After Quin crossed the bridge to the other side of the Feryan River, he stopped and looked back at the city he lived his whole life.

It was a strange and sad, yet exciting sensation he felt. He was looking forward to getting new experiences and to explore the world outside Crows’ Road, however, everything that he had, that mattered was located there. This was the place where he was born, went to school, made his first friends and love.

Quin thought back to the various things that happened there and to the matters that remained unresolved. How is Father doing? I didn’t even get to see him once since I’ve woken up at the hospital. Is he really in another city because of work? If only I knew which one is it then I could visit him, but mom told me that he’s on some kind of secret mission, so even she doesn’t know about the details...

Then he had thought of Aline and about their relationship. When he bought gifts for Leyn, he contemplated on buying a present for her as well but eventually decided against it. Lately, she had been cold and distant with him, and it was only then when he realized that if he really loved her then maybe it should remain like that. Quin loved her without a doubt, the same he had for years, however, he was a cripple and someone who only had at maximum a few years left.

Do I truly want to make her feel the pain of losing your special one when I’ll die? He thought. Though she was cold to me and it seemed like she wanted to avoid me, I know that Aline loves me as well. In the end, our relationship would get back to how it’s been, but happiness would only remain for a brief amount time and that’s not want I want to give her.

Quin was not happy about that he could not do anything about the Shriekers and the crazy cult, but that would not be his problem. Naturally, he told Leyn to be careful and keep her eyes open and also asked her to watch out for his mother if anything happened.

Alright, it’s time to go!

Quin rode his horse on the road along the Feryan River in a normal tempo. Hounxi was about two thousand kilometers away, so it would take around a month of time for him to get there. Although he planned to live off the land for the duration of his journey, he brought a couple of days worth of food for the first days.

The landscape within a hundred or two kilometers of the city was used by the local farmers for agriculture and animal husbandry, and Quin did not want to bother them. Though he liked the scenery of vast the vast green fields of crops, it did feel a bit unnatural to him and also became more boring with each day passed.

It was only the fourth day that he had left behind the areas which were worked by men and reached where -- except the road and the occasional outposts -- the true face of nature was present.

His path led him along the side of a forest, where although the trees grew almost to the same heights as they did in the Wilderness, overall safety was not an issue even for Quin himself.

These days went by relatively peacefully, but he still stopped regularly to rest and more importantly to meditate. Whilst he felt his control over the pain improve day by day, there were occasions when he failed at keeping it. Fortunately, he had developed the ability to foresee when his mind was about to turn into a complete mess by at least a few minutes, thus he always managed to take a break in time from riding and lie down somewhere nearby until it passed.

At noon on the fourth day, he decided to stop to hunt for food. Well, I’ve brought my fishing rod with me, but I’ve not been doing anything but riding on the horse or just resting, so maybe some exercises will feel good. Obviously, he remembered that his pain had first started due to physical exertion, but it has been already there, therefore he doubted that anything would happen.

The outer part of the forest was not too dense and outside birds and smaller rodents, the animal population was scarce. Thus Quin wandered further in for about half an hour. Man, compared to the city it’s so much more calm and relaxing. Though it’s not silent, it’s still quieter compared to our neighborhood. He selected a tall and not too thick tree and climbed to its top, which gave him a beautiful scenery. The Forest of Fengyu looks awesome from above, and I can’t even see its borders. Quin found a comfortable branch there, sat down and just kept on watching the forest.

Only after hearing his stomach rumble did he wake up and climbed down to finish for what he came here in the first place. He had read upon the flora and fauna of Fengyu and knew that wild boars were quite common around here, so that was what he was aiming for.

Lady luck was not on his side, however, as when he had finally found one and was about to throw his spear at it, an inhabitant of the forest decided that Quin was the perfect prey for itself. Out of the corner of his eyes, his could see a yellow animal moving towards him, and from this alone, he knew who was his opponent: a yellow bear. They grew up to two or three meters of height and in contrast with the majority of bears had long legs, which they used for quick jumps at their target.

Although Quin noticed the creature, he only reacted when it was only a second away. He swiftly sidestepped and when the bear was at where he had been previously, he thrust the spear through its head with all of his might, pinning it straight into the tree next to them. There were no flashy moves or awe-inspiring techniques and spells, only deadly efficiency.

After killing the bear he felt great, excited and like he was living once again. It did not require a lot of smarts for him to realize the reason behind this. After going through so many negative experiences and being faced with the fact every day that he was a cripple, a weak nobody, triumphing over a foe -- even if he could have killed it with his bare hands in an honest fight -- made him feel like he was back at the top.

Quin walked to the corpse and pulled his spear out of it. After pondering a bit over what to do with the dead bear, he decided that he would not waste the prey of his first hunt. Alright, so I can try and make some kind of clothing out of its fur, maybe a coat? Well, even if this winter is the coldest I had ever experienced, I think a fur coat would be kinda overkill. Or maybe I could use it on the colder nights? Hmm, that makes me think that perhaps I should try hunting at night someday... But anyways a coat it is. I can prepare its meat and eat a part of it now, and then pack some of it for tomorrow. Oh, I could use its teeth and bones to make some kind of souvenir as well, maybe a necklace? Hmm, man these things sound so stupid! He snorted. Whatever, who cares as long as it’s fun?

Skinning the bear and preparing its meat proved to be more difficult than he had previously imagined, but he still enjoyed the process. Although they had learned about these kinds of things in school and he even had some experience, the truth was that those times he had his Lightning Qi to help out.

He made a smaller campfire and started by cooking the meat. It would take an hour or two for it to finish, so meanwhile he began cutting the fur into smaller parts and sewing them together. It was already late in the afternoon when he finished with these tasks. It’s not the best, that’s for sure, but I think it’s something that I can be proud of as my first try. He looked down at his finished fur coat, which was definitely something usable, but would not ever be called fashionable. The last thing he did before he set out to eat his long anticipated meal, was breaking off some of the bear's teeth and stringing them up into a thread, which he proceeded to put around his neck.

After eating, there was one thing he was sure of: bear roast would not become his new favorite.

Author's note: I know that a lot of readers had problems with Quin's change in personality after chapter 16 and while I still disagree with the opinion that it was out of nowhere, I do know that it was quite a sudden change. It was definitely something that I could've done better.

I have already explained my reasons a couple of times and also my view on this issue. Eventually, after a long discussion with my beta reader, I decided to modify some of the chapters before the 16th to include more clues and details regarding Quin's personality. I've already edited four of the chapters (those ones that have "v2" at the end of them), but I'm still not done. I really hope that when I finish the editing it'll make my fiction better and something that my readers will like more as well.