Sparring

Nine years had gone by since that fateful encounter the baby had with Odin. Due to the passage of time, the little baby Odin had picked up has all grown up and he was given the name Vali which means Son of Odin. This is because as Odin raised the boy like a son ever since he brought him back from Midgard. Giving him this name incur the envy and hatred of several Asgardians.

Since it was an era of war, Odin had not given Vali any time to breathe ever since he could walk.

He was trained harshly by Odin to become a great warrior. Trained to be a general or at the very least a commander for Odin in conquering the nine worlds of Yggdrasil.

As he is a human, he was severely lacking in physical strength as compared the Asgardian. But, with the help of the system, he gradually began to keep up with the Aesirs.

And he had learned a huge amount about the system he had bonded with, the system is not like an A.I., but a tool to help him in his venture and achieving his aim.

From observing the Asgardians, Vali had deduced that on average, a baby has a power level of 30, a child has 50, a young adult has 100, an adult has 300. This, of course, excludes the exceptions, and they are stats of the non-warriors Asgardians under the age of 100.

As he is cooped up in Asgard all these years, he did not know the power level of humans. But he believes that it would be a lot slower than the Asgardians due to their difference in physique.

And Vali's stats as a 10-year-old is extremely exceptional for a human, but it is a bit above what it should be for an average Asgardian warrior up to a young adult which is 250.

[ Name: Vali

Age: 10

Race: Human

Power Level: 300

Life Span: 150 years

Skills: 1. Sword Skills Level 3

{ Sword Aura

Sword Intent

Sword Energy }

2. Haki Level 1

{ Kenbunshoku Haki: Unlocked

Bushoshoku Haki: Unlocked }

3.Haoshoku Haki: Locked ( Requires 700 battle power to unlock)

4. Devil Fruit (Locked: Requires 500 battle power to unlock ]

Above are the stats of Vali at the moment, as he is trained by Odin himself, his growth is incomparable to others. And with the help of the system in addition to the training routine made by Odin, his growth rate can only be called abnormal. Although frequently, Odin would go out to war in one of the planets of the nine realms, whenever he is in Asgard, he would train Vali severely along with his daughter Hela, who is about 16 years old at the moment.

When Vali first met Hela, she was still a very cheerful child, but due to the intense training she had received and the education she had received, her temperament begins to gradually change over time.

And as Hela is the daughter of Odin, she too underwent the same training that Vali did.

Every day, in the Asgardian palace training ground, both of them would train with some of the best warriors and trainers in Asgard.

While Hela would train with the swords that have an appearance to oxtail sabres she personally summoned, Vali would train himself with a dual longsword or a gladius or sometimes an Ulfberht. And every afternoon, both of them would spar with each other to get a real battle experience.

And in all those years of their sparring, Vali only won against Hela once, this victory could only be attributed to luck as Hela underestimated Vali.

From that day onwards, Hela always used her full abilities and left Vali near death every time they spar. And the losses suffered by Vali could be attributed to him not using a compatible sword and not unlocking his Haki abilities.

Vali felt that using the swords that are present in Asgard are incompatible to him. So, he requested to Odin to grant him permission to make his new kind of sword, the katana, specifically for him. And due to his insistent request, Odin ordered the Asgardians blacksmiths to create Vali a katana sword.

Previously, before the arrival of Vali, a katana sword was not used or known by the Asgardians. As the katana swords are foreign and unfamiliar to the Asgardians, Vali had to provide them with design and guide them through the process of how katana swords are made as he remembered from his memory.

But, after the swords are finished, his persistence and hard work had paid off. And with the Asgardians constantly participating in battles, these blacksmiths are equipped with several years of experience from repairing or creating new weapons. With the enormous amount of experience under their belt, what they had made for Vali is not some mediocre sword but could be considered as a luxurious treasure.

And as the afternoon is approaching, Vali ran to the training ground. With two new katana swords in his hands, Vali felt confident that he would possibly win against Hela.

As soon as Vali arrived at the training ground, he saw several warrior hacking and slashing away either at huge wooden poles on the corner of the training ground or would spar against each other.

" Hey, Vali, did you come here to get beaten again? " Hela said mockingly as soon as she saw Vali.

" Not today, Hela. This time, you will be the one that will get defeated. " rebutted Vali as a smile begin to form on his face. Then he continued

" See these two swords? With these, I will be able to utilize my strength much better and I will defeat you. " Vali lifted up both of the katana swords in his hands as he said this.

Laughter begins to fill the training ground as the people saw the swords Vali is holding.

" You've got to be kidding. "

" What a joke. "

" haha "

.

.

.

" Those two sticks? Hahaha... It would probably break if I hit it once. " Hela began to mock as she saw the katana swords Vali is holding in his hands.

But what these people did not know was that the forging process of the katana swords is labour-intensive and time-consuming. And the swords are not made with just one type of metal but different metals are used at each layer to increase the durability and sharpness of the blades. If not for the extensive experience of the blacksmiths and availability of the enormous amount of resources, Vali would not be holding the two katana in his hands but will have to wait for at least a day more.

Since Vali knew the true value of the katana swords he is holding, he did not care to bother about the mocking crowd. With a serious look on his face, he said

" Are we gonna fight? "

" Clear the area. Let me teach this Midgard maggot a lesson. " Hela said condescendingly. As she is an Asgardian Asynjur and the firstborn of Odin, she put herself on a pedestal and believes that she is better than anyone else, especially a mortal that her father picked up from nowhere would not be able to compare to her. Her hatred for Vali is magnified due to the name her father had given him.

As the crowd heard what Hela said, they immediately move to the corner and give space to the two people, they begin to earnestly observe the battle that is about to take place. They expected a battle where Hela would whack the Midgardians, Vali. So, the crowd began to cheer

" Hela beat the crap out of that lowly human"

" Hela beat him. "

" Hela..... "

" Hel... "

.

.

.

As the cheer is continued, on Hela's face formed an egotistical and pompous smile. She started to approach Vali who is about 5 meters away from her. As she approaches Vali, she quickly began to form two daggers in her hands and quickly threw them towards Vali.

But, Vali who is on the opposite end had closed his eyes, he is activating and utilising his Kenbunshoku Haki. And his eyes still remains closed even though Hela had already thrown the dagger. In a flash, Vali, slash out one of the katana and from his sword came flying a wind blade at the incoming daggers.

Clank!

Clank!

As the wind blade hits the daggers, it immediately knocked them out of its path and both of the daggers fell to the ground.

Seeing Vali effortlessly block her daggers and on top of it, since he did it with his eyes closed, Hela begins to burn with anger and rage. She immediately summoned several daggers and threw them towards Vali. Then she summoned two oxtail sabres and quickly dash towards Vali.

Noticing the several daggers that are moving closer towards him, Vali opened his eyes, only his Kenbunshoku Haki could not keep up with that much daggers due to its low level.

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

Swinging both of his katana in several directions, Vali sent a barrage of wind blades to obstruct the path of daggers. Successfully halting the flying daggers, Vali swiftly composed himself for the incoming melee attack from Hela.

Hela as she's just an arm's length away from Vali quickly slashed at him with all of her might. Perceiving the imminent danger, Vali sent his katana to obstruct the path of both the swords.

Hela, as she is aware that her attacks are futile, she rapidly bailed out to get herself safe from any sneak attack.

Observing the retreating Hela, Vali, without any delay, sent two wind blades towards her and he immediately rushes towards Hela accompanying the wind blade from behind.

Clank!

Clank!

Hela barely blocked the two wind blades, before she could find a footing, Vali appeared in front of her.

Vali released his sword aura and sword energy, and around him, a blurry almost invisible aura like image reminiscing of a sword floating and covering his body could be seen. Following this, Vali immediately coated a tiny portion, about 1 cm of his two katana with Bushoshoku Haki and strike down at Hela

SLASH!

Hela immediately put the two oxtail blade in the path of Vali's katana as she could not dodge and get out of their path.

Coupled with the swords energy, sword aura and Bushoshoku Haki, the two oxtail sabre snapped like a twig as the katana hit both of them.

Whoosh!

As the two oxtail sabres are broken, with nothing to obstruct it's a path, the katana continued it's course, the tip of both the swords whizz right by the face of Hela. As Vali did not want to kill Hela, he pulled both of his katana backwards by a bit to avoid any fatal injuries. If Vali had not done that, Hela would most likely be split into two half, if not, at the very least, she would lose her life.

And if this fight is a true life and death battle, Hela would have lost her life already. Even though it is a heated battle, the fight between them is only a spar, and as Vali did not want to harm Hela, the daughter of the man who saved him from death. This is the only reason why Hela is still unscathed.

As she saw how close she came to getting her life snubbed out, Hela knees became weak and she fell to the ground. The crowd, who had witnessed everything from the start of the fight are left dumbstruck, all of it happens in a way they had not anticipated. They thought that Hela would be the one who will come out victorious, but, Vali had defeated her. And the time it took him to defeat Hela is less than 5 minutes. This is simply preposterous, they had a hard time believing it even though they saw everything and knew it was the truth.

Due to the sudden turn of events from what the crowd had predicted, nobody in the training ground dares to speak up. The cheer for Hela too stopped as Vali completely defeated her.

As the fight was over, Vali swiftly sheathed both of his katana and turned to leave the training ground.

" Vali, it doesn't matter if you defeat me right now. You are still just a lowlife. You can never surpass the Aesirs and Asynjurs " Hela shouted before Vali exited the training ground.

As the crowd heard what Hela had said, they nodded in agreement and shouted, " That's right. You are still just a human adopted by a god. "

This is true for humans, no matter how strong they are, they would not be able to match the Asgardians. With their long lifespan and better physique compared to humans, humanity has no way to compete with the Asgardians in the long run. But, this is not the case for Vali, with the help of the system, surpassing the Asgardians, even Odin, the strongest of them all is not a pipe dream for him anymore.

Unfazed by the crowd, Vali check his stats as he quietly exited the training ground

[ Name: Vali

Age: 10

Race: Human

Power Level: 320

Life Span: 150 years

Skills: 1. Sword Skills Level 3

{ Sword Aura

Sword Intent

Sword Energy }

2. Haki Level 1

{ Kenbunshoku Haki: Unlocked

Bushoshoku Haki: Unlocked }

3.Haoshoku Haki: Locked ( Requires 700 battle power to unlock)

4. Devil Fruit (Locked: Requires 500 battle power to unlock ]

Staring at his stats, Vali found out that his battle power had increased by 20 points, he realized that this is due to the fact that he had defeated Hela. But, his power level is still about 80 points lower than Hela, and the only reason he won is because of the skills he possessed, with his new Haki abilities, he did not give Hela the time to exercise her full power.

The first time Vali won against Hela, there wasn't a significant increase in his power level, And he was not sure whether defeating others would increase his power level. But this time, since he defeated Hela completely, his power level has increased by a staggering 20 points. With this, Vali had confirmed that defeating others would increase his power level, he resolves himself to increase his power level as fast as possible using this method.