Chapter 101

After several more hours of hunting, they did end up finding a second boss fight, which at their quick pace, hadn’t been a guarantee, though Natalie wouldn’t call it especially fortuitous, either.

The bad news was that, despite upgrades in equipment, their quickly growing exhaustion made the second fight much tougher. Not only that, but the opponent wasn’t a single powerful enemy like the dryad, but three weaker elementals that formed a collective boss: a water elemental, a fire, and a stone one. Natalie could keep the attention of two with some consistency, but not all three, as was certainly the intention of the encounter.

Being weaker to several entities compared to a single strong one was a common weakness of teams, but especially theirs, where Sofia wasn’t the greatest off-tank. Normally, the fighter would be the one to keep the third elemental’s attention, and Sofia did manage to do so, but it wasn’t her area of expertise. Her elusive fighting style meant she was also somewhat easy to ignore, at least for short bursts.

Natalie didn’t know exactly what happened, being occupied with her own encounter with the other two elementals, but when they came out victorious, there were several more serious injuries than the previous fight against the dryad. Ironically, Natalie was the one who’d gotten out in a better condition than most of the rest of her team—though she was still beaten up herself.

The worst injury by far was Sofia’s. Not by virtue of being life-threatening, but rather, the hand she wielded her rapier with had been twisted in a rather gruesome manner. Patched up by Liz, and with her supernatural endurance and recovery speed granted from her class, she’d be fine by tomorrow, but only with a full night’s proper rest. It wouldn’t be wise to continue with their fighter incapacitated in such a way, so their delve had come to an end.

Which wasn’t too big of a problem. They hadn’t had many hours left in them regardless, so nobody was upset. They looted the boss monster chess, receiving another smattering of useful items. Their incredible luck didn’t continue, since they received no rares this time, but receiving several functional uncommons was still more than welcome.

Following that, they delved into the second floor of the dungeon just to take a look. They didn’t take any fights or venture too far; after peeking around the magma-dotted cave system, they exited through the provided portal—portals always spawned near dungeon descents—and returned back to the surface.

It was early evening as they walked back to campus, laden with far more treasure than they’d expected considering their inauspicious beginnings. Natalie even felt a bit smug about it; Elida would certainly have expected their trip to have been outright crippled by her interference, but that wasn’t remotely the case. Sure, they would have done better had the woman not robbed them blind, but by all measures, Natalie and the rest of her team considered their first long delve a success.

After handling their earnings, liquidating the obvious items into credits, then getting cleaned and changed into casual clothes, Natalie and the team had an evening left to themselves. It ought to be enough time to handle a big-ticket item, actually. With their recent earnings, and the timer making the barracks a strict requirement having expired, it was time they used their credits to purchase something essentially all students were desperate for—private dorms.

Natalie, Jordan, and Sofia had already researched the various dorms scattered across the campus and narrowed down their choices. While they hadn’t been able to inspect the actual interiors, which they planned to do today, they’d still been able to decide on their feasible options. Dorms weren’t just one enormous block somewhere on campus; they could choose from several buildings, and each varied in both luxury and positional convenience. Naturally, the three of them didn’t care overmuch for either. They simply wanted out of the barracks.

“We’re really getting a two bedroom?” Sofia asked.

“Why?” Jordan said without missing a beat. “Thinking of making it one? It’d get a little cramped with all of us in one bed, but I guess it’s worth considering.”

Sofia only huffed in reply, seeming exasperated at Jordan’s teasing. Natalie, on her part, only shivered at the nightmare that would be sharing a room with Sofia.

She wondered what Sofia thought of her and Jordan sharing a room. Obviously, they had framed it as a cost-saving measure, but she didn’t think most people would buy that. Did Sofia think she and Jordan had something going on?

As in, not in the sexual way, which they very much did, but romantically. That they were girlfriends.

The idea sent a little thrill through her that was distinctly confusing. Maybe because of how odd the idea was? Her and Jordan, girlfriends? No, they were just best friends with benefits. Jordan wasn’t anything to Natalie besides someone she wanted to spend her life with, and occasionally bring to twitching, moaning climax.