Chapter 58 - Finishing up

He used his newfound understanding of the water element to calm the agitated space around him. That being said, this so-called stormy whirlpool was obviously at a very low level, and so was Hati's understanding of its element.

He closed his eyes to extend his senses into his soul core, where he once again noticed the beautiful moon, but this time, the surroundings were no longer an empty void; instead, the moon was shining down on a small puddle of water in front of Hati.

A puddle that had already started to take on the same pale glow that had started to become a staple of all his elements.

This was the representation of his understanding of the element of water. Currently, that understanding represented only the basics of the basics. 

Still, as his understanding grew, the puddle would grow until this empty void was filled with a mighty sea.

He smiled again at the feeling of growing stronger and opened his eyes to the outside world, but instead of the void that had accompanied him for the past two months, he saw his smiling parents.

Sif immediately rushed in for a hug and squeezed him tight, "Are you alright? I know that couldn't have been easy."

Hati smiled, "It wasn't, but I think it was worth it." As he said so, he created a small floating blue sphere above his hand. 

It was no more than a small gathering of the water element without any function, as Hati had no techniques to use it with yet. Still, it represented his progress, and with the water element having gained a foothold in his soul core, it would be easier to improve his understanding in the future.

Belphegor patted him on the shoulder, "Good job, son. With this, the training stone is no longer useful to you. In the future, you can only rely on your own ability to increase your understanding of this element."

Hati nodded at his father, "I know. I won't waste the opportunity you gave me."

Belphegor laughed and kept patting Hati's shoulder, "Good, good. I am content, then." Suddenly, he pulled a book from his storage ring and pushed it into Hati's hands, which were freed after Sif had stopped hugging him.

"Here you go; this is the present I had been working on. It is basically just an improved and personalised version of the sanguine wolf arts. Although I don't practice the blood element myself, the original technique is just at the level of the fifth revolution, so improving on it wasn't too hard.

I also made it more compatible with your current status as a tri-blood, and I added a few skills that use both your blood element and your new water element."

Soul elements were the most versatile of the three element types an Einherjar had access to, and because of that, they could work together with the other two types relatively easily.

Belphegor smirked, "There is also another skill that I think you'll like most of all."

He then pulled out another book, "This is The Raging Seas Chronicle. It is a technique I created for myself and am now passing on to you; it focuses on the water element of the soul."

Finally, he pulled out another two books, "These are the only two techniques for the spirit core I have that focus on lightning and ice, as, unfortunately, I use ice as my physical element, not spiritual."

Sif jumped in at this point, "I tried to get some good techniques from the Fenrir clan, as I know there is at least a good lightning one, but even with Erik and Leif helping, it was impossible to get one without explaining what we needed it for.

I can't even share my own technique that I got from the Fenrir clan during my youth because I am bound by blood seals to not share it with anyone, even within the Fenrir clan."

Belphegor nodded, "So, for now, you'll have to make do with these basic techniques."

Hati looked at these four books with wonder before he looked at his parents with a loving smile, "Thank you both! I'll make good use of them!"

Then his expression changed to slightly confused as he asked his parents, "But wait, if Mother is bound by blood seals, then how did she share the sanguine wolf arts for you to improve upon?"

Belphegor smiled mysteriously at this question, "Simple, she didn't give it to me. I received a copy from your human ancestor. We happened to know each other back in the day."

Hati gave his father a wry smile, "I forget how old you are sometimes. How is it that you are still alive and she is not, though?"

Belphegor had a thoughtful look on his face, "I'm not entirely sure. I do know that your ancestor was already older than me at that time; after all, I was still just a fifth revolution back then. Plus, sin shards also tend to increase a person's lifespan. 

There's a good chance both she and her husband died of old age, but it happened while I was already asleep, so I cannot be sure. Hel, I'm not even sure how long I was asleep for, precisely."

Hati scratched his head, "Well, I suppose it barely matters, anyway."

Suddenly, Sif had a mischievous grin on her face as a red seal appeared around her hand. She turned the seal a little, and immediately, Hati started feeling strange.

He groaned as he felt his body quickly changing and looked at his hand, only to see it quickly changing to a light blue and becoming a little scaly, something he hadn't yet noticed on his father.

He realised he was changing into his snow demon form and looked a little aggrieved at his mother for doing this so suddenly. After all, she was the one who had sealed his bloodline transformations with a seal so she could also weaken those seals.

Sif giggled a little in response and said, "We've talked about this long enough; it's time to start training you in controlling your bloodline transformations now!"

In the next few months, they trained Hati to control his transformations by slowly removing the seal that was preventing them from going out of control and then waiting for Hati to control the part they had released.

It took two months for him to control the transformations to the point where he didn't simply switch between his transformations automatically, and then another two months before he could control his transformations well enough to be able to, essentially, mix and match his body parts.

This was important, as he could not show his complete Calamity wolf form to the Fenrir clan or really anyone in Asgard, as that would generate too many questions.

At this point, there were five months left before he had to return to the Fenrir clan in time for the contest so that he could claim Luna as his own spirit companion.

Since they had now done everything that was absolutely necessary during Hati's training, they could use the remaining time to focus on increasing his understanding of his elements, getting him familiar with the techniques they had given him and increasing his soul and spirit core ranks.

This was the part of his training where his newly split mind truly came into play. Being able to study two elements or techniques at the same time was an immense help.

Three of his elements could be directly taught by his parents; the only element he had no immediate teacher for was the spiritual element of ice. 

Although his father could teach him about the ice element as a whole, the physical application of it was different from the spiritual one, mainly because the physical element was generally kept close to the body. In contrast, spiritual elements could be used at either close or long range.

He had a lot of training fights with both of his parents while they kept their power limited to the mortal range in order to get more familiar with his techniques and elements. Of course, the fact they limited their power did not stop them from wiping the floor with Hati every single time.

Advancing his soul and spirit core ranks quickly involved, once again, pills, but these had lower efficiency and combined with everything else, they only got these up to rank five before their time was up.

This was still quite far along for a seventeen-year-old Einherjar, but it was not as far along as people like Garth and Astrid had reached.

Still, what Hati had reached in just a year with help from his parents was nearly unheard of in Asgard; that didn't mean there weren't people who could do the same, but they were rare and far between.

Luckily, despite his lower ranks, Hati was confident he could beat out Garth and any other Fenrir youths that stood in his way to becoming eligible for receiving a spirit companion. After all, he had plenty of other advantages.