Thea still couldn't understand why mages needed to learn so much hand-to-hand combat and cold weapon usage, but she obediently accepted the guidance in these areas, studying the knowledge that left her body sore all over.
Upon learning that her sparring partner wasn't Ethan or Oliver, but Ada, the thought of training against such a beautiful woman made her incredibly motivated, especially after discovering she could defeat Ada with just a little more effort...
Oliver wasn't too busy today. While incidents occurred in Star City every few days, not all of them required his personal involvement. Otherwise, what was the police force for?
Because Oliver was present, John Diggle, who had been brought into the team as an assistant, also visited frequently during this time. This burly black man, often jokingly referred to as "Driver-man" by many in Ethan's previous world, had also learned of Ethan and the others' identities.
Naturally, Diggle initially thought Oliver was messing with him, until he personally witnessed Thea's magical training. The energy-based jigsaw puzzles had a significant impact on his worldview. Combined with the miraculous abilities Ethan occasionally displayed, he finally accepted that magic truly existed in this world.
At this moment, everyone stood to the side, watching Ada and Thea engage in their usual sparring session.
Compared to Thea's belief that she could defeat Ada with just a bit more effort, the others watching were genuinely trained elites. Even Diggle could see the considerable gap between Thea and Ada. Thea's misunderstanding stemmed entirely from Ada's perfectly timed restraint, clearly intended to inspire Thea's motivation to train diligently.
"Thea's life has been pretty disciplined lately."
As a Queen, Thea was far from being a model child. Deep in her rebellious phase, she had essentially become another version of Oliver, already displaying a strong tendency to get into trouble before starting her training with Ethan.
Oliver had originally worried that Thea would follow in his old footsteps, but Ethan ended up solving that problem for him.
Regardless of her reasons for working so hard, at least she was pouring her energy and strength into training. Exhausted, she no longer had the energy to cause trouble.
"Besides going to school, she comes here every day to train. Of course her schedule's regular."
Competing with Ada was only a secondary factor. More importantly, Thea could clearly feel her own growth in strength. This kind of improvement was like leveling up in a game—the visible progress brought a great sense of satisfaction, which made the process highly addictive.
"How are things on your end?"
"Things are slowly getting on track."
Green Arrow's superhero career was beginning to stabilize. Although a hidden enemy still lurked in the shadows, not much else was troubling him.
At this point, he even had time to watch Thea's training and, at the same time, try to get more information from Ethan.
"You mentioned before that you wanted to train some warriors to serve Diana..."
"Yes, that idea's been on my mind."
"Does this Diana have a lot of enemies?"
Ethan understood that Oliver was concerned about Thea being dragged into a dangerous conflict. But after thinking it over, although Diana did have enemies, none of them truly posed a threat to her.
With Diana's current strength, even Steppenwolf couldn't do anything to her. The only one in her universe who could truly threaten her was the dark ruler, Darkseid.
"First, I haven't made a firm decision yet. Second, even if I do decide to train Thea as one of Diana's warriors, when facing truly powerful enemies, it won't be people like Thea who step in."
When a large number of warriors were needed, Diana could still call upon the Amazons of Themyscira. Technically speaking, as the princess of the Amazons, Diana didn't need to worry about lacking subordinates.
However, Ethan felt that with his interference, Queen Hippolyta might never abdicate in this lifetime.
This meant the Amazon race would remain under Hippolyta's rule, continuing to serve her as their queen. Diana, who would likely never inherit the throne, didn't truly have any subordinates of her own.
That was why Ethan had considered arranging a few warriors for Diana. But as for whether or not to go through with it, he hadn't fully decided.
Training Thea or anyone else was just a way to pass the time. If Oliver asked, Ethan wouldn't mind training Green Arrow too. After all, he had plenty of free time right now.
Oliver had no idea what Ethan was really thinking, nor did he realize that a great opportunity was right in front of him. Whether he could grasp it depended entirely on whether he chose to ask.
Diggle, standing nearby and listening in on their conversation, felt like his entire worldview was being rewritten again and again. After these past few days, he had been forced to reconsider everything he thought he knew, and now he was gradually starting to get used to it.
Still, gods and the like were too far removed from his understanding. Even though Oliver told him the young man named Ethan was a god, Diggle couldn't quite accept it as real.
"That doesn't sound reassuring."
Ethan's explanation made Oliver realize one thing: this goddess named Diana had extremely powerful enemies, so powerful that ordinary people weren't even qualified to get involved.
"To gain something, you always have to pay a price. I'm sure you understand that principle well."
Oliver fell silent. He did understand that very well. Who else would know better than him how much he had to pay to gain his current strength? (Ethan did.)
It wasn't that there were no free benefits in this world, but they always came with conditions—such as what parents would do for their children.
Just as Oliver was about to continue the conversation, the sparring session ended. After being knocked down by Ada again, Thea lay on the ground, panting heavily, clearly exhausted.
"Need a hand?"
"No, I can do it myself."
After a period of training, Thea's physical strength and mental endurance had greatly improved. She wasn't so worn out that she couldn't stand. After resting a bit, she could even continue with her magic training.
That part required Ethan to step in personally. Oliver and Diggle didn't interrupt and didn't leave either. They stayed nearby to keep watching.
"No matter how many times I see it, it's still incredible."
To help Thea understand various spells, Ethan would use magical energy to construct different models, giving her a more intuitive understanding of magic.
But to people like Diggle, this method looked extremely cool. No matter how many times they saw it, they still found it hard to believe.
At that moment, Thea wasn't aware of what her brother was thinking. She was completely focused on the world of magic, listening to Ethan's explanations and attempting to cast her first spell.
Magic Impact.
This was a very simple offensive spell. It didn't involve any complex theory—just gather energy, stabilize it into a shape, and then launch it at the enemy.
As a mage's personal training improved, both the quantity and quality of magic power they could gather would increase. Greater control also meant they could compress more high-quality magic into the same-sized energy projectile.
Ethan didn't set high expectations for Thea. She just needed to cast the spell successfully.
Since Thea currently had almost no magic power of her own, this energy projectile relied on energy from the external environment. Contacting and manipulating naturally existing energy was a specialty of mages. Ethan didn't insist everyone follow the path he had taken. Since Thea wasn't resistant to drawing from external sources, he directly taught her how to control external energy.
This method of casting magic using ambient energy was often constrained by the universe's environment. For example, in a world where magical energy didn't exist, mages who relied on external sources would find themselves at a major disadvantage.
But that wasn't always the case. There were countless mages in countless universes who relied on external energy. Among them were plenty of geniuses, so solutions weren't just available, they were plentiful.
Some mages, for example, connected directly to a magic-rich plane, using specialized tools to store and recharge magic, allowing them to cast spells anywhere.
Some extreme cases even built channels into their own bodies. These mages didn't have to worry about energy shortages, but this required extraordinary magical control and still often led to problems.
At Ethan's level, his view of energy wasn't limited to a few common types of magical energy. To him, energy existed everywhere in the universe, and he could draw on it freely. But most mages couldn't do this.
Thea obviously wasn't one of that rare group. The reason she could draw on the kind of "universal energy" that existed across most worlds was because Ethan had taught her a more advanced and powerful control technique.
Of course, this technique had its drawbacks. The more energy she drew, the heavier the burden on her body.
That was to be expected. Even mages who used external magic would strain themselves when channeling too much. In fact, when casting high-level spells, some could kill themselves before taking out their enemies.
Seeing that Thea had pulled in too much energy, more than she could safely control. Ethan immediately dispersed the energy she had gathered. Even the barely formed energy sphere in her hands collapsed and vanished.
Thea's first attempt at casting a spell ended in failure.
(To be continued.)