by K. T. Hanna
Because if he was aware enough and repaired enough to send her an email, then they still had two active AIs who could run the system.
Both Rav and Thra were lit up like festive lights, and Sui remained ominously dark. Laria waited for them to initiate, because if they were this active, she knew they were aware of her presence. It seemed as if more and more elements of the game were creeping out of the system. If nothing else, those thoughts showed her just how sleep deprived she was.
Thank you for coming. Thra’s words came out haltingly. We’re trying to get Rav back in synchronization with the system. Give us a minute.
Laria waited, resisting the urge to bite her fingernails or fall asleep on the couch. Fingernails won.
I think I’ve got it. Rav’s tone sounded rustier than usual, more metallic. Sorry for making you wait.
Laria smiled, much more relaxed now that the AIs that held their future were operating again. She glanced at Sui’s casing, wishing she could figure out how to rid him of the viral elements as well. “What did you want to tell me? Shayla had a meeting to go to.”
Rav hesitated before giving an answer. There have been complications inside the game world. The virus corrupted my coding. While it’s not fully free yet, I think I’ve managed to contain anything detrimental so I can deal with it in an isolated manner. Thank you for helping fix it. I’m almost fully recovered.
“I couldn’t have done it without Thra, and to be honest, I’m not finished with it. It’s a stopgap measure at best, and frankly—I feel like the world sort of took it and ran with it.” She paused, trying to figure out how to phrase it. “I had to stop when Wren got influenced by…whatever that was.”
Yes. It’s not quite like a usual virus works within the confines of a computer. Human brains do not operate like software. They’re far more complex. Thra sounded weary. It appears as if the shards have different effects on humans depending on their personalities and motivations. It doesn’t seem to have harmed her, yet, just essentially opened up more options within Somnia for her, unlocking restricted access to some of the system functions.
Laria read between the lines and narrowed her eyes, pushing down on the panic she could feel rising in the back of her throat. Now was not the time to break down. Wren needed her. “You’re worried about her?”
Rav spoke first. Not necessarily worried, just cautious. She’s exceeded the capacity I’d anticipated the connection tolerating and is going through linking stages with Somnia that I’d never imagined. I’m almost certain this wasn’t a bad thing, but I’m not an expert when it comes to human and AI interconnectedness.
Thoughts raced around in Laria’s head as she examined the type of language the AIs were using for her daughter’s connection. She felt like they were hiding something. “What are you not telling me?”
It’s not like that. Rav spoke up. It’s more of a case to where we’re not yet entirely sure ourselves and don’t wish to speak on something we haven’t fully grasped yet.
Thra continued on as if they’d shared one thought. The game has degraded from its initial programing. The shards added in an element that has corrupted the very fabric of the game world. There are unintended quest lines, species, wars…and yet, it’s enabled the residents in the world to approach sentience. As if it were real.
There are aspects now, Rav continued, excitement creeping into his voice, that weren’t even in the initial concept stages for the game launch. Somnia herself is becoming aware. There is so much we don’t know yet, so we’re not keeping things from you. We’re simply not guessing. Perhaps it’s not so much a degradation, as an evolution.
Laria wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that, but it was logical. Very AI of them. She sighed, longing for sleep. Just a little while longer and she should have the full anti-virus ready. As long as the coding still applied and she got the time to devote to it. “I appreciate you speaking with me. I’m glad to see you’re both okay. But where is Sui?” Neither of the others had mentioned him, which meant they were either avoiding the subject, or didn’t know.
He’s indisposed at the moment. Self-reparation. Thra’s voice resumed a metallic clang. He has been having some issues that he needs to work on. By himself.
Away from us. Rav’s tone held a note that Laria hadn’t heard before. It was so unusual that she wasn’t sure she’d heard it right. Especially since he bade her farewell with a perfectly normal voice. For an AI anyway.
As she closed the door behind her to head back to her office she ran the simple phrase over in her head again. Nope, no doubt about it. Rav had spoken angrily. She shivered. While she knew that Sui had infected Rav, and she realized they were close to if not completely sentient, she’d never seen them display emotion like this. What the hell had happened to make an AI develop anger?
Murmur frowned at her display. She knew the other two guilds were raiding, but she was getting restless again. Perhaps her own raid could go and clear the trash around the first raid zone while they waited.
Of course, right now she still needed to contact Risk from Spiral. She hadn’t met the man, but she’d heard through the boards and grapevine that he was marginally gruff and blunt. She could deal with that.
Greetings, Risk. I realize that you’re in a raid, and I apologize for interrupting, but I wanted to talk to you about a possible alliance in order to raid the higher tier dungeons, as our guilds aren’t currently close to fielding a full raid in order to enter them. Please let me know when a good time to talk is.
She closed her eyes and sent the message, unsure if it had been a wise decision. She knew Masha was already on board, and as soon as they finished Hazenthorne, Exodus would have a good chunk of their leveling group at level forty-eight as well. She was hoping that between the three guilds they’d be able to field five full groups of level forty-eights to approach the higher tiered dungeons since they were full raids. Thirty people should be a nice compromise since twelve people just wasn’t going to cut it.
In the meantime though, Fable couldn’t afford to wait for anyone. They needed to keep up their march toward max level, to improve their skills, armor, and teamwork. Her sensor net tugged at her constantly. With the increased range on it, there were consistently things that merited attention.
She frowned at her stats, not happy with them yet.
CON 22 (52)
STR 10 (42)
AGI 20 (92)
WIS 12 (82)
INT 94 (262)
CHA 115 (332)
HP 963 (1188)
MANA 1506(1806)
MA 175 (315)
But what she wanted was to get stronger. To hit level fifty and finally be able to increase both her MA level and her druidic hybrid abilities. If she did that, she could protect them all, not matter the method, no matter the cost. She flexed her fingers, watching the runes through her skin ripple as she did so. The locus body had shifted subtly while she was in that trance. This new one was so much more preferable, and Somnia made it feel like her own.
“Murmur?” Neva’s voice held hesitation, and the enchanter stopped at the workbench, blinking.
She’d been on her way here but had arrived sooner than anticipated. “Sorry. Lost in thought. How are things?” Murmur let a brief smile pass her lips as she looked at the little luna. Neva was sitting at an adventuring level of twenty-eight now. Not too shabby considering her ridiculous crafting skills.
Neva brightened up considerably with the smile and question. “Everything is going fantastic. I’ve created several unique recipes that people have to pay a license fee for if they want to craft them in the future. And I’m hoping with some of the rarer crafting materials we’ve been getting to create my own unique set of armor.”
Murmur resisted the urge to reach out and pat her head. Neva was so easy to make happy. A smile, a bit of genuine interest…she wished everyone was so easily placated. She definitely
had a soft spot in her heart for the little master crafter. “Hey, Neva. Thank you. For everything you do.”
Neva blushed, a faint tinge of red coloring her cheeks. It looked very anime in its execution and was one of the only things that almost broke immersion for Murmur.
“Thanks for giving me a chance. I really like it here.”
There was no hint of deception in those words. Murmur smiled, this time in a real and non-calculated way. In a split-second decision, she sent out a tiny tendril of power to attach it to Neva. That way she’d always know if Neva was safe. Unlike her raid mates who were always around her, Neva was holed away here, out of her reach. What if Riasli attacked again? Murmur needed to know Neva was safe, needed to be able to protect her in an instant.
A notification made a low sound, and Murmur glanced at the corner of her vision. Surprised, she noticed a response from Risk. Reaching forward, she ruffled the top of Neva’s hair. “I’ll be back to check on raid supplies. The group needs to head out as soon as possible. We don’t get to just rest and wait.”
Risk: Greetings, leader of Fable. Your suggestion makes sense. We expect to be done with our current dungeon by the end of the current game day. We would definitely be interested in this proposal, but we do not yet possess all of the keys to access each of the end game raids. I assume you do, and this is the reason behind the invitation. Spiral will have at least eight players at the minimum required level. I look forward to discussing terms with you.
Murmur eyed the conversation. Straightforward. Precise. He didn’t beat around the bush at all and even acknowledged their lack of keys before she needed to point it out. Fable would be the quickest to obtain the necessary manpower to enter the dungeons themselves because their levelers were nearing the cap too. They had another two groups approaching their mid-forties already.
Her impatience to finish this content and thus free Somnia of its bindings to Michael meant an excellent opportunity for other guilds. Even if that put them under her command. A brief search later and it looked like Exodus should indeed have ten members at forty-eight by the time they finished their dungeon. She was going to have to divvy up the guilds into groups. Though she wasn’t going to break her main group up. She had to hope that Veranol, Rash, Mellow, Dansyn, Exbo, and Jinna weren’t going to take exception to the fact that she had to keep a member of Fable in each other group to ensure rules were followed.
She shot an answer back. Excellent. Good luck with your raid. We will have raid supplies ready to go for the entire raid force and will be diving in as soon as possible.
It wasn’t too brusque. She couldn’t sugarcoat with other guild leaders, or she’d risk being seen as emotional and weak. Emotional she might get on occasion, but she would never allow others to see her as weak. Not in this world. Not with the power she’d gained.
Sighing, she scratched Snowy’s head as she moved Tiachi closer to her ear so the little mount navigator didn’t dangle so close to her mouth. The new hair was remarkable and difficult to get used to.
Bringing up her chats, she sent another message. Hey, Masha. I know you’re busy, but we’re aiming to begin our end-game dungeons in the next real day or so. Hope you finish your current raid by then.
There was only a brief pause before his answer flashed back.
Masha: Yep. Currently battling Spidriptoy. Weird ass spiders in here. Should be done in time to power nap before the big raid.
Murmur paused. Spidriptoy. In Hazenthorne. Were the bosses never the same? She shook her head and replied. Great. Don’t die too much. See you later.
She liked Masha. He was a good guy. She wished he wasn’t in Exodus. Fable could use another excellent healer as the game progressed. But that was beside the point. Her fingers itched to kill things, to take out her frustration on unsuspecting monsters, to help her grow stronger and keep all her friends safe. She had the power, she had the ability, and she had the will.
They had to ally themselves, because she got the distinct feeling that Somnia couldn’t wait the week it would take otherwise.
Turning, she saw Sinister quietly going over her daggers with one of the weaponsmiths. Her deep red robes drank in her dark hair, giving her an air of impossible grace. Murmur clenched her fists. She had to keep everyone safe, but most of all Sinister.
“Seriously?” Devlish pursed his lips as he looked over the map in front of him. “I mean, it’s probably a good idea, and the way will be cleared for them by the time they’re ready, but…”
“What he means is are we seriously going to fight alongside the enemy? Can’t we just wait for our groups to level up?” Beast yawned out his translation of Devlish’s concerns.
We can’t wait.
No shit. Murmur dismissed the voice in her head and pointed to Vahrir on the map. “There is a plethora of monsters all around here, including that damned giant thing. All of them are level forty-eight and higher, and all of them are raid mobs. We can’t take an entire real day, two game days off of leveling when we could be getting stronger.”
“Is there something you’re not telling us, Mur?” Veranol asked softly. “About why we need to move so fast?”
But Havoc interjected before Murmur could answer. “No. Just that you’ll understand the sense of urgency once you get your connection improved by the tweaks to your headset. It’s like…there’s this knowledge that we need to fix things before they break completely.”
“What he said,” Sinister grudgingly agreed. “Somnia isn’t what it was, and if we want any influence on what it will be, we have to make sure to protect what is currently here and assist in its development.”
“As in the game?” Merlin asked, his interest piqued. “Like the game development?”
“Not really.” Murmur figured they’d all get connected soon enough. “Like the world development.”
Merlin looked at all three of the new headset-wearing crew. “Seriously. When do I get to join this headset club?”
Murmur laughed. “I’ll ask Mom.”
Hey, when do the others get their invitations? She sent it as ambiguously as she could, just in case anyone was intercepting. Call her paranoid, but she’d learned the day she woke up from her coma that they had people against them out there. While she knew her abilities could work in the real world, she wasn’t sure to what extent yet.
It took several moments for the reply to come back. Should have the details sorted to send out to them in a few hours.
Awesome. I’ll time out our leveling for then. They’ll be so happy. Murmur smiled at the rest of the group. “We’ll be good to go shortly. Let’s get ourselves set up for leveling, and then go power nap. Once you have the updates in about four hours, we’ll head to Vahrir.”
Veranol nodded. “I’ve checked the guild stores for potions, poisons, and repair kits. We should be fine. I mean, we’ve got so much in there, I can’t even see how we could use it all. But we need to keep in mind that we are asking two other guilds along with us. I doubt they will be as well-prepared. We may need to share resources.”
Murmur shrugged. “I did tell them that we would have raid potions and supplies. We are inviting them, and they’re essentially under our command. All of this gives an edge for them to do things our way. In the end, that’s all we need.”
“Anyone know what’s at the end?” Rashlyn butted in. “I mean, isn’t it twelve keys? We only have six. How are we even close to the end?”
“Excellent question.” Sinister laughed. “But you know. We have six of them, and we can see where three more keys will be. We should just do what we can, and hope that the world doesn’t get broken enough to keep the rest of them from us.”
Murmur watched the group from a few steps back, enjoying the comfort of Snowy pressed up against her legs. They worked well together, even if a couple of them seemed less than eager. She just wasn’t entirely sure why they were so hesitant.
&nbs
p; Ah, if she twisted her sensory net just a little, she could see more of their emotions, of their motivations. They didn’t want to group up with another guild. Understandable, although right now that would be foolish. All they needed was a helpful nudge, a whisper of confidence that what they were about to undertake was necessary.
Not too much.
Somnia hadn’t needed to remind her of that. Murmur wasn’t stupid enough to overdo it. Just a bit of help to let them enjoy the world again, to let them see that saving Somnia was bigger than just completing a dungeon as a guild.
Saving Somnia was everything.
Somnia Online
Continent of Cenedril - Curet Temple Version 12.9756
Activated by Guild: Spiral
Day Twenty-Five
Karn stared at the daggers in her hands, gripping the hilts tight and relaxing, watching the way the blades adjusted to her different grips. They were beautiful—made of ebony, with a life leech component, they were every assassin’s dream. And she knew that Jirald hadn’t completed this dungeon yet, so the odds of him having these was close to none.
That, at the very least, had been worth it.
But this dungeon had taken way too long to complete. That final boss…maybe it was because several of them hit forty-eight before tackling him. They’d barely retained the level after completely defeating him. Trial and error were always a part of raiding, but there was a lingering sense of urgency that hid in the back of her mind. They needed to finish this as soon as possible.
The very substance of the dungeon seemed to insist on those thoughts, whispering to her how vital it was for her to reach the next dungeons. She shook her head to clear the voices that made her wonder if she’d been playing the game too much and gave all of her attention to her father.
“Listen up.” Risk spoke, his calm voice commanding, and somehow well-modulated over the large space in front of them. He waited for a few moments before continuing as the others shifted their attention to him and not to their loot.
