“‘A highly adaptive Artificial Intelligence’.” She returned the stares of the duo and Yui, one by one, gradually formed a conclusion in her mind, then slowly turned it into words. “Wha...What if RATH developed the STL not as an aim, but as a means...? Well, it’s true that Kirito-kun had such a doubt before. RATH wanted to do something with the STL, so... If through the analysis of the human soul, the first real... bottom-up AI in the world... if that happens...” “Then, the real codename of the AI would be ‘Alice’... wouldn’t it?” On hearing Asuna’s words, Lyfa muttered. Sinon had a similarly lost expression as she continued, “In other words, RATH isn’t an enterprise that develops the next generation of VR interfaces... But in fact, an enterprise that aims to develop Artificial Intelligence... Is that it?” As they continued to discuss the situation with the ‘enemy’,the severity of it gradually became apparent. Such development caused the trio to quieten down. It seemed that Yui herself could not handle all the information, as she frowned. Asuna reached her hand out to her mug, reheated it from a pop- up menu, then took a large gulp from it, “houu”, she sighed, and then said as she considered her opinion on the enemy’s strength, “If RATH is the ‘enemy’, this won’t be any ordinary enterprise we’re dealing with. Considering the method they used for the abduction -sending a fake ambulance to a helicopter, and that there’s a monster-like machine called the STL in that research facility -which we don’t even know the location of, with the aim of creating an AI that’s on par with a human. Then... the one who introduced Kirito-kun to work