Veronica awoke with a start. She was in peak physical condition after a thorough reworking from the System. Every move felt like it had too much force behind it, she needed to relearn how to move as her brain rewired itself. For now, movement was awkward and unbalance, like drunk walking.

Luckily, her head was entirely clear and she could properly stand if she used enough thought. She looked around the room for Rupert, expecting him to be right there in the bed beside her

"Wait, how did we get back to our room?"

I believe I can answer that.

Shade stepped into the room through the crack in the door. His sharp face cast its gaze down at her from his high vantage point.

Yual has taken him to the mountains for some personalized training. Don't worry, he is perfectly fine, he even woke up earlier than you.

Veronica was relieved to hear that he was ok. Neither of them knew how weird level 5 would be. Once they reached it, everything just immediately went black and told them to 'please wait.' It felt like they were in line at the DMV, waiting for hours only to be told to keep waiting.

*Gurgle*

Veronica's stomach demanded some food. Her entire body felt drained of every last shred of energy. Her cells were slightly shriveled, unable to do much since there was no intake of sustenance. She needed food NOW. Evolution has its downsides.

In the mess hall, she saw a dozen other people. One being the chef in the window. His expression was emotionless, like he was dead inside; but damn did he make good food. She waited in the short line for food and when it was finally her turn, she ordered her favorite.

"Can I get a tuna fish sandwich, cut it into a triangle as well, please."

The chef prepared the food at impossible speeds. He has to have everything prepared in advance or something. Veronica smiled at him and grabbed the plate of food. She was about to say 'thank you,' but he spoke first.

"Clearly not full from earlier; enjoy this one."

Veronica was confused. She wasn't here earlier, at least to her knowledge. Before she could inquire more about it, the people behind her were getting rowdy.

"Come on! You got your food, just move."

"We're starving! 32-hour library sessions are rough!"

"32 hours studying? Try 27 hours in the sword tube and THEN complain about reading."

"The sword tube? Try the boulder garden for 37 hours!"

What continued was all the students trying to one-up each other with their intense activities. Veronica just walked away and sat down to eat her food. Had Rupert been here earlier for food? But why would the chef speak to me about it? If he was getting me food, we would have eaten it together; so where'd it go?

Her brain was concocting a conspiracy, a plot to take her husband from her and pretend he didn't exist like in one of those horror movies. While she thought, she took a bite of her sandwich and completely forgot her woes.

This is absolutely amazing!

The chef clearly knew what he was doing. His skills in mixing mayo and ground fish were beyond exceptional. The bread even tasted homemade, sliced into just the right thickness. Veronica was by no means a food connoisseur, but even she could tell that this was top-tier foodstuffs.

What was I thinking about again? Oh, Rupert.

The sandwich had calmed her down, keeping her mind from forming wild ideas. They hadn't really been separated since they arrived in this strange world. They held onto each other, acting as support, like two trees leaning into each other so neither fell over.

With one of the trees gone, the other was starting to fall. Veronica became hyper-aware of the batshit crazy situation she was in without Rupert there to cause tunnel vision. *Bite* I'm fine. I'm safe in this compound, surrounded by strangers... who were assassins that kill people. This was not fine! *Bite* No, it was ok. They were nice people. Yual had helped them... helped us escape prison, meaning they are against the law and therefore a gang of criminals! Super not fine!

*Bite* I'm ok.

I wonder what they put in the mayo, it's delicious.

Veronica finished up her magically altered calming sandwich, watching the plate disappear as the ceramic place fell apart. The ceramic dust was then reabsorbed into the table that waited patiently for the next plate to eat.

With Rupert gone, Veronica had some time to herself. She thought about just sleeping until he was back. Not useful enough. He's off training while I am sitting on my ass eating sandwiches. Maybe I can try to ask around about some of those training things they were bragging about earlier.

The group I singled out was a group of two girls and a guy. They chatted about training techniques and not much else. All three of them were engaged in the nuances of sword hilt polishing direction for better gripping.

These kids only talk about training and power, where is the fun? Aren't they still children?

Veronica did a quick check on her hair, just making sure she didn't look like a crazy middle-aged lady approaching a bunch of teenagers. Her confidence couldn't be more shot. Still, she managed to walk over and introduce herself.

"Excuse me, hi, I'm Veronica. I overheard you talking about training a bit earlier. Do you know of any good places for a beginner to try their hand?"

The three stopped their chatting and looked at the woman who had approached them. They exchanged an understanding glance to each other. Great, a newbie looking for a boot to lick. Every time there was a reshuffling of students, they were the group people set their sights on. Something about their dynamic and aura attracted them like bees to flowers.

"Sorry, we are a bit busy for the rest of the week. We won't be able to help you."

"Help me? I just wanted to know where the best place to go would be, I haven't been able to find a map of the place. Though, if you are offering, sure, we could make a plan for next week."

The three were shocked. A wordsmith. The way she skillfully used our own excuse against us. An experienced bootlicker indeed.

"I'm afraid that next week is filled as well, we plan on going to 9 Circles Mountain for some training. It would be too hard for someone so new to combat such as yourself."

That outa scare her. 9 Circles Mountain is infamous for having the highest death rate out of all the nearby mountains combined.

"Oh, nice. Anyway, the original question; know any good training places?"

Trying to change the topic. A brave gambit, but a pointless one. We three have experience with your kind, it won't work on us!

"Yeah, sure, yeah; if you take a left once you leave here then a right, then a left, then a left, there should be a room called the 'Dart Room'. It trains your dodging skills, absolutely essential for combat. The best defense is the one that never gets hit."

Veronica smiled, "Thanks. See you around."

With that, she turned and left. The three were slightly thrown off by her behavior. In their several years of experience with the weak trying to grasp the strong, they have encountered just about every excuse to get close to them. Even with this knowledge and experience, Veronica's reaction dumbfounded them.

Where is her persistence? She just gave up. This must be a new form of mental manipulation; it has to be. Ha, Otherworlders must be centuries ahead of us with mental tricks, trying to deceive us.

The three got the completely wrong idea behind Veronica's intentions. She was now headed for the 'Dart Room' like they had told her about. Surprisingly, she remembered all the directions after hearing them once, able to execute them perfectly.

Yay intelligence stat! I fricking hate misremembering directions.

She walked through the solid wooden door and emerged in what looked like a dome. Around the edges, there was a single circle of chairs that overlooked the inner area. This was for spectators so they could watch the students for contests and such. Right now, there wasn't a single person in any of the chairs. Veronica was all alone in the room; or so she thought.

A woman hid in the shadows while watching over her. She was determined to make up for being weak enough to need to call Yual when Rupert collapsed. How can I ever become the strongest if I keep relying on others?

Veronica now stood in the inner area of the dome. There wasn't much here except for a big red button in the center of a circle of numbers. The numbers ranged from 0 to 30 offering different levels of hardness for the room.

Veronica thought it was fairly self-explanatory and selected 0. The number lit up when she pressed it and sustained that light. I guess the only thing left is to press the button.

*Boop*

*ALARM BLARING*

The lights in the room flashed red for a moment and counted down from 3. Once the short timer made it to 0, the lights returned to their normal yellowish-orange color and the room activated. The circle with the button melted into the ground and a circle with numbers appeared on the wall. Nothing happened in her vicinity at first, confusing her.

Then, a small dart flew at her after appearing from thin air. It was about 5 cm long and tipped with a stabby bit. The red fluff of feathers that were attached to the end allowed it to more easily be seen and to increase its flight stability.

The dart moved strangely, moving much slower than a regular dart would, allowing Veronica to position herself around it. The dart sailed completely past her and disappeared after going far enough. This is such a neat little room.

The next dark came from above, making Veronica realize that the darts could come from any direction; 360 degrees of stabby darts. This would train her attention to the surroundings much faster than regular leveling. She and Rupert hadn't hit any real snags in their leveling yet, so they didn't realize the importance of each aspect of combat.

Awareness, strength, speed, planning, and instinct. If combat technique and System skills were layered on top of those fundamental aspects, then it was a complete recipe for a great fighter.

Single darts were sent across her standing space after the previous dart disappeared. The artificially slow darts were slowly gaining speed, shortening the downtime between darts. This came to an impasse when a new dart appeared the very instant the previous one left.

Veronica was still fine, standing still and dodging just a little bit before repeating it again. This is fun!

Veronica was enjoying herself when the circle with numbers on the wall started to change. The 0 flashed slowly before it ramped up to flashing rapidly. The number finally changed to a '1'.

The darts changed. Two darts were now allowed to attack her at the same time. One came from a side direction and the second flew at her slightly delayed from the first and in a deliberate position.

Veronica dodged the first dart when the second dart was aimed directly at her heart when she stepped to the side. This forced her to move twice every round of darts. The difficulty starting to pick up. The second round didn't last too long now that she knew what to do.

The circle flashed, and it was new level 2. Four darts appeared, forcing her to dodge 4 times. Not only did they increase in number, but also in speed. The darts were a LOT faster than before. If they were like a hit shuttlecock before, now they were like a smacked tennis ball. Veronica found herself tripping over her own feet trying to escape the onslaught of tiny darts.

Once the dart room kicked it into level 3, Veronica became a pincushion for 4 out of the 8 darts. They all stabbed directly into her body and released a pulse of shocking electricity, making her muscles spasm and let her be hit by all 8 of the next round. The resulting shock from all 8 nearly knocked her unconscious and ended her turn in the dart room.

She wanted to try again, it was just too much fun. The only problem with doing it again was that she was still spasming a bit and exhausted. The level 0-2 was not hard, but long enough to be tiring. Once level 3 activated, she was too tired to be able to dodge the faster and more numerous darts.

Her tired body was housing an excited mind. She had found the training she sought, a way to stay sharp and improve her abilities while her husband was who knows where.

I might like it here.

---------

The woman in the shadows watched the training Veronica. She judged every aspect of her ability, spotting every flaw and imperfection. Passing the 'Dart Room' on level 30 was the only way to be recognized as a front-line assassin; 'wraiths' as they were called. They were the type of combatant that floats through the battlefield like a frozen breeze, dodging everything that comes at them and causing untold devastation to the other side.

Her moves are slow, her margins are wide, her agility is lacking, but her mentality is good. everything else can be fixed easily since she has that strong mentality.

The woman called Yual, not an emergency call, but one he ordered her to do once Veronica woke up.

Yual was ready for it and answered on the first beep, "What is it?"

"She has woken up and taken to the story that Rupert is training the in the mountains with you. Chef fucked up and let slip that Rupert was there already to get some food. Luckily, I was able to sprinkle some calming dust on her sandwich before she could think something was going on. Is Rupert alive? And what are your plans for him?"

Yual was glad everything worked out, "He's fine, alive and well. We are in the mountains training."

The woman nodded her head, "Sticking to the cover story, good idea."

"No, we are actually in the mountains; training."

The woman was confused, "So we are making a cover story...that is the truth? That...doesn't make sense, like, at all."

"Don't worry about it. Just know that if she starts asking questions, you won't get tripped up with creating a web of lies to deceive her. I expect us to be back in a few weeks, maybe a month at most. Keep her busy until then. After the month is over, we'll give them a day to see each other before I take Veronica out for a month of training. Understood?"

"Yes sir, I will do as you command."

"Fantastic, now, what training room has she taken a liking to? I don't what her idle."

"The Dart Room."

"The Dart Room? But she's a warrior. I mean... Ok. That's fine. I would have expected her to use the sword tube first. Just make sure she has everything she needs to excel. I expect results."

"Yes Sir."

The communication shut down and Yual put away the device. He watched over Rupert digging a hole with nothing but rocks and sticks. It was a fun exercise to watch, the aged man failing over and over to get the dirt out, forbidden from using his hands or magic. While he watched, Yual laughed a bit internally.

A warrior training to be a Wraith; the world has truly gone mad.