3.40 – Finishing Up

After several more hours of hunting, they did end up finding a second boss fight, which at their quick pace, hadn’t been a guarantee, though Natalie wouldn’t call it especially fortuitous, either.

The bad news was that, despite upgrades in equipment, their quickly growing exhaustion made the second fight much tougher. Not only that, but the opponent wasn’t a single powerful enemy like the dryad, but three weaker elementals that formed a collective boss: a water elemental, a fire, and a stone one. Natalie could keep the attention of two with some consistency, but not all three, as was certainly the intention of the encounter.

Being weaker to several entities compared to a single strong one was a common weakness of teams, but especially theirs, where Sofia wasn’t the greatest off-tank. Normally, the fighter would be the one to keep the third elemental’s attention, and Sofia did manage to do so, but it wasn’t her area of expertise. Her elusive fighting style meant she was also somewhat easy to ignore, at least for short bursts.

Natalie didn’t know exactly what happened, being occupied with her own encounter with the other two elementals, but when they came out victorious, there were several more serious injuries than the previous fight against the dryad. Ironically, Natalie was the one who’d gotten out in a better condition than most of the rest of her team—though she was still beaten up herself.

The worst injury by far was Sofia’s. Not by virtue of being life-threatening, but rather, the hand she wielded her rapier with had been twisted in a rather gruesome manner. Patched up by Liz, and with her supernatural endurance and recovery speed granted from her class, she’d be fine by tomorrow, but only with a full night’s proper rest. It wouldn’t be wise to continue with their fighter incapacitated in such a way, so their delve had come to an end.

Which wasn’t too big of a problem. They hadn’t had many hours left in them regardless, so nobody was upset. They looted the boss monster chess, receiving another smattering of useful items. Their incredible luck didn’t continue, since they received no rares this time, but receiving several functional uncommons was still more than welcome.

Following that, they delved into the second floor of the dungeon just to take a look. They didn’t take any fights or venture too far; after peeking around the magma-dotted cave system, they exited through the provided portal—portals always spawned near dungeon descents—and returned back to the surface.

It was early evening as they walked back to campus, laden with far more treasure than they’d expected considering their inauspicious beginnings. Natalie even felt a bit smug about it; Elida would certainly have expected their trip to have been outright crippled by her interference, but that wasn’t remotely the case. Sure, they would have done better had the woman not robbed them blind, but by all measures, Natalie and the rest of her team considered their first long delve a success.

After handling their earnings, liquidating the obvious items into credits, then getting cleaned and changed into casual clothes, Natalie and the team had an evening left to themselves. It ought to be enough time to handle a big-ticket item, actually. With their recent earnings, and the timer making the barracks a strict requirement having expired, it was time they used their credits to purchase something essentially all students were desperate for—private dorms.

Natalie, Jordan, and Sofia had already researched the various dorms scattered across the campus and narrowed down their choices. While they hadn’t been able to inspect the actual interiors, which they planned to do today, they’d still been able to decide on their feasible options. Dorms weren’t just one enormous block somewhere on campus; they could choose from several buildings, and each varied in both luxury and positional convenience. Naturally, the three of them didn’t care overmuch for either. They simply wanted out of the barracks.

“We’re really getting a two bedroom?” Sofia asked.

“Why?” Jordan said without missing a beat. “Thinking of making it one? It’d get a little cramped with all of us in one bed, but I guess it’s worth considering.”

Sofia only huffed in reply, seeming exasperated at Jordan’s teasing. Natalie, on her part, only shivered at the nightmare that would be sharing a room with Sofia.

She wondered what Sofia thought of her and Jordan sharing a room. Obviously, they had framed it as a cost-saving measure, but she didn’t think most people would buy that. Did Sofia think she and Jordan had something going on?

As in, not in the sexual way, which they very much did, but romantically. That they were girlfriends.

The idea sent a little thrill through her that was distinctly confusing. Maybe because of how odd the idea was? Her and Jordan, girlfriends? No, they were just best friends with benefits. Jordan wasn’t anything to Natalie besides someone she wanted to spend her life with, and occasionally bring to twitching, moaning climax.

For some reason, those thoughts felt absurd in Natalie’s head, but puzzling over the topic was fortunately cut off by Sofia continuing the conversation.

“Regardless, we might be able to lock a room down tonight. Are we trying to move in if we can?”

“Definitely,” Natalie said. “I’m so tired of those barracks.”

That wasn’t entirely true. The barracks themselves were tolerable. More accurately, she was tired of her and Jordan taking care of their ‘energy gathering sessions’ in public bathrooms. Having her own dorm would solve so many headaches. Not to mention Natalie would be free to stay at other people’s rooms, too. Sammy had mentioned Tenet was strict on freshmen camping out at other people’s dorms when they were supposed to be stuck in the barracks, but getting her own room lifted that restriction.

And, she supposed, she could even bring other girls back. Though with Jordan sharing it, that could be tricky. Still, the reduced rent was worth it. Not to mention getting to have Jordan in her bed every night. The concept of that was bizarrely enticing, and not for the exciting moments, but the simple idea of getting to cuddle up with Jordan each night before bed. Though, she probably wouldn’t want to cuddle? They were just sex best friends. Did those cuddle?

“No disagreements there,” Sofia said. “I wouldn’t mind it so much if it weren’t for the noise. Feels impossible to get an uninterrupted night of sleep.”

Natalie hadn’t had too much of a problem with that, but she understood the sentiment. She guessed Sofia was a lighter sleeper than some. Which might be a problem.

Soon enough, they arrived to the first candidate. The dorm building was a hive of activity, with the weekend’s recent delves meaning freshmen were finally able to afford moving in—which was their group’s situation, too. The building was well staffed for the increased traffic, having undoubtedly been prepared from previous years. Despite the time, approaching the end of normal business hours, they were showing people around and renting out rooms. Tenet was uncaring in some ways, but in this instance, at least, they were willing to accommodate the eager freshmen. Small blessings.

The tour wasn’t especially exciting. Tenet had a strong emphasis on progression that carried over to nearly everything, and so the ‘starter dorms’ weren’t much to write home about, even by Natalie’s low standards, coming from the middle of nowhere.

Which wasn’t to say they were crappy. Just plain. The kitchen was kitted out, which meant they could prepare their own meals if they wanted, though Tenet’s cafeteria was free, and pretty incredible to be honest, so Natalie wasn’t sure how often she’d do so. Having the option was nice, though.

Each of the two bedrooms came with their own attached bathroom, which was another big bonus—having to share one with Sofia would’ve been a nightmare. And a clutter.

The shared living room was compact but more than enough for their needs; it wasn’t like they’d be hanging out there often. Tenet students didn’t have much time to sit around. It would only serve as a space to study.

Everything came pre-furnished, since Tenet students were obviously not in the position to be buying their own and moving it in. It was an option if they so desired, but Natalie had no interest. There was an appeal to customizing the space, but she’d postpone any real efforts for that for when they upgraded to a more permanent space; this was just their small, cramped, but blessedly private starter dorm.

Initial plans had been to check out all three of the choices they’d scouted out as potentials, but after a brief discussion, they came to the consensus they simply didn’t care—this one had everything they needed, and from their preliminary research, had been their top choice to begin with. Not wanting to deal with the chaos of checking out the other buildings under the frenzy of the freshmen rush, and possibly missing their opportunity to move in now, they signed the appropriate paperwork and passed over the initial fees.

The price—in credits, of course—made Natalie wince, regardless that this was one of the cheapest rooms and split three ways, but she reminded herself that her means for earning credits would only grow in the future, and exponentially so. The better gear, higher level, and more efficient delvers they became, the more and more credits that would be pouring into their accounts. While expensive now, rent for this dorm would be nearly inconsequential later on.

And so, those administrative tasks done, the three of them set off back to the barracks. They had moving-in to take care of.