Chapter 189

Natalie stepped through the glassy black portal, and the busy noises of Aradon’s dungeon entrance dropped away. Her team followed after, one by one, appearing in the small stone room that made up the floor selection chamber. As usual, only two portals presented themselves: the first and the second floor. They’d yet to head down to the third.

“Today’s the day we find Nat a proper boss to fuck,” Jordan mused loudly—attracting four heads to swivel her way. “It’s a shame all we’ve been finding are actual monsters. Where are the fuckable ones when you need them?”

“You,” Sofia grumbled, “are growing entirely too crude.”

“Crude? I’m being practical,” Jordan disagreed. “That erotite arrow is a two-part rare reward—we’re gonna get something amazing once we find Nat proper prey. If only that dryad had come later. She looked cute. What do you think dryad pussy is like?”

Sofia shook her head, exasperated, and faced Ana. Natalie’s amusement lingered on Jordan for a moment, who grinned at her—which Natalie responded to by rolling her eyes. Sofia was right, honestly. The woman really was becoming more and more of a provoker.

“You said you had something you wanted to talk about, once we got inside?” Sofia asked Ana.

Everyone’s attention turned to the team’s mage, who was slipping off her bra—which Natalie paused at. Though it was hardly anything new. Their team covered up during the trip over to the dungeon entrance. Even if they had to wear revealing attire while inside the dungeon, for the stat boosts, it still felt rather indiscreet to do so out in public. For that matter, Natalie herself had taken to wearing a skirt and jacket overtop her extremely revealing armor. She tucked both away, following Ana’s lead.

“Yes,” Ana said. “Just a quick announcement. And possibly a momentary interruption, before setting out. You remember the tattoo and ink vial, from earlier?”

“You mean the glowing pink womb tattoo everyone can see? That you wear out in public?” Sofia asked dryly. “Yes, we haven’t forgotten about that, Ana.”

It was true; Ana was definitely more shameless than Natalie, when it came to walking through Aradon’s streets. At least she wore a bra, because when that thing came off, it was fifty-fifty odds whether slight movements would destroy her modesty. If it’d been anyone else, she’d have thought Ana was showing off. Since she did have a lot to show off. But no—Natalie was pretty sure she simply didn’t care, which was equal parts impressive and hilarious.

“The [Inscriber] I commissioned had a breakthrough,” Ana said, ignoring Sofia’s sarcasm—maybe not even detecting it. “He managed to redesign the tattoo so it works differently from its original purpose. So that it’s functional for us.”

“Oh?” Natalie asked. “Functional how?”

“Before, it collected orgasms to unlock those doorways, if you remember,” Ana said, and a brief heat flash went through Natalie, recollecting that whole series of events. “Now, it stores the same energy, but as a secondary mana resource. Not significant, but, of course, any increase in mana is an excellent boon. Especially when combined with my crystal ball.”

‘Crystal ball’. Ana had taken to calling her buttplug that. The team didn’t really mind; dropping the word ‘buttplug’ into casual conversations could be ... a little much. Even for their circumstances.

“It stores orgasms as mana,” Sofia said, rubbing her temples. “You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Sofia asked, sounding almost angry.

“You figured that out fast,” Natalie commented, impressed. She’d expected it to take longer to track down someone who could help her with the task of redesigning the tattoo. But Ana worked efficiently. It’d taken less than a week.

“And you said there might be a short diversion before we start today?” Liz asked hesitantly, a heat rising on her face. “By that, do you mean...?”

Natalie paused.