by K. T. Hanna
“So, if I’m level ten, a level five spell won’t give me much experience. Got it.” Murmur smiled back at the old locus. “I’m sure that’s not all I came here to hear.”
“No. You are a spritely one, aren’t you? No nonsense at all. Very well, then. I have three quests for you.” He winked at her, a small smile pulling at the left corner of his mouth. “If you complete them and return to me, you will be able to pick two more spells, and I shall gift you an enchanter robe and your choice of basic weapon. That is, if you think you’re up to the task.”
Murmur stopped herself from gaping. What with their mannerisms and phrasings, these NPCs were so lifelike. “Of course I am. Fire away, Master Belius.”
Back outside the city walls, still level one, Murmur finally pulled up the information sections of her Heads-Up Display, which managed not to obscure her vision but complement it instead. Stats were self-explanatory and easy to access, mostly on the left side of her vision unless she blocked them out. She couldn’t help being a little excited that not being a healer meant she wouldn’t be stuck concentrating on the group’s health bars non-stop. Suck it, Harlow. Speaking of which, Murmur glanced down and realized her chat area had three blinking orange bars. Damn it. Maybe she did need to fiddle with those settings after all. She’d completely missed it.
From Sinister: Guess whooooooooooooo?
Murmur blinked, and sent back furiously: Seriously? How the hell did you get that name?
While she waited for an answer, she checked the other messages.
From Devlish: How did I go from rogue to dread knight? Seriously, Mur, what am I going to do? Also, can you buff me?
A small laugh escaped her throat and Murmur responded, If you’re not Darren, I’m blocking you.
From Jirald: Thanks again. I can’t believe I missed that letter.
Murmur blinked at the last message, while the other two refreshed and were flashing again. It couldn’t hurt to be polite, right? Surely she wouldn’t get an in-game stalker on the first day? Taking a deep breath she sent back a simple you’re welcome, and turned her attention to Harlow.
From Sinister: Right? I had entered it as my preference when we did the scan, maybe an early scan reserved it for me? Anyway! I am loving this. I’ve seen my trainer and am about to get me some levels! We have to meet up asap!
No shit, Sherlock. But Murmur didn’t send that thought. Instead, she just told Harlow to level and keep in touch.
From Devlish: No need to block me. I’m the one and only. The others are about. I think we all picked different races, oddly enough. We need to group up asap.
Murmur laughed. Darren the Devlish and Harlow were so similar. At least they were well on the track to having the old gang back together. Race to the top, conquer the content, find those bloody keys. Just another day in the office.
She closed the chats out, and pulled up the errands she’d been sent on by Belius.
Four stone beetle eyes
Four skeleton bones
Three spider sacs
Murmur frowned at the list. Seemed easy enough, but what were the drop rates like? She shrugged, feeling her shoulders rotate smoothly with the action. This body was strong, a wave of fearlessness rushed over her, and she grinned. Leaving the path, she ventured over to an empty area of rock and grass, still a decent distance from the trees and began to look for beetles. There were several other locus about, but none in her immediate area. It should be easy enough to share. Surely the beetles would be around stone?
Sure enough, the strange large rhino beetle with blue and silver inlays was a higher level than her, its name in yellow as if to prove a point. Level two while she was still one. Still, it should be doable. She hadn’t seen any naked locus running around for their bodies yet. She’d cast minor suffocation to pull and hope it did two ticks of damage before the mob reached her. Readying her dagger in her hand, she cast the spell.
Your spell has fizzled.
Fucking hell. Typical. Taking another breath, she readied herself again and cast the spell, hoping her target wasn’t out of range.
Your skill in Alteration has increased (1)
Your Minor Suffocation Spell hits Stone Beetle for 4 damage.
As the little beetle changed direction and charged toward her, its aura changing from yellow to red as it moved, combat music filled her ears. The low drums and cello notes made Murmur groan. Closer and closer the beetle came, and Murmur realized it was quite a bit larger than she’d originally thought. Its pincers opened and closed maniacally and she gulped, clenching the dagger in her hands.
Your Minor Suffocation Spell hits Stone Beetle for 3 damage.
Good. Two ticks before it reached her, it was already down a chunk of life.
She thrust at it and struck its carapace with the tip of her dagger. Stupid aim. The next time she’d aim for its head.
You strike a Stone Beetle for 2 (piercing) damage
Your skill in daggers has increased (1)
Your Minor Suffocation Spell hits Stone Beetle for 4 damage
Stone Beetle slashes you for 8 damage.
“Shit.” It hit pretty hard considering, numbing her leg for a bit. This time however, Murmur had a plan. She gripped the dagger along her forearm and ducked in under the antennae. Taking another slash on her leg, which smarted like hell, her spell hit the beetle for damage again. Right after which, she plunged the dagger into the neck joint of the beast.
You stab a Stone Beetle for piercing damage. (15) Critical damage!
You have slain a Stone Beetle.
You gain experience.
Excellent, it seemed the game rewarded tactics and accuracy. She could have poked away at the carapace for ages, but strategic plays were worth far more damage. Her leg hurt, but not nearly as much as she’d been led to believe it would in full immersion.
Murmur touched the corpse, bringing up a loot line. Luckily, it had an eye, a carapace, and somehow a copper piece. Not entirely sure how a stone beetle communicated that it wanted to pay for things, Murmur pocketed the money anyway. Before she could forget, she accessed the HUD, directing it to cease combat music for the future. No more of that annoying shit.
Luckily this starting area, and presumably the stone beetles were here for people to get used to their long bodies and abilities in a place that was moderately safe from trains and rampant death. Her health slowly ticked higher, but waiting for it was ridiculous, especially since after another beetle or two she’d have to eat and drink again. That was going to get tiresome really fast.
From Sinister: If I ate this much in the real world, I wouldn’t fit into my suit.
The message flashed across before blinking down the bottom, and Murmur laughed out loud at her friend. Harlow had a point though. At least one of them was going to have to learn to cook.
DING! The sound reverberated through her skull.
You have gained Level 2!
You have five (5) training points
You have four (4) stat points
After another eight beetles and some food and drink, Murmur finally got her fourth eye, and her first level. She frowned at the points, not quite sure how to spend them yet. Maybe she should have researched more before playing. Instead of seething about the fact that it took her so long, she walked down the way a little bit and approached the tree line, emboldened by her newfound level increase.
She could see a couple of other players down by the trees. Something in her gut told her that level two to three was going to be far more difficult, and that this area was much more dangerous. Murmur almost felt naked without her healing spells. There was so much more to the world when you couldn’t just heal yourself through everything.
Murmur could already feel her impatience sneaking in. She’d never been good at just taking games easy. There was always the thirst to level faster, to get stronger the quickest, to be one of the best, if not the best at her class. It was like a compulsion—always easy to push off when she had something else overriding it l
ike school work, but now...there was only spare time. She grinned to herself and stopped at the tree-line. Her strange locus vision adjusted to the darkness and highlighted mobs within it with an iridescent halo.
While it wasn’t infra vision or night vision, her sight could see into the dark forest, sort of like the stars lighting up the night sky. She’d ponder it later.
A skeleton shambled to the left, its bones creaking softly as it jangled about. Straight ahead was a spider with ridiculously long legs, and off to the right was a cluster of something she couldn’t make out. All of the mobs she could see were yellow, probably at least level three. But if she didn’t try, she’d never know.
Feeling reckless, she cast minor suffocation and pulled the skeleton toward her. The fact that the spell managed to convince an undead creature it was being strangled was quite amazing. It let out a cackle and jangled over to her as she backed up, hoping to let a third tick hit before it reached her. This time her spell was hitting for five and four. A slight increase was at least something. The skeleton flailed a wooden staff in the air and Murmur hoped against hope her hit points would outlast it.
Then it was upon her, three ticks of her Damage Over Time down. The thing was tall and gangly and she realized these skeletons had to be locus, too. Even its empty sockets glowed, like some type of magic possessed it. Considering it was a walking skeleton, that probably wasn’t far from the truth. It swung at her, and barely missed when she managed to dodge. She could feel the heaviness of her body, and the unwillingness with which it made the movement. That was probably her one dodge for the next twenty. She’d better make it count.
Killing a skeleton was far more difficult than a beetle. For one thing, it was already bloody dead. That blasted staff hurt too, though not as much as the pincer claws had. It made Murmur wonder if locus could bruise. Finally, after what seemed like an age, she managed to hack its skull off. She leaned forward and looted the mob. It had twelve copper on it. Maybe skeletons were a good idea for a while with or without her quest. Not only that, the staff it had been wielding was hers as well.
“Score,’“ she muttered to herself, aware she was probably grinning like a loon. Sure, her staff skills weren’t up to par but she was sure it wouldn’t take too long. It’s not like melee did most of her damage or anything.
Worn Staff
Damage 4-7
Weight 5
Level 2
Her health was down to half, so she sat and looked in her spell book while meditating. Didn’t enchanters have something to do with plentiful mana? When was that skill going to kick in? It took painfully long for her mana and health to get back up, and impatience nibbled at her heels. It was only then she realized the stupid skeleton hadn’t dropped any bones. This drop rate was looking to be worse than the stinking beetles.
Murmur worked her way through the front mobs of the wood, acutely aware that about a hundred feet away there were several people playing in a group. All she wanted was this little haven, so she stuck to her area, and hoped they’d stick to theirs. The respawn rate of these mobs was fast. They weren’t super strong, nor were they special, so they appeared after just a few minutes. Her two-handed blunt skill increased so that her misses became fewer. By the time she’d finally gathered the four skeleton bones and three spider sacs, she’d downed another two drinks and food, and was seriously close to needing more again.
Her purse held a whopping two silver, and forty-three copper, and she had a club, another staff, a dagger, and quite a few venom glands and spider legs. Just as she was about to turn and go, she spied a skeleton where her spider should have respawned.
Curious, she conned it. Orange. That was tougher than yellow, and yet not quite red yet. So it wasn’t completely foolhardy to contemplate attacking it. But damn, it had a thin crown around its head in aura style, and it said: Fallen Sergeant.
“Ooooh.” She grinned. Casting her minor suffocation spell, she pulled the mob toward her. It was at the very limit of her range, and she backpedaled while letting the DoT tick. It made even less impact on the monster’s health than it usually did. This was going to be very close. Her heart beat fast, and she narrowed her focus, concentrating on the weak point of skeletons where the neck should have been. Thankfully her two-handed blunt was higher than her experience level now, and she didn’t miss once. She cast minor suffocation again. She’d fought all the way through its cycle.
Trading blows with the Fallen Sergeant, she couldn’t help but be grateful he didn’t have a freaking shield, although she could feel blood running down her legs. Even if it was supposed to be virtual, it certainly felt like she was getting slashed. Sweat ran down her face, and the pain increased with each movement she made. One more good blow from that sword, and she’d be a goner.
Storm Corp
Storm Technologies Division—Theoretical Neuroscience Arm
Countdown: Three years before Somnia Online launch
Not wanting to blow his own horn, Dr. Jeffries stood back while the first lot of internal testers took their place on the lounges. They’d set up reclining versions of the now-outdated easy chairs that “massaged” the user’s muscles. It was supposed to stimulate muscle development while the player was in the virtual world. The doctor was quite certain that was a load of bullshit.
The only way he knew to properly stimulate such a thing was through the neural network, through electronic pulses. He kept his smile to himself while the twenty test headgear sets were distributed. Each participant had been pulled from differing Storm Corp divisions.
He frowned, still not happy with the progress. It needed to be faster, and more in-depth. While his team worked on the game headgear, Michael had been focusing more on his passion—making sure the scan would yield the proper results. After all, his true field involved the neural networks and the brain. He hadn’t had the time to implement the new upgrades he’d designed into the ones being tested, but since they were about to start weekly runs of testing, there was plenty of time.
When he was done with the headgear, it would adapt to the person’s skull by itself, but right now it had to be fitted to the head.
The feeds were wired through into the main system so that he’d be able to observe them directly through his augmented reality insert, or else on one of the larger screens in his office. Michael wasn’t the least bit interested in the game. He wasn’t a designer or developer. All he wanted was the information in their brains and how they scanned. He wanted the information his headgear was pulling out of their heads, and how he could use that information to make his project stronger.
The stronger it became, the more accurate the readings would be. Not only would he be able to allocate the perfect job or class to a person, but he’d also be able to see into their minds. To their thoughts and their memories, the things that drove them, and the secrets they held. Delightful tidbits of information to use.
Most of his team took the smile to mean Dr. Jeffries was happy with the progress being made. If only he’d been wearing a headset at that moment, they might have been surprised.
Release Day: Somnia Online
Murmur steadied herself, concentrating on the Fallen Sergeant, and made sure her aim was strong and true, because it was the last shot she’d have. When the final blow connected and coincided with a tick from her spell’s DoT, the mob fell in a tangled heap of bones, Murmur sank to the ground after it, groaning at her remaining nine hit points. That was one way to narrowly avoid her first death.
You have slain a Fallen Sergeant.
You are the first to slay a Fallen Sergeant.
You gain experience.
DING! The sound startled her this time, and she burst out in relieved laughter as her health and mana both refilled immediately.
You have gained Level Three (3)
You have (10) Ten Training Points
You have (8) Stat Points
Still laughing at the very edge of the trees, Murmur looted her kill and claimed a lovely sword that was too
heavy for her to use. And two whole silver. With a skip in her step she made her way back to the gate, checking on her chat windows as she went.
Her only messages appeared to be from Sinister and her rampant complaining about the food. With only ten minutes left on her second to last ration herself, Murmur had to agree. She sent a brief message back: It’s okay. I’ll figure out the cooking skill.
Walking into town with her HUD overlaying her vision was a little disconcerting. She directed her thoughts to toning down the transparency, impressed at the immediacy of the reaction. Aligning her alerts to pop up on the right-hand side instead of in the middle took another thought, and the chat boxes adjusted before her eyes as she organized them in her mind. The response rate to her thoughts was astounding. Why had her mother never called her in to test this? A wave of anger passed over her for a moment before she shook it off.
It didn’t matter now. She was in the game world, which felt, smelled, and tasted more alive than the real world.
Murmur stopped, closing the HUD reflexively and stared around her. Just having passed into town, she realized she was in a sea of people. Not just the few she’d seen earlier, but a literal throng of people. Glancing at them, they were all green to her, of lesser levels. Perhaps they’d spent far longer in character creation. It was likely. After all, she usually took an hour or two herself.
Letting her curiosity win out, she walked through the familiar streets now teeming with life. Stalls, which hadn’t been there a couple of hours ago, were now set up around the fountain. According to the in-game clock it was midday. She frowned, trying to calculate the in-game time versus the real world time and shook her head. That was for real world Wren, not for Murmur.
“Hey wait up!” Jirald’s voice was already recognizable. The fact that her HUD popped up with recognition was a cool feature too.
Murmur sighed and stopped, just past the fountain, trying not to let her impatience show. “Yes?”
Jirald stopped, leaning over to regain his breath. Apparently he’d run to catch up to her. “Level three already?”