Dungeons and Dalliances

6.03 – Level Three II

Natalie knew they would need to finish having this conversation, but while not literally melting in place like Liz, she was also fairly flustered. She happily accepted the deflection Liz had given to her. Especially since her other two skills weren't as lewd—though every bit as exciting.

Um. Exciting? Natalie wasn't excited that [Divine Invigoration] might have given her an excuse to get her cock inside Liz's throat. Or even better places. If anything, all of that would only be happening out of a strict sense of professionalism.

"The second skill," Natalie said, shifting in place in perhaps a not-so-subtle manner, a troublesome stirring between her legs appearing. "Is called [Aura of Blessed Advancement]."

And this one was rather crazy.

"It's an aura," Natalie said. "Not maxed out, so I can progress it, too." [Divine Invigoration], like [Hunker Down], was a skill that came as-is—no further upgrades allowed. Probably because a 'massive week-long single target buff' was already ridiculous. "And I think I might have gotten it because of something that's been worrying us."

Classes in general morphed to their user. Skills didn't always manifest in ways the class-bearer wanted—she wouldn't have gotten magic as a crucial component to her kit if so—but if, for example, someone received a warrior class and only wielded axes, then it was entirely possible an axe-specific skill might come along.

"Enough prefacing," Sofia said. "Go on, what is it?"

Natalie read the ability out:

"[Aura of Blessed Advancement]," she said. "Select up to four party members to receive amplified experience gain."

The team digested that.

"Oh, wow," Liz said.

"What part can be progressed?" Sofia asked. "You said it's upgradeable?"

"Only the amount of party members," Natalie said. She could feel the 'stress' on that particular part of the description. "Not how much experience is boosted by."

"And how much is the boost?"

"Just says amplified. It's vague."

"Huh," Sofia said.

Again, the cabin went briefly quiet as they considered.

"It's completely busted," Jordan said. "A team-wide experience boost? Are you kidding me?"

"I thought a week-long massive stat bonus was already a ridiculous ability," Liz said, shaking her head. "How come your buffs are better than mine? I'm the healer!"

"She is a Paladin," Jordan said. "Not surprising she's getting more team-oriented skills. Her level two seemed to be her 'self-combat' upgrade. Now level three is more focused on the supportive part of her class."

"Can it be [Empowered]?" Ana asked.

"Oh," Natalie said. "That's a great question. It should. [Empower] says it works with both actives and auras, just not passives. But how would that work? Empowering wastes carnal energy. So would I have to constantly be draining it?"

"Siphoning your own progression, effectively, to boost ours?" Jordan said.

"I'd do it," Natalie said instantly. "I'm just wondering if it's sustainable."

"You should think about that a little more carefully," Liz said. "Those are your points. You can't neglect upgrading your other skills just to help us."

"She's right," Sofia said. "We're all responsible for our own progression."

The responses only further confirmed Natalie's decision.

"Nah," Natalie said. "Like I said, I'll do it. We just need to see how it works."

"Natalie—" Sofia started.

"They're my points, right?" Natalie interjected before she could.

"Yes, but—"

"So I'll do what I want with them. And what I want is to help you four."

Sofia opened her mouth, but then blushed and closed it. She looked away. "Always so stubborn," she grumbled.

"Malice might be enough to keep us equal in level," Ana said. "So don't burn through the resource too fast. You'll want to upgrade [Empower] as well, if that's your plan, right? What's it at?"

"Progression two. So, a two-times multiplier."

And Ana was right. If she were to start making heavier use of [Empower], then upgrading it beforehand would make sense. Upgrading [Aura of Blessed Advancement] itself didn't, since she had four party members—which was the max the skill allowed. She didn't think Malice would count as a valid target, or if it even worked, whether it would transfer her bonus experience to the summoner in the first place.

"And speaking of [Empower]," Ana said. "You could also empower [Divine Invigoration], couldn't you? Turning a massive boost into … a doubled massive boost? That lasts for an entire week?"

The cabin went quiet.

Jordan whistled. "Architect. What's that gonna do?"

"Definitely worth trying out," Sofia said, sounding fascinated.

Natalie, unfortunately, was frowning. "Empower is really good, but it burns through points pretty fast. We can't just throw it on everything."

"But a doubled massive week-long boost?"

It was definitely a good target. But so was [Illusion], [Aura of Blessed Advancement], and even [Juggernaut], should she need the surge in strength. Carnal Energy was a valuable resource that she had to dole out only when necessary.

Or … for the most part. Sometimes she would get carried away. Like when she'd really wanted to fuck Camille's illusion. But she couldn't be blamed for that. Her other brain had been thinking for her.

"It'd be pretty good," Natalie said. "Dunno. I'll think about it."

"It's your decision," Ana agreed. "Is it just those two skills? Or do you have more?"

"One more, yes," Natalie said. "Seems pretty good too. Only for me, though. Not a team skill. It's called [Smite]. A heavy-hitting spell that can be channeled up to six seconds, dealing amplified damage the longer I cast it."

"Oh," Jordan said, impressed. "Some range in your kit. That's nice."

"It's channeled, though," Sofia said, frowning. "That's horrible for a front line. Natalie always needs to be in motion, holding enemy attention."

"Yes and no," Ana said. "She's also a heavy disabler, especially with her new hammer. Consider the situation where she lands two back-to-back strikes and triggers her weapon's stun effect. Or uses [Illusion] to distract her opponent. She can step back and cast [Smite], possibly to its full duration."

"A combo that would destroy most monsters, I bet," Jordan said, raising her eyebrows in appreciation. "Yeah. I can see how that would be strong."

"Plus it's never a bad thing to have options," Liz said. "Maybe it'll be a niche ability, not something she can use every encounter, but having a long-range damage-dealing spell is definitely a plus. Even on our tank."

That was true. But then again, earning skills during a level-up was technically a trade-off. Unlocking [Smite] meant she hadn't unlocked something else. Likewise, having [Aura of Blessed Advancement], something that purely benefited her teammates and not herself at all, meant she hadn't gotten another skill that improved her own personal strength.

So her level three, while phenomenal, hadn't actually been an enormous boost to herself. Definitely a big step up, as all levels were, but level two had come with [Juggernaut], [Hunker Down], [Bigger is Better], and [Stylish]—all four abilities that boosted her combat abilities in direct or indirect ways. As Jordan had put it, level two had greatly increased her personal strength, and level three had greatly improved her team's prospects.

Nonetheless, level three had come with unbelievable abilities. And almost more importantly than everything, Natalie wasn't as stressed about the inevitability of outpacing her teammates. That'd been a niggling fear of hers that she'd been trying to chase away. Even the [Capture Core] had only been a half solution, with Malice feeding her experience to whoever summoned her.

A part of Natalie that she hadn't known had been persistently tense finally relaxed. She'd always planned to stick it out with her team for the long run, but this made it much more feasible. Maybe it wouldn't be too long before their own level threes arrived.

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