4.01 - After (Patreon)

Sofia was waiting for them in the common area, sipping on a cup of tea while she scanned through one of the campus’s news letters. Emerging from their room after the events of last night and this morning felt, somehow, like emerging from a cave after weeks or months. She felt like a new person.

Natalie had been using her sound-dampening illusions to liberally protect her and Jordan’s relationship, since her dark-haired friend really didn’t know how to be quiet. Really, for all she’d insisted in earlier encounters that Natalie ‘control herself’, Jordan moaned loud enough to wake up the entire building. Not that that was a bad thing. Pretty much the opposite, as far as Natalie was concerned. But not great for subtlety.

Regardless, Sofia didn’t have a clue what was going on. Or, Natalie thought so. Certainly she didn’t have proof, at a minimum, and if she did know, she was a very good actor. Sofia spared a glanced toward them, then rose from her seat.

“I was starting to wonder whether I should knock,” she said. “You two like cutting it close, I see.”

“No point in being early to self guided training,” Jordan said without missing a beat. “Not like it matters.”

Sofia hummed in response.

Natalie herself was slightly more flustered, for about a dozen reasons, but Sofia was already heading for the door, so it didn’t matter.

They set out into the campus together.

“Did you level?” Jordan asked.

“I did, yes,” Sofia said. “You two as well?”

“Both, yeah.”

“The dungeon must think our contribution is fairly close, then, for us all to hit it at the same time,” Sofia said.

“Or we just cleared the requirement by a wide margin,” Natalie pointed out.

“That’s possible too. I wonder if Liz and Ana made it.”

“I have to assume,” Natalie said.

Since the dungeon gave experience based on contribution—to prevent higher levels from rocketing a low level through the ranks—then Liz was the person most likely to have leveled from today. Natalie would be shocked if their healer had somehow stayed at level one. Liz didn’t have a flashy class, but in their team, she was probably the most competent for her role.

She supposed it possible Ana hadn’t leveled, but while not as dominant in her archetype as Liz, Ana was no slack; Natalie found it more likely all five of them had breached level two. A chunk of the campus probably had—though certainly not all, or even most, since Natalie and her squad weren’t low-tier. Not elites, but probably up there. Likely, Elida and her group already had leveled, or at least some of them; Natalie didn’t think their enormously dominant performance had been their superior skill alone.

“Anything good?” Jordan asked.

“Yes,” Sofia said, but didn’t elaborate. She seemed to realize the response slightly rude, even considering that keeping class details a secret was standard, so she added, “Some personal bonuses and attack moves. Nothing truly incredible, at least from initial appraisal, but I suspect a decent power spike. I’ll need to experiment.”

Jordan bobbed her head. “I got a ranged skill,” she said, “so I might not be locked down to melee. Still the dominant theme, though.”

Sofia turned to Natalie, and Natalie groaned. “Don’t ask.”

“No intention to,” Sofia said, lips quirking. “I don’t even want to imagine what kind of upgrades a class like yours got.”

Natalie didn’t have a retort to that, since Sofia was right. There was one skill in particular that was going to be a disaster.

“Some normal stuff, too, though,” Natalie said. “Physically focused ones, too. No more spells.”

“And you prefer that?”

“Haven’t finished wrangling my illusions yet, so maybe it’s a good thing. However it ends up, I’ll deal with it.” Some paladins were almost entirely physical, and the opposite was also true—even to the point they could fill a healer-mage hybrid role. “Doesn’t seem like I’ll be turning down a healing path, though. Durable with some spell backup.”

“Well, that’s ideal for us, so that’s good.”

They chatted in vague terms about their new skills as they took a brisk pace for the training facility. They weren’t late, but as Sofia had said, they were cutting it close.

Reaching the building, they split off. Normally Natalie would head for Tess to keep practicing with her spellcasting abilities, but today had clear other priorities. She and Jordan found an unused room. The sparring rooms had glass windows, and no locks on the doors, so there wasn’t real privacy, but they could at least talk without people overhearing. And that would be important, considering Natalie’s newest skills.

“So?” Jordan asked, not sparing a moment. “I’ll admit, I’m dying of curiosity. What’d you get?”

Natalie sighed, then glanced at her skill list.

***

[Carnal Harvest] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Extract carnal energy through {fondling} an aroused target. Harvested energy can be expended through [Empower] and [Advance].

[Empower] - ACTIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Amplify the potency of any ACTIVE or AURA skill by {2.0x}. Expend Carnal Energy equal to mana cost.

[Advance] - ACTIVE. PROGRESSION 1. MAXED. Expend Carnal Energy to progress skills.

[Illusion] - ACTIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Conjure a {moderately} powerful audiovisual mirage to distract or confuse an opponent.

[Heavy Weaponry] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Class-bearer is granted a {8-inch} weapon to satisfy and harvest Carnal Energy from chosen targets.

[Juggernaut] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 1. Class-bearer receives {1.3x} bonus to furor, applied after all other bonuses.

[Hunker Down] - ACTIVE. PROGRESSION 1. MAXED. Class-bearer becomes invulnerable to most physical attacks for 1.5 seconds, but also unable to move. Can be interrupted.

[Bigger Is Better] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 1. Oversized weapons receive {minor} bonuses to offensive power and are {slightly} easier to maneuver.

[Stylish] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 1. Party members receive a {minor} stat bonus to their primary stat appropriate to how much their gear arouses the class-bearer. Class-bearer receives a {minor} stat bonus to their primary stat appropriate how much their gear arouses their teammates.

***

“Where to even start?” Natalie muttered.