Limits

I took out some meat from my Storage Feather, and roasted it on the fire. I wasn't hungry, when I started the process of purifying my blood, but after taking that Blood Purifying Essence and going through so much pain, I was starving. I ate like possessed, then I remembered something. I asked Frosty "Do you want some?", but Frosty shook its head and declined. I was a bit bewildered and asked "What do you eat then?". Frosty spat out the Water Stone, and pointed at it.

I asked "What if you don't have those stones? It's not like, they grow on trees or walk around the wastelands". Frosty pointed at the stone again, and then at some herbs. I was a bit confused at first, then I realised what it meant. "So, you eat herbs with water element as well?" I asked. Frosty nodded its head, and swallowed back the Water Stone.

I started combing through my memory. I was trying to remember, what herbs possessed the water element. I found about a dozen or so, of such herbs. For one, there were some herbs that grew near a water source, so they had that type of element inside them. 'It wouldn't be a problem, to find such herbs in the Great Forest. Finding them in the Northern Wasteland, is more of a challenge' I thought.

I asked Frosty "What herbs here can you eat?". Frosty ran off somewhere and collected a few herbs. Frosty brought back couple of varieties, probably all of them contained the water element. I said "Alright. I will collect as many of those herbs as I can. I will also make a purified form from them. This way, you can also avoid some impurities. This is the Northern Wasteland after all". I wasn't worried that Water Stones were impure. The water in the Valley, was free from impurities, which was a rare sight in the Wastelands.

Frosty jumped on top of my shoulder, and changed back to a tattoo. I looked at my right arm, and didn't notice anything wrong with it. 'When the burning sensation overwhelmed me, I was a bit worried about my right arm. It seems that the freezing abilities, didn't disappear' I thought, and continued eating.

When I was full, I laid back and rested. 'When I rest enough, I will try and break through the Half Step of my Outer Limit. I myself wonder, how well it will proceed' I thought and fell asleep. There was no sense of time passing, in the North. When I woke up, the skies still looked the same. I was full of energy. 'Maybe it's because, my blood got purified?' I thought. I seemed to have much more vigor and strength.

I stood up and decided to test it. I walked in front of a tree and punched. "BOOM!" my first drilled straight through the trunk of the tree. "It seems, that I'm a bit stronger, but not by a lot. It's probably due to the effect of the Essence. With purer blood, I can better utilise my strength" I said to myself. There was also one more thing that blood was responsible for. 'How about my regeneration then? I wonder if my wounds will heal faster, now that my blood is purer' I thought.

There was only one way to find out. I took out a dagger and slashed my hand with it. 'This much pain is nothing, compared to what I already experienced' I thought, and examined the wound. I noticed that the bleeding stopped fairly quickly, visibly quicker than in the past. 'This is already good. Let's see how well it will regenerate' I thought.

I waited and waited, and waited some more. The wound was healing slowly, and a scab started to form. 'This is not bad. Before I took the essence, it would take much longer than this, for the wound to start scabbing' I thought. With those experiments, I already figured out, that I could better utilise my strength. My regeneration ability, was improved too.

'Time to try and break through that Half Step' I thought. I took out the Earth Strength Essence, and swallowed about ¼ of it. With that done, I assumed the stance from the 3rd Modified Diagram of the Strength Manual. 'My limit was 5 minutes, and not a second more. Let's see, if I can beat that now!' I thought.

The seconds slowly passed and turned into minutes. 1 minute, I didn't feel much of a stress on my body. 2 minutes, I could still continue, no problem. 3 minutes… then 4 minutes. I already started to have a hard time. My strength started to deplete, but then, a sudden increase in my strength, I felt as if, I could stay in that pose for eternity.

'The Earth Strength Essence probably started to take effect. I should be able to break through my Half Step Outer Limit, no problem' I thought and counted the seconds. 4 and a half minute. My strength was still boundless, I didn't waver at all. 4 minutes and 55 seconds. I could feel my strength being depleted again, but I could still last more!

5 minutes. The limit of my power. When I reached that stage, my strength started to fall, sharply. I didn't give up and stayed in the pose. It lasted less than a second but for me, it felt like never ending process. I screamed in my mind 'BREAK FOR ME!'. Then "BOOOM!". Something inside my body exploded and the second passed. I now lasted 5 minutes and 1 second.

All the strength I possess, got drained instantly and I fell onto my ass. "I did it! I broke through the Half Step of my Outer Limit!" I exclaimed out loud. I wasn't only happy, I was elated. Although I was tired, I could feel my body becoming lighter, sturdier and more powerful. The feeling was very pleasant. I felt no pain, it was as if my body, started regenerating all my strength back, at an incredible speed.

After a while, the feeling disappeared, and I was no longer tired. I stood up and stretched myself a bit. 'It's time to test my strength. It was only the Half Step of my Outer Limit, but I can still feel the increase in my power' I thought. I decided to test my speed first. I wanted to know, what type of acceleration would I have, when using my full strength.

I bent my legs a bit, to gather all my strength in them. Then released it. "BOOOOOM!" a loud explosion sounded throughout the Valley. The dust and debris flew in all directions, from my sudden acceleration. My speed, was something else. In the past, I could easily travel a short distance in a blink of an eye. But now? I could travel twice if not three times as much, in the same time. 'This speed is amazing!' I thought, as I stopped.

Although I was elated and excited about my new strength, there was a problem again. 'I will have to adjust to my new strength again. I already have experience with that, and although the increase of my strength was quite substantial, it was not overwhelming' I thought.

I then decided to test my punching strength. I could already destroy the trees in the Valley, so I searched for rocks. I soon found, what I was looking for. 'I don't know if this is a good idea, but hell! I have some herbs with me. Even if I break my arm, I can just heal it!' I thought and gathered all the strength in my left hand, then punched. "BOOOOM!"... "Crack….Crack…". My hand hurt quite a bit, from the impact. But thanks to the gloves I wore, there was no real damage to my fist.

The stone, or rather a boulder, that was the size of a human being, had cracks all over it. It didn't explode or crumble, but it was nearly there. 'My punching strength is also much better now. I will not test my kicking strength on a boulder. I don't want to break my leg' I thought. Yet, looking at the damage my punch could create, the kick would be even more powerful. 'This means, I should be able to destroy a boulder, with my kick' I thought.

I would have more opportunities, to test out my new strength. I still had to take care of those Tentacle Creatures from the pond.