I stepped through the portal into water up to my knees. It was an underground cavern of some sort, and the air had the salty tang of the sea to it. The place was dark, and the overpowering smell of dank seawater was mixed with the smell of rot and decay. This was definitely somewhere I didn’t want to be.

“Hsssim sha’ krabat,” my summoner commanded in a language that I didn’t understand yet. The compulsion present in the summoning bond let me know what the summoner demanded. I was to look straight ahead and lie down upon the stone altar in front of me. I tried to catch a glimpse of my summoner, but he never entered my field of vision. It was hard to see down here anyway, only a soft glow from the water lit the cavern.

“Now, thisss issss your average human. They are easy to capture, and even easier to sacrifice to the great Soglid. Despite their plentiful numbers, you must use caution when stalking them. Choosing the right victim is important, as humans can be dangerous. Most of the time, you will be forced to hunt them on dry land, where they are stronger,” my summoner said. I could understand the language now, though at first, it sounded almost like he had a hissing lisp.

“You and you, restrain this human,” the summoner commanded. Great, I was in another classroom setting, but this time, it wasn’t happy elves teaching their new summoners. Nope, I got a bad feeling about this one. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the pair of students tasked with “restraining” me.

It was a nightmare show, each of the students were scaled creatures that resembled evil mermen, if that was even a thing. Humanoid in shape, they had finned fingers with long claws. Their mouths were overly large and filled with needle-like teeth. Ropes made of something cold and slimy were drawn across my body, holding me down.

“Tell me, what is the goal of our sacrifice?” My summoner asked.

“To gain the favor of Soglid?” One student responded with uncertainty.

“Yes, but there is more than that. Can any of you add to our enlightenment?” My summoner asked.

“Master, we should seek to maximize the favor of our god, by performing the ritual as efficiently as possible,” one of the students that I couldn’t see responded.

“Correct, Burrgrill, as always, but there is more nuance to the ritual. Yes, you must perform as efficiently as possible, but what does that mean?” The instructor asked.

“Master, it means we should draw out the sacrifice’s pain. Their suffering feeds our god, and it is through that suffering that we are granted Soglid’s power,” another student answered.

“It’s more than that, Krillza. You have shown your lack of understanding once again. The master told us in a previous lesson that the pain of the weaker races is the meat upon which Soglid feeds. We should strive to feed Soglid the best, longest-lasting suffering that we are able to,” the one called Burrgrill said.

Even these evil merfolk things had overachievers in their class. I almost felt sorry for Krillza, but since they were talking about murdering humans, I really didn’t care if they bullied each other.

“Correct again Burrgrill. Now we proceed to the technical part of the lesson. Burrgrill, you have the honors of the first cut,” my summoner said.

“Master, a question if I may?” Burrgrill asked.

“Yes, I will allow it,” my summoner responded.

“This is just a summoned being; it can’t provide any nourishment to Soglid. Why do we waste our efforts on a summoned creature?” Burrgrill asked.

“Ah, another good question. I see your father, our most beneficent ruler’s intellect has replicated itself through your spawning, not that there was any doubt. One day you will make a great master over our people. To answer your question, yes, we all know that summoned beings aren’t real and are just mana given form. That’s why we use them, they mimic the suffering of a real creature, so you can use it to hone your skills without wasting live sacrifices. Observe,” my summoner said.

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“You are free to respond normally,” the summoner commanded me. I felt my body relax and come under my complete control. A quick check of my link to the summoner showed it was still glowing brightly. The instructor who had summoned me was likely a higher tier and rank. I was probably going to be stuck here for a while.

The summoner pulled a bone-handled knife from his waist, using it to cut off my clothing. Once he was done, he selected a spot at the bottom of my left foot and made a slow and deep incision. Pain flared and I couldn’t help but let out scream at the damage that was being done to my foot. Repeating the process on my other foot, my screams doubled in volume as the pain increased.

“For a normal sacrifice, their screams of pain are music to Soglid’s ears. Beware that you don’t let their outbursts of pain distract you from your work. I’ve begun at a simple, yet sensitive part of the human body. Let’s see if all of you have done your homework. One at a time, I’d like each of you to approach our victim and give him a small incision in an area that you think will inflict the greatest level of pain,” the summoner said.

I strained against my bonds, wanting nothing more than to burst out and flee this horrifying nightmare. Unfortunately, the seaweed-like ropes they had bound me to the altar with were unbreakable. To make matters worse, the more I struggled, the tighter my bonds became, adding to my pain. As the first student approached, mentioning that the human genitalia were particularly sensitive to pain, my vision began to fade.

This summoning has devolved into a torture session. Summoned beings are not required to be present in their summoned body while such activities are underway. You will be held in the void until either your summoning time, or your summoned body has expired.

The very welcome information appeared. While I was subject to all kinds of pain and damage in combat, or while triggering traps, I wasn’t required to lie there and be tortured for the pleasure of some evil merman god. My mind calmed, and I waited for something else to happen. My time floating in the grey of the void was short, and soon enough, another prompt appeared.

Your summoned body has expired from exsanguination.

Your performance rating is calculated as Adequate.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, rank 2, and your performance rating of Adequate.

You have earned 3 experience points.

You have earned 2 summoning points.

Prepare to return to your Personal Space.

I reappeared back in Rico’s Place, glad to be back in my physical body, and even happier that I was going to be able to avoid torture in the future. A quick check of the room showed that Minerva wasn’t around. I didn’t know how many summoned beings she was in charge of, but it made sense that she would have conflicting schedules at times. There was a lot I needed to ask her but having a few minutes alone to decompress was fine.

First things first, I needed to check on what I had received for my reward. It was an adequate performance, and while I would have enjoyed some kind of bonus for what had happened to me, I really didn’t have much happen to me. At least I wasn’t hosed on my rating like I had been on the summoning prior to this one. Giving me a pathetic rating for being summoned directly under a giant’s foot was still a sore spot.

Opening the loot chest, I selected the option for only new items to be displayed. It contained the total rewards from my last summoning, as well as my pathetic rated one the time before. I didn’t expect much from the pathetic summoning, but the adequate ranking rewards shouldn’t be too bad.

Rico’s Loot.

New Inventory.

1. Copper coins, 37.

2. Silver coins, 4.

3. Small gem, 1.

It wasn’t a bad haul with four silver coins and another small gem, this time, a green one. A quick check of the return meter showed it was almost full. One more summoning, if it wasn’t too short or I didn’t perform too badly, should be enough to send me home. I took a second look at my loot, this time, I checked on the total I had stockpiled inside.

Rico’s Loot.

Inventory.

1. Copper coins, 170.

2. Silver coins, 36.

3. Small gems, 2.

4. Simple Dagger, 1.

Before I forgot, I belted on my dagger. I never had a chance to use it against the evil Merfolk torture team since they were the ones that summoned me, but I didn’t want to be without it for my next summoning. Minerva didn’t return and it wasn’t all that long before another summoning portal appeared. The familiar blue oval was hopefully inviting me to something a bit nicer than the last summoning.

You are Summoned!