The catgirls of Floor 60 felt a tug of magic as players stepped through the entrance.

Athena smiled, sliding the reset button into her pocket before taking a seat behind her desk.

It took a few minutes for the players to reach the shops, and then a few more for them to decide what to do.

One of them, a black woman with bright yellow hair, walked into Athena's shop. She looked around, her eyes quickly landing on the spy.

"Hello," Athena said, smiling blandly. "How may I help you?"

"Is this the last floor?" the player asked.

"Yes."

"Where's the reset button?"

Athena shook her head. "Can't tell you that without payment."

The player nodded curtly. "How much?"

"One birthday cake."

That gave her a pause. She frowned, almost said something, then walked out of the shop.

Athena grinned to herself. The price for the cake was a poison dart potent enough to kill a dragon. The price for a poison dart was 200 red balloons. The price for balloon packs (assorted colors, of course) was 3 gold each.

Which left two catgirls out of the stupid fetch quest. Their job was to trip whoever was holding the cake.

Instead of heading for the diner, the players all came into Athena's shop. A white girl with green hair led them.

The green-haired player walked straight up to the counter, opened her inventory, and pulled out a cake.

"Will this work?" she asked cheerfully.

Athena stared at it for half a second in shock, then shook her head. "No, sorry, this is just a cake."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Oh, right, sure," the player said, pulling a bottle of chocolate syrup out of her inventory.

She pulled the cake closer, focused, and carefully drizzled the words "Happy Birthday" on the cake. Meanwhile, a red-haired player pulled a dozen tiny candles out of her inventory and held them out. The green-haired player stuck them artfully around the cake, then turned it and pushed it back to Athena.

She beamed. "There! Birthday cake! Is it your birthday?"

Athena blinked at it. This was not going to plan. How had she gotten a cake? Full cakes weren't available at the diner.

"Does it work?" the yellow-haired woman asked.

"No," Athena said, losing her indecision. "Sorry, but you need a birthday cake from the diner."

"But they don't have birthday cakes at the diner," the green-haired girl said. "Only chocolate and vanilla. Birthday cake batter is special. And besides, cake is sold by the slice, so we'd have to buy six slices to make a full cake, meaning it wouldn't be as pretty."

"How do you know all that?" Athena demanded.

A white-haired woman spoke up. "She knows a lot about food. Now give us the damn button."

Athena looked at the group, sensing something wrong about them. Slowly, she pulled the button out of her pocket and slid it over.

The yellow-haired woman took it. "Thank you."

There were a few more thanks as they left, going back to the center of the plaza.

Watching them suspiciously, Athena pulled a fork out of her inventory and took a bite of the cake.

It was a really good cake.

The cycle ended. Gold magic washed through the dungeon, sending the players away. The cake stayed. Athena took another bite.

Nyx came out of the diner, running for Athena's shop.

"What happened?" the chef demanded, wrenching the door open. She saw the cake and froze. "What…"

"Try it, it's good," Athena said, taking another bite.

Nyx pulled a fork out of her own inventory and walked over, frowning at the cake. She took a bite, and her eyes widened.

"Told you it was good."

Nyx looked down at it. "No, this is too good. It's perfect. And it isn't straight box mix, either. It has… orange? Maybe lemon?"

"So?" Athena asked. "What does a perfect cake mean?"

"Whoever made it has an insanely high chef level," Nyx said. "And it wasn't bought, or it would come in slices. Are we sure those players weren't secretly catgirls?"

Athena took another bite, watching the other four girls make their way to her shop. "No. We aren't sure of that at all."