You are Summoned

You have accepted a duel against Bixby Bartimus, a tier 0, rank 5 summoned being. Please proceed to the challenge ring immediately to finalize the parameters of the duel.

There was no way I was going to pass on facing this guy. I didn’t want a fight, but if he was going to behave this way, I’d be glad to give him a beatdown. The problem was, I had no idea where this challenge ring was.

“Excuse me,” I asked a passing attendant. “I’m new here, can you direct me to the challenge ring?”

“Certainly, from here, head toward the wall then turn right, you can’t miss it,” the attendant, a paunchy, middle-aged man replied.

“Thanks, oh, do you know anything about the duels here? I just got challenged and I’m clueless to be honest,” I admitted.

“Oh, I take it that it was the young man who just stomped out of here?” He asked.

“That’s the one.”

“Well, the only thing you need to know is that you should negotiate a non-fatal clause, just to keep things safe. Some duels are to first blood, or until a fighter can no longer defend themselves. Spells and weapons are allowed, as are any abilities you might have acquired,” the attendant advised.

“Thank you, that was really helpful,” I said.

“No problem, be a little careful of the one that challenged you. He apparently has deep pockets and purchased just about everything he could in here. A word of advice, make sure you’ve purchased all you wish before you start your duel. Oftentimes, one of the duel parameters will send the loser back to their personal space, which would prevent you from returning to the city,” the attendant warned.

I only had four summoning points left, but before I went to find my duel, I perused the furnishing section of the budget box of cards. There wasn’t much on offer for such a paltry sum, but I was able to get something cool, a rocking chair. If I was going to have to wait for a summons, I was going to wait in comfort. The chair cost me two summoning points, and I left the last two for my next visit to the city.

Great, I had to go up against the spoiled rich kid summoner. How did he get all those summoning points? Minerva said there were other ways to become a summoned being besides being randomly snatched like I was. Maybe this guy was from a family of pro summoned guys or something. Whatever his reason, I had to be prepared for a difficult battle.

As I followed the directions to the challenge ring, I looked at my choices for the new ability I had just gained. Since this Bixby clown had all the advantages money could buy, I’d need all the help I could get. The interface populated the three options I had for my abilities.

Please select 1 minor ability from the list below.

Riposte (Passive). When attacked, you have a 25% chance to instantly launch a counterattack against your opponent. This ability can only trigger a maximum of once every 10 seconds.

Trap Sense (Passive). This ability grants the summoned being an additional 10% chance to spot traps and dangerous conditions.

Minor Aid (Active). This ability creates a healing aura over the body of the summoned being. Injuries will be mended at a greatly accelerated pace during this time. Minor Aid can be used 1 time every hour. This ability scales with your tier and you will gain an additional activation for each new tier you acquire.

All three seemed useful, with the Trap Sense being a bit more situational. While an ability to heal would be great, I think I’d get the best bang for my buck out of Riposte. With most of my summoning’s being combat related, the ability would see a lot of use and it would scale nicely with any gear I might acquire.

Sadly, most of the combat was short and deadly, and I didn’t think I’d get as much use out of heal just now. Maybe in the future when the dangers intensified and I was in longer fights, a heal would be excellent. I could probably purchase something similar when I hit tier one and visited Somhagen again.

You have selected Riposte. This passive ability does not require mana to function and is always active unless the summoned being chooses otherwise.

Nice, it looks like I’ll be a bit better at fighting when home on Earth as well. I might have to deactivate it for martial arts class, it would seem a little odd that the new guy with no training was suddenly a counter-punching demon. Unlike the basic weapon skill that I had been given, there wasn’t any specific information downloaded into my mind. Riposte was just something instinctual that I was able to do.

On the way to the ring, I spotted a weapons shop that looked promising. There was a sign out front promising fair prices on lightly used weapons and armor. Not having some guy outside shouting at me to shop there was a pleasant change of pace from the normal merchants hawking their wares in the outer district. I was on a bit of a time crunch, so I’d have to make this quick.

“Hello, sir, what can I help you with?” A skinny, older man with a long grey beard asked.

“Hi, I’m looking for a mace, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t exactly have a fortune to spend,” I admitted. There wasn’t time for games and either this guy would have something to sell me cheap, or I’d be out of here.

“How poor are we talking? I don’t have anything to give away for charity, but I have some fair prices on older gear that still has some life in it,” he offered.

“What can seventeen silver and 266 copper get me?” I asked.

“Not much at most shops, but I can part with this for fifteen silver,” the man offered as he pulled a battered mace from a shelf. The weapon had a long wooden handle wrapped with frayed leather and featured a flanged steel head. There was a good heft to it, but the balance was slightly off according to my newfound basic mace skill. It was structurally sound and wouldn’t break the first time I whacked an orc over the head with it.

“I’ll take it,” I said, passing over the silver.

“If you want, I can always use more copper coins to make change for folks buying ammunition. If you don’t want to lug all that copper around, I can change it up for you for free. A hundred copper per silver is the typical rate,” the man told me.

It was an offer I was more than happy to accept. Copper was useless back home, but the silver coins were my main source of income now. I now had four silver and sixty-six copper in my purse. A system prompt warned me that I was running out of time, so I tied the mace to my belt and ran to find the challenge ring.

You have accepted a duel. Please make your way to the Challenge Ring within the next 5 minutes or your duel will be forfeit.

“I didn’t think you had the nerve to show. Follow me to the registration table and we’ll hash out the parameters. Don’t think I’ll take it easy on you just because you’re some inexperienced rube,” Bixby said as I finally made it to the ring with only a couple minutes to spare.

The challenge ring wasn’t all that impressive, just a short, split rail fence circling a space about 50’ in diameter. A few other people were sparring inside, but there wasn’t much of an audience. If Bixby planned to humiliate me, it was only going to be in front of a dozen or so spectators. A small table was setup in front of the ring’s gate, and a pair of young women were checking people in.

“What can I help you gentlemen with?” One of the women asked.

“We have a dispute to settle, and I’ve requested a duel by using a writ of unavoidable challenge,” Bixby said.

“Okay, select your parameters with the system and we’ll have you ready to go in just a minute or two when the last pair are done,” the woman said, causing a system prompt to appear.

Your challenger, Bixby Bartimus has proposed the following terms.

Duel is to incapacitation.

Loser will leave the city immediately.

Loser will pay the victor 5 summoning points.

Loser will bow and grovel before the winner, begging forgiveness for any offense given.

Loser will pay 1 gold to the winner.

Do you agree to these terms, or do you wish to negotiate?

Number four and number five were out as far as I was concerned. I was broke, and hadn’t even seen a gold coin yet, though the thought of one almost had me salivating. I also wasn’t into the whole groveling thing. Somehow knowing my intention, the system came back with a compromise.

This duel will be fought based on the following parameters.

Duel is to incapacitation.

Loser will leave the city immediately.

Loser will pay the victor 5 summoning points.

Loser will bow and grovel before the winner, begging forgiveness for any offense given.

Please enter the ring and may the best summoned being win!