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

  Plopped down on the floor of the room was a huge metal vault rge enough to walk inside, about twelve feet by twelve feet. The key slid into the keyhole, and a rge meism 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 woode sat inside—and not even all that rge of a chest. Natalie's enthusiasm wasn't dampened, because the size of loot hardly affected its value. Besides, some dungeon tainers pyed fast and loose with the ws of spatial tinuity; rge things could fit inside small spaces.

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

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

  "That's a lot of s."

  "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 neckce?"

  Indeed, a hefty payload of Tokens of Eros had been all but expected, but their reward didhere. A vial of purple liquid and a neckce y atop the treasure. Perhaps there were more tris buried ihe s, though Natalie didn't get her hopes up.

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

  ***

  Neckce of Geransformation

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

  ***

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

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

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

  ***

  Potion of Temporary Breast E—

  ***

  Of course. Natalie sighed before iing the item again.

  ***

  Potion of Temporary Breast E

  e in tiny quantities to produce signifit, but temporary ges to the drinker's breast size.

  ***

  Yeah. That would do it. She risked a g her teammates. They were staring at her, a mixture of bnk 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 tri especially. It physically ss a person's gender? Not even an illusion, but truly?" She shook her head in amazement. "Perhaps such a thing is possible with ical means, but if so, I haven't heard of them. Retively straightforward requirement, too; just o wear it. It'll sell incredibly well. We should fight with Te for aion to find a buyer through a private party rather than the Exge."

  "That's possible?"

  Elida shrugged. "It's worth trying. Su item would be wasted through traditional els—unless simir 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 e? As in, it makes your boobs bigger?"

  "So it seems."

  "Why?"

  Such was the question Natalie asked herself stantly, 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 fet excellent price. This is a great haul." She pursed her lips. "Unless, as I said, simir alchemiagical solutions are more on than I assume. Naturally, I'm no expert oopic. 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 khey existed, sihe dungeon spat up all sorts of crazy items, but a potion of breast e specifically? Especially that could be ercially 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 signifit in its ht." She nodded. "Yes, I'm pleased with how this went. Even if we didn't find an Emporium key."

  "Enting so many s will be a problem," Faye said, interjeg for ohe e-haired, serious mage was the least talkative of the party. "You said you earhirty for your assig, Natalie?"

  "Thereabout."

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

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

  "What I ented 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. Vaa's face stayed stony. Whatever walls Natalie had broken down with the rogue had been fully erected again. Her embarrassment, whiatalie knew was there, didn't show in the slightest. Natalie kind of hated that—she missed the more emotive Vaa.

  "The Arena is the slowest active assig for entment," Natalie crified. "The Pace Basement and Coliseum are the real ways to vert s in bulk. And you visit the Bordello in your off time to keep enting, even after you've finished your assig for the cycle." Acacia had also said simply having sex or anything lewd in general would ent tokens, but she would leave that implied. "So thirty s per twelve hours isn't an accurate estimate for our top entment rate."

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

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

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

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

  The chest vanished into the orb.

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

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

  Elida stored away the other two items into monster cores, and however many misgivings Natalie had about the irl, she didn't take her as a thief. Lettiake 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 assigurnover. And we all need some rest."