There was a moment of confusion as I emerged into yet another dark tunnel. Torchlight flickered on the narrow walls of the tunnel and five people stood behind me. I could see the link to my summoner. It was a young man in grey robes who was talking to the others.

“I think we’re through the worst of it, let me send one more down the passage just to be sure,” my summoner said. The others replied and it took a few seconds for the linguistic interface to kick in so I could understand them all.

“Won’t you be drained of mana? Should we rest before proceeding?” another man, with the same features as the elves that I had already encountered, said.

The elf was clothed in black leather armor and had a short sword belted to each hip. A baldric of throwing knives was draped over his chest and the elf looked like he had seen some things and had several scars over his face and exposed forearms. The other three members of their group were all human.

Two of the party, a man and a woman, were dressed in heavy chainmail armor with a shield on one hand. The woman held a longsword and the man a formidable looking mace. Their final party member was dressed in light colored leather armor and had an arrow nocked to his bow as he scanned their back trail.

“Let’s finish clearing a path, then we can take a short break. The longer we loiter here, the more likely something nasty will creep up on us,” the mage that had summoned him, Rico thought the prompt had called him Quizlor, said.

“Sounds good, send the next victim down the hall. Let’s see how many nasty surprises are left,” the man with the mace said. Wait? Victim? This didn’t sound like it was going to be a pleasant summoning.

“Walk down the hall and look for traps. If you spot a trap, stop and signal by pointing at it,” Quizlor commanded.

“Okay, human mine detector time, I guess. At least there’s a chance I spot something before it blasts, stabs, or melts me,” I thought to myself.

I began walking down the passage at a slow pace, testing the bounds of my summoning restrictions. It seemed like a very slow walk was about as slow as I was allowed to go. My eyes tried to scan everything at once, looking for something, anything, that might indicate a trap.

Focusing on a small pile of rubble, I again tried to test the limits of my actions, as I told my body to point at the rubble. No dice, I couldn’t point at something I didn’t actually suspect was a trap. My slow shuffling steps kicked up dust in the passage. I suppose that dark trap-filed passageways weren’t regularly dusted by dungeon housekeeping.

There, the dust did me a favor as I noticed it flow past a thin wire that had been strung across the floor. This time, I was able to not only stop, but also point at the offending trigger wire. The mage that summoned me was deep in conversation with the others and didn’t notice that I had stopped.

“Quizlor, it looks like your latest victim has actually spotted something, let me check,” the elf in dark leather said as he jogged down the passage to join me. Given my slow pace, I hadn’t gone very far, so he caught up to me before my arm started to cramp from pointing at the same spot.

“Good catch,” the elf said to me. Hearing someone address me as something other than a tool or a thing was kind of nice, I had to admit. It was too bad there was no way to communicate with him, I would love to delve into their lives and what the world we were in was called.

Pulling some tools from his belt, the elf got to work. He wedged a small piece of metal into the wall and then snipped the wire on that side. The process was repeated on the other side of the wall before he stood and dusted himself off.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“All right, it’s clear up to this point, just stay away from the wall where I jammed the trap,” the elf called out. The others walked close to where I was and observed the elf’s work.

“Continue with your task,” Quizlor ordered.

Well, back to risking my life again. My slow shuffling pace continued, and I thought about how long I might be here. Back when I was summoned for that class with the elves, the teacher mentioned that a tier zero summoned being would stick around for about a minute per rank of the caster.

A few minutes had to have passed already, which indicated that this Quizlor guy wasn’t some low ranked noob. No, given the gear these guys had, and how easily the elf had disarmed the trap, these adventurers had some experience under their belts already. Still, it couldn’t be that much longer.

My distraction over trying to figure out how much longer I had proved to be my undoing as one of the stones in the floor shifted under my weight. A stream of liquid poured down on me from the ceiling. It stank like spilled gas at the gas station and a moment later sparks shot form the wall and ignited the liquid. My body erupted in flames.

Sadly, it took longer to die from being burned alive than I had thought, and for several seconds I was forced to endure something even worse than the spider venom from my earlier summons. About the time my eyeballs boiled away, I was finally released from my duty.

You have burned to death. This summoning is complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Slightly Above Average.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, and your performance rating of Slightly Above Average.

You have earned 2 experience points.

You have earned 1 summoning point.

Prepare to return to your Personal Space.

That was different, this was my best showing yet. Sure, it was the most horrible death I’ve experienced so far, but my best performance rating. It must have been because I spotted the first trap. The mage that summoned me probably didn’t expect some random tier zero summoned being to do much more than hit a tripwire. Well, whoever this Quizlor was, I had to thank him for giving me a chance to earn two experience points from one summoning.

I was deposited back into Rico’s Place and remembering my last return I spun around suddenly. As I expected, Minerva was there and before she could welcome me back, I stole her thunder.

“Oh, hey Minerva, how’s it going?” I asked.

“Welcome back,” was all she responded with. I was hoping for snarky or something other than monotone indifference, but once again, that’s what I got from my advisor.

“Anything new to tell me? Can I ask questions?” I asked.

“There is a new addition in the room. On the far wall, you’ll see a meter that will fill as you complete your various summoning’s. When it’s full, you will be returned to your home world. I would suggest you examine the meter as well as your latest reward before the next summoning begins,” Minerva suggested.

There, above Rico’s Loot was an old-fashioned thermometer. I could see that it was lit with a faint blue light, and was about two thirds filled, which meant maybe one more summoning and I could head home. Before that happened, I wanted to see what a slightly above average reward might look like. Opening the chest triggered the inventory system, revealing something new.

Rico’s Loot Contents.

1. Copper coins, 26.

2. Silver coins, 5.

3. Simple Dagger, 1.

“Nice, a weapon,” I said as I reached inside the chest.

My hand closed over a leather wrapped handle and I pulled out the blade. It wasn’t that impressive, but I loved it. The dagger had a double-edged blade that was about eight inches long and tapered to a sharp point. A light touch of the blade cut my finger, proving it was razor sharp. A simple cross guard kept my hand from sliding up the blade when stabbing and the leather wrapped, wooden grip felt comfortable in my hand.

“You may take that with you on future summoning’s. It’s considered a simple weapon and should not change your ranking. That is something I should bring up. As you acquire gear or additional skills and items that improve your proficiency, you will often be summoned at a higher rank or tier depending on the gear you possess,” Minerva explained.

“Do I just hold it while I wait to be summoned?” I asked.

“You may, but I suggest you use the provided sheath. Most weapons that you are rewarded with include any customary carrying accessories. Just think about a sheath and reach back into Rico’s Loot," Minerva told me.

Following her instructions, I pulled out a blackened leather sheath that fit the dagger perfectly, gripping it just tightly enough so it wouldn't fall out easily. A leather tie down on the sheath allowed me to tie it to my belt. It wasn’t much, but I felt much more prepared for when I was summoned again. Almost as if thinking about it triggered the summons, a new prompt appeared.

You are Summoned!