When they reached the Lower Mountain, it was nighttime so they set up a camp. If they were ordinary Questers, they would have someone on watch. But since they weren’t ordinary, all of them went to sleep.

Vyne was so skilled at scaring things away even when he was sleeping, that nothing came to attack them.

That was a joke.

It was more along the lines of the creatures in the Lower Mountain weren’t stupid. Even in this dense forest full of mana, they knew that the trio was dangerous. They weren’t like the other humans that came into their territory. The others would always have one stay away on look out.

But these ones weren’t afraid of being attacked in the night. That was enough to keep the creatures from attacking. Instead, they watched. They watched the strange humans who slept peacefully as if they were within the confines of their safe Capital.

Tear awoke first. Tonight, she had managed to hold herself back from entering Erebus’ makeshift bed. She began to focus, her eyes were wide open, but it was like she wasn’t looking at anything.

Her aura basically disappeared and she emitted a strange glow instead.

Tear was currently transforming magic into useable energy. Even though she was a High Human who had practiced this technique for many years (600 to be exact), she still needed absolute focus. If she messed up, it could stop her from ever being able to use magic ever again.

What she was currently doing involved many small details to create a larger whole. She broke down the mana that flowed in her body and transformed it into energy.

Unlike Vyne and Erebus who did this process naturally, she had to do it manually. When she had first started learning this, as it was a technique passed through her clan, she had vomited blood and became immobile for seven Milon months.

It took her one hundred years to master the skill. It was only shortly after that when she had encountered Erebus after she had lost her way.

Even though she didn’t notice due to the trance-like state she had entered, Vyne and Erebus were both watching her with interested looks.

Despite the fact that they had seen her do this many times, it never ceases to amaze them. They were careful not to disturb her, though.

One time, Lilian had forced Tear to wake up, which caused Tear to start violently coughing up blood and spasming. Erebus, who had never experienced such a thing, felt a strange emotion well up in him as he watched her suffer.

It was a feeling of helplessness.

No matter what they did, they couldn’t help her. She had managed to calm down after a while, but she had fallen asleep for a week.

Tear finally finished the converting and her eyes came back into focus.

“Lord Erebus, Vyne.” She gave them her greetings with a tired smile.

“This seems to be putting more strain on you than usual,” Erebus noticed.

“It’s because I didn’t need to use the skill for a couple weeks. In that short amount of time, my body became weak.” She shook her head. “It drained more energy than it normally does. I’ll be fine within a few moments.”

“I can pour some energy into you,” Vyne offered with a little too much excitement. Without a doubt, he was thinking of using her as an experiment. He didn’t really care if she was suffering, the only reason he didn’t disturb her is because it would bother Lord Erebus.

Ah, what a tragic loss. Tear would have created such lovely research material. Since she was a High Human, she healed faster. Meaning that if he made a little incision here and there it would heal within moments... Would it leave a scar? He wondered if he could ask her to become research material for the betterment of Lord Erebus’ knowledge.

“No,” Erebus and Tear said. They both knew what he was thinking. Erebus more than Tear, as he had been given long lectures from Vyne before on some of his experiments.

Like, did you know that when you force mana into a certain spot of a human’s body, the human doesn’t die 1/10 times. 10% chance! Instead, where you forced the mana into their body the flesh and everything underneath are disintegrated instead. Even though they experience excruciating pain, they’re still alive. How wonderful! The thought of it creates this indescribable feeling of happiness instead of me, Lord Erebus!

Of course, the lecture did not stop there. Vyne even wrote a ten paged book on the subject for his master.

A truly wonderful subordinate.

Yes, Lord Erebus was blessed to have him.

Tear and Erebus were currently taking down the tent they had set up, both of them ignoring Vyne’s incoherent rambling.

“My Lord,” Tear began, “I noticed this last night, but it would seem we’re being watched by the creatures of this forest.”

Erebus shrugged nonchalantly. “They don’t know what we are.”

Tear accepted his bland explanation without any complaint. If her master says it is so, then it must be so.

It was that faulty logic that she followed.

The trio began to head out, Vyne, the efficient servant he was, had bought a map of Milon. It was a map created by Questers who had gone out and explored the area thoroughly. The map included the location of dungeons, labyrinths, and major groupings of monsters.

The map had cost a whopping 100 gold, 300 silver, and 500 copper.

“Here,” Vyne said. They had gone about a quarter of a mile into the Lower Mountain’s forest.

There was a pack of sixteen Thornback wolves, each of them 1-2 meters in length with a muscular body.

“Tear, shoot them down. You’ll do the least amount of damage to their fur,” Erebus commanded.

She nodded, she readied her stance and a glowing, golden bow and arrow appeared in her hand.

She fired of sixteen perfectly aimed mana arrows. Each of them hit their mark on the center of the forehead.

The wolves collapsed after staggering around.

Erebus and Vyne both applauded her aim.

“Let’s skin these then find another pack, the Quest calls for thirty.”

They did so, each of them wearing an expression of boredom. Carefully removing the tough hide from the body without damaging the fur too much. Then, they would clean off the hide and set it by a fire to dry. The process took them roughly an hour or so, mostly because Vyne was used to such things. Flaying, that is.

“This isn’t fun at all,” Erebus said after they finished removing the hide off of every single wolf.

“I apologize, Master.” Vyne frowned. “It would seem that Tier 5 is where the fun begins.”

“Why?” Tear carefully placed the hides into a bag.

“Dungeon exploration.”

Erebus’ eyes lit up. “I’ve never entered a dungeon before.”

Vyne, upon hearing this, took it to be his duty to explain everything to his master. “The Kingdom of Milon is still flourishing because of these dungeons, none of them have ever been completed because of their difficulty level. By the time parties reach a certain level, there are too many casualties for them to continue on.

“People rarely die during these Quest but there are a lot of injuries.”

“I see, I see,” Erebus nodded his head. “Then, let’s be the first to complete a dungeon.”

“Of course! Lord Erebus can easily finish a dungeon.”

“Hahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

Tear, not wanting to be left out, joined in on the laughter, “Hahaha!”

It was an entertaining sight. Each of them were in the same pose, with their feet shoulder-width apart and hands on their hip, head tilted back.

A truly magnificent bond, I think I’m tearing up.

“Let’s continue!” Erebus shouted, once more full of energy.

“Let’s!” his two minions chirped.

Thus, they found another pack of seventeen wolves. Tear easily killed them with her skill, and they began to remove the skin.

When they finished, it was about an hour until the sun would set again. And since they didn’t want to keep the hides over night, they moved much faster than the did the last time. Cutting the already half-day of travel into another half allowed them to arrive as the sky was darkening.

The guards allowed them to enter without asking for ID because they had seen them so many times.

Erebus was basically bouncing down the street. They only needed a couple more Quest and they’d reach Tier 4!

After Tier 4 was Tier 5. Which meant that they could go explore dungeons. He was bursting at the seams with excitement.

You couldn’t blame him for being so giddy, he had been cooped up in his castle for the past three hundred years or so.

Ah, now that he thought about it, that would be happening soon. That put an end to his parade. Another five hundred years had passed so rapidly...

No! He couldn’t let this get him down. Erebus stood up straight again, he would have as much fun as he could before that.

In his opinion, it was a wonderful plan.

I have a question for everyone. Which would you like first: A history on the Dragons or the High Human history?

Please tell me, they're interchangeable in the plotline. You're going to get both either way, but which would you prefer to have first? This arc isn't over yet, though.