves and each other, so that when the target moves, they adapt quickly and change their path in real time.
"Second, instinct. I know that sounds complicated, but it's not impossible. If I were fighting a Zombie King right now, it should be able to adapt to the flow of battle faster than in reality. It should know when to use defense, when to go on offense, and in the case of Zombies, when to growl, roar, or even speak.
"Their instinct doesn't have to be perfect like a human's, but it's a computer system. I'm sure you guys can come up with something that mimics that instinctive reaction."
"So, like, some kind of adaptability reprogramming?" Ryan asked.
"I don't know what that means, but yeah. Adaptability is the key here. The longer the fight drags on, the better they should adapt."
"We can start slow. Pick a Zombie King and try that adaptability programming thing with it. I'll fight a long battle with it, and you can start training it from there. These things are like machines, and even though I'm no tech geek, I know the more data you've got, the faster you can train your programs.
Eight hours of combat every day? That sounds like a lot of data to me," Klaus said, his mind still controlling the Needles as he kept cutting down the monsters coming at him.
Dividing his attention to examining the monsters, controlling the Needles, and talking with the Nerds and Lucil seem like great mental training to him. Klaus was loving it already.
"He's really smart," a voice suddenly said from across the room, making Joon, Ryan, Logan, and Lucil all turn to see who had spoken.
"Big Sister Queenie! What are you doing here?" Lucil shouted, running into the speaker's embrace.