You are Summoned

Chapter 243. Mana Train.

As I stepped into the portal, the system granted me details of my latest summoning.

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

You are being summoned by a magical artifact.

Summoning tier, 2.

Summoning rank, 3.

Rewards level, modest.

This summons is combat related. Prepare accordingly.

Forced compliance is active.

Your current loadout has been equipped.

I appeared atop shaky ground, and it took me a second or two to find my balance. To my horror, I wasn’t standing on the ground, and was instead on some kind of moving vehicle. The wind whipped into my face, making it hard for me to see. My summoner link led to a small amber crystal that was bolted onto the wooden floor I was standing on by iron straps to prevent it from flying away.

Before I could truly get my bearings, a new system prompt appeared. It looked like I was being granted additional information about this new type of summoning I was experiencing.

Your current summoning is through a pre-programmed artifact attached to a mana train. While you will have limited autonomy over your summoning, you must remain in the designated area that you have been assigned to. The designated area will be the train car you are currently standing atop. Your duty is to defend the train car using all your available means, including the various defensive structures atop the train.

These defensive structures will become highlighted in your vision and basic understanding in their operation will be infused into your mind shortly. Prevent any intruders from entering the train car and do what you can to defend the other cars if there is no threat to yours. There are currently no visible threats, but an attack is expected to occur momentarily.

This summoning is for a moderate duration, and will cease when you are either destroyed, or when the train reaches its destination. Use the time before the expected attack to familiarize yourself with your new environment and the defenses that are available to you.

Woah, so I was on a train powered by some kind of a mana engine. It was too bad there were several train cars in front of me, and I could not quite make the details on the lead engine as we curved along the canyon we were riding through. A mana powered train would be something that Fitzfazzle would go nuts over. It was also something that I’d want to take the knowledge of back home. Maybe mana could replace some, or even all our energy supplies once our world was integrated.

True to my instructions, several areas on top of the train car were highlighted. The car itself was similar to what you’d expect a cargo train’s car back on Earth to look like. It was essentially a huge rectangular box on wheels with sliding doors on each side to load cargo. Leaning over the side, I could see that both loading doors were closed and, I assumed, locked down.

The car itself was long, about eighty feet or so in my rough estimation. Around ten or twelve feet wide, the car was about fifteen feet off the ground. From the clacking noise on the tracks, I was sure it was rolling on some kind of wheels, and that it wasn’t a hovercraft, or low-flying mana contraption.

A quick inspection showed the car was made of thick wood, with iron overlays in areas to reinforce it. Magic of some type must have been used to keep the iron from rusting, that, or a whole lot of elbow grease to keep all the rust it should have had away. A walkway, just over four feet wide, ran across the center of the roof of the car. A small chain was strung through four-foot-tall metal posts to provide a handhold and, hopefully, help keep me from falling off if I stumbled. I’d have to move carefully if I didn’t want to test the effectiveness of a single strand of chain when walking along the moving train car.

The system began to highlight five separate areas of the train car in my vision. The first area was a metal box positioned near the center of the car. At either end of the car, two thick metal bars were mounted just a few inches over the floor. Between the box in the center and the metal handles on either end of the car was a second set of handles that were identical to the ones on the ends of the car.

The system highlights flashed on each of the five indicated areas and knowledge filled my mind, along with a system explanation of what I was looking at.

Your train car has five fixed defensive positions to assist you in defending your area of responsibility. Located at the center of the car, near the roof hatch is the Mana-infused Projectile Launcher, or MPL. This weapon allows you to deal with distant threats and will even enhance your aiming skills with its integrated targeting matrix. It will fire autonomously, but its accuracy and effectiveness are greatly enhanced by operator interaction.

The box in the center flashed red, and I could see that I needed to merely place my hand on it to activate the system. An image in my mind of an open turret with a gatling gun appeared, showing me what the weapon looked like as the knowledge of how to operate it was downloaded.

These four defensive positions can be raised to provide a protective barrier and grant cover while you defend the car. Additionally, when the need arises, you’ll have access to the entry hatch positioned near the MPL turret should you need to enter the cargo area to deal with intruders who make it past your defenses. Unless a threat is present inside the car, your access will be prevented by the system.

I couldn’t miss the hatch near where the turret box was located. I had a round wheel to crank and open it, and the whole setup looked more like something on a submarine than a train. Turning my attention to the four handles placed along the top of the car, I could see that I just needed to pull up on the handle and hold it in one hand for it to activate.

As long as I held the handle, and didn’t leave the train car, a floating, iron shield would follow me around, moving automatically to protect me from attack. Overall, it was a rather extensive set of defenses for the top of a train car, and I had to wonder what exactly was being transported inside that would justify the effort and expense to create these things.

The defenses were designed for a single humanoid summoned being to operate. But my class granted me additional bodies to help. To test things out I summoned the goblin Blieek and ordered him to the far end of the car where he grasped the handle and pulled. For a moment, the handle resisted his efforts, and a new system prompt appeared.

A compatible minion has attempted to activate a defensive position, do you wish your minions to have access to the train car defenses? Y/N.

I accepted, giving my minions access as the handle finally moved. As Blieek pulled it up and held it in his left hand, a curved iron shield, almost as tall as the goblin appeared. The shield moved around the goblin, hovering about two feet away from him. Not detecting any immediate threats, the shield rotated to behind the goblin to stay out of his line of sight until needed.

As a test, I had Blieek put the handle in his belt, and the shield continued to operate normally. I had been a bit worried that once it left his hand, the shield would disappear. It would work as long as it was in his possession, which meant my minions wouldn’t be hampered by only being able to use one hand in a fight if they wanted the protection the shield offered.

I began to summon my other minions and had them spread out around the car. I had a total of seven minions and only four of the shield handle things. I had Blieek pass his to Elida and gave the other three to the goblin trio. Blieek and Khurr were my lowest ranked minions, and they were the most expendable, so no magic floating shields for them. Protecting the healer, and my better DPS minions was more important.

The drone, with its stealth ability did not need additional protection. A quick test also showed that the drone was able to climb around the car easier than the others. His bladed hands and feet gave him enough grip to climb along the sides of the car without trouble, while the rest of us had to carefully pass each other along the narrow path atop the car.

As for me, I’d forgo one of the shields as I intended to use the MPL system in the center of the train car. Once activated, movement from one end of the car to the other would be limited to a narrow ledge that would allow us to squeeze around the MPL turret. In the heat of combat, I had no desire to have my minions attempt to squeeze by, so I tried to distribute them across the train car before I activated it.

Elida, Glem, and Glurk would take position at the front of the train. At the back was Glamb, Blieek, and Khurr. The drone would hang off the side of the train near where I would be operating the turret. That gave us a ranged fighter, and a spear at each end of the train. Elida would help out with heals for those at the front of the train, and I could drop Health Blooms as needed anywhere my minions were positioned. The drone could climb along the side of the car and respond to any threats that rated his attention.

I had just finished getting everyone organized and was about to check out the turret when an announcement was made over what sounded like a cheap loudspeaker. The sound emanated from all around the car, and I could not spot an actual speaker, or at least one I recognized, anywhere I looked.

“Look alive you summoned gits, we got flappers inbound toward the front of the train. Do your jobs and keep them off us,” a screechy voice I recognized as a goblin ordered. The system link to the artifact that had summoned me also extended tendrils of control toward the front of the train where this goblin must have been riding, granting him authority over me.

Time for preparation and familiarization with the defenses was running out, and I needed to get the turret in action. In the distance, toward the front of the train, were what looked like several rapidly growing black dots in the sky. Whatever flappers were, they were rapidly closing in on us.