A strange world

There are no specific postures for meditation.

Stand, sit, or lie down, just make sure it lasts.

Annan initially chose to sit down, but after three consecutive days of turbulence, the bed beneath him felt like he was standing on a swaying deck. And along with lying down, it’s really easy to fall asleep while meditating when you’re tired.

Annan gave up staring at the cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling, and his first meditation ended in failure.

Cobwebs, money and secret societies mingled together and he had an indescribable dream.

A spider wearing an apron hung from the ceiling and landed on Annan's chest.

"Little Annan, you live here alone, you need to get rid of your bad habits." The spider said softly, struggling to pull the sheet to cover his exposed feet.

The spider crawled along the undulating sheets to the edge of the bed, pulled out the silk thread from its abdomen, stuck to the edge, and dropped down between the two shoes. After a while, the scattered shoes moved bit by bit and slowly came together.

"Spider is old, has no strength, and can no longer take care of you..."

The panting spider poked its head out from the side of the shoe, then picked out three copper coins from its apron, and carefully placed them beside the shoe, "Spider stole this from a drunkard. Don't be dissatisfied with the small amount of money, and don't use it." Worry about spiders, spiders don’t eat much..."

Annan, who was watching everything happening from a third-person perspective, saw "himself" sleeping on the bed slowly waking up.

"Myself" discovered the spider beside the shoe, and was startled. He muttered where the insect came from, grabbed the shoe, and patted the spider that was showing relief and tenderness——

"No!"

So Annan woke up at dawn.

Soon, the door was shaken by a knock, and Tasia who heard the shout was outside the door.

"I'm fine."

Annan sat up, put on the shoes scattered on the bottom of the bed, and opened the door.

Tasia lowered her head and entered the room, followed by Soruman Bronzebeard.

After closing the door, Soruman Bronzebeard said he would take Annan somewhere for a while.

"Where to go?"

The female dwarf pointed to his pocket. Annan took out the piece of paper with the address on it.

"But Mr. Fast said he would go to the address if there was any trouble."

"He didn't say he couldn't find it unless he ran into trouble." The female dwarf added weight to Annan who was still hesitating. "That guy is a warlock."

"Okay, I'll get dressed."

Soruman Bronzebeard and Tasia went out after searching the room. Annan put on his coat, and when he raised his head and got out of the collar, he saw a short-legged spider lying in the dusty cobwebs on the ceiling.

Annan's black eyes gradually narrowed.

…

A few minutes later, Annan came downstairs. Some hotel guests were having breakfast.

Soruman Bronzebeard sat at the dining table and waved to him, Tasia was also beside him.

"How is our warlock meditating?"

"I can't feel anything..."

This put Annan in a bad mood. It was difficult to enter a meditative state without the help of magic materials... and the book said that only ancient wizards used such backward meditation methods.

"I can lend you another sum of money." When he learned that Annan needed magic materials, Soruman Bronzebeard said generously.

Annan accepted Soruman Bronzebeard's kindness, and he should be able to repay the money soon.

After breakfast, Andrew Luna asked the clerk to bring the carriage and acted as a groom to take them to the address on the note.

"Although Luna is a deserter... he will never betray us." Soruman Bronzebeard explained, and said to the man, "First go to the street where magic materials are sold."

Annan got into the carriage and found Tasia leaning against the wall, lowering her head and taking a nap.

"You haven't had any rest, okay?"

"The pub is very noisy."

On the left side of Annan's room was Soruman Bronzebeard and on the right was Tasia. They helped Annan isolate the sound of the war in the tavern.

This reminded Annan of the heavily made-up girl he met lying on the guardrail and saying hello to him when he went out, claiming to have one-tenth of elven blood. Annan could tell at a glance that she was talking nonsense - the power of 2 could not be divided into 10.

The carriage was driving on the masonry road, Tasia was napping, Soruman Bronzebeard was counting money, and Annan was looking at the street scene.

As the carriage drove into a long street with unique and strange-shaped buildings, Annan saw merchants wearing gray robes symbolizing the status of wizard apprentices, selling weird and novel products everywhere, magical auras and wonderful runes, also printed with The carriage with the family emblem, and the mercenary group standing on the street corner loudly recruiting mages.

Annan felt like Harry Potter who had stepped into Diagon Alley.

Although his parents died, he did not inherit any inheritance.

The clerk stopped the carriage in front of a magic materials store. Annan tried to pretend to be knowledgeable, but the eyes that glanced at the materials still gave him away.

The clerk didn't treat Annan as a lucky commoner just because he was wearing a linen coat, and asked him politely what he needed.

"Magic eagle feathers, fluorescent grass, the naturally fallen teeth of the jackals, the dew condensed at dawn..."

Annan recited the cheapest materials needed for meditation rituals. The magic materials required for advanced and advanced meditation rituals are often the mane of a unicorn, the tears of an underage elf... these sound expensive and precious.

The clerk recorded the materials Annan told and then calculated the price: "16 gold and 60 silver coins."

"16 silver and 60 copper coins?"

"16 gold and 60 silver coins." The clerk said helplessly: "Basic meditation ritual, right? This is a month's worth."

Now, Annan has a deeper understanding of the "caster's cost."

"Are they fresh?" Tasia asked.

The clerk ignored her, but Annan asked again before he said: "They are all within the best before date."

"I'll pay for it, boy."

The beautiful and generous Soruman Bronzebeard said in her melodious voice, taking out the heavy purse,

After getting the magic materials, they continued to the address on the note.

Tasia became much silent because of neglect - the atmosphere in Breeze City seemed to be relatively tolerant, and no one pointed at Tasia's appearance, but it was just an illusion.

Humanity's rejection of aliens is deeply rooted.

When I arrived at the address on the note, a simple wooden house with a sloping roof appeared.

Soruman Bronzebeard jumped out of the carriage excitedly, smashed open the door, and shouted to the astonished bearded man:

"Asshole! Stop trying to avoid me!"

Annan blinked, realizing that he was being used as an excuse?

Fortunately, the female dwarf did not forget her and asked the warlock to give Annan a warlock's notebook recording his experiences.

Annan accepted what he had learned, wisely got on the carriage and returned to the Morrowind Tavern.

Meditation requires a quiet atmosphere. Therefore, Annan did not waste expensive magic materials and still insisted on ancient and traditional meditation.

He slept soundly.

…

Early the next morning, Annan took the glass jar containing the short-legged spider, got into the carriage with Soruman Bronzebeard and Tasia, and headed to Winchet Manor.

Annan also prepared gifts for Aunt Susan and her family on the way.

The gate of the manor opened, and a carriage slowly drove out, and then they reunited and left the city.

Annan looked back at Breeze City, wondering if he would have a new identity next time he came back?