Jordan had Sofia—and Natalie—experiment with a few more outfits of varying degrees of lewdness. They found that the bonus did eventually cap out, though only when dressed in ways that could most fivingly be called ‘obse’. Like with Sofia ihighs highs, panties, choker, and pasties. Natalie didn’t think anyone would want to dress that sdalously for a while, though. If they ever would.

  Jordan alsed Natalie up to the front, then sat on the coud cozied up with Sofia—still stily cd, with their tops off, and Jordan indulgingly pressing herself into Sofia’s side, their nearly naked curves hugging. Because [Stylish] worked both ways, Jordan bossed Natalie around, her to strip this, strip that, and ge out articles of clothing—because Natalie’s buffs o be tested, too.

  It was more mortifying than she’d expected. Natalie didn’t behave that much differently than Sofia had. Which was to say, she blushed furiously throughout and did what Jordan told her to. Natalie could take trol of a situation, but Jordan being so fident and egging on Sofia, making lewd ents about Natalie’s body and f Sofia to agree with her, had Natalie on fire.

  Especially when Jorda f Sofia to give her ‘hohoughts’ on Natalie’s outfit. And body. Since what aroused her affected Natalie’s boosts—so, Jordan told Sofia, she shouldn’t be so embarrassed. It was only a practical discussion. She made sure to stantly mention Natalie’s coatalie wasn’t sure who was blushing harder by the end of it—her or Sofia.

  Their allotted testing hour burned away fast, though. Finishing up, they got dressed into their inal delving gear auro the team. Sofia seemed grateful the debacle was over, and holy, Natalie was too. Jordan had found it way too amusing to mess with them. Really, where had all the fidene from? The ease with which she’d taken charge?

  Natalie would have to teach her a lesson tonight. Just to make sure she didn’t get the wrong idea.

  As a squad of five, they headed for the dungeon. The uping delve was a she’d been looking forward to. With her signifit gains in power and her neon choice, she’d beeless to test herself. And even without ating for the excitement of her new boosts, delves were her favorite part of the day. Favorite professional part, at least. Hard to beat nights with Jordan. Or leveraging her ownership of Sofia.

  As they headed for the dungeon, Natalie expined [Joined] and [Link] to the team. She spared the details behind how she and Liz had acquired the buffs, but she was sure the team could infer a few things. And if they didn’t, Liz’s blushing gave it away. But it was a detail that the team o know. They were, ultimately, professionals—as Liz was always insisting—and [Joined] and [Link] ged the bat dynamic.

  Resting her oversized hammer on her shoulder, Natalie aeam ventured into the dungeorahat ft, shimmering bck portal inid into a giant stone sb. She went first, the cold bck substance making her shiver as she stepped through. Her team followed on her heels.

  Now that they had delved past the first floor, the dungeorance didn’t drop them straight into the fray. Instead, they arrived to a small stone chamber with two shimmering bck portals identical to the previous. Above each, respective numerals were inscribed: ‘I’ and ‘II’.

  “Straight to the sed floht?” Natalie asked, just to verify. It’d been what they discussed, but always better to check.

  “Should be able to ha,” Sofia said. “So yes. Sed floor.”

  Natalie stepped through the sed of the bck portals, and once again, she shivered as she passed through space.

  Her footstep nded on the polished tile floor of a square chamber. Natalie oriented herself quickly, sing her enviro. No monsters came rushing out to meet them in a surprise attack, which wasn’t on when first entering but teically ossible.

  She cataloged the room and the objects within.

  The chamber was rge and square, with scattered gss sculptures and mirrors. In the ter was a fountain made of clear crystal lit from below, illuminating the water inside and casting refles on the ceiling and walls. Water tinkled down into the circur pool it sprouted from. The tiles were polished to a mirror finish.

  There were four exits, each different. The oo the north—she chose the reference dire arbitrarily—was made from glossy bck obsidian. Another exit, to the east, was a set of ornate double doors that gleamed gold. The third was smaller, made of gss ached with intricate designs. She couldn't make out much of the hallway through it. The fourth was a simple, unassuming wooden door, its pin appearance jarring with the rest of the room.

  Her team, having joined her less than a sed after Natalie herself stepped through, also peered around at the space.

  "Don't reize it," Sofia said. "Do any of you?"

  All ives.

  "An uncharted floor, then," Sofia said. "Hm."

  That wasn't the rarest thing in the world, sihe dungeon could hardly be mapped in its ey, even after turies of effort. For all they knew, some floors were created from scratch when delvers set foot inside. But it was more on for uncharted floors to appear deeper into the dungeon, not this early.

  Natalie wondered whether her css was at fault. Probably not. Not everything could be ascribed to her strange css. Odd things happeo everyone when it came to the dungeon. Plus, nothing about the floor seemed lewd—probably the best indicator.

  "What's with all the polish?" Natalie asked. "Nearly hurts my eyes."

  Besides a few surfaces, the entire room gleamed. The mirrors, the tile, the gss fountain, the gss sculptures—even the doorways, besides the woode made the gre of the white nterns obnoxious.

  "Dunno. But these sculptures are really something," Jordan ented, peering at one of them. It was a young woman’s bust, her face severe and elegant. To its side was an abstract figure made from interlocked triahey rested on engraved plinths. Pques were beh each, filled with text, though the words were gibberish. "They're beautiful,” Jordan said.

  Natalie agreed. Though, she wasn't here to admire the dungeoed artwork. She spared a moment to appreciate the incredible nature of the dungeon, as did most of the team—Ana seemed more ied in the nonsensical text thaatues themselves—but then Natalie corralled them to the more practical matter: "So, which door?"

  "Good question," Sofia said. "Think the designs mean anything?”

  “Could. Could also not.”

  “Helpful.”

  “Perhaps difficulty?” Ana suggested. “Or they hint where they lead?”

  “The golden doors, in that case, might be something dangerous, but with a reward,” Sofia said.

  “A miniboss?” Liz suggested.

  “Or a regur boss,” Jordan said.

  “Let’s set it aside for now,” Sofia said. “We’ll e bad check ter. How about we try the easiest? The wooden door.”

  With how little information they had to go on, they collectively shrugged and agreed. The chamber was hardly going anywhere, and they could check out the rest of the doors ter. Natalie supposed the wooden door could close behind them, log them out of future choices, but without any reason to believe that would happen, there was little point w over it. Pretty muything could happen in the dungeon.

  Natalie led the team through the wooden door. It didn’t lock behind them. The hallway they entered was much the same as the entry chamber: all polished tiles, gss statues, and mirrors. Soft white lights glowed from above, reflected iiles below. Though the gre was annoying, she preferred it over dimly lit floors.

  They picked across the hallway, watg for tripwires and other traps. None presehemselves. They turned a er, and the first enter of the evening came into view.

  Natalie grinned, her grip tightening on her hefty two-handed hammer. It was time to test out her new fighting style.