I look around, and despite the great visibility due to the relatively flat nature of the plains we're in right now, I don't see anyone coming. While there are a few structures like the giant rock we're beside, which is easily taller than us and twice as wide, Adam's not looking in that direction. The direction he's looking is to our west and rather clear.

"If we keep moving forward," I say. "We'll probably be able to avoid them unless they're tracking us."

Adam snorts, then continues north.

"That won't help," he tells me. "He's already caught sight of us and is running toward us."

When I look to the west again, I notice a dot in the distance approaching. If they're only a dot to me now, they could be something like a Beastkin. I'd guess another Demihuman (Dragon), but Adam's stated repeatedly that it's extremely rare for his people to leave their lands.

I turn my attention back to Adam, whose tail is flicking in annoyance, violently moving from side to side and smacking the ground. He really doesn't like this person, does he? Just a couple of minutes pass before I realize they're here, and before I can actually see them, they try to tackle Adam.

That goes about as well as trying to lift and move an entire mountain range all at once using a single, normal-sized wheelbarrow.

Adam steps to the side and punches him in the face, growling something low and guttural, but it seems like a separate language than the one he was swearing in before. The guy responds in a cheerful voice, and I examine him as he talks with Adam.

He's another Demihuman (Dragon) about our age, and stands at 5'11". Unlike Adam, his scales and hair are entirely silver, his eyes a rich, dark purple. The new guy is also leaner than Adam, his shoulders a little less broad, his muscles a little less defined.

At the moment, he's also naked and completely erect, showing off an uncut dick that's about 8.2" long and 1.9" thick, which points straight up, the tip of it almost resting against his stomach. The fact that it points straight up like that (and is still straight) is kind of weird to me, but I guess there are different types out there.

His body is also just as smooth and untanned as Adam's is. Are their people naturally resilient to the sun? And naturally smooth as well? I'm lucky in that I'm smooth by nature, but it seems strange for it to be a coincidence that both of the only members of their people I met are.

Considering the guy's high energy, the way his tail is moving excitedly, and his larger dick, I think I understand why Adam's annoyed by him.

If I remember things correctly, Adam told me that dragons – and Demihuman (Dragon)s – with violet eyes or silver scales are rare. Could this guy also being a rarer variant than he is be part of why Adam dislikes him?

Their discussion continues as we walk, and after a few minutes of it, I get a little annoyed of being left out. If Adam dislikes him so much, then I doubt their discussion is actually secret.

I clear my throat, and they both look at me, Adam only turning his head, the other guy turning around and walking backwards.

"Hi," I give a small wave.

"Hi!" The guy grins at me. "You're attractive! Not, like, hot, but I'd totally do you if you wanted me to! Or let you do me, I'm much more into that!"

"Shove off, Caleb," Adam growls. "You don't even know his name yet."

"It's Jamie," I tell Caleb. "Yours is Caleb?"

"Yep!" He answers. "Nice to meet you! Judging by Adam's reaction, you two are a thing?"

"Yeah," I answer.

"What do you think?" He poses for me without breaking his stride.

"I will cut it off," Adam growls.

"You're just jealous I'm bigger," Caleb teases.

"Adam tells me it's rare for your people to leave your homeland," I interrupt before Adam's mood can worsen.

As much as I love seeing Adam teased, Caleb's brand of teasing is probably too much for him. It's better to stop that before it goes too far and they get into an actual fight.

I'm not sure I could run fast enough to avoid the fallout.

"We're on the same quest," Caleb tells me.

"An official, System-based Quest?" I ask.

Adam mentioned those to me while we walked yesterday. They're on the rare side, but they grant major rewards. They're also often extremely difficult and can take someone years, usually requiring them to perform several Class Tier Advancements or even a Rank-Up to complete. Most System-based Quests require doing multiple things as well.

Nearly all are actually issued by the gods.

"Adam hasn't told you?"

"No," Adam glares at him. "It's not his business."

"Wouldn't it be mine if I end up joining you for it?" I ask. "Isn't that part of why you wanted to see if we got along and could work together as a team? Not just because you're attracted to me?"

"Well," Adam's cheeks flush a little. "I was planning on telling you in the future. Once you were stronger and we'd gotten to know each other a bit more. If, after a couple of months or years or however long it takes for me to start to be ready to finish this, then I was going to tell you. Because by that point, we'd know for sure. I didn't want to put the burden on you sooner."

That makes a little bit of sense. We've known each other for less than a week, and it's possible that our friendship and relationship will change in the future. What if a week from now, we realize we can't stand each other? If the first part of his quest just requires getting stronger, then there's no reason to tell me anything else about it beyond that he needs stronger allies.

"Well, then," Caleb says. "Out of respect for Adam's wishes-" Adam snorts. "-I'll only tell you part of it, nothing more sensitive. We're both trying to become Triple Rankers. And no, it's not a System Quest."

"It's bad luck we met you while on our trip," Adam says. "Are you heading to the village for the Dungeon, too?"

"What village?" Caleb asks.

"We're heading to a village in the isolated Beastkin territory near those mountains," Adam points north. "To do a Dungeon that I found out is in one of them."

"Oh!" Caleb turns around. "No, I didn't know about those villages. I was heading to a town with a rat-themed Dungeon. I think it was called the Dungeon of the Rat God?"

He is way off-course to be traveling there, especially since it's to our west and he came from the west.

"You're northeast of where you need to be," I tell him.

"Yup!" Caleb grins at me. "I was heading in the right direction, but last night, I received a sign from the dragon gods!"

"A vision?"

"Nope!" He answers. "A sign!"

"It was probably you reading too much into nothing," Adam tells him.

Judging by the tone Adam used, I'm going to assume that something happened in the past with a 'sign' that was nothing and ended up annoying Adam. That, or it's a regular occurrence for Caleb to take things as being signs.

"I mean, my campfire suddenly taking on the shape of a dragon facing this direction is really hard not to read into. Like, the sticks and coals themselves rearranged themselves to take on the form of a burning dragon that was facing in this direction."

"Your fire did what?" I ask.

"The dragon gods sometimes send signs rather than visions," Adam explains. "Though they're usually rarer. The vision I received which was actually to bring me to you was a vision of a large rat in armor. It set me on the path to visiting that Dungeon, but then I ran into you and after finding out about you having just arrived moments before I got there and your Special Trait, I knew that was the real purpose of the vision."

"Visions don't always tell us what they're actually for," Caleb tells me. "And often put us on the path to doing one thing, only for us to find out it was to get us in the right place and the right time. What's the Special Trait he's referring to? And I take it to mean you're an otherworlder?"

"Yeah," I answer as Adam gives me a nod to tell me it's okay. "It's [Unlimited Potential]."

"Nice!" Caleb nods. "I met a gal who had that a few weeks ago. She said she'd consider joining me on my quest, and was much relieved after I reassured her I was gay and not into women. I think she thought I was just wanting to have her as my girlfriend or something until then. Me checking out a hot guy's ass pretty blatantly before making that assurance probably helped."

I snort as Adam doesn't react in a way I can see. He's facing forward, though, so he might have rolled his eyes without me seeing.

"She didn't travel with you?" I ask.

"She said she'd consider it," Caleb tells me. "She's going to get stronger and do her own stuff first. Then when we meet again when I'm ready to go to the next part of it, she'll think about if she wants to do it or not. If I tell her what the actual quest is beyond just wanting to form a powerful party."

"You didn't tell her?" Adam asks. "And you're poking at me for not telling Jamie?"

"Hey!" Caleb exclaims. "The difference is that I only invited her to join me, I didn't actually bring her along! I did tell her that part of it involves trying to get further into a World Dungeon than anyone ever has since ancient times."

"That's a you thing," Adam says, and I can practically hear the eye-roll. "I wasn't planning on that."

"Is there something special about going deep into a World Dungeon?"

"More opportunities to fight things that give good Experience at higher Tiers and Ranks," Adam answers. "Rare resources. A possibility for a lucky event. If you complete a Zone in a World Dungeon that no one ever has before, then you also get a bunch of other rewards and bonus Experience. Doing it would actually be massively beneficial to us in our quest, but it won't really be the best of things."

Before I can ask for clarification on several of those things, a notice appears in my vision.

The dragon gods have deemed you worthy of a System Quest… The Dragon's Bane Guild Rank: 9 The clans of [Demihuman (Dragon)]s and other similar species were peaceful, rarely taking on Classes outside of Jobs, even if they were trained in the ways of combat. As a result, the majority of them weren't able to fight against the five Quintuple Rankers, resulting in the mass-slaughter of many of the outer clans and the dragons which came to protect them. Now, the majority of their people have holed up further into their territory, protected by the more powerful dragons within. Some of the survivors, however, have set off on a journey to become stronger and find other powerful people who will help them in their quest. When the time is right, they will strike, destroying the Dragon's Bane Guild in its entirety. Completion Requirement: Assist those undertaking this quest in destroying the Dragon's Bane Guild down to its last member. Reward: Rank 9 Accept Decline

"Everything alright?" Adam asks, causing me to realize I'd stopped walking while reading through that rather lengthy description.

He's only mentioned a couple of members of his family have died, but I do remember at least one of them was a recent death. This System Quest explains why he doesn't want to talk about his family or home very much. Adam only set off on his quest a few months ago, which means it probably happened then.

The deaths of family and friends and others must still be fresh in his mind. Is Caleb from one of the affected clans? Or was his clan unaffected by it, but he set off to seek vengeance as well? They definitely seem like they knew each other from before and I don't know how big their peoples' territory is. It's possible it could be either.

Now I know why he only recently took on a Class, too.

"How many people are on your quest?" I shift the message to the side, neither accepting nor declining yet. "The one you won't tell me anything about?"

"I know of about fifty," Adam gives Caleb a questioning look.

"Same," Caleb says. "Probably all the same folk as you."

Fifty Demihuman (Dragon)s on this quest… damn. Though maybe they aren't all that particular species, considering some of the phrasing in the quest.

"Are they all Demihuman (Dragon)s?" I ask.

"No," Adam answers. "There are some Draconic Humans, too. Not many."

"What's the difference?" I ask.

"They have the same strengths and everything as us," Adam answers. "But their [Draconic Human] Trait is a lesser variant of ours. They look much the same as us, too."

"And don't ever confuse them for a Drakenval!" Caleb grins. "Though it's kind of hard to! Those have the scale strips going all the way down to their hands and feet, they have dragon horns, and they have wings!"

"Their Special Trait for being one," Adam adds. "Is a superior version of our species Special Trait. However, their people are much, much rarer. There are three of them going on this quest that I know."

"What do you guys get from the Special Trait?" I ask, and a moment later, I get a notification that Caleb wants to share it with me.

I allow the message to go through, then read it.

Demihuman (Dragon): One who is descended of humans and dragons, with great power held within. -10% Leveling Experience, +25% to all bestial-, enhancement-, and fire-based Skill Experience. +10 Strength, Constitution, Mind, Magic, Affinity, Aging, Soul each Tier Advancement. +50 Strength, Constitution, Mind, Magic, Affinity, Aging, Soul each Rank-Up.

"Jeez," I say. "That bonus is fucking insane."

"Yep!" Caleb grins. "It's a good thing our people are generally the sort to not go to war, right? If we wanted to, we could probably conquer the world."

The Dragon's Bane Guild really got themselves in over their heads. Regardless of how high their Ranks are and how good their Classes are, I doubt anyone going to them will be less than a Double-Ranker. Hell, a fair few might be Triple-Rankers at that point. Their bonus just from their species will ensure they're superior to Quintuple-Rankers.

The species bonus alone will give them more Strength and Constitution from their Tier-Ups and Rank-Up for their first Class than a human knight would receive from their Classes and Tier-Ups and Rank-Up for that one Class. How could someone else compare to that? Especially if they do it several times?

Especially if there are fifty of them?

The guild stands no chance once the actual attack happens. Of that, I'm sure.

"It's good your people are peaceful then," most of the time. "Can we go back to System Quests? You guys didn't actually tell me much about them."

"Oh, right!" Caleb grins.

"Hush," Adam tells him, and we begin walking again. "As I mentioned, they're generally issued by a god, though they can be issued by more than one. It'll list all of them when so."

Does that mean the entire pantheon of dragon gods issued this to me?

"You can accept or decline it at any time until it's too late to actually do it," he continues. "And if you decline it or disable it, you'll be able to accept it in the future as well. As mentioned before, they generally give a single task, but doing that task almost always takes doing quite a bit of other things."

"The rewards," Caleb interrupts. "Are phenomenal. They almost always include a flat amount to every Attribute, Attribute Points you can allocate, and more. The higher-rarity ones even reward Special Traits. Extremely rare and valuable resources are often given as well, and some even grant rare Skills or Special Classes."

"At Rarity 5 or higher," Adam tells me. "The Experience bonus is pretty much guaranteed to bring you to Level 25 in all of your Classes. The gods don't mess around with giving people what they're due, and they don't count 'everything you got along the way' as a reward."

So the gods aren't assholes in that way. That's good to hear.

"Can you explain the Rarities?" I ask.

"Quests have a Rarity scale," Adam tells me. "Rarity 1 is the easiest and Rarity 9 is the most difficult. The reason they're ranked by rarity is because of how rare they are, but that also tells you how difficult one would be. Rank 1 could be something like founding a kingdom or pushing back a demonic invasion. The specific details could mean it takes decades to do everything needed to accomplish this, and there's almost always conditions and other issues involved. Actually doing the quest for the kingdom might involve something like uniting a dozen warring regions together while simultaneously dealing with a heavy demon presence. You'd have to get stronger, build relations, unite warring regions, constantly battle demons, and so on."

The one I received is Rarity 9…

"Those are the most common," Adam continues. "But they're still rare. Maybe one in ten million people ever receive a System Quest and they're almost always Rarity 1."

"Most at Rarity 7 or above," Caleb tells me. "Are people who were brought here by that god that brings people here. It's theorized that in those cases, they were actually selected for the Quest."

Which I definitely was.

"Quest Rarities," Adam says. "Are also partially dependent on the person receiving them and how feasible it is for them. For Caleb and me, our quest would probably be Rarity 6 or 7. For someone like you? Rarity 9. Though it could also probably be considered impossible to some degree without a bonus like what you have."

"I see," I say. "So do you not know what the reward is before you complete it?"

"You usually do!" Caleb answers. "But if the reward is too big to list, or it's possible you'll actually get some of the stuff planned, the gods will just put the rarity of the reward in instead, so that they can adjust it when needed so that it's still a reward worthy of the Quest!"

Both of them turn and face me at the same time, realization on their faces.

"The sudden interest in both of those things," Adam says. "You just got a System Quest to help us with ours, didn't you? And it's reward is a Rarity?"

"Yeah," I accept the Quest. "And it says the dragon gods deemed me worthy of it, which is basically confirmation I was picked specifically to help you on the quest. Not that I'm complaining, he could have put me with a straight member of your species. Or a woman."

Then the dragon gods sent another gay (or at least not-straight) one to us. This Quest is already off to a promising start.