The Arrancar smiled when the man when on to quote Marcus Aurelius. "Actually, that wasn't what he said, mind you. What he actually said was, and I quote, every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself." A simple translation error, yet the difference it made was vast. "Marcus Aurelius doesn't refer to things we would consider as ambitions like power, status, prestige, and whatnot, but anything an individual can devote time and determination to." The Arrancar would state in a solemn tone looking at the Vizard. "Basically, I am what I do and care about."

"Shite. I hope I didn't break you with that." Thor couldn't help it. He loved history and philosophy and would dive himself into learning about new things when he was all alone in his quarters back in Hueco Mundo. It also helped that he was fluent in twelve languages. "Moving on. You do propose a very interesting question." Narrowing his eyes, the Arrancar would utter grabbing his chin. This is what he liked; being questioned about his philosophy. Rarely a person would go asking such profound questions as most of the time the people he met preferred to battle than going back on forth about philosophy and morality. "Truth be told, a victor would seek to shape the world to his liking. But, I don't have such grand plans." Cocking his head a bit to the side, the Arrancar would utter shrugging while clicking his tongue at the end of the statement. "Way too much responsibility, don't you think?"

"I prefer to use any kind of newfound power to thwart enemies from attacking me. I mean when you attain a certain amount of power the odds of someone attacking you and the odds of you getting killed in a battle is actually much lower when you think about it." People had different reasons to seek power. Some wanted it to conquer, others wanted it to bring wrath to their enemies, and there were a select few who wanted power to defend themselves from foes beyond them.

It was an interesting mindset, to grow stronger to prevent people from attacking you, believing you to be an easy target. Make them think twice before acting, that's it basically. Of course there were always going to be people wanting to test their mettle against you but at least those were few in numbers. If he looked at it that way Vulcan figured it might as well be his reason for wanting to grow stronger. The Vizard didn't have it in him to become a leader or someone others would look up to, so he wouldn't have an army to protect or shield him. His search for strength was simply to protect himself and those he cared about, although he still had to find those people.

"Conquering seems like too much work and too many responsibilities. No, I'd rather drink a cold one with some of the people I'm fond of." Whether or not such a thing would truly be possible for Vulcan and others like him was something still left undecided, but one could only hope. As a Fraccion he doubted he had it in him to fight on his own behalf, let alone on others'. Perhaps there were some in the Espada who could show him the ropes, or maybe he simply had to throw himself into every possibility of battle and gain experience that way. The Vizard wasn't a natural born talent so he had to approach things differently. "To stay on the philosophical side of things, how does one get stronger?" Hard work and talent were both different things, yet those two were always the ones being associated with gaining power.

"Mentally or physically?" The Arrancar would ask narrowing his eyes. 'Stronger' was kind of a broad in the sense so Thor wanted to narrow down on what the Vizard actually wanted. "If you want to be stronger in a physical sense; train." Taking some chewing gum out of his pocket the Arrancar would offer one to Vulcan, only to unwrap another as he would put it inside his mouth. "If you feel like you've done enough - just keep on training. If you feel like you're content with yourself - just keep on training. And when you feel that your body is broken and can't take any more of the training you put yourself in, well, keep on training." A lopsided grin would appear on the Arrancar face as he kept chewing his gum. "You need to be in the brink to progress forward. And remember: your body doesn't want growth. So you will have to break it down first."

"Then we come to the hardest of all; mental strength." Thor always kept the best for last. "Everyone can train and grow stronger. But being strong mentally? That's a different ball game entirely." Spitting to the ground, the Arrancar continued while chewing his gum, "even I'm not that mentally strong, to be honest. I mean I became an Espada wanting to escape solitude. But if in someway I were to drift back to the abyss again, I don't think it would be easy for me to escape it." The tone of his voice would decrease as a concerned expression would take its place wiping the grin off his face. "You can be strong as shite physically, but if you're weak mentally, it will all come crashing down in an instant." Thor took himself as an example to explain mental strength as he figured it would be best to provide the Vizard with a live example rather than filling his head with metaphors. What Vulcan needed to realize was that being mentally strong required resilence and unlike the physical aspect, it cannot be forced down upon an individual. Basically, he had to find it for himself.

Vulcan would accept the piece of chewing gum as he continued to listen attentively to Thor. The Arrancar started explaining how to get stronger physically. There wasn't really much to say about it besides keep on training. "No pain, no gain basically." The Vizard answered with a smile. It required a lot of determination, but at the same time would also build up his discipline, perseverance and confidence. If it was truly his goal to become able to protect himself then he had no other choice but to keep on training. Even if results won't follow, keep on training. Blood, sweat and tears.

The Arrancar would then explain how the mental aspect was far more difficult and important than the physical one. It was true that a lot of people underestimated mental strength. Most of them were only interested in "biceps go brrr". And although being in tip-top shape was key, so would being mentally strong be. "Mens sana in corpore sano." While training your body was "simple", training your mind would be a whole different case. You can't exactly do push-ups and expect to have become strong mentally. No, training the mind would be far more difficult. "I suppose those things come with experience, perhaps even some meditation." Age was relative for someone like the Vizard but he still considered himself to be on the younger side.

Thor would not utter a word instead, he would simply nod in approval. "Vulcan...shall we hunt some hollows?" Of course, at this point, the Vizard would be utmostly bemused with Thor's proposal which was honestly understandable. Why would a Hollow hunt another Hollow? Shouldn't Hollows gang up together and fight against the common enemy: Soul Reapers, Quincys, and etc. All valid questions, of course. "I know what you're thinking." The Arrancar would utter with a smirk as he would go onto elaborate on his proposal. "Look. I'm bored. I'm pretty sure you're bored as well. So...why don't we stretch our legs a bit and do some hunting? Come on. It'll be exciting." Before Vulcan could even utter a single word, Thor would interrupt him, saying, "I have a rule against fighting other Arrancars. But Hollows, well, they are fair game." A wide grin, spreading from ear to ear, would appear on the Arrancar's face. He was really looking forwards to this.

"Wait...shite. I forgot. You cracked your ribs and can't even stand." Scoffing, the Arrancar would utter in a disappointed tone remembering that he had injured the Vizard to a point where he could barely get up. And here he was thinking of going Hollow hunting. How disappointing, indeed.

To say he was surprised by the Arrancar's proposition would be a fair understatement. Going Hollow-hunting in his current state would be quite maddening unless someone patched him up but considering they were the only two people currently in the Victoria desert chances were he had to wait before he could be healed. "I'm afraid you'll have to carry me" he said jokingly. Although it wasn't exactly Vulcan's nature to go out and attack other people, let alone Hollow, the Vizard could understand Thor's reasoning. "The smaller ones won't be a problem and barely pose a threat, but you'll have to take care of the bigger ones my friend." Given the fact he could barely stand fighting a dangerous opponent would be far from optimal. "I could be the bait but not sure that'll work out." You never knew how many of them would show up and even though Thor was amongst the strongest of the Espada, even he wouldn't be able to wipe them all out, or would he?

"No, nevermind. Just forget it." The Arrancar had no intention of harming the vizard anymore. He had already done enough. What was puzzling even for him was that he contemplated taking a wounded man on a hunting trip. What the hell was he even thinking? Slumping his shoulders a bit, the Arrancar would kick a nearby rock as he would go onto to speak, "do you have any ideas in what to do, Vulcan? Or should we just call it a night and return back so you can get some medical attention and heal properly?" So far it was Thor calling the shots most of the time. However, this time, he would give the opportunity to Vulcan.

"Perhaps it would indeed be wiser to take things easy and allow my injuries to heal properly." The state he was currently in would keep Vulcan from doing anything too crazy, let alone indulge in battle. So safe to say Thor's idea of going Hollow hunting had to be done another time. Which left the two of them with the question what they could do considering not much options remained. Maybe taking it slow wasn't that bad an idea, it had been quite the eventful day after all. From drinking to sparring, something Vulcan wasn't used to but glad he experienced. "Why don't you take me to see a doctor who can patch me up before we continue our drinks somewhere else?" Vulcan wasn't aware of the time but he figured the night was still young.

The Arrancar would raise a single eyebrow, honestly taken aback at the man's proposition. It was not the fact that Vulcan wanted to drink with him again that startled him but how he wanted the Arrancar to take him to a doctor. "A doctor? From the world of the living?" Thor asked, wanting to be sure that he hadn't misheard anything. One could say that this was all a little bit strange to the Arrancar considering that he had never met a doctor in his life as a hollow. Frankly, he didn't need such. He had his high-speed regeneration that took care of things. "I really don't think will find a doctor in the middle of the desert. We'll have to head back to the town. I could prop up a Garganta for some good old fast travel."

"Yes, a doctor. Unfortunately I do not possess nor have I developed any way to heal myself." That was something Vulcan was still lacking. Offense, defense, those parts he had covered but an ability to regenerate or heal his wounds was something he had yet to achieve. "Perhaps I could use my flames to come up with a way to heal, what do you think? After all it is said that fire has such an ability. I'll call it: Healing Fire." Maybe it was the pain causing him to spout nonsense but fact of the matter was it could turn out quite helpful. Thor suggested opening another Garganta, one similar to how they arrived in the desert in the first place. "Sounds like a plan, unless you know someone with the power to heal someone else?" It didn't necessarily have to be a doctor, as long as Vulcan would get rid of this pain.