The moment the elemental disappeared, everyone but Rose and Drex fell to the ground, exhausted, finally able to relax. Tesilim also got the notification confirming the quest was done, but he quickly dismissed it, too tired to care. They all had been on edge since the fight started, even if it hadn’t been that tense at first; by the end, they were all on a knife's edge, as any wrong move could lead to death.

  As to why Rose and Drex didn’t fall to the ground, well, Drex had disappeared right at the very end of the fight as his mana trickled to an end. The drake had already been getting translucent with every passing second as he kept up his breath barrage and had finally puffed out. Meanwhile, Rose, who had regained consciousness shortly after Jasmine entered the fight, could not move. That explosion had been C rank in nature and capable of hurting Lili, so the redhead felt like every bone in her body was broken, though, in reality, there were only a couple. Either way, she hadn’t been able to get up even if she wanted.

  So, now that the fight came to an abrupt end, the party just plopped onto the ground. They weren’t worried about something coming in to fight them since the mana disturbance in the air from so much magic being unleashed would scare off any sane enough creature. Plus, it's not like they would be out in the open for long as they saw Alyx pull out his box.

  The party brought Rose inside and placed her on Alyx’s bed so she could rest. The redhead would be able to heal herself with time. All that she needed was some more mana. Sadly, even then, she would be tired, as would everyone else. Even if they could enhance their bodies with mana and continue, it didn’t mean mental fatigue disappeared. Also, they would still feel tired. There was something about channeling mana that exhausted the body. The problem got better as one ranked up, allowing high-rankers to fight for days on end if needed, but it would still happen. It wasn’t necessarily the biggest of issues since rankers could still enhance themselves to overcome this exhaustion, but the backlash of doing so would be worse after the fact.

  As such, the party would still feel tired even after being healed by magic. Not that magic was any good at removing the exhaustion. After all, the core of the problem was their bodies being overwhelmed by more magic than they could handle, which was the whole point of refining it with mana, thus getting the body more accustomed to it.

  So, the party rested in Alyx’s room. At first, they were all too tired to speak, so they ate and took turns showering. During the fight, they had gotten incredibly dirty due to all the dust, blood and cheese. This was especially the case for Lili, whose black armor had a few holes here and there from when she rushed at the elemental through the cheese barrage. The only one who didn’t shower was Rose, whose body still wouldn’t let her move, so instead, she got a cleaning spell.

  Out of the group, the worst off had been Jasmine and Rose, but Jasmine was still able to move even if her body hurt like hell, so she was able to shower. The problem for her had been healing as apparently regular healing magic didn’t work on her as well as it did for everyone else.

  Thankfully, Alyx had long ago figured out the reason for this since having someone who couldn’t be healed doing adventurer work was a way quick for them to die.

  Basically, their body was attached to their soul, something that wasn’t really new to the gnome. And, of course, having already dealt with things like it in the past, the gnome knew that only soul magic could heal a soul. So, what would happen if the gnome used a soul-mending spell on the twins? Well, they would be healed. It wasn’t the most efficient because soul magic was meant to be for the ethereal soul, not for a body that still had physical properties.

  Obviously, that hadn’t discouraged the gnome, and he had tried the other type of healing magic that often worked on pretty much anything.

  Time Magic.

  Time magic was the best there was since there was no magical “healing,” just pushing the body forward in time and speeding up its regenerative properties. This could also be done backward, but it was much more complicated because you would be reversing a wound instead of just fast-forwarding a body’s innate regeneration. Needless to say, time magic worked like a charm and was incredibly effective. However, the problem was that not everyone had access to time magic. Usually, the advanced magics were kept tight to the chest of any and all organizations, which meant learning any words of the Language of Creation related to the concepts was rare, to say the least.

  Obviously, there were still weaker uses of advanced magics that were allowed, but these often involved gravity or space. And even then, it's not like they were super common. This was why not everyone was walking around with proper teleportation and gravitational spells. It's not that adventurers didn’t find some ways around this via clever magical workarounds. For example, things like shadow jumping, tree jumping, or other dumb but useful things.

  Back to the actual topic, this meant Jasmine was healed by a time spell no one except Lili understood, and just barely. Time magic had never been her cup of tea since it was good at reversing what she had been good at, which was destruction and consumption. As for the explanations as to why Jasmine needed special healing, well, they all just chucked it up to her special circumstances. They all knew Alyx was helping her with her soul issue, so they didn’t question what exactly the side effects were and were just happy she could be healed.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Anyways, with Jasmine healed up, time kept marching forward as the group eventually felt comfortable enough to bring up the fight.

  “Tesilim, is your vision still red?” Alyx asked, breaking the silence as he suddenly remembered that particular fact.

  “Nah, it ran out while I was taking that nap, and I just forgot about it.”

  “Hmmm, okay.” The gnome responded as he wrote down the information. Then, with the two having broken the ice, the rest of the party joined in. Starting with Rose, who groaned as another jolt of pain went through her body, making her voice strain.

  “You know, I think that fight could have gone better.”

  “That’s an understatement.” Jasmine agreed.

  “Yeah, remind me again why we didn’t just blast it into oblivion from the start?” Tesilim asked.

  “Because, otherwise, we would have actually lost. You saw the beating it took. That monster was a wellspring of vitality even for its rank.” Lili commented from the couch she had been lying on for the past hour or two.

  “I don’t know. I still think Alyx should have gotten a B rank ring and trapped the thing quickly.”

  “I could have, but then we wouldn’t have advanced or had a decent fight to help us work together better,” The gnome answered Tesilim’s jab with facts.

  “I don’t know, Alyx. I think we work rather well together. If it had been any other team, they would have gotten wiped.” Rose said.

  “Honestly, I have to agree with Rose there. It feels like we did great.” Jasmine commented, agreeing with her friend.

  “Nah, Alyx is right,” Lili remarked but didn’t comment further.

  “Why do you say that?” Tesilim contended, voicing the words the other two ladies had been about to say.

  “Well, think back on the fight. It was just one enemy; we had telepathy rings, and on top of that, it barely moved. So, with that in mind, we barely communicated it since you guys were struggling to stay alive, which admittedly is not your fault since the elemental was strong. Still, it barely moved. Imagine if it had and ended up rushing someone other than me. Or if it had lackeys. Now, that’s not to say we were terrible, just that we need to improve. I will agree that if it had been another team, they would have been wiped, but at the same time it just shows how we need to get better, how you all need to get better.”

  “So, what, are you Ms. Perfect now?” jeered Rose, a bit annoyed.

  “Nothing like that. I just have more experience, and even then, I am bound to make mistakes. However, for you two ladies, that meant getting better at teamwork and communication. I apologize if you two took that the wrong way. Your own skills are good, but you are still young, so it's acceptable. Mostly, that was directed at Tesilim.”

  “What! Me!?” Tesilim blurted, surprised at being called out like that.

  “Yes, you, Tesilim,” Lil answered without even looking over at him.

  “I thought I did pretty well. What exactly do I need to improve?” He asked a bit mockingly.

  “For one, you need more spells.” Alyx threw in unexpectedly.

  “Also, you rely on that item a lot. I'm not sure how I feel about that anymore. You definitely need more training,” Lili answered, following Alyx.

  “You also need some more techniques. That goes for Jasmine and Rose as well. We also need to work on your body enhancements. That goes for everyone here, including Alyx.” Lili continued.

  “Oh yeah, well, you also need to work on your communication.” The gnome retaliated by throwing her a glare.

  “Yeah, that’s true. I have been alone for too long, so I do need to work on that.”

  Lili’s response was not what the gnome was expecting, and he looked away, annoyed.

  “It sounds to me like we all just need to spend time working with each other. We haven't even been fighting together for a month.” Jasmine stated, quieting everyone as they all counted the days.

  “Holy crap, she is right. It just feels like a while because we all get along so well.” Tesilim replied, shocked at the lack of time that had passed.

  “Hmmm, you guys do have a point. I guess when you consider that, maybe we aren’t that bad of a team after all.” Lili noted as she thought about the fight from a different angle.

  “Yeah, honestly, our separate skills and capabilities are carrying this team,” Alyx added.

  “See, I told you guys, we are pretty good. Well, everyone except Tesilim, he's okay, just okay.” Rose quipped.

  “Hey!” The elf yelled, acting offended, and summoned a bit of water above the redhead's face.

  The redhead, still barely able to move, couldn’t dodge the water and spurted as everyone laughed.

  “Tesilim! When I can move again, I am going to kick your ass!”