"Is this the right path?"
Snow muttered under her breath, her voice barely louder than the wind.
The scattered snow around her shifted at her will, drifting forward like it knew where to go.
It gathered and thinned ahead, guiding her toward something solid in the distance.
A tower.
Tall. White. Firm against the endless frost.
It rose from the snow like it had always been there, wrapped in thick layers of ice and powder.
For a moment, she was reminded of the magic towers back in the imperial capital — the proud white spires that pierced the sky.
Even the foreign countries she had visited had nothing quite like this.
But this tower felt… different.
Colder.
Watching.
"Did I finish the first test?" she wondered quietly.
She glanced back at the trail she had left behind.
The wasteland stretched endlessly, silent and empty.
No pressure. No voice. No resistance.
Her answer — her authority — had been accepted.
That meant this had to be the second trial.
