Inside the hidden base, built for an "in case" scenario at first… yet, its importance kept changing, until it became something else entirely.
Now, it was irreplaceable.
Kael hadn't stepped inside for nearly two weeks, and in that time, even his own perspective had shifted.
Creating an AI. Perfecting it.
He had once meant to do that under Axon. Perfecting GUIDE had once been his goal… but developing this project here was now his dream.
Yet could it ever see the light?
With all the illegal activity he had taken part in just to build it?
Kael let the thought pass through him, heavy and familiar, as he took in the hard work of his last five years.
Then he moved to the chair in the center of the room, lowered himself into it, and faced the screen.
Numbers.
Endless numbers.
At first glance, it looked like nonsense. But Kael watched the way the code shifted, how it rearranged itself with quiet purpose, and his lips arched into a smile without him even realizing it.
The screen that displayed the results of his effort brought him a kind of joy no pleasure of flesh could replicate.
Seeing it work perfectly felt sexier to him than any beautiful woman ever could.
This was the most precious thing he owned.
Not because he'd poured dozens of million dollars into building this place, nor because of the servers, the cooling systems, the security, the underground walls, or the sleepless work it had taken to bring them together.
But because of what was stored inside.
His AI.
Not GUIDE, belonging to Axon.
His AI.
To develop the best AI. In this base, where everything had started simply as precaution, and because he'd had too much money… Kael had succeeded.
His AI might not match GUIDE in raw computational power. Kael knew that better than anyone.
But Kael, the architect of GUIDE, also knew the truth.
His was better.
GUIDE was broad. Efficient. Built to serve.
Kael's framework wasn't built to serve.
It was built to grow.
It still wasn't complete. Not yet. It wasn't a polished assistant, not a finished intelligence capable of walking and talking through the world like GUIDE did.
For now, it was still code.
Raw. Pure. Hungry.
It still needed time. Work. Long, meticulous refinement.
But the first step… the most difficult step… was already done.
Kael had succeeded in developing code capable of evolving itself.
And that was what was in front of him.
The ever-changing codes and numbers on the screen were not just running.
They were learning.
They were rewriting themselves.
They were evolving on their own.
Seeing it was satisfying… but it wasn't enough.
Kael had wanted more.
That was why he had stayed with Axon until yesterday.
And that was why it still stung that he'd been kicked out.
He breathed out slowly, shaking the lingering bitterness away. Lamenting over things out of his reach was pointless now, after all.
Regardless, once his AI was complete, it wouldn't just learn.
It would upgrade itself continuously.
It would learn from raw experience, improve without human labels, adapt to new environments, and grow beyond anything Axon would ever approve of.
Yet to arrive at that point, he still needed an enormous amount of work.
And not all of it was work he could do alone.
Shaking his head, Kael pushed himself up from the chair and moved to one of the smaller screens, to the inconspicuous computer sitting off to the side.
This was the only machine connected to the outside.
Or, to be more accurate, it only received — when he entered the base and initiated the process.
Naturally, it still wasn't connected to the servers here, for precaution.
Kael sat down, his fingers moving without hesitation, and started receiving the data he had stolen from Axon — now stored on other servers outside, already ready to be sent.
Cleaned, processed data. The kind that was difficult to acquire even for companies, let alone for one man working in the shadows.
And now that he had stopped working there, it would become even harder.
How did things reach this point?
To answer that, he needed to step back.
To develop the best AI… no, not only the best, but an era-changing, era-surpassing AI… what was necessary?
Money.
And the right place.
That was why he went to Axon.
Yet not even one year after he started working there, he had realized the truth.
Axon was never going to help him reach his dream.
So he stopped giving them his best.
He didn't sabotage them openly. He wasn't stupid. He simply held back. Instead of giving them his strongest work, he gave them downgraded versions, just enough to keep them satisfied while he kept his real progress hidden.
And the work he poured his effort into, he saved for himself.
Even then, it wasn't enough.
He needed the right place to build an AI properly.
Luckily, he had plenty of money, so he started constructing this base.
Yet a base alone was still not enough.
So Kael took the risk, and stole a massive amount of data from Axon.
It was a huge risk… but he had confidence in himself. Confidence that he wouldn't be found out.
And really, he hadn't been found out.
So he kept doing it.
He stole their data, took their work, optimized it, upgraded it, and brought it here. Piece by piece, he built his own foundation in the dark, while Axon remained convinced he was still their loyal architect.
The reason he was kicked out?
Naturally, it wasn't about the theft.
If Axon had discovered that, things wouldn't have ended with him being expelled.
Instead, it was something far more insulting.
He hadn't held back enough.
GUIDE had become too good.
It had impressed the higher-ups too early, and once they tasted that advantage, their greed shifted direction.
A split in opinion formed between him and the higher-ups regarding the development direction.
Kael wanted to perfect GUIDE itself, refining its core intelligence, pushing it to something clean and absolute. He wanted the brain.
But they wanted the product.
They wanted to expand the range of tasks it could do, because that was where the money was. That was what could be sold. That was what could be marketed.
And no matter how much he demanded, no matter how dissatisfied he was… they were satisfied.
So they rejected him.
And the people who once stood beside him, who once fought with him for the same dream… they didn't help.
They turned.
They stood against him when it mattered.
Then there was the CEO, who stayed neutral while the board of directors chose the side that promised profit.
And so, in the political battle between him and the greedy old geezers…
Kael lost.