~SKYLAR AMBERLY VITALIS

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>GACHA RESET!!

>LEVEL 1 GACHA READY.

> 5 PULLS AWARDED.

I groaned and rolled over on my bed, checking my phone.

‘So, it’s going to be every eleven forty-six in the morning huh…?’

Since the gacha reset daily I made all five pulls at once.

>HEALTH POTION

>HEALTH POTION

>HEALTH POTION

>1 NULL TICKET (LEVEL 1)

>50 LUX COINS

Thankfully I had stayed up late to go through the info that was provided with my slate, and I had a good grasp of what the system was going on about so early in the morning.

Every item had five levels, regardless of whether they were consumables or weapons or apparels.

Of course, the higher the level the better.

Level one health potions could heal bruises, minor cuts and replenish blood. While a level five health potions could regrow limbs and bring a broken body back from the brink of death.

Though if you died, there was nothing the system or any amount of potion could do to bring you back.

I considered necromancy, but after looking it up it seems that it only reanimated the body and didn’t bring back the core essence… or the soul if you will.

A Null Ticket was part of one of the three intermingled system.

The Lux Coin System that included the shop.

The Gacha System that included the tickets.

And the Experience Point system that included the Wall of Providence.

A Null ticket was basically a ticket that didn’t do anything or have any effect. However, their sole purpose was to be turned into an Item Ticket of the user’s choice.

A null could be turned into the following Item tickets…Ammunition, potion, apparel, tools, food and tech.

Of course, the level of the item, depended on the level of the Null Ticket, and the level of the Null Ticket depended on the level of the gacha.

Upon checking, there were indeed 5 levels of gacha one could pull for.

Things seemed to work in principles of five in the gacha system.

Things in the EXP side seemed to work in principles of 10. (Ten levels to every next evolution…and ten attributes to keep)

Things in the Lux department seemed to work as money normally would in a typical RPG… but I wasn’t sure on that front, and would have to dabble in the shop to get a good feel for prices and spendings.

‘Fifty Lux is already lucky!’ I sat up on my bed, ‘I could pull Level Two Gacha and gain five Level Two Items!'

Gaia’s warning about getting addicted to the gacha came to mind.

I shook my head clear.

‘Focus! You need to prepare for your first summon! There are other things to do with the coins!’ I slapped my cheeks with my palms as I got up from bed and headed to the bath.

I set the water on a cold ninety-six degrees Celsius and washed myself while mentally browsing the system.

I soon realised that the shop was separated into two.

The slate’s item shop where the tickets could be used to get new stuff provided by the system. And the item shop where demons sold things using lux coins and unconverted null tickets.

For now, the demon item shop was out of my league.

It was full of ungraded and cursed items that I wouldn’t even be able to use even if I got my hands on them.

For now, I was browsing the apparels and looking for practical things I could wear.

I already had expertise in hand-to-hand defence, and I wasn’t planning on jumping at anyone’s throat. So, on the side of weapons and skills I was covered.

Since the system also regulated the summons, and I was currently a level zero, I was sure my task would either be mundane or one where I would see very little need to exert myself.

“But it never hurts to be prepared.” I reasoned.

In my case, defensive gear would suit me far better. Especially since bladed weapons were a thing ever since humans could smash one rock over another to create sharp edges.

So, it would stand to reason that – magic or not – other worlds would follow that logic. Be it as a weapon or not, there were far more blades in the world than there would ever be guns.

“Even level one gear is fine for now…”

The gauntlets that housed my chains protected my arms, so I didn’t need anything in that regard.

I used the null ticket and turned it into an apparel item ticket, then used that to grab the first pair of lightweight metal shin guards I could trade the ticket for.

They weren’t magical items and didn’t have any skill slots, but they were better than nothing.

I used the fifty Lux to buy myself some digitigrade-adjusted combat boots, a utility belt, and a mask.

Making sure the items were temperature, resistant and waterproofed made my wallet take a hit already, but even if I only had five Lux left, it was worth it.

My legs were my strongest assets – in the combat sense – and I didn’t take their protection lightly, especially since my defence style depended a lot on my mobility and ability to deliver precision kicks. So, the boots and shin guards were warranted.

The utility belt was obviously for things I would need to collect or carry without cluttering my inventory, since I only had ten slots, and the slow time within it was more useful for storing perishables like food.

Also, my inventory already had most of the slots taken. And seven out of ten was already close to full!

(World Entry Ticket, Evolution+ Ticket, 3 Health Potions, 5 Lux Coins, shin guards, utility belt, mask)

Some space would free up once I equipped the items, but I definitely needed to buy more inventory slots from the shop.

“Fucking hell!” I exclaimed!

A single, non-upgraded, basic inventory slot cost twenty-five Lux coins.

It would be like buying a real gold box to store plastic jewellery inside!

The average worth of everything I currently had in my inventory didn’t even come close to the price of a single slot.

But a basic slot still slowed time by a factor of one over twenty-four. So, it was worth something.

And right now, my inventory was level two. Meaning that all my slots had a time factor of one over a hundred-and-twenty. (Five days outside was equal to one hour in a level 2 inventory)

I turned off the water and got out to dry myself.

As I did so, I analysed the mask I had gotten for myself.

It was a black wolf-mask with silver tribal designs on it modelled in the likeness of a wolf’s skull. It was a half-mask that would only over the top half of my face and my snout. The design even accommodated for my horns.

The mask didn’t do anything. I just wanted to protect my identity for now.

Since I didn’t know what kind of things awaited me out there in those worlds, I wanted to minimise the risk of things being traced back to Earth. Because, despite the half-dragon, half-cat looks my face now had, there was still a mix of partial human features.

Fumiko had pointed out that my face was cute… in a dangerously, feral sort of animalistic way.

However, I was still of the opinion that I had looked my best as a human.

I pulled the mask from my inventory and it materialised in my hand in a shimmer of tiny sparks of light.

The instant it made contact with my face, it adhered in place and didn’t fall off no matter how hard or fast I shook my head.

Yet it was easily removable when I took it off.

It was convenient that it didn’t need to be strapped in place.

“I think I’m ready…” I nodded to myself before stepping out into my room.

~

“What about contracts?” Asked Fumiko from where she was sat watching the TV. “Aren’t they a separate system altogether?”

“No.” I shook my head, lounging in my usual place on the couch. “Apparently it’s part of my demonic powers, and is managed and reinforced by the Aether System.”

“I get that being detailed and specific is a must, but being vague can leave so many things open to interpretation.” Fumiko said thoughtfully, “It could either be in your advantage or in the complete advantage of the summoner.”

“No worries. I’m a commission artist. Dealing with details and loopholes is what I do as a job.” I waved her concerns away offhandedly. “Granted that the contracts I’ve dealt with so far weren’t as intense or demanding… but I think I can get the hang of it pretty fast.”

“If someone intentionally summons a demon with a contract, I doubt they’ll be unaware of this exploitable fact.” Fumiko sighed, “You better be careful.”

“Oh my…! Are you worried for me?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

A cushion was tossed in my face.

“There are worse perverts out there than you, you know!” My sister fumed a little, “Have some common sense and decency!”

“Relax, I won’t lift my tails for anyone other than you.” I assured her.

Two more soft projectiles were aimed my way!

“I just wanted to see how they connected!” she protested loudly.

I laughed maniacally as I flipped over the couch with ease and retreated to my upstairs studio.

It was easy to settle back into my daily rhythm, and I took the opportunity to bask in it before things became chaotic.

I put on my headphones – which was a little bit more complicated since I had to slide them onto my head between my skull and horns. And my long ears weren’t fully covered, so it was a little awkward now.

But everything fell into place once I got my playlist and computer going.

I caught up on my work, and Fumiko brought in food in the late afternoon.

Even though nothing had happened yet, this sense of normalcy already felt nostalgic.

My tails coiled around my legs reminded me of the new reality I lived in every time they moved or twitched.

“Two more days…” I whispered.

I had outing plans on Monday with Oliver and it pained me a little to have to cancel.

I had wanted to stop by the dojo as well to thank my masters for taking care of me before I quit for good. That wasn’t an option either now.

It wasn’t like I was going to be a shut-in – because of the summons to different places – but I was aware that from the perspective of every person in my life that I interacted with, that it would look that way.

As I drew and sorted out my thoughts, I noticed that my hand wasn’t getting tired, and neither was my mind.

Despite the fact that I felt a little frayed at the edges with everything that had gone on, not even my own thoughts were distracting me from the screen.

It would seem that not all the benefits this new body gave were visible ones.

I decided to finish all my work in one go, cancel all my plans for the remaining days, and spend the time figuring out my new limitations.

The last thing I needed right now, was failing to gauge my own strength and shortcomings.

There was nothing as bad as jumping into situations completely blind.

~

The next day Fumiko was testing my limitations on lying and telling the truth.

We had tested simple questions, like the colour of common things, and had decided to move on to more complex things.

“How about things that you’re unsure of?” She asked, “Can you state those as facts?”

I thought about it for a moment.

I had had a habit of fact-checking things I didn’t know since I was younger. So, most of my misconceptions had been corrected, and I wouldn’t know where to begin on testing those out.

I shook my head.

“Okay… how about telling me something with a double meaning?” She asked.

I wiggled my eyebrows.

“Stop being a perv and focus!” Fumiko growled. “You know this situation weighs heavily on how you will make contracts! Especially if the summoner asks you something you can’t lie about!”

“We’ve proven that I can avoid the question all together.” I pointed out.

“Not everyone is going to be that imperceptive!” She argued.

“I own a graveyard and there are at least fifty dead in there so far.” I told her.

There was a lengthy silence.

“What the fuck?!” Fumiko frowned at me.

“Yeah, there’s a folder on my pc I named ‘Graveyard’ and it’s full of rejected characters.” I told her with a smug look. “Not a double meaning, but I already figured that depending on what truth I tell and how I tell it, I can get away with a lot.”

Fumiko rubbed her temples for a moment. “You said it with such seriousness I nearly flipped for a second.”

“Don’t worry, if I do something illegal, I wouldn’t tell you about it.”

“You wouldn’t?!”

“I would.” I smiled. “Although I’ll try not to do it in the first place.”

“Wait! You just lied!” She pointed accusingly.

“I didn’t.” I said, “When I was saying that, I decided that I wouldn’t tell you beforehand. But then changed my mind after I had spoken my words.” I explained what I had done. “It’s another point I noticed. I can say that future things will be true, even if they end up changing in the future. I can also say possibilities, but not uncertainties. For example…” I cleared my throat, putting up my best villain act, before starting to speak with a wicked look on my face, “The world will burn, and all traces of civilisation as you know it will be scoured into oblivion. And I can make certain that you see it! I will brand the images into your mind and make you understand the scale of your insignificance!”

Fumiko wasn’t impressed. “Are you talking about when the sun exhausts it’s fuel and ends up expanding to Earth’s orbit?”

“I can prepare slide shows and give a convincing PowerPoint presentation.” I added.

She groaned. “I can’t deny that people from other dimensions might greatly misinterpret that though.”

“See, I told you. I’ll be fine.” I assured her.

“Or get yourself killed trying to roleplay a demon!”

“Oh… but I am a demon.”

“What about offerings?” Fumiko asked. “You said those were needed to summon demons.”

“Yeah, but I don’t get any of it.” I shook my head. “Offerings are made to the aether to be able to power the ritual and summon demons through dimensions.” I waved my hand, “I guess the system pays me afterwards with rewards like experience points and tickets… So maybe part of the offerings are converted to those so that I can use them.”

“What consists an offering?” Fumiko asked.

I shrugged, “Magical items and things like that I guess…”

“Do you think…” She paused. Seemingly considering the implications of her question before she asked it. “Do you think they sacrifice people too as offerings?”