You are Summoned

Chapter 295. Unusual Figurine.

“Welcome back, summoned being. How may I assist you on this fine day?” a slender, older woman asked as I approached the market. It was the same woman I’d worked with before, and after a few seconds of concentration, I remembered her name. Thank you, high mind stat. I doubt that I’d forget anyone’s name again.

“Hi, Cambre, nice to see you again. I’m looking for pretty much the same items I was after last time. Any abilities, spells, or upgrades for my class. I’d like to concentrate on things not offered for coin out in the city. Pretty much whatever you have for my class that is exclusive to the summoned market,” I explained.

“Absolutely, I’d be happy to try and help. Just like last time, I need your permission to examine your class to best fit what we have with what you need,” Cambre explained.

An employee of the Summoned Market, the being known as Cambre, has asked to inspect your class information. Will you permit this? Y/N.

I accepted, knowing that the employees were supposed to be bound by the system to not reveal our information. It was surprising how so many odd things became almost routine after you’d done them a few times.

You have granted limited access to the being known as Cambre. Once your shopping has ended and you leave the store, all access will be revoked.

“Your class is a rather interesting take on a summoner variant. Please follow me,” Cambre said, leading me deeper into the store. I was still impressed with the tier two summoned market. It was much larger than the one on the first tier of the city and reminded me of an upscale department store from back home. Cambre led me to a small shelving unit where several summoning figurines were displayed.

“Take your time to peruse our summoning figurine selection while I gather what I think you might be interested in. Do you have any other needs besides class specific items. At this point in your class, many summoned beings start to think about shoring up any weaknesses inherent in their class,” Cambre offered.

“Whatever you think might help me. I’m not afraid to think outside the box if it’ll keep me or whoever summoned me alive,” I said. Cambre went off to other parts of the store and left me to shop on my own for a bit. I wondered about her class, was there some system guidance involved in helping her find what would best fit my needs, or it was it just skill from doing the job so many times.

While I waited, I scanned through the figurines the shop had on offer. They had more than usual, but I was reluctant to purchase them with summoning points when I could buy figurines for coin out in other stores. What I did look for was anything that seemed unique, or that I was unlikely to find on my own.

The display was arranged rather neatly, with shelves separating the figurines by tier and rank. Each shelf had a range of five ranks, and the lower I went, the higher the tier and rank. Most were common creatures that I passed on. Veteran figurines were few and far between, but I did grab a couple to ask Cambre about. A lot of what I’d buy here depended on the cost. If they were cheap, and I had a few points left over after shopping for my class items, I was fine with spending a bit on unique or interesting figurines.

Before Cambre returned, I’d held a total of three that I was interested in. The final selection was one that I found on the floor under the last shelf. My foot had accidentally kicked the figurine when I stooped down to look at the last shelf, or I would have never noticed it. I wondered how long it had languished there under the shelving rack. Did the shop have a magical means of organizing shelves or was this just knocked over recently by a carless customer.

Figurines:

Flame Font. Tier 2, Rank 5, Elite. When activated, the Flame Font will engage any targets within 100-feet. Up to three targets can be manually selected, or the summoner can leave the figurine to target automatically. When set in automatic mode, the Flame Font will prioritize the highest tier and rank opponents in range. The Flame Font emits burst of flame that sticks to and burns any target they hit.

There is initial impact and flame damage, followed by a 5-second damage over time element. This figurine’s damage over time component stacks with each successful hit. The Flame Font exists for 1 minute, plus an additional minute for each tier of the summoner. Once placed, the Flame Font cannot be moved.

The Haunting. Tier 2, Rank 5, Veteran. When activated, The Haunting will summon a pair of lesser undead specters to attack your foes. These specters drain life and mana from their targets with each hit, and their attacks penetrate all non-magical defenses. Magical armor, spells, and effects will reduce damage by 75%, but will not completely stop the attack from passing through. Half the life and mana stolen by the specters will be transferred to the summoner.

Replacement Being. Tier 2, Rank 5, Legendary. When activated, this figurine will summon a simulacrum of the summoner. This simulacrum will possess roughly 75% of the power, skills, and abilities you possess at Tier 2, Rank 5, and will perform its tasks autonomously at a competent level. Once this figurine is activated, the summoner will be returned to his personal space until your simulacrum completes the summoning in your stead.

Please note, this item was created in an unknown fashion outside of system influence and may act or function differently than the description indicates.

The three figurines were all things I hadn’t seen before. First off, the Flame Font caught my eye because it looked like a machinegun on a tripod. It was only after I looked closer that I realized how powerful it could be. It would be great for summonings where I was facing hordes of weaker creatures, burning them down three at a time. For powerful single targets, the flame font would add a stacking damage over time effect that would help to take down even the most durable targets.

For the haunting figurine, I liked having something that could get through heavy armor, and even with magical defenses, they would still be somewhat effective. I had a feeling they’d be hard to deal with for most of the opponents I faced. The fact that they would heal me and grant me mana as they fought was an added bonus.

The final figurine, the one I found under the shelf, shocked me at first. It looked exactly like me, and of course, that was creepy. I was also a bit freaked out by the last note the system placed on the figurine. It was a gamble to use this thing, but I held onto it anyway so I could ask Cambre about it.

“Here is what I’ve gathered for you. There are always more of the standard items, like accessories with stat increases, or various weapons in line with your tier and rank if you wish to see our selection. There is a chance that similar standard items can be purchased for coin outside of the summoned market. As you’ve requested, I’ve just brought over the more unique items, things that you wouldn’t normally be able to find anywhere outside of the Summoned Market or as a system reward,” Cambre said as she joined me, unloading her findings on a table near the figurine shelf.

“Cambre, before we get started on what you’ve brought, can you tell me about this figurine? I found it under the shelves, and it seems like the description is a bit off,” I said, handing the figurine to Cambre as she unloaded the bag of items that she’d brought over for me to examine. Before I could start to look through the new items, Cambre grabbed my arm.

“This is not one of our items, and I’m not getting any system information on it, show me exactly where you found it,” Cambre demanded, waving for another clerk, a young, bald woman, to join her. The other clerk took the figurine and began to cast a spell of some sort on it.

“Right here, under the shelf. I only found it because my foot kicked it,” I said pointing to the spot right under the shelf where the figurine had sat.

With a slight squeal of pain, the other clerk dropped the figurine to the floor. She pulled Cambre aside and they spoke frantically for a few minutes, making things a bit awkward as I stood there waiting for them to return. When they returned, Cambre’s nice demeanor was gone, and her eyes bored into mine with a fierce look that was more than a bit unsettling. The whole atmosphere of the market took on a more oppressive feel.

“I’m going to make a demand of you now. You must submit to an honesty enchantment. If you refuse, you will be banned from shopping inside the summoned market on every tier of the city,” Cambre demanded. This wasn’t what I was expecting for my shopping trip today, and I was thoroughly baffled about what was going on at this point.

“Hold on, I’m a bit confused. I don’t want to get kicked out, all I did was show you what I found on the floor,” I replied.

“Do you consent to the enchantment. Answer the question,” Cambre demanded. Several other shop attendants appeared around us, and a few began casting spells that obscured my view of the rest of the shop. Now I was getting more than a bit worried over my situation. I had nothing to hide, so I’d consent to the enchantment.

“I consent as long as the enchantment isn’t for a long duration,” I replied.

“The enchantment has a short duration and will also end early if you leave the shop,” Cambre said flatly as a young woman of an odd reptilian species, cast a spell and pointed in my direction.

The enchanter, Ssiriana is attempting to cast a Total Truth enchantment on you. This enchantment will make it extremely painful for you to lie. The duration of the enchantment is 30 seconds per tier of the caster. Do you consent, or do you wish to resist the spell?

I accepted the enchantment and felt a strange tingle in my mind as the magic took root. The enchantress nodded toward Cambre, who seemed to be in charge of this whole interrogation.

“Rico Kline, did you truly find this magic item on the floor when you accidentally kicked it?” Cambre asked.

“Yes, that’s what I said,” I replied.

“Did you bring this item in with you, or have knowledge of who might have brought it here?” Cambre asked.

“No, I didn’t have it with me, I’ve never seen it before I picked it up off the floor. As far as knowing anything about it, I can say without a doubt that no, I had no idea it existed before I picked it up. I just thought it was a normal summoning figurine,” I replied

“He is telling the truth,” Ssiriana softly hissed to Cambre.

“One final question, did you receive a system prompt when you examined this item,” Cambre asked.

“Yes, I’d be glad to examine it again and tell you exactly what the system said about it,” I said, holding out my hand in case they wanted to me to examine it again while telling them what I remembered of the system prompt.

“No, you will never touch this again. This is a dangerous artifact, one that should have never been able to make its way inside here,” Cambre replied, stepping between me and where the figurine rested on the floor. Another clerk, a gnome with a rather impressive mustache, cast a spell that created a small bubble of darkness around the figurine, levitating it and dropping it into an ornate lockbox that he quickly sealed.

“What was that thing?” I asked.

“A very dangerous item, one that would have doomed you should you have attempted to use it. That such a thing made its way inside the summoned market, despite the protections in place, will have to be examined further,” Cambre said looking back to the gnome with the mustache.

“Summoned being, the item has imprinted on you, despite your brief contact with it. I must send you back to your personal space, and request that you return to your home immediately. I assume you live on a mana-starved world?” the gnome asked.

“Yeah, Earth is still mana starved. What exactly does imprinting on me mean?” I asked.

“Time is of the essence here, but I can tell you that the item intended for you to trigger it and bring something into our world, or perhaps your world if it had somehow activated there. Whatever was brought in would likely have attempted to take your place. It’s been crafted from an odd combination of aberrant mana that I haven’t seen before. Others will examine it before we seal it away. I’ll have our representatives on the third tier give you an update when you reach that tier. By then, the threat should have been neutralized,” the gnome said.

“Okay, I’ll believe your explanation, but I do hate to leave before I’m done with what I wanted to accomplish here in Somhagen,” I said.

“I’m sorry you must cut your visit short. You’ve done us a service in discovering and turning this foul thing over to Cambre. To reward you, you may retain, at no cost, the items that Cambre has selected for you. Now, I must insist you leave now,” the gnome said.

I could feel mana build up around him and a swirling blue portal appeared in front of me. A firm push from behind forced me into the portal.

Prepare to return to your personal space.