"...let's see what other bullshit they gave you."

  Shiloh grinned and pulled up his choice.

  Cleric's Sanity

  Gain +15 Resistance.

  Divine Sight

  You see through Divine illusions.

  "Divine illusions?" Shiloh wondered out loud.

  "Illusions created by people who use Divinity magic." Elnor expined. "To my knowledge, there are no creatures that use Divinity magic, so that would only be useful against actual people who are trying to fool your senses."

  "Divine illusions are pretty rare, as well." Beck added. "Not many gods will approve of deceit like that, so you really only see such spells from followers of trickster gods."

  "The Resistance might be hen." Shiloh mused. "Although the Cleric's Fervor would be good, too."

  "What other skills you choose from previous levels?" Twil asked.

  "The only ohat I think would be any ght now is Cleric's Resolve, which is the ohat keeps me at 1 HP once when I would have dropped to 0. Although I might need Cleric's Receptivity if you try to fit any more of you in my butt at oime." He smirked at Ara, whose eyes had gzed over as she fantasized about it.

  "Cleric's resolve would be a good pick." Elnor said softly. Shiloh smiled at her. He loved how much they wao protect him. He hoped that he'd be able to show them someday just how much he loved them, too.

  The other three agreed, and Shiloh locked it in before dispying the choice.

  Aura of Zeal

  Emit an aura extending sixty feet from you. Alliesin this aura increase their offeats by 50%of your Divinity, rounded up.Cost: 200 Lust per minute

  Divi

  Gain a ritual that allows you to secrate acircur area, 30 feet in diameter. The secratedground shields all i from outside influencesfor 8 hours.

  Cooldown: 16 hours

  "Aura of Zeal." Beck said without a moment of hesitation. "Then pick up Divi as soon as you ."

  "That is a good assessment." Twil agreed. "Aura of Zeal will provide a great amount of utility iing us through this biome, and Divi will be invaluable in our travels."

  Shiloh looked at the other two. They gave him no objes, so he locked in Aura of Zeal and looked at the ones.

  Aura of Prote

  Emit an aura extending sixty feet from you. Alliesin this aura increase their defeats by 50%of your Divinity, rounded up.Cost: 200 Lust per minute

  Cleric's Stability

  Gain +5 Fortitude aance, increased to+10 while emitting an aura.

  "Aura of Prote, right?" Shiloh asked, looking around.

  "I believe so, yes." Twil replied. "Cleric's stability quite frankly doesn't measure up, and the bat auras are still more valuable thaility of Divi."

  "You realize he's going to be buffing all of our stats by nearly fifty fug points with both of those active?" Ara said, looking amazed. "It costs 400 Lust per minute, but I don't mind keeping that up for him."

  Shiloh gri her. "I guess the gods are spreading the love around, huh?" Ara gave him a sideways ghen chuckled.

  "Yeah, I guess they are."

  He locked in his third aura, and his option was the ten stat points to allocate from reag level ten. "What should I put the points into?"

  "Fortitude aance?" Beck offered.

  "That or Divinity." Elnor said.

  "I would say Divinity would be the better choice." Twil's eyes unfocused for a moment as she thought. "Yes, definitely Divinity. It will give all of us a five-point bonus to whichever stats he's buffing and, if those are defeats, he would gain the same be as if he'd put the points into Fortitude aance, plus he'd get five points in Focus and Endurance as well."

  Shiloh looked to Ara, who nodded, and assigned his points before looking at the Level 10 skills.

  sing TouchSpell

  Toue target and remove a poison ordisease from the target.Cost: 50 manaCooldown: 1 minute

  Disciple of Life

  Gain 1 Divinity for every 1,000 HP you restoreto yourself or your allies.

  Nobody spoke for a while when these were dispyed. Even Twil seemed to be having a hard time deg which was objectively better.

  "We have sing stones, right?" Shiloh asked hesitantly.

  "Only three." Elnor informed him. "They're not cheap, either."

  "I should probably take sing Touch then, right?"

  There was no response for a long moment until Twil finally gave her thoughts. "I think sing Touch would be best right now, but Disciple of Life should be take. Infinitely sg skills like that are rare and incredibly powerful. We could even game the system, hag each other to pieces so you heal us."

  "That would be barbaric!" Shiloh excimed, aghast. "I'm not going to make you hurt each other so I get stronger."

  "Even so, you want to start stag it early. The more Divinity you have, the more you heal, which will get you more Divinity faster." Twil responded.

  Shiloh looked around and got nods from the other three, so he locked in "sing Touch" and revealed his choice.

  Mark of Love

  Oarget ally bees your Mark. While theyare your Mark, they will be from your auraskills, no matter how far away they are.Cooldown: 1 day

  Guided by Love

  You instinctively know the dire your alliesare from you.

  "Guided by Love seems a lot like your skill, Beck." Shiloh ented. "Would it be good to double up on them?"

  "Take Disciple of Life." Twil said firmly.

  "Yeah, you o take Disciple of Life, Shy." Ara agreed. "One of the dangers of leveling up is fetting the other skills you wao take but couldn't. Although, between these, I think Mark of Love is the stronger of the two."

  "Good point." Shiloh agreed, and locked in Disciple of Life. "One more to go." He said cheerily.

  "This is so unreal. Six skills in one fu' day." Ara said, shaking her head.

  StunniySpell

  Stun all enemies who see you. The firstattack against a stunned enemy deals double damage.Cost: 100 manaDuration: 2 seds

  Bea of HopeSpell

  All your auras have their range and effects doubled.Cost: 200 manaDuration: 1 minute

  "Bea of Hope." All four of the girls said after they'd read the options.

  "I 't." Shiloh grimaced. "I only have fifteen Focus. I literally don't have the mana to cast that spell."

  "Well, you have several ood options." Twil said after a moment. "Stunniy would give us yet another damage multiplier for Elnor, though you'd have to be visible aypically don't want enemies being able to focus on you. Mark of Love would allow Beck or Ara to be from your auras even if we're hanging pretty far back, and Divi would be a great utility skill to pick up."

  "What do we need right now, though?" Shiloh asked. "Divi is great, I'll give you that, but it doesn't help us if we don't get out of the dungeon."

  "Stunniy." Ara responded firmly. "Mark of Love would be good on an open field but, in this house, we don't have enough room to get out of the range of your auras anyways. It also gives you an escape if something slips by Bed I."

  "She's absolutely right." Beck agreed. "Mark of Love could be a good pickup ter, but it only affects one person and it's pointless if we o group up to protect you. Go with Stunniy. Who knows, maybe a well-timed stun from you could even protect us!"

  "That's an excellent point, Beck." Elnor nodded. "Stunniy is a good emergency measure to keep you safe, but it also be used aggressively if need be."

  "Only ohough." Twil interjected. "Until Shiloh either ups his Focus or unlocks Fuel for the Fire, he will be limited to one cast of Stunniy before he's out of mana. Though, that doesn't mean it's a bad choice. I still say go for it."

  So, with the support of all of his lovers, Shiloh locked in his st skill. He looked around at all of them, a a lot better about his ces of keeping them as safe as they were keeping him. Boosting their defeats by 51 each would make Elnor and Twil as durable as Beck, and it would make Be unstoppable force. Boosting their offensive skills would easily double the entire group's damage.

  "Well, is there anything else we o do?" Shiloh asked, standing up.

  "Just go kick this Kim bitch's teeth in for hurting our Shiloh." Beck said versationally as she also stood. The hed, but it was a grim, determined sound that did n a smile to Shiloh's face. He loved that they were determio take on his enemies, but he wouldn't be able tive himself if he lost one of them while they were fighting against his own ghosts.

  He shook the thoughts from his mind, the party geared up, and Ara led the way to the door. She cracked it open and froze, then ever so slowly closed it again without a sound.

  "Goblins." She said, turning to look at them. "Two at the end of the hall pying dice. Probably more roaming around. I'll bet they're the ones using the barracks downstairs."

  "Where were they yesterday?" Shiloh asked, fused.

  "Who knows?" Ara responded. "They might not have existed yesterday and the barracks were just the dungeon dropping us a clue."

  "What's the pn?" Elnor asked.

  Ara thought for a moment. "If we take these ones out quietly, we might be able to get the drop on the group as well. Elnor, you take the opening shot at the one on the right. Shiloh give his Emp Pool to Beck for her Fihen Beck move in quickly and stun the one on the left so it doesn't raise an arm, and the two of you should be able to finish it off fast."

  Bed Elnor nodded, and Shiloh activated Emp Pool on the foxgirl as she shuffled to the front of the party. She cracked the door open just wide enough for Elnor to aim through the gap, then the elf let the arrow fly. As soon as it ast her, Beck opehe door fully and swiftly closed in oher goblin. The one Elnor shot dropped dead and, by the time his friend noticed what was happening, he was already stunned by Beck's Shield Stun. A quick thrust of her sword made another shot from Elnor unnecessary as the green thing crumpled, dead.

  The rest of their party moved slowly into the hall, and they stacked up in their normal order at the doorway they'd passed the day before. Ara tried to turn the knob, but found it to be locked. She whispered her findings ahem to the doorway bato the sed-story baly. She cracked this door open as silently and slowly as the st one and peeked out before opening the door wider and stepping through.

  They emerged onto the baly without a goblin in sight, and silently crept to the door. Ara again checked first, then closed the door and moved oy ste room." She whispered back to the group before trying the st door on the left side of the baly.

  As soon as she cracked the door open, she shut it again. "Disgusting little fucks." She hissed.

  "What was it?" Shiloh whispered back.

  "The bathroom."

  They moved to the door directly at the top of the staircase they had climbed, and Ara found it to be locked as well.

  "Did anyone check those goblins for keys?" Shiloh asked.

  "Goblins are too stupid to use keys." Beck murmured. "They're barely smart enough to set an ambush. Anything beyond fighting and basieeds, though, is beyond their ken."

  So, their group tinued around the baly, keeping their eyes and ears open for any signs of dahe door they tried turned out to be another kit with a single chef on duty. One well-pced arrow from Elnor took it out of ission. That was when Shiloh suddenly remembered the skill she had acquired.

  "Don't we o... um... coat some arrows?" He asked sheepishly. Elnor turned bright red and shook her head.

  "She took care of that while you were passed out." Ara snickered quietly.

  The door was another empty ste room, and the st one had a hallway identical to the first, except the room at the end wasn't a safe room and there wasn't a door halfway along. They slid into the hallway, closing the door behind them, and made their way to the door. When Ara checked it, they heard loud, raucous shouts and she went stiff as a board before slowly closing it.

  "What was it?" Elnor whispered.

  "The rest of the goblins." Ara responded. "About thirty of them, breeding something in the middle of the room. I couldn't see it. Hopefully it's dead already and they haven't realized it."

  Shiloh paled. "Do they... do that often?"

  "Yeah." Beswered with a grimace. "Goblins have no sense beyond their base instincts and fighting. They haven't got the reasoning ability that it's impossible for them to breed with most species so, when their base instincts tell them it's breeding time, any hole will do."

  "That's revolting." Shiloh shuddered. The others made noises of agreement.

  "Here's what we're gonna do." Ara said, already calg the fight. "Shiloh, give me Emp Pool for my Fortitude so I don't take too much damage. Keep an eye on my health and use the wand if you o. Beck, you block the doorway to keep them off the bae. Twil, give me Domain of os if they start to overwhelm me. Elnor, pick off any that try to use ratacks." They all nodded, and their Berserker kicked down the door.

  The following sixty seds were some of the most disgusting and awe-inspiring moments of Shiloh's life. Ara's rage built tremendously fast with her double-charge rate as long as it was lower than Shiloh's Lust, and she was very quickly cleaving through five or six goblins, who had all been caught with their pants literally down, each time her axe swung. Gore filled the room, and Ara waded through it as she annihited the goblins with her mighty on.

  Shiloh was struck by just how much strohey'd bee sihey'd found him. In only three levels, they'd gone from having a bad enter with a single goblin to Ara killing twenty by herself in a miwil occasionally froze a goblin or two, and Ara took down at least five or six, though her view was hampered by Beck blog the doorway. Beck herself killed two or three which Shiloh was certairying to run rather than attack them.

  When it was all said and done, blood was smeared over ever surface of the room and they finally got a good look at what had held the goblins' attention. In the middle of the room there was the broken, bruised and lifeless body of anoblin. They only khey hadn't killed it from the... fluids... leaking from it, as well as the ck of battle wounds. Namely it was still in one cohesive pied didn't have any arrows stig out of it.

  When they'd taken stock of the room, Twil found a hidden panel in the wall that opeo a small closet. Hanging on the wall was a keyring, which she hao Ara, and sitting on the floor was a rather unassuming chest. Twil kicked the chest, then jumped backwards. Nothing happened.

  "Not a mimic, then." Shiloh joked. Twil g him.

  "Earth has mimics?"

  "Just iories."

  Twil shrugged, then opehe chest. Ihey found a small pile of gold and silver s, as well as an expensive-looking sapphire ring. Twil pocketed it all, and they left the bloodbath behind.

  W backwards across the nding, they reached the door at the top of the stairs and Ara fiddled with the key ring for a minute before making a sound of delight as they heard the lock click. The door swung inwards, and they fou aaircase ihe top of that staircase had another door, this one much rger and more foreboding than any of the previous ones.

  "Boss room." Elnor whispered. "Do we check the rest of the house? There was the door in the safe room's hallway that was also locked."

  "Might be more treasure." Ara said.

  "Might be more enemies." Beck tered.

  "If there are more enemies, we don't want them ing up the stairs after use while we're dealing with the boss." Shiloh murmured. "We should clear it out."

  They moved, with a bit more haste now, back to the hallway on the left side of the baly and slipped inside. Ara found the key for this door much faster, and she gnced inside quickly before shutting it.

  "Rock troll." She hissed. Beck cursed.

  "We already beat a moss troll." Shiloh said. "How much worse a rock troll be?"

  "Rock trolls make moss trolls look like goblins." Beswered. "Much bigger, much stronger, and much more difficult to deal damage to."

  "Not if it's true damage." Elnor smirked. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and . "How do we stack the buffs properly, Ara?"

  "Marksman should be active as long as we get the drop on it. If you crack the door open, Beck, you slip through and use Drop Yuard to close with it before it knows you're there, then you Shield Stun it. If you start lining your shot up when she open the door, Elnor, you'll get the bonus from Unerring Shot before the stun ends. As soon as it is stuwil drop Domain of os on it. The coated arrows won't work, sihey're ued by other skills and spells, so you'll o activate Double Shot to get the true damage.

  "Shield Stuns doubles, Domain of os doubles, Marksman triples, Unerring Shot adds fifty pert, then half of that total is dealt as true damage by the spectral arrow from Double Shot. Shiloh should probably give you Emp Pool as well to get you ara fifty-one Fihat should be enough, I hope. If it doesn't kill the thing, it should at least cripple it."

  "I add Aura of Zeal as well, to give her another fifty-one Finesse." Shiloh offered. "If it's only for one shot, it shouldn't even take twenty mana to turn it on for a couple seds."

  "Great idea, Shy." Ara gri him. "That should definitely be enough to take down big ugly in there. Alright, everyone ready?" They all nodded, and Ara stepped to the side to let Beck at the door. Despite it being her pn, she was not going to be involved unless it went sideways.

  It did not go sideways. Shiloh used Emp Pool on Elnor first. Beck executed perfectly and, o was stunned, it was just a matter of the rest of them activating all the skills necessary. In hindsight, they might have beeimating the rock troll's durability. Or uimating their own power. Either way, the first arrow stu its stony hide while the spectral arrow bsted through it with such force that the eop half of its abdomen, along with its head, were pletely vaporized.

  "Gods damn, El." Ara whispered. "That's some fu' power!" Elnor preened, and they joined Be the room. They looked around, but there was no other hidden cache, and there were no other doors. Just a dead end with a big creature.

  "At least we know he won't be sneaking up on us." Beck muttered as they filed back out and made their way to the boss room.