“These weapons are what we were planning to add to the MESS,” Fitzfazzle said as he led me into a side cavern where even more gnomes were working on a few different things. We walked over to a large bench where a massive steel fist was placed.

“This baby should crush just about anything flat. I was figuring that a combination of melee and ranged would be the best bet. This here fist will have an oversized, bladed spear welded to it,” Fitzfazzle said.

“Impressive, I’ve fought zombies before, they’re no joke. Any way to keep them out of biting range is a good idea, and the ones I fought weren’t smart enough to try and dodge a giant metal spear sweeping toward them. You said something about ranged weapons too?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s been more problematic. You see here, these tubes are etched with runes that accelerate anything you send through it, but it doesn’t have enough oomph to do any real damage,” Fitzfazzle explained as he showed me several of the four-foot-long hollow steel tubes. Looking inside, I could see the faint markings of glowing runes on the walls of the tube.

Fitzfazzle demonstrated by dropping a metal ball in one end, and it shot out the other end. He was right, the power wasn’t there, and the ball flew about as fast as someone just tossing it by hand. “I have a myriad of ideas for new weapons, but they’ll all take too long to develop. The only quick fix I can think of is having the pilot open a panel and use a wand of magic missile on the target,” Fitzfazzle explained.

“I don’t know much about magic wands; do you always have to hold one to activate it?” I asked. The basic idea of something was coming together in my mind.

“No, as long as you have a mana link to the wand, you can activate it on your command. It’s how they do it when using a wand as part of a trap,” Fitzfazzle said.

“So, if we mounted one inside the tube that you created, the pilot could fire it at the enemy, and give it a bit more power than usual?” I asked.

“Indeed, the only problem would be the limited number of shots. The typical wand, depending on the strength of the creator, holds between twelve and fifteen missiles. By running them though the rune-lined tubes, we could increase their velocity and damage by a good chunk. Magic missile is a low tier and rank spell, so making the wands isn’t too cost prohibitive.

“Still, taking out a dozen zombies isn’t quite what I wanted. I think we should scale up the idea, more of the tubes mounted around the mech, the more we mount, the more firepower and carnage!” Fitzfazzle explained in a rather disturbing display of bloodthirstiness.

“Fitzfazzle, what about this,” I said drawing a rough sketch on the paper. I wasn’t a good artist, but I figured he could see what I was getting at. The design was like the miniguns I’d used in various games. Several barrels were mounted together and given the mech’s size and power, it should be able to mount multiple barrels on each arm, or shoulder, or however the gnomes wanted to do it.

“Yes, this has potential, and the multiple barrels will help with the cooldown,” Fitzfazzle said.

“Cooldown?” I asked.

“Yes, after each time you activate the spell held inside an item, it takes a while before it can be activated again. The more powerful the spell, the longer the cooldown. For magic missile, it’s about six to eight seconds, but it varies depending on the skill and magical power of the wielder. With the setup you just sketched out, the pilot will activate one wand and move to the next. By the time he’s done with the last wand, the first will be ready again. The wands will all be close enough, so the pilot won’t have to redo his link to each tube after every shot. It’s brilliant, you have given us something to work with Rico,” Fitzfazzle said.

The gnomes got excited, as they started sketching out where to mount the magic missile gun that I had just helped to create. It turned out the barrels being close to each other was a bonus, as a pilot with magical skills could maintain a link to somewhere between eight and twelve tubes at a time, though they could only activate and fire one at a time. There would sadly be no magic missile machineguns or shotguns anytime soon.

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“Every pilot will have to have some magic affinity if they’re going to be firing magic missiles. That will cut down on our potential pool of pilot candidates,” One of the gnomes advised.

“Yes, that won’t be ideal, but there are plenty of us with magic abilities, and it doesn’t take much prowess to use a wand of magic missile, now, does, it,” Fitzfazzle replied.

“I wish I could be there to see the final product that you guys are going to come up with,” I said.

“You should be there to join us, and have a chance to fight in the battle, if you wanted,” Fitzfazzle agreed.

“I’m all for fighting zombies,” I replied, thinking back to my battle to protect the little girl, and my slow death through the zombie infection.

“There may be a way for that to happen,” a rather elderly gnome with a scratchy voice said. It looked like his hair and beard had once been a bright green color, but the color had faded with age and only small patches of green remained.

“Master Fazzlemore, what do you mean?" Fitzfazzle asked. Wow, these gnome names were going to get confusing for me. At least their hair colors and styles made it a bit easier to tell them apart.

“I was a summoner of the fifth tier, as you know. At that tier, I could craft a long-term contract with many of my summoned creatures. Binding them to the contract allowed me to call them forth when certain conditions were met, avoiding the problem of randomly summoning the wrong creature in a critical battle. You and your summoned being are both lower in tier and rank than I was, but given that I can see you’ve already established a summoner link, I might be able to make it work,” Fazzlemore advised.

“Master Fazzlemore, I know you’re saving your strength for when the undead get here. I can’t ask you to waste your magical energy on a single summoned being,” Fitzfazzle argued.

“Bah, it’s like you said, this human has helped us greatly today. It’s only appropriate that he be there for the big fight. Stand still, both of you, and let’s have some quiet in here, I need to concentrate,” the elderly gnome demanded.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but even with my limited experience using mana, I could feel a powerful buildup of magical energy. The energy flowed from the old gnomish mage, infusing both me and my summoner, Fitzfazzle. I could hear Fitzfazzle mutter under his breath as the mana poured into him, and shortly after, a new prompt appeared.

You have been offered an extended campaign contract by the mage Fitzfazzle. While under the effects of an extended contract, the link with the summoned being will not expire until the summoned being is dead, or the goal of the contract has been achieved.

Please note that the summoned being will be gone for an extended period of time in their home world and the likelihood of other complications is marginally higher.

These are the terms of the contract offered.

1. The summoned being, Rico Kline, will agree to be summoned to the mage Fitzfazzle when the critical battle against his enemy begins and the mechanized contraptions that the summoned being assisted in the design of are ready for combat.

2. The duration of the summoning will be until the enemy threat is eliminated or the summoned being is killed.

3. The summoned being will have full autonomy but must act in a manner that will further the goal of defeating the enemy.

4. Rewards will be greatly enhanced at each performance tier. The summoner may also opt to provide additional rewards at the cost of their own mana and experience.

5. Experience is capped at normal reward levels, though bonus experience may be granted at the successful conclusion of the summoning, similar to the experience granted at the end of an extended summoning session.

Do you agree to these terms, Y/N?

It would be a risk given the extended time away from Earth. Right now, an extended break might be a big plus, but there was also mention of a marginally increased chance of “other complications” whatever that meant.

Given that I had the chance at higher rewards, full autonomy, and I would get to pilot a giant mech, I was in.

The extended summoning contract has been agreed to. Once the underlying conditions are met, the contract will go into effect.

“Huzzah! Now, before he poofs out of here, get Rico’s measurements. We’re going to scale up one of our MESS’s to fit the human,” Fitzfazzle said. Several gnomes ran around me with measuring tapes and jotted down notes. I wasn’t sure they were doing it right, but if it helped me fit better in the cockpit of my mech—there was no way I was going to call it a MESS—I’d be happy.

The summoner link has expired.

Your performance rating is calculated as Excellent.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, rank 6, and your performance rating of Excellent.

Additional rewards are granted for linked summoning.

You have earned 12 experience points.

You have earned 9 summoning points.

Congratulations on reaching Tier 0, Rank 7.

Your status is as follows:

Rico Kline, Summoned Being.

Tier 0, Rank 7.

Experience/experience needed for next rank: 4/15.

Summoning points: 15.

Prepare to return to the location you were summoned from.