by K. T. Hanna
Release Day: Somnia Online
Murmur finally made it out of the Alleyway and traipsed to the Enchanter Guild. Even though six hours had passed in the real world since she initially logged in, the game had covered half a day, and it felt like it. Her limbs ached, and her throat felt parched despite having drunk the weird game water. Her health bar had almost refilled itself with innate regeneration as she pushed into the guild, glancing at the counter with a frail smile for Elvita.
She quickly sent a message to Sinister, who’d apparently learned some patience since starting the game. Sorry for disappearing. Boss for the quest spawned, almost killed me, feeling like mincemeat.
Sinister replied immediately: No shit! I feel like crap! Actually, at least I can heal myself, but I’m all alone, even though Havoc is a dark elf too! He could have come and grouped with me. Kiting doesn’t really work as a Blood Mage, just fyi.
Pushing her way through the crowd of enchanters, Murmur laughed as she read the message. Havoc was an odd duck, and would probably be a little less predictable as a necromancer. Belius’ door stood cracked, and after a moment, an enchanter exited and pulled it shut. It was the only other enchanter Murmur had seen in Belius’ area.
If she was reading the consideration system correctly, then the person was two levels below her, and therefore level two. The system worked different than in other games. She shrugged and knocked on the door herself.
Belius pulled it open, his mouth agape, and his eyes much darker than she’d seen before. There was a tension surrounding him she’d not yet witnessed and she had to stop herself from taking a step back. But his expression changed when he focused on her.
“Oh, Murmur, come in, come in. My, my,” he said as he closed the door behind her. “You’ve come a long way, and look at you keeping your thoughts far quieter this time around. I’d actually have to put effort in if I wanted to read your mind.”
“It’s not like you gave me pointers.” Murmur could tell tiredness was coming through in her tone, but Belius didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he just chuckled in his jovial way.
“I have a letter for you.” She knew she was being irritable, but that last mob had really taken it out of her. And yet, she didn’t hate being an enchanter like she’d expected to. So many tools at her disposal.
“Excellent.” Belius held out a hand for it. “I expect you’ll be joining up with your friends soon, won’t you?”
How the hell did he know that? Did the AI delve through the logs as well? She frowned. “Yeah. Obsidian Forest.”
Belius clapped his hands together much like Elvita had done earlier.
DING! The sound made her literally jump.
You have gained Level 5!
You have ten (10) training points
You have four (4) stat points
Belius chuckled and his starry eyes twinkled merrily. “You were very close. I’m glad I could help. Now, on to more serious things.”
You have delivered the letter to Belius. You should make your way to a ruin in the Obsidian Forest before anyone else beats you there. You will find another voice, another clue, and much danger. Beware of the undead at night, for their power can multiply.
Murmur sighed. “Great.”
“You don’t seem happy?” Belius’ tone reminded her of her mother, and she squinted at the NPC wondering if he’d been created by her.
“I’m frustrated.”
“Why?”
“This isn’t like other games.”
“No, it isn’t.” Belius’ smile was kind, but his starry eyes were full of steel. The juxtaposition sent chills up her spine. “This is a world. This is our world. And nothing here is quite the same as anywhere else.”
Murmur pondered that for a moment, wondering at the distinctly non-linear quest line up, at the way she hadn’t run into any other player while camping for her mobs. It definitely was different. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“Definitely.” He responded. “Don’t forget to train, my dear.”
Damn it. She’d almost done that again. Her Divination was low and she needed that for illusions and stuns, so she placed five points into that, bringing it up to twelve. Then she decided that being able to use daggers was a good option, just in case she found one that could out damage her staff, so she put another five into her one-handed piercing to bring it up to sixteen.
“You’re putting stat points into Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma, I see?” Belius’ tone was even, with a hint of judgment behind it.
“Yes.” Murmur crossed her arms defensively.
“A good strategy for the lower levels I’m sure, but I’m not sure you should stick to it all the way through.”
“Obviously.” She grinned at him. “I did do some research, not to mention the whole following my gut thing.”
Belius smiled. “Well, it worked out rather well for both of us last time, didn’t it?”
It was Murmur’s turn to smile. “I’d like another set of seven tiny swords please.”
Belius obliged, taking the silver coin from her with a thoughtful look on his face. “Don’t forget. Keep an eye out for anything that seems out of the ordinary. Times in Somnia are trying at best right now. You never know when you may need knowledge above all else.”
“Thanks for being cryptic, Bel.” Murmur laughed, and closed the door behind her just as words scrolled in front of her eyes again.
Because of your personal charm, and ability to talk to people without hiding your motives, Belius has grown fond of you. Make sure to heed him and pay extra attention to the goings-on around you, just in case something crops up.
Another vague to end all vagues. It was starting to grow on her.
Murmur needed to take care of one more thing. Since the foyer was still quite crowded, though not as much as earlier, she walked up to Elvita with a smile. “Hey Elvita, how goes it?”
“Well, thank you, Murmur. What can I do for you?” The lady was elegant and sweet, so Murmur thought she’d try her luck.
“I need somewhere to look over my gear without taking over your counter or dropping my stuff everywhere.”
Elvita laughed. “That is kind of you. Few people take my business into account when sorting their goods. Take this table back here.” She motioned to a small round table that had three chairs positioned around it. It sat in a tiny alcove between the kitchen and the counter.
“Oh, thank you.” Relief washed over Murmur. She took the few short steps to work her way behind the counter and to the table. Emptying her inventory onto it, she began to sort. Touching the things just made it easier to sort through than trying to navigate a small menu in the field of her vision, plus, it added to the level of reality Somnia exhibited. Sixty-five spider legs. Forty-seven rat ears. Seventeen skeleton bones. Twelve venom sacs, eighteen rat tails, four staves, three clubs, and six daggers. Not to mention her money—one gold, twenty-six silver, and fifty-eight copper. She eyed the ruby earrings in her hand. They weren’t greyed out anymore, and they were beautiful.
Small Ruby Earrings
HP +10 Mana +10
Weight .01
Level 5
“Wow.” She breathed out in front of her. At least she had some decent stats to head to the forest with.
After selling her haul for eight gold and change, she kept the bones for her friend Evan who was playing a necromancer. She went back to visit Arvin and cooked a ton of spider legs, enough that the skill greyed out at cooking level twenty. That left her with over seventy of them, enough for a few of her group she knew would have just bought vended stuff. Another gold’s worth of water and Murmur was ready to set out.
She pulled up her chats, realizing she hadn’t messaged back anyone but Sinister and Devlish.
Heading out to Obsidian Forrest. Meet you all there. Stick to the path, try not to travel during the game night. Trust me on that.
She looked up at the sky, realized it was nine in the evening in-game, and sent another message to Sinister.
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Actually, I’m going to take a bit of a break. I think I might need to pee.
Logging out of the game, Wren’s vision swam. Her augmented reality set booted up as she opened her eyes. Tiny spots appeared before her vision, and she took a deep breath before allowing herself to move. Contrary to what she’d expected, her body wasn’t stiff. Perhaps a little sore, probably not used to the way the suit stimulated muscle groups, but after a few moments she found it easier to concentrate on her surroundings. Sunlight shone through a gap in her curtains, and she squinted at it. Gently removing her headgear, she placed it on the side table and turned toward Harlow.
Her friend was still in the game world, her eyes rapidly moving beneath the lids. Wren couldn’t watch for long; her bladder practically screamed. Feeling a great relief once she was done, she glanced at the clock in her bedroom as Harlow began to adjust to logging out of the game. Wren moved to close the gap in the curtain, the bright light hurting her eyes. It had been just after nine at night in-game, which meant they’d been there for fifteen in-game hours. With local time at seven-thirty in the morning, that meant a day in the game passed for every twelve hours of real time. So two for one. Hopefully it’d be easy to juggle that way. These next three months before college were going to be so much fun.
“Coffee, Wren. Now.” Harlow had a scowl on her face, and Wren raised an eyebrow.
“I’d suggest the toilet first. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Panic flitted across Harlow’s face as she scrambled off the bed. Wren suppressed a laugh. Hoping her suit would be okay if she wore it downstairs, she headed toward the kitchen for some sustenance, only to encounter both her mother and father conversing in hushed tones. They stood shoulder to shoulder, heads bowed over their coffees discussing something she couldn’t hear.
“Hey you two.” She said through a yawn as she stretched her arms.
Her mom jumped a touch, and her dad smiled.
“Already done? Hate it that much?” His eyes twinkled. He knew her far too well.
“As if.” Wren opened the fridge and pulled out a cold can of coffee. After all, the cold would refresh her and the caffeine would give her that extra boost. It was still release day. No way she wasn’t diving back into the game once she’d had some food. “Pit stop. Bathroom break.”
Harlow ran down the stairs, not stopping until she pulled open the fridge. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. S. Thanks for letting me stay!” She tugged out a huge can of some energy drink with a monster on the front, snapped it open and started guzzling it down.
Wren grabbed an apple and sat at the table. “You have a break, Mom? Everything going well?”
She tried to keep the concern out of her voice, knowing full well her mom probably wouldn’t be sleeping for days with this launch. The company had a lot riding on this game. Considering the technology was rumored to be on the way to being placed into the armed forces, this was pretty big.
Her mom smiled, and Wren could see the worry lines around her eyes that wouldn’t quite disappear. “The game launch itself is going flawlessly actually. Any concerns people had about being allocated a class seem to have washed away.” She gave a pointed look in Wren’s direction.
“Fine. Fine. It’s still not what I’m used to, but I’m enjoying the game anyway.” Even if it is a bit confusing. Wren glanced over at Harlow. “Speaking of which, how are the guys not on our continent getting to Obsidian?”
Harlow was stuffing a piece of jam toast into her mouth. “Shey cashing a ship.”
“Ah. I didn’t realize they could do that.” Wren laughed at the expression on her parent’s faces. After thirteen years of friendship, Wren could translate mouth-full-of-food Harlow easily.
Harlow grinned. “Yeah. They got to take one of the smaller ships since their island is close to my city. Means they don’t have to go via Pelagu. That city’s meant to be huge. They should be there by the time we get back, and then it’s just a matter of following the path. With a torch. In the middle of the night.”
Wren smiled. “You know that’s going to be deadly, right?”
“Yeah, but for them. Not for us.” Harlow laughed. “It’s easy for us. It’s just outside my city, and not too far down the path from yours either. They’ll just have to fend for themselves.”
They nudged each other, beaming from ear to ear, and Wren gave her parents a kiss on the cheek each before they headed toward the stairs.
“Stay safe!” Wren’s mother yelled after them.
But Wren just laughed. “Will do, Mom. You might have made it seem real, but it’s only a game.”
Storm Corp
Storm Technologies Division—Theoretical Neuroscience Arm
Countdown: Twenty months before Somnia Online implementation
The three main AIs were on board, working far more like Michael intended than they should.
There’d still be a learning curve of course, but that’s what the algorithms allowed for. The AIs’ learning was part of being able to use the headgear’s full potential. He’d even given them names: Sui, Rav, and Thra.
They now understood how the headgear worked, how it adapted, and how and why the arms needed to conform to the scalp. How to send small impulses through to react with the body suits he’d overseen development of. There was so much to do in order to launch the full test, in order to bring what was going to be the largest ever test sample into his reach.
He couldn’t remember when he last went home. After all, there was a sofa in his office, as well as a small bathroom. Spending time with his headgear and interfacing with the AIs was a special part of the process. They needed to understand the human brain if they were to function at full capacity and if they were to create the atmosphere needed to give people the ultimate VR experience.
Jessa popped her head around the corner of the server room. It was a huge space, and while servers had shrunk in size over the years, the amount of computing power, of sheer intelligence these AIs would need to perform the tasks required of them was gargantuan. They’d been given their own team room on Michael’s insistence. He ignored Jessa.
“Michael. The team is ready for your briefing. We have the neural interface testing today.” She did her best to smile at him, but he hadn’t been to see her in weeks at this stage. Jessa was a lovely girl, but he couldn’t afford to split his attention now. Not ever.
He glanced up at her finally, and for a moment he bit back on the irrational thoughts assaulting his brain before answering.
“Thank you.” He waved her away.
Her chest heaved with a suppressed sigh and she left the room, heading back to her desk. Jessa and her friend who worked in game development, Ava, had always been a peculiar pair. Michael watched as the door closed behind his assistant. He knew for a fact that the two girls were probably huddled together discussing just how hurt Jessa had been by her boss. Still, it was a small sacrifice to make for his precious endeavor.
Right now he didn’t have time for anything else. The AIs and his headgear held all of his attention.
Release Day: Somnia Online
Back in the game and alone again, Murmur stood at the gates looking back at her city. Under the moonlight, the stone structures glowed with faint pearly phosphorescence. It illuminated the area directly surrounding the wall with a pale light, allowing starter characters to continue their adventures easily and not have to venture too far into the dark world beyond. Pity she couldn’t take its brightness with her into the forest.
The thing was, that’s sort of how her vision appeared when looking through the dark. Prismatic and glowy.
Double checking her gear and supplies, Murmur brought up the map interface. It had a glow in the middle of unexplored territory in the direction of the path from the city. She figured setting out couldn’t hurt. Not too much anyway.
Suddenly a large word popped up in front of her vision: DUEL.
She blinked it away, not caring for it, but it appeared again almost immediately: DUEL.
Angrily, she directed her system to adjust and automatically decline duels. When her vision cleared, she realized there was a bulky locus standing in front of her with a pout. She’d never seen him before that she knew of. His head ridges were far more defined than her own, and he was bald. His head shone like the moon.
“C’mon. Please?” He begged in a whiny voice.
Murmur shook her head. “No thanks. I’m in a hurry.”
“No fair.” The guy laughed, and then he turned away, probably seeking his next victim, and yelled behind him. “Thanks anyway! Hope the skellies get ya!”
There was always someone who wanted to do nothing but duel. It wasn’t Murmur’s preferred form of play. If she was going to go player versus player, she wanted full on battles with strategy and plans. Not this strange dueling one on one thing when she was level five.
As she walked down the path, the wind whipped up. It was a cool wind, and her enchanter’s robe did little to fend off the chill. She knew there had to be some cloaks in the game, but she wasn’t far enough in yet. Her mind wandered as she ventured farther and farther away from the city. The glow of the walls faded, and the path before her crackled with windblown leaves that rushed her way, rustling in the air and as they tussled on the ground, lending an overall spooky vibe that made her shiver. From the small amount of articles she’d read, she knew starter areas like this, that were still bustling with beginner characters, didn’t have the night time mob increase. But she still felt queasy at the fact that she might run into mobs a few levels higher than herself.
She strained to listen, really listen, for anything useful. With her two vague quests lined up that gave her no real hints, being observant was one of the few things she had going for her. Come to think of it, she’d always been quite observant. That’s how she avoided confrontation at school, even at home when she got fed up with her parents being children more often than she was.
Except she was sick of being exactly what others needed all the time. Maybe this whole enchanter thing was exactly what she needed. She tested the staff in her hand, twisting it around thoughtfully. Sure, it was the logical choice for a caster, right? But sharp edges felt so much more rewarding. Maybe daggers were a better choice. Perhaps she could dual class—