Initializing

by K. T. Hanna

  The NPC eyed her closely and then smiled. “Only because it’s you. Do you have anything you need Arvin to cook? I can have him do it while you’re busy with Bel.”

  “Yes, please!” Murmur rummaged through her inventory and brought out all sorts of meats and herbs and vegetables. “I have so much and right now just don’t have the time. I’ll also need more recipes because I’ve hit seventy-five in cooking skill. Thank you so much Elvita. Thank you!”

  “It’s okay. I’ll charge you a five gold cooking fee.” She grinned at Murmur, who laughed and nodded.

  “Worth it!”

  The line up to see the trainers was reasonable, and a shorter locus than she’d seen before emerged from Belius’ room with a scared expression on their face. Murmur knocked on the door irritably.

  “Come in, Murmur.” Came the call from the other side.

  She wasn’t even going to dignify his call with asking how he’d done it, because she knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t tell her anyway. Not that it was surprising. Every single AI or NPC seemed to not want to let her in on anything.

  “I need spells,” she said as she walked in.

  He eyed her, and for a moment she thought she saw shock mirrored in his expression, but he hid it so well that she couldn’t be certain. “Wow, Murmur, how you have grown!”

  There was an undercurrent to his voice that she didn’t like, and she became even more determined not to give him the stone in her pocket. After he’d absorbed that first one she found, it lit him up like a demon, so she wasn’t exactly inclined to give him something that would do that again. Plus, Telvar knew him, as did the shade thing she’d encountered.

  She watched Belius, wishing she’d picked up her level sixteen spells with her level twelve ones like she’d meant to. His expression wasn’t readable, and his eyes held fathomless depths that while the trademark of their species, for him, seemed to be hiding something.

  “My Thought Sensing, Shielding, and Projection have all pushed me up to Tier Two. I need to expand my Mental Acuity. Not only that, I need level sixteen spells.” She smiled, but didn’t really feel it at all. Between him and Telvar, something was off, and her gut wanted to trust the dragon more than Belius.

  “Excellent.” Belius walked to his desk and motioned to the scrolls. “Second case in, third shelf. Help yourself while I create the scrolls for your newest acquisitions.”

  Murmur stood at the bookcases, angling her body toward Belius so she didn’t miss any subtleties. Not only had Telvar mentioned him, but so had dude who totally screwed with her mind in the dark cavern. Belius was central to this. It put her on edge.

  But then she saw the scrolls and had to suppress a squeal of glee as saw just how much more powerful she was about to get.

  Mana Tide

  Cast: Self or Others

  Type: Buff

  Duration: 45 minutes

  Effect: This will cause you to regenerate mana faster in combat. Mana will increase by an additional three every five seconds. This buff levels with the caster.

  Invisibility Versus Undead

  Cast: Self or Others

  Type: Buff

  Duration: 12 minutes

  Effect: This will render you invisible to any undead in the area. They will be unable to see you, however this buff will fall should you attempt to cast anything else while it’s active.

  Mass Enthrall

  Cast: Enemy Targets

  Type: Offensive/Defensive—area of effect centered around the initial target.

  Duration: 24 seconds

  Effect: This is an area effect version of Mesmerize. Any damage will break this spell. It’s a bad idea to use this while targeting allies.

  Haste

  Cast: Self or Others

  Type: Melee buff

  Duration: 45 minutes

  Effect: When cast on an ally, this buff will allow their melee speed to increase by 25%.

  Feeble Body

  Cast: Enemy Targets

  Type: Offensive/Defensive

  Duration: 24 seconds

  Effect: When cast on an enemy target, their haste will be reduced by 25%.

  Shield Illusion

  Cast: Self or Others

  Type: Defensive Buff – requires hematite

  Duration: Until depleted

  Effect: Using the power of your mind you cast a shield around your target, confusing the enemies and negating up to 75 HP of damage. That whole mind magic thing seems to be working out well, doesn’t it?

  Murmur drank in all of the new abilities. She couldn’t believe how powerful enchanters could be. Well, they were as long as they didn’t get hit. And really, it depended on how good their group was. She’d seen first hand how easy it was to render her virtually useless with a few well-aimed claws.

  Her other spells simply upgraded. Her Mez was now thirty-six seconds, and her Fear was twelve. Her nuke was more powerful, as was her personal shield. It was a damn good haul, and she had a feeling they were going to need every single one of them. Ten spells in all—it was beginning to get very expensive to be a caster. Luckily, the gnolls had dropped a decent amount of cash. She walked over and sat in front of Belius, whose head was still bent over the creation of whatever scroll he was going to give her.

  “Ten of them then?” He didn’t look up.

  “Mhm.” She even managed to leak excitement into that small sound.

  Belius cracked a smile. “That’ll be twenty-eight gold, thanks.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, Bel.” She forked the money over, pushing it across the table to him. Murmur truly wished that the incident with that shard had never happened. She so wanted to like him, to trust him.

  He took it, jingling the currency in his hands and smiled, finally putting down his pen and looking up at her. “I gave you a bulk discount since it includes this as well. Let’s take a look at your stats.”

  Thought Sensing (57)

  Thought Shielding (59)

  Though Projection (42)

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’m impressed, look at Thought Projection doing all that catching up, and here you’ve had doubts about manipulating others. It seems you do it without even knowing.”

  Murmur scowled at him as she activated her spells.

  “How are your abilities looking then? It seems you avoided them for some time.” Belius said it quietly, and she couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or not.

  Murmur could certainly see that moving up a tier had already made some small changes to the costs. Mind Bolt was down to eighteen Mental Acuity, and Phase Shift had dropped to thirty-eight.

  But when her most recent skill emerged in the list, Belius gasped, obviously not expecting to see what she’d received. His eyes narrowed and he put his hand up to his chin, tapping at it rhythmically.

  Forestall Death

  If applied before potential death takes place, this will enable you to maintain your health at 0.5 hit points as long as you are receiving some sort of healing effect.

  Effect: Target is able to ward off death for a limited period of time and will not die when they should have, as long as heals are actively channeled in their direction.

  Cost: Requires Mental Acuity to be at 58

  Caution: This spell can only be used on one person at a time. Attempting to use it twice at the same time is not recommended. This will usually result in things worse than death.

  “Curious.” Was all he said before it seemed like he started reading it again. “I can’t believe you received this.”

  “You know who gave it to me?” Murmur was starting to get irritated by all the people who seemed to know the people who were trying to fuck with her head.

  Belius smiled. “They are an old friend, or sort of a friend. Someone who believes many things I believe, and yet strongly disagrees with me on others. Most of us do, you know. Even Telvar.”

  Murmur was pretty sure she was doing a great imitation of a goldfish. Belius knew Telvar as well? She’d already known that the drago
n knew him, but her head was really starting to spin now.

  He sat down and pushed the scrolls across the table to her. “For you to pass to Tier Three you’ll need all of your current skills at one hundred. Lucky for you, you’re sitting comfortably in Tier Two.”

  Murmur kept her eye on him, barely stopped herself from screaming out the question of how he knew Telvar, and unrolled the scrolls.

  Clone Warp

  This ability allows you to produce a clone of yourself used for distracting your opponent. Depending on your tier of mastery, you may be able to produce more than one clone.

  Effect: All enemies around you will believe that your clone is you for the next 45 seconds, directing their attacks accordingly. The ability expires when the 45 seconds are up, or if the clone’s minor hit point pool has been depleted, whichever comes first.

  Cost: Requires Mental Acuity to be at 45 or more

  Caution: This ability can be used on as many enemies who can potentially see it. Keep in mind though, a clone is just like you. Make sure you remember who the real one is.

  Well. That was interesting. Murmur sighed and absorbed the ability. “I guess that’s it, right?”

  Belius held out a hand to stop her, a look of consternation crossing his face. “I didn’t think you’d get here this fast. Some of these spells are tricky. Make sure you’re careful.”

  “Why, Bel?” She stood and cocked her head to one side. “Growing attached?”

  Bel hesitated. “In a way you probably wouldn’t understand, but yes. Be careful, and even though Telvar hates me with the passion of a thousand suns, for mostly good reasons, I am glad that he will be with you out there in Somnia.”

  Murmur blinked, reassessing Bel for a moment. “Thanks. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  She needed to work up the guts and ask him about that damned shard he’d absorbed. It was the one thing holding her back from liking the guy. But there was plenty of time for that later.

  Murmur stood on the south side of Mikrum Island and frowned at the small boat which sat half on the shore and half in the lake. It bobbed merrily as some workers attached a series of ropes to the side. There was a large cog farther up on the island with wires attached to it. Murmur frowned as she followed it with her eyes into the water, and thought she spied them on the short dock on the other side of the waterway. Hiro came and stood next to her.

  “This is just temporary. We haven’t had a chance to build the actual gate to the estate yet, so the drawbridge isn’t possible yet. Right now it’s just a pully system for the boat, and not as robust as we’d like. But it’ll let us pull it back to this side when it gets left over there.” He motioned toward the other dock. “We will have the castle weather sealed shortly, so that rain won’t cause any more damage.”

  Murmur smiled. “We’ll need to use the boat shortly. We have to visit Frangit first, and then we’ll be going on to Hazenthorne castle.

  Hiro pulled back and looked at her. “You’re headed there? That castle can be mighty dangerous.”

  She just grinned back at him. “We’re counting on it.”

  Murmur turned around and left Hiro to oversee the last installation of pulleys and turned back toward her castle with a smile. She couldn’t believe the changes they’d already made in it. It looked magnificent. The dull stones that made up the outer layer shone like they’d been polished, the roof was made of a heavy timber that had been treated with something black and dull. Idly, she wondered if that would mean it’d be hot inside when the sun shone. She knew zilch about insulation but her mind still ticked over regardless.

  Most of the gang were back, and Telvar was talking quietly with Devlish, showing him something about an axe the tank was holding. She stood there watching them, proud of her friends for adapting to a difficult game. With NPC’s whose intelligence scaled, who learned from mistakes, and who found weaknesses, the adaptation rate was pretty high.

  “What you thinking there, Mur?” Havoc’s soft tones always put her at ease, ever since she’d first met him back when she still gamed with her parents. He’d just entered high school back then.

  “Thinking we’re pretty lucky to be playing this together.” She smiled softly, quite impressed at her ability to remain calm and collected. Maybe this game was good for that too. Her mind felt much more together, like she was capable of so much more.

  “You’re waxing a bit poetic there, oh fearless leader.” Havoc winked. “Careful, we might start to think you’re human.”

  Murmur grinned and winked at him, activating Human Illusion as soon as she did, then watched him gape at her.

  “That...what...” he spluttered.

  Murmur laughed and dropped the illusion, feeling more comfortable in her locus skin. “That’s my Human Illusion. I have a bunch of different species.”

  “Shit, that’s fun. I just get to turn into a specter at some stage. Whoopdie do.” Havoc glanced back at his skeleton and smiled. “Get anything neat?”

  Murmur nodded. “I got so much shit you wouldn’t believe. I’m like ten times more powerful, and even more like a paper bag when it comes to defense.”

  “Right?” Havoc grumbled. “If my pet is off doing his shit, I’m done for.”

  “Oh. By the way, here.” She cast Mana Tide on him and watched Havoc’s face as it changed from curiosity to enlightenment.

  “Whoa. Have you tried that? It’s like a pick-me-up for your mind!” He smiled. “Increased mana regeneration is going to change a heap of stuff for us. Our healers are going to love you.”

  Sinister walked over, balancing a tiny ball of blood on her hand as it slowly turned in the air. Murmur backed up a little as she approached, but Sin laughed. “Sort of like a blood grenade. I throw it, it goes area effect boom, and transfers the damage to our health. I use it from a pool called Blood Spores.”

  Murmur stepped back, arms crossed, contemplative. “Do you have to build up those spores?”

  Sin nodded. “Yeah, by basically constantly making sure I’m scanning for everything’s health. It can get annoying when it highlights a squirrel, but I’ve really gotten used to it now.”

  “I’m very glad you’re my friend right now,” Murmur kept her expression neutral and cast Mana Tide on Sin, waiting for her reaction.

  Sinister’s eyes opened wide. “Whoa, Mur. That is freaking tasty. If I didn’t already love you...” she wiggled her hips suggestively.

  Murmur couldn’t help blushing. “It’s really not much, but it’ll get stronger as I level up. Right now it’s only like thirty-six mana per minute. But I guess it’s better than nothing if we’re in a long fight.”

  Telvar walked up to Murmur while Devlish started making sure they had food and weapons, and everyone had enough stock to make the journey they had ahead of them. “A moment, young psionicist.” He beckoned her to follow him.

  Once they were several steps away, he turned around and held out a smooth grey stone for her. It was shiny, sort of like a mirror, but definitely a rock. “This is hematite. You require this for one of the spells you acquired. If you don’t have this on you, your Shield Illusion will not function. Do you understand?”

  Murmur nodded. “But it doesn’t consume it like a component? More like something it draws strength from so it needs it to be in the vicinity?”

  “Exactly.” Telvar smiled. “You’ve hit your second tier far sooner than I’d anticipated. Paths were originally meant to take longer, to enrich the world and your lives here in Somnia far beyond your experience levels. This may be both good and bad. Be careful of what pulls at you. There are dark possibilities waiting for you, for anyone who chooses to go down the hidden paths, especially if it has to do with the mind. It’s easy to get lost in thoughts and reasoning that is not your own. Even if it appears to be bright and cheerful, there may be something lurking around the edges.”

  Mulling the words over in her head, Murmur sighed. Riddles had never been her thing, and everyone was behaving so cryptically, she was over it. “None
of you are ever going to give me a straight answer, are you?”

  Telvar hesitated. “Yes and no. We will when we can, and we guide where we can, but we are of Somnia, and thus not allowed to give away too much.”

  She laughed. “I thought so. Any other wise words of wisdom before I check over my stuff and leave?”

  “Make sure you deliver that crate directly to the mayor yourself. Frangit dwellers can be a little tricky. Also—be careful. That castle you want to head toward afterward is dark and truly haunted. The monsters there are beyond themselves; they have no sense of fear or morals. Do not be caught, and be careful of the paths that are like a labyrinth.” He smiled. “Was that cryptic enough?”

  She nodded, trying hard to bite down on her laughter, and failing abysmally. “Definitely. Is it a raid area?”

  “A small one perhaps.” His eyes narrowed. “How did you get that ability?”

  Telvar’s tone had turned sharp and she took an involuntary step back.

  “I’m sorry for the tone, but how?”

  Murmur didn’t even need to ask him which ability, considering Belius’ very similar reaction to it. “I almost died and the shade guy told me I couldn’t die, that my death would result in different consequences or something? I assumed he meant from my hidden talents. So, given that I was bleeding out at the gnoll lookouts and my friends were worried, I accepted.” Murmur felt totally on the defensive, like she had to reason with him to make him understand why she took what was probably her only option. She didn’t like having to justify her decisions to anyone.

  “Be careful with Forestall Death, Murmur, please. It is true, if you were to die here in Somnia, I’m not sure what the repercussions would be for you.” Telvar sounded sad.

  “Wait.” Murmur shook her head, her anger rising up. She was sick of all these hints, of all this beating around the bush with you’re special, blah blah blah. “Bullshit, I’m special. What’s the deal with all of this? Why would dying in here affect me any differently than anyone else?”

  She knew she’d raised her voice, and Telvar looked decidedly pained as he opened his mouth to speak. And then Sinister was there, grabbing Murmur’s hand and tugging on it. “Come on, Mur. We have to get going.”