Three Days Later

  "Tia, how are you feeling?" Kenley asked, stepping out from the inner room while toweling his hair after a bath.

  Ever since acquiring this small estate, Kenley had cleared a space specifically as a training ground. He maintained a daily exercise routine and also used this space to help Tia practice magic.

  In the game, the way NPCs leveled up was different from that of players. NPCs gained experience points through repeated training and could even advance through sudden insights or natural talent.

  With Kenley's guidance and support, Tia had spent the past three days diligently practicing basic magic, steadily gaining experience points. Initially, Tia's level wasn't very high, and the only spells she knew were Magic Missile and Mana Shield, the most basic of all spells.

  However, under Kenley's instruction, Tia's comprehension was remarkably fast. In just three days, she had reached the 1st Tier, Level 15, surpassing Kenley's own level.

  Kenley couldn't help but marvel—truly worthy of her golden bloodline. Tia was now in the mid-stage of the 1st Tier, strong enough to accompany him on adventurer missions.

  At present, the spells Tia had mastered included: Magic Missile, Mana Shield, Mana Arrow, Fireball, Firewall, Fire Shield, Charm, Bloodlust, Blood Drain, and Blood Arrow.

  Tia, who was in the middle of practicing, immediately flashed a sweet smile.

  "Master, Tia feels like she's made even more progress! Look!"

  With that, Tia promptly cast a 1st Tier Fireball right in front of Kenley. With a bang, it exploded against the trial stone.

  HP -45

  Impressive! This Fireball's damage was significantly stronger—1.2 times the usual 38 HP damage. At the 1st Tier, a typical Level 15 human enemy's HP would be around 80 points. Tia's Fireball, dealing 45 HP damage, was enough to wipe out nearly half of an enemy's health in a single hit.

  Before achieving Bronze Body, the most critical aspects of defense for players were physical defense and magic resistance. All other flashy attributes were of little use compared to raw defensive stats.

  Of course, if a character specialized in a particular class, that was a different story. For instance, Sylph's Rangers focused on agility—high speed could indeed allow them to dodge enemy attacks.

  Thus, in the early stages, apart from using skills to counter magic, the most important factor for magical defense was equipment.

  Tia was currently casting spells bare-handed, without any suitable equipment. If she were to acquire some, her combat strength would rise dramatically.

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  For mages, casting spells was typically enhanced by three types of equipment: magic staves, magic scepters, and the rarer Arcane Rings.

  According to the lore of Aude Continent, humans could not cast spells without the use of their hands. During the Creation by the Mother Goddess, she was said to have created humans between her thumb and forefinger.

  Because of this, the Tower Mages of the Ice Plains regarded the area between the thumb and forefinger as the most mysterious and potent part of the human body, believing it to contain a hidden Arcane Vortex. Thus, they invented a special casting tool—the Arcane Ring.

  Since Tia was both a Vampire and a Martial Artist, using a magic staff would be impractical for switching between melee and ranged combat. The Arcane Ring seemed like the ideal choice.

  Considering that Tia could already wield such formidable power bare-handed, equipping her with an Arcane Ring would only make her even more overwhelming.

  Kenley couldn't help but applaud.

  "Only three days have passed, and you've made such incredible progress, Tia. Congratulations!"

  "That's only because you were willing to spend so much on Mana Potions and Memory Scrolls for me, Master. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to improve so quickly," Tia replied shyly, her cheeks turning a delicate pink.

  Kenley, however, was secretly pleased. As expected of a high-growth servant. To help Tia advance, he had leveraged his Alchemist profession to continuously buy herbs from the market and brew Low-Grade Mana Potions.

  For Tia, who was only in the 1st Tier, a single Low-Grade Mana Potion was enough to fully restore her MP. Meanwhile, Kenley had taken the opportunity to level up his Alchemist profession by three levels.

  The herbs weren't particularly expensive—the real challenge lay in the high failure rate of potion-making. With one gold coin, Kenley could buy enough materials to attempt brewing a hundred mana potions.

  However, as a player, Kenley had no such concerns. He had maxed out his Low-Grade Mana Potion skill to Master Level, ensuring a 100% success rate. In contrast, NPCs required both talent and experience to improve their potion-making success rate. Without talent, even a single potion was out of reach.

  (Note: Life profession skill points are separate from main profession skill points.)

  If Green, Kenley's alchemy mentor, found out about his success rate, she'd probably drag him to her shop to experiment on him out of sheer curiosity.

  Kenley could easily open a potion shop in the capital and make a fortune without ever leaving his estate. But that sounded mind-numbingly dull—being stuck brewing potions all day would drive him insane.

  He much preferred the thrill of adventuring.

  As for the Memory Scrolls Tia mentioned, those were even more interesting. For players, they were essentially experience scrolls, but for Tia, they were something else entirely.

  After using a Memory Scroll, Tia could fully re-experience and reinforce all the spells she had cast within the day. In her words, it was like replaying everything in her mind—every detail and feeling of casting spells was refreshed and ingrained anew. In other words, it significantly boosted her learning efficiency.

  However, these scrolls were incredibly expensive. Even with a 30% discount at the Magic Association, each scroll still cost 70 silver coins. Kenley had gritted his teeth and bought six of them, ensuring that Tia trained to the maximum every day for the past three days.

  Tia, aware of how costly the Memory Scrolls were, pushed herself relentlessly. Coupled with a vampire's natural stamina and tirelessness, she had insisted that she wasn't tired each time Kenley asked.

  But Kenley wasn't so easily convinced.

  "Tia, that's enough for today. Get a good night's rest. Tomorrow, we'll head to the Adventurers' Guild together," Kenley said with a smile.

  "But Master, I've only used half of today's Memory Scroll. If I don't finish it, it'll go to waste…" Tia replied, a bit puzzled.

  "Follow my orders, Tia. That's enough for today—rest well," Kenley said, gently patting her head.

  "Okay! I'll listen to you, Master," Tia responded sweetly, a bright smile lighting up her face.