7.40 – Betting Odds


    Vta was delightfully shaky-legged when they climbed to their feet. More than that, seeing the long strands of white she''d pumped onto the girl''s body made Natalie dizzy—and eager to jump into a round two, even if they no longer had a stake to fulfill. Vta looked down at herself, running a finger up across her stomach to collect a glob.


    "Seriously. You cum <em>way </em>too much."


    "Thank you?"


    "It wasn''t apliment."


    Natalieughed and handed over the vial of cleaning liquid. She''d have poured some out into her own hands andthered the girl up, but she didn''t want to make too many assumptions. Vta seemed to reciprocate her advances—but that didn''t mean she could do whatever she wanted. Moving too fast could put her off.


    Once again, they cleaned themselves up and got dressed. Cataloging their tokens, they discovered ten more coins had been enchanted. Which meant nearly their full collection had been converted. They were making excellent time.


    "I''m—I''m not sure if I''m up for a third series, though," Vta finally mumbled, cheeks coloring.


    Natalie blinked, then worried whether she <em>had </em>gone too fast. Natalie gave her a concerned look, but Vta didn''t seem upset, just wrung out. That hadbeen her first time with another girl, Natalie reminded herself. And she''d pulled out three climaxes in a handful of minutes. Of course she was a little overwhelmed and needed time to cool down.


    "At least, with a stake," Vta rified, clearing her throat and not meeting Natalie''s eyes. "One more run to squeeze out a few more tokens is fine. We''ll bail when it gets too hard."


    And this time, it sounded like she meant it. "Sounds like a n. I think we should check out the Coliseum after. See how long we need to stay to get a token enchanted, passively. To do that, we''d need to keep some in tokens anyway."


    Vta seemed grateful for the pragmatic excuse.


    They headed out into the City, striding through the exit passageway, and Natalie tried not to be too smug about how Vta seemed a little unsteady as she walked. She''d done a number on the girl. They might have to sit down and take a break before their next series.


    They did just that, then proceeded into the Arena for the third time, selecting the lowest stake and having no intention of paying it off. Indeed, when the fights became difficult, they bailed. Their efforts enchanted four more tokens, leaving only three non-enchanted ones.


    As it turned out, not dying in the arena meant she wasn''t given the magical restoration effect, so she was tired and sweaty when they left. Unpleasant as <em>dying </em>was, it dide with its benefits. Another subtle encouragement from the City of Eros to see their tasks through.


    But Vta had gotten her fill, at least for now, and Natalie had meant what she said: she didn''t care about efficiency nearly as much as her teammates beingfortable.


    They left for the Coliseum afterward. The huge structure of white marble, pirs, andyered seating was the second most dominant building in the City, behind only the Pce. The Coliseum was the premier assignment that a city goer might hope for—at least by some perspectives. Apparently, it paid out ludicrous amounts of enchanted tokens, but not only were assignments rare, the assignment itself was … not everyone''s cup of tea. After all, letting loose one''s inhibitions in private was one thing, but fucking in front of an arena''s worth of people? Yeah. Even Natalie was leery of that.


    But not entirely. She''d figure out how she felt about it when the day arrived.


    Like with every other building, there was a reception area to greet them when they strode in. Wide and spacious, though not luxuriously furnished, the area contained two items of interest. The first: the huge schedule framed in the center of the room listing off the ten fights that would be urring this twelve-hour period. One fight per hour, with none scheduled for the first andst blocks.


    Each line included two names, a time, and either a ''CONFIRMED'' or ''DENIED'' written afterward, presumably indicating those individuals who had decided to participate. An arrow indicated which fight was ongoing. Their names read: ''Brooklyn'' and ''Catarina.''


    Two women. Lucky timing. Natalie wouldn''t have wanted to watch the stakes being paid out if men were involved. Though she would have taken a peek out of raw curiosity.


    Along with the massive schedule, there was a desk off to the side with a signbeled ''PLACE BETS HERE.'' Natalie''s eyebrows went up, seeing it.


    "Bets? There''s gambling?"


    "Seems so," Vta said. "Regr tokens, or is it for enchanting?"


    "Let''s find out."


    This most recent automaton receptionist had a darker blue skin tone than most. She was tall, slim, with shoulder-length hair. She greeted them brightly as was the wont of all automatons.


    "Wee, misses. Combat has already begun for this round, but you''re wee to ce bets on any other time slot."


    "Uh—no, thank you. We''re new here. You can bet on the fights?"


    "Yes, ma''am. The odds are listed above." She gestured at the sign situated over her head. Sure enough, one of the pieces of text on each line was a ratio. The one for the current fight read ''1:1.75.'' Apparently Catarina was the favoredbatant.


    "What do you bet? Tokens?"


    "Of either denomination, empowered or not," the automaton said with a nod.


    "Huh." So that was another way to avoid ''stakes'' or simr sexual scenarios and still gain enchanted tokens. But gambling wasn''t exactly reliable. "How are the odds decided? Does the house take a portion of profits?"


    "No, ma''am. All proceeds go entirely to the winners."


    That put them head and shoulders above most gambling organizations. And made it more likely to turn a profit.


    "As for the odds, the City itself decides," the automaton continued. "I can assure you they''re generally urate—but not perfect, since odds are rounded to the nearest clean number."


    Wow. Fascinating. So a clever individual could evaluate whether, for example, the one-point-five odds should actually be one-point-four, and gamble ordingly. There was wiggle room to genuinely make profits with the betting system.


    Still …


    "But how are we supposed to make an informed bet?" Natalie asked. "I don''t know any of these names." She gestured at the list of today''s fighters.


    "On request, we''ll inform you about any given participant''s skill set and preferred fighting style. But it''s up to you to make the final decision, of course."


    Mm. That was as much as she could hope for, she supposed. In regr arena gambling, a person would have a much clearer idea of who the two fighters were going in, at least in high-level matches where the individuals were known quantities. It seemed it would be much more luck-based here, since everyone was a rtive unknown.


    With careful decision-making and prior research, it could be worthwhile, though. But Natalie wasn''t interested. She would earn tokens the normal way.


    "What about match-fixing?" Natalie asked curiously. "What if someone throws a match for their friends?"


    "That would be a pillory offense at a minimum," the automaton said cheerfully. "And earnings wouldn''t be paid out. The City would know, after all."


    Natalie paused, then shivered. It <em>would </em>be rather idiotic to cheat the dungeon when it could read minds. Or something simr to reading minds.


    "Interesting," Natalie said, sparing a nce for Vta, whose eyebrows had also raised. "Thanks for the info." She might have stood around and asked more questions, but the fight was apparently underway, and she didn''t want to miss it. "Through that door to the viewing area, right?" she asked, gesturing toward the most obvious entrance.


    "Quite right, miss."


    She nodded her thanks, then set off for the Coliseum interior.