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

She had been the one to 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, having seen the physical objects, even if she hadn't inspected the items to see what their effects were—which was the more interesting 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 weapon on the ground.

A hammer.

And not just a hammer. An even bigger one than Natalie's current stone weapon, and this one forged 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 appearance that had Natalie's eyes going wide. The huge block of metal serving as its head—purely blunt with a flat face, a smashing-only weapon with little penetration ability—was made of a faintly pink metal, nearly white-pink, not at all like vibrant erotite. It had a white shaft striped with red paint, and on either of the heads' faces were large, dark-red heart symbols.

It looked … ridiculous.

Jordan burst out laughing.

"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 to trigger a stunning effect.

 

Description

An oversized hammer with a head made of light pink metal. Two dark red hearts adorn either 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 definitely ties the ensemble together," Sofia agreed, her lips twitching 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 prancing around in bikini armor. A giant light-pink, red-striped, heart-adorned hammer was too much. It looked plain-out garish. It drew the eye in a distinctly not classy way. Not that Natalie cared about looking classy, but this was something else.

Standing and gripping the weapon, Natalie heaved it up. As expected, it was even heavier than her previous. The heads of the two weapons were roughly the same size, though metal was obviously denser than stone. She handled it briefly, getting a feel for it. She'd be a bit slower wielding the weapon, 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 can't be mad about getting a weapon 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 placed the monster core in Natalie's palm. Gripping the smooth metal ball, she sucked the ridiculous hammer into its pocket space and sat back down on the couch.

"It's not the only weapon we got," Sofia added, sobering up. Her blue eyes turned toward green ones. "I think Jordan might have gotten something good, too. Though not as interesting as Natalie's."

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

***

Nightshade

Rare

Lv. 2

 

Effects

- Moderate increase to Prowess.

- Vile Concoctions. Poisons applied to either blade are moderately more effective.

 

Description

Two curved daggers made of a sickly green metal and smooth black handles.

***

"Oh, wow," Natalie said. "They're geared toward poison. 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 class was built to amplify, extend, and otherwise synergize with poisons—it was why she'd taken up herb-collecting as a subclass, so that she could provide apothecaries with her findings and receive customized brews to coat her weapons with.

"We're not even commenting 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 disinterest. "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 necklace," Ana commented. "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 common for everyone, too, 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? Or higher?

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

***

Crown of the Scapegoat

Uncommon

Lv. 2

 

Effects

- Minor increase to Tenacity.

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

 

Description

A silvery crown with red jewels encrusting the front.

***

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

It didn't take much consideration.

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

"That or Sofia," Jordan said mildly, "since it does also come with tenacity."

"It's almost certainly better on you," Sofia disagreed. "A rogue who can be as aggressive as she wants, knowing she can fall back and dispel the attention she gathered? It's phenomenal. I'm surprised it's only uncommon."

"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 glanced at Liz and Ana, but obviously, neither 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 nonetheless 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 coins and such," Sofia said. "Let's go through those, and then we can retire for the night."