5.25 – Upgrades

By the time everyone had showered and settled down for the night, Sofia seemed to have come to her senses. Her pliable attitude—her easy affection—had disappeared. Though now that Natalie knew it existed, that it was there to be coaxed out, she intended to do just that. Frequently.

For now, they reconvened in the living room. Natalie and Jordan got dressed. Sofia, of course, didn't. Her new house rule remained in place. Any time they were alone in their dorm, she was expected to not wear clothes. It was only fitting, for a pet.

There were a number of team matters they needed to discuss, which offered Sofia some distraction for her situation—though a blush persisted on her cheeks as the minutes ticked by, the naked girl shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

To begin with:

"So. You seriously wasted your energy just to make your cock bigger?" Sofia asked. "You compromised your progression because you wanted to, what, show off? You have to be kidding me."

Natalie flushed. Yes, she would admit it had been a hasty decision. One based entirely on lust. But in the moment, she hadn't stood a chance at resisting the idea. She had needed to see that delicate piece of fabric snap off Sofia's neck. There had been nothing else in the world as important.

Natalie searched for a way to defend herself, but Jordan chimed in first.

"And I'm in your debt for it," Jordan said to Sofia, her lips quirking up. "I was wondering how I was going to convince Nat to waste points on that skill, but you did it for me. I owe you."

Sofia gave Jordan an unamused look.

"What?" Jordan asked. "At least I'm being honest. I remember a certain someone enjoying the extra size, too. She's just a prude about admitting it."

Sofia's face heated up at the accusation, and she pointedly turned away from Jordan, facing Natalie instead. "Anyway. What's done is done. Did the upgrade at least come with a practical benefit?"

"The practical benefit," Jordan said, "is us having two more inches of girlcock to get fucked stupid with. How is that not enough for you? Were you hoping for four?"

"Nothing the skill itself says," Natalie said, clearing her throat. Jordan's blatant appreciation of her size was something Natalie, well, appreciated, but it could also be flustering at times, with how blunt she was. Which was obviously her intention.

"So you did waste the points," Sofia said.

"Not a waste," Jordan emphasized.

"It's not entirely worthless, no," Natalie said. "[Carnal Harvest] gives more points based on how much everyone enjoys themselves. And there's at least one person that applies to." She gave Jordan an amused look.

Jordan rolled her eyes. "More than just one," she disagreed, giving a pointed look to Sofia. "But, whatever, I won't belabor the point."

"Hmph," Sofia said. "Then there's one silver lining, at least. Not a completely inefficient use of your points. Still, to just do that in the heat of the moment." She shook her head disapprovingly—and hilariously, not from the abuse she'd endured from having Natalie's cock grow inside her throat, but the 'inefficiency' of the decision.

Jordan snorted, but as she'd said, she didn't keep pressing the point: how obviously Sofia had also, and would be, enjoying Natalie's rash decision. "It's been a bit since you last upgraded," she said, looking at Natalie. "You thinking of anything else?"

Natalie pursed her lips. "What should I go for?" She had her own opinions on the matter, but Jordan's advice rarely led her astray.

"[Harvest] should always take priority, but can you, even?"

"No. Too expensive."

[Carnal Harvest] was at third progression, the highest of any of her abilities. Alongside [Heavy Weaponry], thanks to Natalie's recent stunt. But taking [Carnal Harvest] to fourth would be an enormous investment. Each progression became more and more expensive, and even if she spent all her points, she couldn't afford its next upgrade, right now.

As always, there was an argument to be made for rushing the ability and ignoring all others, but increasing her current strength was just as important. It could save their lives in the dungeon, and if not that, then certainly make Natalie and her party level up faster. Which was as valuable as skill upgrades, seeing how a level-up came with entirely new abilities and across-the-board improvements in her class. So it was a balancing act. Going too deep into any one skill, even one that accelerated her skill progression, might not be ideal.

Jordan hummed. "Then I think it's the same plan as before. [Stylish]. Now that you have fancy new armor, it's an even more obvious choice. It'll be a team-wide buff."

"Especially since she'll be getting even more of that stuff," Sofia grumbled. "It won't be long before we're all running around in that skanky metal."

Jordan paused, then grinned at the imagery. In contrast, Sofia shook her head, exasperated at the idea.

"So [Stylish]?" Natalie asked.

Jordan and Sofia both nodded, though the latter with much more reluctance.

Natalie closed her eyes and funneled the points in. While first in progression, it was a level-two skill—and thus more expensive to upgrade from first to second progression than her level-one skills.

***

[Stylish]: Progression advanced from 1 to 2.

***

***

[Stylish] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Party members receive a {moderate} stat bonus to their primary stat appropriate to how much their gear arouses the class-bearer. Class-bearer receives a {moderate} stat bonus to their primary stat appropriate to how much their gear arouses their teammates.

***

When she was done, the {minor} stat boost had upgraded to {moderate}. She relayed that to Sofia and Jordan, who didn't seem surprised, but were nonetheless appreciative.

"Can probably afford one more upgrade," Natalie said.

"[Bigger is Better]," Jordan suggested instantly. "Honestly, you might not have a choice in the matter."

Natalie blinked. It wasn't the answer she'd expected. [Illusion] or [Empower] seemed more practically suitable.

Jordan gave her an unamused look. "Because ten inches is a lot, Natalie. You were already bruising my cervix every night. What do you think ten inches is going to do to me?"

Sofia made a sort of choking noise, which Jordan spared an amused glance for.

"Which is amazing, don't get me wrong," she continued, "but that's probably because of [Bigger Is Better] helping me out. Now that you're at ten inches, I think you'll be pushing my limits, even with help. At least with how hard you like to go. You'll either have to start being gentler, or upgrade."

Natalie's cheeks colored. Getting to bully Jordan every night and not hold back was the highlight of her day. While being gentle could also be fun, she definitely didn't want to give up on being rougher—especially since Jordan so visibly delighted in the punishment. And Sofia too, from what Natalie had seen earlier.

"Why don't you just test it, first?" Sofia asked. "It's not like you can't find out whether it's too much before you spend the points."

Jordan faced Sofia, then blinked—as if she hadn't considered the idea. Her lips quirked up mischievously, and Sofia hesitated, instantly alert. Even if she didn't recognize why she needed to be, at first.

"You know, that's a great idea, Sofia," Jordan said, standing, then, in a fluid motion, pulling her pajamas and panties down to her ankles and kicking them off, leaving her naked from the waist down. Natalie's heart jumped at the suddenness of Jordan's stripping, and her own pajamas started to swell up in abrupt excitement—her body reacting almost before her brain caught up. "Let's see if that bad boy is too much for me," Jordan said casually. "Thank the heavens we had Sofia here to state the obvious."

"I—I didn't mean now," Sofia choked out. "Tonight! Alone!"

Ignoring her, Jordan climbed onto Natalie's lap. She rested her arms on Natalie's shoulder, leaning in close, green eyes filling her vision. Natalie was immediately overwhelmed—an effect Jordan always had on her. Even before she had realized her disgustingly huge crush on her best friend.

"Just remember to go slow," Jordan murmured, her lips close to Natalie's. "That thing's a monster, now. Like actually. You don't want to break me, do you?"

At Natalie's red-faced lack of a response, Jordan chuckled.

"This is where you say no," she breathed onto Natalie's face. "You can lie, if you need to. I understand." She gave her a quick peck on the lips. "But don't get too excited. We're just testing things, real quick. We're not so inconsiderate to fuck on the living room couch, right in front of Sofia. That'd be rude."

"R-Right."

"So get those pants off. Let's see what I'm dealing with."