The Only Son Amongst The Daughters Of Eros

"Wait? What am I doing here?"

Confused and uncertain, Aeric stood in the midst of the same familiar silver expanse, his boots splashing against the soft ripples of the liquid-like ground.
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He turned to his left and caught a glance of the beautiful sprouting skull tree with its crimson leaves glowing faintly, casting long, dark shadows over the reflective river.

Confusion gnawed at Aeric as he turned slowly, his breath shallow. 'How did I get here?' he thought. 'I didn't penetrate any new woman? I haven't even had sex since the headmistress.'

Frowning, he attempted for the one millionth time to approach the skill tree, but it kept getting farther away from him, the closer he got. He was only curious to see what the tree felt like.

The crimson leaves rustled faintly, their sound like a whispered melody. Aeric felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he stared at the tree, its presence both calming and unnerving.

His voice broke the stillness. "This doesn't make sense," he muttered. "Now that I'm here, how I do I even get out?†/"

He took a tentative step forward, the silver water rippling outward in perfect circles.

Ding! [Target has been reached!]

A notification appeared before him, showing that he had reached and even surpassed the planned target needed for the unlocking of [Project Supreme] the max tier of the [Project] Skill.

[XP Available: 708 XP]

[Skill Points Available: 450 SP]

[Beast Tokens Available: 40 BT]

[Upgrade Project Skill to max tier now? Purchasing Skill Points is not necessary as the max tier is 400 SP!]

"Is this why I'm here?" he asked with a raised brow. "But... wow. All those training, the Beast Battle and the Player X Player win really did grant me a lot of rewards."

He moved along to upgrade to the highest tier of [Project] Skill. But, he was surprised to see that he had already upgraded to the next tier, [Project Genuine].

"Huh?" he looked surprised. 'I'm quite certain that I haven't made any upgrades yet. How did I move to the next tier?'

[Reward!]

[You've unlocked a reward: Double Inseminator!]

[When a Skill is Claimed from a woman after insemination, continuous insemination of the same woman leads to upgrades of the same Skill. Once the Skill is fully upgraded, it leads to Claiming of the woman's sub Skills]

[Congratulations! You've upgraded the Skill you claimed from Lysandra of Twilight!]

[Below is her affection levels for you]

[Affection lvl: 73%]

[Chances of a third insemination: 100%]

Aeric paused. 'This must be that notification I got when I was having sex with her, right after I creampied her!'

He placed a thinking finger on his jaw. "So by cumming inside the same women who I've Claimed their Skills before, I could upgrade the Skills I gained from them?"

He hurried to his list of skills. "This means that apart from [Insight] which I Claimed from Erimyra, I don't have to spend Skill Points in upgrading these Skills. I could just keep inseminating them until they're all maxed out."

"[Heal] Skill... Lady Edna. It's been a while though hasn't it?"

[Affection lvl: 66%]

[Chances of second insemination: 85%]

"I should pay her a visit soon. That way I can unlock Anti Harm before going to fight in Mursbridge."

"[Infuse] Skill." Aeric's eyes dropped in thought. "Alzera. It has five more tiers. Higher than the rest. I'll have to cum inside her many more times than the rest if I want to max the Skill out."

[Affection lvl: 80%]

[Chances of second insemination: 59%]

Aeric frowned. 'Why are the chances that low but her affection is the highest? Is it because she might be a bit worried now she's my trainer? If she gets caught... hmm. But she was offering herself to me in the Crystal Chamber. Or was she just teasing me?'

He sighed. "Whatever. I think the best move now is to spend the Skill Points on the [Insight] Skill since Erimyra is dead.'

[Tier 2: Insight Expand – Extend the reach of possible targets. Cost: 50 Skill Points.]

[Tier 3: Insight Dive – Access memories and hidden emotions. Cost: 150 Skill Points.]

[Tier 4: Insight Manipulation – Influence and alter thoughts. Cost: 300 Skill Points.]

"I'll unlock [Insight Expand] and [Insight Dive]. [Insight Manipulation] looks like a powerful ability that I'm not quite sure I can handle right now."

[Spend Skill Points on Tier 2 and Tier 3 of Insight Skill?]

Aeric chose yes.

Ding!

[You've unlocked two tiers! Insight Expand and Insight Dive]

[Congratulations.]

Aeric wanted a sigh, but then another Ding! came.

[You've ascended to the next rank of achievements]

[You are now a Silver Ranked Player!]

[Your growth is nothing short of awe-inspiring and truly commendable! Attaining the Silver Rank in a week is a true achievement. Well done, Player]

[Suggestion: Spend XP to progress through level tiers to increase your level]

Aeric thought of it for a while. It was a great thing he was Silver Ranked. That would even bring more reverence to his name. But if he could upgrade his level to a Master, that would be even more incredible.

A Silver Ranked Master Player, all attained in one week? Everyone would be flabbergasted, and he'd be even more powerful.

[30 XP to advance to one Tier in the Adept Level]

[Use XP gained to advance through Tiers?]

Aeric accepted.

[Tier 1 Complete]

[Tier 2 Complete]

[Tier 3 Complete]

[Tier 4 Complete]

[Tier 5 Complete]...

[Tier 10 Complete]

[Congratulations! You are now a Master!]

[Your stats have all increased by 3]

[Your Beast Companion's stats have all increased by 1]

[Your Divinity Condensation has increased by 5%]

[You've unlocked a new Skill: Shieldbreak — destroy physical shields, magical shields and abstract shields]

'Now this is what I'm talking about,' Aeric grinned, gazing at the countless rewards on his screen.

'So many useful rewa—'

"Satisfying, isn't it?" A voice suddenly boomed in the Soul River, causing Aeric to jolt and turn around. A sense of unease prickled at the edges of his mind. Who was that?

Then he felt it — a presence. It was faint at first, like a distant hum reverberating through the water, but the stronger it grew with each passing second, the more he recognized it.

Aeric got on his feet, heart pounding.

The Soul River shifted.

The monochrome world seemed to hold its breath as streaks of color bled into the silver. The water below turned a deep, cerulean blue, shimmering like a gemstone, while the sky above blushed with hues of gold and violet.

The crimson tree's leaves burned brighter, their glow almost blinding. And then everything stopped — frozen in a moment of absolute stillness.

Aeric narrowed his eyes. 'Not this again. He's here.'

A shadow began to fall over him, immense and all-encompassing. Aeric looked up, his breath catching in his throat. The sky itself seemed to split apart, and from the heavens descended a face, the massive, radiant, and glorious familiar of royalty. It was him again.

God Eros. His father.

The god's visage filled the horizon, his features impossibly vast yet perfectly clear. His expression was inscrutable, a mix of amusement and curiosity, with one brow arched high.

His piercing eyes, luminous and otherworldly, bore into Aeric with an intensity that made him feel as if every secret he'd ever held was laid bare.

Aeric swallowed hard, but he knew how he had acted smug the last time and made sure to retain the same attitude. "If I knew I was going to be visited by my father, I would have dressed the part."

Eros tilted his head slightly, his massive presence somehow conveying an air of both disdain and interest. But suddenly, the god opened his mouth, wide and stretched, and then...

He began to laugh.