New Skill: [Enhancement Bubble]

"Yes, I wondered about that. But I never got further explanations about Limit Breaking Mushrooms and where they come from...", defended Dave his ignorance on the matter.

"The truth is," said Taurin sighing loudly, "that they are harvested at our monster community's burial grounds. The stronger the monster and the further it went past its limit the bigger is the chance for a Limit Breaking Mushroom to grow at its grave."

Hearing this Dave felt sick knowing that he ate something growing on top of a monster grave.

"For us these mushrooms are holy. It symbolizes a power our predecessors pass onto us. Only through these mushrooms are we able to be the strongest force on the mainland. Of course, even we monsters are split into many tribes. Nevertheless, should you humans or others decide to go against us then we are a single monstrous force without equal!"

Dave finally understood why humans had no chance to conquer big parts of the mainland. The power humans wielded was nothing compared to that of the monsters, who would join forces to move against their enemies.

"But enough of that. A human should explain another human about these things. Let me just tell you. The limit breaking mushroom you guys have allows you to only break a single limit. The reason is that it only has enough power to create an incomplete essence. Just strong enough to store the extra power of a single stat at the ultimate rating. Isn't that how you would call it?"

Dave nodded. He finally understood a little bit more about the matter.

"So back to the real topic. How can you create something similar to the Halo and wrap yourself in your own mana, any ideas?", asked Taurin Dave knowing well that solutions you found yourself were the best suited for you.

Dave thought about the question for a minute then he had a sudden inspiration.

"What if I wrap myself in a bubble and release my mana into it? Wouldn't that fulfill the requirements?", answered Dave uncertainly.

"Haha, good answer. I wanted to suggest the same. Go and give it a try. Should be easy for you since your [Bubble Control] ability is already quite good."

Taurin made a motivational gesture in Dave's direction.

"I will first try it without my Hero Skin.", said Dave and created a bubble in human shape around himself. Then he emitted his mana from his entire body. A blue glow radiated around Dave.

A window appeared in front of him.

[New Skill Unlocked; Enhancement Bubble] [F]

[Creates a bubble filled to the brim with your mana. Everything that is inside the bubble or passes through it has its power enhanced. Only effective on those things the user wishes to enhance.

Things that might have a negative effect on the caster are reduced in their power depending on skill and power level difference.]

"Nice!", shouted Dave.

He finally got a new skill to use. It was the first skill besides [Bubble Control] that was not connected to his hero powers. This skill would help him being less dependent on Heroism. He always had the fear of running out of it, when in need. For that reason, he would prefer to only use Heroism related skills if he could gain through their usage more Heroism or if he had no other way out of the situation.

"Good my disciple!", said Taurin with a proud look in his eyes. "Now go and try chopping a tree."

"What... you think this alone is enough to allow me to wield that ax freely?"

Dave thought he had to first combine his hero skills with the [Enhancement Bubble] to gain enough strength for that.

"Yeah, definitely. Don't forget that normally you wouldn't be able to rely on heroism to lift that ax. That is just your unique power... Telling the truth you could have just turned your hero skin off and learned it the traditional way and you definitely should do that later on... It is just that I couldn't withstand wasting your potential. The reason why I wanted you to try this out is that if you perfect this technique, you will without a doubt be one of the strongest existences. Well, that is only for those at rank 1, of course..."

Dave was touched by Taurin's care.

"You did all this even though I am a human. You had no obligation...", said Dave with a touching voice. "I am in your debt Master. I will pay you back when we see each other on the mainland!"

"No need. As soon as I said I was your Master, I decided to use all my power to help you get stronger. And now try to swing that ax. I want to finally finish our training.", requested Taurin.

Dave nodded and grabbed the hilt of the ax. He pushed the [Bubble Enhancement] Skill to its limit. The blue glow around Dave maximized. He lifted the ax without any problem from the ground and swung it with full force at a tree.

"Kaboom"

Unlike Taurin, who fell the tree very smoothly his attack made it explode. Splinters of wood flew through the air and Taurin hastily jumped behind a nearby tree to evade a cascade of them.

"Not bad. Since we know that this is working, I want you to finally combine it with your hero powers.", said Taurin excitedly.

Dave, who was still flabbergasted by the explosion he created, turned the [Ehancenment Bubble] off and activated the [Apprentice Hero's Skin].

He smirked.

Wearing his hero costume always made him feel good. When he used his powers in his normal form it was always as if he would just pretend to have powers. But this suit turned it for him into something more realistic. He knew that this sounded kind of stupid but it was just how he felt.

"If before the effect was already that good... Well, I hope I don't turn this whole forest into smithereens!" said Dave, his voice full of expectation.

It was finally time to combine both skills. Dave took one last deep breath and activated the [Enhancement Bubble].

A blue glow radiated around the young man in the hero costume.

Even Taurin, who at first thought badly about the whole hero suit thing couldn't deny that this was really somehow looking extremely cool.

Dave grabbed the hilt of the Ax and raised it with both hands over his head.

"[Strong Movement]"

Dave accelerated forward. Heading right for a nearby tree when he activated his next ability.

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]"

A golden glow radiated around his hands. The ax swung downwards as if cleaving heaven and earth apart. It smashed into the tree trunk and blasted it to his left and right, where they smashed against other trees. Not stopping there the force of the blow traveled further to the tree behind the one Dave hit and created a long and deep cut in it.

Dave exhaled heavily wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Hahahaha! Not bad, really not bad!", said Taurin laughing wildly.

"Yeah, not bad I guess.", said Dave not nearly as happy as Taurin.

"What's the matter, disciple. How can you not be happy with this outcome? One hour ago you weren't even able to lift the ax and now can nearly fell two trees with a single swing of it. You should be proud of yourself.", said Taurin encouragingly.

"I know that.", answered Dave rubbing his neck embarrassedly. "But I thought the force would be stronger than this, to tell you the truth. I guess you could do this much as well if you tried to and you only use the normal control of your mana to achieve that..."

Somehow ashamed of himself Taurin scratched his nose.

"Telling the truth it isn't a problem for me to fell 5 trees with a single swing of the ax but that is within reason if you think about it. First of all, you only learned this skill a few minutes ago. How could it compare to a skill I hone for many years.

The second reason is that you don't actively control that Heroism inside your body. It is only passively enhancing your strength. You can't compare that at all to what I am doing with my mana!

Furthermore, the usage of your punching skill is not really effective to use in this kind of situation. If you look at the tree I fell you see that there is a very clean cut. The trees you fell exploded and that might look cool but is in truth you not using effectively your power!

And the last reason should be pretty obvious. The limit for all of us is set at different levels depending on our body constitution. The physical limits of my body are much higher than yours in the first place. I mean look at me I am a minotaur!"

Dave was taken aback. He didn't expect such a detailed explanation. But what Taurin said made sense, he couldn't deny it. He shook his head thinking about how foolish he acted right now.

"Then does this mean that the test is over now? Did I master your ability?", asked Dave curiously.

"Yes and no. Normally it was intended to focus the strength inside your body and gain greater power like that. You used a different way to achieve the same outcome. I guess we could say you passed."

In front of Dave appeared a message window.

[Congratulation]

[Limit Breaking Quest: Red Bull]

[Quest cleared!

Using the power of your brain and the wise help of your teacher you managed to find your own way to grow past your human limits and mastered your own technique to strengthen yourself.

Reward:

[Strength] SSS -> ULTIMATE

Special Reward:

Through discovering your own strengthening technique and gathering many hints you unlocked a new skill.

[Basic Mana Control] [F]]