Despite having arrived at a seemingly man-made dungeon level, there were still opportuo find resources. Pnts and herbs for Jordan, or ores for Natalie. They were less on, though, and sometimes took some searg around.

  In Natalie’s case, she found her first ore vein hidden behind a cracked mirror. Jordan was the oo spot it; she was the most attentive of the group and the person who also identified the most traps. As rogues teo. Natalie wasn’t sure whether she had a skill explicitly for that, or whether she had a keen eye. She certainly had the tter—but the fht be helpioo.

  Either way, Natalie used her hammer to smash out the rest of the tall, elega-foot mirror, revealing the stone behind it. Streaks of vibrant pink snaked across the stone.

  “Pink,” Liz said curiously. “What ore is pink?”

  “Dunno,” Natalie said, intrigued. There eriod after csses each day dedicated to extracurricurs, and Natalie had been spending it learning more about mining—teiques fathering and identifying the various resources that she might find in the dungeon. She suspected she was even ing up on level two of her resathering subcss, since she had obviously been mining any ores that she came across. Subcsses teo keep pace with one’s main css, or even progress faster.

  Liz’s question was more of an idle ent than a genuine inquiry. Ore veins could be appraised in the same way as loot. Natalie, and probably the rest of the team, did so.

  ***

  Ore Deposit - Erotite

  Quantity - F

  Yield - E-

  Difficulty - F

  ***

  “Erotite?” Liz asked. “What in the world is that?”

  Natalie’s wrinkled her nose. She had a few suspis about what was going on.

  And so did Ana. “If I had to guess,” the mage said, “it’s Natalie’s css once again influeng the dungeon. I’m no expert on mining and ores, but I’ve never heard of erotite. And the prefix?”

  “Ero,” Sofia huffed. “And it’s pink. Not hard to guess.”

  “But what’s it do?” Natalie asked, eying the pink veins of ore. “Should we be worried?”

  “Not sure,” Jordan said. “Probably not? It’s ore.”

  “I’m ied to see what a bcksmith could do with it,” Ana ented. “What effects it would provide when turned into armor or ons. It’s probably suited to your css.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “That’s for you and a bcksmith to figure out,” Ana said.

  “I doubt the ore is trapped, somehow,” Liz said, answering Natalie’s earlier question. “Nothing to worry about from an immediate sense. Go ahead and try. We’ll clear the rest of the room.”

  The team hung around briefly to see if Natalie’s first pickaxe impact caused anything w, but it didn’t. Rock splintered and cttered to the ground, and seeing it wasn’t trapped, her team wandered off to hunt down any other valuables. Natalie worked away at uhing the material from the wall.

  Quantity, F. Yield, E-. Difficulty, F.

  Quantity represented how much ore resent in the vein, while yield indicated how much could be gathered from each so-called ‘unit’ of ore. So effectively they could be multiplied together to give an appraisal of he of a payday Natalie had run into.

  Quantity was random, but yield teo increase the deeper into the dungeon oured. It was also the most important of the two indicators, since high-grade yield meant a lot more ore per minute of gathering.

  In the end, though, the total amount of ore collected was what mattered, because bcksmiths could dense bulk material down into powerful metal. Natalie wasn’t pletely educated oails of how armor- and on-smithing worked, but she knew even iron armor could be powerful if a bcksmith densed enough of the material. Though ideally, a person would want a high-tier metal. Iron teo be the metal of low-level delvers.

  Erotite, though. Natalie wasn’t sure where that would fit into the dynamic. Assuming it was reted to her css, then what kind of armear, or accessories would it create? Was it a higher-tier metal than iron? Something she’d want to use iure? What were its upsides and downsides?

  How was she going to expin what it was? Natalie shook her head, not looking forward to that disastrous versation. She might have to open up about her css—at least in a small way—to another person. Shara, the bcksmith she had issioned previously, had seemed nice. Hopefully, she en-mioo.

  Halfway through excavating the vein of erotite, Natalie’s earlier suspi was firmed: she had been close to a level-up.

  ***

  [Mining - Lv. 1] progressed to [Mining - Lv. 2]

  [Skill: Risky Excavation] earned.

  ***

  Risky excavation?

  Sub-css skills were rarely anything incredible, but they did help. Pausing to wipe the sweat from her brow, Natalie hefted her pickaxe out of the wall, then leaned against it as she appraised [Risky Excavation].

  ***

  [Risky Excavation] - Css-bearer is granted bonus yield when excavating ore while naked.

  ***

  Natalie stared bnkly at the wall, letting the words wash through her.

  “You’re fug kidding me,” she said.

  Seriously?

  Just, why?

  She looked around the room. The rest of her team was studiously going about clearing the rge space. She looked back to the ore.

  Well.

  Efficy mattered most. But she wasn’t happy about it.

  Cheeks burning, she set her pickaxe aside and started stripping. Halfway through, Ana, who was closest to her, noticed.

  “Natalie?” the dark-haired mage asked curiously. “What … are you doing?”

  “Mining,” Natalie said, shimmying out of her top aing it aside. “What does it look like?” She yanked off her gloves, then unhooked her bra.

  Ana paused, then said. “It looks like yetting naked.”

  “Yeah. Sorry if that’s awkward. Look away, if you want.”

  Ana didn’t, despite Natalie tossing her bra aside. She didn’t look surprised in the slightest, either. Natalie’s skin ti exposing herself, but she didn’t stop peeling off armor and clothes. She was tired of blushing whehe dungeon—or her css—messed with her. Besides, if things tinued in this way, then she suspected everyone would have to get used to each other’s bodies—and perhaps intimately.

  “But why?” Ana asked.

  The rest of the team was looking over now, too. Natalie peeled off her boots, then pants.

  “Got a new skill,” Natalie grunted.

  “For your mining css?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s it do?”

  “When I’m naked, I get more ore.”

  Ana paused.

  “That makes sehe mage said.

  Natalie turned an incredulous look at her. “How? How does that ‘make sense’?”

  “Because of your main css. And, I mean, look at the ore.” She gestured at the pink vein of metal. “Erotite. Clearly, your mining css is going in that dire.”

  “Whatever,” Natalie grumbled. She was gd one of them thought it made sense. “Let me mine in peace, please.” She finally stripped her panties off. She kept her body fag away—her cock hidden. If Ana saw it, so be it. She’d have to learn at some point. That said, she wasn’t trying to pletely fsh her teammates. “’t you see I’m busy?”

  Ana nodded seriously. “Yes, you are. I apologize.” She turned away. She didn’t seem to have noticed what was between Natalie’s legs. She had been keeping firm eye tact as Natalie looked over her shoulder. The mage wasn’t even blushing, a strict professional. The woman was really something.

  “ I watch, at least?” Jordan called out, sounding amused at the situation. Troublesome woman.

  “Shut up,” Natalie said, pig up her pickaxe.

  The effects of [Stylish] coursed through her, embarrassingly making it obvious that her team appreciated her naked body, and Natalie tried to ig.

  She felt extremely exposed, and not out of embarrassment alohough only Jordan was watg her, the rest averting their eyes. Natalie was more literally exposed, too. Lag her armor made her vulnerable, and this was the dungeon. Danger could e from anywhere, even in a seemingly calm room.

  In fact, with a skill name like [Risky Excavation], she wouldn’t be surprised if there was a hidden effeake ambushes more likely. Or maybe it made other delving parties more likely to show up. Who knew what kind of ridiculous things her css would throw at her?

  “You should get an oversized pickaxe,” Ana ented suddenly, an idea apparently popping into her head. “Wouldn’t it work with your new skill? Make you a better miner?”

  Natalie paused, then shared a look with Jordan, who also had raised eyebrows.

  “Huh,” Natalie said. “I’m not sure. The skill says on, not tools, but maybe it would work.”

  “Worth trying out,” Jordan agreed. “Good idea, Ana.”

  Ana nodded, seeming pleased despite her bnk expression, then turned back away. The mage was still hard to read, but Natalie was gettier at it by the day. She thought.

  Natalie added the experiment to her ever-growing list of priorities. An oversized pickaxe. Maybe that was something she could ission from Shara, the bcksmith. For now, though, she was stuck with her regur-sized one. And she had a lot of ore remaining, so she got back to work.