“Okay, so don’t step into the creepy grey haze, got it. As for creating a foe to face, I’m good, don’t trouble yourselves. When I’m home, it’s a rare occurrence that I have to fight anyone,” I told the voice. If I could avoid a painful battle during this summoning, I was all for it.

“Very well, we will not introduce any hostile forces to challenge you. Please, go about your normal, daily routine. If we have questions for you, we will ask,” the voice said.

If they wanted normal, I’d give it to them. I puttered around the apartment, straightening up the dirty clothes and putting the fake phone in my pocket. After that I made the bed and used the restroom. Using the restroom was a bit of an unsettling experience when you knew some disembodied, unknown entity was watching you. I figured if the entity was powerful enough to summon me to this fake apartment, it wasn’t because it wanted to see me with my pants down.

I would have avoided the bathroom completely, but outside of my personal space, normal bodily functions happened. In addition to that I, was getting kind of hungry. I didn’t have much in the refrigerator, and when the entity created the apartment, they included the food. Just like the phone, all the food was fake. Maybe the observers could do something about that.

“Uh, I have a question. How realistic do you want this to be? I’d normally eat around now, but all this stuff isn’t real,” I said, gesturing toward the refrigerator and pantry items I’d examined.

Instead of a response I began to feel a tingle inside my head. The feeling grew into a sharp headache, which intensified until I could no longer stand it. I dropped to my knees in pain and then collapsed onto the carpeted floor. Unable to keep from screaming, I could barely catch my breath between shrieks. In my head, I could feel that whoever had summoned me was sifting through my thoughts and memories.

I’d had a lot of horrifying experiences as a summoned being, but having an entity pull apart my mind while I sat there helpless might be one of the worst. With no signs of the pain letting up, and no idea how long I’d be trapped here, I tried to use a Notice of Cessation. I could feel the magic on the scroll activate, but for some reason, nothing happened.

“Such items are of no use here. We must keep the integrity of experiment and allowing you to leave at such a critical juncture would negate all our efforts. If this experience is unpleasant for you, we can remedy that,” the voice said. All at once, the pain ended, but the feeling of violation continued as the entity resumed sifting through my memories.

“What did you do to me?” I whimpered. There was no response for several long seconds.

“We needed more information to craft the perfect experiment. While your discomfort was unwanted, it was temporary, and there will be no lasting harm to you. Now, you will continue to go about your daily activities. Things should be much more accurate for you now. Please proceed,” the voice said.

I had no choice but to comply and I continued where I had left off. This time, the food in the refrigerator and the pantry were no longer props. I fixed a bowl of cereal, Captain Crunch without those gross berry things that tore up your mouth. Though I had been hungry, my body seemed to work on autopilot and my thoughts seemed to be sluggish after the mental tampering I had just endured.

After breakfast, I tried to recreate a normal day at home. The only thing the entity hadn’t been able to recreate was anything electronic, so spending time gaming or watching videos was out of the question. I walked around the apartment grounds, and the place seemed eerie without the people that were normally out and about. It struck me that everything was too quiet, and the background hum of city traffic was missing.

Time passed at a glacial pace, and I wondered how long I would be stuck inside this strange experiment. Afternoon turned to evening and after fixing a frozen Salisbury Steak for dinner, I began to wind down. The entity hadn’t said a thing all afternoon, and I figured that was a good sign. If they wanted to watch the Rico show in silence, and without inflicting more pain, so be it.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I found it curious that the entity had sifted through all my memories and had gotten one thing completely wrong. My gear loadout was equipped, and that was something that didn’t happen when I returned to Earth. There was also mana here, which meant all my gear was enchanted and even my potions would be viable if needed them for some reason.

Despite having all my gear, no threats appeared. It had been a long day of pretending to act normally, and the yawns could no longer be ignored. I turned off the lights and got into bed. My mind refused to let me sleep, and all the fears and worries began to manifest themselves in the dark. I don’t know how long I lay there, but I must have eventually drifted off, sleeping until a system prompt woke me.

The unknown entity that summoned you has marked this summoning as complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Good.

Your rewards will reflect you being summoned at Tier 1, Rank 6, and your performance rating of Good.

You have earned 9 experience points.

You have earned 8 summoning points.

Congratulations, you have reached Tier 1, Rank 7.

You have gained 1 point in Presence.

You will now be returned to your personal space.

I just stood there in a stupor when I appeared in my personal space. My mind felt odd, like it had been stretched beyond what it could handle. From what I could tell, I was still the same me that I had been before the strange entity summoned me. Had they changed anything when they poked and prodded through my mind? Would I even know or recognize if they had?

I couldn’t answer those questions, so the only thing I could do was move forward. I’d gained a new rank, which brought me one step closer to tier two where my class evolution waited. Next stop was the rewards chest to see what I’d gained from my most recent ordeal.

Reward Chest.

New Inventory.

1. Copper coins, 933.

2. Silver coins, 201.

3. Gold coins, 3.

4. Unknown Scroll.

The scroll was an odd reward, and it was unlike the system to categorize something as unknown. With some trepidation, I pulled out the scroll and once it was out of the chest, it turned to dust in my hands. A new prompt appeared in front of me, but I could tell this wasn’t from the system, it came from someone else.

You have performed your task and completed the experiment as requested. We wish to reward you for your efforts. You have earned what is now given to you.

Time seemed to stop for a moment, but then the system kicked in and granted me its own prompt.

Through unknown means, a new resistance has been acquired.

Resist Mental Intrusion, minor. This resistance allows you some defense against all forms of attack that target your mind.

As soon as I read the prompt a new one appeared.

Through unknown means, your Resist Mental Intrusion has upgraded from minor to moderate. Your protections against all forms of attack that target your mind are enhanced, and you can not only resist any intrusion, but also attempt to counterattack your assailant.

Whatever it had done to me, the entity had repaid me with a new resistance. In addition, it was immediately bumped to a moderate level of defense. I couldn’t decide if it was a fair recompense for what I’d just endured. This was going to make for quite the database entry back at Refuge. A quick check of the return gauge confirmed I was ready to return. All I had to do now was sort out what I wanted to bring back with me.

There were three more ranks to go before I hit tier two and unlocked Somhagen again. I should have plenty of time to replenish whatever cash I took home. Still, I didn’t want to pull too much out, Somhagen got more and more expensive as each new tier unlocked. As usual, I’d bring all the gems back with me, as well as the mana tabs I’d stockpiled.

I also added the figurines that I intended to return home with. I had the veteran troll, two regular legionnaires, and the veteran one as well. Melvin was also recharged and ready to go, and it would be nice to see how he reacted to my home.

Seeing that Melvin’s figurine was recharged made me think of Fitzfazzle. It had been quite a while since I’d used it, and to my delight, Fitzfazzle was ready to be summoned again. Just like Melvin, I was tempted to summon him at home to show him how our technology worked. Excited to return, I confirmed my choices and let the system know I was ready to go home.