...

"...Ugh..." I groaned under my breath as I regained consciousness.

After a few moments I opened my eyes to see a white colored ceiling. I stared at it for what seemed like an eternity until my memories began to come.

...Challenge...

....Combat...

...Fire and Ice...

...so I lost... I thought...

Strangely he didn't feel upset about his loss, but it obviously didn't feel good, kind of like a bitter end neither good nor bad. In the end after Absolute Zero, he let his guard down as he thought Flora couldn't get out of there... but when he managed to free himself he was too shocked and unfocused to try to keep his eyes on Flora, if he had he might have beaten her....

Though on second thought after Absolute Zero he lost much of his Mana, so he wouldn't be able to use the Inner Mana Strengthening to its fullest.

"*Haa*, at least it was a fun match..." he muttered as he reviewed the match.

Suddenly the door opened revealing three people, the first was a nurse, dressed entirely in white, she had a mask on and her black hair was tied in a ponytail. The other two people were Alex and Flora.

"You're awake! I'm glad! I thought I had sent you to the other world!" Flora said as she quickly approached, with Alex following in her wake.

"Shhhh" Said the nurse as she gave Flora a death glare.

"...Sorry..." Flora said quietly.

The nurse nodded before walking over and putting her hands on my head, her hands started to glow blue.

"Um" Nurse nodded before grabbing a piece of paper, writing something on it and handing it to her.

He has been unconscious for two hours due to the large amount of magic you used, your amount of mana is still not fully recovered, so I recommend a rest for the next two days, if after the two days of rest your body has not recovered come back here and I will give you some medicine for your recovery. Healing Magic helps a lot but I am not an elf and we can only heal you up to a certain point, I don't know how you got your wounds but don't do it again unless someone better for healing is available, understood. - Nurse Lima.

After reading the note, I turned to the nurse and nodded my head, after that she left leaving us alone.

"Sooooooo... how are you feeling?" Flora asked with concern.

"I could be better..." I replied half-heartedly.

"Oh my, I didn't hit you that hard did I?" said Flora with an innocent face.

"Flora you literally broke three of his ribs with that last attack, I don't know what your big idea was hitting him at maximum power, but I can't expect you to think much about that when you're in the middle of a fight" Alex replied rolling his eyes at Flora.

"W-well maybe you're right about that part, but a fight is about hurting each other, if you don't have that mentality then you're no good as a fighter" Responded Flora sharply as she averted her gaze.

"...You broke three of my ribs?..." I muttered under my breath in disbelief.

"*Ahem* how was I going to say...that was a great fight! I didn't expect you to have the other catalyst on your back, originally I used it there too but it was getting tricky to use it effectively with my fighting style" Flora exclaimed excitedly as she ignored the question.

"Um, it was... interesting..." I nodded as I thought about how she performed in the fight.

Her footwork is almost perfect besides confusing the opponent a lot with her constant movement, at first I thought she had some hidden weapon since it was stupid not to have a weapon... after all who brings a fist to a sword fight... I even expected a shield or something, but in the end it didn't happen... she knew how to trick me and confuse me more than once and connect hits where I thought my guard was impenetrable... so this is genius huh... not to mention her stupid control over fire....

"How are you so good at controlling fire?" I asked curiously.

"Mnnnn..."

Flora thought to herself as she struck a thinking pose and closed her eyes.

After a few minutes she opened her eyes again.

"I don't know, it has always been made easier to control fire than other elements, fire is said to be the symbol of power and destruction, but to me it is just something beautiful and fantastic that with enough care can surpass the other elements in other aspects. One of my goals is to take my Fire Magic as high as I can, I want to see what lies beyond" Flora replied with incredible excitement and anticipation, showing how much she believed in her own words.

""...."" Jean and Alex gasped at Flora's display of wisdom about her.

"I think if we put our will and motivations into something, it just comes out better than if you don't put any intention behind it, if you do that it will just be an empty attack, no motivation, no will and no strength" She finished explaining her thoughts with a big smile.

"Wow... when did you become so wise?" asked Alex with wide eyes to Flora's intelligence.

"Idiot!!!, I'm always this smart only your eyes can't see my intelligence at a glance" Flora growled removing the smile she had before and showing a fierce look at Alex.

"Sureeeee... let's just say it's like this..." Replied Alex sarcastically not noticing the look Flora had on his face.

"That's just the way it is, you idiot!" shouted Flora as she began to seriously argue with Alex.

Meanwhile Jean was immersed in his thoughts.

If willpower can enhance an attack then haven't I been putting enough willpower into my magic? Have I only been using magic half-heartedly? Or is my willpower just not that strong? What is my goal? What do I want to be?....

"*Haa*, this is hard..." I said quietly as I saw Flora hitting Alex's head with her fists, funny since she's quite a bit shorter than him.

I guess my next goal is to find my will... I thought with a smile on my face.

---

Although Flora hadn't realized it she had helped Jean immensely in taking him first step on him long journey to seek a goal in which she can invest all him will.

Now it is Jean's journey to discover what that goal will be that awakens his icy soul and lifts him to new heights....

...