You are Summoned

Chapter 297. Back to the Grind.

I was sent home, and it took me a minute to remember what had been going on when I was summoned. I was still in Jeanette’s house, and remembered that we had been meeting with Agent Lopez after the attack on Refuge by the cultists. The meeting was still going on, through everyone was looking at the empty chair where Fitzfazzle had been sitting.

“What happened to Fitzfazzle?” Elliot asked.

“Sorry, I got pulled into a contracted summoning and that must have forced him back to his world,” I explained.

“You were just summoned and returned? Let me get some readings,” the agent with the computer said.

“Did everything go okay, Rico?” Agent Lopez asked.

“Yeah, it was fine. I hit tier two, rank five and then visited Somhagen again. I’ll put it all down in the report, along with a couple of odd things that happened in the city. Sorry to have interrupted the meeting,” I replied.

“No problem, Rico, it’s not like you can plan these things. Having Fitzfazzle gone is a bit of a blow. How soon until you can summon him again? Our people were getting some great ideas from him, and I think Fitzfazzle was enjoying learning from our people almost as much as we were from him,” Agent Lopez asked.

“There’s no exact timeline, I just have to wait for his figurine to be ready again. As soon as I can summon him again, I’ll let you know. Maybe we’ll try to time it for just after I get back from a summoning so we’ll maximize how long he can stay here,” I offered.

“Good plan, just give me a call as soon as you’re ready. I’ll have a team kept on standby when you think we’re close. At least we had some time to work with Fitzfazzle which will allow us to plan a bit better for his next visit. With that being said, does anyone have anything else to add?” Agent Lopez asked as he tried to wrap up the meeting.

“I have a few administrative things, but they don’t have to be handled in person, and we can just text or email about that,” Marie said.

“Great, one final thing and then I have to get out of here. As you can imagine, we’ve got a lot of paperwork and reports to do after the cultist attack. The last thing I wanted to mention, is that we need the help of every summoned being right now, even those that are minors,” Lopez looked at Elliot as he said that.

“With the summoned beings that are over tier three disappearing, we’re losing our most experienced consultants. Please try to make your schedules flexible as we work to get our world ready,” Lopez pleaded.

Snagging a final cookie from the fresh plate Jeanette brought out, Agent Lopez and his assistant left. Everyone was tired, and I slunk back to my apartment to sleep. Closing the door to my place, I almost jumped when Melvin spoke up. With his last visit, I thought it might be a while before he could join me back on Earth, but he had managed to hitch a ride in his armor form. As he moved slightly, I could see a thin, nearly invisible gelatinous layer encasing my armor.

He wasn’t as mobile and seemed muted and less talkative when in this form, but he had no trouble telling me that he was hungry…as always. With no mana here to sustain him, I did have to feed him. My refrigerator wasn’t exactly empty, but the choices were slim. I was too tired to head out to some late-night restaurant or fast-food run, so I gave Melvin a sample of everything that I had on hand.

It was a bit harder to feed him, as he was encased over my existing armor. Melvin made it work, and anything I held against my armor for more than a few seconds was slurped up. Before long, I got the feeling that while he wanted more, he was fine with me stopping to rest.

I unsummoned my armor, took a shower, and hopped into bed. A quick resummoning of my armor revealed that Melvin was still there. He sent me images of him remaining in armor form until a summoning, or visit home ended, no matter how many times I equipped and unequipped the armor.

My day started early, and after introducing Melvin to my favorite cereal, Captain Crunch, I was called by Major Finley. They were bumping up the number of trainees that would be working with me. Now, we were up to a reinforced company, just over 200 soldiers. The old platoon I had been working with was still part of the training group, but working with the new additions went slower than I’d have liked.

The military had given them all a briefing but seeing what a summoned being could do in person was always a bit of a shock. In the end, with Major Finley’s help, we got them sorted and into the normal training routine. A new addition to the group, First Sergeant Novak, proved to be a big help. Nobody, even the officer’s, wanted to mess with Top, which is what they all called the First Sergeant.

With a booming voice, and a command presence I hoped to someday achieve, Top kept everyone on task. He wasn’t afraid to dish out some “corrective physical training” when needed. I was even a victim of his efforts a time or two, but Top laid off after he realized it was taking too long to smoke me properly with pushups. My system enhanced body was coming through for me again.

After a couple of days of training and waiting for rides or borrowing cars from others at Refuge to get to the base, it was finally time to make my first big purchase since becoming wealthy. It was time for me to buy a car, but what car? My bank account said that I could get just about anything, but I’d lived a much simpler life for too long to blow money on an expensive car.

In the end, I just wanted basic, comfortable transportation, not to make a statement to anyone. Deciding on a Honda Accord, my dealership experience was a strange one. I expected there to be some haggling, there always is during a car purchase, but what I didn’t expect was for my Mind and Presence stats to come through for me.

While they didn’t give me the car for free, a later check online showed that I had bought it well below the dealer’s cost. They dealership even offered me a job as a salesman there. Maybe if this whole summoned being and pending apocalypse thing didn’t work out, I’d at least have a new career in car sales waiting for me.

Having my own car made things a lot easier for me. Southern California wasn’t a place that had great public transportation, and I’d always felt bad asking other people for a ride anywhere. With new wheels, I was also able to take Melvin out for some grub. He already loved tacos, but I also introduced him to the other offerings nearby.

The days passed, and I continued to assist with training the troops. There was a lot they had to shift their thinking about, as well as new skills to learn with melee weapons and primitive ranged weapons. Supposedly, the military was working on something that would keep their advanced weapons secure, but from what I’d seen of the universe out there, tech only functioned efficiently when paired with mana.

Units rotated in and out of my training program, and we began to get things dialed in. Somehow, despite the soldiers and others being briefed on the pending induction into the system, word hadn’t gotten out. It was inevitable, and from what Agent Lopez said, there was going to be an announcement of some kind soon, hopefully early enough to give people a couple of months to prepare before it happened.

Elliot and a now fully healed Quinn joined me in the training. Once they were up to speed, we were able to expand the number of soldiers we worked with. In addition to the military, we started to see members of law enforcement and other emergency services. I didn’t know how the system would determine classes for everyone, but it was assumed that those with medical training would probably be offered some kind of healer option.

I’d had over two weeks without a summoning when the next series finally hit. I was overseeing my mana slayer drone as it attempted to ambush a squad of Marines in a training exercise when the familiar words flashed in front of me, and I was pulled into my personal space.

You are Summoned!

“Welcome back sir, may I be of any further assistance?” Whirtmir, the head butler in my personal space asked after handing me the obligatory beverage.

“No, I’m good, thank you, Whirtmir,” I replied. I never got a chance to visit Chaladoom’s store since my visit to Somhagen was cut short. New upgrades for the personal space were on the agenda, but that would now have to wait until tier three finally rolled around.

After a quick check to make sure my loadout was how I wanted, I stepped into the portal, ready for my next adventure.

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

You are being summoned by the techno mage Crellin.

Summoning tier, 2.

Summoning rank, 5.

Rewards level, moderate.

This summons is for the purpose of non-combat related support. Prepare accordingly.

Forced compliance is active.

Your armory loadout has been equipped.