“What is he doihough?” A deep, yet feminine, voice echoed in Shiloh’s ears.

  “I don’t know.” Another voice, light and melodic, responded. “It looks like he was captured.”

  “Captured?” The deep voice asked. “When has the dungeon ever captured someone?”

  “There are many intricacies of the duhat have not yet been explored.” A third woman stated matter-of-factly. “There are no records of anyone being captured before, but there’s always a first time for everything.”

  Shiloh cracked his eyes open and blearily looked around. He was lying on the floor of a metal cage rge enough to stand in, which was swinging bad forth, suspended from the ceiling by a thick . There seemed to be a rge pit that he was dangling over. He gathered his legs underh himself to stand up, and heard the voices collectively gasp.

  “He’s awake!” the melodic voice said as Shiloh rose to his feet.

  He turned around and saw the women who had been discussing his capture standing on the side of the pit that he was suspended over. They were easily three of the most geous figures he had ever personally seen, outpaced only by the literal goddess of sex. Each of them held their beauty in a unique way, but they were all incredibly beautiful and would have put most pinup models oh to shame.

  The melodic voice certainly had to belong to the tallest one in the middle, who was garbed iher clothing and armor; she had a grace to her movements and a delicacy to her build that suggested she was some sort of elf or fairy. Sure enough, when she looked at the woman on the right, he saw that she had pointed ears. She wasn't as curvy as her panions, but her lithe form perfectly showed off her long, shapely legs. Her hair was the same luxurious honey color Aphrodite's had been, and it framed her por white face perfectly. Her eyes were an emerald green and had cat-like pupils. They, along with her sharp nose and pointed , gave her an angur, exotic appearance.

  “Do you think he speaks Imperial?” The elf woman asked, firming that she was, in fact, the source of the melodic voice.

  “Hey, you!” The woman on the right called out, revealing herself to be the deep voice. She was shorter than the elf, though certainly as tall as Shiloh himself. She had broad shoulders and deeply tanned skin. Her dark hair was tied ba a braid with little pieces of carved wood woven in here and there. Her clothes were exactly what Shiloh would have expected a barbarian woman to wear in a video game bae; they were made of some kind of animal hides, and covered little more than the swell of her breasts and the upper half of her ass. Shiloh had to work hard to pull his eyes away from all the exposed skin she was showing off, and finally noticed she was holding a rge, two-headed axe in her hands.

  The st woman was the shortest, and likely at least a foot and a half shorter than Shiloh. She roportional to her height, however. Uhose affected by dwarfism oh, this woman was exactly as proportional as a human, just smaller. She wsses, and her white hair was tied up in a bun. She, like the elf, had skin the color of por, only slightly less white than her hair. Her blue eyes never left Shiloh, examining him with an almost-impolite amount of curiosity. The rest of her figure was hidden by the bulky robes that she wore, which were adorned with all sorts of glyphs that Shiloh didn't reize.

  “He doesn’t appear to uand us.” The smaller woman said, studying Shiloh as if he were a curious animal in the zoo.

  That snapped him out of his observations, and he called back to them. “I’m sorry, I do uand you. I’m just not sure what’s going on here, exactly.”

  All three of them jumped at his sudden respohey all exged nervous gnces with one ahen eyed him again. Finally, the elf oke once more.

  “Do you know how you got in that cage?” She asked tentatively.

  “No.” Shiloh responded holy. “I just woke up in here.” He gestured around himself and realized that he was, in faude. Blushing furiously, his hands shot down to his crotd he found it incredibly difficult to meet their gazes again.

  The warrior woman snickered, and the elf lightly spped her shoulder before addressing him again. “Do you happen to have the key in there with you?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Shiloh responded, looking around and seeing nothing in the cage besides himself.

  “What css are you?” The shortest woman asked.

  “Umm… I don’t know.” Shiloh respohis seemed to be the wrong answer. All three women were suddenly on high alert, and they moved into a battle formation with the warrior woman in the front and the other two behind her.

  “Mimic?” The warrior asked.

  “Possibly.” The elf responded, produg a longbow from seemingly out of nowhere and nog an arrow.

  “Unlikely.” The shortest said, withdrawing a short wand and pointing it in his dire. “A mimic doesn’t have that kind of intelligence. Probably a persona demon, waiting to attack us as soon as we release it.”

  Shiloh threw his hands up and backed away into the back of his cage. “Wait! Wait! I’m human! I’m not a demon or a mimic or anything. I just don’t know how I got here or anything.”

  “Definitely a persona demon.” The mage firmed. “We should probably just leave him here.”

  “No! Don’t leave me, please!” Shiloh said, c himself again. “How I prove I’m human?”

  The elf scoffed. “If you were human, you would know your css. Holy, if we were any deeper than the first floor, this kind of intelligence would be insulting, even for a demon. You’d think they’d at least be able to e up with a css.”

  “Hey!” Shiloh said indignantly, but he was ignored.

  “What if he really is human?” The warrior asked.

  “How could he possibly be human and not know his own css?” The elf scoffed again.

  “It could be a memory charm.” The mage offered. That seemed to cool their bloodlust for a moment.

  “It could just as easily be a trap.” The elf insisted.

  “Most likely is a trap.” The warrior said. “Nobody has ever been captured by the dungeon before.”

  “How I prove I’m not a demon?” Shiloh asked again, desperation blooming into panic within him. If these wome him here, there was no telling how long he might be waiting for another party to happen upon him.

  The three of them looked at each ain, their ons l. The warri him ohen pulled her teammates further away so they could talk without being overheard. They whispered furiously for several minutes before returning to the edge of the pit to speak with Shiloh again.

  “Alright, you say you’re not a demon?” The warrior asked aggressively.

  “No, I’m a human!” Shiloh insisted.

  “We’re going to have to test it with this.” The elf said, withdrawing an arrow from her quiver and holding it up. “It’s tipped with silver. If you are a demon, you won’t be able to touch it without suffering unbearable agony.”

  “O-okay.” Shiloh said, the ten-foot gap between his cage and the side of the pit. “Are you just going to toss it to me, or…?”

  “Yes.” The elf replied calmly as she began tying a length of string to the arrow. When it was secured, she spun the arrow around like a sso before ung it at the cage. It cttered off the bars and fell into the pit before she reeled it ba. It took a few more attempts, but eventually the arrow slipped through the bars and nded on the floor of the cage.

  Shiloh bent dolucked the arrow from the floor, clearly showing it to the women on the edge of the pit befripping the head between his thumb and forefihen running it all over his arms and chest.

  “See?” He called back. “Not a demon. Just a fused human who doesn’t know his css.”

  “Well what does the system say it is?” The warrior asked.

  Shiloh, the elf, and the mage all looked at her dumbfouhe mage recovered first and said, “Ara, that is an excellent question! Why didn’t I think of that?” She turo look at Shiloh. “What does the system say?”

  “Umm… I don’t know.” Shiloh admitted. “How do you look at it?”

  All three women goggled at him at this question. Their mouths hung open, and Shiloh got distinctly unfortable, slowly c himself with his hands again. Finally, the elf closed her mouth and turo the mage.

  “That has got to be a memory charm, right?”

  “Most definitely.” The mage murmured in agreement. “But one powerful enough to make you fet the system? It’s unheard of.”

  “Just focus on the inner light.” Ara said, in ao Shiloh’s question. “Close your eyes ahe light at the ter of your being. The system will dispy itself to you.”

  Shiloh did as he was told. He settled onto the floor of the cage and held his hands over his knees in a meditative pose he’d picked up from an old girlfriend oh. Fog inward, he slowed his breathing and searched for this “inner light”.

  He found it quite easily. There seemed to be a ntern glowing at the ter of his sciousness, which exploded outward when he pressed into it with his thoughts. He gasped as a s of information blossomed over his vision, still visible even when he opened his eyes.

  “Whoa!” He excimed iement. The three women ughed jovially at his wide smile.

  “You’d think he’d never dohat before!” Ara said, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye.

  “I haven’t!” Shiloh responded.

  “You mean you don’t remember it.” The mage corrected. “Everyone grows up with the system. It’s one of the first things we teach our children.”

  Shiloh didn’t bother to correct her, instead choosing to sort through all the information avaible to him. The tab that had been opened for him was beled “Iory”, and it redictably empty. He focused oab beled “Status Sheet” and was greeted with a table of information.

  Shiloh SuttonCss: NoneHP: 50/50Level: 0MP: 100/100 Strength: 8Ara: 0Finesse: 10Divine: 25Fortitude: 5Resistance: 5Endurance: 7Focus: 10 "It says I don't have a css." Shiloh announced. "It says I'm Level 0."

  More dumbfounded sile this procmation, though it was shorter than st time. The mage broke the silehis time.

  "Bullshit." She said simply.

  "I'm not lying!" Shiloh insisted. " I show you somehow?"

  The three of them looked intensely at each other. The elf spoke softly.

  "Have either of you ever heard of this? Level 0 when he's so far past the age of sele?"

  "Never. Everyone chooses a css when they e of age and your first level is free. How he's even survived without a css long enough to get ihe dungeo alo captured, is beyohe mage replied.

  "Maybe the dungeon stripped him of his css." Ara rumbled. The color drained from the faces of the other two women and the three of them g Shiloh again.

  "Now that's a singurly unpleasant thought." The mage whispered. "Still, he's definitely not a demon and he's going to die if we leave him here." The other two nodded before breaking their huddle and fag Shiloh.

  "We're going to get you out of there." The elf called out. "We o find the key first, though, so you'll have to wait for us to locate it. We'll be back as soon as we ."

  "Wait!" Shiloh called as they turo leave. "Are you sure you find me again?"

  "Positive." The mage replied fidently. "We have mapped this area of the dungeon quite extensively over the st week. We'll be back shortly to che, if not to free you."

  "O-okay." Shiloh said, returning to a sitting position in the cage.

  "Don't worry." The elf reassured him with a beautiful smile. "This is a safe room. Monsters 't get past golden doors." She poi two sets of doors in the walls that Shiloh had not noticed yet. The doors and their frames were both made of solid gold. She smiled again before they filed out of the room, and he was alone.

  This had to be some divine edy of Aphrodite's. She'd literally made him a damsel in distress to a party of three rather attractive women, a him as helpless as a newborn needing to be freed. He looked inward to examihe system some more. Perhaps there was a hint as to how he was to get out of here in there.

  He gnced over the Status Sheet once again before looking at the tabs and fog on "Information", which caused a block of text to appear before his eyes.

  You have arrived on the world of Glitnir as an avatar of Aphrodite. You are a humanwith incredible potential, but you will he help of others to achieve it.Many political forces will seek to trol you but, with allies, none hope to match you for strength. Good luck.

  Well, that romising, if not very helpful at the time being. Shiloh looked up at the tabs again aed "Notifications".

  You have reached the Age of Sele! Please choose a css.Giddy excitement flooded Shiloh's guts as he read the only notificatioed to him. He did have a css! He mentally accepted the notification, and resented with three options.

  Cleric of Aphrodite

  You will el the power of the gods to buff, heal, and protect yourself and your allies. This csswill rely heavily on rituals and non-bat spellsto give your party the edge in any e.

  Harem Master of Aphrodite

  You will subjugate the beauties of this worldwith the alluring powers of the goddess of sexand sensuality. This css will make use of mental spells to bend others to your will.

  Cuckold of Aphrodite

  You will lead others to a treasure you otpossess. Your power to provide ecstasy to yourpanions will be unrivaled in all the world,but it will e at the cost of your own pleasure.Not for the faint of heart.

  What the hell kind of choices are these? Shiloh wondered, half in rage and half in bemusement. There was no way in hell he'd be choosing Cuckold; that kind of torture was something he'd fantasized about, but never wanted for himself. Harem Master was intriguing, but it felt eoo morally-gray. Mind trol was fun to think about and fantasize over, but Shiloh always wao know that his partners were as into it as he erhaps f them to be into it would qualify for some people, but not for him. That left him oion; Cleric of Aphrodite. All in all, it didn't seem like a bad choice, but the other two left him feeling like he didn't have much of a choice at all. Perhaps she meant for it to be like that.

  Shiloh pushed the question of Aphrodite's iions from his mind aed Cleric of Aphrodite. He felt a warmth rush through his whole body from the tips of his hair to the bottoms of his feet. He gasped out loud as the sensation rocketed through him, then rexed as it faded away. He opened his status sheet up again and took a look at it.

  Shiloh SuttonCss: Cleric of AphroditeHP: 50/50Level: 1MP: 100/100 Strength: 8Ara: 0Finesse: 10Divine: 25Fortitude: 5Resistance: 5Endurance: 7Focus: 10 Shiloh smiled, and opehe Notifications tab again.

  Level Up!

  You are now Level 1. Please select a new skill.

  Shiloh accepted this notification as well, and resented with two skills to choose from.

  Emp Pool

  Store a pool of lustful energy whenever engagingin sexual acts. Disperse this energy ter to givean ally a buff to a stat of their choice equal to half your Diviribute. Duration scales with amount of energy stored.

  Cleric's Might

  Gain a bonus tth, Finesse, Fortitude and Endurance equal to 0.1x your Diviribute when you engage in sexual acts. Duration scales with number of partners.

  How in the hell am I going to expin this to them? Shiloh wondered in misery. He'd known that any css dedicated to Aphrodite was going to have something along these lines, but seriously? At Level 1? And it wasn't even coy about it; the w specified that each skill was going to require sexual acts. Maybe they get me out of here without needing to use my skills. Shiloh thought hopefully. They seemed really petent. If they get me out, I at least spend some time getting to know someone before springing this shit on them.

  Shiloh bemoaned his situation some more, refusing to pick either of the lewd skills as the time passed. Had it been an hour yet? Maybe two? When he was on the brink of shouting in hopes of drawing someone else in, he heard footsteps rapidly approag his room again. There was more tha of them, and they seemed to be running quite fast.

  Thud!

  Even suspended above the ground, Shiloh felt the reverberations of some huge monster beyond his sight stomping around in the dungeon. The footsteps seemed to speed up, and he soon heard voices apanying them. The women had returned for him, but it sounded like they brought pany with them.

  Thud!

  The huge stomps were definitely getting closer as well. This was a safe room, though. As long as they could get inside...

  The gold doors they had left through banged open, and the three of them tumbled into the room before Ara smmed the doors shut again. They were panting heavily and their faces were flushed, but the elf proudly held up a key.

  "Let's get you out of there."