Kye's life contuinued in this manner for a full year before he got a break at his 11th birthday. Kye's body was very well toned at this point in time from all the training he did with Ares yet his muscles were still underdeveloped and his body ramained lean. His magic became very developed from Thanatos' meditation techniques. Kye also got very adept and inscribing magic runes through his artisan lessons with Hephaestus. The only time Kye took a break from his scheduel was when both his parents came to show him his new baby sister, Ellie, who was born seven months into his regime. Kye even forewent Christmas for the sake of his training, though he still found time to send his parents and new baby sister some of the jewelery he had made with Hephaestus. Kye, his parents, baby sister and the three gods were all seated in the Marken's villa in the Kingdom of Speria enjoying a festive dinner in celebration of Kye's birthday.

"So son, how has training been going? You look a lot stronger."

Ashton spoke out to make conversation.

"Oh yes darling, do tell us how you're going."

Alicia added.

"It's going fine. If you want a report on my progress, I think asking my teachers would be better."

Both his parents turned their attention to the three gods. Hephaestus nodded and wiped her mouth with a napkin before speaking.

"Over the course of the past year, Kye has become very adept at inscribing runes and forging basic tools and trinkets. I am now shifting a focus into having him put some of his ideas to the test as he has been showing great insight after he learns a new concept. I am looking forward to what he may make in the future."

She smiled and looked to Ares. Ares gave a grim look before speaking his thoughts.

"I think that Kye has immense potential in the area of physical fighting. However, I think that trying to build a foundation through normal techniques and stances as we have been doing in the past is counter-productive. There would be no stance currently in the world that could utilise Kye's power to it's fullest capabilities. From now we will be focusing on building his body with basic weight and stamina training and getting him to spar with some people around his level so that he can gain some experience. In terms of discipline and focus, Kye is second to none. It's been an honour to teach him this past year."

Ares bowed slghtly to Ashton and Alicia and they gave polite smiles. Thanatos looked Kye in the eye and then shifted his focus to his parents.

"Kye's mana well has become very large over the past year and his ability to absorb mana inherent in the environment is monsterous. I will be shifting our focus into developing his dark magic prowess from now. While Kye has shown great ability to draw mana in, his ability to split his focus to two spells, such as absorption and a basic ball spell is still under what I would like so he will be doing a scaled up version of the meditation to hopefully jumpstart the process of improving. Right now, Kye still needs development to be considered a mage, but in conjunction with his physical prowess and ingenuity, I believe even the most basic of magic would be devastating in Kye's hands. Hopefully his unique mixed style will yield great results when he starts to practice his own technique with Ares."

While both his parents seemingly happy, Ashton asked one final question.

"Any sign of his bloodline magic awakening?"

All three gods averted their eyes before Thanatos spoke up.

"In terms of weildable power, no. However we believe on one occasion Kye's skill [Atlas's Body] activated once during a spar with Ares."

Turning to Ares and motioning for him to continue, Thanatos looked at Ashton and Alicia as his brother spoke.

"So, I have a method of training that allows all injuries to fully heal after a few minutes. I do this so that my students can gain a natural pain tolerance as we train. This means that a lot of the time, I cause grevious wounds onto my students in an attempt to prepare them for it happening in live combat. Once when we were training I stabbed my greatsword through Kye's chest and ripped it to the side severing most of the left side of his upper body along with his left arm in its entirety. Instead of crying out in pain as I had expected, Kye stood upright and when I thought he was about to fall, it felt like the ground began to shake and Kye stabbed his own sword through my upper arm while I was trying to regain balance. The shaking stopped when I was injured and then Kye collapsed. We talked about this and we believe that Kye's own body desired a form of retribution for the pain that had been inflicted and almost took control."

Hephaestus shook her head.

"I still believe it to be the work of the skill [Atlas's Will] instead of [Atlas's Body] but the fact is, we have no idea about any of it besides the fact it happened. We would need to push Kye to further extremes to test this theory and we weren't comfortable with pushing him any further."

Thanatos nodded.

"While it remains that Kye is an exceptional person, he is still a now 11 year old child. While our methods would already be described as highly demanding, the fact remains that while Kye is unable to manifest the bloodline magic in him, we doubt any of his skills can be activated consciously."

Ashton lowered his head in thought but Alicia looked at Kye, concerned for his wellbeing. She had known that their training would be harsh but what they were doing was more akin to torture than training. If even the gods weren't comfortable pushing someone further, what demands could she make of her own son who was already putting in an enormous amount of effort. She was half concerned and half furious that they would do this to her darling boy in the first place but recognising that Kye would have quit if it was too much, she bit her tounge. While she might not act out on her feelings, she did have some stipulations to put forward.

"While I appreciate the extensive work you are putting into training my son, I am rather concerned about the impact this is having on his mentality. I would like to insist that his personal servant Martha join you at Miss Hephaestus' house."

All three gods shook their heads.

"While I respect your concern ma'am, that is not possible with Kye's current state of progress. We believe that by introducing an element of his scheduel that brings familiarity and warmth would stunt all progress towards unlocking his bloodline magic."

Hephaestus replied.

"He is but a child, he needs-!"

"What you feel he needs is not the same as what he feels he needs. Isn't that correct Kye?"

Kye nodded to Hephaestus.

"I want this level of training Mum. If i'm going to have the best shot at using these blessings I got, I need the harsh environment."

Alicia was about to cry. She wanted to support her son but at the same time was desperately worried how these gods would ramp up the level of his training in the coming months and years.

"Then, what about a pet? Could he raise a monster to be his companion?"

Ashton interupted the conversation with a comprimise. The three gods looked at one another and nodded, reaching some kind of unspoken concensus.

"This would be acceptable. Our only stipulation is that we will pick the pet."

Hephaestus said and Ashton nodded.

"Just let us know if you need help aquiring it."

"We will do so, Mr. Marken."

They all went back to their dinner and when finished, Kye spent some time with his mother in his parents room before she hugged him to her chest and they both fell asleep in the large bed. Ashton and the gods were having a conversation about the plan for Kye to start a business to gain connections and what type of monster Kye would raise. Unbeknownst to him, some of the most dangerous creatures were suggested but after a short discussion, they decided that a Shadow Wolf pup would be best and put the plan in motion. So marked the end of another year of life for Kye and life continued to march on, as it was want to do.