Ashen stood by the riverbank, unsure if the chill in his spine came from the water or the woman next to him.
Katrina stepped forward, her boots crunching on the gravel. She didn't look at him, but something about her presence demanded attention.
"Let me show you," she said.
Then—without warning—she leapt.
Her body sailed effortlessly over the river, a fluid motion that should've looked reckless, but didn't. It was more like watching a hawk glide than a human jump. Twenty-five feet across, and she landed silently on a jagged rock at the river's heart, one foot forward, one behind, knees bent, arms calm at her sides.
The water below surged, foamed, hissed.
She inhaled.
Then exhaled.
And everything changed.
Katrina straightened into a stance. Feet anchored. Hands open at her sides. Shoulders relaxed. Head bowed just slightly, like in silent prayer.
Ashen could feel it before he saw it.
Mana.
It shimmered like heat above dry stone. A translucent pressure, barely visible yet unmistakable. Air currents swirled unnaturally, drawn towards her.
Then came the stillness.
Around the rock, the river halted.
Not the entire river—just a segment of it. A dome of space, maybe twenty feet wide, where the current simply… refused to pass.
Ashen squinted.
It was like an invisible object had been lowered into the water—a smooth, immovable sphere—and the river had no choice but to split around it. The flow curled outward on both sides.
But there was no object. Nothing physical.
It was her mana.
The air within the dome wavered. Not a single drop of water dared enter the space.
Katrina didn't move. She simply stood there, within the eye of her own storm. Her expression didn't scream effort—it whispered discipline. Her body didn't shake—it commanded.
Ashen's breath caught.
So this… this was the power of someone truly attuned to their soul.
It's… magnificent, he thought.
He'd read about mana in fantasy novels. He'd written about it in his old notes. But seeing it?
Seeing someone use it not as a weapon, but as a statement—
That was different.
That was real.
Katrina turned her head slightly, her voice calm.
"Listen."
She raised her hand. The shimmering field grew, maybe an extra foot, and the water around it twisted harder to avoid it.
"I'm stopping about thirty percent of the flow," she said flatly. "Madhav—if he were standing here—would stop all of it. Every. Last. Drop."
Ashen didn't respond.
He couldn't.
His legs felt like they were carved from riverstone. His chest hollow.
It wasn't fear.
It was reverence.
The kind that grips you when you hear a temple bell echo through an empty mountain.
Katrina slowly lowered her hand. The mana thinned. The water rushed back in, splashing the rock angrily as if insulted by the interruption. She crouched, then leapt lightly back to the riverbank, landing beside him with the casual air of someone who just tied their boots.
Ashen didn't meet her eyes. Not yet.
Because something inside him had changed.
For the first time since arriving in this world—not as a writer, not as a dreamer, but as himself—
He felt small.
Katrina stood beside him, silent for a beat.
Then, without turning, she spoke.
Katrina
> "If you focus on the top of that rock… you can do that too."
Ashen blinked. His eyes flicked to her, then back to the rock.
Ashen
> "But… I don't know how to use magic yet."
Katrina's lips curved slightly, not into a smile, but something close. Understanding. Maybe even pity.
Katrina
> "You don't have to. Not for this test."
She stepped forward again, hands behind her back, voice calm and low like she was explaining rainfall to a child.
Katrina
> "Your body already has mana. Everyone's does. You just have to stop running from it. Feel its flow inside you, and it'll come out."
Ashen frowned, still staring at the water.
Ashen
> "But… you said humans can't use mana without items or crystals."
Katrina
> "I said you can't use mana in combat without them."
Her eyes narrowed as she watched the rock again.
Katrina
> "But this? This isn't combat. This is just… presence. Projection. Mana responding to will. Anyone can do it and it can't be used in a combat situation."
She paused. A breeze caught the river's mist, brushing Ashen's cheek like breath.
Katrina
> "Though if you're strong enough… it can scare weaker opponents away. Like wolves backing off from a growl they don't understand."
Ashen swallowed. The back of his throat felt dry. He spat sideways, gaze drifting toward the jagged rock at the river's heart.
The current shimmered around it again, the water still slightly split from her earlier display.
Ashen
> "…How do I get there?"
Katrina didn't answer immediately.
She turned to him. No smirk. No shrug.
Just stillness.
Katrina
> "That's for you to think."
Then she took a step back.
Not to help.
Not to guide.
Just to give him space.
The test had already begun.