You are Summoned

I stepped into the blue portal that opened, ready for my next adventure. Having completed the contracted summoning with the dungeon core, I was more than ready to sign up for other contracts when the opportunity arose. Extra money for the contracts was great, but having some idea about what kind of situation I was going to find myself in was an even better reward.

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

You are being summoned by the mage Jhan’diga.

Summoning tier, 1.

Summoning rank, 2.

Rewards level, nominal.

This summons is labor related with a very low chance of combat. Prepare accordingly.

Forced compliance is active.

Your armory loadout has been activated.

I appeared at my new summoning with a hot, bright sun burning my eyes. My personal space was well lit, but it didn’t prepare me for being popped randomly into the desert. As my eyes adjusted, I began to take in the details about where I found summoned to this time. I was at the bottom of a huge open pit. Around the edges of the pit, scores of filthy humanoids dug and worked with simple tools. Others were hauling huge blocks of stone into place using a primitive crane that was glowing with mana as a mage enhanced its power.

The link to my summoner led to a scrawny, dirty old man in a robe. He completely ignored me as he walked toward a large glowing crystal that was placed near a group of various humanoids dressed in fine clothing. Something I wasn’t expecting happened after that, I could see my summoner chant, pulling more mana from his core. As he worked, my link to him shifted, and I was now tethered to the glowing crystal, not the man who had summoned me.

“He’s yours now, but I can only do it once more before I must rest,” my original summoner said to one of the well-dressed humanoids, an elf that had a look of disdain for everyone around him plastered on his face.

“Your quota was for twenty, and with this one, you’re only at eighteen,” the elf said. The old man looked scared and took a moment before stammering out a response.

“Just a little rest, my mana is low. Look at this one, he’s obviously a prime specimen. He’s even a rank higher than the summoning spell I used,” the summoner pleaded.

“You, what is your class, tier, and rank,” the elf demanded. Oddly enough, I was compelled to answer him, the glowing crystal had somehow shifted my summoning link to the elf. He was now my summoner for all system intents and purposes.

“I’m a class called a Foe Summoner. My tier is one, and my rank is two,” I said, giving the elf the bare minimum of information that he requested. He didn’t strike me as one of the good ones, and I was glad that I had the notice of cessation ready in case things went sideways.

“Your class is a summoning class? Can you summon humanoids and how long can you keep them around for?” The elf demanded.

“I have two humanoids that I can currently summon, and they’ll remain here for as long as I do,” I replied.

“That’s good, very good. It looks like you’re off the hook, Jhan’diga. Your summoned creature here is going to fulfill the rest of your quota for you,” the elf said.

“Yes, Lord Yarantar, I’m glad to help in any way,” the summoner said, bowing low for the elf, who was apparently some lord of this place.

“You’re not done yet, Jhan’diga. Since you didn’t have to summon another two humanoids, you’ll use whatever mana you have left to help fuel the anchor crystal,” Lord Yarantar demanded.

“The mage nodded and began to channel mana into the crystal. Yarantar ignored the mage’s request to stop as he neared the end of his mana pool, forcing the old summoner to push every last point of mana out. From my own experience, I knew that going down to zero mana was a rather painful experience and I almost felt a bit sorry for the elderly summoner.

“Now for you, summon your two minions. After that, I want all of you to shed whatever equipment and weapons you have. Place them in the cart and then dress yourselves in worker’s garb. Grab a tool that pile and follow the instructions of the foremen,” Lord Yarantar demanded.

I followed his instructions, summoning first Marvin Glum, then Rupert. Yarantar wanted humanoids for some reason, so my faithful hound would remain behind. After we were all summoned, our gear was collected and placed inside a wagon where a trio of rather burly looking orcs stood guard. Our clothing went into a second wagon, and we were waved over to where our new outfits waited.

I donned a scratchy set of burlap-like pants and shirt. The clothes, like everything else in this giant pit, had a thick layer of dust ground into them. Glum and Rupert did the same following my orders. Even worse than the itchy clothing were the ratty sandals we were required to wear. Mine had a broken strap that allowed it to flop and fold over when I was walking if I wasn’t careful.

“All right, you three, grab a shovel and follow me,” one of the foremen that Yarantar mentioned, a corpulent dwarf with a very short and dusty beard, demanded. I might not know everything about these crazy worlds I was summoned to, but one thing I did know was that dwarves almost universally prized their beards. Even Rupert, my tier zero summoned creature, had a rather magnificent one by Earth standards.

Either this foreman was a real trend setter, or he had his beard cut short as punishment for some crime. Whatever the reason, the short beard seemed to come standard with a short temper as the foreman kicked Rupert who he thought was moving too slowly. I really wanted to let Rupert attack, but my summoned dwarf was just a mana construct and didn’t mind one bit about an insult. Since Yarantar was now my summoner and he had ordered me to obey the foreman, I couldn’t do anything about it either, except follow my orders.

The dig site we were in was in the shape of an enormous square. We were led off to one corner of the dig site where a cart full of sand was placed. The foreman ordered us to shovel some sand and spread it on the smoothed-out ground around the edge of the pit. The layer of sand needed to be a certain thickness, which the system translated for my Earth based Imperial measurement brain into just over an inch.

“Keep at it until one of the foremen tells you to stop. If any of the inspectors ask you, you’re here from Brightfarm Village and are contracted for the length of the job. Remember this, you’re experts at foundations and are happy to work on this project. You’ll give them some enthusiasm and assure them that you’re going to do perfect work,” the foreman said before walking away to berate some other poor sod.

With our orders given, I joined my two summoned creatures in spreading out sand at the base of what I guess was going to be the foundation of some new building. The big problem was that the person who had summoned me was no longer in control. I had no idea what an anchor crystal was, but I had a bad feeling it would keep me here, leashed to this summoning for longer than a regular summoner would have been able to.

Time passed and the dry, desert heat made it seem like weights were attached to my body, slowing me down as I proceeded to sweat out every bit of liquid inside of me. My summoned minions didn’t seem to mind as much, they didn’t require food or water, but they were subject to the effects of the environment. Rupert was already a rather tanned individual, but Marvin Glum was pasty white and freckled. Any exposed skin on Glum had already gone from white, to pink, and now to an angry red as the sun mercilessly burned him to a crisp.

Just before I thought I was going to pass out, a pair of young human kids made their way past where we were working. They had a large drum of water on a wheeled cart that they dished up ladles of to the various workers. As grossed out as I was at drinking from the same ladle as possibly hundreds of other workers, I drank deeply when it was my turn. I even mentally had my summons wave off any water, giving their share to me.

They couldn’t use the water, but I sure could. With my thirst quenched, and my body likely harboring an unknown number of diseases from cross contamination, we got back to work. I had hated being an insurance adjuster, but this was far worse of a job than sitting in that cubicle hell hole. Even with an annoying boss, at least I had air conditioning and scheduled breaks.

“You there, how long have you been at this?” A voice ordered from behind, startling me and almost causing me to drop my shovel.

“What?” I asked, confused as a trio of gnomes stood there with the foreman, one of the gnomes glared impatiently at me as he waited for an answer.

“Sorry, Mister Grumfimble, these boys from Brightfarm Village, and folks from there aren’t the sharpest bunch. This crew’s been with the company for just over a year. They specialize in foundations. All my boys is trained workers, they are, just like the contract demands,” the foreman said. The gnomes must be the inspectors that the foreman had mentioned, and once I realized that, the summoning compulsion kicked in.

“That’s right good sirs, me and the lads have over a year of experience, and we’ll have you a foundation to outlast them all,” I lied while silently pitying whoever built atop something that I had worked on.

The gnome just grunted in response, moving on toward the next group of workers. I kept my eye on them while continuing my work. After making the rounds in the pit, the gnomes were hauled back up to the ground level in one of several lifts that were placed around the dig site. A while after that, a horn sounded from above us and I noticed Lord Yarantar descending another lift.

Yarantar strode over to the mana crystal and began to cast some spell over it. Across the worksite, I could see people pop out of existence. Only about one in twenty of the workers here in the pits turned out to be natives of this world. It looked like the overwhelming majority of us were summoned creatures, all linked to the mana stone. Since I had been one of the last summoned here, it took a while for Yarantar to get to me.

The link to your summoner has been terminated. Your summoning is now complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Average.

Your rewards will reflect your summoning as tier 1, rank 2, and your performance rating of Average.

You have earned 5 experience points.

You have earned 4 summoning points.

Great, I’d successfully participated in contractor fraud. I could only hope that my next summoning would be something a bit more exciting, and a bit less fraudulent.