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Odin had given me… a very good advice, something I failed to see or think of until he told me, the reason why mages in his realm were so good fighters… mana enhancement…. he said the reason I was losing so much was because my muscles were barely getting any mana.
It was so simple and even then that simplistic idea flew over my head until now, because realistically I only used mana with my spells out of that, I had no idea how to use that valuable resource. So Odin had someone teach me how to do so… it wasn't hard, just different, considering I was used to gather mana with my incantations… but once I managed to do it… the results were incredible, I was faster, way faster than before, stronger… but even with all those gains I was clumsier… I had lost finesse, moving faster, shortened my reaction time, and my new mana infused strength was hard to control.
Meaning I would have to learn how to fight all over again, but considering the improvements were too good for me to even care, and the fact it barely consumed any mana I was happy, I would get stronger and stronger… but it had a limit, for what Odin told me, each body has a limit of how much they could enhance with mana, that limit depends on the age, and power of the person or god in question.
People like Percy and Annabeth, who don't use the mystic arts to fight… apparently have their bodies function in a different way. A mage, and a… non mage? Are very different in one single aspect, one of them can control their mana entirely, while the other basically functions in something akin to auto-pilot.
What did this mean? Well, People like them, have their bodies decide how to distribute the mana within them, but mages… like me, have to do everything manually, for better or for worse we control our mana almost entirely.
"I feel like I could crush Clarisse with a single punch," I chuckled, as I punched a rock, shattering it.
"If she's a rock… and doesn't move, perhaps," Gunilla commented, god damn it, I need to put a bell on here.
"Sorry, excited I got a… physical boost?" I wasn't sure I could call it that, meh, I'll go with that.
"Impressive," Gunilla said, sounding not impressed at all, "But far from the strongest I have seen, if you want to bring glory to your name, you need to train… force is meaningless without skill," she was right about that, can't refute that.
But while I can't refute that, it doesn't mean I will not tease her, "And… let me guess… you will train me," I smirked, and much to my… unexpected surprise she smirked back.
"Yes, I will." Gunilla stated, a smug grin on her face… and something akin to amusement on her eyes, "I can't let you shame the Allfather by leaving Valhalla with such a disgusting… fighting skill," Excuse me bitch, I don't even have a full year training.
Alas it was a good opportunity, the Valkyries were legendary… "I see, we'll… let's get to it," I rolled my eyes at her, and without a warning she punched me, with enough strength to dislocate my jaw.
I stared at her, eyes wide open, my jaw hurting a ton, "Lesson one, never lower your guard… you probably thought as long as I can cast my spells I can win anything… well, all it took was a single hit to disable your Magic…"
Yep, this was war…. Taking a deep painful breath, I put my jaw back into its place, and said, "I hope you know this means war right?" God even after fixing it, it hurt.
"One it will take you a long time to win," Gunilla stated, amused.
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Day and night I would fight Gunilla and her sisters… not because our training schedule said so… but because she was training me for the unexpected, according to her a warrior must always be ready to fight, anytime anywhere.
And I can understand that, I mean, it makes sense… but fuck fucking damn it! I would be sleeping and boom a Valkyrie would SWAT my room and beat the crap out of me, I would be taking a dump and boom Valkyries… eating? You guess it, Valkyries! and the worst part was that even with my enhanced strength and speed it was hard a fuck to hit them.
In one week… they had broken and heal, almost every bone I could name, granted I can't name many, but having over twenty fractures in a week was a bit traumatizing, even if they could heal the fractures right away.
But… I had to admit, Gunilla's method was working… I was lasting more and more each fight, my body was reacting better to the random encounters, and while they still beat me… I was getting a hand of my new strength.
"I heard my granddaughter has been beating you," Odin laughed, walking to… what was left of me for the day.
"Not only her… each and every single one of your Valkyries…" I chuckled.
"If you don't want this… all you have to do is say it…." Odin smirked.
"At this point?" I snorted, "Oh no no no, I will keep trying until I can make your granddaughter say uncle!" I was going to make every Valkyrie submit, before I stopped this.
"Hahaha, good luck with that," Odin added with a grin, "Beware though, if my son hears you beat his daughter…" he sighed, and my eyes widen… would Thor kill me for that, "He will invite you a drink, and then he will fight you, not out of revenge, but desire for a challenge," as if I was near to challenge a god.
"Hmmm," I weighed my options, and well… you all know me, I'm a vindictive asshole, I will get my revenge regardless of the consequences of it.
"So… for our chat today… what curses are troubling you from the book," Odin smiled and I started to show him some of the spells I was afraid to use.