Limits.

After about another week of time. I went back to Alicia, in order to collect the remaining stuff. She fist handed me the mask, and said "The mask was created, just as you specified. Try it out, but I don"t accept any returns. It"s yours, so do whatever you want with it now". I took the mask, which looked plain. It had no markings, designs or even vibrant colours. It was a simple white mask, with holes for mouth, nose and eyes. This soon changed, when the mask stayed in my hands for a while.

The mask transformed into a nostalgic mask, that I used to own. "It"s still the same, after so many years" I thought, and placed the mask on my face. When I activated the Formation, I could instantly see much better. Not only that, I could see some stuff floating around. I was confused, and took the mask off. With the mask off, I didn"t see any floating stuff. I placed it back on, and again, the same thing happened.

"These things… I know them. They look like those black orbs, which I encountered a long time ago, during one of my dreams" I thought. These orbs, weren"t black though, they were of white and slightly green colour. "What are those orbs exactly?" I asked myself, and tried to reach out toward one of them. When I move my hand towards the orbs, the orbs moved away from me. Even if I tried to somehow attract them, none of them seemed to be attracted to me.

I thought about that, and asked Alicia "Do you know what those floating orbs are?". She looked at me, and replied "Orbs? You mean the stuff that illuminates this room?". I shook my head, and said "No. They are everywhere. Some are floating around you right now". She looked at me, as if looking at an insane person, and asked "Are you feeling alright?". I shook my hand, and said "Doesn"t matter, it seems you don"t know. If the mask is done, that would mean the set of clothes is done too, right?".

Alicia nodded, and handed me the set. I must admit, I was impressed. "It"s looks really good. You do know a lot about me after all". The set comprised of all the pieces, that I specified. The design though… seemed fitting for the mask. A black and grey long robe, that had loose sleeves. This could easily allow me to use my Art of Hidden Weapons. The hood also covered half of my face, and seemed to fit the design of a skeleton mask. The boots were black and grey too, and possessed additional protectors at the hill section, and fingers section. The design matched trousers, which were completely black. They had loads of hidden pockets, good enough to hide my daggers. The shirt was nothing extraordinary, but it did add to the overall appeal of the clothes.

The last two pieces of the set, were the gloves, and the neck protector. The neck protector was black and grey in colour, while the gloves were completely black. The neck protector was long enough to cover my neck, along with my mouth. The gloves on the other hand, had a specific design. Besides the missing fingers, which I specified, my right glove was a bit different. It fitted my lizard like hand much better, than a normal glove would. "She even took that under consideration" I thought. My arm was always wrapped around in bandages, but the shape was still visible. It was obviously different from my left hand. "It wouldn"t take a genius to see that, but still a nice touch" I thought.

Besides that, the gloves were very well designed for my Arts. They had some features from Art of Stealth, and that wasn"t the colour alone. The design was created in such a way, it would be harder for someone to guess, what I was doing with my hands. The almost invisible patterns, played a role in that. I didn"t know that, until I asked about them. The gloves also allowed great mobility for the Art of Hidden Weapons, and they could act, a sort of hidden weapon.

Suly told me, that the gloves had a Formation as well. The Formation could push my opponent backwards. The push would depend on the opponent"s strength, as well as my opponent"s weight. The advantage of such Formation, was very apparent to me. If Humans, and Human like creatures were concerned, the force would push them back a few metres, of course less, if they were stronger. It was a nice little Formation, and it was added for free, thanks to Suly"s nagging.

The set didn"t contain any stealth Formations, just like I asked. I wanted to reach the next stage in stealth, with my own skills, instead of depending on items. That was not the true stealth, but an ability which could be lost, the moment that item was damaged. On the other hand, the clothes were very tough. Alicia"s Formations were top notch, no wonder she charged such amounts for the stuff she made.

I left Alicia"s house, and went back to the inn. Because others had something to do, I could focus on my own improvements. "I can control my energy to some extent, but it"s nowhere near the stage I require" I thought, and continued my training. The time pa.s.sed slowly. I got a message from Harlin, that the distillery would arrive in about two weeks time. This was very good. With the distillery in my hands, and all my friends taken care of, I could finally leave the North. I would return to the Great Forest, and take care of some things there.

Through the time that I waited for distillery to arrive, I checked up on Crow once in a while. He made good progress on his senses, but was still far away from reaching the stage, where his instincts would awaken. I gave him as many tips as I could, and left it in his hands. Lazar left Olrad, and started travelling around different areas of the North. He wanted to get accustomed with the information network, and the people involved.

I, on the other hand. I practiced the control of my energy, and experimented with the mask. I saw those coloured orbs floating around again, but I couldn"t affect them. I tried many different ways to affect them, but nothing worked in the end. My Aura had no effect on them… well it had, it just pushed the orbs away, in a strange pattern. Because of that, I got some more clues, as to the properties, or effects that my Aura contained.

"My Aura is different now. Although I call it Domineering Aura, it"s a bit different than it used to be in the past" I thought. My Aura"s effect, was to separate things. That was why the tree crumbled, when my dagger with the Aura attached, pierced through it. That was the primary effect of my Aura. Because my Aura was much weaker in the past, it worked as a type of restricting Aura. That was why, other creatures and beings, had problems moving, when my Aura affected them. They were fighting against the pushing force, which my Aura produced on their bodies.

"I will test that in the Great Forest, with my bow. I should get a better bow as well. The one I have, is too weak for me…. I will wait with that, until I return to the Great Forest though" I thought. There was still much to do, before I could realise my plan. What plan? In due time… You will find out, when the time is due.