Drake had calculated that the Flame Emperor would, at most, arrive within three days. Within the Divine Realm, that could be extended to over a month as long as Drake left the time inside going as fast as possible.
Like that, and without much further ado, the training began. As already decided beforehand, Benladann, Miranda, Tisha, and Pekora would teach Nadia, Mina, and Jamar everything they needed to know about their powers, magic, and if possible, anything else that could straighten their minds to make them less self-doubtful.
Meanwhile, Drake alone would be given the task of taking care of Surtr. The training and how to grow stronger was devised by Drake and his wives properly. For Nadia, Mina, and Jamar, they would be made to go through magic classes, this also included Jamar's grandfather for his Fungi Magic, which was brought to the divine realm by Drake, magic and divine energy control practice, hunting of divine beasts within the divine realm, and then sparring with their teachers.
And as for Surtr, it was quite similar, but it would also involve sparring every single day against Drake, without any breaks. Even if Surtr was being constantly beaten down, these fights helped him enhance his skills proficiently tremendously, and it even allowed Surtr to constantly discover new strengths within his abilities.
However, the more he fought, the more Surtr realized how immense of a being Drake was, he was simply a being he couldn't beat no matter how hard he would ever try. And because of this, it also allowed him to not care for his safety at all, and to go absolutely all-out, without a care about the world.
After their first week of training, where Surtr not only had leveled up many of his skills, learned new ones alongside magic, and even leveled up by himself quite plentifully, the two were once more sparring.
"Surtr, come at me with everything you've got. Not even care for a second about my safety. I am a person you simply cannot beat… But that also makes it possible for you to try to genuinely kill me, without having any concerns." Drake smiled. "Come, son, show me what a week worth of training has given to you!"
"I'll do!" Surtr roared.
They battled for several hours. Surtr showcased his newly evolved ways of summoning his family's fire dragon spirits, his mothers' divine magic powers were also manifesting themselves much better. And his swift usage of Heavenly Smith mid-battle had become much better and precise.
He had showed a lot of flashy moves, but at the end, he was beaten down like a dog by Drake, and ended on the floor, as always…
"Ugh… You're sure tough, Drake…" Surtr laughed. "Hahaha… I'm still so weak…"
"No, in fact, I think you've gotten at least twice as strong as before." Drake analyzed.
"T-Twice?!" Surtr was shaken.
"Not strong enough to beat Rank 8 Monsters anyways." Drake sighed. "For that, you need to at least be a hundred times as strong than when you fought them."
"T-That's ridiculous… at this point, my growth simply won't be fast enough." Surtr sighed. "Hahh… Why even bother?"
"Fool!" Drake roared, quickly reprimanding him. "Why even bother?! Is that what you would tell to those girls you love so much, that are working so hard to become stronger as well?!"
"E-Eh?! Ah… I…" Surtr started to doubt on himself again. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't apologize to me! That won't show me a dime of what you're made of!" Drake sighed. "Also, why is your mother neve teaching you a damn thing?!"
"Mother… Although she can say a few words to me and imbue her soul powers into my magic to make it stronger, she can't be there at all times." Surtr sighed.
"She can't?" I asked. "Why are you even telling me something like this so late?" Drake facepalmed. "What's gotten into her?"
"It started a few days before you arrived. She had grown very weakened within her soul, and she told me that someone was using her remains within our continent to drain away her energy." Sighed Surtr.
"Strange, but… maybe the Flame Emperor could have something to do with that. Whatever magic he must be using, maybe if it uses her bones as a catalyzer…" Drake suspected. "Nonetheless, I'll go check on her once we're done training."
"W-We aren't done yet?!" Surtr asked, swallowing saliva.
"Didn't you said your resistance and scale skills level up the more I beat you to a pulp?" Drake smiled, cracking my knuckles. "Come on, son, stand up proud like a dragon, and come at me with everything you've got."
FLAAASH!
Drake healed him fully using his magic powers, with the aid of Gabriel, his Divine Spirit of Light, his healing light magic had become even better, and when combined with his healing spells of ice and wind, he could instantly heal wounds and exhaustion of weaker beings almost instantly!
"I-I'm fully healed again…" Surtr was already used to this.
"Come!" Drake roared.
"FINE!" Surtr roared back.
CLAAAASH!
As Surtr attacks clashed against Drake's body, the two started a rather heated conversation. Drake had yet to teach him to be less reckless, and he was, once more, reminding him of his failures, because this was the only way to humble him instead of making him just loath himself.
"SURTR! That time those beasts beat you to a pulp, how did that made you feel?!" Drake roared back at him.
"I was… I WAS SCARED!" Surtr cried, his flames growing larger and larger.
Drake quickly realized that the more emotions he imbued into his blows, the stronger they became. It was more than possible that the power of his Divinity of Origin Flames evolved based on his mental state, and not completely on how strong his cultivation or body was.
"That's a good thing! It is good that you were scared! This wide world is a scary one, Surtr!" Drake roared. "It is a world filled with dangers! One wrong step… And you're done for!"
CRAAAAAAASSSH!
With a huge kick, Surtr fell down into the floor, creating a huge crater behind!
