It was a quaint an uneventful day for young Thomas as he stood at the ready for his patron. He had just started this position about 6 months ago and had been ecstatic about it as he had heard how great it was to work for Tiberius Atoll. The previous person who had handled this job had died of old age and had been a long time servant for the master. He had met him on 2 occasions while he had been learning his duties and both times he was incredibly nice and helpful.

Unfortunately the old man had passed on at the ripe old age of 98 and was survived by his even older master. His master would be turning 105 in a few months, an age that is almost unheard of amongst humans. However, even though that was the case, it seemed his master would not be far behind his old servant as his health had recently taken a turn for the worst and he had come down with an illness.

As Thomas was swimming in his own thoughts, his attention was brought to the present by the sound of a small bell. He quickly entered the room and was greeted by a kindly looking old man who was sitting up in his bed and smiling at him as he entered. Thomas brightened up at this sight as it was the first time he had seen the old master sit up in the past 3 days. An aged but gentle voice swept over his ears as Thomas approached.

"Young Thomas, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Just tell me what you need master Atoll."

"Oh please stop with the formalaties, I've already told you to call me Tiberius. I'm just an old man on his deathbed."

"I will try my best master A-...Tiberius."

Smiling wryly at the young man, master Atoll pointed at the dresser on the other side of the room.

"Please look in the bottom drawer of that dresser, there should be a sealed envelope in there. I would like you to deliver it to the head priest. Do not let anyone else take it from you, it is for his eyes only, you understand?"

Looking at the stern way he was dictating this task that was unlike any task he had been given before. He could tell that this must be very important.

"Are you sure master Atoll? It seems important, perhaps there is someone better suited for this?"

"Nonsense! I'm asking you because I trust you the most. Just do as I say and don't think too much about it."

Thomas shut his mouth and nodded. He walked over to the dresser and located the envelope in question that was sealed with the symbol of Crassius. Although he wasn't completely familiar with how it worked, he knew that only the most important of documents would be sealed with the symbol of Crassius like this one was. Not daring to waste any time, he turned and bowed and then headed off to deliver the letter.

After he left, Tiberius Atoll smiled warmly before his face turned serious and he began coughing violently.

***

Gii watched as one of the servant boys exited the residance of Tiberious Atoll, the last surviving member of the Crusader troupe. They were an elite divine order of paladins for the god Crassius that had served the church over 60 years ago during a small scale demon incursion. Tiberius had been their leader and was considered by anyone who knew of his exploits to be a hero.

I checked around and the word is that the old man is sick and not long for the world. This will be perfect, except I don't know when he will kick the bucket.

Gii had learned about this NPC while conducting his research in the forums for the different altars. Some of the players who liked to investigate lore had drudged up his exploits of the past and commented about how awesome it would be to form an order of paladins. It had been a popular thread on the forum, because even though Tiberius Atoll did not seem like he would live live long past the official launch, many speculated him to be the location of a hidden quest of some sort. Gii was inclined to agree with them but at this time he would rather the old man dies than expect any quest from him.

I wonder if I have time to travel to the next altar or if I should wait around here..

The next altar destination that Gii had in mind was actually a long way away and he would have to head very far south west. It was possible he could make it there in time to defile the extra altar and then come back and complete his task here. In the end he decided to stay in the city for a little bit longer before he would head out as his gut was telling him that the old NPC would be dying sooner rather than later.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The main issue now is figuring out a way to break in to the apothecary shop and obtain the potion I need.

The potion he was tasked to find was labeled simply as "mysterious potion", which was not uncommon for a quest only item. While he could certainly drink the potion, his experience told him that would most likely do more harm than good before he could verify the actual use of it. As he would have to wait around in the city anyway, Gii went to the local office for the Sufokia Courier Service and took up a few jobs from them delivering letters and packages around the city.

Even for a low level character like him, these were simple quests to complete and although they only gave small rewards, he was able to gain a little bit of an income. In addition he gained a good bit of experience, enough so that he eventually was met with a notification.

[Level up!]

I've finally reached level 4? As long as I can remain under level 10 before I head to the afterlife I should be fine.

As Gii went around the city and completed his courier quests, he made sure to interact with all of the different NPC's to try and glean some information from them that might not be available to the players. As an experienced researcher this was almost a habit for him at this point and it was a common tactic for evaluating a situation. Based on the interactions that he was having with the NPC's, Gii's gut was telling him that the passing of this NPC was a big deal. Since he had made a career out of finding hidden quests and classes, he was able to look at the subtleties of the situation that others might not pick up on.

It's unfortunate that it most likely has something to do with the upper echelons of the Crassius church otherwise I might try to get involved...

Since he had already burned the bridge with the church of Crassius it would be too difficult to reverse what he had already done. Not to mention the payoff would not be enough compared to completing his ultimate goal. Suddenly Gii received a message from one of the people on his friend's list. It was OldManRalph

[OldManRalph: Hey Gii! Some good news, I currently have about half of the materials needed for those scrolls]

[Gii: Wow really? You work really quick, I was expecting you to take a few more days before you made that kind of progress]

[OldManRalph: Don't underestimate me when I actually try!]

[Gii: Alright, fair enough. how long before you think you'll have the remainder of whats needed?]

[OldManRalph: Honestly i'm unsure. Until now most people seemed oblivious and think the materials are just junk]

[Gii: Does it seem like someone has caught on or something leaked?]

[OldManRalph: I can't be sure but most likely someone noticed me buying in bulk and is copying me]

[Gii: dont mind them, we expected something like that eventually. Just buy as much as you can while its still relatively cheap]

[OldManRalph: Got it, i'll keep you posted. Don't think that some copycat will be able to out bid me if I get serious!]

Gii closed the chat window and headed back to the courier service office to pick up some more of the delivery requests. As he walked out of the office intending to head to his next delivery, he spotted a familiar face in the streets that seemed to be heading toward the estate of Tiberius Atoll.

Isn't that the young servant I saw leaving the Atoll estate earlier?

When he got close enough to see the NPC's information, he confirmed that it was indeed the same servant he saw leave the estate earlier.

[Servant Boy Thomas: Level 3]

The boy was currently rushing though the busy crowds that were congesting this part of the city with a determined look on his face. Gii also noticed that he seemed to be cluching some sort of package tightly to his chest. As he watched the boy dart between the crowds, he was suddenly struck by a moment of inspiration.

Can I really let a golden opportunity like this just slip past? This is a perfect opportunity for a "Manual Quest"!

Listonia online was an incredibly complex game that simulated almost everything inside of it as if it was a second world. It's complexity was one of the reasons that people were able to make a living off of knowing the intricacies of the world and how actions taken would interact with the surrounding environment. Players would often try to do something "Off-script", essentially either trying to change or mess up the intended solution to a quest. Over time people like Gii became very adeopt at determining the best timing and predicting when taking such actions would be the most beneficial.

Many times these situations would not prompt for a quest, but the player would obviously still have objectives they were looking to complete, they would just be self imposed. This is why the playerbase coined the term "Manual Quest" because they were essentially giving themselves a quest and would determine the reward themselves, instead of being provided with a reward from the system. Gii's current quests to defile the Altars of Crassius would actualy fall under this category.

For Gii, it seemed that the intended way the player was supposed to get involved with this quest, would have been to start in this city and work their way up with either clerical quests or paladin training until they were assigned to the servant position. Then they would most likely have received a prompt from one of the higher level NPC's and started a chain quest or something of the sort. Gii intended to get involved in the middle and cut out the NPC interactions, while knowing it was risky and that he could be forced out of this city before he achieved his objectives, he decided it would be worth the risk if he could speed things up and achieve his goal

Gii quickly followed after the servant boy and made sure not to lose him in the crowd. While the boy seemed to be in a hurry, he was not running and instead was walking at a brisque pace so as not to draw more attention to himself. Gii followed him along the main roads for a little bit and then watched as the boy darted into a nearby alleyway that he recognized as a shortcut to the Atoll estate.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gii rushed after him into the alleyways. He sprinted as fast as he could and readied the back end of the dagger as he approached the young boy. The boy seemed to have heard his footsteps and turned to look, but before he could completely turn around to see Gii's face, Gii had already closed the gap and swung the back end of the dagger onto the top of the Boy's head. There was a loud "Thud" as a damage number popped up above the boys head and a notification showed up in fornt of Gii

You have dealt a non-lethal blow, this character will be unconscious for 10 Minutes