"Shall I begin?" Sofia asked, tugging out a monster core and holding it up for the team to see.

  She had been the oo lug all the loot out from the treasure chest while Natalie and the others had gone around freeing the prisoners. That meant she had an idea of what was in store, havihe physical objects, even if she hadn't ied the items to see what their effects were—which was the more iing part.

  "Go ahead," Natalie said.

  Sofia smirked, which boded nothing good.

  She stood and pulled the item out from the monster core. It settled into her hands, appearing from nowhere, and Sofia grunted as she struggled to gently lower the enormous on on the ground.

  A hammer.

  And not just a hammer. An even bigger ohan Natalie's current stone on, and this one fed with a metal head, to make it even heavier. Which was why Sofia could barely keep a grip on it.

  But more importantly, it was the hammer's appearahat had Natalie's eyes going wide. The huge bloetal serving as its head—purely blunt with a ft face, a smashing-only on with little peion ability—was made of a faintly pial, nearly white-pink, not at all like vibraite. It had a white shaft striped with red paint, and oher of the heads' faces were rge, dark-red heart symbols.

  It looked … ridiculous.

  Jordan burst out ughing.

  "It's pink with hearts on it," the rogue howled. "And I bet it's good, so Natalie's gonna have to use it."

  "It's not funny," Natalie said, aghast as she took in the appearance of the massive hammer. "People are already looking at me weird. This is … this is too much."

  ***

  Valentine

  Rare

  Lv. 2

  Effects

  - Moderate increase to Furor.

  - Duo. Land successful strikes in quick succession with alternating attack faces ter a stunning effect.

  Description

  An oversized hammer with a head made of light pial. Two dark red hearts adorher attack face. The handle is white with red stripes.

  ***

  Natalie groaned.

  "And it is good." Beyond the natural upgrades of being a level two rare, it gave a moderate furor boost and a stunning effect.

  She had to equip it.

  "I think it's thematic," Ana suggested. "It fits much better with your current armor."

  "It defiies the ensemble together," Sofia agreed, her lips twitg as she appraised the item. "Moderate furor boost, alongside a stunning effect? Quite useful."

  Natalie grunted, unamused by the situation. She didn't take herself extremely seriously, but she was already prang around in bikini armor. A giant light-pink, red-striped, heart-adorned hammer was too much. It looked pin-out garish. It drew the eye in a distinctly not cssy way. Not that Natalie cared about looking cssy, but this was something else.

  Standing and gripping the on, Natalie heaved it up. As expected, it was even heavier than her previous. The heads of the two ons were roughly the same size, though metal was obviously dehan stone. She ha briefly, getting a feel for it. She'd be a bit slower wielding the on, but not by a ton. The extra striking power both from the raised furor and the natural weight of the item would make her even more of a menace.

  "I guess I 't be mad about getting a on upgrade," Natalie grumbled. "Especially a rare with a strong bonus effect. But seriously?"

  "I love it," Jordan said. "It's very you."

  Natalie eyed the woman. Jordan smirked back.

  Natalie held a hand out toward Sofia, who pced the monster core in Natalie's palm. Gripping the smooth metal ball, she sucked the ridiculous hammer into its pocket spad sat back down on the couch.

  "It's not the only o," Sofia added, s up. Her blue eyes turreen ones. "I think Jordan might have gotten something good, too. Though not as iing as Natalie's."

  Emptying the monster core, Sofia pulled out two wicked-looking daggers. Jordan leaned forward, intrigued, since daggers were her key on, and she hadn't found anything good for her primary slot, yet.

  ***

  Nightshade

  Rare

  Lv. 2

  Effects

  - Moderate increase to Prowess.

  - Vile cos. Poisons applied to either bde are moderately more effective.

  Description

  Two curved daggers made of a sickly greeal and smooth bck handles.

  ***

  "Oh, wow," Natalie said. "They're geared tooison. They're literally made for you." She couldn't imagine a more apt item.

  Jordan was likewise impressed. She took the daggers from Sofia. Her css was built to amplify, extend, and otherwise synergize with poisons—it was why she'd taken up herb-colleg as a subcss, so that she could provide apothecaries with her findings and receive ized brews to coat her ons with.

  "We're not even enting that it's another rare?" Liz pointed out. "That's where we're at, these days?"

  Natalie blinked, looking over at the healer. Liz was, of course, right. Normally, a rare would be an astounding find at level two. Easily the best haul of the trip, if not the week or month.

  "Well, it's not an epic, is it?" Natalie said, feigning disi. "Just a rare." She sniffed in disdain.

  Sofia snorted, Jordan gave Natalie an amused look, and Liz shook her head in incredulity.

  "Plus there's the treasure hunter neckce," Ana ented. "So the odds were even more in our favor. I'm curious to see how high the rarities go as we climb in levels—where they're more on for everyooo, much less us."

  Ugh. Yeah. That nearly hurt Natalie's head to think about. Would they be getting something at an even higher rarity than an epic, at level three? What about level ten? her?

  "And one more thing of note," Sofia said, pulling out another monster core. "A ."

  ***

  of the Scapegoat

  Unon

  Lv. 2

  Effects

  - Minor increase to Tenacity.

  - Redirect. Activate to drop all current monster aggression onto a friendly target of choice.

  Description

  A silvery with red jewels encrusting the front.

  ***

  "Oh," Liz said. "That's an iing one. Who would use it best?"

  It didn't take much sideration.

  "Probably Jordan again," Natalie said. "Means she be mgressive, and if things go bad and she draws aggro, she just drop it onto me."

  "That or Sofia," Jordan said mildly, "si does also e with tenacity."

  "It's almost certainly better on you," Sofia disagreed. "A rogue who be as aggressive as she wants, knowing she fall bad dispel the attentiohered? It's phenomenal. I'm surprised it's only unon."

  "Probably a long cooldown," Natalie said. Because if it were a frequent effect, the item would definitely have been a rare. Or found deeper in the dungeon.

  "Probably," Jordan said. "But should I really take both?" She g Liz and Ana, but obviously, her girl protested, despite not having gotten anything for themselves, this haul.

  And Natalie appreciated that. How easy loot distribution was as a process. Some teams, she knew, spent an excruciating amount of time and effort on the process. And every instance would heless result in unhappy individuals. Instead, with their team, everyone focused on who used the items best. They cared for team success as a whole. That was indicative of everyone genuinely intending to stick it out for the long-term.

  Briefly, Natalie wondered what the process would be like on a team like Elida's. She shivered. No, for reasons other than just not wanting to be around that snake herself, Natalie much preferred her current team.

  "And there's a few other odds and ends, like s and such," Sofia said. "Let's gh those, and then we retire for the night."