The Libyans brought out some sacks of wine and started to have a party after Danel's fight with Baltser, who had grabbed a skin and nursed his broken nose.

"That was well done." Kanmi said, smiling with surprisingly white and straight teeth. "He's always spoiling for a fight. He likes it when his opponent's can fight back."

"He needed an ass kicking." interrupted Arisha "now that he knows you can back up your words he won't trouble you...much."

Danel nodded. That fight had taken it out of him. He knew how to use a spear and shield now thanks to George but his body is still untrained and weak. Need to harden myself.

"Geez when you put it like that." George said appearing at his shoulder.

"Can you help get me into fighting form?"

"Yes I can. I would recommend having your men do the same."

"No, not yet. They accept me for now but I don't control them. That will take more than a day."

"Oh fine." George clapped his hands together "Time to body build."

George had Danel do some exercises. Basic ones at first like running around the camp in full armor, thrusting his spear, and stone-lifting. Then he started giving Danel some new exercises. He did exercises called burpees, planks, box jumps, and one legged squats. George yelled at Danel for two straight hours. He called him names that he didn't know existed and George smiled through the whole thing.

By the end Danel was gasping for breath his body slick with sweat. He took a skin of water offered by Kanmi.

"Never seen some of that. Why aren't you using your spear? You beat Baltser but he's a bull, just charges in without thinking, and anyone that keeps their head can handle him. When we face the Syracusans we will fight real warriors, real hoplites."

"If that is keeping him handled I don't want to see him unleashed." Danel paused thinking "I'm a city boy and compared to the rest of you my life has been soft, these little exercises should help make me strong. Do you want to join?" Kanmi is all bone and sinew. He has the graceful look of a cat but seems like he would fold if someone like Baltser gives him a punch.

"Nah. I've got better things to do."

"Like get drunk?"

Kanmi laughs.

"Anyway, you are whipcord thin are all these movements your making supposed to make you tough? Just remember we are at war, if the enemy attack after your little exercise you'll be too tired to hold a shield."

"He has a point." George said.

"Noted."

"Alright," he said raising his hands in surrender ,"I'm gonna visit the town while I can." and he walked off.

The sun started to set so Danel took some goat meat and retired to his tent. The tent was owned by the former leader of the soldiers before he drowned but his gear did not go over with him. It is only slightly bigger than the tents of the others meaning it fits two instead of one.

Danel crossed his legs and emptied his mind. A few moments and he entered the mind-scape. It had changed since he first used it. Racks off spears, javelins, and shields of all types lined the walls. Parts of the gymnasium sized space had different environments to simulate what Danel could face in the real world. In one area was a mud pit that sucked at your feet and made movement near impossible. In another had a floor that simulated the rocking of a ship, if the mind-scape wasn't real Danel would have broken his neck in that area multiple times. In one there were multiple buildings with crates and barrels and numerous obstructions, George would ambush Danel from hiding spots and beat him bloody if he failed to react in time.

In the center of the gymnasia stood George.

"You did well for your first fight, but you should have killed him."

"Killing Baltser would have made me hated by the others and he is one of the best warriors under me. Making him surrender was more profitable."

"And you handled him well but when you had your spear at his neck and he still fought you was when you should have killed him. I blame myself, I've been too lenient with you."

Danel gaped at George. Lenient? Lenient! He had beat him in his dreams for hours at a time and called it training. Danel had been doing some math and discovered that for every one hour in the real world it was twenty in the dream-scape. He dream-walked on average eight hours a day in lieu of sleeping. That meant every day George bashed Danel one hundred sixty hours in the dreamscape.

"Anyways you have become skilled enough that I will start teaching you how to handle multiple opponents at once." He waved his hand and two people sprung out of the ground. Wait those aren't people. They had the right size and shape, they wore hoplite armor but one thing they didn't have was faces. Instead it was a blank canvas of skin with slightly sunken patches where eyes should be.

"What the fuck are they!?" Danel said brandishing a spear at them his voice high pitched.

"Calm down, they are just homunculus's. This is One," he said pointing to the left thing "This is Two." he pointed right. "They will be your training partners. Hopefully you will be able to go against Five but let's see."

One and Two both had aspis shields and spears. They both saluted Danel and George then crouched down shields locked together and spears pointed at Danel's chest.

George inhaled and shouted "Begin!"

Eighty hours dream time later and Danel is drained. One and Two are excellent fighters, not the godly warrior George is, the kind that comes from endless hours of training and dedication. They had also no problem with stabbing Danel with their pointy weapons. Lethal strikes in the dream-scape are painful but close near instantly after a round, same when Danel gets a blow on the homunculus.

Danel learned that the easiest way to beat them was to separate them which was easiest when fighting in the obstacle arena he could take one out than the other. The hardest was when they just practiced on a regular stone floor. Danel started to notice certain quirks from the two things. One would rush in and was very quick while two had ox like strength and preferred defensive battles.

"Are they real?" Danel asked.

"One and Two? In a way they are and aren't but that doesn't matter it is time to begin a different kind of education."

"Oh gods what now?"

"It is time I taught you how to read."

Danel had not been expecting that. He expected some knew form of torture.

"Okay." Danel learned that word from George. It was so general it was useful.

George looked around the Gymnasium formed by the dream-scape "We will need a change of scenery first." George snapped his fingers and instead of a gymnasium there was a Library.

Danel gasped and looked around. There were so MANY SCROLLS! They must have numbered in the tens of thousands easily.

"I based it of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt."

"I didn't know the Egyptian had this."

"They don't, not for a few more decades at least."

Danel tore his eyes away from the treasure trove of knowledge and looked at George "Okay, you have been saying and doing weird things for a while now and I just have to know. How do you know these things?"

George smiled "If I tried to explain to you how I know you would think either me or yourself insane. Your society has not even perceived the idea of the multiverse and beings that can travel between them like you would walk from one patch of dirt to another. That I am older and younger than entire universes and that your speck of a life is being protected by a goddess more powerful than you could ever imagine."

Danel stared at George. What are you?

"Now let's get you literate."