“Before you ask any additional questions, I must explain your rank increase and the process for returning home from your personal space. As you rise in the ranks, you will become eligible for more difficult assignments. While rising from rank zero to rank one is a tiny step, it could result in new summoning types,” Minerva said, stopping for a moment to see if I had any questions, well, that’s what I was going to interpret the pause as.

“Before we dig into ranks, maybe expound on the fact that the system is altering my mind!” I demanded. Whatever the system did to my brain may have me not freak out over killing and death, but it sure didn’t do anything about me freaking out over not freaking out.

“That has already been discussed, and the alterations are minimal in scale. Other than protecting summoned beings from escalating mental health issues, the system does not interfere or alter your mind,” Minerva replied.

“So, I’m just supposed to trust you?” I asked.

“Yes.”

As with most of the conversations with my “advisor” she didn’t care to expound. I was trapped in this whole summoned being thing, but as far as I could tell, Minerva hadn’t lied to me yet. I had no choice but to take her word for it about the changes to my brain, at least for the time being.

Maybe, sometime further down the road, I’ll figure a way out of this whole mess. No, it wasn’t a maybe, I was going to find a way out of this, no matter how long it took. I was continually feeling out of control, but now was the time to start taking back control over my life. I couldn’t escape my fate as a summoned being right now, but I could start doing whatever I could to improve it.

If gaining ranks and tiers were the key to getting more questions answered from Minerva, then the bandits, orcs, spiders, and whatever else was out there better get ready, because Rico Kline was going to go on a self-improvement plan as soon as I got home.

“I will answer no more questions regarding your mental health, or lack thereof. What I will do is continue with my explanation of tiers and ranks. While the experience system is designed to gauge your skill in handling the various tasks assigned to you, it is only an estimation of what someone at your rank should be able to accomplish,” Minerva said, pausing once more.

“Okay, so how do I get better at this? Having a weapon helped, but I need some training on how to fight with one. If I’m going to be stuck as a summoned being, I don’t want the lame rewards for the low tiers,” I asked.

“I cannot comment on any training or abilities you may acquire, at least until you attain tier zero, rank five,” Minerva said. Wait, was she trying to slip me information on the sly? She could have just been curt and short like she normally was, just telling me that she couldn’t answer that now, but instead, she gave me a target to shoot for. Tier zero, rank five had to become my main goal, I needed to get there as quickly as I could and find out what new info Minerva was allowed to discuss.

“You said something about there being a process for returning home?” I asked.

“That was the final topic I was going to cover with you. If you examine your personal storage space, you will see that new options are available,” Minerva said. That was right, it was time to see what a good performance rating meant for my rewards. Opening the chest, a new prompt appeared.

New options are now available when accessing Rico’s Loot.

1. View all inventory.

2. View new inventory.

3. Transfer funds.

I wanted to start with option two but wasn’t sure how to select it. Rather than bother Minerva, I wanted to figure this out on my own. This would be the first step in my new personal improvement plan. Wait, I needed to come up with a better term for it other than that. Personal improvement plan was what the insurance company called their employee write-ups when you were in trouble. No, I couldn’t think of anything better of the top of my head, so I’d have to stick with the term for now.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I muttered “option two” under my breath, but that didn’t do anything. I tried touching it with my hand, but my hand just passed through the words floating in front of me. It looked like this chest was tied to me by some system mumbo jumbo, maybe it’s simple as focusing on it.

Staring at option two, I willed it to select. Something shifted inside of me, a disturbing feeling like a fish had just flopped over inside my chest. All at once, I could feel it, my mind connected directly to the chest, and just thinking about option two managed to select it for me.

There it was, a line of energy tying the chest to me, just like how I was tied to whoever my summoner was. I was the master of this device, and it had no choice but to follow my commands. There wasn’t exactly too much I could command the chest to do, other than to show me option two, but being in control of anything was a welcome relief given how out of control my life had been over the last day.

New Inventory.

1. Copper coins, 41.

2. Silver coins, 19.

3. Small gem, 1.

4. Bound scroll, 1.

“Hey Minerva, what’s a bound scroll?” I asked as I retrieved the mystery item from my chest. It looked like what you’d expect an ancient scroll to look like, thick, weathered paper and a wax seal holding it closed. The only thing written on the outside was 0-5.

“You have completed your trial summons, and now you have completed your first round of actual summoning’s, this is the reward for your efforts. The numbers marked on the scroll tell you when you may access this reward. This one is marked 0-5, which means tier zero, rank five. Reach that milestone and your reward will unlock,” Minerva explained.

“Seems like a lot is waiting for me at that particular tier and rank. Any idea what this reward is though? Maybe some past examples?” I asked.

“I cannot give any additional information other than to tell you these rewards are typically very helpful for a new summoned being,” Minerva said. I figured as much, so I shook off the non-answer and investigated the Transfer Funds option.

Transfer Funds. Please select the items you wish to accompany you on your return to your home world.

1. Copper coins, 78.

2. Silver coins, 26.

3. Small gem, 1.

4. Dagger.

“So, I can just bring this all home if I want to?” I asked.

“Exactly, most items, except for the bound scroll, can be transported back to your home world when you are sent back. When you are ready to return home, all you need to do is verbally state your intention,” Minerva explained.

“Copper coins are kind of useless back home, but I can use the silver coins and the gem. Oh, hey, why’s my dagger in there? It was on my belt earlier,” I asked.

“Incorrect, the dagger was not retrieved by you before your summoning was complete. All bound items that are not in your possession when you return are automatically recovered and delivered to your personal storage space. You should also remember to re-equip any items returned that way, or they will not be present in your next summoning,” Minerva said.

“Hey, I renamed that, it’s Rico’s Loot now,” I corrected, and I had to admit, it was fun to correct Minerva for once.

“My apologies, your dagger was delivered to Rico’s Loot,” Minerva said reluctantly.

“Will there be any use for the copper coins and stuff at some point? Let me guess, that will become available at tier zero, rank five,” I said sarcastically.

“Correct,” Minerva replied.

“If I were to bring the dagger home, could I bring it back?” I asked.

“No, anything that is taken to your world cannot be returned,” Minerva advised.

Now that I had control over the chest, I selected all the silver and the small gem. Silver wasn’t worth a whole lot per ounce but combined with the few coins I had at home; it was better than nothing. I confirmed my choices then waited to see what happened.

“Do you wish to return home now? Minerva asked. I nodded my agreement. Before my vision faded, I could see raw energy emerge from the meter above Rico’s Loot. It wasn’t just a device to calculate how much time I had left during this particular summoning session; it also stored the power that was needed for my return. I had more questions than ever now, but it didn’t appear that Minerva would be giving out much more in the way of useful responses.

This summoning series is complete.

Your performance rating for this series of summons is considered Barely Adequate.

The additional rewards for this summoning series are as follows.

Summoning points, 2.

Experience, 2.

Your current status is as follows.

Rico Kline, Summoned Being.

Tier 0, Rank 1.

Experience/experience needed for next rank: 3/10.

Summoning points: 8.

Skills: None.

Abilities: Linguistic adaptation interface.

Gear:

1. Simple Dagger.

Armory: Locked. You must reach tier 0, rank 5 to unlock the armory.

Immediately after reading the updates, I appeared back on my couch. Unfortunately, things weren’t exactly calm and normal this time, an alarm blared, and a smoky haze filled the room.