See You again Master

Dave looked up from the message windows in front of him. The minotaur Taurin stood there his body slowly dissolving into particles.

"Wait, what is happening. Why are you dissolving, Master?", asked Dave panicking slightly.

"Haha, this just shows that you solved your quest. I go back where I belong and you go back where you belong. Doesn't that make total sense?", said Taurin happily.

In the beginning, Taurin doubted his ability to teach Dave the technique to increase his strength. Now after gaining confirmation that he fulfilled his mission he was extremely happy. The minotaur had a really competitive and ambitious character otherwise he would never have managed to break two limits.

"But I still have many questions I wanted to ask you. You didn't even tell me, why you helped me in the first place. Who send you here and why are you called Red Bull? Master, you can't leave me already!"

Dave asked all the stuff he wanted to know as fast as he could. He and Taurin only had a very short encounter but it was long enough for both of them to build a relationship between master and student.

Dave couldn't describe why he liked this minotaur this much after only knowing him for a limited time. He just had the feeling that his and Taurin's fate was connected in a completely intangible way. Maybe he would, later on, understand what their connection really was.

"Haha, you sure have an endless stream of questions. Some, I will answer the next time we meet, others I am forbidden to answer because of oaths I had to take. But don't fret, we will see each other again. Train the skills I taught you. The next time I see you, you will need them!"Taurin waved one last time at Dave then he was completely dematerialized and disappeared.

Dave clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

"The next time we meet, I will be stronger than you, Master Taurin!, shouted Dave into the big nothingness making a vow to himself.

Dave opened his eyes in the real world.

"Hi you two", he said calmly.

In front of him sat Anna and Ayano drinking coffee and chatting. They were so immersed in their conversation they didn't even notice Dave finishing his quest and opening his eyes.

"Ah, you are finally back." said both of them happily.

"Did you finish the quest?", asked Anna excitedly.

"Of course, he did!", said Ayano as quick as lightning.

Dave and Anna exchanged a bewildered look and started laughing loudly.

"Yes, I finished the quest and I had big gains through it that are not only limited to my [Strength] stat reaching the Ultimate rating.", said Dave in a bragging tone.

"Hooh, tell me more.", responded Ayano a haughty look in her eyes.

"Yes please," added Anna with sparkling eyes.

Dave harrumphed. Then he began telling them what happened to him during the Limit Breaking Quest.

"And then I got two new skills. The first is called [Enhancement Bubble] and the second [Basic Mana Control]!", finished Dave his story.

"And what are their effects?", asked Anna curiously.

Smiling brightly Dave answered, "[Enhancement Bubble] can strengthen me or my attacks. If I understood my Master correctly then it is like a fake version of a technique called Halo."

Suddenly Ayano snorted heavily and the coffee she was about to gulp down flew through the air and hit Dave right in the face.

"Ahhh!", screamed Dave. The hot liquid burned in his eyes.

Ayano looked flustered to the ground a flicker in her eyes. Anna grabbed a towel and gave it to Dave to free his face from the hot coffee. While Dave was still cursing and cleaning his face Anna tried to make eye contact with Ayano. She responded with a nearly unnoticeable shake of her head.

Sighing, Anna asked Dave, "Dave are you alright? Need some help?"

"No, everything is fine. I guess my constitution is already so good that hot coffee isn't able to burn my skin anymore. Nevertheless, why did you spit that at me?", asked Dave glaring at Ayano.

"I am sorry Dave. It wasn't intentional.", answered Ayano apologetically.

Sometimes Dave felt like Ayano kept a secret from him. But he decided he wouldn't force her to talk about it. She helped him a lot after he got his ability and so he didn't think that it was anything harmful to him.

"Whatever, the other ability is just a mana control skill. I think it allows me to control the mana inside my body. I didn't check it out yet. Wait a second..."

Dave opened the skill description of [Basic Mana Control].

[Basic Mana Control] [F]

[Allows the user to freely control the mana inside his body.Through clever usage of this skill, the caster can strengthen his physical body.]

Dave read the skill description out loud. Anna and Ayano nodded understandingly.

"Yeah, that sounds like it. Normally humans are taught this skill after they become rank 2. Then their general perception of mana and control is already on a higher level and they can learn it easier.", explained Ayano.

"I guess you two can use it too?"

Dave was curious. They always talked about him and he never really dared to ask Ayano or Anna what level they were at. He thought now might be his chance to learn more about them.

"Yes, of course.", answered Anna.

She lifted her small hand, which had turned slightly red. Then she swished forward with her hand and flicked against Dave's forehead. He, totally flabbergasted by the sudden attack, was flung back and hit the wall behind him.

His head was aching as if someone drove a truck over it.

"Why would you do that!", shouted Dave rubbing the red bump on his forehead.

"This was a simple test. If your understanding of the skill was good enough, you could have blocked this small attack easily by focussing the mana at the place, where I was trying to hit you!", explained Anna mischievously.

"You should be thankful I didn't use Halo for that flick!"

Hearing that Ayano started laughing. The weird atmosphere from before disappeared immediately and Dave rubbed his bump not daring to say anything more.

"I have to start training now, please excuse me.", said Dave.

He decided to increase the rest of the day the level of his [Enhancement Bubble]. He would continue doing that until noon tomorrow. By then he should have gained enough skill levels to be much more familiar with it.

Why he trained only this skill was pretty simple. [Basic Mana Control] had right now a limited effect for him since he could only use it if he forwent his hero powers. Later when he had more time on his way to the mainland he would focus himself on that skill as well.

"[Enhancement Bubble]", shouted Dave.

There was no reason to use his [Apprentice Hero's Skin] for training. It would only waste his Heroism without any real need. And the skill level of [Enhancement Bubble] would even increase when he didn't combine it with his hero skin.

Dave started running. Testing out how the skill affected his agility.

Obstacles were always built up in the training hall to help him with his agility training. Dave flickered from on to another creating blue glowing afterimages.

"That is pretty good Dave.", shouted Ayano.

Dave was faster than any other rank 1 before him. He was even slightly faster than the lightning rabbit while it used its lightning enhancement. With a happy smile, Dave stopped in front of Ayano.

"Dave I think I know a more efficient way for you to use that skill," said Ayano rubbing her elbow.

"Really? Cool how?"