Limits

Although I did it many times, I've never done it without a mask and during the night. I flew down the mountain at great speed, frantically trying to find a path. It was hard, very hard. I somehow managed to travel halfway down the mountain, when suddenly a large boulder stood in my way. 'Shit' I thought, and tried to change my trajectory, but it was too late.

I was about to crash into the boulder, when suddenly I heard "Oi kid! It seems you need some help". It was the voice of the old man. He appeared next to me, and pushed me to the side. Thanks to that, I managed to clear the boulder, and soon flew all the way down the mountain. "That was close". The old man again stood next to me, and said "Boy, don't be reckless. There is no need to push yourself". I shook my head, and replied "Will you help me?".

He said "If you meant that I will not let you die, then yes". I nodded, and said "Thanks, I want to try it more. If I don't push myself, it will take years to achieve something. I have to push myself, otherwise I will just stagnate". The old man didn't reply, he simply stood to the side. I took it as him agreeing, and climbed back to the peak of the mountain.

I jumped many times during that night. The old man would help me out, whenever I was in peril. Although the practice was not without injuries. The old man would only prevent my death, he didn't seem to care if I was slightly injured. When the sun rose, I stopped my training. I was tired, and full of injuries. Even though I used my energy to recover myself much faster, I still had to spend that energy.

The old man looked at me, and said "You really are a monster. Your adaptability is insane". I replied tired "I figured some things out. Thanks to that, you didn't have to save my ass every time". I figured out how to use my energy control, in order to manipulate my trajectory. Even in mid air, to some I could degree make small changes in my position. This allowed me to sometimes make it down the mountain, without the old man's help.

We went back to the peak, while I went straight to bed. I didn't sleep for very long, because when I woke up, it was early afternoon. When I walked out of the house, the old man asked "You don't have any other clothes?". I looked at myself, and indeed my set of clothes I got from Suly and Alicia was completely useless now. I shook my head, and said "I only have my fur clothes… Oh and the blacksmith's clothes. That is all. I guess I can use the fur set for now".

He asked another question "Why didn't you buy anything in the Imperial City?". I shrugged, and replied "Because I'm not wealthy? Although my friend wanted to buy some clothes for me, I declined. Didn't think I would need them really". I changed my clothes to the set of fur clothes, that I had from a long time ago. 'It's been a long time, since I wore those clothes. Feels kind of nostalgic' I thought.

The old man appeared next to me, and asked "You will jump again?". I shook my head, and said "No. I will only do that during the night, it's harder that way. The other two are no around yet, so I will just practice my sword and archery". The old man replied "I saw you using a bow, but not a sword". I took out the Bastard Sword from my bag, and showed it to him.

He said "It's quite heavy". I said "Activate the Formation". He looked at the sword interested, and activated it. But nothing happened, he just held it like it was nothing. After a few swings, he said "It really is heavy. Around 500 kilos, right?". I nodded and said "Around that". I wasn't really stunned, this guy was a master after all. If he had weak physical body, how could he reach mastery?

'Although Art of Stealth is not really concerned with strength, he had already passed his Half Step of the Inner Limits. He can't be weak' I thought. He returned the sword, and said "Did you learn how to use swords?". I nodded, and said "Yes, although I'm not really good at it, but I practice". I practiced the Forms from the Lethal Sword Technique. I could only practice till the Sixth Form, the Seventh Form was to hard for me at this stage.

When I took a break from my practice, the old man said "You really have a natural predisposition towards the Art of Rage. The sword you learned is a good example". I replied "That's just coincidence. Either way, when will the other two masters arrive?". He thought about it for a while, and said "I'm not sure. Maybe in a week, maybe in a day. Depends on how interested they are. After all, they didn't see your skills. But they will come, I'm sure of it".

I took out my bow next, and practiced my long range shooting. I now had the ability to run, and shoot at the same time. I was no longer that green with a bow. During the evening, we would start my movement practice. The old man could relax much more. I usually made it to the bottom of the mountain by myself. 'This is not enough, I need to push it further' I thought.

Next time I climbed to the peak of the mountain, I started absorbing the Black Orbs. Although I couldn't see them without my mask, they were still present, like the air I breathed in. This time, I absorbed them with my whole body, not just my arm. 'Although this is good for stealth, I wonder what else I can do with those Black Orbs' I thought.

The old man appeared not far away from me, and asked "So you want to use those Black Orbs?". I nodded, but he didn't see me, so it was pointless. I replied instead "Yes, I want to see what else this thing is capable of". I then jumped forwards. I was wrong, the Black Orbs didn't just improve my stealth, they improved my whole energy. There was something else as well, I could see as if it was daylight. It was as if my Darkness Perception awakened by itself.

When I tapped the ground lightly like usual, a hole appeared in the ground. I didn't expect that, and my trajectory changed to a one I wasn't after. I was about to smash myself into a boulder, and the old man was nowhere around to save my ass. I decided to punch through it. 'Even if my arm breaks, I can still survive this!' I exclaimed in my mind, and punched out.

There was no sound, my arm didn't break, but the boulder? A huge hole appeared where I was supposed to crash into it. I flew past the boulder, and continued until I landed at the base of the mountain. 'What the hell is that power?' I asked myself. I couldn't see the black smoke around me, so I placed my mask on. I noticed that the black smoke escaping my body was already quite weak. It was about to disappear completely.

'Can I absorb this and fight or move at the same time? It should be possible' I asked myself. I ran up the mountain, while absorbing the Black Orbs around me. It worked for sure, but because I moved, only the Orbs in my closest vicinity were absorbed, and at a slower rate. 'So, when I stand, I can absorb them faster. Although, I can also fight and absorb them. This is good, because the effects disappear very quickly too' I thought, and made it to the peak of the mountain.

The old man was not around, I couldn't really locate him either way. I waited there for a while, until my body returned back to normal. 'Hmm?'. I noticed that my energy was half spent. I practiced with the sword and whatnot, but I had around 70% of my energy left. 'Does that mean, the Black Orbs consume so much of my energy? I absorbed a large quantity of them, and even used that to go through that boulder. This would mean, it's not for prolonged uses' I thought.

The old man finally appeared next to me, and said "I'm surprised at what you could do". I replied "You saw?". He said "I did and I didn't. I knew you jumped, so I followed you, but I had a hard time locating your exact position. Only when you went through that boulder, did I know where you were. I never saw such a thing. I mean yea, there are all sorts of techniques, but it wasn't a technique, right?".

I shook my head, and said "I found another use for those Orbs. In fact, they change my energy to something else. I punched the boulder, and it simply disintegrated. This energy… It's like it can disintegrate stuff. It has its limitations though. I can't use it for too long, because it consumes a lot of my energy. Not only that, I have to stand in order to fill up on that energy fast. I can also do it while running, but it's slower".

He replied "That is really interesting. In my estimates, you would be able to kill the stronger Royal Guards with this. Although the elites would give you trouble or even no chances at all. They are pretty crazy, even I would have trouble dealing with one such elite". I said "There is something that has been bothering me for a while now". The old man asked "What is it?".