Bonus Story! The Summoned Life.

I have a short story for the upcoming Legendary LitRPG collection that I showed you the first chapter of a week or so ago. Here's the entire story, my take on a person being the summoned and not the summoner.

The Summoned Life.

Chapter 1: A Big Decision.

So, you want to know what it’s like for me? I can tell you that the life I have isn’t exactly an easy one, but I’ve learned to manage. I’ll start by saying that there are a few critical decisions that we make in our lives, and you wouldn’t think that choosing between waiting in the checkout line or using the self-check at the grocery store would be one of them. Well, for me, it is, or at least it can be. In fact, a lot of stuff that is normally mundane in your day-to-day activities can turn out to be a disaster for me if the timing is wrong. Why, you ask? Well, it’s because of a condition that I’ve developed over the last few months. It wasn’t some medical problem, more like a magic problem. Yes, I can see you roll your eyes, but I can assure you that magic exists. It doesn’t exist in our world, but it’s the main power source in so many others. The fact our world doesn’t have magic is due to the absence of mana, old Earth here is like a giant dustbowl in the multiverse, a place devoid of the one resource that everyone wants.

So, what does that have to do with me and my condition, not to mention my checkout line decision? You see, in the worlds that are blessed with an ample supply of mana, there is a special type of mage called a summoner. These summoners are about what you’d expect if you’ve played video games or watched enough low-budget fantasy movies. Summoners defend themselves and handle various work tasks by, just like the name says, summoning beings from other worlds to do their bidding for a short time. For the most part, it’s extremely difficult to summon a being from a mana-rich environment. I don’t know the science of it, or if you can even use the scientific method to explain it, but the reality is that it’s far easier to summon and pull a being from a world without mana. Mana fuels their worlds, but it’s also like radio interference for these summoner mages. They need to reach toward a world without interference or summon a being that’s been specifically tuned to them.

Well, about three months ago I was the lucky human selected to be summoned by some mage on some world I’ve never heard of. One minute I was at my desk working and the next, I was standing in another world, wearing only some strange tabard with a symbol that must have been the symbol of the dope who summoned me. My foray into this new world lasted a grand total of thirteen seconds, that’s how long it took for the army of some unidentifiable monsters to tear me apart. Obviously, I didn’t stay dead, that’s one of the perks of being a summoned being, if you die on the world you’ve been summoned to, you’re just dumped back where you started from, perfectly healthy and, if anything, feeling better than you did when you left.

One of the problems I have is that time isn’t exactly lined up perfectly between the worlds. Sometimes the same amount of time passes as it did on my first summons, and sometimes, you pop back into our world hours later or only a second after you left. According to my co-workers, there was a loud popping sound and a strange odor that permeated the area when I was snatched up. They describe the odor as inoffensive but a bit distracting since it’s something nobody has likely ever smelt before. I’m gone when it happens, so I can’t give you my take on what the smell is like since it automatically dissipates when I return. My problem isn’t with the leaving part of the summons, it’s with the return. The return process is kind of traumatic the first few times it happens, and it’s also the reason I was fired from my job.

My job wasn’t all that great, but I did need the money it brought in. I worked in a call center for an insurance company, handling people’s auto accident claims. Some days I’d rather face a horde of angry orcs than listen to the verbal abuse I was subjected to regularly. If you ever worked a job that deals with the public, you get it, but just imagine that everyone you talk to is angry after being in an accident. Now I don’t mean angry because they were hurt, those claims were handled by other people who make way more than me, but, hey, oh, sorry about that, I’m rambling again. I have a tendency to do that, I don’t get out that much, well, not out in public in our world, that is.

So, how did I lose my job? It turns out when you’re summoned, it’s just you that’s summoned, not anything you possess or anything you’re wearing. Depending on the level of the summoner, and the tier and type of the spell used to summon, you’ll have some type of gear issued and equipped automatically on your person when you arrive. Back on Earth, all your stuff is now just laying in a pile, waiting for you to reappear and claim it. When you return, you’re buck naked, not to mention that you’re dropped back into the place that everyone nearby is probably looking at due to the sound and smell emanating from it. Well, at the end of that first summons, I appeared nude in my cubicle, which, of course, didn’t go over too well with my co-workers. I figured that telling them that I was summoned by a mage to another world would have gotten me not only fired, but also locked up for a mental health eval, I kept quiet and accepted the termination of my employment. That was just the start of my problems.

Over the next few weeks, I’d be summoned randomly, making every daily task riskier. What if I was walking across the street when I was summoned, only to be dropped back in front of a speeding truck. Lots of dodgy stories start with Truck-kun, and I don’t want mine to end with it. I made it through the early days without any real disasters. Don’t judge me if I’ve acquired a few indecent exposure charges during that time, I’m not a creep and it was obviously outside of my control. I eventually found a workaround for the whole naked thing, so it’s not a problem anymore.

The other problem you’re probably already asking yourself about is the fact that I just seemingly disappear into thin air. That turns out to not be a problem. From what I understand, when the summoning spell activates, the pop, smell, and all that is the result of a minor mana explosion of sorts. While harmless, the small mana release also serves to cloak what happened in that location, messing with the short-term memories of everyone witnessing the event. Every once in a while, the return takes far longer than expected—remember the time wackiness I described earlier—and it probably wouldn’t surprise you that when I return after being gone for a while, my wallet, phone, and whatnot have been pilfered. Pro tip, if you get tagged to be a summoned being, don’t carry a lot of cash and only buy the cheapest disposable phones you can find.

The summoning has become kind of normal for me now, and in fact, I can predict a little bit about when it’s going to happen. It’s an ability I’ve acquired, and yes, I will get to how I acquire them later, hold your horses, I’m still trying to explain my checkout conundrum. It starts with pressure in my head, kind of like you would feel with a head cold or bad allergies, and then progresses to a full-on migraine. Right now, I’m moving from the pressure feeling stage and starting the headache portion of the process, so yeah, I’m about to be summoned.

How long do I have until the summoning is complete? No idea, but from where the pain is at now and how fast it progressed, I suspect I have about fifteen minutes or so. That gives me very little time to checkout, pay for my groceries, and make it to my apartment one block over. Going through the regular checkout line isn’t looking too bad today, only one person in front of me, but the person in front is elderly, so there’s a high likelihood of them taking their time to write a check or gab with Gloria who’s running that checkout lane today. This is the closest store to my apartment, so I kind of have the place dialed in and know everyone. Gloria is nice enough and a good employee from what I can tell, but she’s also one of those people that can’t talk and do anything else at the same time. If the elderly customer is as gabby as I suspect, Gloria is just going to talk, scan an item, talk some more, scan another item, you get the picture.

If I risk waiting in line, I get all my purchases, which will last me for a week. Don’t ask about how I’ll carry a couple of dozen grocery bags all the way to my apartment, like I said a couple of times already, I have some abilities, but we’ll get to it later. There’s a good chance I’ll make it halfway home and be snatched up with the summoning deal and lose all my groceries by the time I come back. There are a lot of frozen dinners and a tub of ice cream in the cart today, don’t judge me, I burn more calories now that I’m a summoned being. If I do self-checkout, I can rock through the line but have to narrow my cart down to fifteen items or less. The pain’s getting worse, so self-check it is.

The choice is difficult over which items make the cut, and I opt for stuff I really need, like that box of cereal with the marshmallows, coffee, milk, some toiletries, and a couple of the Salisbury steak frozen dinners, you know, the ones with the mac and cheese as a side dish. Are you still reading? I’m sorry to bore you with my personal taste, or lack thereof, in frozen dinners, so I won’t tell you about the trip home and getting stuck at the crosswalk forever since drivers here never seem to look for a pedestrian. Anyhow, I made it home without incident, and even put away the refrigerated and frozen stuff before the summoning was completed, which it’s about to happen right about now.

Chapter 2: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

And here we are, the start of a summoning. It’s weird during the transition, you don’t have a body and just kind of float around while the folks in charge, I’m still not exactly sure who they are, direct me to wherever I’m supposed to go and explain what I can bring with me. I’m level seven now, and have acquired a few good pieces of kit, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be summoned at my max level. If some lowbie mage casts a level one summons, I might just be summoned in normal clothing with a wood club, rusty dagger, or just my bare hands to work with. Okay, it looks like we’re up, let’s see what the details are today.

You are being called by the mage, Calcryx. This summons is the result of using a magic item and is quantified as a level four summons. The intent of this summons is combat-related, prepare accordingly. Your preset level four gear will be used, and reward levels are performance-based for this summons. Forced compliance is active. Return parameters are death in the summoned world or one minute per caster level, whichever comes first.

Eh, not bad, I prefer being summoned at max level, the rewards are better, but I’ll take a level four over a level one any day. I should probably explain about my gear and the whole reward thing, but it’ll have to wait since it looks like it’s showtime. Hang on, it’s starting.

Well, it looks like I’ve been dropped in the grease with this summons. At least my gear is decent. I have a chainmail shirt, reinforced with some crazy lightweight metal plates reinforcing critical areas. It was forged by dwarves, or something like them, which is to say, it’s good, well-crafted gear. Thick leather armor covers the rest of me, but it too has been reinforced with the lightweight metal where it covers the important bits. In my off hand I keep a small, round wooden shield, it has a band of steel wrapped around the edge and I have to say that I’ve gotten pretty good at using it for both defense and offense. My helmet is a simple steel pot. I tried those cool-looking fully enclosed metal helms, but I can’t stand the lack of vision in them. So, I decided it’s better to take a few more fatal hits to the head than I would have otherwise, but at least I can see the blow coming.

As far as a weapon, I went with a mace. It takes skill to use a sword, and a spear can be awkward depending on the location you’re fighting in, but any poor schmuck, including yours truly, can whack something with what is essentially a big metal club. Sometimes, what I’m fighting is immune to crushing, bludgeoning, smashing, or whatever you call the damage a mace dishes out. In case of immunity, I have a nice dagger with a minor enchantment on it. The dagger is also useful against stuff that needs magic to hurt it, but unless it’s necessary, I prefer to just smash things.

“Block and defend that doorway, I need more time to complete the ritual,” A mage in black robes calls out. I can feel it, the connection he has with me, this is the dude that summoned me. I obey, you really can’t say no to whoever summoned you, it’s hardwired in. Trust me, I’ve tried many times to not do whatever it is they’re asking, especially when I can tell that I’ve been summoned by someone evil, and this guy is definitely giving off those “I’m an evil dude” vibes. Victim chained to a blood-stained altar, check. Strange chanting in a language that makes me feel nauseous, check. Zombies made out of the reanimated corpses of previous victims, check.

I post up on the doorway he’s indicated, and I can hear the sounds of combat in the distance. The door to this spot has rotted off at some point, so I’m the only thing stopping someone from coming in. Down the hall is another open doorway, but the torchlight from the chamber I’m in doesn’t penetrate any further than that. My eyes on this world are normal human ones, duh, and it’s a pain that I almost always seem to be in a dark area when I’m summoned somewhere. It makes sense, they’re summoning me because they need my assistance, usually in a combat capacity, but is it too much to ask that just once I get summoned to join someone for a relaxing day at the beach.

No chance to daydream, I can make out the glow of torches coming down the hallway toward me, it’s showtime. A figure steps into the light, an armored human holding a far too big to be practical sword. The man grunts at me and thrusts forward, his attack is slow and awkward like he’s hurt or exhausted. I push aside the blade with my shield and smash him in the shoulder with my mace. The blow dents his steel pauldrons, and I think I can feel something meaty snap under the blow.

“Away from me, minion, you will not stop my quest so easily,” the armored man howls, I kind of agree with him, I’m not exactly the good guy here. The blade of the warrior glows red as some magic enhances it. Normally, this is the part where I try to get out of the way, but my orders from old tall, dark, and evil were clear, I had to defend the doorway. With renewed vigor, the man thrust his sword again, you’d think this attack would be weaker, given that I’d just likely broken his shoulder, but instead, the blade cleaves through my shield and the armor covering my chest. I can feel the tip of the blade go all the way through and scrape against the metal plate protecting my back, the guy just skewered me through a shield and both sides of my armor.

I should probably mention that, yes, I do feel pain when I’m summoned, and it sucks as much as you think it might. Despite the agony and impending death from a punctured lung and blood loss, I have to keep fighting. The pain is still there, but my body complies with the orders it was given, and I take another strike at my foe. I’m already starting to collapse so the blow hits the armored shin, denting the steel protecting it, and likely giving him a limp for a few weeks. I catch a glimpse of the blade slashing toward my neck and then it’s over.

Your summons is complete.

Performance rating, average.

Rewards will be average for a level four summons.

Prepare for a return to your world.

Your previous clothing replacement ability has been activated.

Current experience/experience needed for your next level: 255/7000.

And we’re back. It looks like I’m not getting a shopping trip this time. I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but sometimes, when you complete a mission, or when you reach a new level, you’re not sent home immediately. Instead of returning home, you materialize in what I like to call the medieval mall. It’s a collection of buildings that offer stuff for sale to summoned beings. It’s there that I purchased the ability that allows me to stay dressed when I return home. It’s a further upgrade to bring all my stuff back, which I haven’t been able to purchase yet, hence the concern with the groceries.

Where is this medieval mall? I have no idea, and I don’t even know if it’s real or just something they project into my mind. After each summons, you get rewards, that’s the little leather bag that just appeared on the floor next to me. In addition to the physical rewards, I also get requisition points which is the currency the medieval mall uses. How many I get seems to be random, but loosely tied in with the level of the summons and my performance. That’s something I really need to work on since it also affects my physical rewards. You don’t have any idea how many requisition points you’ve acquired until your next shopping trip, which is kind of a pain since you’d think it’d be easy enough to give me a total like they do with my experience points.

At the mall, there are some abilities and stuff you can purchase, but for the most part, you come into the summons with the skills and abilities you have here on earth. I’m no superhero, Navy Seal, martial arts master, or medieval weapons expert, I’m just a normal guy. I’m thirty, in fair shape since I run every day and do basic calisthenics, but other than that, I’m stuck with the gear I bring with me. Oh yeah, the gear is also purchased at the mall, and it was one of the first things I invested in.

They have a decent selection of gear, not so much for the lower levels, but at level seven, I even have a few magic items, mostly weapons, which is really cool. Maybe I’ll get a level seven summons while you’re here, and you can see the armor and stuff I have for my max level. I’ve spent most of my points to keep my gear current. I did splurge on the clothing thing and dropped a huge number of points to unlock an ability that gives me basic weapon handling skills for my chosen type, mace and shield.

There are cool abilities, like a multi-strike thing, but the cost is astronomical, so I’m stuck with the basics. I could try to find someone here on earth to train me, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to sign up for every martial art I can. Real training here at home doesn’t require requisition points, but it does require money. As tapped out as I am on requisition points, my cash situation is even worse. My situation doesn’t lend itself to holding down a steady job and I’d keep getting fired for leaving work early, not showing up, or in the early days, running around naked.

Now, the only thing I can find to help support me financially are part-time gigs at fast food places. There are several within walking distance of my apartment, and they’re so hard up for employees, that they tend to overlook my spotty attendance. When I am there, I do work hard, I was raised that way, if someone’s paying you for an honest day’s work, you should give them your best effort. My apartment is as cheap as I could find, while still being in a halfway decent neighborhood. My fast-food job pays for the rent, but not much else, to cover the rest, I have to use the physical rewards they give me. Let’s see what we got this time.

Believe it or not, the leather bag they send to hold your rewards can sell pretty well on eBay, I can usually get anywhere from $25 to $40 depending on the size. What else do we have in here? Hmm, it’s just some coins this time, twelve silver, and about a hundred copper ones. The silver coins are fine, I can offload them at one of the local pawn shops for just under their melt value, and I usually get around $15 per ounce. They’re taking a big cut of the value at that price, but the shops I work with don’t ask questions, and if there’s anything I don’t want, it’s too many questions with government officials on how I got these. Thankfully, the silver reward coins are pretty chunky and weigh about a half ounce each. The copper coins are useless, I usually sell them online in batches as “collectable fantasy coins”. Live-action role-play folks and gamers snap up just about all the coppers that I list pretty quickly.

All told, it looks like my haul will end up being worth about a hundred and twenty-five bucks after I pay listing fees for the stuff I sell online. It will take time to liquidate everything, and I have lost all my loot before when I was summoned on my way to the pawnshop and all the coins just dumped out on the street. Now, I make my sales to the pawnshops in small batches to mitigate some of the risks. I hope that as I level up, and the rewards increase, I might start seeing gold coins, or maybe even valuable gems and stuff. Sometimes, I get gear rewards, items that were probably enchanted, but our world sucks any mana out of them as soon as they appear, still, you end up with a decent dagger or short sword that can be sold for a nice amount. The fact that the weapons and armor that I get to sell are functional and not just decorative pieces seem to help their value.

How often I’m summoned varies, but it’s usually at least once per week. There’s also no set time between summons, and I could be snatched up again almost immediately. It’s rare, and my headache estimate goes out the window on those rapid back-to-back summons. I’m lucky that the rewards don’t kick in until the last summons if they are too close together, that way I don’t lose everything bouncing back and forth. My goal is to one day start earning enough that I don’t have to work my crappy part-time job and have enough money to get some real training. Maybe I can hire a retired special forces guy or something to teach me how to fight better.

Well, it looks like I’m about to get another shot at a reward, my headache didn’t entirely go away this time, and in fact, it’s building up again. At least I’m home, so I won’t lose what I got from the first summoning. Wish me luck, I can really use a big payday. I’m glad I didn’t start to microwave my dinner yet; Salsbury steak isn’t pleasant if it sits for a while, and you never know how long I’ll be gone for these things. Here we go.

Chapter 3. Level Appropriate Rewards.

You are being called by a magical device operated by the mage, Vengalla. This summons is combat-related and is quantified as a level zero summons. No gear is available for this summons and rewards are fixed at a minimal level, due to the limited duration. Forced compliance is active. The return parameters are death in the summoned world, or one minute, whichever comes first.

Crap, another low-level summons, and this time, I don’t even get gear to use. The limited duration means it’s going to be something dumb, I bet. Rewards this stingy are a sure sign of nonsense, at least I only have to be here for a minute. The transition isn’t exactly an easy one this time, rapid summons never are. It’s not like I feel pain or anything, it’s that the initial disorienting effect when I first appear is exacerbated.

A weird horse-faced guy in white robes said, “Observe, this a baseline summons. Given the nature of the device I used, and the being's physical appearance, this creature is an intelligent humanoid, a human. Note that humans are very adaptable and span the entire level range that one of our kind is capable of. At lower levels, they are inferior in a combat scenario to other summoned creatures that might be available to you. At higher levels, humans display an almost dizzying array of abilities and a penchant for enchanted gear that can make them quite formidable. Observe how the subject fares against another minor threat.”

Now, I don’t mean horse-faced like the dude has a long face, nope, I mean horse-faced since he’s some humanoid race with what looks like a horse’s head. The mouth is different, more flexible, and sort of disturbing with its human-like lips and teeth. I’m surrounded by a slew of these horse people inside a summoning ring, great, another school lesson. These situations are surprisingly common at the lower levels since magic instructors have to constantly summon during the class, and have their students repeatedly work on practicing their ability. It’s about the worst gig you can find yourself summoned to because it usually ends the way this one probably will.

“I’ll try, master, allow me,” a girl in the class says, her horsey face looking all creepy as she smiles at me and begins casting.

“Kill whatever she summons,” the instructor that summoned me commands. The binding forces me into a fighting stance, or at least the best approximation of one that I can muster up. I have zero in the way of weapons, and I’m only wearing a plain white tunic with sandals. At least the clock is ticking away, and I may not have to fight anything, because if the noob student botches the spell, I doubt she’ll have time to finish another before my minute here runs out.

I should have known, it’s like the kid in class that reminds the teacher that she forgot to ask for everyone to turn in their homework, this one is an overachiever and finishes her summons in record time. A ball of light reveals something I am not exactly equipped to handle. Instead of a goblin or some other low-level summons, the girl has called up a glistening cube of slime. I hate these things and have no way to really fight them. Too bad I’m compelled to engage, or I’d just run away, kiting this thing until my time was over.

“Not exactly sporting, Illxin, but a fine cast of a second-level summons. You’ve been listening to my lessons. Class, this is a perfect example of pulling from the correct summoning school to counter your opponent. Unarmed humans have no chance against a cube slime, observe,” Vengalla said. The stupid instructor is right, and I have no choice but to try and punch or kick the cube. I give it a stomp with my right leg. The cube is about one square foot, I suppose it’s exactly that since it’s a cube, and the things are easy to estimate the size of.

Well, my foot hits it and does exactly what you’d think it would do: squishing right through the cube, doing it no harm, and giving it exactly what it wants, lunch. Almost instantly burning pain radiates up my leg, and I scream. I don’t want to; nobody wants to scream and cry like a baby during a fight. Don’t judge me, you’d scream too if a blob was dissolving and eating you slowly. It’s a horrible fifteen seconds before the summons runs out, the cube had eaten its way up to my knee by the time it was over.

The summons is complete.

Your performance rating is below average, and the rewards will match that rating and the summoning level of zero.

Prepare for a return to your world.

The previous clothing replacement ability has been activated.

Current experience/experience needed for your next level: 270/7000.

I’m home, and the first thing I do is check my leg under the jeans that I’m wearing, feeling the need to make sure I didn’t somehow bring the leg-eating cube back with me. It's good, there’s no way to bring anything back, and I’m pretty sure the reward bags come from someplace other than the world I’m summoned to. I kind of picture a distribution warehouse in a different dimension. Low-wage workers get the order on their screen, and they search for an appropriate reward sack. Maybe they see who the reward is going to and hate the way I look, sending me a crappy bag, or maybe I remind them of a well-liked relative, and they flip me the good rewards. However it happens, even the kindest person in the other-dimensional warehouse distribution center can’t give me anything good for a level zero summoning.

In my hand is a small leather pouch, and a whopping five copper coins. Oh well, into the box with the other copper coins it goes. With my headache fading quickly, I think I’m in the clear for a bit. My shift at the restaurant doesn’t start for a few hours so I can try and get all my loot listed online. First things first, upon logging into the auction site, I check for messages. The usual stuff clutters my inbox, notices of what sold, what didn’t, and a memo about some exciting new feature to the auction system that I’ll never use.

One message sticks out, the one I look for each time I log in. You see, I’m not the only one to list stuff like this for sale. I’ve searched and often found similar coin listings. At first, I’d try to message anyone that was selling, trying to find out if they were a summoned being as well. Nobody replied, except for one guy who let me know not to contact him, he warned me to not reply to any other contact attempts either, especially from strange organizations. The summoned who reply are often never seen again. He’s probably a nut job, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t right.

The message is from some bogus-sounding company called Antiquities and Acquisitions. I check them online and it’s only a generic company webpage and there’s not a whole lot of information other than corporate doublespeak that serves to confuse anyone as to exactly what it is that this Antiquities and Acquisitions really does. The message they sent me is pretty generic as well, but reading between the lines I can tell they know what I am and are desperate to meet me.

Dear Propgearseller188,

I can see from your listings that you trade in items that interest our organization. We’d like to interview you for an opening we currently have. Please reply with your contact details and one of our representatives will be in touch. Just by meeting our representative in person, we’re willing to send you $2500.00 for your troubles.

Sincerely,

Darius Bloom

Human Relations Manager.

It almost seems normal, but something about the message is off. It’s not off like a scammer with poor English grammar skills is, more like reading between the lines I get a creepy vibe from it. Just look at the name, seems normal enough, and there’s even a picture of this Darius guy on their website. A quick image search shows that picture is a stock photo, so it’s bogus. There’s also the job title, it should be Human Resources or Customer Relations, not Human Relations. My guess is that who, or whatever this person is, they suspect what I am and it’s a bad idea to ever meet in person.

I’ve been expecting something like this ever since the other summoned guy replied and warned me. For now, I’ll just block them and keep on rolling. For all I know, if these people find me, I’ll be stuck in some research site where they dissect me to find out how I’m summoned. It could all just be me being paranoid, but I’ll take wondering if I’m being paranoid over the possibility of being dissected for an experiment. This fake company doesn’t seem to have the resources or skills to just track me down in person, which makes me think they’re wizards from another world with a limited grasp on how technology works, or some nonsense like that, hard pass.

Maybe I’ll eventually get to a high enough level where I don’t need to sell copper coins as collectibles to gamers and LARP folks. If I can get a solid amount of silver and gold coins flowing, the only people I would need are the local pawn shops and I can delete my online auction account. For now, I need every dollar coming in that I can get, even if that means a bit of risk that some shady organization might track me down.

Work is a good distraction, keeping my imagination from telling me that I’m about to get abducted. I like to work the late-night shifts, it’s slow and the people you serve are at least entertaining. After the shift, I make it home without incident and try to get some sleep. I had a hard time sleeping when I first became a summoned being. You can and will be pulled into a summons from your sleep, and let me tell you, it can be a bizarre experience. More than once I wondered if I was dreaming the whole thing, only to wake up in the morning with a loot bag on the bed next to me. When you’re asleep, they return you to the same state you left from, meaning asleep in bed, and the experience of returning doesn’t wake you up.

Headaches are starting up again, I think we’re going to be back onboard the summon train before too long. I could be wrong, and I have been at times when I confused a normal allergy headache, which I get occasionally, with a summons headache. I have to admit, the summoning frequency is getting a bit worrisome. Given the rate at which this headache is progressing, I think it’s about time.

You are being called with a summoning spell by the mage, Yusif the Mad. This summons is combat-related and is quantified as a level seven summons. Your level seven gear will be equipped for this summons and the rewards will be level-appropriate and performance-based. Forced compliance is active. The return parameters are death in the summoned world, or one hour, whichever comes first.

Finally, a chance to try out my best gear and earn some decent rewards. The stupid level zero and one nonsense over and over were getting old. How’s a guy supposed to make a living at this getting a handful of copper coins after each summons. Well, I suppose that complaining isn’t going to help, it’s not like my concerns are going to be heard by the mysterious magical overlord’s corporate helpline. I’m being pulled in, it’s go time folks.

Chapter 4. A challenge.

“Warrior, join the assault,” my summoner commands. Wow, this is kind of cool, I have to admit. I’m in the middle of an actual battle, and it looks like we’re besieging some kind of fortress. It’s also daytime! Being summoned deep underground or in the middle of the night is the norm, so even though I’m likely to be blasted by magic or hacked to death in the next few minutes, I can at least enjoy the view.

Compulsion guides me to where the summoner wants me. I fall in behind a line of orcs that were probably also summoned, given the slightly confused looks on their faces, a look that’s probably plastered on my mug as well. The fortress wall we’re approaching is tall, over thirty feet, and I’m not really sure how we’re supposed to breach it or go over it, but the summoner commands and we obey. Fireballs arch over the walls to land inside the fortress, our side has quite a collection of magic users supporting the battle. In addition to the mob of summoned beings, I can see lines of armored knights on horseback waiting to charge into the castle once the gates or walls are breached.

Rows of footmen armored in chain and plate stand ready to attack, but it’s obvious the fodder, that’s me, are supposed to do the bloody work of creating a foothold in the fortress. My vision is kind of limited, we’re in a gulley and approaching the wall. A moat filled with noxious liquid surrounds the wall I’m approaching, but there are a pair of makeshift pontoon bridges spanning the gap. I tighten my grip on the mace I hold and try to keep my shield overhead as I approach one of the bridges.

I should explain my level seven gear, it’s not bad. I bought a complete set from the mall, and it consists of well-crafted chainmail and leather with steel plates reinforcing the important parts. It’s not enchanted, I couldn’t afford that, but it is high quality, lightweight for what it is, and will self-repair between summonings. My shield is a larger, steel kite-shaped deal, and covers more of me than the round wooden one I mentioned earlier. Now the shield does have a minor magical enhancement that helps me move it like it was as light as a sheet of paper. Remember where I told you that it’s my normal body that is summoned? Hauling my butt around in armor is hard enough, so I try to save weight where I can.

My weapon is also enchanted, a heavy mace that’s as long as my arm and topped with six metal flanges. The enchantment lightens it—you see the trend here—and provides a minor impact boost. A pair of long daggers strapped to my belt rounds out my kit, one of the daggers is also enchanted, but it’s the cheapest enchant you can buy, only giving it a permanent sharp edge and point. Still, any enchantment counts when it comes to beasties and other things that can only be damaged by magic. It’s not much of a concern at lower levels, but after level five I started to see some weird stuff that I couldn’t hurt.

Okay, the line is moving again, the orcs have made their way across the bridge and it’s my turn. Around me are a few more humans that were summoned, at least I think they’re humans, the dude in the enclosed helm and heavy armor could be just about anything. The heavy armor guy has a greatsword that he seems comfortable wielding, and the others consist of a middle-aged woman in robes, a mage or healer of some type, and a pair of guys that look like college frat bros dressed in reinforced leather armor with spears. Nobody talks, we usually can’t unless it’s related to the mission, so no, “Hey, I’m from Earth, where did you guys come from?”

Oh, so that’s how we’re getting up on the walls, magic siege ladders. This is going to suck. As the orcs reach the wall, they start to climb the ladders that some of the mages on our side conjured up. Dark figures are atop the wall, hacking and pushing at the ladders, but not making much headway. Whatever spell conjured them must have been a pretty high-level one, and hopefully, the ladders hold together until I get to the top of the wall.

I should mention that the defenders haven’t been ignoring us this whole time, instead, we’ve been under a constant barrage of arrows, magic spells, and even rocks thrown from the walls. The orcs seem like the prime targets, and they’ve taken a beating. Not just strong, it turns out orcs are also really durable, especially when armored up like the ones that my side has summoned, so we only take a few losses, but most of them are now sporting plenty of dents in their armor and a nice collection of minor wounds. As for me, I’m untouched so far, I find if I keep right behind the orcs, they block me from any direct fire, and by holding my shield just right, most of the stuff that slips through is deflected.

One of the college bro spearmen isn’t so lucky and a bolt of green magic slams into his face. I won’t go into the gory details, but I will say that he looked like that Nazi that melted in the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. Note to self, avoid green magic bolts. The orcs are halfway up when the last of them start their climb, giving me room to begin my ascent. I try to keep in shape, but hauling all the weight I’m carrying up a ladder isn’t easy. The heavy armor guy is on the ladder next to me, but he seems to be handling it well enough. The surviving frat boy spearman is just below me, content at my slow pace.

An urgent command from my summoner forces me to pick up the pace and leaves me panting for the air my body desperately needs. With a final heave, I’m over the edge of the wall, slipping between crenelations to find myself, once again, behind the orcs, waiting for an opening. I do have a bit more of a view from this high, and though my summoner’s commands keep me focused on the fight, I can see this battle is far from over. It turns out this is only the first of three walls, not the actual fortress. The fortress is perched on a small plateau in the center of all the defenses. We’re not getting to it anytime soon.

The fortress looks like your typical evil villain lair, and just like the walls, it’s formed out of a dark stone, with towers jutting out at odd angles and with weird lights emanating from the inside of the place. I’m still here for another forty minutes, so I suppose I should try to put a bit more effort into the battle so I can get those sweet level seven rewards when this is over. The wall we’re on is wider than I expected, a good twenty feet across, and the orcs are putting that space to good use, swinging their weapons with abandon at the dwindling number of defenders.

“Go below and open the gates!” My summoner commands. The orcs have cleared a path to the stairwell leading down into the wall itself. Several defenders, who I haven’t got a good look at yet, try to haul the door to the stairwell closed, but they’re no match for the orc, who rips the door open and hacks at the defenders. The way clear, I follow behind the big green ally, my shield and mace ready for the fight. While thick enough to resist strikes from siege engines, the walls still have a small space in the center that looks like it’s used as a barracks for the defenders.

The orc is having a hard time, facing off against three of the defenders while another pair is hiding behind bunks and loading up their crossbows. I step off the stairs and onto the level floor, swinging my mace at the closest enemy. He’s so focused on the orc that he never sees my mace until just before it pulps him in the head. So far, the defenders had been covered up with black robes, but my blow has knocked the hood free, revealing the enemy. We’re fighting the undead, no big surprise given the evil-looking fortress. These aren’t the typical mindless shambling hordes and seem to be somewhat intelligent. Whatever raised this army was a powerful necromancer and that explains the size of the force gathered to stop him.

With a swing of his axe, the orc beheads another defender and I raise my shield to deflect a crossbow bolt heading right for the orc's gut. With a grunt of thanks, or at least that’s what I think it was, for all I know it could have been a belch or something, the orc finishes off the last attacker. I charge the guy that had just shot at my new orc buddy, reaching him before he can finish the cumbersome process of reloading his weapon. Intelligent undead turns out to be kind of an exaggeration as the defender ignores me and goes about the reloading task, giving me an easy kill.

My orc buddy isn’t so lucky, the other crossbowman has landed a shot right in his eye. A repeat of my previous performance results in me being alone in the small barracks room. There were bunks for thirty or so defenders, and most of their normal occupants would have been out defending the wall. The few in here must have been ordered to retreat and given the doors on either end of the long room, were likely being sent to reinforce some other area.

Trying to get my bearings, I remember the direction I saw the nearest gate in and move toward that door. Nobody else has descended the stairway from the wall to help me, and I can still hear the sounds of battle up there. It looks like I’m going solo for the time being. The doors don’t have any locks on them that I can see, and it opens into an almost identical room, sans the stairway leading up to the wall. The room is empty except for a pair of guards that are now walking my way from the center of the room.

They’re slow-ish undead with poor reflexes, I can probably handle two of those, especially since I’m given a whole barracks of obstructions to work with. Both of these defenders are armed with longswords, not the rusty and chipped things you’d think of undead wielding, nope, these guys have simple weapons, but they’re well cared for. I guess if you have an army of undead doing everything you tell them to do, having them maintain their weapons and keeping their gear ready for battle shouldn’t be too difficult a task.

I keep the bunks between us as we close in. About every three bunks, there is a narrow walkway and that’s where I strike. A mace is a great crushing weapon, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless when thrusting. I slam the head of the mace into the first defender, and I can swear I hear bones crack from the blow. The trouble with the undead is that they don’t react to damage the same way a normal, living person would. Instead of grabbing his face and politely bleeding on the floor, the undead defender pushes forward, thrusting his blade into my gut. The plate covering my chainmail stops the awkward strike, leaving the blade to screech its way across the armored plate before deflecting. I don’t like that sound one bit, like nails on a chalkboard. Responding with an overhead strike that drops the undead for good, I get ready for the next one.

The second defender goes down easier, I step back a pace and give myself room to swing and as soon as the undead clears the bunk, I crush him with a heavy blow. I’d like to stop and catch my breath; this kind of fight takes a lot out of you and I still haven’t recovered from the climb up here. Unfortunately, my summoner has other plans and I feel the need to continue on, walking as slow as my binding will allow me as I can gulp down air and try to recover before going into the next room.

With a heave, I push open the next door, finding only a stairway leading down. It’s dark down there, and I can’t hear anything. Whether I want to or not, I start descending, thinking to grab a torch from one of the wall sconces on my way down. It’s awkward, but I can hold the torch and my shield if I don’t need to get too wild. It turns out that it’s not completely dark at the bottom, there are a pair of flickering torches on the far wall of the chamber that I find myself in. It’s another narrow path, without any bunks or furniture this time, and at the far end, the giant gears, pulleys, and levers tell me I’ve reached the gate mechanism, not that I know what to do with it.

Approaching the jumble of medieval-looking machinery, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Setting my torch in an empty wall sconce, I look for whatever is stalking me. It turns out it’s just the armored guy, frat bro spearman, and the mage girl from earlier. We might have the same summoner given that we’re the only ones that seemed to be sent to find the gate controls.

“Does anyone know how to operate that?” I ask. It’s task-related, so there’s no problem with asking. I tried to and couldn’t add my name and where I’m from at the end.

“I might be able to, let me check,” frat bro spearman says, as he walks toward the machinery. The heavy armor guy also descends and stands behind the mage.

“Let me add some light so you can see,” the mage says and starts to mutter the words to a simple light spell. I might have to try and learn something like that, I have held off so far, worried that being from Earth, I might not be able to actually cast a spell with the whole mana starved world thing going on. This girl seems to be doing okay and if I was a betting man, I’d bet that she was from Earth, I doubt too many other worlds have the same Karen haircut this lady is sporting. She’d probably ask to speak to the summoner’s manager if she could, but instead, she’s compelled like the rest of us to do the bidding of the one who summoned us.

She tries to finish her spell, and I stand there in shock for a moment when the blade of the armored guy’s greatsword runs her through. Before she collapses, the woman is somehow able to croak out the last of the words to the spell, summoning a light above us. It’s not super bright, but enough to work with. I place myself between spear bro and the armored guy, who’s obviously not on our side.

“Get the gate open, I’ll hold him off,” I order. The bro complies and I get ready to meet the blade of the big guy covered in metal that’s stomping his way toward me. He has some trouble getting the mage woman’s body off his sword, giving me an opening to strike. I slam the side of his helm with as strong a blow as I can manage. The hit staggers him, crushing the side of his helmet, but not dropping the man. Even worse, the blow helped him to free his blade.

I back away as the man closes in and fiddles with the straps to his helm. I might be in trouble here. The helmet comes free and I can see that this isn’t some dude from Earth, it’s another undead, one that we all thought was on our side. Nice trick, I have to admit. He’s damaged from my blow, his head is dented to match the dent I had put in the helmet.

Wounded or not, the guy is still good with that sword, and I barely deflect his first strike with my shield. I get an opening, and hammer a blow into his shoulder, crushing the joint and forcing the undead infiltrator to fight one-handed. Pain erupts from my legs and I don’t get the chance to attack another time as I collapse to the floor. Now, this is just gross, while I was hammering the undead guy’s shoulder, he was doing a follow-through swing with his blade that cut right through both of my legs at the shins. I can tell you that it hurts, it hurts bad, and I only have a few seconds left here, given the amount of blood spurting out of my severed limbs.

With a final effort, I swing at the undead swordsman once more, my mace connecting with his knee, knocking him down. I drop my mace after that, the world spinning as I bleed out. In the background, I can hear the spear bro give a shout of victory as the gate mechanism activates. I assume we’ve done what we were supposed to do.

Chapter 5. Rewards and Recruitment.

Your summons is complete, and your performance rating is above average.

The rewards for your performance will reflect the summoning level of seven and your performance rating.

You will now be returned to your world.

The clothing replacement ability has been activated.

Current experience/experience needed for your next level: 888/7000.

This is what I’m talking about, look at the size of this loot bag! Let’s dig in and see what I got. Okay, we have an item, cool, a shortsword. I bet this thing was magic, but, of course, the magic was stripped away as soon as it appeared in our world. Someday, we may acquire enough mana to become like the other worlds, but for now, I can only imagine the magic from my sword was like a drop of water landing on the Sahara Desert. Still, the blade looks like a cross between a roman gladius and something from a video game, which means that It’ll sell easily enough online and likely bring in a good chunk of much-needed cash.

Time for the main event, the coin count. The pile of coins I pour from the bag is respectable, and it’s not all copper either. My level seven rewards are so much better than the other junk I’ve been getting. Look at that, my first gold piece! I bet this thing is over an ounce of pure gold. That will pay my rent for next month all by itself, and that’s not counting the forty-one silver pieces and over four hundred copper coins that are also in the pile. I need to keep getting these higher-level summons.

That brings me to my big problem, the higher-level summons are becoming harder and harder to get. I suspect that the problem lies in recruiting. For whatever reason, there aren’t enough new summoned beings that are created, which is dragging my sorry butt down the food chain to handle these crappy level zero, ones, and twos. The good news is that I might have a solution to the problem. Remember where I told you about all the cool stuff for sale in the medieval mall? Right, so, on my last trip I ran across a rather neat little item, and the best part is that it was totally free. Yep, not a single requisition point was needed. The only restriction was the level requirement on the item, and a limit of one per customer, which kind of makes sense. Here, let me link it so you can take a look.

Summoning Attunement Sponsorship.

Cost: 0 requisition points.

Quantity: 1 (Unique).

Minimum Level Requirement: 7.

This device must be wielded by a summoned being of level seven or higher. When active, the device attunes the summoned being (now referred to as the sponsor) with another being in their homeworld. Attunement can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but for it to take effect, the sponsor must maintain a connection with the subject for at least five minutes. Direct physical presence isn’t required, and attunement may commence via other means of influence. Once attunement is complete, the subject will become a summoned being. Newly created summoned beings start at level zero and take the sponsor’s place in the queue for lower-level summons (level two and below). The sponsor may grant them a single boon to assist their transition.

It turns out that the device is really easy to use, in fact, I don’t even need to concentrate on it, just set the parameters and let it do its thing. What are the parameters I set? You may have figured it out by now, but in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, the parameters I set are pretty simple. If someone reads this story for more than five minutes, the device will attune to them. Congrats! You’re now a summoned being. Wait, don’t get all mad at me just yet, the story is not only attuned to you but it also contains everything you need to know to become a success in this position. Sure, the lower levels are horrible, but with you being a gamer and a LitRPG reader, you’ll move up the ranks faster than most.

A couple of final words of advice for you, hopefully, you haven’t stopped reading in disgust just yet, trust me, you’ll do the same thing to some other rando when you get to level seven. Okay, first, you need to be really careful when reading the other stories in this collection, sure, the rest are probably just stories, and I really like Sean Oswald’s, but use caution. Second, be careful where you are when you’re about to be summoned. Here, take this, I’ll do you a solid for being such a good sport about all this.

You have received the following ability as a boon from your sponsor:

Clothing Replacement: This ability automatically activates when you are summoned and subsequently returned to your world. All items of clothing that you are wearing at the time of your summons will be taken and placed in stasis until your return. Upon return, you will be fully clothed in the garments you were wearing at the time of summoning. This ability does not apply to jewelry or other items you may have in your possession.

I guess that’s about it, good luck out there champ, may you always get awesome loot. Has your first headache started yet? Normally, the first summons happens pretty quickly, so be prepared.