After earning enough contribution points, Minos took a small break to once again work on his puppet refining skills, but after another two failed attempts, Minos decided to redirect his efforts.
As long as he broke through the Eighth layer of Mortal Renewal, he would be able to simultaneously open his Ear and Touch lock.
With these two evolved senses, his special vibration technique could be taken to another level, allowing him to truly feel the insides of his puppets perfectly, which would make creating vessels exponentially easier.
Having reestablished his goals, Minos's mission taking vigor became even stronger. From what he had seen, a Three-Moon Lock Breaking Pill cost a full 5000 contribution points, which was ten missions.
He could finish about two missions a week, meaning even at full speed, it would take him a little more than a month to earn enough for one pill.
Not to mention with his poor talent, Minos estimated he needed at least three pills, meaning it would take him three months.
Knowing this, Minos quickly got to work, spreading the legend of 'Merth the Mission Monster.' the man who took a mission every three days and had a 100% completion rate.
…
While Minos was busy saving up contribution points, Yola, his former maid, was also completing her own mission.
After 'hiding' for weeks on end, she arrived at a large house, knocking on the door heavily, finally forcing someone to open the door.
"Don't you know you're disturbing my master? You've better got something important or you're dead." A maid said after swinging the door open with annoyance.
"It's extremely important, I need to talk to your master!" Yola said anxiously.
"My master? A filthy mortal like you wants to talk to my master, you must be crazy!" The maid said with anger as she was about to slam the door.
"Wait! I may be a mortal, but my former master, Merth, isn't." Yola shouted just before the door shut completely.
"Merth? As in the Ninth Son of the Sword Merth? Mission Monster Merth?" The maid asked, opening the door back as she looked at Yola with doubt.
"That's the one!" Yola said with excitement.
"Hmm, let me talk to my master first." The maid said, finally agreeing to Yola's request.
After heading inside for a few minutes, the maid finally came back, but this time she had a welcoming attitude, guiding Yola to her master's study.
Walking inside, Yola couldn't help but look around instinctively. The sides of the room were lined with large bookshelves, stocked with books of all sorts of varieties, from history, to geography.
At the head of the room, an older looking man, around 35 years or so, was sitting peacefully as he read through a book with great interest.
Despite the man not even looking at her, Yola still felt a tremendous pressure suffocating her. She didn't dare to take a seat, only standing in place as she waited for the man to speak.
After flipping through the final page, the man was finally satisfied. Closing the book, he gently placed it on the large wooden desk in front of him, before finally raising his head and looking straight at Yola.
Feeling the man's eyes on her, Yola couldn't help but feel like a giant stone had suddenly been dropped on her shoulders, causing her body to be on the verge of collapse.
This was the natural pressure that the strong had over the weak. Much like how one would instinctively freeze when faced with a beast much bigger than them, when mortals faced cultivators, they would similarly feel this same pressure.
Fortunately, unlike beasts, cultivators could control this pressure, so after testing Yola for a moment longer, the man pulled back, finally giving Yola a chance to take a deep breath and calm herself.
"Have a seat." The man said with a gentle smile as he gestured towards the chair in front of him.
"T-Thank you." Yola stuttered, before sitting down, slightly tapping her feet in anxiety.
"My maid tells me you're a former maid of Merth. What's the story there?" The man asked with curiosity, ignoring Yola's anxiety completely.
"It's a long story, but in short, you must have heard rumors of my former master's treasure recently."
"Naturally I've heard, but just like most rumors, I imagined that one was fake as well. Though seeing how Merth is still completing missions even now, it seems there's some truth to it." The man said as he leaned back in his chair.
"There isn't just some truth to it, it is the truth!" Yola said with excitement.
"Oh, and how do you know?" The man asked with intrigue.
"Since you've heard of the rumor, then you must also know about the people who hunted down Merth because of it." Yola continued.
"Of course." The man said.
"Well here's the truth of the matter, I was never truly loyal to Merth." Yola finally said, interesting the man even more.
"Is that so? But how is that relevant here?" The man asked with a slight laugh, suddenly feeling some pity for Merth.
"It's relevant because I told my true master what Merth's treasure really was thinking that once he obtained it, I would finally be free." Yola said before continuing.
"But I wasn't fully confident in him, so after telling him the news I also decided to go into hiding. If he killed Merth, then that would be perfect, but if he failed, I could at least escape Merth's wrath."
"Good thinking. It seems your foresight has paid off seeing as how you're still alive." The man said, appreciating Yola's intelligence.
"That's why I came here. As the First Son of the Sword, you're the strongest person below the elders and patriarch, and with your help I can finally escape." Yola said, finally revealing her true goal.
"Hmm, I see, but what's stopping you from just leaving now and running for your life." The man asked, still not fully understanding.
"Two reasons, the first is the Merth himself. He has eyes everywhere so the second I try to leave the sect, he'll know, second and most importantly, I'm poisoned."
"Poisoned?"
"Yes, that's the reason I betrayed Merth in the first place, but now that the person who poisoned me is likely dead, I have no idea what to do. As long as you promise to help me escape and cure my poison, I'll tell you about Merth's treasure." Yola finished.
"Hmm, I'd like to help you, but I have no idea what your poison is." The man said as he scratched his chin.
"Will this help?" Yola said as she handed a pill over to the man.
"What is this?" The man said as he inspected the pill closely.
"It's a temporary antidote. As long as I take one every month, the poison in my body won't activate and I'll be able to survive. This is the last pill I have, so if I don't find a solution within a month, I'm dead." Yola said.
"How long until your poison next activates?" The man asked.
"About a week." Yola responded.
"Good, then let me borrow this pill until then. I'll have my men search around, they should be able to find something based on this clue." The man said.
"Many thanks First Son of the Sword!" Yola said with excitement.
"Just call me Master Trell." Trell said with a smile, sealing their deal.
…
After dismissing Yola and allowing her to temporarily stay in his home. Trell put away his smile, sitting calmly as he inspected the pill.
Suddenly a shadow came out from behind a shelf, standing in silence behind Trell as if waiting for his que.
"Tell me Shadow, what do you think about this matter?" Trell finally spoke as he tossed the pill to Shadow.
"It's a little suspicious, though the truth of the matter is hard to know just based on the current facts." Shadow said concisely as he grabbed the pill from the air.
"I think so too. Send some scouts to find out what Merth is up to right now, also have someone inspect what happened with the ambush, we need to find out what happened to the people who attacked Merth. Also try to find out some news about that pill" Trell said.
"Master is going to try and cure that girl?" Shadow asked.
"Who said cure? But once she's dead, she's useless to me, so we should at least try and find more of those antidote pills to keep her alive until she's no longer useful." Trell said apathetically, not caring about Yola's fate at all.
"I'll get right on it." Shadow said, silently vanishing from the room.
Sensing that Shadow was gone, Trell picked his book back up, reading it as if nothing had ever even happened.
…
Minos had no idea about all the going-ons with Yola, but as the one who put her up to it, he could naturally predict the next course of actions.
Some may ask why Minos isn't afraid of Yola just betraying him again, after all if Trell really could cure her, why would she need 'Merth' anymore?
But those who thought that didn't understand the true intention of this scheme. Yola's loyalty was of no relevance, all that mattered was that she acted as the fuse that ignited Trell's action.