Natalie jolted awake to pounding on her door.

"You two better not be fucking!" came a familiar muted growl. "I swear! Being late to class is one thing, but our quest? Absolutely not!"

Immediately, Natalie panicked.

Late?

They'd overslept? To their quest?

Her attention snapped to the clock, and sure enough, they'd either ignored or forgotten to set their alarm the night prior. With how exhausted they'd been, either possibility made sense.

Jordan also jolted awake, head pivoting left and right as she got her bearings. "Oh, shit," she said. "We're not even packed."

"I know you can hear me," Sofia called. "You two can go one morning without slobbering on each other's genitals. It's possible, I promise!"

"We're coming," Natalie called—which was maybe not the ideal phrasing, considering the accusations being leveled at them. "I mean, we woke up late. We'll be out soon!"

For once, Natalie was also panicked by the idea of being late. As Sofia had said, being late to class was, while a poor reflection of them onto Tenet—and could result in disciplinary actions if it happened frequently—ultimately not that big of a deal.

Being late to a quest, though? That reflected poorly on Tenet itself, which was a much bigger deal. Quests were Tenet's means of 'community outreach' and improving the perception of delvers onto Valhaur's populace as a whole.

So missing the train and showing up late to a mission where they needed to be protecting an innocent town from a recent monster scourge? Tenet would come down on them like a hammer. Which wasn't to mention Natalie's own shame at putting people in need further at risk.

Both Natalie and Jordan nearly fell out of bed as they scrambled for the closet and restroom, respectively. In a frenzy, Natalie started slamming clothing and other necessities into a suitcase. They should have taken care of it the night before, but yesterday's dungeon delve had gone off the rails in such a chaotic way.

Sofia let herself in. She gaped at the two of them as they frantically packed and got cleaned up. "You overslept? I thought you were just being yourselves! This is even worse!"

"You can stand there and scold us, or you can help," Jordan shot back.

Shaking her head, Sofia joined in on the frenzy. It was only a two-to-three day quest at most, so if they missed a thing or two it wouldn't be a huge deal—but still.

Adding to the chaos, something else significant had reared its head.

"Also," Natalie said. "I leveled up. Did you two?"

"What?!" Sofia and Jordan exclaimed. "Already?"

"Is that a no?"

"What'd you get?" Jordan asked, peeking out of the restroom, speaking past a mouthful of toothbrush. Her black hair was a wild mess. They would probably have to skip taking a shower this morning, too, so Natalie thought: good luck to her.

"Haven't looked," Natalie grunted. "Don't want to get distracted."

"Keep it that way," Sofia said. "We can figure it out on the train ride."

***

They made it to the train station on time. It was a good thing Sofia hadn't somehow slept in too; that would have been disastrous. As it was, they piled into the cabin and had their tickets checked while panting from exertion, having run the whole way there. Navigating the station itself had been a headache too. Aradon, as the capital of Valhaur, was the central nexus of the nation-spanning train system. The station was nothing like the smaller ones back home.

As a team of Tenet students heading out on a quest, they had a cabin reserved to themselves. Liz and Ana were already posted up inside, leaning back on the soft 'U' shaped bench seats that encircled the miniature room. They'd likely been there for some time yet, having arrived early out of a justified paranoia. Again, Natalie would not have wanted to see what Tenet would've done to them, if they'd been idiotic enough to miss the train's departure.

Collapsing onto their bench seats without even stowing their luggage underneath in their proper spots, the three of them sagged down in relief.

"Something happen?" Liz asked curiously, perking up as they entered. "Cutting it close. Only four minutes left."

"Don't lump me in with these two irresponsible women," Sofia grumbled. "I was ready perfectly on time."

Natalie would normally snipe back at Sofia for that, but in this instance, she'd been their savior. So Natalie let it pass.

"What happened?" Liz asked.

"What do you think happened?" Sofia snorted. "It's these two we're talking about."

Liz paused, then blushed. After a moment, Sofia realized the implication. Especially since that had been her first assumption too, when she'd been pounding on their door.

"We overslept," Natalie said, correcting her. "Forgot to set the alarm, I guess." Or had just slammed it off without realizing. Though that was more of something Natalie would do, not Jordan.

"Ah," Liz said, suggesting she didn't fully buy the excuse. Not that it was an excuse. For once, Natalie hadn't gotten too caught up in having her best friend in her bed—it had been a genuine mishap.

"Anyway," Natalie said. "We made it. Doesn't matter. How's everyone feeling?"

At the question, all five of them rolled their shoulders and stretched their sore muscles.

"Better," Liz said tentatively. "Definitely better."

"But still like I've been run over by a carriage," Sofia said in amusement.

"It's unfortunate we won't be in top condition for the quest," Ana commented. "Though, I suppose it's rated for level twos. It shouldn't be overly difficult."

"Especially with us outpacing normal level twos," Liz said. "Honestly, I think we need to get down to the third floor our next trip. Maybe even the fourth."

Jordan raised her eyebrows at that suggestion, since the fourth floor would definitely be pushing things. "Speaking of," she said. "Our tank here has an announcement."

Natalie coughed. For some reason, she found it an awkward topic to bring up. Maybe because she didn't think she fully deserved having leveled before everyone else. She'd been working her ass off, yes, but so had the rest of the team. To some extent, she'd just been blessed with a ridiculously strong class. It wasn't 'hard work' putting her on such a prodigious pace—at least not wholly.

"Yeah," Natalie said. "I hit level three."

"What?" Liz exclaimed, eyes shooting as wide as Sofia and Jordan's had. For good reason. It was a ridiculous pace, even considering how rapidly they'd been working through the dungeon. After a second, Liz reined her reaction in, then tilted her head. "Huh. I guess it's not that unexpected. Still, level three already? You're probably the first at Tenet."

"Elida was, actually, according to rumors," Ana interjected. "I heard it mentioned."

"Really?"

Ana shrugged. "It may just be a rumor."

The possibility briefly spoiled Liz's excitement, since Elida was obviously her rival—everyone's rival, really, but especially Liz's. But the healer perked up again, facing Natalie.

"So?" she asked. "What'd you get? If you want to share," she quickly corrected. "Just, is there anything that matters to us?"

"Haven't even looked at them myself," Natalie said. "Woke up and had to rush here. Didn't want to get distracted."

"Seriously? I don't think I could've helped myself."

It'd been a bit of a struggle, admittedly. Of course she'd been dying to know what her skills were, especially when all she had to do was take a sneak peek inward. "I just know how crazy they can get," Natalie said dryly. "So I figured it was best to wait." Otherwise she might have passed out on the way over, if it'd been something especially weird.

"Well, you made it. So …?" Liz leaned forward, a reaction that probably wasn't fully intentional, as did Jordan and Sofia, showcasing their interest.

"Let's see," Natalie said.

***

[Divine Invigoration] - ACTIVE. PROGRESSION 1. MAXED. Finish inside a target to provide a week-long massive boost to their main stat. Target can be changed daily.

[Aura of Blessed Advancement] - AURA. PROGRESSION 1. Select up to {4} party members to receive amplified experience gain.

[Smite] - ACTIVE. PROGRESSION 1. Channel for up to {6} seconds to deliver a significant magical attack. Range and potency grows with time spent channeling.

***