You are Summoned

I stepped though the portal back into the familiarity of my personal space. My head was still reeling from the summoning I had just finished. Apparently, space mages were a thing, as well as living starships that ran on or used mana to summon defenders. I had a feeling that this was going to be an extremely rare occurrence, but it brought up a lot of questions and a lot of possibilities.

There was also the warning that Lieutenant Uxrab gave. The mana slayers sounded and looked like some kind of terminator aliens with orders to kill and destroy anyone using mana. If these things made it to Earth, maybe we’d escape notice since mana was almost non-existent save for a few folks like me. There was also the very real possibility that these summonings weren’t even happening in the same universe and I was exploring alternate versions of reality each time I was summoned.

It gave me a headache to think about, and worrying how many worlds and universes might exist wasn’t going to improve my situation in any way. What might improve my situation was the rewards I should have just received. I set the reward chest to show only new items and dug in.

Rico’s Loot.

New Inventory.

Copper coins, 88.

Silver coins, 26.

Handheld magic missile wand projector.

The coins weren’t bad, but the handheld magic missile wand projector sounded interesting. I thought about the reward and pulled the item from the chest. It was similar to the weapon I had just used aboard Serapis, except instead of resembling a rifle, this one resembled a compact handgun.

The weapon was surprisingly light, and the rear of the barrel held the same kind of latch that the rifle had. A quick twist released the magic missile wand inside. I was surprised to see it was the same shorter version of the wand that I had at home. On this weapon, there was also a small charging port that would allow me to recharge the wand inside without having to pull it from the weapon.

The only negative about the weapon was that it had the same odd fingertip triggering mechanism that felt unnatural to someone used to a traditional trigger. I had to lay my finger along the length of the barrel and tap a specific area to get it to fire. The advantage of this weapon over a traditional wand was readily apparent, it had no cooldown between shots. All you had to do was tap the barrel in the correct spot and the next missile would fire.

It was an odd blend of technology and magic, which seemed on par with what I’d experienced aboard Serapis. I was sure Fitzfazzle would be interested in it, and maybe he could improve on the design. As I examined the weapon, the system granted me a bit more information.

Handheld magic missile wand projector. Gear cost 10.

This weapon provides an easy-to-use method for firing compact magic missile wands. Although the wands used by this weapon can only carry a maximum of six charges, those charges can be fired as rapidly as the weapon can be activated. The weapon is shielded against any mana draining effects, though that shielding is negated when the weapon is opened to change wands.

While it is shielded against mana drain, the handheld magic missile wand projector is still vulnerable to direct magic attacks. A fail weapons, mass fail weapons, or sympathetic mana detonation spell will affect it. The internal wand inside the weapon can be switched out to any similar wands that utilize a ranged, single target damaging effect.

Interesting, it was shielded against mana drain, but not against other spells. That would limit its use on most of the worlds I was sent to, as I figured this thing was a prime target for a Fail Weapons spell. If the pistol somehow failed, I could still pull the wand and use it normally, but I’d then be subject to the cooldown period between shots.

The weapon was obviously created with a specific threat in mind, the mana slayers. They didn’t use magic or have access to anything like a Fail Weapons spell, but they must have had some way to drain mana from their victims, creating the need for the weapon to be shielded.

It was better in some ways than the normal magic missile wand I had in my loadout, but I was thinking the best place for this was back home on Earth. It was shielded against mana drain, so its wand probably wouldn't be sucked dry the moment I retuned. I’d have six shots without interruption. Unlike a normal gun, magic missiles were homing spells, and even if my aim was off, the target was still going to get hit.

Recharging it would be a problem, our world would rip mana away from me as soon as I tried to push a charge back into the weapon through the small charging port. I could maybe add one or two charges if my mana was full, but that would leave me vulnerable so I’d only be able to recharge it right before I was summoned away. If I was desperate, I could always chew a mana tab, which might not be a big deal if I eventually built up a good supply of them.

Weighing my options, I’d go ahead and take the weapon back home. My full-sized wand, even with the cooldown between shots, had a higher charge capacity, and was the better choice for summoning. I could even pass this magic missile pistol off as an airsoft or paintball gun that was designed to look like something from a science fiction show if I had to.

A quick check of the gauge over the reward chest showed that it was time for me to return home. I was only two experience points away from hitting tier one, rank three. It would have been nice to hit it before I returned home. Hitting rank three would also give me an extra point in presence, which would reduce my overall mana reserve. A system prompt appeared as soon as I looked at the summoning series completion gauge.

You have completed the latest summoning session. A time has been set aside for you to wrap up any final business here in your personal space, but you must not linger past the indicated return time, or you will be forcibly sent back. Please advise when you are ready to leave your personal space and return home.

That was new, though I suppose this was the first time I had completed a summoning session after Minerva left. The new prompt must have been the system’s way of informing me that I couldn’t overstay my welcome. While I had to finalize what I wanted to take home, as well as check in on Melvin, it would have been nice to get a few more training sessions in. Given the rate the countdown gauge was ticking away, a long training session wasn’t in the cards.

Looking around, I could see that Melvin was even now trucking his way out of the training center. After ducking my head inside the training center, it was nearly half empty of mana, so my return hadn’t really interrupted his latest round of training, and he was likely forced out of it due to the mana restriction I’d placed on him.

“Melvin, I hope your training is going well, I have to head back to Earth soon, so you be good while I’m gone. I’ll see you soon, buddy,” I told the cube.

Through our connection, I could feel gratitude and a bit of excitement from the little guy. I would have never thought that the cube would be so excited about practicing combat against various foes, but he really seemed to get a kick out of it. With Melvin squared away, the only question was what to bring back home with me.

The gun was going home, but I also needed to bring a bit more metal to smelt. I had found the recycling centers to not be bad regarding the copper, and the fact it was smelted into ingots seemed to relax the staff at the place I’d used. Thinking about it, they probably got a lot of shady characters that stole wire and the like, trying to come up with a story about why they had spools of the stuff to sell. I doubted many thieves took the time to neatly smelt down the stolen copper into ingots. So far, I’d just given them my copper ingots, shown my bogus ID, and collected some cash.

I ended up deciding to take a couple hundred copper coins, and twenty silver. That should hold me over until I had to return for my next summoning series. After a final check, I confirmed with the system what I wanted to take home, and that I was ready to go.

You will now be returned to your home world.

The portal appeared on the wall and stepped through it and back into the room I rented in Huntington Beach. A quick check confirmed that there were no crackheads robbing the place and everything was back exactly where I’d left it. I dropped off my coins into the hiding place I’d carved out for them and tried to figure out where to place the magic missile pistol.

My new pistol was compact, but just a bit too big to just fit inside my pants pocket. It wasn’t like it had come with a concealed carry holster or anything like that. If I was heading out, I’d have to place it in my waistband and find a bulky shirt to cover it up well enough. Here in the room, I wanted it somewhere easily accessible, but not visible to the casual observer. I didn’t want to give my elderly landlords a heart attack if they somehow needed to come in here while I was gone and saw a gun in plain sight.

There was a coat rack near the front door, and the one coat I had to my name was hung up there. It was still way too hot to even be thinking about a coat in this part of California, but the oversized coat pockets made for a good enough hiding spot.

After putting away the pistol and confirming I could draw it quickly enough if someone tried to break in, I took stock of what I needed to do. It was now after 11pm, but I wasn’t tired yet. Maybe I’d take a walk to the nearby grocery store and stock up a bit for the next few days. As I was getting my stuff together for a shopping trip, I heard a knock on the door. Who was knocking on my door after 11pm on a weeknight?