{T/N: As of one hour ago, this fic reached 153 stones, meeting the (1 Chapter)/(150 votes) requirement. So as promised, I will prepare an extra chapter which I will upload along with tomorrow's update.
With that out of the way, there's still 24 hours left before the week ends, so y'all still have a chance to increase the number of tomorrow's uploads... 147 stones left to 300...}
....
During the last Tarot Gathering, Odis struck a deal with Derrick: Odis would help Derrick search for information about Amon, while Derrick would provide 'The Hermit' with some creatures and soil from the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Odis then thought to himself: 'After the incident with Amon's avatar, didn't Derrick end up under surveillance? In that state, would he still dare to make offerings to The Fool?'
But then he reconsidered: 'Ah, right... at first, Derrick wasn't aware he was being monitored, so he kept making offerings and praying as usual.'
Odis smiled. Of course, he wouldn't remind Derrick, because, as far as anyone knew, he wasn't aware that The Sun had been Parasitized by Amon's avatar.
So, Odis used the Teleportation Array in the basement to return to the suburban laboratory. He planned to process the corpses of the creatures and store them in the lab for the time being.
After setting up a simple altar, he prayed to The Fool and performed the Sacrificial and Bestowment Ritual.
A phantom door opened above the altar, and four bizarre creatures, along with a bucket of sludge and a bucket of soil, appeared on it.
Just as Odis was about to praise Mr. Fool, he suddenly saw a gaping maw... the strange fish, which was as thick as a grown man's thigh and over a meter long, lifted its head and tried to bite him.
Odis dodged in a panic, then laughed helplessly, "They're alive!"
Little Sun had actually captured these creatures alive and offered them to The Fool just like that!
...
Above the gray fog, Klein, who sat at the head of the bronze table, snickered as he watched the flustered Mr. Hermit...
...
Back in the suburban laboratory, after dodging the fish's bite, Odis grabbed a sword from the corner and stabbed the monster fish. He then channeled his Spirituality, causing the blade to discharge electricity repeatedly until the creature collapsed on the ground.
He had used this sword before at Capim's villa. Though he usually carried it with him, he hadn't needed to use it until now. While tidying the lab earlier, he had casually placed it in the corner.
Thankfully, the weapon was there... otherwise, dealing with this creature would have been much harder.
Next, he noticed six large, leech-like creatures crawling out of the altar and scattering in all directions. He quickly grabbed tweezers and glass bottles, then secured each of them inside.
Then, he took a sharp knife, butchered the strange fish, and carefully preserved its black blood.
Finally, Odis turned his attention to the plant with dark green leaves on the altar.
Its eight tentacle-like vines were slowly stretching toward him. He picked up a pair of large scissors while carefully avoiding the sluggish 'tentacles', then he approached the altar to snip them off one by one.
The vines, which were covered in suckers and barbs, writhed on the ground like real tentacles before finally going still. Odis placed the plant's roots in a large glass jar and stored the severed tentacles in another.
After handling these dangerous specimens, he turned to the two green, wheat-like plants.
These were Black Faced Grass... Supposedly, their leaves would darken upon maturity. They were the only things that seemed normal and somewhat familiar to Odis.
However, after being removed from the City of Silver, they were rapidly withering. He stored them in containers before finally letting out a sigh.
He wasn't sure whether to call Little Sun too honest or careless... He could guess Derrick's reasoning: If 'The Hermit' needed them for experiments, they had to be alive...
So, Little Sun had gone to great lengths to capture and offer these creatures alive to The Fool.
The most ridiculous part? The Fool didn't even give a heads-up!
But soon, Odis understood Klein's perspective: As a mysterious and lofty being, why would 'The Fool' bother with such trivial details? Besides, in his perspective, 'The Hermit' was perfectly capable of handling these monsters without any warning.
At this thought, Odis chuckled helplessly: 'What was that saying again? Ah, right... In the end, I alone bear all burdens...'
Lost in thought, he finished organizing the lab. After ensuring the creatures couldn't escape their glass prisons, he returned to the herbal shop to continue writing the 'Outline of Combat'.
He planned to observe and record the specimens before studying them further...
....
On Saturday morning, Odis took a carriage directly from home to Unit 77 Hilton Avenue...
As usual, he donned the 'Leader' mask and a hooded cloak before using the basement's Teleportation Array to arrive at the gathering site of the 'Mysticism Research Society'.
Several members were already present, each offering respectful greetings to the 'Leader'.
Among them was Xio Derecha. Upon seeing the 'Leader', she began contemplating how to gather information about the Capim case.
At exactly nine o'clock, Odis announced, "Let us begin."
'Hound', whose physique and attire were unremarkable, stood up first, "Leader, please accept my respects!"
He gave a formal military salute before continuing, "I've been thinking about this for days and can't figure it out... how did you realize that the merchant Blair was being controlled by members of the Rose School of Thought?"
His words immediately caused an uproar: "What? The tycoon Blair was controlled by the Rose School of Thought?"
"Who's Blair?"
"Don't you remember? Last week, someone mentioned Blair hiring Beyonders for a Mysticism experiment."
"..."
Since Blair's case hadn't appeared in the newspapers, and with the 'Machinery Hivemind' only informing other official Beyonder organizations, most people here were unaware of the incident at his villa.
Xio also recalled that someone had indeed announced Blair's commission during the last gathering.
'But... how is it connected to the Rose School of Thought?' She thought.
She had heard of this secret organization and knew its members were notoriously cruel and insane...
Soon, silence fell over the gathering as all eyes turned to the 'Leader'.
Odis smiled and said, "This requires extensive experience in intelligence work and profound knowledge of Mysticism... That commission specifically emphasized the 'full moon' condition, which caught my attention. At the same time, I received information that the 'Rose School of Thought' had an internal conflict in Backlund's harbor district last week."
"...Connecting the dots, it seemed Blair was searching for traces of the Rose School of Thought's members. So, I speculated that he might have been exploited or controlled by one of the factions involved in their conflict."
At this point, someone immediately asked, "Why would the 'full moon' be linked to the Rose School of Thought?"
Odis smiled before replying, "That information requires payment. 200 pounds in total."
Many quickly joined the transaction, including Xio. Soon, the full amount was collected...