013 Manifesting Great Power

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Huff...huff... (Roland secretly catches his breath)

A faint, strange sound suddenly echoed in the silent room.

Anna’s ears perked up sharply. She hastily sniffed the air, then silently dropped from the beam to the floor.

She searched the room but found no one. Eventually, she followed a scent to the sleeping mat where Roland rested, then began rubbing and rolling on it like a cat.

On the mat lay several shirts Roland had worn. Upon discovering these, Miss Anna deeply inhaled their scent for quite some time.

Her expression resembled a cat encountering catnip, pressing the entire shirt against her face!

At that moment, Roland quietly lifted his head from the water bucket, inhaling. Seeing Anna’s actions, his expression darkened considerably.

At midnight, an elegant lady quietly enters your room.

Then, she lies on your bed, clutching your clothes and sniffing them deeply… Though strange, if the lady were beautiful, it wouldn’t be so unsettling.

But what if this lady stood over three meters tall and weighed more than half a ton?

Anna suddenly turned her head toward the large bath barrel. She slowly climbed to its edge and, like a cat, licked the water with her tongue. She seemed thirsty.

Initially, after drinking for a while, Anna would have stopped, but because bubbles were slowly rising from Roland’s mouth, she licked them, growing increasingly amused.

After two minutes, more and more bubbles surfaced, and she licked them with growing delight. Finally, as the bubbles gurgled up, she ceased licking.

Anna looked up at the water’s surface, a cruel, mocking smile slowly curling at her lips.

She was intentional. She had long known a little mouse dwelled in the water! She was toying with her prey!

With a sudden splash, Roland’s small head burst from the water, gasping for air. Anna’s smile twisted into something more sinister as she watched the delicate little mouse.

She licked her lips, anticipating the mouse’s reaction as if savoring a prelude feast from Roland’s impending terror and despair.

[Roland used Psychic Blast.]

[Proficiency +1]

At that moment, Anna suddenly noticed Roland’s eyes had turned entirely black. Amid her surprise, an uncontrollable fear surged from her tailbone to the crown of her head.

In an instant, Anna felt the world spin before her eyes.

In mere moments, her skin shifted from pale blue to deep green, then to ghastly white.

Psychic Blast was no mere fear spell; its essence was to drag one’s spirit into the deepest realms, bearing witness to the ineffable.

At this moment, Anna glimpsed what Roland saw, but unlike him, her sanity was far weaker; she could not maintain composure after facing those horrors.

With a heavy thud, Anna collapsed drenched in sweat. Her dilated pupils revealed a shattered mind.

She murmured incoherently, laughing and crying madly, seemingly trapped in the abyss of the lower world, unable to escape.

Roland never expected Psychic Blast to be so potent. He had assumed Anna would be like himself once—sweating profusely and breathless—but not that her pupils would dilate uncontrollably.

A gushing sound followed as Anna, crying, lost control of her bowels—she had soiled herself.

She had seen a god, a true god. Her mutterings described what she saw: “Seaweed... we are all seaweed!!”

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Roland did not understand what Anna was saying, but he knew she was babbling madness!

His expression shifted, and then he darted to the bedside, pulling a gleaming sword from beneath the bed. Without hesitation, he prepared to execute her.

“Today, it’s either your death or mine!”

In a flash, Anna inexplicably ignited a sacred flame around her. Like a kitten with a lit tail, she yowled and broke through the cabin door.

Roland’s sword sliced through the air, severing only a strand of Anna’s long hair. Watching her silhouette vanish into the night, his expression grew intense.

It seemed Roland had not only mastered Psychic Blast but also the Dawnfire.

Dawnfire had a trait: unless consciously restrained, its holy seal would affix to every spell Roland cast. Being unfamiliar with this, the Dawnfire seal had attached to his Psychic Blast.

Judging by what just happened, Psychic Blast was devastatingly effective against Anna. Her mind already chaotic, this spectral spell from the abyss was a fatal blow. After the attack, she collapsed into the depths of the lower world.

Her consciousness should not have escaped the abyss so quickly, yet Dawnfire pulled her back from the darkness.

Roland reflected: ‘Though she’s awake, the scent of the lower world will cling to her. She’ll remain panicked for a while... If I run now...’

His face shifted for a long moment before he chose not to leave the cabin.

First, he pushed a cabinet against the broken door to block the gap. Then, he cracked open a giant clam, swallowed a fruit, and sat on the bed to replenish his mana.

The mermaid potion was powerful in restoring magic. In mere minutes, this low-level apprentice fully recovered his mana.

Roland rose and headed to the door. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine; he looked back toward the window.

Outside, Anna cautiously hid by the window, her gaze filled with malice as she stared at Roland. Catching his eye, a flicker of fear crossed her face, and she hastily fled.

Logically, Anna’s mind, though freed from the lower world, should remain terrified for some time. She shouldn’t have regained composure so fast or risked approaching Roland again. Yet Dawnfire appeared not only to harm but also to dispel darkness and restore clarity.

Fortunately, Roland hadn’t rushed outside just now, or he’d be doomed.

He felt a chill of dread and thought, ‘Psychic Blast will still work on Anna. If I land another, she’ll collapse—I just need to spot her before she spots me.’

Anna’s stealth was maxed. In the wild, she would surely detect Roland first.

But inside the cabin, it was different. Given her size, she could enter only through the door. If Roland set obstacles there, he would spot her first in a cabin encounter.

In other words, in the wilderness, Roland’s death was certain, but in the cabin, he had a chance. Thus, he must not leave.

Suddenly, Roland realized a despairing truth—he was trapped tonight!

If the mentor returned and found he’d advanced... Thinking this, Roland slumped into a chair, rubbing his forehead.

He wished Anna would overcome her fear, muster courage, and challenge him inside instead of waiting outside.

Yet Anna seemed deeply scarred by the cabin and dared not enter.

Now, both knew this: whoever first crossed into the other’s territory would perish.

Anna would never enter the cabin, and Roland would never leave.

He sighed deeply, changed into dry clothes, and hid the remaining three fruits from the flowerpot in his pocket.

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The herbs in the flowerpot had withered and rotted, as if doused in wine.

Were it not for the fruits’ reality, Roland might have dismissed the herb’s maturation as a hallucination.

Ignoring the herb, Roland sat in a daze.

Anna’s breaking of the door and the cabin’s damage would have triggered an alarm. So, the mentor must already know.

She would likely return soon.

Roland pondered:

‘Is it reasonable for a skilled apprentice to suddenly break through a bottleneck at the brink of life and death, master a talent spell, and repel a formidable monster?’

‘I think... it’s quite reasonable.’

‘But will the mentor believe it?’

His expression darkened.

The mentor might believe or might not. But he couldn’t afford to take that chance.

Next, Roland tried many methods to lure Anna inside—pretending deep meditation, feigning tidying the cabin, lying in bed pretending to sleep.

Yet Anna’s boldest move was to quietly peek from outside the window—she didn’t dare enter, much less meet his gaze.

In the end, Roland even went into the yard, back to the forest, and did a set of exercises.

But the little feline had been thoroughly frightened.

She crouched under a large tree, teeth clenched, eyes filled with humiliation, resentment, and greed, cautiously watching Roland.

Only when Roland finished and glanced her way did she shiver and flee in panic.

Watching Anna’s retreating figure, Roland wondered: “If I’d left the cabin directly, far away, would she have dared attack me on the road?”

‘Sigh... No use dwelling on that now.’

In his heart: ‘If she lacks the courage to strike, she only loses a meal. But I’d lose my life. I can’t gamble with that.’

‘Besides, the mentor has already returned.’

Roland looked toward the forest path, where the mentor’s figure appeared.

Her expression was grim—whether from last night’s furious anger at Anna or outrage over Roland’s escape plan, no one could tell.

Anna, guilty like a misbehaving kitten, fled in panic when the master arrived.

Roland wanted to run too... but he couldn’t.

“Sigh.”