Ash Ve'liar had barely recovered from the last round of training when the bells rang out through the massive stone halls of the hell-forged academy. Not the silver bells of invitation, no. These bells sounded like jagged metal scraping across the soul.
She shivered.
A shadow flickered along the corridor wall, silent, stalking. The walls of the academy darkened, torches dimming to a flicker, as if the very air was waiting.
"She's here," one of the servants whispered.
Ash turned slowly.
Standing at the end of the corridor was a tall, cloaked figure wrapped in red-black silk and chain. Her hands were calloused, nails jagged from wars lost and won. She wore no crown. She didn't need one.
"I am Virell Vahz. Your first teacher," the woman said, voice like coals grinding beneath an avalanche. "And your survival begins now."
Ash opened her mouth, but Virell was already in front of her, moving faster than any eye could track. The next second, Ash was gasping, winded, slammed into the floor.
"Hesitation. Weak. That'll get you erased."
Ash gritted her teeth. "I wasn't ready."
Virell laughed.
"You were born unready. That's why I'm here."
A whip cracked. Not leather. Soulsteel. The pain didn't bleed; it screamed inside her body.
Ash growled.
But she didn't cry.
For three nights and four blood-drenched days, Virell taught her nothing but pain. Pain as movement. Pain as reaction. Pain as understanding.
"You think power is magic and light shows?" Virell barked. "No. It's pain. Turned inward. Weaponized."
They fought without words. Without reason. Virell forced her to dodge daggers while reciting strategy chants backward, mid-air, under gravity-warping fields. She had to adapt, or break.
AI Scaling Activated:
Durability: Increased through resistance to soulsteel.
Agility: Developed through real-time movement under stress.
Endurance: Forced to last 4+ days without sleep.
BIQ/IQ: Tested through complex battlefield puzzles.
Speed: Not yet upgraded. Still at early planetary scale.
On the last day, Ash collapsed during a shadow-blind battle. Her knees hit the cracked obsidian. She was breathing ragged, hands trembling.
Virell stood over her, silent. Watching.
Ash didn't speak.
She didn't beg.
She pulled herself up slowly.
And she smiled.
"Again."
Virell didn't smile back. But the corner of her eye twitched.
"Good. Maybe you won't die after all."
As Virell turned to leave, Ash whispered something beneath her breath:
"Myani..."
The shadows listened.