Erin came to school the next day acting like nothing had happened. Robert was not that lucky, he got a concussion and was being held in observation in the hospital. Mia came back to school smiling like she used to. But if you paid attention to her, you'd catch her with a distant stare more often than not.

When Erin and Mia sat down and greeted the others, Matthew didn't wait before asking Erin how she was and if she had any complications of her mana depletion.

Erin breathed heavily and showed him her little finger touching the tip.

"Just here." She said with a sad smile. "I lost the feeling on the tip of my right pinky."

Matthew froze for a while. He looked at her with pity and regret:

"Sorry." He said. "I should've been more attentive."

"It's not your fault, Matt." Erin laughed. "It's just the very tip. It changes nothing in my life."

"Even so." Matthew protested. "You could've died."

"Matt." Tina admonished him. "We're all adventurers here. None of us expect a safe life. We're constantly putting our lives in danger." She added getting close and intimidating him a little with her proximity. "It's insulting that you think you need to protect the others all the time. We watch each others' back and we also fail doing so sometimes. It's not your fault."

Matthew got stunned by her proximity and her words.

"She's right Matt." Helen added. "Stopping thinking you're responsible for your party members just because you're the strongest here. We're also risking our lives."

"I'm sorry." Matthew apologized.

"You don't need to apologize." Tina said sitting up straight again. "Just stop pitting our battle wounds. We don't regret them."

"Ok. I will."

Matthew also wanted to talk to Mia, but after being admonished by Tina and Helen he didn't feel the mood to start a conversation with her. However, during lunch, it was Mia that came to him pulling him to the rooftop.

"Glad I could help." She said as soon as they arrived referring to his trial.

"Really glad you did." Matthew said. "I'm sure I'm only free because of your testimony. But you really didn't need to."

"Vanessa told me the same. That I didn't need to testify. But I wanted to. Not just to help you. I needed to say out loud. I needed to tell the world what happened." Mia said sitting down on the floor and looking at the horizon.

"And how are you? I mean. You got pretty shaken there." Matthew asked sitting beside her.

"It opened a few wounds." Mia sighed. "Things I'm trying to forget. But I'm fine. Really. Your trial helped. Saying what happened out loud helped."

"I'm glad something good came out of it." Matthew said squeezing her hand.

"Say, Matt." Mia changed the subject and letting go of his hand. "That paramedic from the trial. Maria. Will you be calling her?"

"I don't know. Don't think so. I'm not the kind of guy to go out on dates like that with people I barely know."

"Really?" Mia asked incredulous. "But you're always surrounded by women. I thought you were like this player or something."

Matthew laughed:

"I hear it a lot. Even from my sister. But no. I only have ever been with one woman. Natasha, my ex I dated in high school." He explained. "I'm not this out going when it comes to dating."

"I'm glad." Mia let escape her inner thoughts. "I mean… I'm glad you're not a womanizer. It'd be hard to be your friend if you were." She tried to justify her slip.

"What about you? Had many boyfriends?" Matthew returned the inquiry to her.

"Just 2. In high school as well." Mia said blushing. "They didn't last long."

"Why?" Matthew asked genuinely curious.

"Guess it was just a childish thing. Hand holding, kissing. But it felt more like I was dating just to say to people I had a boyfriend. Instead of really liking them. In the end, just dating for the sake of dating was just boring." Mia answered and then turned to look at Matthew. "What about you? Why did you break up?"

"She broke up with me." Matthew laughed at himself. "When I told her I wanted to be an adventurer, she said she couldn't date someone who had such a dangerous job. At the time I thought she was just being picky…" He then touched his eye patch. "But I guess she was right."

"Her loss." Mia said getting up making Matthew look at her puzzled by her comment. "We should eat before afternoon training." She said not explaining what she meant and moving towards the door.

Matthew, trying to understand her comment, took some time to get up himself and follow her.

After lunch he went to the gym. That day was going to be his first day training hand to hand combat with Master Geovanna.

Geovanna, or just Geo, was a goliath, a race of giants that hailed from a world called Elah. Goliaths had bronze skin of many hues, their hairs were straight and usually brown, but could also be blonde or silver, and their eyes were either green, blue or silver. At adult ages, a goliath could reach up to 10 feet, with an average of 8 feet and 3 inches.

The gate to Elah opened in the Middle East. The first contact with the goliaths was very peaceful and commerce with the world of Elah brought many benefits to the region.

Geovanna came to Earth as a child and grew up in Jerusalem where she started her adventuring career as soon as she turned 18. She came to Laufgraan two years ago when the school offered her a position to train their students once she turned 31.

Geovanna was 8 feet and 8 inches tall, she had a slender and muscular body, and her skin tone was a bit darker than most goliaths. She had green eyes and a long silver hair that she kept tied in a low ponytail. She was wearing a tight sleeveless black tank top and the same gray leggings with bright green stripes on the side some female students used as gym uniform.

Geovanna's voice was loud and it startled Matthew a bit the first time he heard her speaking. He thought she was screaming at him. But her voice was just naturally loud given her size, which he found soon that was the case, since Master Geovanna was the sweetest person he ever met. She treated him with such care, taught him with such zeal, that he considered training with her more often than 2 times a week.

"Put your feet a bit more forward dear and angle it to protect you knee from side attacks. Like this." Geovanna said showing Matthew how to stand.

She was teaching him basic kickboxing. How to throw a punch and how to kick. How to stand, how to move and how to dodge. Then she put him in front of a punching bag and told him to just go at it applying what he learned.

On the last 15 minutes of training, Geovanna always made all the students spar with each other, each day changing partners.

"Matthew. You're with me today." She said putting on a thick pair of boxing gloves.

"Should I put some gloves too?" Matthew asked looking at her adjusting the gloves on her hands.

"No dear." She laughed. "These are for me not to kill you." She added casually making Matthew swallow hard.

Matthew made a mistake. He confused Geovanna's' gentleness with softness. Geovanna was a master of her craft. She was still employed by one of the greatest adventurer schools of the world. Of course she was not weak.

The first punch Geovanna threw hit Matthew right in the jaw that sent him flying backwards.

"You ok there Matthew?" Geovanna asked with a smile on her face and bouncing around excited. It was like she became someone else. "Get up and try to hit me, boy."

Fighting Geovanna reminded him of his fight against the kidnapper that he killed. He was completely defenseless against her. His punches didn't land and hers came down on him like a truck. The gloves she was wearing were enchanted with a healing spell that healed the target of any damage they took after each blow. Which meant that her punches hurt like hell, but caused no harm.

Geovanna had no mercy on Matthew. The next 15 minutes were basically her beating him up and waiting for him to get up. By the midpoint of their spar, Matthew's demonic mana surged as he got frustrated by being beaten up so mercilessly. But not even that helped him, seeing he use the demonic mana only made Geovanna go harder on him making him fly several times.

"That's it, dear." She said when the 15 minutes ended losing her smile and returning to her gentle demeanor. "Time's up. Purify yourself."

Matthew used the Purification skill to hide the demonic mana and sat down on the floor. He breathed deeply while Master Geovanna said goodbye to the other students.

"What was that for?" Matthew asked her when she returned to him.

"Training, dear." Geovanna said giving him a towel to dry his sweat.

"But you just beat me up the entire time." He laughed at how helpless he was against her.

"Yes. And you don't realize, but you learned a lot being my punching bag, dear." She giggled. "Each punch you take is a lesson. Each feint you fall for is a lesson. It creates muscle memory. It creates instinct. The pain makes you not forget. Even if you can't ever land a hit on me, fighting stronger enemies gives you insight that just training normally can't give you." The master explained. "You already had very good instincts. Perhaps because of all the hardships you faced until now. We just need to polish you, teach proper form and technique and you'll be a great fighter."

It was hard to believe her words when all he did was be beat up by her. However, he decided to believe it. Matthew nodded in understanding.

Geovanna smiled:

"Good. Now go home and rest, dear. Tomorrow I'll put you to face someone at your level."

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