Continuation of training 1.131

Viggo woke up the next day with terrible body pain. He could watch the huge trunks of dark bark rise to the gray sky and watch the snowflakes fall. To his left the fire crackled and his right the wind could be heard howling. Viggo forced himself to sit down and looked at the surroundings. Only ten meters of pine trees remained around, the rest of the forest had been destroyed leaving trees split in half. Viggo looked at the bonfire to his left, the trunks were red hot, and they would soon be filled with a layer of ash. So, he guessed that his master should not be far away. Viggo sat on the ground and stretched out his hands to warm himself to the heat of the bonfire. There was no bird noise or the movement of animals. Nor did he feel the presence of the mysterious spectral birds.

Viggo watched the trunks crackle the fire, exploding with small sparks fading into thin air as he thought about what his master told him yesterday:

Madness was an involuntary thing, brought about by outside forces that drive us to react. Since most of the time we don't have the right response, we only come to anger. In his case, Kratos was consumed by madness by being encouraged by a god and then following his designs blindly. After realizing the betrayal, trusting the enemy of the god again, and being betrayed again, he lost his faith in the whole world. The constant stimulation of betrayal led him to anger and anger to madness, and then to destruction.

<<—No one was to blame, but we all received punishment for our actions- Kratos said as he looked at the bonfire in the middle of the night. He had a firm, but sad look as Viggo looked at him from the ground. Kratos continued –the gods were afraid and did not want to lose their place in the world. I didn't know how to deal with losses and my guilt. I blamed the gods for my mistakes, but was it so? Wasn't I the only one to blame for not thinking on my own? Trusting someone else is easy, child, but thinking on your own is hard. Maybe, if I had thought on my own about what was best for me and my family, I would have had a better answer. I would not have attacked an enemy that I could not defeat and instead of rushing, I would have waited to strengthen myself and then think of winning without the need to resort to the gods.

Kratos looked Viggo in the eye and said -I don't think you lack combat skills. You are strong, you already had a good foundation when you arrived, you just needed to be disciplined. Now you just need to gain life experience and immerse yourself in the battlefield. Fighting is the only way to become strong. And if there was one thing, I should teach you to complete your training, it would be to tell you to start thinking on your own, what should I be doing right now? It's a good question->>

As Viggo looked at the bonfire, murmured -What should I be doing now?-

The wind howls, a blizzard brought with it the cold of the mountains and passed rocking the fire of the bonfire and then gave way to silence. Viggo watched the fire and wood crackle as he thought about what he should be doing now. Then Viggo heard Kain in his mind.

<<Adventures are not a goal, but a process for an end- Kain had said with a smile on his lips as he drank from a glass of wine -if you want to have fun, of course, you need to venture out. However, to strengthen yourself you need to know what you lack and then look for the place where you can get it. From there the adventure is born, as a process to achieve what you need>>

-And to improve my skills, I need to understand what I do wrong, right, father?- muttered Viggo, letting out a sigh that transformed into a cloud of steam and then vanished into thin air. Viggo heard the snow creaking about ten meters ahead of him, far beyond what was left of the grove. He raised his face and saw his master enter the grove. As always, Kratos looked stocky and powerful, with prominent height and stern looks. He carried a deer on his back; with his left hand he held the hind legs of the deer and with his right hand he held the Leviathan axe, the original. Viggo looked at the surroundings and saw on his left the axe resting on the trunk of a tree. He walked over, took it, and sat down again with the axe lying on the wet earth.

-You slept too much, boy- Kratos said.

-I don't know, I just woke up- replied Viggo scratching his head -I always thought you were strong, but never so much-

-Idiot, of course I'm strong, you're too weak- Kratos said and unloaded the deer on the side of the bonfire. He walked back and sat on a truck on the other side of the bonfire, rested his elbows on his knees and intertwined his hands -do you still want to train?- he asked.

-I still don't know how I should think on my own- replied Viggo -so yes, I'd like to train with you. Since we destroyed everything in the surrounding area, this place became a good place to train-

-I think about it too, but I have conditions- Kratos said. Viggo nodded and Kratos continued -1° you will bring food to my family and leave them chopped firewood. You will worry about cleaning and helping Faye-

-That's already covered- Viggo said as he shook his head -I spend a week in your home and leave meat drying, we work the aunt's garden and leave chopped firewood. Atreus can fend for itself; it is quite independent-

-Well, that's a relief-

-Why are you staying away?-

-I'm talking, you shut up-

Viggo narrowed his eyes and growled looking into his eyes. Kratos held his gaze and also narrowed his eyes and growled. Viggo looked down and let out a sigh as he shook his head. In the end, he treaded his hand as if telling him to continue.

-We will fight every day- Kratos said -once you fall unconscious, the training is over. So, the duration of the training will depend on how much punishment you can endure-

Viggo nodded and asked -is this all your strength?-

Kratos looked at the bonfire for a moment and said -like 50%-

Viggo nodded corroborating his assumptions. Kratos was as strong as a level 9 or higher, or perhaps, as strong as his father. He didn't know for sure but fighting Kratos would be a good training to one day challenge his father. His master would be strict and that means he would be severe in his teaching and use of force.

-You are weak- Kratos continued as he watched the fire crackle, little by little the trunks were being covered with a small layer of ash -far from being able to face a god of a combative type-

-Combative?- asked Viggo.

-Yes, there are classes of gods just as there are positions in an army. Usually, the eldest god is of the combative type who has the initiative to accumulate knowledge. Then he is followed by the gods of the combative type who have a hard time accumulating knowledge or are simply bad at using their brains. Then come the gods of the elemental type and finally the gods of the utilitarian type, whose abilities are just to see things, move fast or create things. Keep in mind, the level of strength and influence of a god will always be proportional to the information he handles-

-I understand- replied Viggo.

-You are like my brother- said Kratos -strong by birth, skilled in the arts of war, but bad at using his brain. You are lucky that your father is a man feared by the gods. Otherwise, you would be the servant of some good god with words-

-You make it sound like I'm an idiot- Viggo said in a bad mood.

Kratos just made a small grimace like a smile and continuous -being strong is not enough, child–

-Yes, Grandpa said the same thing. I met another person like Grandpa, and she told me to eat the soul of the god king of this earth to become stronger-

-Eat the soul?- asked Kratos raising his eyebrows

-Yes, eat the soul. However, I asked my father and he said that it would be better for me to look for another way. Eating someone else's soul involves much more than just becoming strong-

-Mmm- Kratos said -I don't know how to eat souls, but I do know how to take the divinity of another god and transform it into a skill-

Viggo opened his wide eyes and smiled full of expectations -please tell me-

Kratos looked at Viggo as if he were a fool and said -you're wrong if you think it's better than eating the soul. Well, it may be a little better, but it doesn't take you away from violence. You must kill the god-

Viggo's smile faded until he lost all emotion.

Kratos shook his head and said -killing a god has consequences, not to mention that you want to kill the god king of these lands-

Viggo nodded and looked down to see the bonfire -I also thought the same thing- he said -besides, I have no reason to kill someone I don't know-

-That's a good thought- Kratos said with a little smile -you're thinking on your own more than just following the advice of some monster-

They both nodded and stared at the bonfire as the snowflakes continued to fall. The simple crackling of the bonfire gave them so much tranquility that none had the need to talk for ten minutes. After that time, Viggo looked up and asked Kratos -How do you take the divinity of a god?-

Kratos sniffed through his nose and smiled -to begin with- he said -you must have access to your divine energy. After that, you must channel your divine energy into your hands and extract the remaining divine energy from the god's body. Then you must mold the divine energy of the god to finally introduce it into your body. It is a slow and painful process, if you do not have enough perseverance, you can lose the opportunity. In addition, sometimes, the divine energy of another god does not manifest itself as a power. Sometimes it's a gift, sometimes it's transformed into a weapon, sometimes it's just knowledge. For my part, I've done it a few times, but since I'm not good at that kind of thing, I can only retain the divine power of another god for a while, then it dissipates, and I lose the weapon or ability-

-Mmm- Viggo said as he stroked his chin with his right hand.

Kratos let out a chuckle like few times and Viggo looked at him confused.

-Boy, you act as if it is within your means, but surely you have not thought beyond just killing the god king-

-What do you mean?-

Kratos looked at him seriously and said -the gods have subjects and subordinates, all of them working for the good of the greatest of all gods. If you want to kill the god king of these lands, you must kill his generals first. Otherwise, you are too far away to even worry about taking his divine energy-

-I understand- replied Viggo seriously -I still don't know if I will risk killing the king god, but it never hurts to know that kind of thing, can you imagine if in the future I manage to kill the god king and I am paralyzed in front of his body?-

-In that case you would lose the opportunity-

Viggo nodded with a sly smile and stood up. He looked at his master and gestured to him so that he will get up. However, Kratos denied and said -let's eat first, then fight-