"Ah," Katia said. "Our first safe point. Perfect."

The expedition through the first floor had been, all things considered, a trivial enough task, and thanks in no small part to Katia's sheer competency.

Not that Vella thought she wouldn't have survived without the other girl's aid. She'd seen nothing so far that would have been insurmountable -- though perhaps she wouldn't have made it through the entirety of the floor with only a few bruises to speak of. While no walk in a park, the first floor hadn’t been nearly as threatening as she’d thought it would be.

Vella had been looking forward to reaching the first safe zone regardless, though, and not even for a moment to sit and think in guaranteed safety. 

Rather, for chests.

Loot.

Because with loot came the potential for something crucial.

Fucking clothes.

And not even for herself, was the funny thing. For Katia. So that Vella could finally stop struggling with the herculean task of not ogling the girl.

Because there was so much to ogle.

Vella was cognizant enough of how she acted prior to entering the Tower to know that her behavior was uncharacteristic. She'd always liked both men and women, so thoughts of that nature were nothing unusual, but what definitely was was their intensity and frequency. Even accounting for the fact she was following around one of the most attractive girls she'd ever seen, sex had never been something that was constantly on her mind.

Which meant the thing she'd grown between her legs wasn't just for cosmetics: it had changed how she thought, too.

Which was terrifying, but not overly so; it hadn’t changed her fundamentally as a person, she was just …

Well, hornier, to be blunt about it.

She hadn't ever been a person with the highest of sex drives, so it was a bit strange, even uncomfortable -- but not offputting, exactly. It was something she'd need to think about, come to terms with. Later. When her circumstances were a little more secure.

As for the safe room.

Safe rooms were intermediary points of rest between different floors of a Cascade. Recognizing one was easy enough; not only were they always preceded by a notable descent, they were also the only location to find chests: spawning points for mundane and magical items to assist delvers through the Tower.

"We should discuss how to handle the split," Katia said, breaking the brief silence that had fallen over them as they had inspected the room.

"The split?" Vella asked. "I mean … needs first, then down the middle? Isn't that the standard?"

"Mmm. That's assuming we can easily determine everything's value. And that there's no contradicting needs. And that there'll be enough individual items to make an even split possible."

"I think you're overcomplicating it. We'll figure it out as we go."

Katia pursed her lips, but shook her head and decided against arguing. "Shall I, then?" she asked, gesturing at the chest.

"Sure." 

Katia flipped up the iron latches, and the chest creaked opened. She peered inside, then frowned.

"Ah," Katia said. "Weapons."

She pulled out a thin blade of silver metal. Taking a step back, she swished it through the air with a flick of her wrist, jabbed a few times, then twirled it. The casual display of swordsmanship had Vella blinking.

"It's better than a candlestick," Katia said, though her tone suggested only by a narrow margin.

She set it aside, then reached in and withdrew a staff of gnarled wood long enough Vella didn't understand how it had fit in the knee-high chest. Tower shenanigans.

"Yours, clearly," Katia said. "Or at least presumably. Check the stats."

Vella took the staff from Katia and turned her left hand over, exposing the black glass of her interface imprinted into her wrist. She tapped the screen, and it blinked to life.

 

( Class )

( Inventory )

( Party )

 

She tapped 'inventory', then on the subsequent 'store' button. Anything she was holding she could store into the interface, up to a weight limit. Seeing how the only thing in Vella's hands was the staff, only one icon appeared. She tapped on it, and with a quiet pop, the staff in her hands disappeared.

Weird, even having expected it.

She navigated back out of the 'store' menu and into her regular inventory. There, alone and at the top, was an 'Old Staff'.

She tapped to get the details.

 

( Old Staff )

( Lv. 1 )

( 14 ATK )

( +4 Spellpower )

( +4 Clarity )

( Effects: None )

 

More or less what she'd expected from a first floor item drop. Nothing outstanding, or even good, but much better than an improvised weapon, and it provided class-specific stat benefits. 

Katia was still digging through the chest.

"Rations, flasks," she said, placing the items to the side. "Flasks are full, but it might not be water. Careful of that." More digging, and she held up a thin bracelet of metal. "An accessory. Hm. It could be good on either of us, so check." She tossed it Vella's way, and she fumbled the catch, because of the unexpectedness of the throw. Katia quirked an eyebrow at her clumsiness but didn't comment.

Vella repeated the process of storing and identifying the item.

 

( Rusted Bracelet )

( Lv. 1 )

( +2 Speed )

( Effects: None )

 

Ah. Speed was a physical stat, so Katia'd be better served using it than her. She said as much, then tossed it back. Katia slid it onto her wrist and continued shuffling through the chest. 

"Any, um, armor?" Vella asked. Or clothes in general.

"It doesn't appear so." She sounded about as pleased at the fact as Vella did.

Great … more suffering in silence. 

Why did she have to be so hot?

She tried not to pay attention to how Katia was bent over the chest, ass thrusted toward her.

She continued piling items up: two rings, one which gave improved constitution and another that gave clarity, a lantern, more rations, a ratty backpack (talk about redundant), and finally, twelve small crystalline orbs which glowed a faint blue.

Essence. 

The reason delving the Tower could mean riches beyond one's wildest dreams; essence, even the lowest tiers of it, was worth its weight in silver, if you managed to lug it back to the Serenity. She hadn't entered the Tower for fame and power, instead, for these tiny, unassuming crystal orbs. A way to clear Dad’s debts. So long as she didn’t die trying to get back.

They divvied up the loot evenly; each of them stored away six of the twelve blue essence orbs.

That done, and with a squirming in her stomach, Vella decided she best address the elephant in the room. One of the many elephants.

"We should talk," Vella said. "About, um, my class."

Much as she didn’t want to, it needed to be done. It wasn’t something that could be ignored, not as they got deeper into the Cascade. Honestly, it had been foolish even thus far to have plugged her ears and pretended her skills weren’t what they were.

"Ah," Katia said, raising her eyebrows. "Yes. I'd intended to broach the topic myself. I assume there's a reason you lied about not having an enhancement spell." She snorted. "A priestess without an enhancement. Like an invoker without an amplify. Silliness."

Even though she'd been the one to bring it up, Vella still hesitated before continuing.

"Um. It might be hard to believe."

"What would?"

"The, um, skills. You might think I'm lying."

"Lying? It's easily enough proven."

"I -- what?"

"We could party up and have you share your skills. Though I seriously doubt that's necessary. Why would it be hard to believe?"

Huh?

She didn't remember reading anything about that in A Beginner's Guide … but to be fair, it was hardly possible to absorb every single detail in a two-hundred page book. Especially with the way T. Banasiewicz droned on at times. She'd glazed over the section on parties especially, not having thought it'd be relevant.

"That's a thing?"

Katia responded by quirking an eyebrow.

"Okay. Yes. Let's do that, then." It simplified things greatly. Even if the following minutes were bound to be awkward.

Vella tapped back into her interface, this time navigating to the party tab. 

“I’ll form it,” Katia said.

The leader of the party had permissions to adjust how the party functioned, which was undoubtedly why Katia wanted to be the one to make it. Vella didn’t think it worth arguing over; someone had to be the leader, and honestly, a generational was better suited to the task than her. Vella might consider herself competent when held up to a regular person, but she hadn’t been trained since birth in all matters related to delving.

A notification popped up on the screen:

 

( Party Invitation: (Katia Amador) )

( {Accept} / {Reject} )

 

‘Amador’? It vaguely rang a bell … but maybe it was just her imagination, because try as she might, she couldn’t actually place it.

She tapped {Accept}.

A box popped up at the top of the party screen, reading:

 

( Katia A. / Lv. 1 / Duelist )

 

And beneath, another box:

 

( Vella V. / Lv. 1 / Priestess )

 

“How do I, um, share skills?” Vella asked.

“Click yourself.”

She did so; a new screen popped up, this one with a variety of options available. It was the most information-dense screen she’d ran into so far, the interface having been thus far spartan in its design.

She found the option labeled ‘Allow party members access to skills’ and tapped it.

“Perfect,” Katia said. “Let’s see …”

Vella winced in anticipation.

Her reaction was, more or less, what Vella had expected. 

"What," she said flatly, any previous good humor – of which there had already been little – in her voice vanishing. In the first break from her cool and assured demeanor Vella had seen, Katia stuttered, "That is … d-downright absurd." She glanced up from her interface to give Vella a disgusted look.

"It's not like I chose it,” she protested.

"Class and skills are reflections of self.”

"Only usually!" Which was a poor defense even to her ears, which frustrated her immensely, seeing how it was true. "This being one of the unusual cases."

“Is it?” Katia asked. “I didn’t say anything, but don’t think I haven’t caught you staring.”

Vella sputtered. "And? I've seen you staring at me, too!"

Katia's eyes flicked down to Vella’s crotch, her face coloring. "Well, how could I not? It's not exactly an everyday sight, is it?"

"I could say the same thing!" she exclaimed, gesturing at Katia in general.

By the way Katia went from pink to red to crimson, Vella realized she might have been too frank. Katia's gaze slid up and away, apparently no longer capable of meeting Vella's eyes.

"Pervert," she said. 

Vella rubbed her face. "I'm not. I'm just … some girl. I don't know why the Tower gave me this class. Or this, for that matter." She gestured down at herself.

"Don't draw my attention to it," Katia hissed. “What’s wrong with you?”

A silence in which both of them struggled for what to say.

"It's irrelevant," Katia finally said, finding words first. "It's your class. Best accustom yourself."

"Easier said than done, isn’t that?"

Another silence.

"I believe you, for what it's worth," Katia said. "I was … caught off guard. You’ve been chivalrous, considering our circumstances."

Vella didn't respond.

"And it's no time for modesty," Katia continued. "While this … {Empowering Gaze} is,” she wrinkled her nose, “well, perverted, fantasies inside one's own head is hardly some height of depravity. You’re overreacting."

Vella snorted. Rich, seeing how she had just reacted. She asked sarcastically, “So, what, you’d be fine with me using it?” 

Katia’s face had just started to lighten in color, but at Vella's words, reddened again.

"I can hardly control what thoughts others have about me," she said, not quite looking Vella’s way.

Which … what? 

She’d expected a vehement ‘absolutely not’. Instead, that almost sounded like a yes.

It took Vella a second to respond. 

"That's not permission,” she eventually decided on. “And because I'm not a pervert, that's what I'd need." Especially seeing how Katia would know instantly what she’d done; Vella couldn’t exactly use the ability without her knowing. For several reasons.

Katia turned away and crossed her arms. 

"Fine. You want permission? You have it. I'd rather not travel with dead weight, and without your class skills, that's what you'd be.” She stuck her chin in the air. “A real delver is prepared to do whatever needs to be done." Some of the assuredness sagged out of her shoulders. "Just … don’t think anything gross about me.”

“Isn’t that the point?" Vella asked, head spinning.

Another disgusted look. “Just keep it tame.”

How would Katia even know whether it was tame or not? It wasn’t like, if Vella did decide to follow through, she’d be narrating her thoughts out loud.

The silence returned, somehow the awkwardest of the bunch.

“Well?” Katia demanded. “Get on with it.” She gestured down at her naked body. “Fantasize. We have a Cascade to explore, don't we?"