Being able to wake up at even small sounds can be quite useful out in the wilds, and it was not that hard for Quin to learn it during his travel. However, it can also be something not too desirable, especially when you are sharing your room with someone who sleeps talks. Even if those were just unintelligible babbling.

This was exactly Quin’s case currently, as at one point during her sleep the girl started to talk without stopping. Quin could not shut it out and was simply unable to fall asleep again, so in the end, he decided to just meditate. Despite the constant babbling, Quin did not have any difficulty to enter a meditative state, as he even managed to do it when his pain first began and that was incomparably more intense. The girl woke up sometime in the morning and Quin went to pick her up.

“Hm, am I imagining things or have you really grown taller during the night?” Quin asked. He was not sure, but it did look to him that the girl was a touch shorter yesterday. “I know that kids grow fast, but isn’t it a bit too much, huh?”

The only response he got -- besides the usual baby talk -- was a bite.

“Alright, we’re going to eat breakfast right away.” Quin sighed.

They were still well within the period during which the inn served breakfast, so they went there to eat.

Quin remembered her enormous appetite from yesterday, so he thought he was prepared when he brought two big plates filled with various kinds of food to their table. Even after Quin had long finished his own meal, the girl was still at it with no signs of stopping and he already had to bring two extra plates. Damn, something’s really strange with her. Is she a human at all? he wondered. He had never seen a human -- not even an adult man -- to eat this much and although at first he had thought that she was a five or six years old girl, he was not so sure anymore. It was because of her size that he had previously assumed this, however, after taking care of her for a day, her behavior did not look like she had some kind of mental issue but exactly how a baby would act. Furthermore, her body shape and facial features were more resembling that of a one or two years old child.

But there’s no way for that, right? We’ve never met any intelligent species other than us-- Except the Shriekers and that smoke ball, but that may have been just an illusion or something. I’m sure Dreon would love to talk about these things. He let out a small laugh but it was filled with sadness and guilt. Quin thought of Dreon, how he was killed, and how it was partly due to his lack of control over his anger that led to his death. He only allowed a few moments for these thoughts and emotions, and then quickly buried them deep inside his mind.

Quin carried the girl to the spa after she was finally finished with her food. Despite that he knew that there was only a slim chance that this healing type energy could truly make a change in his condition, he was still really excited.

They were stopped by Fei -- the receptionist from yesterday -- midway, who wanted to give them a couple of toys. She said that they were her children’s, but as they were already adults she doubted that they would need them.

Quin was thankful for her help and also hoped that those toys would occupy the girl, while he was doing his own things.

When they arrived, what they could see was a decent sized lake, which interestingly had a tint of green to its color. Its water was crystal clear and most of its shore was covered by dense, well-kept lawn. Only about a third part of its shore -- on its furthest side -- was different, as that was next to the forest.

He could feel the energy it emitted even meters away from the spa and it was the strongest energy he had ever experienced in his life. Quin put down the girl with her new toys and then sat down cross-legged nearby her. After spending a few minutes by watching her reaction he was relieved to see that all of her attention was captured by the new toys.

Thus he began meditating, but he did not enter a too deep meditative state, just in case something were to happen. Quin did not feel anything special at first, only after a few hours had passed. The previously wild and raging energy that filled his entire body started to disappear bit by bit. By the time the sun was at its highest it had been completely replaced by the soft healing energy. Wow, I’d have never believed that it’d make such a significant change! In contrast to the usual energy he absorbed from the environment, it did not have the same corrosive property to it and actually felt comfortable, so his ever constant pain almost entirely vanished.

It still did not mean that he could just spend the rest of his days without worry if he was next to the lake. He was perfectly aware of the fact that even though that this type of wild energy was a lot less harmful, in the end, it was still some kind of energy. Thus he needed to use it up as being constantly bathed by any type of wild energy of this amount would eventually overload and kill his cells and organs. But maybe, if I reduce its density in my body and keep it that way constantly then it won’t harm my cells? Or maybe they can even get used to it? Quin was currently filled with boundless hope.

He had previously dismissed the other type of pain he had begun to feel due to his cells constantly using a great amount of wild energy as it was only minuscule. However, it actually started to increase exponentially in the last couple of days during his journey which made him quite fearful of what was about to come. One of the reasons he felt so happy and hopeful currently was connected to this issue: after the energy filling his body was entirely replaced by the one which was emitted out of the spa, the intensity of that pain began to decrease. It was not by much, but Quin had only experienced it increasing day by day so far, so turning this around was a huge milestone for him.

Furthermore, he theorized that it was thanks to the healing property of the energy and that after he would start training in the vicinity of the lake it would completely disappear once and for all. Of course, it was just a theory and something that he hoped for to happen, but still, he saw a remarkable chance for success.

He opened his eyes and saw the girl was no longer playing with toys but lay peacefully on the ground. Sleeping again, huh? He took off his shirt, laid it on the ground and then carefully put her on it. It’s not as good as a bed but still better than just lying just on the ground and I won’t need it for the training. Hm, though since I left Crows’ Road there wasn’t a single day when I didn’t move a lot, but it was a long time ago since I actually trained. He chuckled and started to warm up. Though I planned to start it again around the time I decided to go back to school but then I didn’t get the opportunity to do so. The last time I trained was before the Coming of Age Ceremony, damn, that was more than half a year ago! Alright, let’s start this!

Author's note: I was supposed to post this chapter yesterday, but there were a lot of small things that came up like I had no internet connection and had to reinstall windows. It was late at night when I finally got the time for it but then I just had no energy left to do it.

This week I'll release 4 regular chapters (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) and 1 sponsored chapter (of course this chapter does not count for it, as it's yesterday's).

So a few info on sponsored chapters: The first couple of them will cost 20$ each, but later it may change. I know that for many other fictions the amount is smaller but it's not that easy to write that plus one chapter. During summer and early September I was able to write one chapter per day but that was because I had a lot of free time. Now, it's different and to be honest I'd feel comfortable with writing only 3 chapters this week but I really want the story to get to its more interesting, exciting parts quickly, as its current arc is more like an interlude.

It takes me at least 4 hours just to write a chapter, but that's with planning, world building, etc. not included and though I could easily earn more with a part-time job I really enjoy writing this story, so I thought I'd give the whole sponsored chapters a try.