Chapter 108: Getting Better By Learning (1/2)

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The link is also in the synopsis.

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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]

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Quinn stood in front of the full-size mirror in his, Eddie's, and Marcus's dorm room while twisting and turning his body. He was looking to the mirror to see the state of his body.

”Alright, no pain, no scarring, the coloration is consistent; everything seems to be back to normal,” noted Quinn as he jumped, flexed, and moved his body to check if his body was functioning normally.

The Leviathan's Underpass incident had been three days ago, and it had taken Quinn this time to heal himself while pretending that nothing was wrong with him. With copious use of glamors and illusions, Quinn was able to hide the fact that he was walking around with a punctured lung and a ripped intestine amid healing.

After the Time-Turner events, Quinn had pulled an all-nighter to fix enough stuff that would allow him to function without arousing suspicion. For three days, Quinn had spent almost all his time in the Room of Requirements, fully concentrating on healing.

Quinn didn't have experience with healing humans. Sure he could heal minor wounds, but this level of injuries wasn't something he had tackled. So every step he took was planned with caution and executed with excess care, even if it meant that Quinn spent almost every waking second of his day casting Healing magic.

But that hard work and persistence were rewarded with a complete recovery. If someone were to look at Quinn, they wouldn't realize that he was stabbed, cut, and fractured just three days ago.

”Damn, I look good,” smirked Quinn narcissistically, flexing poses in front of the mirror.

At that moment, Marcus walked out of the attached bathroom after having taken a bath to see Quinn making poses in front of the mirror while dressed only in his underwear.

”Don't be creepy, and drop that smirk; it's weird,” said Marcus as he passed by Quinn towards his wardrobe. ”Dress up quickly. I'm hungry; we need to go to breakfast.”

”... yeah,” said Quinn, clearing his throat as he stopped posing and walked towards his bed where he had laid down his clothes.

Then Marcus saw Eddie, lying face-side down on his bed, not really moving.

”What happened to him?”

”Hmm? Oh, it's nothing. I just put him through an anaerobic course. He is gassed out,” replied Quinn, as he buttoned up his shirt.

Marcus lifted his leg and gently kicked Eddie on his bum. Eddie groaned.

”Come on, get in the shower. We need to get going,” spoke Marcus as he too started to get ready for the day.

Eddie groaned for a solid ten seconds before pushing himself off the bed. He walked towards the bathroom. As he passed by Quinn, Eddie tried to kick him, but Quinn arched his back forward, making him miss.

Quinn chuckled as Eddie clicked his tongue and walked into the bathroom.

After getting dressed, Quinn and Marcus went down to the common room to wait for Eddie as he got ready.

”Good morning, Luna,” greeted Quinn and sat beside his favorite Ravenclaw, excluding himself, of course.

Luna lifted her head from this week's copy of Quibbler to face Quinn. ”Good morning...” She then stared at Quinn for a good few seconds before asking. ”It seems you are feeling alright.”

Quinn sat down beside Luna and raised a brow in inquiry. ”What do you mean? I was always alright, Luna.” Inside he was feeling a little worried.

”You weren't feeling well for the past three days, but today you seem fine,” answered Luna.

”Why do you say that?”

Luna took out a package from her bookbag and turned to Quinn. ”When talking to the clients in the office, you were less... Quinn-like, it wasn't that different, but I noticed it. Second, you were smiling and speaking less than usual, so I assumed you weren't feeling well.”

She placed the package onto Quinn's lap and said, ”This is your copy of the special issue of The Quibbler. It goes out next week, but daddy sent two in advance; one for me and this one for you.”

Quinn stared at Luna in amazement as the blonde went back to reading the special issue of Quibbler while holding it sideways because of the sideways layout of one of the articles inside.

He had thought that he had successfully pulled acting normal, but it seemed like someone observant like Luna, who spent a lot of time with him, noticed that something was wrong.

'I still have a long way to go, it seems,' smiled Quinn, but then another thought entered his mind, and it made him think, 'Maybe it's a good thing.'

Quinn took out a chocolate from his pocket and held his hand in front of Luna. ”This is for you, Luna. But don't eat it now, okay?”

Luna glanced at the chocolate, picked it up from Quinn's hand, pocketed the small chocolate before going back to reading.

Marcus came back from checking the in-house library to see if it was updated. ”There are two new books: one on Arithmancy and the second on Astronomy... Why are you smiling?” asked Marcus when he noticed a broad smile on Quinn's face.

”It's nothing,” replied Quinn as he put the special issue of The Quibbler into his book bag.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Quinn stretched inside the Aquatic Vault's stone cave with a severe expression on his face.

He raised his eyes towards the triangular entrance and walked towards it to start the trials. As Quinn walked towards the entrance, he smoothly raised his hand to touch the orb of water, which provided him with the safety teleportation insignia.

The water orb was absorbed into his body, and the blue insignia appeared on his body.

”Let's do a speed run.”

As Quinn stepped into the triangular entrance, he began transfiguring himself. The insides and outside of his body wriggled, and the underwater respiratory system began to form. By the time he was teleported, Quinn had already taken the first gulp of water, which activated the system.

...

Quinn opened his eyes. He felt the water around him disappear and saw the raging vortex beneath him.

Without using any magic to slow himself down, Quinn assumed a diving posture and plunged into Poseidon's Wrath with zero hesitation.

Inside the violent water, Quinn raised his hands wide and exerted water magic. Immediately the rampaging water started to curve around him, leaving behind a much gentler flow for him to stand in.

His eyes sharpened as he looked towards the center of the vortex, and even though he couldn't see the center because of the moving water, Quinn knew it was there, and he had to get there.

Out was the gradual path switch approach which Quinn had used when he had been helpless against the roaring currents.

But now?

Quinn looked at the gentle stream of water surrounding him.

Now, the angry maelstrom bent under his will, under his magic, under the control he was able to exert on anything water.

Quinn contorted his body slightly, and with that movement, the magic started to build inside him. It rushed, ready to perform supernatural feats, and with a command from Quinn, it released into the world.

He shot forward, and the arctic blue magic rushed ahead and around him, forcing the water to calm down for Quinn to cruise through the path as if he owned it.

Poseidon's Wrath, which required Quinn to go in circles around the vortex as he got close to the center, was conquered as Quinn paved a straight route directly to the center.

When he came out to the center with speed, Quinn dropped straight down, without bothering to slow himself down, and entered Tohem's Delight without an intermission.

...

Quinn enjoyed the calm embrace of the chasm of darkness.

But he instantly broke the calm by creating spherical waves of water to launch a search operation to the next trial.

Tehom's Delight shook as wave after wave of deepwater vibrations were sent out from Quinn, who stood straight in the water, already used to the unusual calmness of Tehom's Delight. He could shake the effects if he concentrated.

Within a few seconds, Quinn got back the vibrations, and using haptics and magical senses, he interpreted them to find the location of the next triangular entrance.

'Up,' thought Quinn as the entrance was above him.

A burst of arctic blue magic pushed Quinn up at a jet speed. He left behind shock waves of water in trail.

Quinn didn't slow down and directly entered the entrance, which teleported him out of Tehom's Delight.

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The light from the crystal lattice assaulted Quinn's eyes, causing him to squint a little, but the moment his eyes adjusted, Quinn focused on his next target.

The well of Hadal Encumbrance that aimed to crush anyone who dared to venture inside. And it waited for Quinn to get inside and face the challenge.

Quinn stepped into the well, and despite it being a deep hole, Quinn walked to the center as if he was walking from the shallow end of the pool to the deeper side.

Ripples shook the water inside Hadal Encumbrance as Quinn sank down into the well.

Instead of just creating a small area of normalized pressure, Quinn normalized the entire well and all the water inside.

The entirety of the pressure that threatened to crush Quinn disappeared as his magic applied dynamic water force to push up against the downward pressure.

His magic overrode the oppressive nature of the trial and forced it to convert into something that Quinn desired.

Quinn stared down towards the entrance at the bottom of the well. The words etched above the entrance stared back at him, which made him recall the jets of razor sharp water that pierced holes in his body.

His eyes closed them as he slipped into the entrance and was taken away to the place that was named The Leviathan's Underpass.

...

The same tunnel greeted Quinn with its white marbled floor and the circular wall of water that encased Quinn inside in a tubular form.