“Melvin, I’m going to need the training center in a minute,” I warned my friend. With the new template and more mana to work with, it was time to make some tweaks to the lineup.

While I waited for Melvin to finish up his current fight, I went into the armory and adjusted my loadout. First off, I activated the Scroll of the Swordsman. Knowledge and muscle memory of how to fight with various types of swords began to seep into me. The feeling was like what I experienced when I had chosen the bludgeoning weapons skill a while back.

I wouldn’t be able to go toe to toe against a highly skilled opponent, but I could at least defend myself with a blade now. With the sword skill added, the Commander’s Regalia armor set was looking like the best bet for my weapons and armor. The new weapons and armor were a large upgrade, and having burned through so many consumables, I could now add more to my total loadout before hitting the gear cap of 180.

As far as other new equipment, I had the Minor Ring of Mana to add, boosting my mana by another 10 points. For spells, I added Psionic Jolt and Fail Weapons, leaving out only Redirect for now. With the veteran orc warrior as my main summoned creature, the Redirect spell might eventually see some use since he was a minion that could last more than a few seconds if anything attacking me was redirected to him.

My consumables were the last category I had to look at. First off, I added the Notice of Cessation back into the loadout. There were no more contracted summonings until I visited Somhagen again, and I’d need to be careful about what I might encounter. With most of the consumables gone, I had enough gear points to add the three utility potions I’d acquired a while back.

The last thing on my loadout to consider were the consumable figurines. The only thing I still had on hand to replace the ones that I’d used was the troll veteran. Being a powerful veteran, I needed to take the troll back home with me. To the going home pile I also added the veteran legionnaire figurine and two of the regular. The other two normal legionnaire figurines went into the loadout, giving me something to work with.

I had maxed out my gear score and felt good about my picks. Giving the options a final review, I finalized the loadout.

Current Loadout:

Gear cost 180/180

Spells:

1. Fail Weapons, gear cost 10.

2. Psionic Jolt, gear cost 5.

3. Empower Minion, gear cost 10.

4. Duplicate, gear cost 20.

5. Health Bloom, gear cost 20.

Weapons and Armor:

1. The Commander’s Armor, gear cost 25 (10).

2. The Commander’s Gladius, gear cost 50 (30).

3. The Commander’s Pilum, gear cost 25 (15).

4. Magic missile wand, gear cost 10.

Miscellaneous equipment:

1. Apprentice Ring of the Mind, gear cost 10.

2. Headband of the Apprentice Summoner, gear cost 10.

3. Minor ring of Mana, gear cost 10.

Consumables:

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1. Notice of Cessation, gear cost 5.

2. Potion of Mirror Image, gear cost 1.

3. Elixir of Life, gear cost 4.

4. Salve of the Flame Mage, gear cost 2.

Consumable Figurines.

1. Legionnaire (2), gear cost 8.

With the gear squared away, I needed to make a decision on which Foe Summoner figurines to equip. I was pleased with Grulnok, and he had performed well in the previous battle. Having a veteran to use Duplicate on was a powerful boost to my overall power. He would more than likely stay, but I still needed to get a look at my new figurine, the blighted reaver.

Melvin had finished in the training center, but he remained inside to watch whatever I had planned to do. Summoning the blighted reaver, I was greeted by a warrior dressed in tattered bits of armor and holding a chipped and worn battleaxe in one hand. In his other hand, the reaver held a battered wooden shield, and an oversized knife that could do double duty as a shortsword was also belted at his waist.

Like the other reaver’s I’d fought. This one wasn’t quite human looking when viewed from up close. Several spikes of bone protruded from his kneecaps and at the ends of his elbows. From the way the reaver moved, the extra spiky bits wouldn’t hamper his ability to fight. Giving him a test run, I pitted the reaver against a pair of goblins.

The goblins appeared a few feet away from my reaver and charged at him with their crude spears leading the way. My reaver blocked one spear with his shield and finished off that goblin with a chop of his axe that nearly split the creature in half before it disappeared into mana vapor. The other goblin got one good shot in, but the sharpened wood tip of his spear seemed to barely break the skin. A backhand swipe of the axe left the reaver victorious.

I tried out a few more combos of different creatures, and the reaver performed well. Having the reaver fight Grulnok would have been a great test of the pair, but I didn’t have enough mana to summon both. It also felt kind of bad having my minions fight amongst themselves. Despite not having a head-to-head faceoff, I was more than confident that the veteran, Grulnok, was the correct choice.

Having activated the new figurine for the first time, the system populated more information on what he was, and what his abilities were.

Vaylon the Twisted, Tier 1, Rank 5. Mana reserve required, 75.

Gear:

1. Tattered armor.

2. Cursed axe.

3. Worn shield.

Skills and Abilities.

1. Random mutation. Each time this minion is summoned, it will acquire a random beneficial mutation that will aid it in combat.

2. Blight Hardened. The flesh of the reaver has been hardened by the harsh conditions of the blight, making it the equivalent of leather armor.

3. Novice weapon training for all equipped weapons as well as unarmed combat proficiency.

Vaylon was good, but at the same mana reserve cost as the orc, I was going to stick with veteran Grulnok. With the new ring equipped, my total mana was up to 115. If I had Lillia and Rupert stay on the roster with Grulnok, the total mana cost of my minions would be 105. After the discount for presence, it dropped to 97. It only left me 18 points to cast spells with, and I couldn’t bring my hound along. Having that extra 25 points from the mana stone had been nice during the contract, but it was a one-shot item.

I would have loved for a few more mana points, but that wasn’t going to happen until I gained a few more ranks or got lucky on my next trip to Somhagen. From the Refuge database, I’d learned that classes often evolve at tier two, which would further differentiate even similar classes from each other. It was four ranks away at this point, so it would be a while before tier two showed up for me.

Not long after finalizing my minion lineup the familiar prompt appeared.

You are Summoned!