Chapter 26

One day later and after a second visit from the father and son duo, I suddenly open my eyes. Everything looks different, yes... The bark of the tree is still white, we're still surrounded by the purplish fog/space/hole and yet, it somehow seems completely different. Curious.

Hm. Takae looks dead, but she's not. It pains me to see her so excessively pale, her hair dirty with dry sweat, her eyes sunken... Curious. Apart from the pain, she should be perfectly healthy. Something is wrong.

"Takae," I whisper. And she opens her eyes/windows/soul. I smile at her as she looks at me and then around us, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Nat... Are we done?" She whispers.

"Yeah, I am gonna count to three, and then I'll remove the daggers. Ready?" At her nod, I continue. "Alright... One... Two..." And with a flex of my telekinesis/force/mind, the daggers suddenly leave our bodies, an arch of blood following it, the wound closing in an instant.

"Fuuu..." Takae breathes, and she suddenly looks better. "Damn, that hurt, but... I do feel stronger but it's such a short jump in strength, hell, I can't even call it a jump of strength, more like a small step." She crosses her arms in annoyance.

"Nope," I say to her with a smile.

"Hm?"

"Nope, it's not a small step, it's a huge jump. In fact, you probably just leaped from this world to the next. It's just that you don't know how to use your strength. I can feel your soul being stronger by magnitudes. I'll teach you later, a better way to use it with your Ki." I mutter as I look around.

"Kratos did come twice... Hm, first..." I snap my fingers and we're suddenly cleaned, and everything inside my ring once more. A flash of light and we are dressed.

"Nat, why do you clap or snap your fingers when you do your magic?" Takae asks idly as we sit down on the edge of the root/branch/traveler.

"Hmm... Habit. Mostly. I started doing it long, long ago. With a clap or a snap, I used the sound, and feeling to activate an echo through my body, and thus activate my magic faster. I can use my magic now with a mere thought, and now that all my energies are one, they follow just my will." I swing my feet, arms behind my neck as I rest on the floor/palette/universe with my legs on the edge.

"I know I can do more. Right now my strength is almost reality-bending. It's just... I don't know, it's hard to do something different after so many years of doing one thing." I close my eyes as I feel Takae's head on my thighs, her arm danglin' from the side, and her other hand covering her eyes.

"We'll explore that later. I... Uh, have you been hearing or seeing things weirdly since we opened our eyes?" She asks with a weird tone of voice.

"You mean like seeing something and your brain tells you it's another three things or something like that?" I answer with a smile. "Yggdrasil is a being of space and time. It's a being of life and death, rebirth, reincarnation..." I look towards the tree/lifegiver/lifetaker in the distance. "Your soul and essence were strengthened by it. Now you see the true nature, and the design it has in life. Don't think too much about it, it doesn't make sense, really." I stroke Takae's head.

"Hmm... Well, I'll have to get used to it then." She sighs. "So, what now?"

"Well, you choose, we either wait for Kratos and Atreus or we leave, our only door the one by Brok, since we haven't seen another yet."

"Ah, but now that we have been infused by the tree, can't we find other exits?" Takae

"Hmm... Maybe, but I don't think it will work. This tree gets weirder the more I look at it." I grunt.

Takae giggles at my disgruntled voice.

"Well, we co-" the sound of rocks piling up, distracts us, blue light forms a door/contract/shortcut the wood opens slowly and Kratos and co appear.

"Well, you saved us the thinking," I smirk at Kratos and Atreus.

"Teacher, Takae!" Atreus runs towards us, stopping in front of us. "You're okay!"

"Hmm... What's this Takae, this kid is worried about us? And what teacher? I do not remember having a student that throws away my bell." I look at Takae with a smirk and she covers her mouth as her shoulders shake.

Mirth leaves my face, I look at Atreus in the eyes. "I am serious Atreus, it seems you merely dropped it by mistake, so I'll forgive you this time. The bell is extremely important, do not lose it again." I say with a stern tone as I throw the bell at him.

"Ah... I am sorry." He mutters looking at the ground. I just ruffle his hair for a second.

-sniff- "...You smell weird. What have you two been doing these days?" I ask nonchalantly as I step beside Kratos.

"Kill." He answers, uh, is he pissed off? Oh well.

"Oh, we went to Alfheim, helped the light elves against the dark elves, got the light, and now we're going to the mountain!" Atreus exclaims.

"Hmm... Well, let's go then, I need another exit on this thing." I smirk as we follow the two.

While Atreus and Takae were talking and walking ahead of us, I decided to bug Kratos.

"You feel stronger... That shouldn't be possible," It shouldn't. He's a god, probably of strength or rage or something like that. Gods can't get stronger slowly, either a big leap of strength because they absorbed another god or something like that.

"... Atreus is getting stronger." And that's that. So, his son is getting stronger and he doesn't want that Atreus think he can surpass his father so he raised his strength to match it up.

"Hmm... Your ax is changed too." I say as we walk down the bark of the World Tree.

His only answer was a loud grunt. Well, it seems he has reached the limit of his vocabulary then. I roll my eyes.

"And then I... I don't know. I thought he abandoned me as well, and I managed to kill a lot of monsters and take him out of the light." Atreus' voice was small but proud. He probably thought Kratos couldn't hear him. Sadly he underestimated the ears of his father.

I eye Kratos tightening his eyes for a second when Atreus mentioned the light. Hmm. "To be so absorbed to ignore his plight... An illusion or something deeper?" I ask with a mischievous grin.

"Silence." He grunted at me.

"Oh, relax spartan. I'll just ask my student later." I bring my hands to my head as I start walking backwards looking him in the eye.

"You don't want to make me an enemy." Eyes cold like forgotten steel observe every single twitch of mine. Hehe, getting closer.

"I don't." I nod. "Then again, I am confident in my strength, so I am not worried about fighting you." I throw him a small red stone.

"I am not your enemy Kratos, but you need to realize that you can't challenge the world alone. And that you're not alone. Your son is strong, is he not? He protected you. You didn't upgrade that weapon yourself, did you? And who gave you the methods and told you the way to go to Alfheim?" -sigh-

Before he could answer, if he ever would, I cross the magical door. Light blinds my eyes for a second, before everything changes. No longer in the tree between the realms, now I find myself at the base of a mountain. Two paths and one slope are covered in darkness. Hmm, not darkness. A curse.

I suddenly raise my revolver and shoot something on a branch on a faraway tree.

"Ah!" An unknown voice screams.

Takae appears beside me, clad in lightning, placing Atreus behind us.

"What was that?" Atreus exclaims.

"Hmm..." I close my eyes, sensing energy, whatever it was. It's gone now. "I don't know, I feel that someone was watching us, with malevolent intentions so I shot at him," I explain with a shrug.

"A crow. Or a bird of some sort. It was green." Kratos grunts. "They have been observing me for a while. I to kill them whenever I find them."

"Ah... Unkindness of ravens then... The raven-feeder is their herald after all." I cross my arms.

"Unkindness...?" Atreus tilts his head.

"A pack of ravens. That's what they're called. A treachery too. Funny that." I smirk.

"No, no, no, more importantly, what was that! With what did you shoot, a crossbow? it looked smaller!" An annoying voice squeaks beside me.

As instinct commands, I suddenly kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying towards a tree.

Ah. "Ah." I scratch my cheek when everyone is looking at me pointedly.

"Sorry, you surprised me. I can't even sense you..." I walk toward him and extend my hand to help him get up.

He looked at me with a grimace. And then at my hand with disgust. Then he looked at his hand cringing. After that, he looked me in the eyes with a mix of annoyance. Huffed and pushed himself off the ground without looking at me.

...This fucking dwarf/blight/artificer.

"Ah... It's, it's all good. Don't worry I can get up by myself. Yes." He nods quickly.

"Are you Broks brother?" I squint at him, no longer smiling.

"Ah, yes. The greater of both brothers." He looks at me and quickly steps away. "Not that it would help you, thanks for coming. Have a good day, goodbye." He quickly retreated to his stand.

I massaged my eyebrows with annoyance.

"Brat, come here." I motion to Atreus, who's holding back his laugh.

"You can make that dwarf work, right?" I ask and he nods. "Very well, here." I pass him the diagrams and the material for Takae's boots. "Have him do that. I'll reward you if you convince him to link the boots as well." I ruffle his hair as he nods like a duck.

"For now... I guess I'll make the camp." I sigh, as Takae pats my back consolingly.

"You can't win 'em all." She shrugs.

Time to use my energy without mnemotechnics. I close my eyes, and will my energy to permeate the ground, duplicate the earth, mold the ground. To change properties, to change matter.

I barely feel a tug at my energy pool, when I open my eyes, a second later I find myself looking at a big house made of redwood, originally stone and dirt. It has a few beds, made of cotton, a metallic stove in the middle of the room, with a collapsable roof.

"I wasted less energy doing it like that than with a clap..." Either that or the boost from Yggdrasil was more significant than I thought.

"Wow!" Atreus exclaims and looks at the house and then at me in wonder.

"You didn't use a medium, was it better?" Takae asks me, with a happy smile.

"Yeah. I barely felt it. I think... We can use Ki meditation now. Perhaps imbue our body with energy with permanent effects." I grab my chin in thought as I inspect Takae's insides.

"Your soul is strong enough. We'll try later." I grin at her.

"The house has everything and a few beds for us all. Use it at your heart's content." I tell Kratos and Atreus. "Except you, time for learning magic." I grin at the brat.

"Yes! I have learned a few things on my own! A few runic words with effects, and now I can imbue my bow with the light of Alfheim using this!" Atreus showed me a little object, that looked like a little arm with a single string.

"By the way... Why are the two of you with runes on your necks?" I ask as I look them over.

"You can see it?" He asks surprised.

"Why so surprised? There's no one better at magic than me. Ever." I smirk with all the self-assurance I have.

"And yet you want help to reach the top of the mountain." Kratos interrupts looking at me sharply.

"Ah... Well, I am not in the mood to tangle with the All-Father." I shrug as I pass by him.

"Come, brat, today's lesson is on the river."

My shoes and socks disappear, and I roll my pants a little bit.

"You too," I say and he takes off his shoes and rolls his pants too with a grimace.

"I hate water." He says.

"At least you can face it, that's good." We walk into the river. Water covering our ankles.

"Are you not gonna teach Takae as well?" He asks.

"I have taught her a little bit while you two were gallivanting around without my bell," I smirk at him.

"I taught you the basics of mana control last time, now I am gonna teach you reinforcement. You probably already use it without knowing. Otherwise, I don't think you would have been able to slaughter that many monsters on your own," I smirk at his affronted look.

"As the name implies, reinforcement it's not a spell or a technique, it's a way of controlling your mana. There are various levels to it." I raise one finger. "Cover the body in a later of mana, making you stronger, faster, harder." I raise another finger. "Cover your muscles, upgrading your strength further, giving you extra control over your body. Even able to heal yourself or control your hair growth." I raise the third finger. "Imbue your blood and bones with your mana, it will raise your energy output." I close my fist. "And then combine everything. You'd be unstoppable." I grin at his eager look.

"However it is a lengthy process and it will take time to learn everything. So I am gonna tell you the basics of each form, and you will have to learn it slowly on the course of your travels."

"The first step is to cover your body with a thin film of mana, without wasting it. Permanently leaving a channel open, but cut so it doesn't waste energy." I demonstrate as red energy envelopes my body, "Normally it would be invisible, and even closer to my skin so it is not noticeable, but this is a demonstration after all."

Atreus closes his eyes and a raging blue wave of energy flickers on and off on his body.

"Remember when you played with your cards? How do you envelop them in your energy to make them float? It's like that, but with a channel open but cut in your body. Less energy. Steady." His aura flickers a little bit more, but in the end, stays put. It looks like a bigger Atreus is overlapping with the real one.

"You need to control the size, the effects should be the same, no matter how much mana you use," I comment as I look at him.

"So, what now?" He asks with an eager expression.

"Well, now you have to hold it in so it doesn't break. We call this step aura." I suddenly punch at him and he flies back his aura breaking.

"Why did you do that for!?" He raises to his feet reaching for his bow, only to find it's not there.

"Now, now, I did not hurt you. And I am teaching you, look at you, your aura is not there anymore. Raise it again!" I point at him with a smirk.

"Fine..." Oh, he used less energy now, and the aura is smaller. Good.

"Come, let's brush your hand to hand meanwhile," I smirk at him.

He runs towards me and jumps, kicking with his left heel. I slap his feet down, and with my other elbow his face.

His aura flickers as he fell backward.

I wait for him to open his eyes and look at me, before telegraphing my next attack, a big stomp towards his face.

He rolls away panicking, as a shower of droplets falls around us.

He gets up and runs towards me with a fist cocked up.

"Don't be so obvious, with your arm raised like that it's obvious what you're going to do," I say as I sidestep his punch, my feet sneaking to trip him.

"And thus the mighty Atreus fell forward on the river, his face planting in the river, who knows how many fishes are swimming in his stomach now." I mock him.

"Shut up!" He yells and his aura flickers.

"Calm down brat, you will lose control of your own energy if you don't focus. Enemies will insult you in battle and will taunt you in combat. You will weather the verbal brunt with how temperamental you are. Or you will die and your mother's ashes will not go where they wished to." I sparta kick him in the chest.

His aura breaks and he stays down for a while, his chest rising fast, I can feel his anger from here.

"Fuuuuuu..." He gets up. And looks at me with determination, his aura appearing once again around him, this time smaller. Barely a few millimeters off his skin. Amazing.

"You're quite an amazing brat aren't you," I said proudly, and I can see how happy it makes him.

"Alright, drop that aura, we're gonna work on the next step now." I motion for him to follow me to the riverbank.

As we sit down, I will for the area to heat up slowly, drying us up.

"How much do you know about the human body?" I ask him getting an eyebrow raised.

"Well, uh... We have bones, and muscles, and a heart." He nods.

"So, nothing. Alright. Biology lesson then." I smirk and the ground in front of us raises, the blob of the earth slowly dissolves revealing a human body cut in half.

"Ew." Atreus looks away.

"That's just a puppet I just made to teach you, brat. Don't look away." I bop him in the head.

"Yes, teacher..."

"We'll start with the basics." The bones inside the body illuminate. "Those are the bones in a human body, we have 206 bones in our body. Bones provide the structure for our bodies. Bones are made of connective tissue reinforced with calcium and specialized bone cells." I explain, but at his lost look I scratch my chin for a second. "Calcium is why they are white, and why they are strong in the first place. You have to drink milk if you want more calcium."

"Your leg bones are the longest and strongest bones in your body. When you stand or walk, all the weight of your upper body rests on them. Each leg is made up of four bones. The three long bones are your femur, your tibia, and your fibula." I explain pointing to each bone. "If your opponent is strong, either completely target the tibia or ignore the bones. And focus elsewhere."

Huh, where did he get that notebook? Whatever.

"The forehead is strong too, so hit the sides. It'll rattle the brain. Anyways, memorize where every single bone is and its form. If you want to draw them I'll wait for you." I smile at him.

"Thanks teach." He mutters as he keeps drawing. Hmm... He's good.

"You know, the hand contains 54 bones... So it's easy to break. But it'll also keep working even if you break fingers. So, break the wrist." I say idly while he works.

"Remember the space on the ribs, you have arrows, you can avoid the ribs and hit something important, like the lungs. or the heart."

"Done!" He said and looking at his notebook he did a perfect drawing of the bones, even with the notes of what I just said. Amazing, if this kid had been taught since the beginning he would be amazing.

"So, humans have 600 muscles. And three main types of muscles. Skeletal, smooth, and cardiac." I idly explain as the different muscle types illuminate with different colors.

"Now, The musculoskeletal system's primary functions include supporting the body, allowing motion, and protecting vital organs. It also joins at the joints with the nerves"

"So just cut the joints of the bones, and the movement will stop!" He exclaims

"Yup! And to the next type of muscles. The smooth muscle. The hardest to train and control. Normal humans think it's impossible, but what would weak fools know. The smooth muscle is located in the digestive tract and the blood vessels. Is arranged in layered sheets that contract in waves along the length of the structure. If you can make a wave in the water with your mana, you can heal them or train them easily, they are important because they protect the blood vessels. Puncture one, and your opponent with bleed unless he heals it."

Veins start to illuminate in the puppet.

"Those are the blood vessels. Remember them." Suddenly throw a dagger and sever one. The puppet screams and blood exits like a fountain.

"Ah!" Atreus screams.

"Hahahaha!" I laugh and the puppet stops moving. "You're going to see worse things out there, brat! Buckle up!" I smirk.

"The next muscles are the cardiac muscles, they are the muscles of our heart. Training them means training the heart, and training the heart sucks because it hurts, and without supervision, you may stop your heart. So don't train them. Just cover the area in mana to protect it if anything." I state as he nods.

"A muscle is made up of thousands of elastic fibers bundled tightly together. Each bundle is wrapped in a thin transparent membrane," I illustrate the point, the earth rising forming thin fibers making a bouncy muscle. I throw a rock at it and watch as it bounces.

"You will be able to feel the individual structure of your muscles when you meditate if you use your mana on yourself. That's your training. Feel your muscles, and when you think you have felt and familiarized yourself with them all, tell me and I'll test it. That's how you will learn the second step of reinforcement, which we call this inner force." I explain and the puppet disappears, blending into the ground.

"The third step of reinforcement is the imbuement. Filling your blood and bones with your mana. Blood is a fluid that circulates inside our bodies, carrying nutrition to our whole body. When you eat something, it's the blood the one that carries the good stuff around your body. Blood circulates always in the same direction, blood is conducted through blood vessels, arteries, and veins." I explain as a bowl appears in front of us, with water circulating through a planned path.

"This step is the easiest and the hardest. After all, if you can circulate your mana through a bowl of water and make it follow your commands you would have done it. However you also have to surround the bowl with your mana, and that cover must not move. It's doing two things at the same time. The hard part is doing it without thinking about it. That's how you train it." I smile as I pass the bowl to him.

"You will train all three methods separately for a while until I clear that you've mastered it. For now, you can use aura in combat but no more." I nod at him.

"Alright, thanks, teacher." And his stomach rumbled.

"Hungry?" I smirk. "Alright, let's go." My boots and socks appear on my feet, and my pants roll down by themselves. Heh, magic, bitch.

"By the way, did you get that dwarf to agree to do the task?" I ask.

"Yeah, he said he would finish in a few hours."

"Hmm, alright. Good job, here you go." I throw him a little bracelet.

"Thanks teach! What does it do?" He asks ignoring the gift, only its functionality. Damned brat.

"Send your mana to it."

He does as I say and a shield formed with his energy appears.

"Oh! A shield!! Thanks!!" He shouts and runs towards Kratos, probably to show off like the little shit he is.

I walk towards Takae, who is looking at me with a gentle smile.

Without waiting for her to speak, I dive at her and bury myself in her bosom, wrapping my arms around her.

"Mineeeeee," I mumble into her body.

"Hahahaha, yes, yes. Now come, we have made food." She smiles at me. "By the way... I think I have found it." Her smile gains an evil tint, and it just turns me on.

"Good. We'll take it later." I grin at her.