Dungeons and Dalliances

7.47 – Tower III

The Vault was located on the floor above the boss room—which she had previously and incorrectly assumed to have been the top. To get there, they climbed a rickety ladder which had blended into the background during her appraisal of the battlefield.

Plopped down on the floor of the next room was a huge metal vault large enough to walk inside, about twelve feet by twelve feet. The key slid into the keyhole, and a large mechanism engaged when Natalie turned. After spinning the handle, she pulled the door open and peeked in.

Despite the dramatics of being stored away inside a solid metal vault the size of a small room, only a single wooden chest sat inside—and not even all that large of a chest. Natalie's enthusiasm wasn't dampened, because the size of loot hardly affected its value. Besides, some dungeon containers played fast and loose with the laws of spatial continuity; large things could fit inside small spaces.

They checked for traps. Finding none, Natalie popped the wooden chest open.

Unenchanted Tokens of Eros filled the box to the brim. She whistled in appreciation.

"That's a lot of coins."

"Six hundred? A thousand? Maybe more." Elida peered at the pink-purple metal with a gleam in her eye. "That would've made this trip worth it alone. And there's more. What's the potion? And the necklace?"

Indeed, a hefty payload of Tokens of Eros had been all but expected, but their reward didn't end there. A vial of purple liquid and a necklace lay atop the treasure. Perhaps there were more trinkets buried inside the coins, though Natalie didn't get her hopes up.

To her side, Vanetta made a choking noise as, presumably, she read the item's description, which set her expectations for what she was about to see.

***

Necklace of Gender Transformation

When worn, transforms the wearer's body into that of the opposite gender. Binds upon use.

***

Natalie's eyebrows shot up. That—was an interesting item. It wasn't gear, with no associated stat bonuses or even combat applications. It was something anyone could wear. No level minimum, no seeming cooldown or other requirements. Which made it valuable.

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But still, it wasn't as strange as she'd expected, based on the choking noise Vanetta had made.

Which meant the other object must be the culprit. Her eyes slid to the potion.

***

Potion of Temporary Breast Enlargement—

***

Of course. Natalie sighed before inspecting the item again.

***

Potion of Temporary Breast Enlargement

Consume in tiny quantities to produce significant, but temporary changes to the drinker's breast size.

***

Yeah. That would do it. She risked a glance at her teammates. They were staring at her, a mixture of blank and incredulous expressions. At least with her old team, they were used to the weird loot. Here, she was getting the same strange looks back when this ordeal had started.

"It'll sell well, at least," Natalie said dryly.

Elida recovered first, maybe because she saw the truth in Natalie's statement.

"The trinket especially. It physically swaps a person's gender? Not even an illusion, but truly?" She shook her head in amazement. "Perhaps such a thing is possible with other magical means, but if so, I haven't heard of them. Relatively straightforward requirement, too; just need to wear it. It'll sell incredibly well. We should fight with Tenet for an exemption to find a buyer through a private party rather than the Exchange."

"That's possible?"

Elida shrugged. "It's worth trying. Such an item would be wasted through traditional channels—unless similar effects are easier to produce than I assume. I'm sure the right buyer would pay wonderfully for an item like that. It's a shame it's bind-on-use." Her attention swiveled back to the vial of purple liquid. "The potion, though," she said, amused. "That's a stranger one."

"Am I reading this right?" Clementine asked—or rather, squeaked. "Breast enlargement? As in, it makes your boobs bigger?"

"So it seems."

"Why?"

Such was the question Natalie asked herself constantly, these days.

"Shall I remind you what floor you're on?" Elida said, rolling her eyes—as if she hadn't also been gawking at the absurd item. "It's perfectly thematic. It'll also fetch an excellent price. This is a great haul." She pursed her lips. "Unless, as I said, similar alchemical or magical solutions are more common than I assume. Naturally, I'm no expert on the topic. Perhaps Natalie knows more?"

"Why would I be the expert?" 

"Of anyone, surely you would be."

The worst part was that it didn't seem like Elida was teasing or taking a jab at her.

Flustered, she said, "I have no idea. I don't think there's—potions like that on the market." Magic could be pretty varied, but as far as sex items went … she knew they existed, since the dungeon spat up all sorts of crazy items, but a potion of breast enlargement specifically? Especially that could be commercially produced, rather than just found through loot? "I doubt it."

"Mm. In any case, the tokens are the true prize. I'd estimate there's eight hundred? Approximately one hundred and sixty for each of us, then. Not to mention what we've earned from hunting and clearing the tower, which is significant in its own right." She nodded. "Yes, I'm pleased with how this went. Even if we didn't find an Emporium key."

"Enchanting so many coins will be a problem," Faye said, interjecting for once. The orange-haired, serious mage was the least talkative of the party. "You said you earned thirty for your assignment, Natalie?"

"Thereabout."

"Then we have enough to last three or four days of enchanting, from this run alone. And we could clear two of these towers a day, if we wished. While still performing our assignments, assuming they only take a few hours on average."

Elida hummed. "That assumes we get a similar haul every time, which is optimistic. We could've gotten lucky."

"What I enchanted was just with the Arena, by the way," Natalie said. "Didn't use other—avenues. And we didn't go too, ah, hard at it. With the stake, I mean."

They all raised an eyebrow at her phrasing, and Natalie blushed. Vanetta's face stayed stony. Whatever walls Natalie had broken down with the rogue had been fully erected again. Her embarrassment, which Natalie knew was there, didn't show in the slightest. Natalie kind of hated that—she missed the more emotive Vanetta.

"The Arena is the slowest active assignment for enchantment," Natalie clarified. "The Palace Basement and Coliseum are the real ways to convert coins in bulk. And you can visit the Bordello in your off time to keep enchanting, even after you've finished your assignment for the cycle." Acacia had also said simply having sex or anything lewd in general would enchant tokens, but she would leave that implied. "So thirty coins per twelve hours isn't an accurate estimate for our top enchantment rate."

Faye inclined her head in acknowledgment. "Point taken. Perhaps it’ll be doable, then. Still, I think it's more likely than not we end up with an excess of unenchanted tokens. As Elida mentioned, we should look into trading. Even at a poor ratio, it could be worthwhile from a time efficiency standpoint."

"Hunting is also lucrative for outside the dungeon, though," Clementine said, eyeing the potion and trinket. "Since we're getting real loot alongside the tokens."

"Shop items might be more worthwhile than anything we find," Faye countered. She shrugged. "Hard to tell what the most efficient path is, with so little information."

"Do the tokens store inside monster cores?" Elida asked, tilting her head at the chest of coins. "Otherwise, that's going to be a pain to carry back." She fished out a small glass orb to check. Before pressing it against the side of the container, she withdrew the potion and necklace and set them aside.

The chest vanished into the orb.

"Oh," Elida said. "Indeed. [Small Chest of Tokens of Eros (839)]. Convenient."

Monster cores could also store various raw resources in bulk, like ore. So it wasn't surprising it could suck in a whole chest of coins, even if it didn't normally allow containers.

Elida stored away the other two items into monster cores, and however many misgivings Natalie had about the other girl, she didn't take her as a thief. Letting her take temporary ownership of their loot didn't bother her.

"Wonderful," Elida said, standing. "We're already pressed for time—let's not dally. We should try to make it back before assignment turnover. And we all need some rest."