Well, I guess I’m not going to be split in half instantly. The orc in front of me was a bit different than the first one I met. For one thing, he was a bit smaller. More importantly, he wasn’t holding a giant axe that was about to cleave me in half. Nope, this guy held a gnarled wooden staff with a bunch of stuff like small skulls and strips of leather with sharp things attached to it. He might not be ready to cut me in half, but I was sure whatever this weirdo was planning to do would turn out far worse for me.

“Grox Ublox Tana!” The orc in front of me roared. My weird language thing hadn’t kicked in yet, but the compulsion did. As I concentrated on what my summoner demanded, I could see the thin line of mana connecting me to the strange statue I had emerged from, a stone figure about two inches tall. From the statue, the line of mana connected back to the orc in front of me. Upon hearing the orc’s command, my body turned toward the sounds of fighting behind me.

The scene in front of me was a strange one. A human and two small but stout people with beards—probably dwarves I figured—battled against a group of four orc warriors. I ran toward the nearest dwarf who was just finishing up a swing of his hammer that pulped the head of the nearest orc. Before I reached him, I heard my orc summoner chant another few odd words and a beam of green light struck the dwarf I was charging toward.

The dwarf recovered from his blow and got ready to give me the same treatment he had just given the orc when the green beam struck him. Instantly, the dwarf doubled over in pain, dropping the hammer and shield he was using despite the beam leaving no visible injuries. I gave the dwarf as strong a punch as I could, but his head dipped as I struck and instead of hitting the side of his face, my blow landed on the small steel cap he wore as a helmet.

Bones crunched in my right hand, and I could tell I wasn’t going to be using it anytime soon. The dwarf, for the most part, ignored my attack and continued to writhe on the ground in pain. Seeing an opportunity, I tried to arm myself by grabbing the dwarf’s hammer that he had dropped. The dwarf had swung the weapon easily enough, but with only my left-hand working, it was all I could do to lift the thick steel hammer. The head of the thing was triple the size of one on a sledgehammer back home, and it probably weighed at least forty or fifty pounds.

I really didn’t want to do this, from everything I learned in games and movies, the dwarves were usually the good guys. In fact, I would much rather grab a beer with the dwarf I was about to bash the brains out of over the orc that had summoned me. I was saved from the foul duty when another of orcs nudged me aside and rammed a spear through the dwarf’s chest, easily crunching through the chainmail armor the dwarf wore.

With the nearest target out of action, I was forced to focus on the next nearest threat, which was the one human with the group. The human was holding an oversized crossbow that he fired at the orc next to me. Powerful enough to pierce plate armor, the bolt that the crossbow fired easily passed through the chest of the orc beside me and into my chest.

While the orc may have had leather armor on, all I had was my company polo. The bolt crunched into my sternum and stuck there. It was then that the pain hit me. In the real world, I would have likely passed out from the combination of a broken hand, and a two-foot-long crossbow bolt lodged in my chest. Under the command of my summoner, I was forced to continue the fight.

I staggered a few steps toward the human crossbowman who was frantically trying to load his weapon again. Giving up, he tossed aside the crossbow and drew a thin sword. It was one of those swords like you’d see in pirate movies, I think it was called a rapier or something. Giving it my all, I clumsily swung the dwarf’s hammer at the human, but he was too fast.

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The last image I had was of the gleaming steel point of the rapier about to enter my eye.

Your brain has been pierced by a rapier blade. Your summons is now complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Pathetic.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, and your performance rating of Pathetic.

You have earned 1 experience point.

You have earned 1 summoning point.

Prepare to return to your Personal Space.

My time in the void was short, and before I could collect my thoughts, I found myself standing back in the middle of my personal space. That was a horrible name now that I thought about it, maybe I could see if Minerva would change it for me. A quick check confirmed I was alive and unharmed. Coming back to find a crossbow bolt stuck in me, or a limb cut off hadn’t happened yet, but was it a possibility? It was yet another thing I’d have to check with my advisor on.

“Welcome back,” Minerva said from behind me.

“Woah, you’ll give me a heart attack sneaking up behind me like that,” I said, embarrassed that I had flinched rather noticeably when she had spoken, and I may or may not have let out a rather girlish shriek.

“You cannot have a heart attack in this form, your bodily processes are held in stasis while inside your personal space,” Minerva said in her normal deadpan manner. Maybe it would have been better if she had laughed at my discomfort, it would have made her human. Instead, I was stuck with robo-Minerva.

“I’m not even going to try and get into whatever stasis is, but I do have a few questions if you have time to answer them,” I asked.

“You may, once I have completed updating you on the process of returning to your personal space,” Minerva said. I couldn’t see her face since it was wrapped up in her robes, but I could somehow tell she was glaring at me, daring me to interrupt her before she continued.

“When you return from a summoning, you will always be given a short time to review your rewards and prepare yourself mentally and physically for your next summoning. All accumulated rewards will be located here,” Minerva said, walking to the far end of the rectangular room where a small wooden chest had somehow appeared.

It looked like exactly what you’d expect a treasure chest to look like. It was aged wood with iron bands wrapping around it to give it strength. An old-fashioned padlock secured the thing, but Minerva was able to open it without a key. She motioned me over to take a look.

“This secured depository will hold a nearly limitless amount. When you return to your home world, you will be given the option of choosing which reward items that you wish to take with you,” Minerva advised as I opened the chest to look. Oddly enough, there wasn’t anything inside it, but when I reached inside to touch the bottom of the chest, a new prompt appeared in front of my eyes.

Personal Space Reward Storage Receptacle Contents.

1. Copper coins, 5.

“Just concentrate on what you wish to remove, and it will be so. To return any rewards to the Personal Space Storage Receptacle, just drop it inside,” Minerva said. Trying out the theory I thought about two copper coins and my hand that was inside the chest instantly clenched over a pair of the coins.

“Okay, that’s pretty neat, but can we do something about the name?” Personal space reward storage receptacle is a bit of a mouthful,” I asked.

“You may redesignate whatever you wish inside your personal space. Just tell me the changes you wish to implement,” Minerva replied.

“Let’s start with the name of the room. Why don’t we go with Rico’s Place, that has a nicer ring to it. As far as the personal space storage receptacle, we’ll go with Rico’s Loot,” I offered.

“Both of those are acceptable, the changes will be made now,” Minerva said.

“Thank you…” I started to reply when another prompt appeared in front of me.

You are Summoned!

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

1. You are being summoned by the mage Quizlor.

2. Summoning tier, 0.

3. Rewards level, minuscule.

4. This summons is utility related. The chance of combat is moderate to low, Prepare accordingly.

5. Forced compliance is active.

6. No compatible gear has been found in your armory. A facsimile of your current attire will suffice for a tier 0 summoning.

The blue portal appeared on the wall closest to me, and with a final look back at the newly named Rico’s Place, I stepped through.