I stepped into the portal, as prepared as I could be for my next summoning. Once was inside the portal, the summoning parameters appeared.

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

1. You are being summoned by Grand Sage Bila.

2. Summoning tier, 1.

3. Summoning rank, 3.

4. Rewards level, modest.

5. This summons is training related. The chance of combat during this summoning session is considered very low.

6. Full compliance is active.

7. Your current armory loadout has been activated.

After a moment’s disorientation, I found myself standing next to a podium on the stage of a huge auditorium. The speaker at the podium was my summoner, and he wasn’t what I expected a grand sage to be. Instead of some humanoid standing behind the podium, it was a big, fluffy housecat with orange and white fur. Cat or not, it was somehow able to speak out to its audience, who I couldn’t see because of the lights pointed at the stage we were on.

“Now that our subject is here, let me ascertain his capability. You, summoned creature, tell us your species and then your tier and rank,” the cat summoner demanded.

“I’m a human and my tier is one and my rank is three,” I answered, a bit confused over what was going on.

“Excellent,” the summoner replied before turning his attention back to the audience. “Now, we have here an average example of a human male in the prime of his life. He should make a fine subject for tonight’s experiment. Now can someone review for the class, what the intent of this education module is, and how do you think our subject here will fare,” the cat said, standing and stretching like he didn’t have a care in the world.

It looked like the Grand Sage Bila was about to start grooming himself, like all cats seem to do when they’re bored, but he restrained himself when a voice from the students in the audience sounded out.

“Professor, the current education module focusses on the strengths and weaknesses of the various humanoid species. In particular, you sought to compare their endurance to that of one of our species,” the student said in the smug voice of someone who thought they knew everything.

“Correct. How can we ascertain the extent of our species’ superiority if we do not understand how the other, lesser beings function. For tonight’s exercise, we’ll monitor the stamina of this human as he does something I know we all detest, swimming,” my summoner said. I was not a fan of experiments, but I was a fan of swimming, just not doing so in full armor and weapons.

“Professor, how do we know this human doesn’t have a class that would make him excel at or be hampered excessively in this experiment,” A student called out.

“There it is, that’s what I was looking for, one of you to show initiative and consider the experiment at more than face value. Yes, knowing a summoned creature’s class can be very important. You there, summoned human, tell us, do you have a class that grants you any physical empowerment, or some System generated exceptional swimming ability?” the summoner asked.

“No, my class has neither of those,” I said. The question was open enough that I could have given my class information, and I wasn’t getting good vibes from this one. The less information I disclosed, the better.

“Ah, very good, let’s get started shall we. I want everyone in the marked rows to be aware that you may be in the splash zone. If you are willing to risk a splash, you will find a closer view more advantageous. In keeping with the spirit of no advantages or disadvantages, I’ll have the human remove his gear before entering the pool,” the professor said as he tapped his paw at several glowing buttons on the podium.

With a slow rumble, the section of floor right in front of the podium began to open. Some of the seating sections were also moving back as the floor shifted to reveal a large swimming pool. There were magical lights placed inside the water, allowing me to see that the water was clean and clear.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Strip down to your normal garments and in you go,” the summoner demanded. I followed his orders, dropping all my gear in a pile, and jumping into the pool. It was cold, not dangerously cold, but the cats had obviously never heard of heated swimming pools before. I treaded water and waited for whatever was going to happen next.

“I want you all to submit how long you think the human can go for. I’ll give a twenty-point bump to the test on this module to the student or students that get the closest. The students murmured with excitement at the chance to improve their grades, while I sat there in the water, finally cluing in on what was going on here.

“Human, you may swim, float on your back, tread water, or do as you please, but you cannot grab the side of the pool to rest,” the summoner ordered before calling the class’s attention to me. The compulsion to follow my summoners instruction kicked in and I knew that no matter how tired I got, I wouldn’t be able to swim to the safety of the edge of the pool.

“Look here class, you see how his body is shivering. The pool temperature is cold, but not to the point of hypothermia. In fact, it is probably optimized for the experiment. As the subject continues to exercise, his body’s heat begins to increase. The pool will help keep him cool and may add a bit more time to his survival. Let’s see what everyone is picking,” my summoner said, and I heard the sound of chalk on a chalkboard as the students came up and wrote their estimates. It sounded like he was having a good time at this, but I was just going to tread water until I finally was too exhausted to continue and then I would drown.

The pool was recessed into the floor, so couldn’t see the summoner. I was a bit curious about how long they thought I could swim for. They must have thought it would be short enough for the summoning not to expire. Then again, the summoner must have been a powerful one if he was the professor at some cat college. While I couldn’t see the chalkboard that they were writing their estimates at my demise on, I could see several cat tails poking over edge of the pool as observers strolled over to look down upon me.

I was a bit weirded out that there was a whole college class of intelligent cats, and they were studying me like I was a lab rat. I almost giggled at that thought. I sincerely doubted that lab rats had a long lifespan here, the scientists probably wouldn’t be able to help themselves and would eat all their subjects.

Minutes passed by and I was still doing fine. These cats sure didn’t seem too happy about the wait, and I could hear several complaining that I was taking too long to die. Maybe this was the first run of this experiment, but humans could tread water for hours under the right conditions. Time dragged on and I started to get tired.

I’d faced a lot of deaths during my time as a summoned being. Mostly, they were painful, but quick. To float here in a pool listening to cat’s whine about why I wasn’t dying fast enough was a bit more than I was willing to take. Exhausted, I could see this going on for quite a while longer until I hit muscle failure and slowly drowned.

Nope, I was out of here. I had a moment of panic, my exhausted mind thought that I had to physically touch a Notice of Cessation to activate it. Just acknowledging that I wanted to use the consumable caused a system prompt to appear.

Do you wish to activate the Notice of Cessation, Y/N? Please be advised that your rewards for this session will be greatly reduced if this item is activated.

I acknowledged my choice and found myself out of the pool and floating in the void.

Your session has been terminated early due to the use of a consumable item.

Your performance rating is calculated as Incomplete.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 1, rank 3, and your performance rating of Incomplete.

You have earned 1 experience point.

You have earned 1 summoning point.

You will now be returned to your personal space.

I arrived back in my personal space, happy to see I was fully clothed once more, and the system hadn’t dropped me back here soaking wet. Normally, I loved pets, but I was going to look at cats with a bit more suspicion after that encounter. Somewhere, there was a world full of intelligent cats that used humans for experiments. Maybe I could find the place and send all of Earth’s crazy cat ladies there to take over.

Over by my rocking chair, Melvin was taking a break. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been gone, but it might not have been long enough for the mana in the training center to refresh. Most of what I had wanted to do in the training center had been completed, and I was fine with letting him use it, especially if there was a chance that he could make me another figurine.

I sat in the chair next to my cube-shaped buddy and we just enjoyed a moment of calm and relaxation. A quick check of the rewards chest showed that I’d earned a paltry fifteen copper pieces for my reward this time. Oh well, I would gladly pass on the whole experience of slowly drowning, even if it meant losing out a few silver and copper coins.