Drawing his sword, Rust lunged and stabbed at Manco's chest. Unsheathing his dagger, Manco twisted his body out of the way. His left foot tripped Rust's feet, sending the man sprawling onto the ground.

Manco slammed his knee onto the rogue's back and held a dagger to his neck. His left hand leveled the gun at Lug and Bolt, who were still too stunned to react, and charged a Mana Blast.

"Calm the fuck down!" He commanded, driving the tip of dagger into Rust's neck, drawing some blood. Lug and Bolt did not know what the gun was capable of, but the crackling of electricity surrounding him, plus the fact that Manco just effortlessly subdued Rust, gave them pause.

"If I'd let you attack the Deer, what do you think would have happened?" He questioned: "Are you confident that you'll be able to kill a minor deity with a few dozen crossbow bolts? Without any casualty? Then finish this job as well? And survive their attempt to silence you?"

He paused a few seconds to let the facts sink in, then continued.

"Make no mistake, Rust, I saved your life. Twice, at least. I did it because it benefited me, but you still owe me. Now stop being an idiot or I'll collect that debt right now!"

After a few moments, Rust let out a heavy sigh and surrendered.

"Fine!" he said with resignation, pushing his sword away, "I get it!"

Manco stepped back and Rust stood up, looking lost.

"The Sacred Deer job, were you hired to do it by the same group?"

"I think so. Here," Rust handed over a small notebook. Glancing over the notebook, Manco saw diagrams to assemble the bolt launcher and little else.

"This is it. They told me it was an easy side job. Should have seen it coming." Rust shook his head dejectedly.

"Like I said, you should get as far away from here as possible," he put away the notebook "As for your 'clients', I'll find them and deal with them."

"You would? But why?"

"I want to, that's why," he shrugged: "Now leave before someone else is sent to find these four stooges!"

Rust, Bolt, and Lug gathered in another corner and began discussing in low voices. While he waited, Mahn Li opened his notification screen to see the messages that flashed earlier during their conversation.

〔 Mastery improved: Bluffing. 7 ► 8.25 〕
〔 Mastery improved: Persuasion. 7 ► 9.5 〕

After a few moments, the three nodded and clasped each other's shoulders. Rust turned back to Manco.

"Their cart's right outside. We'll go back to the village for some supplies then make ourselves scarce. You want a lift?"

"No, I'm good," Manco declined. "I rather enjoyed the walk earlier, and I think I'll do it again."

"Suit yourself," Rust said, a little puzzled. Then he held out a hand.

"You are right. I do owe you my life," he reluctantly said, "I hope to have a chance to pay you back someday."

"So do I," Manco said, shaking his hand.

"I'm Ferros. Willard Ferros."

"I'm Manco. Wait, Ferros? As in…"

"Yes. I was born a Ferros," Rust interrupted him: "But I'm no longer part of that family."

"I see…" Manco nodded, "Good luck!"

〔Quest completed: "A Helping Hand."〕
〔XP + 5513 (+215%)〕
〔Reward: Standing improved with Willard Ferros. Attitude Suspicious ► Respect〕
〔Reward (optional) A favor with Willard Ferros. Number of owed favors: 2〕
〔Reward (optional) An additional quest〕

It was done. Manco had changed the path of Willard Ferros. Whether it was a good decision or it would come back to bite him in the ass, he wouldn't know. Still, the attitude change and the favor Willard owed him were somewhat reassuring. One thing was for sure: the game would definitely be a lot more interesting with this guy around.

As the trio left the abandoned temple, Manco returned to the underground passage. The real reward was waiting for him down there.

In the storage room, Manco saw the bags containing the fungi that Bolt and Lug had left behind.
"They're smarter than they look!" he nodded.

Ophiocordyceps was a highly specialized material. Even in the black market, the dealing and distributing of it had an extremely strict hierarchy and procedure. They could only be sold through a chain of supply, from the harvester to several handler, processors, and other middle men before they reached the actual user. During each stage, the seller and buyer only dealt with the person they had met before.

Very few people dared to cut in the middle and attempt to sell upwards. The ones that foolishly tried would often be quickly dealt with, either suspected of being an undercover law enforcer or an outside competitor.

That was were people like him came in. Attempting to sell in a big city was a good way of starting a quest chain that would hopefully alert Rust's employer. However, he would need to find out which city first.

He put the bag away and proceeded to the living quarter.

The three bodies had a few loose coins and some random trash items he did not bother with. The only things of value were several pieces of paper with some recipes to peasant dishes and recreational drugs. Manco recorded them into his crafting recipes.

The plant nursing room had been thoroughly search before, so he only gave it a cursory sweep before moving on.

In the farm, the crypt lice's bodies had de-spawned, as had the puppets' bodies. The only things still lying there were the bodies of Van, Dan, and Trix, the mangled remains of Nicholas, and the mound of flesh that was the puppet master's corpse.

Manco check the corpses of Van, Dan, and Trix first. They all had money and some potion vials. In terms of weapon, Van had a spear, Dan had a bow and an axe while Trix only had a knife. The rest were personal items such as snuff boxes, a deck of cards, and some dice. Trix had a bottle of perfume and a box of makeup.

Van and Dan had two pieces of paper labeled "Instructions" ordering them to kill Rust's group after the harvesting was done, and bring the goods to a place called "Devil's Brook."

〔Quest received: "The Supply Chain"〕 (Rare)
> Type: Discovery. Difficulty: N/A
> Given by: N/A 〈Show details▼〉
> Location(s): Devil's Brook
> Details: There is a chain of supply for Ophiocordyceps in central Betovium. One of the places to deliver the raw material is Devil's Brook. Ignore it, or do something about it.
> Reward:
???

"Bingo!" Manco grinned. This is an open-ended quest, with variable rewards. It could be highly rewarding. However, by the looks of things, this quest involved at least one powerful faction. Supplying a highly illegal alchemical and magical ingredient in central Betovium was no easy feat. He put the quest in the backburner for now. He would have to be much stronger before he should tangle himself in this mess, if he ever decided to do that.

Searching Nicholas' dead body yielded some money, a knife, a vial of paralysis potion and a letter. The words on the letter had faded, but Manco could still make out the main points. Basically, the writer instructed him to kill the three workers and dragged the fourth one to the cave, then complete the complex ritual of union, which involved infecting himself with the fungus, to form the puppet master.

'Hmm... This is weird. The guys on the cart didn't seem to know about the puppet master business. If they did the would never have gone into the cave. So there's one party organizing the harvest, and another ordering Nicholas to make a mess out of things. There's also the attempt on the Sacred Deer. Which of these guys was behind it, or was there a third party?'

Manco tried to arrange the pieces of the puzzle, but came up short. This situation was a lot more complex than he first thought. No other quest had been triggered yet, which meant he was lacking some crucial information.

'Ah, fuck it! I'll think of it later!'

He turned to check the puppet master's corpse.

〔Loot "Puppet Master-Newborn" corpse?〕
▢ Memory crystal fragment: 'Flesh Sculpting'
▢ Memory crystal: 'Puppet Control'
〔►Take All〕〔Cancel〕

He selected "Take All" then inspected the items.

Memory crystals typically contained a spell, skill or technique and occasionally a bit of the world's lore that would lead to a quest or treasure. They were sometimes fragmented and player would need to find several fragments to form a complete memory crystal and acquire the information within. The 'Flesh Sculpting' skill was likely related to creating flesh puppets and might be of interest to summoners or necromancers. The 'Puppet Control' skill allowed the user to control non-living creatures. Both of these items would fetch a decent price on the auction house, which he would have access to once he leveled up to 25 and reached a city.

Lighting a torch, Manco walked into the cave on the northern corner. After crossing the narrow pathway, he found the flayed human skin on the floor. Curious, he touched it.

〔Pick up "(Birthday) Suit of Disguise"?〕
〔►Yes〕〔No〕

〘 (Birthday) Suit of Disguise〙(Rare)
> Type: Misc
> Requirement: Humanoid races or intelligent beast, no heavier than half a ton.
> Description: This grisly looking item had been enchanted with a spell allowing its wearer to disguise as someone else.
> Weight: 0.9 kg
> Durability: 10/10
> Effects:
- Allow user to assume the appearance and scent of a humanoid creature no smaller than half and no larger than twice the user's size. Uses per day: 2. Duration per use: 15 minutes.
- The specific appearance could be changed once per day. The item needs to touch the target to assume its appearance.
- If the wearer is attacked or uses any skills or spells, the suit will be unequipped and put in the inventory.
—.—

"This is gross. But pretty useful." Manco smiled, putting away the suit.

He turned to the section of the cave where the puppet master first occupied. There was a small box-shaped indentation inside the wall, on it stood a small pedestal. It was the Altar of Union.

Puppet masters were a fusion-type boss created by fusing one or more creatures. According to the lore, fusion-type bosses were often created with the Altar of Union. Wherever such a boss showed up, the altar could typically be found in the vicinity. He made a note to try and recall where the other bosses of this type were.

The Altar of Union had several uses, one of which is to upgrade items.

Epoch of Liberty had a varied and extensive equipment upgrade system. Each weapon can have anywhere from 1 to 6 upgrade slots, represented by a star ☆. There are several ways to upgrade items, each vastly different from the next.

- Attachment: The weakest, but cheapest and safest form of upgrade. An example is the 'Lesser Talisman of Hunter.' It was a simple charm made of feathers that can be tied to a bow and magically increase its damage and range. The attachment could be added and removed at will.

- Socketing items like gemstones or runestones: They could be easily slotted onto weapons, but very difficult to remove. Destroying a socketed stone to free the slot was very expensive and risky, and destroying the weapon to save the stone even more so.

- Reforging/ part replacement: New materials are added and permanently bonded with the item, altering its characteristics. Enchantments could also be added by using magical or specially prepared materials for the upgrade. This had to be done by a blacksmith or armorer with proper tools, had a small degree of risk and were more time consuming.

- Ritual/ enchantment: The item is subjected to a complex ritual that corresponded with its history and intended use. For example, a certain sword might gain more power by being used to slay a dragon and submerged in its blood. Most rituals required difficult and dangerous preparations, and each of them only worked on a small selection of equipment.

- Item merging: This method required an Altar of Union. Unlike the ritual to create the boss, the merge was simple, requiring the placement of a main item and a "sacrifice" of the same broad category. For example, only a shield could be sacrificed to upgrade a shield, but a sword can be upgraded by sacrificing a sword, dagger, knife, short sword and other short bladed weapons. The merge took one of the special effects of the sacrificed item (selectable by the owner) along with 20%-50% of one main attribute (randomly chosen) then transferred them to the receiving item. Only items not crafted by players could be sacrificed.

Item merging is the safest and always had a 100% chance of success, which was balanced by large number of drawbacks. The first one was the rarity of the Altars of Union, as well as the bosses guarding them. In addition, the most powerful equipment could only be created by sacrificing other powerful ones, which could otherwise be used to equip more players. Finally, the restriction of transferring only one effect, plus one randomly selected attribute, made it a very costly method.

Mahn Li placed the gun in the receiving slot on the altar. Afterward, opening his inventory, he retrieved Gwyndham's Repeating Crossbow.

'What a shame!' he sighed.