Limits.

Elly said "Norty always spoke about you. It"s a pleasure to finally meet you". I replied "It"s a pleasure as well". Elly was as young as Norty. I wouldn"t call her a beauty, but she wasn"t anywhere near ugly. Long blond hair, with round green eyes and a slender figure. I teased Norty a bit "To think such a nice girl, would like to be with you". Elly giggled, while Norty replied "What!? I"m nice too! You don"t have a wife or girlfriend yet either!". "It seems the tables have turned…" I thought.

Elly asked surprised "You don"t have anyone?". I smiled, and replied "I"m just a traveller. I didn"t have time to worry about such things". Haily b.u.t.ted in "If you want, I can introduce a few of my friends to you". I didn"t take to heart her remark, and replied "Says someone who is a loner as well". Haily"s face grew a bit red. She didn"t say anything else.

After the breakfast, I grabbed Finch to finally proceed with our original plan. We headed to the abandoned house, which we used for interrogating the spies. Inside, we activated the Formation, and I said "I have 60 mililiters of that medicine for you. If you can break through, this will be great. You will be able to become even stronger, and protect the village even better". Finch nodded, and said "I"m quite excited. I"ve been stuck at this stage for a while now. Nothing I did, allowed me to break through that Half Step. We will see how this goes".

Finch drank the Extract. He then released his Aura, and began building up his energy. His Aura was calm, with a hit of savageness. Finch"s Aura intensity, the more seconds ticked away. I had to use my own Aura, in order to counter it. "Strong!" I exclaimed in my mind. Finch then started making some weird poses, which I never saw before. At that stage, I was barely able to stand, even with my Aura fully activated. I felt being suffocated, I felt heavy and a tinge of fear began spreading through my body. I tried hard to withstand Finch"s Aura.

At a certain point in time, Finch screamed and his muscles released a lot of steam. Then "Booom!". The air got blasted in all directions, almost knocking me off my feet as well. Although I managed to stabilise my footing, the blast of released pressure, knocked out any remaining air in my lungs. I had a hard time adjusting my breath, while Finch exclaimed "I did it! I BROKE THROUGH!". While he celebrated, I adjusted my breathing, and exclaimed "Great!". I then asked "By the way, what were those poses that you did?". Finch looked at me, as if looking at an idiot. I wasn"t sure why, therefore I asked "What?". He replied "How you managed to survive, and even break through, is a mystery to me. Don"t you know about those poses? There are different techniques to break through, but they always consist of poses… How can you not know that?".

I didn"t know how to respond, so I said "Well… yea… Anyway, congrats on breaking through!". Finch shook his head, and said "Now, I can be considered as elite. There are a few villages, where the Village Chief is at the Inner Limits stage, but there are none, where the Village Chief broke through their Half Step. I"m sure of that!". I nodded, and said "It"s good to be happy, but don"t disclose that". He replied "I know Nex, I know. I"m not a Village Chief due to a coincidence you know?".

I changed the topic, and said "When Norty breaks through his Half Step, give him the medicine for purifying his blood. Make him wait, until he is stronger though, he should be able to handle 25 milliliters at that time". Finch asked "So you are leaving?". I nodded, and replied "Yes, it"s time for me to leave. I still have two or three people to visit, but I will be leaving today". Finch thought about something for a while, then took out some sort of emblem. I took it, and asked "What is this?". Finch replied "When you arrive at the Imperial City, find a person called Paul Treland. When you show this to him, he will help you out. Our families were always friends, and we stayed close to each other. If he can help you, he will".

I nodded, and said "I will still come by to say farewell". Finch nodded as well, and we left the building. I headed towards Olav"s house first. When I knocked on the doors, Kara opened them. She invited me inside, but I refused. I said "I will be leaving today. Kara, you are a bright and hard working young lady. I was strict, but I had my reasons. Take this". I handed her a book, which contained more recipes. She became sad, and asked "Do you have to leave?". I nodded, and replied "Study hard Kara. When you memorize this book, burn it. When I visit again, I hope to see the improvements you made". She hugged my all of a sudden, and said "I will. Thank you for everything". I patted her head, and bid farewell to her.

I then visited Aran, and asked him to teach me the last two Forms. He replied "I told you, I will teach them to you, when you are ready". I said "I"m leaving today, and will not return quickly". Aran sighed, and said "Fine. I will teach you". He motioned for me to follow him, and so I did. We walked inside the only building in the training area, then entered one of the rooms. He locked it, took out his sword and said "I will only show this to you once. The last two Forms are called Lethal Forms. There is a reason why these Forms and the technique, are called like this. It"s not called Lethal, because you can kill your opponent with it, no. It"s Lethal, because the last two Forms require from you to abandon all defences. In other words, this is a double edged technique. You must make sure to only use it, when there is no other way out". I nodded my head, and replied "I will".

Aran demonstrated the Forms. He was right, there was no defence involved. Even worse, there were so many openings, he was vulnerable to attacks. This was of course true, under the condition that someone managed to attack. Aran raised a storm with his attacks. They were both unpredictable, and flawless. Abandoning his defence, his emotions and his sanity. These were the results. An all out attack of a sword wielder, who had one thought in his mind. Kill!

When Aran finished showing me the Forms, he said "You are not a stupid kid Nex. I believe you can master this, and use it only when you are forced to use it. I still hope that, such day will never arrive". I nodded my head, thanked him and left. I also visited Gerond. I told him to make the best bow, he could make. I even supplied the Black Steel Ingots to him. He was thrilled to work with Black Steel, and told me that the bow will be ready in a week or so of time. I gave him the Black Steel over two weeks ago, I figured that it should"ve been completed already.

I wasn"t wrong. Gerond presented me with a new bow, when I arrived. It was a standard length bow, with specific design. The top and bottom of the bow, was shaped to look like a flame. The lower and upper limbs were shaped like some sort of horns of a creature, and for some reason looked sharp. The bow"s grip had no rope, or material for a more comfortable handling. It was bare metal, although it had a certain design to it. There was, what I could only a.s.sume as a guard, at the top and bottom of my grip. Probably there to protect my hand, but for some reason, it looked sharp as well. The string of the bow didn"t look awe inspiring, but then again, I knew nothing about such things. The bow was quite heavy too. I knew that Black Steel was not a light material. Besides, with my strength, it made little difference.

Gerond said "I worked my a.s.s off with this bow. I"m not sure about your strength, but it shouldn"t break that easily. I also added Flexium to the mix. The bow should be flexible, and strong at the same time. You can give it a try". He then handed me a bundle of arrows. The arrowheads were made from Black Steel as well. I took one arrow, and notched it onto the bow. I slowly pulled the string, and realised I needed quite a bit of strength, to pull the bow fully open. When I released the arrow upwards, it flew through the air, screeching like a pig being slaughtered. I soon lost sight of my arrow. I had no idea where it went. "Great bow!" I exclaimed.

Gerond said "This is not a normal bow. This is a Close Combat Bow. You can use it to fight in close combat as well. The grip, as well as the lower and upper limbs are sharp. You can cut your opponents no problem with that". I exclaimed "That"s useful! I didn"t know that bows could be used for close combat too". Gerond replied "It"s not very common. You are used to close combat, so it should fit you".

I nodded, and thanked him. With that taken care of, I told Gerond that I was leaving the village. He didn"t seem surprised at all, and wished me all the best. I said farewell to him, and left. "I took care of pretty much everything. It"s time for me to leave, and continue my journey" I thought.

I returned to Finch"s house, and said farewell to everyone. They were a bit disappointed that I wanted to leave so soon, but I had my own goals to achieve. Finch wanted to throw a party again, but I declined, and said "It"s fine. There is no need for you guys to throw parties left and right. I will be back one day or another. I hope to see your improvements at that time , and perhaps your own families as well". I looked at Norty and Elly, when I spoke the last sentence. Elly blushed, while Norty hung his head down in embarra.s.sment. I said farewell to everyone, then disappeared from the house. As if I was never there.