The main chamber of the bathhouse was split down the middle with a 3 meter tall stone partition, with the edge of the partition having directions for male or female patrons. The room was filled with a fair amount of people walking around the baths, with small, chest height wooden barriers separating each of the baths. On the left and right sides of the large room's back wall were larger partitions with signs showing a single person. The left and right sides of the room looked to have separate shower stations for washing off before getting in the baths.
'Wow, this place is pretty nice. Although I'd prefer if it were a little more private, I suppose that would defeat the purpose of it being a public bath.'
Walking over to the showers on the left and finding a free stall, he sat down, closed the sliding panel separating the stall and outside view, and hesitated.
'Man, I didn't feel embarrassed until it was time to derobe…'
Blushing slightly, Alex quickly removed his robe and started to cleanse themself. The constant stream of water coming through a hole in the wall and flowing into a grate by his feet quickly filled the wooden pale provided on the light grey stone counter.
'I wonder where all this water comes from…maybe an underground spring? I guess the simple answer could be magic.'
Once Alex had gotten used to the environment, he was able to calm his mind and focus on the cleansing shower. Finishing in a few minutes, he stood up and let out a sigh after drying off and putting back on his robe, then walked over to one of the baths in the main chamber.
'It will be a bit embarrassing, but I should use the public baths. Getting used to the culture of this realm is important for learning about the people…'
Heading over to one of the rectangular baths with as few people as he could spot, which luckily was 0, Alex looked into the smaller sectioned off area.
Between the smaller wooden partitions and the edge of the slightly raised bath was a set of wooden racks, presumably for one's robes and towels.
'Thankfully this one has no people. Now I can just relax for a while…as long as I forget that I'm naked in public. It feels surreal. The real world banned facilities like this a long time ago…I wonder why?'
Thinking of the expanse of black and grey that seemed to make up most of the real world as he knew it, Alex felt his spirits dim down, but it helped him forget his slight shame towards his current situation.
Putting his robe and towel on the rack near the stone wall at the back, Alex slowly dipped himself into the warm waters. The water almost perfectly clear, he couldn't help but feel a little exposed.
In his life, Alex had never been to a pool or beach, or any body of water where one typically submerged themselves, but it's not like he didn't get the appeal. In the real world, water rationing meant that it was all but impossible to run a bath as an average citizen even if you had one in your home, so he had only experienced them in Dreams.
Here, Alex could feel the wings connecting his arms and sides relax, lessening the weight on his back even if it wasn't by much. Unlike the quick, lukewarm showers he took in real life and earlier at the cleansing stations, the waters in the large stone baths here were warm and comforting.
Closing his eyes, Alex felt time drifting away for a few moments, and he took calm, even breaths.
'This is relaxing; I get why G likes stuff like this. Though I wonder what's in the private section…probably just a smaller bath and nearby shower.'
Tuning out the ambient noises of the flowing water and voices echoing around the huge room, Alex submerged their whole torso, leaving just his head outside of the water. Letting himself enjoy the warm sensation encasing his body, Alex felt like he was encased in a warm, intangible blanket.
'Maybe it's time to look at the menu; Web did say that I leveled up…I guess I never asked if G checked their status after the statue either.'
"Menu."
Alias-Alex of Mosshaven
Species-(Batkin)6/20
Primary Profession-(Hunter)6/10
Secondary Profession-(Chef)
Skills: (Archery)5/10, (Dagger)1/10, (Tracking)2/10, (Echolocation)5/20, (Stealth)2/10, (Nightvision)5/10, (Dismantling)2/10, (Cooking)2/10, (Balance)4/10, (Enhanced Physique)3/10, (Evasion)1/10, (Unarmed)1/10
Titles: (Dreamer), (Realm Bound-Mosshaven)
'Oh. I guess the statue was a lot stronger than the warg…or maybe the first few levels are supposed to pass quickly.'
Looking through his own status, Alex was a bit surprised at the quickness at which his skills had improved in only a bit less than one day.
'I guess I should practice cooking when I have the chance, otherwise it'll have been a waste. First though, I'll need to eat something; I'm starting to get hungry after this long without food.'
Raising his shoulders out of the water and resuming his old posture leaning against the edge of the wall, Alex looked around the room visible from where he was.
Across from Alex at the moment was the row of shower stalls standing against the wall, and various carvings decorated the stone above it, ending with the ceiling being made up of a seamless layer of glass, making it look completely open from the top. With how visible the sun was at the moment, he assumed it was around noon, and they had gotten to the baths around 20 minutes ago.
'I wonder how long I've been in the baths…the clerk said to not take more than an hour for courtesy, but they didn't do anything to track how long we would be in. It could be that they charge customers based on the cubbies we left our stuff in if we take too long. I'll just get out now and go have my armor cleaned.'
Reaching over for his towel resting on the wooden rack, he dried his shoulders and got out of the water. Quickly drying off then putting on the robe, Alex went back out the way he came and into the changing rooms.
***
After handing over the heavy bag filled with stone armor, G walked to the deeper area filled with square baths. Seeing the icons on the edge of the wall, they squinted before also noticing the back wall of the room that looked to have private baths.
Going to the right side of the larger, separated chamber, G went to the shower stalls and cleansed themselves. The water ran down their rock hard skin smoothly, but did divert around the spot of their cracked wound in the side. While the cracks had shrunken to a much smaller size than they were initially thanks to G using their stone affinity to try and heal the wound, closing it entirely would take more time.
'I suppose the tradeoff for being made of stone is that healing doesn't really affect me the same…well, that's fine. It's not like we have a healer in the group yet, and stuff like that is always a money sink.'
Finishing up with the shower, G put the robe back on and walked to the back wall with the private sections. Unlike the larger chamber with the square baths, this room had much less space, but it looked to be sectioned off in many different 3 meter to side rooms.
The rooms themselves were composed of wooden walls and sliding doors like the changing rooms in the front of the building. Unoccupied rooms were left open, and G could see a few open rooms where the bath in the room, being about 2 meters to a side and having a wooden rack beside it, was releasing a large amount of steam.
Going over to one of the open rooms and closing the door behind them, G let out a breath of relief. Taking off the robe and placing it, as well as their towel, on the rack, G slid into the small but pleasantly warm bath.
'I kind of feel like a water feature…'
Taking their time to relax in the comfortable waters, they let the worries and stress of the real world drift away.