Summoned Again?

The very next thing I did with my brand spanking new enchanted ring was store it. I opened my inventory and sorted it by newest item, hopeful as hell that it wouldn't be locked like the other magic things I had. To my utter relief, it wasn't greyed out, even though it had an inherent spell and the stats it contained were above the apparent +10 cap the other items had as a restriction.

Maybe it's because I made it here? I asked myself, then immediately thought that if I had it inventory in another world, then it would probably be greyed out. Oh, well. It's still worth it.

I immediately got to work making more rings. I was going to look like I was wearing brass knuckles if I made eight of them, then chuckled. I had plenty of spells that the book could let me enchant into the items and cutting it down to only eight was laughable. It took a crapload of time to carve them, though.

I chose the basics that a single ring could easily hold, because I had no mana and the spells needed to run on the enchantment. Air, Detect, Fire, Ice, Light, Lightning, Minor Healing, and Shield. They were the lowest of the low spells and barely required a spit of mana to cast them. That was both good and bad. Good because they could be cast multiple times, usually once per hour. Bad because they barely did anything when compared to mana boosted spells.

For example, the basic Minor Healing spell could heal 4 to 8 points of damage, or in simple terms, cuts and abrasions. A mana boosted spell, or a fully levelled spell, could do ten times that for the same mana cost and for the same time period. The full spell could heal bone fractures and cure minor diseases, which would be awesome to do.

Don't get me started on the higher level Healing and Major Healing spells. Those things are goddamn miracles. Shattered bones? No problem. Healing will fix you right up. What's that? You have cancer and you're going to die in six months? Missing limbs? Hey, don't worry. Major Healing can take care of it. How long to do it, you ask? Hold still for a minute. There, all done.

God. Damn. Miracles.

If I had some way to gather mana here, I would have something made in less than a week to handle the enchantment and I would be all over the place and visiting hospitals to heal the sick. I mean, who wouldn't, right? I couldn't do it with my own skills, though. They were locked before I was sent back and everything has been greyed out. I dream almost every night about what my life would be like here if I still had all my skills.

I've been kicking myself mentally for not putting up more of a fight when they bound my magic and took all my mana before sending me back here. Not that I could have done much about it, anyway. The god that had summoned me was actually afraid of me. Well, my class. He had to make sure I couldn't do any harm, I guess. I had to smile at that, because I had made a god nervous, just by existing.

Over the next week, I made all eight rings. I kept the designs identical to the Identify ring, with +20 to both my Strength and Vitality, and just changed the spell. I had been tempted to try a double engraving for the spell and leave off the rest of the enchantment, then remembered that I couldn't mess around with it like that. The book specifically said to do it exactly or there would be consequences. Not could be, would be. Yeah, not messing around is fine with me.

One thing I did try was using multiple pendants enchanted with +5 Strength on the same chain. I crossed my fingers and put the chain around my neck... then sighed. Only one enchantment was in effect. I wasn't going to give up, though. The next thing I tried was welding them together with a spacer in between. That way, they were not touching and touching at the same time. I put it on and sighed. Only one enchantment was in effect.

What about alternating effects? I asked myself and hung a Strength pendant and a Vitality pendant together, letting them touch directly, and put it on. Yes! I have both buffs!

I put on another Strength one on the other side of the Vitality and nothing. Not willing to give up on the idea of stacking enchantments, I welded a Strength pendant to a Vitality pendant. It still worked, so I welded another Strength one onto the other side of the Vitality one. No effect.

Come on, Damon. Think. What do I do? If similar enchantments can't lay together and can't be separated and welded together, what can you do with them?

I sat there and waited as I thought about it. It was a perplexing puzzle. I tried adding a third pendant enchanted with Clarity and all three effects worked. So, stacking different enchantments worked. The small pendants would start to get really thick after welding them together if I add too many different ones, which meant I couldn't do it that way and still have them be effective.

I knew I was missing a critical piece of the puzzle and I looked through every single engraved steel sheet that I had and there was nothing about compounding the same enchantments onto the same item. It couldn't be done, not with the information in the tome. I sighed and put everything away and went to bed. I had to think about it for a while and not think about it at the same time. I knew I could come up with something if I just gave myself enough time.

I went to work during the day and relaxed during the evening. Sometimes Jenny would come over, either alone or with Kathy and Susan. We would watch movies and television while we joked and carried on. I also did my best to fend off Susan's blatant and fairly childish attempts at seduction. Of course, I never ate or drank anything she handed to me. I wasn't that stupid.

Although, I would sometimes fall asleep after a long day at work and would wake up with the three of them cuddled up to me. I never got angry about it, since they looked pretty cute while asleep. Luckily, I didn't find any more lipstick on my face when I checked the mirror, so at least whoever did that was either being more discrete or they had stopped. Either way, I was none the wiser of who did it that first time and Divine Sight never showed me a flash of anything.

Diane would pop by randomly to give me a home cooked dinner and Crystal would pretty much demand my magic tricks. She loved them so much and I liked hearing her excited laugh, so I always did my best to entertain her. I'd wear her out quickly and tuck her into my bed for a nap and Diane and I would relax in the living room on the couch.

“You know, if I wasn't still married to jerkface, I'd ask you to marry me.” Diane said to me one day.

“Whoa, what?” I looked at her in surprise.

Diane chuckled. “You're one of the best friends I have, guy or no, and you don't try to pressure me for sex or even imply that you want anything from me except friendship.”

“That wouldn't be much of a marriage, would it? Just friends?” I asked.

“it would be the best.” Diane said. “Mom always said to marry your best friend.”

“Wow, really?” I asked and she nodded.

“You treat Crystal like she was your own daughter and she adores you as much as I do.” Diane said. “I don't really see a downside to being your wife.”

I lifted my arm and she snuggled in close, so I could hug her. “I hope you know that it's your wifely duties to love, honor, and obey your husband.”

Diane huffed and glared at me. “Did you just say obey?”

“I was kidnapped and was missing for ten years. I have no clue what you fancy modern women think is appropriate.” I said in a smug voice and she laughed and laughed. After a few minutes, she calmed down and her face went very serious.

“He won't sign the papers and he said if I push it, he'll fight me for custody.” Diane said.

We sat there in silence for a while and watched television.

“Do you want me to handle it?” I finally asked.

Diane took a breath and looked at me. “Are you... do you mean...”

“Whatever you want to happen, I'll do it.” I said, matter of factly.

Diane stared into my eyes and whatever she saw there, let her make her decision. “No. No, I... he's still her father, no matter how wonderful of a replacement you would be.”

I didn't tell her she was being naive or that I didn't quite mean killing him. She knew what I meant and could guess the other things I could have done to him, like buying him off or shipping him off to another country. I kept staring at her and she stared back.

Diane leaned close and gave me a tender kiss. “Thank you.”

“My door is always open. If you need anything, anything at all...” I leaned close and gave her another kiss. “...I'll do everything I can for Crystal.”

Diane couldn't help but laugh. “How can you make me laugh after... you said...”

“What did I say?” I asked with a sly smile.

“You...” Diane stopped and thought about it. “...sneaky devil.”

We spent the next hour just talking about normal things, like Crystal having fun at her new school and enjoying making friends. It was great to hear, even when she asked me to stand in for her estranged husband at Parent Show-Off day. She laughed when I called it that. It was actually career day and I agreed immediately, to her surprise.

A week later, I was standing at the front of Crystal's classroom that was packed from wall to wall with caring parents and their seven year old kids. I was dressed in my work clothes, safety hat, harness, and tool belt. The tools all had plastic caps to ease the 'danger' of any child trying to grab them and hurting themselves. I explained what I did for a living and nearly every kid turned to stare at Crystal.

“He can do magic! I swear!” Crystal said and she looked at me, her eyes glittering on the verge of tears, because she didn't want to be called a liar. “Show them! Show them your magic!”

Well, since I was a sucker for her laugh and Diane had an apologetic look on her face, I couldn't refuse.

“All right, I'll do it... on one condition. I have to make you all swear to the same secrecy promise that Crystal swore to never tell anyone.”

After a second, every child heartily agreed and every parent laughed.

“Okay. What should I start with?” I asked.

“The money trick!” Several of them said and I nodded.

“Here it is, a normal five dollar bill.” I said and flicked my hand to make one appear.

“Ooo.” Some of the kids said.

“It's real, by the way. A whole five dollars.” I turned it around and snapped it to show it was a real bill. I crumpled it up and rolled it around between my hands to make it into a ball, showed them, then tossed it into my mouth. I made a show of chewing on it, even though I had already stored it and showed them my empty hands. I made a loud swallowing sound and a few of the kids gasped.

“Do not try this at home. I am an expert idiot... I mean magician! I'm a magician and no one should do what I do.” I said and a lot of the parents laughed again. “Okay, I can feel it... oh, it's going down... down... OH!” I quickly unbuttoned the bottom of my shirt to reveal my belly button. “Nothing in my hands.” I showed them again and put one over my belly button and took out the wadded bill. “I think... I think it's...” I dug my fingertip into my slightly cupped hand. “I can feel it!”

All of the kids sat forward and waited impatiently.

“Oh... yes, I... almost...” I hooked the corner of the bill and pulled. “AHHHH! There it is!”

“YAYYY!” The kids yelled and a few parents applauded.

I held up the bill and waved it around, then I pretended to hiccup. “Uh oh! I think I pulled too hard and something else is coming out!”

“No!” Some of the girls gasped.

“I might need help!” I said in a plea. “Who wants to help?”

“ME!” Crystal said and jumped to her feet.

I put the five dollar bill down on the teacher's desk and showed my empty hands again, then cupped one over my belly button. “Quick! Dig around and see if you can find it!”

“Okay!” Crystal said and stuck her finger into my partially cupped hand.

I put another five dollar bill in there. “Can you get it?”

Crystal smiled as she hooked it and yanked it out. “I got it!”

“YAY!” The other kids yelled.

“Oh! I think there's more! Keep pulling!”

Crystal laughed and kept digging out five dollar bills until there was a small stack of them.

“Whew! That was close.” I said and pat my belly. “Thank you, Crystal.”

“You're welcome!” Crystal said happily and looked at the stack of money.

“Do you think there's enough to buy an ice cream for everyone after school?” I asked her and she nodded. I picked up the stack and handed it to her. She took it and crumpled it into one hand, gave me a hug, and walked over to Diane. I saw a lot of approval on the parent's faces and a couple of the single moms gave me sexy smiles.

“Now, for my next trick...” I said and everyone paid attention. My normal speech about hard work in construction had become a magic show for a bunch of kids and their parents. Not surprisingly, no one complained. The ice cream after class was delicious, too. I received the adoration of the kids, three phone numbers from the single mothers looking for dates, and ten inquiries about performing at birthday parties.

All things considered, it was a good day.