Although the contents of the witch's task list are varied, it is worth mentioning that even if you use the power of time and fate to peek into the future, it is impossible to see all the things that will happen at once. Therefore, the descriptions of most tasks on the list are vague. If you want to complete the task, you may have to figure out what the task says first.
When Xia De was having breakfast at home that morning, he had already decided what he was going to do. The simple tasks were left to the witch's followers, and the most difficult ones would probably have to be handled by the witches themselves.
Shad took a fancy to a task of processing unknown materials, and the task that Shad took a fancy to was called "The Quiet Ascetic".
The mission description is relatively simple. A noble family of Delarri who came to the local area to attend a meeting, indulged in revelry when he was young, but lost his wife, children and most of his family members in accidents in middle age. So the middle-aged noble repented and strictly required himself to be pure and simple in life, and imitated the ascetics of the church, hoping to achieve spiritual and physical peace in the rest of his life.
After arriving in Green Lake City, the nobleman was suspected to have been exposed to some kind of hallucinogenic drugs, which gradually separated his life form from flesh and blood. The mission required saving the nobleman and recovering those hallucinogenic items.
Xia De had a hunch that he would encounter an interesting story this time.
The witch's message did not specify who the noble from Delarian was. But because it was limited to "coming from Tobesk", Shade only went to the city hall to find Miss Carina who was preparing for this morning's meeting, and then he knew that the one who had a hobby of "ascetic monks" in the negotiation delegation was Count Petrarch.
He is one of the representatives of the negotiation team and usually lives in Tobysk. His residence in Tobysk is also in the city center, not far from St. Teresa's Square.
But although the Earl was a member of the delegation, he only came along and did not attend meetings regularly, so he could not be found at Green Lake City Hall.
After asking for the address, Shad wanted to leave, but since Shad came here, the Duchess naturally wanted to keep Shad to meet with her. Fortunately, with the help of Tifa, Shad was able to run away.
Count Petrarch was a member of the first delegation, and the Green Lake City Hall arranged proper accommodation for these distinguished guests from Tobesk. However, the ascetic count did not like such extravagance and waste, so although he could not refuse the accommodation arrangement, he actually moved to the hotel the next day after arriving in Green Lake City.
As for the hotel where he stayed, it was naturally the Green Lake Inn, which was closest to the Green Lake City Hall and had good value for money and good service.
The Earl was in such a hurry that even Miss Carina didn't find out the house number of the room he rented. Fortunately, Shad could directly ask the female owner Helena Green behind the counter.
"Oh, that gentleman. He lives on the third floor just like you, but his room is on either side of the stairs, so you probably have never seen him."
Ms. Helena Green said with a smile.
So Xia De counted the house number and came to the door of Room 308. He closed his eyes and made sure that there was a heartbeat sound inside the door before knocking on the door.
Dong Dong Dong~
After a while, the door opened a crack, and half of the face of a middle-aged man with a powerful look, taller than Shade, and who looked so strong that he could kill a lion with one punch, appeared behind the door:
"Who are you?"
Shade introduced himself:
"I am ashamed to say, count, that you do not know me, and I do not know you."
The door was about to close, but Shade had already blocked the crack with his foot:
"Please listen to me. I have heard for a long time that Count Petrarch of Tobesk likes meditation, contemplation and asceticism, and is also a philanthropist. I have the same hobbies as you, and I have always wanted to visit you, communicate with you and learn from you. Do you have time?"
Shade asked, and the Earl inside the door stared and asked:
"Do you think I'm a fool? Would I believe this kind of reason?"
"Well, I say, I'm here to play Rhodes with you, can you open the door?"
"Of course not. I don't like playing cards. How did you come up with such an excuse?"
Shade smiled:
"Well, I won't joke with you any more. I really want to talk to you about meditation and asceticism. I heard about you from the Umbilical Cord Club in Tobesk, and I'm also a member there, you see."
As he spoke, he opened his empty palm. As for the Umbilical Cord Club, it was a club in the city of Tobesk for mysticism enthusiasts to gather. It was under 24-hour surveillance by the church, and even the manager at the front desk was a ringmaster of the church.
The illusion confused this ordinary person. The Earl looked at the medal in Shade's hand in confusion, and then nodded:
"You're from the club? You look like a young noble from Tobesk. However, I won't trust you easily. Please answer a common sense question about the club first. What are the characteristics of entering the third stage of meditation?"
In the orthodox ring sorcerer's meditation, there is no division of meditation into stages, so Shade does not know what the theories of these ordinary people are:
"I don't know. I've never heard of it."
He decided to tell the truth, since the count lived alone, he could just break in.
The Count nodded and finally removed the anti-theft link:
"That's right. Meditation is only divided into shallow and deep levels. There is no third level at all."
The layout of this room was similar to that of the room rented by Shad. Although the Earl did not have servants living with him, the room was still very clean and tidy. He did not have much luggage, and there were almost no personal belongings in the room.
After entering the room, Xia De looked around and easily found traces of the elements. It was a plate of dried and dehydrated colorful mushrooms on the coffee table. The colors were so bright that they seemed to be glowing. Even the greedy Xiaomia probably wouldn't eat them. In addition to the mushrooms, there were scissors, a quartz bowl for grinding, and a small hammer on the coffee table.
"There is no whispering element, and it does not seem to be related to the relic."
Seeing Xia De looking at those mushrooms, the Earl took the initiative to introduce them:
"With the help of drugs and plants, we can achieve better meditation effects, and even stimulate the legendary 'pineal gland' to open up the previously closed 'spiritual vision'."
"Um... illegal drugs?"
Shade asked hesitantly, sitting down with the Count, who shook his head indifferently;
"I have friends at Redwich Field. Let's not talk about this anymore. Since you are here, I will share my new discovery with you. Have you seen these mushrooms? I accidentally discovered this special species in Green Lake, and I found that drying and grinding these mushrooms into powder and absorbing them can better help us enter a deep meditation state and then see the truth of the world."
He was in high spirits as he spoke, and even gestured with his hands, as if he had really made a major discovery.
But Shade hesitated even more:
"What you saw after eating the mushrooms wasn't a series of dancing elves?"
"Of course not. I saw dark cracks opening up in the air. Look over there, there is even a gap big enough for me to pass through. Through there, I can reach the paradise of bliss!"
The Earl said happily, reaching out to continue processing the mushrooms:
"You may not believe it now, let me show you."
Xia De looked at the wall that the earl had pointed at in surprise, but there was nothing on the wall. If he hadn't been sure that the mushrooms were special materials, he would have even suspected that the earl had gone crazy eating poisonous mushrooms.
The Count quickly made mushroom powder from the dried colorful mushrooms, and then separated the powder into two small handfuls. He kept one for himself and placed the other in front of Shade:
"Try it with me, and you'll know what deep meditation is all about."
He extended the invitation with great anticipation, and began to add his own powder to the tobacco, and then rolled it up with cigarette paper:
"You can take it directly, but the effect will be too fast. It is easy to have a headache, memory loss and drowsiness after waking up. So rolling it into a cigarette is the best choice. Come on, young man, you are the first person to have this honor. The taste of deep meditation is really good."
Of course, Xia De could not accept this. Seeing his hesitation, the Earl said:
"Don't worry. Although this looks like an illegal drug, you can see it, right? This is a pure natural plant. Not to mention me, even the aborigines on the islands and the primitive tribes deep in the rainforest still maintain similar traditions of picking and using mushrooms. Besides, the development of our medicine originated from the exploration of plant diversity. Otherwise, how do you think plant anesthetics came about?"
"Is this thing really free of side effects?"
Shade asked suspiciously, and Count Petrarch thought for a moment:
"As long as you keep your mind clear of distracting thoughts, abandon all desires, and don't let your mind wander, you will be absolutely safe."
He said with certainty:
“In a deep state of meditation, many terrifying scenes and sounds will appear, and the world will become different in our eyes. But as long as we have firm beliefs and are not disturbed by external forces, we will not be affected.”
"this... ... "
Although Xia De believed that he had firm beliefs, he knew himself and knew that he was definitely not the kind of person who was extremely indifferent to all desires.
"This is a good thing. Since you don't believe it, I'll come here first. If you want to follow me later, you will find me. Paradise of Bliss, here I come."
"Wait, wait a minute!"
But before Shad could finish, Count Petrarch put the hand-rolled cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a match.
Shade was sitting opposite the Count, so if he wanted to stop it, he could just reach out his hand. But Shade wanted to find out what was going on with these mushrooms, and he thought he could handle the Count's madness, so he watched the Count puffing and puffing, and soon he drooped his head, as if he fell asleep.