Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

while people might be nice to her face, they called her bossy bitch, and no-talent hack behind her back.

Right now, she wasn’t emotionally set up to deal with that, so guild company was welcome.

“Hi, guys,” she said by way of greeting, putting on her best professional level voice to try and pour some niceness into the other sentiments she was having.

“Hey.” Masha stared at her for a moment before shaking his head like he was trying to knock water out of his ears. “Sorry. Feels odd, like I haven’t really seen you in a while.”

Murmur smiled but thought that sounded distinctly weird. “Well, you know, this time we actually got some sleep.”

Somnia Online

Continent of Tarishna - Mikrum Isle

Gathering of the Guild Alliance

Day Thirty-Two - Early Morning

Masha watched Murmur, uncertain as to the feeling of discomfort he experienced when he looked at her. There was a hazy reason just out of his reach, and the more he tried to grab at it, the more it slipped away. Had he been angry with her about something? He couldn’t quite remember, even though it was there, on the tip of his tongue so to speak.

She spoke with the same self-assurance he’d known in her for the last couple of years. Working with Fable and healing a bunch of people who knew not to stand in shit should have been a lot of fun. But while they’d been raiding, things got a bit hazy, and he couldn’t tell why. He directed his attention back to the conversation, trying his best to concentrate on the words so he could deal with his head stuff later. Maybe he needed to adjust the headset again.

“…Neva has prepared a couple of trunks for us to take in our inventory with supplies in them, just in case. Probably a good idea, since we won’t know if we will have access to our guild bank in the next stage.” It sounded like Murmur was sick of saying this, or that her mind was elsewhere.

“What do you mean, ‘not have access to it’? Why wouldn’t we have access to it?” Ishwa asked, his eyes narrowing. He was always so curious about everything, and probably a little bitter that Neva was the one doing everything for Fable, considering she was Ishwa’s sister.

Devlish glanced at Murmur, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug. “It’s a new event that didn’t even undergo alpha testing. And to be honest, we’ve tackled some of these dungeons very differently. We aren’t certain that how things were solved wasn’t as big an element as that they were completed. For all we know, different key variations might trigger different final encounters. So we…” but he didn’t get further, because Risk crossed his arms and glared at all the members of Fable.

“Look, I can handle being kept in the dark about some things. We got taken along for the ride with these last few dungeons, which is pretty cool of you all. But you also have to realize that we can’t do our jobs as our classes if you don’t let on with all of what you know.” The glare continued, focusing on each of them in turn, including Ishwa and Masha.

Murmur sighed and rubbed her temples. Masha glanced around for Sinister but couldn’t see the blood mage anywhere. Strange. Sin could usually change Murmur’s moods easily.

He could sense, without having any of those mind power abilities, that Murmur was struggling hard with what she could and couldn’t tell them. Wasn’t her mother a developer? Maybe they were secretly trying to iron out bugs.

Like she could read his mind, the next words out of her mouth reflected most of what he’d thought. “Look. We don’t have all the answers. Frankly, I don’t even think the developers do. They gave the world so many different variations and possible combinations that even if they had another ten years, they probably couldn’t have tried them all.”

“It’s not all scripted, which means different actions can trigger entirely different outcomes. Even unanticipated ones. We have no clue what we’re walking into. And, like any game, there are some bugs in the system, and we don’t know exactly what it’s going to throw at us at any given time.” Murmur pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Somnia wasn’t designed on a linear playing path.” Telvar was suddenly there and speaking, like he was a real person. Maybe he was an informative NPC. Masha watched as he continued, completely fascinated.

“The bugs in the system have put some bumps in that path, and we’ve been tripping over them.”

Masha had to put in effort to keep from rolling his eyes at the analogy. “So what do you expect us to do?” The question was out before he knew it, directed at the lacerta like he was partially in charge. Murmur’s starry eyes watched him with an unreadable expression.

But Telvar seemed unfazed, which was good, considering he was an NPC. Maybe this was what he was here for, assuaging the concerns of players. “When we journey to the places the keys unlock, the continuation of the quest will answer all your queries.” He bowed and left the hall.

Masha turned to Murmur. “Guess it’s a nice perk to have an NPC as the owner of your guild island.” He meant it as a joke, but she seemed unsure how to take it.

“Yeah. Telvar isn’t so bad once you get used to him. A bit eccentric, but generally nice. Plus, he can turn into a dragon.” She grinned, but there was hesitance in the expression.

Masha tried to soften his response and let her know things were okay. If only he could remember why he’d been so angry with her, then maybe it would be easier. “Glad he’s on our side.”

And he really meant that.

Murmur ran over the stock list she got from Neva, making sure everything was in place. It seemed like an overwhelming amount of stuff until she compared it to the average usage list Neva had also handed