Dungeons and Dalliances

That inexplicable reservoir holding her Carnal Energy had surged a staggering amount—and that was despite how she had burned through [Empowers] without hesitation. The chieftain's shard of Greed had granted even more of that precious resource than she had expected.

"It's a lot?" Jordan guessed by the expression on her face.

"Uh, yeah," Natalie said. "Twice as much as the raid leader, if not more."

"Not surprising. The Raid Leader was strong, but we could handle him. That chieftain was … something else."

"Had two levels on you," Natalie grunted. "And one on me. Would've been tough even without Greed. So yeah."

Which had been why she'd taken that risky gambit of hers, she didn't repeat aloud.

"What'cha gonna use it on?" Jordan asked. "[Juggernaut]?"

Even as they spoke, another of Liz's heals washed through her—the weakest yet. They were hitting the point of heavily diminishing returns, where the effects were muted by at least a factor of ten, leaving them limp and ineffective. She'd be walking home sore, that was certain.

"That's the no-brainer," Natalie agreed. "It's a passive, and a strong one that's always in use. Woulda done it last time, but we'd figured [Empower] would go further."

And that had been the right choice, with [Empower] the star of that climactic fight. [Smite] might have been the flashy finishing move, but its power had come from [Empower], and so had [Hunker Down]'s, which had created the opening for [Smite] in the first place.

***

[Juggernaut]: Progression advanced from 2 to 3.

***

***

[Juggernaut] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 3. Class-bearer receives {2.0x} bonus to furor, applied after all other bonuses.

***

Strength suffused her as the skill progressed to its third stage. Previously, it had been a one-point-six multiplier. Going up to two times meant a twenty-five percent permanent, ongoing increase to her strength—and all other physical aspects associated with the Furor stat.

Despite the aches across her body and feeling generally worn down, Natalie's lips turned up in excitement. Not a bad upgrade at all.

She relayed the information to her team. Sofia was shaking her head by the time she'd finished. "You were already starting to crush everyone in our class," she said. "And now you'll be coming back another level up, and with a twenty-five percent boost on top of that? You'll demolish them."

"Looking forward to testing it out," Natalie agreed with a grin.

"How much did that use?" Jordan asked. "What's left?"

"Carnal Energy? Not much. A third, ish?" She rubbed her chin. "I think I'll go for [Bigger is Better] next. And if I have enough left over, [Smite]."

"Going for personal upgrades this time around?" Jordan asked.

There was the alternative option of taking [Stylish] up a tier, which might be the better team play since it would affect all of them—including herself. But Natalie grimaced. "I didn't like being so useless against that thing," she said. "I get that I won't always be stronger than anything we go up against, especially bosses, but they shouldn't be able to catch my hammer and rip it out of my hands." The experience had unsettled her more than she would admit.

"They're your points," Jordan said. "And I don't think there are any bad choices. None of us will be upset with our tank turning into even more of a battering ram."

Natalie couldn't help but glance around to see if anyone disagreed, but she received shrugs and nods. [Stylish] would be her next target, but honestly, she did want to use her points selfishly this time around.

***

[Bigger Is Better]: Progression advanced from 2 to 3.

***

***

[Bigger Is Better] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 3. Oversized weapons receive {significant} bonuses to offensive power and are {greatly} easier to maneuver.

***

As the upgrade went through, Liz's next heal suffused her.

"Alright," Liz said. "Don't think there's much point putting more in you. How are you feeling?"

Natalie rolled a shoulder, and couldn't stop the wince.

"Not dead," she offered tentatively.

Liz seemed genuinely distressed at that, and Natalie hurried to assure her.

"But, I'll be able to stand. Wouldn't be the case if you weren't here. Healers can only do so much." She patted Liz's knee. "Thanks."

"I better hit level three soon," the royal pouted, the reassurance not having done much. "I want a stronger heal. I don't like seeing you hurt, it's my job to make sure injuries don't stick."

"Most healers don't have to deal with their paladins blowing themselves up," Sofia said flatly. "That's hardly your fault."

Natalie made to stand, which prompted a flurry of protests from everyone except Ana. She waved them away; it wasn't like she could lie on the ground all day.

As expected, her muscles hurt a lot more while standing. She winced as she walked around, and, to her dismay, she found herself favoring her right leg. She didn't know what had happened to leave her left one so sensitive, but maybe the explosion had bent it weird: she had aimed [Smite] downward toward the chieftain's skull, so her legs would've taken the bulk of the blast. She'd only woken after several serious layering of heals; she had likely been in much worse shape right after the explosion.

She scooped up her hammer. To her amazement, she barely strained under its weight. [Valentine] felt at least twice as light as before, if not three times. Gripping it in one hand, she gave it a test swing. Jordan and Sofia's eyebrows went up, seeing that.

"You will not be dual-wielding warhammers," Sofia said flatly. "I'm vetoing the idea before you have it."

Natalie laughed. "No plans to." Though the imagery of that was interesting, dealing with one unwieldy weapon came with enough problems, much less two. Weight and maneuverability weren't the only complications involved with large weapons. "But seriously, look at this." She waved [Valentine] through the air, back and forth, and even her injured muscles didn't ache much. "Those were some serious upgrades."

"You have enough for [Smite], too?" Sofia asked.

"Think so," Natalie said. "But it'd be close. I might rather have a reserve on hand for [Empower]." She played around with her hammer a little longer, stretching out sore muscles while walking around, before stopping.

A wave of guilt crept over her when she turned to see her teammates, their eyebrows raised at her easy handling of [Valentine].

"Kinda sucks I'm the only one who got upgrades, this quest," Natalie said. "Normally everyone would get pieces of loot or something." Experience if nothing else. But surface monsters didn't even provide much of that. "All of it went to me."

"Quests pay out with tokens," Jordan shrugged. "Lots of 'em. Especially for one that turned out as bad as this. We'll be able to buy something from the Exchange."

"Besides," Sofia said. "This wasn't about us. We were helping people who needed help. That's the point of quests."

Natalie nodded. That alleviated the guilt a bit, though she did wish her teammates had shared in the spoils. Quests weren't supposed to be lucrative from a progression standpoint, yet these few days had actually provided an enormous amount of bonuses to her, via the two shards of Greed.

She planted [Valentine] down into the dirt, leaning against it as she looked around the goblin camp, littered with corpses.

"Now," Natalie said. "What's the plan? I'm thinking we should lug big ugly over here," she gestured at the chieftain, "Back to Tarenhelm. No one'll believe us otherwise."

Sofia stared dryly at the hulking beast. "No," she said. "I don't think they would. Goblins … simply shouldn't get that big," she said, shaking her head.