After sleeping for a few hours, Felix woke up in the afternoon and instantly made his way to the dining hall when his stomach growled fiercely.
Filling his tummy to the brim, he stood outside Steve's room and knocked on the door.
"Hey Steve, are you there inside?"
He didn't know whether Steve had been completely healed or not, so he came to check on him.
There was no response from inside the room, so he knocked a few more times and called out to him until the door of the next room opened up.
"Can you stop shouting Felix? I'm trying to concentrate on meditating here....."
A dishevelled curly brown-haired boy poked his head out of the door, showing an annoyed expression.
"Oh Eric, it's you. Sorry to disturb you, but is Steve not in his room? I've wanted to check on his condition after what had happened yesterday...."
Felix said as he walked over to Eric's room and sneaked a peek inside, finding the room clean and tidy except for many books thrown all over the bed.
Eric quickly shut the door as he walked out of his room with an awkward face and replied unsurely.
"Cough-, if it's about Steve, then you don't have to worry about anything. That guy jumped back into the training room as soon he woke up and got healed."
He sounded tired for some reason as if he had tried stopping the boy, but had failed to convince him to take a rest.
But seeing Steve's attitude, even Eric got motivated because of which he was meditating really hard to grow stronger right now.
"Are you serious? Sigh....he is Steve, so maybe I should've seen this coming."
Felix raised a brow hearing that and shook his head with a wry smile.
Eric just shrugged helplessly.
"Alright, I won't take your time then. I'll check him out and see for myself if he's right in the head or something.", Felix waved at him and walked away towards the stairs.
Eric went back inside his room after sending Felix off and busied himself with meditating and learning on his path of a mage.
Meanwhile, Felix went upstairs to the second floor where the training rooms were and saw one of those rooms had a red stand at the door.
'He should be here.'
Grabbing the knob of the door, Felix pushed open the door and entered inside.
"Boom!"
A sudden shockwave spread from the middle of the room as soon he walked in, making him narrow his eyes.
"What the-!"
Felix widened his eyes in shock, witnessing the strange scene in front of him.
"Bang! Bang!"
A crazy Steve was recklessly smashing his sword all over the walls and the floor of the room, his face contorted in agitation as if he had lost his mind.
"Steve, what the fuck is-", Felix called out in confusion.
But it seemed that the boy didn't like the interruption as he raised his sword and rushed at him without any mercy in his moves.
Felix quickly grabbed his shortsword that he had fortunately brought, his lips raising upwards with a hint of anticipation.
"A fight? Bring it on then...."
The four of them left the place, leaving behind the bandit's building where there was no one alive except for some slaves and workers.
*****
In the Twilight Chaos guild building, the training room.
Two boys gasped for breath as they supported themselves on their weapons.
Steve seemed to have gotten back to his senses as he grinned tiredly.
"Thanks for that, Felix. I guess I went a bit out of control there."
Felix shook his head calmly.
"It's alright. I understand what you're going through right now."
Steve gave a forced smile and sat down on the floor as he sighed in exhaustion.
"It's terrible, you know. The feeling when you lose without even putting up a fight....."
Felix nodded, his thoughts going back to when the Rank 4 man had effortlessly caught him within his grasp.
"The guild wars will be in a few days, and I don't know how strong opponents we'll be facing. There's a possibility that we won't even be of any use in the war. Just cannon fodder."
He continued with a grieved expression while clenching his fists.
"I....I don't want this....I want to grow stronger. So strong that no one would be able to look down on me again. So strong that no one can harm my friends again. And...and..."
Felix walked over to Steve and patted his shoulder, giving the boy a encouraging smile.
"I get you, Steve. Even I want to grow stronger until there is no one who can defeat me. There's a long road ahead of us, so don't be worried. We'll definitely reach a level where nobody has ever reached."
His words made Steve breathless, whose eyes turned brighter and brighter, as if something deep inside of him was waking up.
The words 'a level where nobody has ever reached' made his heart skip a beat, imagining himself standing above everyone else where nobody could be at the same level as him.
Felix widened his smile and pulled Steve up, standing together as both of them held each others hand tightly.
"You sure we can do it?", Steve asked unsurely as he knew how hard of a goal they had set of themselves.
"Well, I don't doubt myself but I can't say for you."
Steve twitched his lips and gave a light kick to Felix's side, prompting the boy to break out in laughter.
"Haha stop stop, I was just kidding.", Felix rubbed his paining side and said with a chuckle.
"Remember, as long as we live, there's nothing stopping us from growing stronger."
Steve looked taken aback as he nodded with an excited face.
"...as long as we live, there's nothing stopping us from growing stronger....", he repeated as the words sinked inside his mind, raising his desire to train and survive in this cruel world.
Felix let go of Steve's hand, picking up his sword as he waved at him and walked out of the training room.
"See you later, Steve. I got something important to do now."
Steve nodded and continued to stare at the boy's back, his face turning determined as he muttered under his breath.
"Don't worry, Felix. I'll soon grow stronger and even surpass you...."
*****