Chapter 241. Dungeon Gift.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with something called a Dungeon Gift and was a bit surprised when I pulled a small box from the reward chest. The box looked like something you’d get for a necklace from a jewelry store. Made of coarse wood, the box seemed like it had been grown rather than crafted by someone. When I tried to open it, the system gave me a description of what I held.
Heart of the Forbidden Glade. The dungeon you have recently served has granted you access to some of its power in the form of a core shard. When activated, the core shard will create a chamber of the dungeon around you. The dungeon chamber will contain copies of minions from the dungeon who will do whatever they can to protect you.
The wielder of the heart may command the dungeon creatures, though the dungeon creatures must remain within 100 yards of the recreated chamber. As it is always linked with the dungeon it came from, the Heart of the Forbidden Glade will grow in power as the dungeon does. The chamber created from the heart will be pulled from the dungeon floor with the highest Tier and Rank minions that the dungeon currently possesses.
Randomly selected, the chamber may contain ordinary creatures, or possibly even dungeon bosses. The dungeon chamber will remain for up to 1 hour, and after that time, it, and all the minions it has summoned, will be reclaimed. This item will remain with the wielder and cannot be stolen or destroyed. Once used, the Heart of the Forbidden Glade will take 1 week to regenerate.
Be advised that this link works in both directions, and the dungeon core may summon you, or your minions when threatened. Should you be summoned by the dungeon, it cannot summon you again until at least 1 week has passed. You will be notified and given a short time to prepare if you are summoned.
As a physical part of the dungeon, the heart may be transported back and forth from your home, but it’s duration on a mana-starved world will be significantly reduced. The time needed for the item to regenerate will also be significantly increased.
Do you wish to accept this gift from the Ruins of the Forbidden glade dungeon? Y/N.
This was definitely not an item I’d heard of before in the database back home. From what the system was telling me, I could summon part of a dungeon with this thing, but in return, it could also call me back when needed. The big bonus to this item was the fact that it could safely travel between home and my various summonings.
There didn’t seem to be much downside to the Heart of the Forbidden Glade, and I wasn’t really worried about being summoned by the dungeon. I had no qualms about helping the dungeon again if it was threatened, and I detected no evil motives from either the dungeon, or Capria.
You have accepted the Heart of the Forbidden Glade. It will now be bonded to your body.
“Wait, bonded to my body?” I muttered to myself as the box in my hands opened, and the small, glowing stone shard inside shot forward and slammed into my forehead. Intense pain radiated from the wound, and my vision faded. I could see the staff of my personal space automatically shift into threat mode, instantly equipped with arms and armor as they sought out whatever was assaulting me.
Things went dark and I collapsed to the ground. I seemed to float in the void, but I could also feel the shard moving inside my skull, the pain was gone, and eventually, the shard seemed to settle into place in the back of my skull near my right ear. A feeling of motion, and the blue glow of a portal appeared around me as a system prompt appeared.
Preparation time has expired, and you may no longer delay your summoning. Since forced compliance was asserted, your final ranking for this summoning will be reduced by a marginal amount.
“Wait, what summoning?” I muttered, slowly realizing that a summoning must have started while I was still unconscious after the dungeon shard shot into my head.
I was pushed, none too gently, from a glowing blue portal. I landed on damp grass which helped cushion the blow. Before I could stand and get my bearings, I could feel my summoner shouting at me. My body automatically reacted to his commands even though my mind hadn’t quite caught up yet.
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“Get that beast, buy me time to escape,” a corpulent man standing next to a wagon ordered. The summoner link between us glowed brightly in my sight, an indication that it was exerting power to force me into obeying it. I began to jog in the direction my summoner was pointing, drawing my sword as I went.
I was running toward the front of a wagon caravan of about a dozen vehicles. The two lead wagons had been crushed by some powerful force, and bodies were strewn about them. At the next wagon, a small contingent of armed people tried to do battle with an enormous bear with bony spikes sticking out of various parts of its body.
My mind immediately thought Dire Bear as I summoned the mana slayer drone. By summoning one of my minions, the compulsion to engage the target directly ended, the system must have judged my actions as sufficiently obeying my summoner’s commands and allowed me back some control.
It was for the best, as I figured that I would probably last for less than three seconds against a twelve-foot-tall dire bear. The mana slayer drone sprang into life right where I’d targeted him, behind the rampaging bear. As soon as he appeared, the drone began to slice into the bear with his longer, bladed arms.
While it attacked with one pair of arms, the drone produced a short spear from its chest for the other pair of arms to wield. The crowd in front of the bear held its attention as the drone went to work. Despite their numbers, the armed caravan members were having trouble getting close enough to land a blow on the giant beast.
When the bear turning to fight the drone, I summoned the goblin trio. Glem and Glamb charged the bear from the front, shrieking their goblin war cries. Glurk was already loosing his first shaft at the monster. Despite the thick hide of the dire bear, Glurk’s arrow sunk six inches into the meaty back of the bear.
Next out was Khurr, who I ordered to pull the wounded caravan defenders away from the fight. With more of my minions appearing, the caravan defenders started to back away. A metallic clang was heard as the bear connected with one of its paws on the drone, hurling it twenty yards away, and shearing off one of the drone’s long, bladed arms.
Turning to face the goblins, the bear began to swipe at Glem and Glamb, who were nimble enough to dodge the first blows. With the drone almost gone, I hit Glem with Duplicate. I figured that a second spear wielder was a better option against a large threat.
The duplicate appeared to the side of Glem, but the duplicate minion unfortunately stepped right into the next swing of the bear. With the cooldown ticking away on Duplicate, I summoned Blieek. The weakest minion on my team was given the same orders as Khurr, to help get the wounded to safety.
I drew my magic missile wand with the intention of pelting the thing with magic from as far away from those deadly claws as I could manage. Instead, I felt my summoners link pull at me, and I turned to see the pudgy man run, gasping for breath, running away from the caravan toward the dubious safety of a nearby copse of trees.
“Get away from that bear and follow me. I’m the one that needs protection, not those fools at the caravan,” my summoner ordered.
Forced compliance hit me once more, and I turned from the fight and ran to join my summoner. He hadn’t mentioned anything about my minions, so I tested the boundaries of summoning compliance and left them fighting the bear and helping to rescue the wounded. My summoner’s orders were specific enough that the system seemed to deem just me running to protect him as sufficient.
As I ran, I could feel my link to Glamb end, and then a moment later, the drone was gone. I summoned Elida next, as close as I could get her to the fight and ordered her to heal the injured caravan members. She ran toward the fight, even as the bear killed Glem and began charging after Glurk.
“Wait, you can summon creatures? Bring her back, she needs to help defend me,” the summoner ordered. With a grunt of disapproval, I ordered Elida to follow me and the summoner toward the copse of trees.
Thankfully, the fat fool had been so focused on reaching safety, that he didn’t notice the other minions that I’d summoned. We moved at snail’s pace following the summoner who looked like he would drop dead from a heart attack at any moment. I worried that he was going to order me to carry him, when a crash was heard from the trees in front of us.
Bursting from the trees was a second dire bear, this one perhaps even larger than the first. The ground shook as it bore down on my summoner. The man gasped and pointed at the monstrous beast, and I felt a compulsion to step between him and the monster. Elida still hadn’t closed the distance, and I wasn’t willing to burn any consumables for this man, so I prepared as best I could.
Firing off a magic missile at the bear seemed to only make it angrier, drool flew from its open mouth as I dropped the wand and drew my sword. The bear was much faster than I thought it would be and I barely had time to bring up my blade before the bear trampled over me with the force of a truck.
You have been crushed to death and your summoning is now considered complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Below Average.
Your performance rating has been adjusted down due to your delay in entering the summoning portal. Your new performance rating is Poor.
Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 2, rank 3, and your performance rating of Poor.
You have earned 5 experience points.
You have earned 7 summoning points.
You will now be returned to your personal space.