“So, what’s happened? Where does it hurt?” the Chief Healer who had finally arrived asked Quin right away.

“My Main-Core, it pulsating with pain. Happened a few times, after physically exerted myself,” Quin answered, and had to catch his breath for a few moments. “It’s different now: more pain and feels like I’m about to explode.” He still tried to be as short as possible to conserve energy.

Niohe looked at Leyn, who was still lying next to him and then back Quin, confused for a moment. “Oh, I guess she healed you?”

“Yeah, for a long time. During that, it felt better.”

“Hmm, let me examine you,” Niohe said, putting one of his arms on his stomach and the other on his head. Quin felt the similar warm sensation but it was not comfortable like Leyn’s Water Qi, but more of an invasive type. Even though Quin was definitely not on the top of his condition, he still noticed that something was weird with Niohe: Quin felt that sometimes his hands were twitching and his whole appearance seemed haggard compared to the last time the met.

Niohe was concentrating on his technique for a long time and then looked at Quin with a solemn face. Well, that’s already enough of an answer, damn.

“Alright, I don’t really know how to say this... Well, as you know your Sub-Cores are completely destroyed, however, your main one is not. It’s got two holes on it, where the Shrieker pierced you through and it did stop working. Basically, Qi Cores take the surrounding energies and after converting them to you own qi, stores it. As long as you don’t need any qi to use, it remains inside of your Cores, but you can make it flow through you meridians, just like moving your own arms.

“However in the case of your Main-Core, it is different. When it was not working, there was no problem with it, but the issue is that it seems to have started to operate once again. Even though it absorbs the surrounding energy just like it should do, but because it is damaged, it is not able to convert this energy to qi. The characteristics of this energy can be simply described with one word: wild, and in greater doses, it can be lethal. Of course us, humans usually don’t have any problem regarding this, as it is only our Cores which absorbs it in a greater amount. However not only does your Core not convert it to Lightning Qi, unfortunately, you are not capable of keeping this energy there or to make it go in any direction. Thus, when your Core is filled with it, it simply overflows, right into your body.

“Another piece of bad news is that your damaged meridians are not helping at all. Through their tears and holes, this raw energy can easily fill your entire body, once enough time passes. At first, you feel pain because your Cores are not meant to store this wild energy, but then as time passes, the energy spreads to all over your body, filling each and every cell. Some types of wild energy -- and in smaller quantities -- can be useful for your body, like a hot spring with healing abilities, or what you can get from various kinds of herbs. Those are the exceptions, though, and in normal cases your organs and cells simply are not able to process this energy and... Die from overloading,” Niohe explained and it was clear what would happen to him eventually. “I am really sorry to say this and you should not be the one whom these kinds of things happen to.”

“Thanks,” Quin said.

Niohe snorted in self-contempt and shook his head. “What are you thanking for? I am not even able to do my work,” he said. “You know, when I started this work, I thought that I would be saving dozens of people, and giving them a chance at a better life. I worked and learned hard for hundred and hundreds of years, and eventually reached the position of the Chief Healer. I am supposed to be one of the best in our world, and the best in our nation, yet what I have been met with each day is delivering bad news, suffering, and death. Here you are, the hero of our Duchy, and I cannot do anything but tell you a few encouraging words.” Niohe let out a long sigh and stayed silent for a few moments.

“Sorry, I know that hearing your healer cry about his mid-life crisis is probably the last thing you wanted to do. It is just... It was a long day and month and I think this was the last drop. You know, it’s a top secret thing, but I don’t think you will tell it anyone, right?” Seeing Quin shaking his head, he continued. “Well, the last month itself was a hell for us at the hospital. We’ve got hundreds of patients with the same symptoms. They’ve got infected by something and after the symptoms appeared they all died in only six days, but we don’t have the slightest idea about what it is, how it spreads and of course how to stop it... Anyways, enough of my ramblings, is there something you want to know?” Niohe asked.

It was quite a strange experience for Quin to see their Chief Healer like this. Quin did feel sympathy and pity for him and knew that his life probably was not something enviable. However, he could not bring himself to care too much about it. Maybe I’m just a jerk, but I’m lying on my deathbed here and I just don’t have the capacity of dealing with his problems as well.

“How long is left?” Quin asked.

“I cannot tell you a clear answer to that, sorry. It is not a short process, but your body probably will not last for several years. This condition is not something you get to see too often, so there are a lot of variables I am not sure of. The only thing I can do is to give you some strong painkillers, however, your body usually gets accustomed to them after consuming them several times, so use them with care.”

“Thanks,” Quin said.

Great, that’s just great. He sighed. So I’ve got only a year remaining or so? And all of it is filled with agony... It seems what that damn smoke ball said turns out to be true.

“By the way, I also healed your other injuries as well as I could, but it will take a couple of days for it to completely heal,” Niohe said.

After giving him the painkillers, and telling Quin to look for him if he needs anything, he left.

Quin realized that he started to get accustomed to the pain, no, that was not true. He still felt the same amount of pain, without its intensity decreasing by the slightest, however now it did not take all of his focus away and he was able to think more clearly. In truth, it was something hard to explain, but the point was that it seemed that he would be able live his life, even if not normally, at least without being chained to a bed.

He started to get up, and although he had never felt a simple motion being this difficult, he managed to do it. After he caught his breath, he started to meditate. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, he thought. Needless to say, this was not so easy either, and even though he was able to think almost clearly in the midst of agony, emptying his mind due to the constant extreme pain was something that looked impossible at the start.

In the end, he was finally able to enter a meditative state, even if a not too deep one at that. When Leyn woke up, he got awaken as well, but he was now in a more calm and relaxed state.

“Hey, how are you? You look a lot better,” Leyn said.

“A lot better,” he lied. “The Chief Healer has already left and gave me some medicines. He said that my main Core got some kind of infection, but it’ll be alright after a few weeks.”

She let out a sigh and putting her hand on his stomach said, “You aren’t very good at lying, you know? I appreciate that you want to look out for me and don’t want to be a burden on me, but please be honest with me. I don’t lie to you because I trust you, but that doesn't work if it's one-sided. You look like you’re better but in truth, nothing changed, right?”

Quin looked her into her eyes for a moment and then answered, “Sorry about that, but I really didn’t want to put my burden on others and honestly, I don’t want any pity either.”

“Okay, I understand you, but still, please be honest with me. It’s really important for me,” she said and Quin nodded.