Catpurr 26: Abyssal Ticket.

Catpurr 26: Abyssal Ticket.

Standing in front of an Altar with six emblems engraved into it, Adam frowned.

How exactly is this supposed to work if my divinity is a seventh being? Adam pursed his lips, waiting as Coco stood off to the side humming with a new cat-eared headband on her head.

"Put your hand out. If my theory is correct, the altar will respond." Coco said.

He did as told, placing his palm out toward the monument of circles.

Suddenly Adam felt a connection being established, his interface forcing itself open with dozens of error messages playing out.

Oh boy.

Adam went wide-eyed, the flurry of errors popping up in rapid succession until finally bold blue words spelled out-

[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED!]

"Incredible." Coco whispered, eyeing the thin tendril of divine golden energy that moved from Adam to the altar.

It coalesced, spinning into a small ball of energy in front of the glowing monument. It hovered, forming a solid sphere before suddenly shattering, depositing a purple slip of paper floating in the air.

My ticket. Adam grabbed the item. His System Quest tracker immediately updating.

[Ticket of the Abyss(Eli) Obtained!]

[CONCATULATIONS! QUEST COMPLETE!]

[Rolling Rewards…]

[Ding!]

[+500 Experience Obtained!]

[Level Up!]

Yes!

[Please Select a Starter Skill from the Nekomancer Skill Tree!]

-Upgrade Raise Minor Skeleton

-Locate Bones

-Drain Mana

-Mana Claws

-Double Jump

-Mana Dash

-Mana Bolt

-Upgrade Cat Claws

-Upgrade Eyes of the Predator

Adam eyed the list, seeing there were new options available.

Well this is new. Maybe I can get an upgrade to get a human skeleton rather than a cat.

Standing there, Coco said nothing as Adam pondered his list, instead, she stood off to the side, observing the ticket in Adam's hand that was marked with a serpent devouring itself.

He looked over the list, eyeing each skill and tapping on the screen to see the ability's description.

"May I see your ticket?" Coco asked, with Adam turning and handing the item over to her.

She observed the engraving, rubbing her hand over the purple slip.

"Incredible." Coco whispered, spying the item. "Just so ya know. While an abyssal ticket cannot be destroyed, it can be stolen. So make sure not to be so willy nilly with your ticket. Without it, you won't be able to enter the abyss."

"Oh. I see." Yea that could definitely be a problem. I wonder if I can store it in my ring.

"Here, take it." Coco said, returning the ticket, however as Adam grabbed hold, a problem arose.

“Uh… Coco?”

“Yes?”

"You can let go of the ticket now?" Adam said, tugging at the divine material held firmly in Coco's grasp.

“Yes… Of course.”

“You still aren’t letting go.”

"In a bit." The priestess replied, a glint of crazed madness in her eyes as she refused.

"Coco aren't the others waiting for me? I should go."

"Just let me see it for a bit longer!"

"COCO GIVE ME MY TICKET!"

“JUST LET ME HOLD ONTO IT A BIT LONGER!”

****

After an hour of arguing with the priestess Adam finally exited from the chamber, entering back into the main temple where the pillars of the gods were under the condition that he'd agree to a few terms set by Coco.

"Adam! So good to see you're safe!" Titania cried, with Ruebella waving shyly. "We were so worried after you just up and collapsed."

"I'm ok." Adam assured, finding himself oddly smiling as he eyed the Abyssal ticket looped around his wrist, brandishing it to the two women who were worried about him.

Heh, having someone care about me isn't so bad.

"I see you've got your ticket. Have you gotten a quest update yet?" Titania asked as the trio began walking out the temple. Looking down, she furrowed her brow at the ticket that was blank, a magical measure activated by Coco to help conceal any nosy onlookers' gaze. Fortunately the ticket could be locked to his wrist, preventing anyone from taking it unless they removed his arm.

"Uh. No. Not yet." Adam replied, walking in step with each other.

Exiting through the main foyer and out the temple, Adam spotted what appeared to be Howard the gate Paladin, sporting a fresh black eye with a busted bleeding nose.

I wonder what happened to him. Adam thought, dispelling the idea as quickly as it came. Not my problem.

"Yo!"

Ah. Adam said silently, quickly putting two and two together from Sehn's beaten up appearance as the man climbed the stairs. Much like Howard, Sehn had a busted nose, black eye, and a split lip, but unlike the paladin, he was steaming, releasing smoke from his cuts and wounds.

"Sehn?! What happened to you?!" Titania cried, grabbing the man's face by the chin that was bleeding.

"Ah, you know you're so cute when you're worried about me." Sehn smiled, immediately dissolving all sympathy Titania had with her expression morphing.

"Gross." She shoved him, sending the adventurer tumbling back down the flight of marble stairs.

"Are you crazy?! You coulda killed me!" Sehn yelled, sitting upright as the trio passed him by while Howard let out a haughty laugh from above.

"But did you die though?" Titania said, ignoring the man who was wafting even more smoke from underneath his clothes.

“No! But I could of!” Sehn argued, picking himself up and following the group as they made their way back to the guild hall. “Hey, do you think I could borrow a couple of silvers?”

“Uh? No.” Titania replied immediately.

“Oh c’mon, ya know I’m good for it.”

“No you aren’t. You can barely pay off your current debts as is, owing me a silver would just collapse the mountain of debt you already owe.”

“Ruebella?” Sehn mosied around the ground, poking his head in front of the maid.

“Y-y-yes?”

“How about it? One silver? I promise to pay you back! I just need to buy some food.”

“O-o-okay.” The maid replied, immediately reaching between her breasts. Titania stopped her, grabbing the woman’s wrist.

“No ya don’t. If you give in to his demands he’ll always ask you for loans.”

“Oh-ok.” Ruebella stuttered, with Adam observing her mannerisms and the differences between this version of her and her combat mode. Maybe it’s a mental command or something.

“Look! I promise to pay you back Rueb! Honest! At the end of the day a man’s word is all he has.” The coffin carrier pleaded, with Titania stepping in.

“Don’t listen to him, he barely counts as a man. Even Adam here is more manly than you and he’s a child.”

Thanks?

“Eeeeh. Uhm.” Rubella squeaked, the maid appearing flustered as the duo stopped and began arguing. “I- I uhm. P-p-please don’t a-argue.”

With the trio meandering, Adam decided to pull up his skill list, opening up the upgrade paths for the abilities he had.

[Upgrade Raise Minor Skeleton]

[Available Upgrades]

-Upgrade skill to Raise Skeleton V1

-Remove Corpse Requirement (+20% Mana REQ.)

-Increase Minion capacity+1

-Optimize Mana requirements (-20% REQ.)

-Strengthen Summon V1 (+10% To skeleton stats)

Eyeing the list, Adam was surprised at the level of augmentations he had at his disposal. His old system relied on earning passives and boosts with each level he gained. With the actions he took increasing potential skills. However despite stacking skills, it didn’t let him pick and choose abilities, resulting in Adam having dozens of skills that were all unused, bloating his interface. Here though, it appeared he could best optimize what he wanted.

In a way it was a downgrade, but also more efficient.

He took a look at his other upgradable skills, keeping his options open.

[Upgrade Cat Claws]

[Available Upgrades]

-Integrate Mana Circuits.

-Durability Increase. (+10% Increase to claw durability)

-Sharpen Claws. (+10% to claw sharpness)

[Upgrade Eyes of the Predator]

[Available Upgrades]

-Integrate Mana Circuits

-Improve Night vision(+10% Night Vision)

Integrate Mana circuits? Are my eyes and claws not connected to the rest of my mana circuits? Will it give me more upgrades if I do so? Adam pondered the skills and the implications. Sadly, in his current state, his skill points were too valuable to waste testing his theory out.

Looking back over the list, Adam spied the remove corpse requirement. While it would bump the cost of his summon skill to one-hundred and twenty, he could offset the negative by dumping his newly obtained stat points into arcana, bringing his overall mana to one-hundred-and-twenty-five.

A no brainer.

After all, in a trial where he might struggle to find a corpse, being able to summon one would be the difference between being able to use his skill and not.

[Remove Corpse Requirement selected!]

He plugged it in, immediately tapping on the screen to dump all his free points into Arcana with his body shaking with energy.

“Hmm?” Sehn paused, mid argument with Titania to turn toward Adam with Ruebella shifting to do the same. “Did you level up lad?”

“Uh. Yea.” They sensed that? Adam thought to himself, realizing there was more to man than what he thought.

“Lad.” Sehn said, crouching down. “In the future, you should tell us first so we could help you pick a skill and plot your stats accordingly. What skill did you pick?”

Oh crap. Adam froze, unsure of how to reply.