Chapter 311. A few Questions.
I returned to my personal space as I processed the last summoning. It was odd seeing how much could change in another world when for me, only a few days or weeks had passed. The mage Abbasa had seemed so confident when he had eliminated the leaders with parasites during the feast. Not only that, but it also seemed like all the people around him were supportive of his efforts.
This time, it seemed like I was dealing with a completely different person than the one that had summoned me before. Abbasa was paranoid, frantic, and had obviously strayed from the path of being a good ruler over his people. To have his people turn against him so thoroughly showed me how time and power could corrupt a man.
As a summoned being, I would keep growing in power. I’d need to safeguard myself and not slowly drift into something I didn’t want to become. Perhaps some of that safeguard would come from the friends I’d cultivated. The people at Refuge, and even Agent Lopez and the folks I’d met in the military, would help to keep me grounded.
That brought up a whole new slew of concerns. When our world changed with the induction, power would be much more readily available. Too many would fall to that power and commit evil to further their own gain. That was a problem for future Rico, though, and for now, I had some rewards and a return gauge to check on.
The personal space was quiet enough, and Melvin sent me a gelatinous wave before heading into the training center. Tzes’zod was at his desk and seemed to be engrossed in whatever he was writing onto the parchment in front of him. Not wanting to disturb him, I headed to the reward chest.
I would always have questions for Tzes’zod, he had lived a long time and had a very thorough knowledge of the system. That being said, annoying or pestering the immensely powerful undead lich was probably not a good idea.
Reward Chest.
1. 11 gold.
2. Summoning figurine.
3. Minion experience token (1).
4. Minion equipment token (2).
5. Minion ability/spell token (2).
Hitting only average in my ranking for the last summoning wasn’t doing my rewards any favors. Before I activated the paltry number of minion upgrade tokens, I took a look at the figurine I’d received. It was an odd one, another of the figurines with several minions on a single base. Instead of warriors or monsters, this figurine had all humans, and they were in various work clothing and holding tools and household items, not combat garb.
Summoning Figurines:
1. Helpful staff, Tier 2, Rank 7. Activating this figurine will summon a staff of 10 minions to assist you. Nearly useless in combat, these staff minions are experts in other mundane tasks that might need to be completed. Use them as general labor, kitchen help, mining support, or any other task of a similar nature. They will remain for an extended time of 6 hours per tier of the summoner.
It was an odd figurine, but I could see it coming in handy on certain summonings. Not all my tasks were combat related and burning a figurine like this to get an excellent ranking over an average one would be more than worth it. I doubted it would be of much use on Earth, so I added it instead to my loadout.
Next up were my minion tokens, starting with the experience ones. I was also still getting a single experience point for each minion after every summoning through the minion experience generator attachment that was mounted on my reward chest.
Khurr has gained 15 experience.
Blieek has reached Armor, Rank 3.
Blieek has reached Armor, Rank 4.
Digbaz Bazam’s Blades of Air spell has reached Rank 1.
Elida Silverbarrow’s Channel Mana ability has reached Rank 1.
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Not the most exciting batch of upgrades this time around, but progress was progress. Khurr’s experience boost didn’t let him hit the next rank nine yet, but he was getting close. Blieek’s armor upgrade boosted him from leather reinforced padded armor to a full set of studded leather armor.
Digbaz’s upgrade was a bit more substantial, as I’d expect with him being my highest tier and rank minion. Blades of air now summoned two blades at rank 1, giving me hope that it would become very powerful by the time it finally maxed at rank 5. Elida’s Channel Mana was less impressive, and only served to lower the channeling time by two seconds and boosted her chance to resist interruptions while channeling.
With my rewards handled, I checked the return gauge to see that it was now at 87%. Anything other than a poor showing on my next summoning should fill it up and allow me to return home. Looking over Tzes’zod, I could see that he was still working, but his writing lacked the intensity it had possessed earlier.
“Tzes’zod, do you have time to talk?” I asked.
“Perhaps, does the subject you wish to discuss hold some importance, or is this merely an attempt to pass the time?” the lich said, the glowing orbs in his skull that served for eyes focused disturbingly on me as he waited for a reply.
“It’s of some importance for me, and perhaps my world as well. Integration is almost about to hit, and I wondered if you had any advice for us?” I asked.
“Integration is a subject I’ve studied, but not for the purposes of damage mitigation to the world involved. My research was more along the lines of exploiting the integration of a new world for power. Don’t worry, Rico, I no longer pursue such things, as my studies have driven me in another direction,” Tzes’zod paused, his bony finger tapping on his chin with a disturbing clicking sound as he thought for a bit before responding.
“From your perspective, I understand that you wish to mitigate the chaos. I have a few suggestions for your world. The first would be to immediately eliminate any threats. Prisoners, political opponents, and general swaths of the world’s population that aren't aligned with you and your allies should be killed off.
“The chaos of an integration, even one where the world is somewhat prepared, can lead to unintended consequences, as well as unintended opportunities. Having a foe, or someone with ill intent gather unexpected power could lead to your destruction. It’s better to eliminate a potential threat before it has a chance to take root. Other than that, those in power should rule with an iron grasp, leaving no confusion over who is in charge during the integration,” Tzes’zod suggested.
Wow, he was a bit harsh in his advice, but as an undead creature, he probably valued life and freedom much less than I, or most of the people of Earth, did. Wholesale destruction and world domination wasn’t in the cards, and was something I would probably actively fight against. At least his answer confirmed something I was contemplating asking Tzes’zod.
I had been considering asking if the lich was able and willing to return with me to Earth and help us prepare. Now, I was pretty sure I didn’t want the lich advising our world’s governments on preparation methods. The last thing we needed was a new world war erupting as everyone tried to eliminate their potential foes and seize power.
“Thanks, Tzes’zod. One last question. Do you have any idea what is happening to the summoned beings from my world? They seem to all stop returning after reaching tier three. From what a summoned being from my world with the seer class learned, the disappearances aren’t something nefarious, but I was curious what would happen since I’m going to hit tier three soon,” I asked.
“Each world’s integration is somewhat different, so I can’t tell you exactly what is happening or why. The only thing I think we can safely discern from this event is that it is system derived, and not an attack of some sort. Based on past integrations, I know the system likes to pull aside any who might have an extreme advantage in the early days, but what you described seems a bit more encompassing.
“I suspect you’ll be sent somewhere safe, where you can grow in power at a more sedate pace, while the people of your world learn to navigate the changes that are occurring. You’ll undoubtedly return after a time, though the world may not be recognizable as the place you left. Integrations leave their marks, no matter how well prepared a world thinks it is. Now, I must return to my studies,” Tzes’zod explained before going back to writing on the latest piece of parchment he was working on.
He’d pretty much confirmed what the seer had told us. There was still no way to tell what was going to happen to me after tier three, but he didn’t think it was something bad either. I did have one more question I was willing to risk bugging Tzes’zod about.
“Sorry to bother you again, but I have one final question. When the integration occurs, will I still be a summoned being? After all, our whole purpose was to seed Earth with mana so the integration could occur,” I asked.
“I cannot say for sure, like I mentioned, every integration is different. Most summoned beings will transition into something more, and the system seems to be rather generous to them for the services they’ve rendered,” Tzes’zod explained.
Well, maybe I wasn’t going to be pulled randomly all over the universe anymore after hitting tier three, but for now, that was my lot in life. Almost to confirm my thoughts, a new system prompt appeared, and a portal opened on the far wall.
You are Summoned!