Loki looked at the mage in front of him. "What does this mean?"
"This is Master Barduk, a master of melee combat," Ian explained calmly. "He is your opponent."
"Do you think I'm so weak that even a mortal mage can defeat me?" Loki felt that he had been truly insulted.
Yes, he's nowhere near the level of Ian, but compared to the rest of Midgard, he's a real god.
"The rule is no magic or spells. You can pick a weapon over there," Ian continued calmly, pointing to the weapons rack.
"Does it make any difference?" The physical differences between Asgardians and humans are so vast that it doesn't matter what skills that mage has learned; it won't change any of the outcomes.
"Start."
Barduk rushed towards his opponent at extremely fast speed, which surprised Loki. However, his fighting instinct still came into play, allowing him to avoid the first punch. The battle officially began, but the Asgard prince fell to the ground due to a sweeping kick in less than three minutes.
"Damn, that doesn't count. I was caught off guard."
"Really? Then get ready for the second round," Ian replied calmly. "Everyone is on your place, ready to start."
Loki was highly focused and noticed a white halo floating around his opponent's body. His senses also detected an unknown energy, similar to using life force to strengthen the body for fighting.
He was determined not to be humiliated again, so Loki decided to take the sight before him seriously. So when his opponent rushed towards him, he was ready. He used all his skills and combat experience to fight back. Sadly, he was still defeated after about ten minutes.
"Impossible!" Loki began to doubt life. "Did you help him? Are you helping him secretly?"
"Don't take this as an excuse for your weakness," Ian responded calmly. Did he help? Yes, but only on a technical level. A month is not enough time for the most skilled mage to catch up with a Asgardians, let alone a Imperial Family member.
Therefore, during the three days that Loki stayed at the Library, Ian found the most promising mage in Kamar-Taj and put him into Time Acceleration Chamber for training until his skill level surpassed that of God of Mischief.
"Do you want round three?"
"I want to," Loki replied through gritted teeth. "And this time, I want to use a weapon." He walked to the shelf and picked two daggers. Barduk picked a West African knife weapon named Akrafena. The result was the same; or even worse, he lost in less than five minutes. Loki lay on the ground, feeling unprecedented humiliation.
"Pride is not necessarily a bad thing, but only fools will let it become a stumbling block," Ian taught patiently. "Master Barduk will be your daily sparring partner. Now, follow me."
Loki slowly stood up and followed silently through the portal. He found himself as if he were inside a volcano; the extreme heat in the room would have made a man of his constitution sweat, indicating the level of heat they were dealing with. He looked at the instruments in confusion. Everything looked like the blacksmith shop he once visited in Nidavellir.
"Come on, follow me." Ian changed his clothes and wore only pants and boots, shirtless. He began to play with a few pieces of ore and taught Loki a basic hammering technique. After hammering for an hour, the Asgardians had had enough and was about to ask a question.
"You should have adapted to the high temperature by now," Ian said suddenly. "Now, use this technique." A rune appeared in front of him, and Loki felt a massive amount of information pouring into his mind. He instinctively used this method, swallowing a ball of rotating red and yellow energy into his body.
He immediately frowned in pain, feeling that his soul was burning and thousands of knives were cutting every part of his body. Loki fell to the ground because the pain was too intense.
"What... is...?" he asked breathlessly.
"Mind, soul, and body are the three main elements that make a great mage. Your mind is flawed, but this can be corrected with proper psychological care. Your soul and body are inherently superior to humans, but they are still not good enough. So, I gave you a special meditation technique that uses fire energy to purify your soul and temper your body with metal energy."
"Does this... process... need... to be... so difficult?"
"As I said before, although you have an insatiable desire for power, you have no respect for it. Therefore, I will ensure that under my guidance, you work hard for every ounce of power you obtain."
"Do you really think... this can teach me... awe?"
"It should work."
"What if not?"
"I'll try a more extreme approach."
"What if that doesn't work...?"
"I will stop teaching you and send you home," Ian explained calmly. He needs someone who can fight alongside him, not someone who will cause more trouble. So if Loki disappoints him, he will simply choose another person. If he turns against him and becomes a problem, he will kill him, even if it means becoming Odin's enemy.
"Okay, enough rest. Continue training."
Loki groaned, "Can't you ease the pain? At least give me some time to adapt?"
"Hmm."
Loki was surprised that he wasn't rejected immediately, so he was excited. He didn't mind rigorous training as long as he could gain strength, but he didn't want to have such a high intensity in the beginning.
"You have the highest affinity to the ice element, so that's why the fire technique has such a strong reaction against you. So, if you learn another frost meditation technique, you can probably alleviate this pain."
"I'm fine," Loki immediately gritted his teeth and said. He closed his eyes and inhaled the fire and metal energy in this room. Although it hurt, he persisted, but after five minutes, he had to stop.
"Don't lie on the floor. Use the hammering technique in conjunction with the breathing techniques I'll teach you. This will speed up your body's natural healing."
Loki followed the instructions with great difficulty, but after waving a few times, he was very surprised. He felt a cool feeling rushing from his toes to all parts of his body; he felt refreshed and returned to his peak condition in a very short period of time.
"Go back to meditation."
Loki's mouth twitched, and then he repeated the process of torturing his body and mind, and then started again after recovering. The whole process lasted for two hours before stopping. The good news is that at the end of this training session, he could meditate continuously for ten minutes without stopping to recover.
"Try to gather your [Battle Aura]?"
"Battle Aura?"
"In the information in your head."
Loki concentrated his mind, and then a light blue halo condensed on his fist. He followed the guidance of knowledge to control this power, and then punched a few times, leaving behind a roaring sound of air waves.
"How does it feel?"
"Powerful."
"That's it?"
"I feel like I'm making better use of my physical strength. It's easier to focus it and weaponize it now."
"This is one of the main aspects of [Battle Aura]. However, you have barely tapped into the potential of this power," explains Ian.
"From now on, your schedule is: meditate in the room for two hours in the morning, and then rest for one hour. Then, have a two-hour practical confrontation with Master Barduk, rest for another hour, and then have two hours of meditation training. After that, have three hours of psychological therapy in the afternoon, and you can move around freely for the rest of the day.
"I'll check on your progress every two weeks."
"Wait, what about magic training? You didn't mention that at all?"
"You can read regular books in Kamar-Taj, but you will not be allowed to enter my the Library until six months later. If you meet my expectations, you can start accepting tasks to earn reading time."
"So what are those expectations?"
"You don't need to know the exact details. However, you need to know that if you don't give your best in the next six months, I will directly fail you."