The Human Giant



Yoze watched as the Three-headed Fox demon quickly grew stronger and its illusory presence became stronger. Eventually, Yoze realized that the giant fox demon no longer stood in front of him.

No, there wasn't even a demon inside the black void. He was all alone for the first time. But he didn't panic as he knew that the fox demon didn't disappear but became so strong that he couldn't even see it anymore even if it was right in front of him.

Instead, he just had to wait for his dream to end and he would have additional strong talent in his arsenal. 

"I wonder what will happen to my spiritual energy that flows the path that the Serpent Spiritual Body cultivation talent created. "

As if something had heard his concern Yoze felt the ground below him tremble. As a heavy and oppressive aura filled the black void.

"Hisss!" 

A sharp and demonic hiss of a snake echoed throughout the void as Yoze saw the Giant Serpent Demon from his imagination reappear. The Serpent demon's black scales shimmered with green light and its claw had been covered in the same spiritual energy that flowed through its body.

"Roar!"

Suddenly Yoze heard a soft but harsh roar spring up from the void as if in protest to the Serpent demon's arrival.

"Baa!"

"A sheep?" Startled by the sudden appearance of the baa of a sheep, Yoze turned around to find that standing behind him was a regular goat. 

Even though this ordinary goat looked like it would be killed by the Serpent Demon sneezing, this goat had no fear in its eyes. If anything the mad look of anger in its eyes was on par with the two demons.

"Hiss!"

"Roar!"

"Baa!"

The roars of three different types of beasts shook the black void threatening to rip it apart and force itself into reality. 

This battle of the legendary demon's Spiritual bodies would have made any normal person collapse in fear but Yoze simply watched as the battle was about to begin. He was thrilled to see that his talents could have conflicts in his body.

He did not know what the results would be but he could already feel his body changing. At that moment Yoze's spiritual energy was split into two different paths. One of them was the Serpent Demon's pathway which hosted a shiny green spiritual energy. The other was the path of the Three-headed fox demon and hosted spiritual energy similar to its own.

From the few intersection points of these two pathways, the two types of spiritual energy erupted into explosive conflict and rapidly expanded the battlefield to Yoze's entire body. This Spiritual Body war in his body induced spiritual energy creation as these two forces fought. 

"My goat talent is fighting back?"

Unlike the other two talents that existed more in the spiritual realm, Yoze could feel a tingling sensation in his bones, blood, and muscles from his Goat talent fighting back the only way it could.

Yoze loved watching the battle of the century occur in his body but the war quickly slowed and returned to a set of small locations that had intersections of his demonic talents causing his spiritual energy to slowly increase. The battle continued but Yoze felt that his talents weren't even close to merging as he thought but they nonetheless did not become weaker either.

The only exception was that his Goat talent exited the war and settled down after figuring out it wasn't endangered.

After regaining control of his body and mind Yoze saw that he had unknowingly walked a whole mile closer to Fire Lake. Being so much closer to fire lake made him truly recognize how massive Fire Lake was. 

He couldn't see the ends of the lake and the bright orange flames reminded him of the sun. 

"So bright,"  

Closer to the fire than before Yoze didn't feel that it was hot at all. Instead, it was a bit chilly and he wanted to get closer to feel its warmth.

Still, Yoze turned back around and left to meet up with his father and Leah. He was hoping that Jewel had just drunk too much alcohol and lost track of time but still made it back.

"About the time you showed up, we were waiting for you for nearly an hour."

When he returned he saw that in addition to his father, Leah, and Jewel being at the carriage but also that same kid who they asked for information back at Gail Village.

The kid's clothes were covered in dried vomit and he had a big bag of treats in one of his hands. He did not look happy and looked at Yoze with an expression of asking for help.

"Yoze, look I found the same kid from the village. What are the chances? We must treat him to a meal because fate had brought us together!" Jewel said, slurring her words a bit.

"A meal? I don't think that would work." 

"Why is that?" Jewel asked.

"Because he is sneaking away," Yoze said, pointing at the youngster who had started running after being called out.

"Hey come back!" Jewel wanted to chase after the kid she had captured but was stopped dead in her tracks when Yoze put his hand on her shoulder.

"We can find him tomorrow if fate allows it. As of right now we need to get some sleep so we can leave bright and early."

"Fine," 

Even though Jewel was tipsy she was still an experienced carriage driver and explorer so she knew what her priorities were.

After packing up their prizes and treats the group left the Eternal Burning Lake festival and found that they weren't the only people leaving. Plenty of other travelers and local townspeople were heading back as well.

So they were able to rent out three rooms from an inn in town to get some valuable rest. The next morning, the group packed up their things and left the town.

"Jewel?" Suddenly a question that Yoze had forgotten to ask Jewel earlier popped into his head.

"Yeah,"

"What is this town's name? "

"Didn't I tell you beforehand? Forget, the town that holds the Eternal Burning lake is Burning Town."

"Ah, I remember why I did not remember this town's name."