You are Summoned

As I stepped out of the portal, I tripped over something at my feet. Doing a face plant onto some rocky soil wasn’t a good way to start the summons or get a strong performance rating. Before I could stand back up my summoner, who was also the person I had just tripped over, began to frantically shout orders.

“Stop the giant!” My summoner, still lying on the ground, screamed as he pointed behind me. Drawing my dagger as I turned, a shadow loomed over us. I had only a moment to react before a giant’s foot crushed me to a bloody pulp. There was no way I could save my summoner, and there was no way I could survive, so the best I could do was dish out as much damage as I could.

Raising my dagger, I gripped it firmly with both hands. Remembering past encounters with Legos on the floor, I knew just the spot to aim for. The thin skin inside the arch of the giant’s foot was my target. Things seemed to slow down, and the giant stomping on me was taking much longer than I had figured it would.

Looking down, I found my head was also moving impossibly slow. The only thing that wasn’t moving slowly was the mage that had summoned me. We were all in slow motion, but he rolled out from under the giant’s foot, glowing wand in hand. He ran away as fast as he could into the trees.

I was just a minor road block the mage had summoned to hopefully slow down the giant that would pursue him once whatever spell he had cast to slow things down expired. Being pretty much doomed every time I was summoned was nothing new, and I had to admit that getting stomped by a giant was at least an original way for me to die.

The slowing spell also gave me a chance to check out my surroundings. I was on a tree-lined road, with forest spread out in every direction. A pair of dead horses were smashed into a pile of gore on the ground. From the glint of metal inside the pile of gore, I could see the crushed remains of an armored warrior that had met the same fate as the horse he had rode upon.

My summoner, I think his name was Dave-something, must have jumped off his horse before the giant had stomped it. Before I could contemplate things further, normal time snapped back into place, and I was crushed so fast I couldn’t feel a thing. My only satisfaction was seeing my dagger drive deep into the arch of the giant’s foot before he crushed me.

You have been crushed under a giant’s foot. This summoning is now considered complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Pathetic.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, rank 2, and your performance rating of Pathetic.

You have earned 1 experience point.

You have earned 1 summoning point.

Prepare to return to your Personal Space.

“Welcome back,” Minerva said as I appeared back at Rico’s Place.

“Hey, can I file a complaint about my performance rating? I was summoned under the foot of a giant, only a second away from being crushed. What does the system expect me to do in that situation?” I asked. As soon as I spotted the performance rating for the last summons, I was furious, and not afraid to let Minerva know it.

“Performance ratings are indisputable,” Minerva replied.

“Oh, tell me great advisor who is supposedly able to review my performance, what could I have done differently?” I argued.

“There are more important things for us to discuss, and your frustration over a single summoning is not among the pending topics. First, we need to deal with your mana core. Tell me everything that happened and leave no detail out. I need to hear everything that you remember of the incident,” Minerva demanded.

As ticked off as I was about the giant stomp performance rating, my mana core was more important. I retold the story, trying to remember every detail. Minerva grilled me. She was particularly interested in Linda, and the fact that I had run into her the day before. I couldn’t remember exactly what Linda had been rambling on about that day, but looking back, she seemed to know that I had been selected as the next summoned being.

She seemed genuinely curious about some aspects of my life on Earth, particularly about how things like a pawn shop and how trash dumpsters worked. Minerva muttered something about strange mana-less technology before redoubling her efforts at my interrogation. After what seemed a long time, she appeared satisfied with my answers.

“That will suffice. It’s nearly unheard of for a mana core to transfer from one individual to another, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. For whatever reason, your mana type was compatible with whoever the unfortunate soul was that had originally possessed the core,” Minerva said.

“Yeah, I get that it’s not something that happens every day, but what exactly is a mana core and what do I do with it?” I asked. There was a basic description of it in my personal information screen, but it was kind of limited.

“Mana cores are found on most summoned beings of higher rank. It is one of the few ways to bring the abilities and spells you learn here back to your mana-starved home world. To create one, the summoned being must spend massive amounts of funds and summoning points, or they can slowly cultivate one on their own,” Minerva explained.

“Cultivate? What is that?” I asked.

“Mana is all around you, flowing through everything. A summoned being can learn to cultivate that mana, gather it to themselves and slowly refine it inside their bodies. This is usually a long and arduous process that requires the cultivator to gain great clarity of mind and spirit before they can form their core,” Minerva said.

“Like a monk meditating or yoga or something? I’m not really into that kind of thing. It’s always struck me as kind of boring,” I replied.

“That is the process that many summoned beings use to create their mana core. Since yours is already formed, it will grow naturally as you gain power and experience. There are some that say you can increase your rate of mana absorption by cultivating, but everyone will receive some expansion of their mana core just by climbing the ranks and tiers of your new existence,” Minerva explained.

“Good, I wasn’t looking forward to meditation or whatever, I’ve got a pretty full schedule already. When will I get to learn some spells and stuff that I can use with my core?” I asked.

“Very rarely, you will receive skills, abilities, and spells as part of your rewards, but for the most part you will purchase them. Before you ask, the opportunity to purchase them will be coming up before too long,” Minerva explained.

“Speaking of rewards, I did get something from the kid with the zombie problem from earlier. It was a scroll called an ability slot scroll. I opened it, and all I could see was an open slot for an ability on my status screen. What exactly did it do?” I asked.

“Those are somewhat rare, and excellent rewards to find. It does exactly what it claims to do, it adds an additional slot to learn a new ability. Each summoned being is given a single ability slot at their formation, a slot that is almost universally taken up by the linguistic adaptation interface. Every five ranks you will unlock either a spell slot, or an ability slot. A summoned being that can equip additional abilities and spells over similarly ranked summons can be much more powerful than their tier and rank would imply,” Minerva explained.

“Cool, so that was a great reward to get. Anything that makes me more powerful is good,” I said. Not only did I want to make more money from my performance. I wanted to be able to save people like that little girl if I’m summoned into that type of situation again. Before I could ask any additional questions, a blue portal opened next to Rico’s Loot.

“You’re kidding me, I haven’t even had a chance to look at my rewards from the last summoning,” I complained.

You are Summoned!

“You should spend less time complaining and more time preparing,” Minerva said, pointing to my waist.

“Oh crap, my dagger!” I shouted as I tried to open Rico’s Loot to retrieve it. Before I could do that, the compulsion kicked in and I was forced to step into the portal. Whatever this particular summoning happened to be, I would have to face it unarmed.

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

You are being summoned by the shaman Sskrim.

Summoning tier, 0.

Summoning rank, 2.

Rewards level, minuscule.

This summons is ritual related. Prepare accordingly.

Forced compliance is active.

The armory has not been unlocked. A facsimile of your current attire and gear will suffice for the tier and rank of this summons.