The library was quiet when I arrived, morning light filtering through the tall windows in pale, dusty beams.

Most students wouldn't be up for another hour, the early risers were either incredibly dedicated or incredibly anxious.

I was both.

Emma was already there.

She'd claimed our usual place in the back corner, and the small table between the armchairs was completely covered in papers. Notes, diagrams.

She had three books open simultaneously, each marked with strips of ribbon, and was scribbling something in her personal notebook when I approached.

Hearing my footsteps, she looked up immediately, face brightening. "Jin! You're early."

"So are you."

"Well, I wanted to make sure everything was ready." She gestured to the organized chaos spread across the table. "I made a training plan. For today, I mean. To help you prepare for tomorrow."

I sat down slowly, surveying the materials. One page showed a detailed breakdown of mana circulation exercises, another had what looked like a timeline with specific goals. A third showed anatomical diagrams of mana pathways with annotations in the margins.

"You did all this?" I asked, really surprised by her.

A faint blush colored her cheeks. "I might have stayed up a bit late. But We need to use the time efficiently."

I picked up the schedule. And began reading.

"This is..." I paused, searching for the right word. "Intense."

"You're going into a dungeon alone," Emma said, her tone suddenly serious. "We need to be intense."

She had a point.

"Alright," I said, setting the schedule down. "Where do we start?"

Her expression shifted to something more focused, determined. "Mana circulation. Let's see if we can improve your independent stability."

We started the same way we always did.

Emma guided me through the breathing exercises, centering my awareness inward until I could feel the mana flowing through my pathways like water through invisible channels.

"Good," she said softly. "Now try to manifest it. Small sphere, just like before."

I gathered the mana, pulling it toward my palms. The familiar sensation of energy concentrating, taking form, shaping itself into something almost tangible.

The colorless sphere appeared between my hands, hovering there, pulsing faintly with my heartbeat.

"Hold it," Emma instructed.

I held it, maintaining the concentration, keeping the mana stable and contained.

Five seconds. Ten. Fifteen.

My arms started to tremble slightly. The sphere wavered.

"You're doing great," Emma said. "Just a bit longer."

Eighteen seconds.

Then she pulled back her support.

I hadn't even realized she'd been stabilizing me, her mana had been so subtle and gentle, that it felt like my own. But the moment it withdrew completely, my sphere collapsed.

The mana scattered like smoke, dispersing into nothing.

I stared at my empty palms, frustration coiling tight in my chest.

"Eighteen seconds," Emma said, making a note in her journal. "That's an improvement from last time. You were at twelve before."

"But the moment you stopped helping, it fell apart immediately." I clenched my hands into fists. "I'm not doing it myself. I'm dependent on you."

"Jin—"

"No, it's true." I looked at her. "I haven't actually learned to do this independently. I've just learned to do it with your support. The second you remove the training wheels, I crash."

Emma was quiet for a moment, her expression thoughtful rather than defensive. Finally, she nodded. "You're right. That's exactly what's happening."

"So what do we do about it?"

She set down her journal and leaned forward. "We need to change our approach. What we've been doing is assisted mana flow. But assisted and independent flow are fundamentally different."

"Instead of giving you full stabilization at once, I'll reduce my support incrementally. Ten percent less each session. That way, your pathways learn to compensate for the instability bit by bit, rather than all at once."

I considered that. Forcing my body to adapt slowly rather than throwing me into the deep end.

That's workable.

"How long would it take?"

"If we're careful? A few weeks, maybe a month."

"I have one week, though."

She bit her lip. "I know. But even getting you to fifty percent independent stability would be better than nothing. It means you'd at least be able to manifest basic mana constructs without collapsing immediately."

It wasn't ideal. But it was something.

"Let's try it," I said.

---

We spent the next hour on circulation drills.

Emma gradually reduced her stabilization, and I could feel the difference, the mana became harder to control, more slippery, like trying to hold water in cupped hands.

The spheres I conjured lasted shorter periods. Sometimes they collapsed within seconds.

But slowly, I started to compensate. My pathways adjusted, finding ways to stabilize that didn't rely entirely on Emma's support.

By the end of the hour, I could hold a sphere for ten seconds completely independently.

"We're making progress," Emma said, though her voice carried a note of frustration that mirrored my own. "Let's move to visualization exercises. That might help more than brute force practice."

She cleared some space on the table and pulled out a fresh sheet of paper, sketching quickly. "Close your eyes. I want you to visualize your mana pathways, not just feel them, but actually see them in your mind."

I closed my eyes, focusing inward.

"Start with your core," Emma continued.

"Now trace the pathways outward. Follow them through your body. Arms, legs, head. See where they go, how they connect."

I followed the flow, mapping the network in my mind. It was complex, branches splitting and rejoining, loops within loops, channels that ran parallel before converging again.

And then I noticed something.

The pathways weren't stable. They fluctuated, their boundaries shifting like living things. One moment a channel would be wide and clear, the next it would narrow, constrict, almost pinch closed before widening again.

They're unstable...

But, the changes weren't completely random, there was a rhythm to them, almost like a pulse, but irregular. And when I focused on a specific pathway, I could almost feel the parameters that governed it.

Width, density, flow rate and variables.

Just like a code.

The realization hit me suddenly, crystallizing into clarity.

They're editable.

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