Chapter 233: Odinson (Part 2)

"I have always believed that a person's upbringing plays the most important role in the formation of their personality. In other words, if another person were placed in your situation, they might not necessarily do better than you."

"Thor might be naturally big-hearted, but that heart is only so big. People think he is more magnanimous than you only because he received more during his growth. The attention, doting, and status you often struggle with are things he can get without even thinking, so of course he is very magnanimous, because he is the beneficiary."

"And the reason you doubt why you always think so much and why you always have these negative emotions is simply because you received less, or rather, less compared to Thor."

"Now, let's change the angle again. Suppose you are Odin's only son—that is to say, Odin only has you as a son, and there was no Thor from beginning to end—but Odin still treats you the same way, just like what you received before..."

Loki fell into thought again, and Shiler's words rang in his ears: "Without Thor as a reference, do you still feel that you received very little?"

"Or rather, you should tell me what you received as a prince of Asgard. After all, I am just an ordinary person and cannot imagine your royal life."

"I..." Loki paused and said: "I have many privileges in Asgard. For example, I live in the most magnificent building in all of Asgard, have many Xiangong guards at my beck and call all day, have an exclusive carriage for travel, the Rainbow Bridge is on standby at any time, we have exclusive royal attire, and helmets that symbolize the honor of the Asgardians..."

"Except for the God King and God Queen, and Thor, everyone must bow when they see me, no matter how high their divine office is. I have my own guard, have specialized sword teachers, etiquette officers, coachmen, own industries on more than 30 streets, and have fiefs in two independent dimensions..."

"Alright, stop talking." Shiler put the cup on the desk again, this time with a louder sound. Loki was stunned for a moment and looked at him. Shiler said: "I will definitely send your brother a bill that will surprise him."

"Alright, I know you must be thinking that Thor possesses more, but I must tell you that whether it is you or Thor, the lives of both of you are outrageously superior, not just compared to ordinary people on Earth, but it should also be the case compared to ordinary Asgardians."

"If there were no comparison with Thor, I think you would find it easier to accept. After having Thor, you seem less satisfied."

"When people feel that their lives are not going well, it is often because they feel they are not close enough to their goals. So what exactly is your goal?"

"This question might be a bit broad, but I can give you a detailed example. Do you feel that this life is not superior enough, that you want more land and property, want to possess endless wealth and status, or is it just because you didn't get as much as Thor, and you just want to have more than him?"

Before Loki could answer, Shiler said: "Logically speaking, everyone should pursue the former. After all, who in this world doesn't love money?"

"But judging from your current state, you seem to be the latter, because when Thor was down and out and you were stronger than him, you suddenly became satisfied with life."

"How do you know I am satisfied with life?"

Shiler spread his hands and said: "Simply put, people do things because they need motivation. The internal motivation is very complex. It can be because of specific things, such as pursuing enjoyment or revenge, or it can be because of abstract things, such as the realization of self-worth."

"When you don't do things, or when you have the opportunity to do them but give up and just want to slack off in place, it proves that this motivation is no longer that strong."

"This is mostly because the goal has been achieved, for example, having money that can't be spent, revenge has been successful, or life value has been realized through some method."

"Haven't you noticed that you are slacking off right now?" Shiler looked at Loki and said: "Don't tell me you were born with a passion for serving those difficult clients and exploring the lower limits of human comprehension and communication skills."

Loki opened his mouth and took a breath. He found that he couldn't refute it. He covered his forehead and began to reflect.

What exactly is he doing now? Why doesn't he go and hatch some conspiracies that could shake the Nine Realms, instead of working a nine-to-nine job here?

"Although I don't want to make rash inferences, based on my understanding of you, normally, you should be planning a bigger conspiracy right now, such as finding something to kill your brother or something..."

"But you didn't do that. The reason might be the change in your life state. Suddenly, you surpassed Thor, not only in quality of life but also in the area he values most—honor—and you have plenty of time to mock him."

"Although you didn't admit it yourself, you should be very satisfied with this life, which is why you linger here, not doing proper work, only thinking about killing time."

Loki pinched his fingers together and said: "Am I already very satisfied? Why do I feel..."

"What? Feel that you are a bit useless? Feel that your goals and ideals are not grand enough? Then what do you want to do? Kill Thor first, then kill Odin, and then unify the Nine Realms?"

"That is indeed a good goal, and with your ability, you can indeed do it. But if you really wanted to make this your goal, you wouldn't be sitting here right now, would you?"

"The moment you learned the fact that you were not Odin's biological son, that was an important turning point in your life. You had two paths to choose from: either go back to Asgard along the Rainbow Bridge and pretend you didn't know anything, or..."

While Shiler looked at Loki, Loki also looked at him. Loki continued Shiler's words: "Or... go find Thor."

"You want to see him, right?"

"This is rare." Shiler raised the pen in his hand and said: "Generally speaking, when people feel pain, they prefer to call for their mother."

Loki turned his head away, not wanting to pay attention to the mockery in Shiler's tone. Shiler continued: "The first half is over, we can review it."

"The conclusion generated by the hypothesis of swapping identities is that all the emotions you are having now are very normal; anyone else would be the same. Furthermore, we discovered that Thor appears more magnanimous not because he is more excellent than you, but just because of the difference in growth environments."

"Afterward, we explored how the change in circumstances led to a weakening of internal motivation, thereby inversely inferring that your goal was just to be stronger than Thor."

"I think you already have some new understanding of your relationship with Thor. So next, we come to another question you want to know more about, which is your relationship with Odin."

Mentioning Odin's name, Loki's expression was still very complex. He didn't even realize the changes in his facial muscles.

"Perhaps you are expecting me to provide you with a big set of theoretical analysis, but in reality, this is very difficult." Shiler sighed and said: "Because the values you provided are insufficient and there are too many variables, I cannot provide you with psychological counseling based on these uncertain factors. This might lead to very large deviations."

"What uncertain... values?"

"For example, what is the relationship between you and Odin? Are you his biological son? If you are not his biological son, then why did you become his son? What is his purpose in raising you? And so on..."

"The relationship between you and Odin is more complex. In this situation, certain logic does not hold, and there are many possibilities for the terminal options. If you must explore to the deepest point, it will only make you more confused."

"So regarding this part, I can only give you two suggestions. The first is to figure out what exactly is going on, and the second is..."

Shiler dragged out a long tone. Loki looked at him, but didn't get an answer for a long time. He asked: "What is it?"

Shiler changed his posture. He put his forearms on the table, raised his shoulders, looked at Loki, and asked: "From childhood to adulthood, have you ever caused trouble?"

"Of course not." Loki said very firmly: "I am not Thor. Every task the All-Father gave me, I completed perfectly."

"Since you haven't caused trouble, how do you know Odin wouldn't clean up a mess for you?"

Loki pursed his lips, and his tone was somewhat incredulous: "You don't mean to suggest that I... should go cause some trouble?"

"Although I am not quite sure what kind of person Odin is, from some stories Strange brought back, I heard that Odin was also very impulsive when he was young, and Thor is very similar to him."

"Generally speaking, parents have greater tolerance for children who are similar to them, because they also came from that time and know that for certain personality types, certain mistakes are unavoidable."

"Your current insecurity mainly comes from the fact that you originally felt Odin wouldn't tolerate your mistakes, and now you find you are not his biological son, so you feel he wouldn't tolerate you even more."

"But I think you can actually try. If you don't try, he will never know where the bottom line is. Test it out; perhaps you might get a surprise."

Loki found it hard to describe his current mood. He said: "Are you instigating me... to cause trouble?"

"I didn't say that. I am just conducting a normal psychological counseling session." Shiler continued to look down and fiddle with the pen in his hand, saying: "When the goals in one's heart are satisfied and one falls into a state of self-satisfaction and idleness, people will instinctively start wanting to find some fun, and you are the same."

When Loki returned to the apartment, it wasn't dark yet, so Thor hadn't gone out to work. He was holding a takeout meal and was opening the packaging, taking out the fried chicken from inside.

Thor still had long hair, but his beard was trimmed shorter. He was wearing a cheap hoodie from somewhere, his hands were full of oil. Looking at this scene, Loki swallowed back a belly full of words. He felt that sometimes, not being so inquisitive might also be a good thing.

"Actually, I have never been able to understand why you treat such a person as an opponent." Venom said in Loki's mind: "Why don't we go downstairs and play on the seesaw... oh, we are one person, we can't play on the seesaw, what a pity."

"... This is your relationship with your brother."

Loki ignored him and sat on the sofa opposite Thor, using his hand to fiddle with the takeout paper box in front of Thor. Thor was a bit surprised by his action, looked up at him, and asked: "Don't you dislike fried chicken for being greasy?"

Then he took the initiative to open the lid facing Loki, pressed it down, revealed the fried chicken inside, and pushed the box to the center of the coffee table, saying: "My money is only enough to order a small portion, but if you want to eat too, I can share a few pieces with you."

Loki pulled his hand back, rested it on his knees, and used his hand to support his chin. He saw that there were only five or six pieces of fried chicken in the box. Even for a small portion, it was too little.

Thor shrugged and said: "Their taste is really good, it's just a bit expensive, and the portion is small, but it doesn't matter, we still have this..."

He dragged a plastic bag containing canned beer from under the coffee table. After lifting it up, he found that there was only one can of beer left inside. He said: "Well, better than nothing."

He took out the beer, opened the tab on the can, and put it on the table. He saw Loki sitting in place without moving. Thor said inexplicably: "What are you stunned for? Go get a cup."

Then he paused and said: "Alright, I won't mock you for drinking with a cup, but only this once."

"Do you need me to tell you? Actually, you really want to..."

Venom's voice rang out, but Loki interrupted him and said: "That's right, I really want to punch him."

"Well, it seems that not only humans, but the God race is also like this..."

When Venom's voice disappeared, the sound of beer foam being poured into a cup rang out. At this time, the sky outside the window darkened, and the breeze blew the curtains, causing them to rise and fall gently. After the temperature dropped, the autumn evening wind began to become colder, but the insect chirping disappeared, and everything seemed even more tranquil.

No anti-theft. ===== CHAPTER 234 =====