Erebus was not okay.

Erebus was only Tier 4.

He wanted to be Tier 5.

Vyne was currently out ‘gathering more information’ and Tear was out cold. Mostly because Vyne had hit a pressure point in her neck so that she’d leave Erebus alone.

This left Erebus to his thoughts, and what thoughts they were. He remembered his past, but that was a story for another time.

Erebus decided, that he, too, would go outside. He couldn’t let Tear and Vyne do all the information gathering. He was the Leader after all!

With newfound confidence as a Leader, Erebus exited the inn. And was instantly confused.

Erebus, a dragon who had existed basically since this world was created, had no idea how to gather information.

He never had to gather information, it was always brought to him. He scratched his neck.

He was useless.

Nay! Erebus was intelligent. He could figure this business out. He will do this. Erebus patted himself on the back. You got this, he told himself.

Thus, once again, with newfound confidence, Erebus began to walk. Even though he said he was going to gather information, he had no clue what to gather information on.

Perhaps magic? Dungeons? Labyrinths? The other continents?

Ah, he knew what to do. The library. It was the simple, obvious solution. A library would undoubtedly carry the information he wished to get. Erebus, for what it was worth, knew the basic layout of this world.

There were five major continents, ignoring any islands:

The Main Continent was located in the center of all the other continents. It was the largest of the five continents. The Main Continent is where the majority of all the races lived, mostly because the other continents had ferocious monsters lurking around.

Directly beneath the Main Continent, across the sea for about a month or so of journey, was the Lower Continent or the Demon Continent. The Lower Continent was the second-largest compared to the Main Continent and the second most dangerous in comparison to the Dragon Continent.

As the name stated, the Dragon Continent was where the majority of the dragon race lived. It was located west of the Main Continent. The continent itself wasn’t very welcoming to begin with, it was considered to be Hell. It was the only continent that remained the same since the planet’s creation. The sky there was said to be red all day and all night. Erebus didn’t think the continent was very dangerous, being a dragon himself.

There was Tartarus, a small continent located between the Dragon Continent and the Lower Continent. The demon race lived there, similar to the dragons, no one dared disturb them. It was a watered down version of the Dragon Continent, more or less.

Finally, there was the Pure Continent. It was where the angelic race lived, the only race said to be more arrogant than the dragons. The Pure Continent was located northeast of the Main Continent. The angels kept to themselves, only coming out every now and then to attempt to vanquish the demons in Tartarus.

That was the layout of this world, save for a couple small islands too miniscule to be considered continents. By the way, the sea folk had complete dominance over the ocean, which consumed nearly 80% of this world.

Erebus figured that not much had changed since then. From what he heard from Vyne he was pretty solid on the dungeons and labyrinths. So the only thing would be magic? It was constantly changing through the centuries.

The magic Erebus used, was an example of that. Each of the dragons in the Council used [Lost Magic]. It was a magic that only they could use properly, but a few races had tried, it wasn’t as powerful as the originals, but it was still noteworthy. But, those individuals capable of using the magic, died off. Thus making it a [Lost Magic]. This had happened a few thousand years ago, so he wasn’t really concerned about that aspect.

Erebus scratched his head. He didn’t really think enough would have changed within three hundred years for it to be something to study. The Questers that had tried (and failed) to subjugate him, had used magic he was familiar with. There were some variant types, but such a thing was natural.

He sighed. There was nothing for him to gather information on. Vyne and Tear had already got the major things out of the way. Erebus pouted, that was no fun.

“Hey! Erebus!” a familiar booming voice called, Erebus turned to see the manly woman by the name of Heather approaching him. She was with Mur, Luke, and another woman Erebus hadn’t met with.

The group approached him, reeking of alcohol.

“Hello,” he responded with a wave. “Mur, Luke, Heather and...”

“Ern,” the woman with dark green hair answered. She was an elf with a decent face and a kind smile. “I just joined their party for the dungeon they’re exploring in three days.”

“Dungeon?” Erebus perked up.

“Oh no, you have to be Tier 5 if you want to come with us.” Heather shook her head, even though she knew he’d be strong enough to come.

“No problem!” Erebus said. “We’ll get to Tier 5 in three days.”

Mur scoffed, “You’re barely Tier 4.”

A shrug. “It’s possible.”

Mur narrowed his eyes at Erebus. “If you get to Tier 5 in three days, you and your little party can come with us.”

“Is this what they call a bet?” Erebus looked interested. A bet sounded like fun, especially since he would win it.

“Not really,” Heather said. “How about we make it one then!” she laughed and smacked Ern on the back. Ern made a pain expression at this.

“Sure.” Erebus was excited. He had made bets before, but they haven’t been completed yet, seeing as they were rather long-lasting bets.

“All right... if you get to Tier 5 in three days, we’ll let you join in our dungeon exploration. If you don’t, you owe us each 10 gold.”

“10 gold!” Ern cried. “Tier 4 Questers don’t make that much.”

“It’ll be fine,” Luke said. “They’re staying at Riverside Inn.”

“Riverside...” Ern’s eyes widened. “Could it be that you’re rich?”

“I suppose.” Erebus didn’t think that the inn was expensive but apparently it was.

“Haha! He supposes!” Heather laughed.

Mur scoffed once again. “So, at least I know that when I come to cash in the bet, you’ll have the money.”

“I don’t plan on losing,” Erebus said, his face growing serious. Erebus had lost to no one in his entire life. He wouldn’t start now.

If he did lose, Vyne would probably kill Heather and co. for embarrassing his master.

Mur laughed. He clearly thought that Erebus had no change of winning. No matter how skilled Erebus thought he was, he could not reach Tier 5 by himself within a three days. Mur’s reasoning was solid. At least, as solid as a slightly tipsy man could get.

But Erebus was not planning on doing Tier 4 Quest by himself. Mur had overlooked the fact that Erebus could utilize Tear and Vyne to gain Rank 3x faster. And he also didn’t have the knowledge that Erebus, Tear, and Vyne did not have to sleep or eat. They could go Questing for three straight days.

Erebus had already thought of all of this. It was his wisdom of as a dragon coming into play. Mur was underestimating Erebus.

Erebus would reach Tier 5. He now had an even greater motivation: Not losing. To him, Mur was an arrogant child who needed to be put in his place.

Yes, this child had even tried to challenge him. Erebus felt a small bit of anger at Mur. Erebus, despite his laid-back attitude, did not take kindly to being mocked.

He found the most rewarding Tier 4 Quest he could, which required him to slay a gryphon that was terrorizing a small village two hours from the Capital.

Erebus pressed his hand to the bracelet he wore on his wrist. Tear, Vyne.

It was a stone similar to the one he had given Lilian, only this one had a much shorter range and could only be used nine or so times before the magic was completely drained.

Yes, Lord Erebus, both of them responded at the same time.

Within three days we are reaching Tier 5. Start accepting high reward Quest now and head out to do them.

Understood, Lord Erebus.

Like the perfect subordinates they were, they did not question his sudden hurriedness, and accepted their duty.

Erebus left the Guild and headed towards the Quest location. He felt very entertained at the moment, he couldn’t wait to see the child’s face when he realized that he had lost the moment he accepted the bet.

Erebus supposed that this was a strike of luck, they had never been in any hurry to go through the Tiers, so Mur must’ve thought that was as fast as they could go (seeing as it’s already warpspeed compared to the other Questers).

He laughed. Laughed, laughed, and laughed.

What an idiot. Didn’t he think the bet through in the slightest?

“Truly entertaining, absolutely entertaining. Who knew that idiots could be so much fun?”

I'm enjoying writing this story, so I hope you're enjoying reading it. I plan on writing even more chapters today so prepare yourselves. When I start writing, I can't stop until I get exhausted.