Dungeon of Niflheim

Frost tentatively stood in front of the ice bath with a nervous smile on his face. He glanced to his left and could see Khione staring at him, 95% of her musclebound body hidden beneath the silver waters, revealing only the top half of her head.

She was still struggling to come to terms with what happened a just a minute ago but since she knew ice baths weren't completely safe and Frost was a complete newbie she did her due diligence and kept a close eye on him.

Reassured by her gaze Frost took his first step into the water.

"Damn that's cold." He loudly said, his smile stretching further across his face in response to the pain.

"That's the point doofus." Teased Khione from her side before once again sinking beneath the waters, her eyes subtly roaming over Frost's body, admiring his physique from a purely atheistic point.

It was clear that Frost had worked hard to sculp his body, his muscles even the ones that were hard to grow were well defined. A powerful foundation with a lot of promise, very pleasing to the eye attraction aside. Of course it paled in comparison to her own body but that was to be expected, few could match her prowess.

Spurred on by her comment Frost felt competitive, he therefore chose to take the deep plunge. With balls of steel he stepped onto the top shelf submerging his knees before instantly taking another step, lowering his entire body up to his neck beneath the silverly water.

"Fuck!" He couldn't help but loudly curse, his entire body feeling as though it was being burned and gnawed on by a million insects. The discomfort was more than the pain.

"Hehehehe moron." His childish action made Khione smile, she suddenly felt a lot better, her body didn't even hurt as much.

"I..I..I..It's a…a..a.. bit diff..ff..erent from a straightttt up c…c…cold flame." Frost's teeth loudly chattered as he spoke, this was the first time in his life he'd ever felt so cold. His entire body was feeling it, there was no area that wasn't suffering to some degree. An all-encompassing attack that brokered no weakness.

"Take slow deep breaths, focus on the sensation, don't fight it, the point is acclimatise yourself to the environment not to resist it." Khione donned her teaching tone, speaking softly and with encouragement rather than teasing or mocking.

"G..G..Got ittt." Frost listened attentively to his teacher taking a few deep breaths and going against his instincts to protect his body from the invading mana instead letting it flow through him regardless of the pain and discomfort it brought. Like a muscle he needed to flex and put himself through strain if he was to get stronger.

The first few minutes his teeth continued to chatter, his body visibly shivering and his skin gravitated towards a shade of blue instead of his usual rosy complexion.

Gradually however he regained control of his nervous system, the shivering weakened, his blood started to pump with its usual vigour and the initial pain and discomfort eased allowing him to actually feel peaceful perhaps even comfortable.

"Don't let your guard down." Just when he thought the worst was over Khione sharply warned before harshly frowning, Blanche worked her magic stepping up her game the moment they got used to the current level.

"Wha…oww!" Caught by surprise Frost yelped, a dagger of mana assaulted his body's most underdeveloped areas, honing in on his weak points like a shark to blood.

"The first part's easy, Blanche gets a measure of what it takes for you to be at ease before starting the next step and it's the very reason why the Azure star inn outclasses all its competitors, the palace included." Khione was used to these ice baths, fully prepared for the incoming assault on her body. Unlike Frost she had trained her overall resistance and thus sported few weak points.

Frost on the other hand suddenly felt a great deal of biting pain at his elbows, knees, toes and other shallowly protected areas. The silk clothing did little to stop the chill, merely calming its destructive nature and ensuring a broad assault that left no stone left unturned.

Strangely or rather to be expected of him the pain and growing discomfort that promised only continued torment filled him with excitement, like a child playing with a new toy he smiled and felt a little giddy, eager to experience the next attack and improve his body. A training maniac through and through.

His joy was expressed awkwardly through his facial expression, but Khione could still tell.

'I knew it, he really is just like me.' A smile appeared on her lips and a warmth radiated from within her heart, offsetting the invading chill.

Her resurgence was so great that Blanche who was monitoring the situation with her keen eyes had to quickly increase the purity of the ice element so as to facilitate the best training circumstances.

Frost wasn't used to training like this thus he was rather quiet for the first twenty minutes or so, simply nodding his head or waving his arm whenever he heard Khione give advice or offer encouragement.

Every time he felt himself getting used to the level of invasion Blanche would up the ante keeping him in a constant state of strain. Despite this however he could clearly feel his affinity growing stronger, his body becoming more resilient to the destructive chill.

"You'll quickly notice a shift in your abilities, but the real advancement usually happens on the 2nd to 5th dips. Once your body's baseline and limits have been best understood and you've learned to acclimatise to this kind of training your gains will increase two fold perhaps even three fold, especially when you enter an ice bath that's beyond your rank." Said Khione from her own bath, nodding her head in appreciation as she watched Frost quickly get used to the pain and foreign training methods. He was stubborn, talented and a real madman when it came to training. Even now that smile was still plastered on his lips, curling up whenever Blanche kicked it up a notch.

"If that's the case I look forward to you inviting me here again." His teeth no longer chattered, and his body no longer trembled as he spoke, clearly he was more in control of his facilities by this point.

"I've helped you train, introduced you to pizza, taught you how to ski and now brought you to our realms most prided ice baths when is it going to be my turn." Khione faked pouted, playing the used victim.

"Hehehe don't worry I promise I'll work hand over foot to satisfy you when you eventually come visit my territory." Frost wasn't one to take things for granted, he repaid his favours and then some.

"Hmm I guess I'll have to look forward to it then." Khione loosed a smile in response, that warm fuzzy feeling once again filling her heart.

"..."

"..."

"How often do you do this kind of training?"

"Not as often now but back when I was still in the early stages of A-rank I'd probably enter an ice bath every week or so, pairing them up nicely with a challenging pre-workout so as make a real day of it." Khione showed off her teeth, fondly reminiscing the days she could accurately watch herself improve after each and every session.

Now however she had to fight tooth and nail just to see even the slightest change, hell sometimes if she took it too easy she could swear she actually got weaker.

Her foundation was practically perfect, her capabilities already a full foot through the door into the S-rank, all she needed was that key inspiration and she'd be able to smoothly ascend, to stand tall alongside her many brothers and sisters. Make her mother, her role model proud in the face of her achievements.

Khione swore long ago that she'd surpass her mother, to beat her impressive records and cement her place in this large world as Khione and not as the daughter of Shivali and Freyja.

"Achieving S-rank isn't easy is it." Frost bemoaned the hardships of his future, even Khione the daughter of one of the strongest Gods in existence, with impeccable foundations and access to all the best resources struggled with that last step.

Enlightenment, inspiration, the forging of an unshakeable will could only be achieved by oneself. Outside influence could only lead you to the door and give you the strength to peer through it, the actual passing over the threshold however relied completely on your own sense of self, the manifestation of your own law, your place, your dominion in the world and whatever lay beyond it.

"You can say that again, for two years I've been working my ass off just to inch closer, to step into that realm but got nothing in return. My body has grown stronger, my foundations more stable and even my control and understanding of both chakra and my spear have advanced greatly but it's merely an increase in quantity rather than quality." Khione grumbled, displeased by the greatest roadblock she'd ever encountered in her otherwise unfettered and clear sailing life.

"I've already told you that there's no need to rush it Khione, you're still perversely young by normal standards, even your mother didn't reach S-rank by your age and she's a universally accepted prodigy." Blanche's comforting voice echoed within the bathhouse hoping to allay some of Khione's worries, but her efforts merely staved to infuriate the young Princess who was sick and tired of being told this, to being offered such pity. Completely missing the entire point of the words be said.

Haste makes waste, especially when it came to enlightenment, it wasn't something you could force.