“Please confirm your choice. Once you’ve confirmed, information on your class will be displayed. After that, any physical changes will occur and your skills and spells will be revealed,” Minerva said.

Confirm that you wish to select the Foe Summoner class.

I mentally confirmed and new information appeared.

By unlocking a class, you have unlocked stat points. Stat points are a measure of your power in several ways. By gaining higher ranks and tiers, your stat points will adjust automatically. The human average for stat points is 10 in every field except for presence where humans average 0. Class adjustments for your stats will be made after you have finished this review. Your current stats and a brief description of their functions are as follows.

Rico Kline, Foe Summoner.

Tier 1, Rank 0.

Stats:

Strength. Strength is the measure of your overall physical power. Your current strength is 11. Strength is a tertiary stat for your class and will increase at a rate of one point for every 10 ranks.

Agility. Agility is a measure of your fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Your current agility is 10. Agility is a tertiary stat for your class and will increase at a rate of 1 point for every 10 ranks.

Constitution. Constitution is a measure of both your overall health, and your ability to withstand damage. Your current constitution is 9. While constitution is a tertiary stat for your class, all beings and classes can benefit from it. Your constitution will increase at a rate of 1 point for every five ranks.

Mind. Mind is a measure of your mental acuity and affinity for mana manipulation. Your current mind stat is 11. This is the primary stat for your class and determines your total mana pool. You will gain 1 mind point at every even numbered rank, and each time you acquire a new tier. Each point in your mind skill expands your mana pool by 5.

Presence. Presence measures your overall ability to either influence or intimidate others. Your current presence is 0. This is a secondary stat for your class, and you will gain 1 point at every odd numbered rank.

Your stats and mana pool will now be adjusted retroactively, the new stat totals are as follows.

Strength, 12.

Agility, 11.

Constitution, 11.

Mind, 16.

Presence, 5.

Mana 80/80.

It was surprisingly painless as the changes to my body occurred. I could feel my mind expand as it became more efficient. In addition, a greater knowledge of mana infused my being, and I knew I could control it better and faster than before. The other major change was to my presence, and while I didn’t have a mirror to check if there were any physical effects, I felt more confident than I had ever felt before.

Strength and agility had gone up a point each, and I thought I could see greater definition in the muscles on my arms, less fat around my belly, and felt lighter on my feet. Constitution had gone up two points, and while I couldn’t put an exact finger on it, I just felt better overall. Before I could test out any of the changes, the system continued its explanation of my class.

You have retained your Basic Crushing Weapons skill. Further combat proficiency skill upgrades will be offered at every tier. A Foe Summoner may not increase any combat proficiency beyond intermediate by using your class granted upgrades, though there are no restrictions on going beyond that through other means.

You have unlocked the following class skills.

Craft Summoning Figurine. By utilizing your mana, you may now craft summoned creatures to do your bidding. The type, tier, and rank that you can craft are limited by the previous foes you have encountered, as well as your mana pool. Once crafted, each figurine will reserve part of your mana pool.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The reserved mana that the figurine requires will not regenerate until the creature is destroyed or you’ve voluntarily ended the summoning early. Your presence stat will reduce the total reserved mana.

The summoning duration for your creatures is not limited by time. After a summoned creature is destroyed or dismissed, the figurine will slowly rebuild its mana charge before being ready for summoning again. The time needed before a figurine is ready for use again varies based on the ambient mana, and the tier and rank of the creature.

Not every encounter with a foe will generate the template for a figurine. The time in conflict with the foe, the rarity of the foe and its overall power will affect your odds. Based on your prior encounters, you have access to the following templates.

Tier 0, rank 0. Mana reserve required, 5.

1. Weak humanoid.

2. Mangy hound.

Tier 0, rank 5. Mana reserve required, 25.

1. Lightly equipped humanoid.

2. Juvenile cave spider.

3. Simple undead.

Tier 1. Mana reserve required, 50.

1. Ghoul.

2. Advanced skeleton.

3. Humanoid with enhanced gear and training.

4. Cave spinner spider.

As you progress in your class, you will unlock the option to modify your summoning templates to adjust the creature’s rank and add additional skills and abilities. To activate a figurine, merely will it to activate and push a single point of mana into it. The range from which you can activate the figurine is equal to 15 feet multiplied by your current tier.

Your class also allows you to cast spells. A starting list of spells has been assigned to you. A new spell will be acquired every five ranks, and you may also elect to swap out one of your existing spells for another at that time. The current spells that you’ve learned are both compatible with your class and have been transferred over. Your spell book is now as follows.

Cantrips.

1. Psionic Jolt. Mana cost 2, gear cost 5.

2. Redirect. This is a new spell granted by your class. Redirect can affect any target in visual range. When cast, Redirect will make the target less likely to attack you as some of their focus is shifted to one of your summoned creatures. Mana cost 2, gear cost 5.

Tier 0.

1. Fail Weapons. Mana cost is 4, gear cost 10.

2. Empower minion. Increases the power of the targeted summoned creature as if it were two ranks higher than its summoned rank. Mana cost 5, gear cost 10.

Tier 1.

1. Duplicate. This spell creates a duplicate of one of your minions. The duplicate is more fragile than the original, taking 50% more damage from all sources. There is a cooldown on this spell of 30 seconds. Mana cost 10, gear cost 20. Only one Duplicate spell can be active at a time.

I was going to have a large jump in power now that I had my class. The fact that creating one of the summoning figurines reserved a portion of my mana was going to prevent me from just crafting a ton of these and flooding the battlefield. At least I did get three new spells, one for each tier of magic.

Redirect wasn’t too exciting, but it had a low cost and gear score. Empower minion would be good in just about any situation, and I had to reread the description to confirm that the rank increase was based off its summoned rank, and multiple castings wouldn’t stack. Visions of summoning a weak humanoid, only to buff them into Hulk mode with multiple casts of Empower were quashed.

Duplicate was a great way to get extra mileage out of a more powerful minion. As it stood, crafting multiple weak creatures seemed like the way to go, but there was always a risk that the foe would just be too powerful for my minions to harm. If I crafted one of my more powerful tier one minions, I could create a second, but somewhat weaker one from the Duplicate spell. There was a cooldown and a high mana cost for the spell, but with my best minions, it would be a solid option.

“Minerva, I think the system notices are done for now. Is it a good time for me to craft? I know you had some other things planned for me. Also, any advice on whether to go with a horde of weak creatures, or a few powerful ones?” I asked.

“Take the time to craft your figurines now, always make sure you have a full stock of them on hand. You never know when you might need them. I can also confirm that these can be transported back to your home world without any trouble. They are inert and contain no active mana until you infuse them.

“As for the mix of creatures you should summon, I would suggest that you consider what you’ve faced in the past and how having these figurines might have affected the outcome,” Minerva explained.

I considered my options for a bit. How much mana did I want tied up into the figurines? They were powerful, but I might need to cast some spells, as well as needing a point of mana on hand to summon them. Maybe for my first run, I’d make a tier one and a pair of tier zero, rank zeroes to try them out. Later, I could swap out the tier zero, rank zeroes for a tier zero, rank five to see how good they were. With the discount for my presence score, I should be left with twenty-five mana for spells and figure activations.

My mind filled with the knowledge I needed to craft my figurines. It was as simple as focusing on the one I wanted and pushing mana into shape. Working to recharge the magic missile wands during my last summoning helped, as the process was similar. I started with one of the tier zero, rank zero creatures, the mangy hound. On the ground in front of me, the small stone figure of a dog appeared as the last of the required mana was spent.

The second attempt at tier zero, rank zero gave me a humanoid figure, this one was the squat image of a dwarf. For my final figurine, I chose a tier one creature that I had a bit more experience with, the ghoul. Those things were horrifying and to have one under my command was going to wreak havoc on my foes. With the last figurine crafted, I did a final check on my mana and let Minerva know I was ready for whatever she had planned next.

Current Mana, 25/80

Reserved mana, 55.