Vincent chewed the undercooked piece of meat and swallowed it. One could tell that it didn't taste great just by looking at his expression. He didn't have much experience as a cook and Alba was even worse. She had never worked in the kitchen and he had stopped expecting anything from her culinary skills for a while now. He hated the sight of meat now, it wasn't that the quality was bad. His diet consisted of pretty much nothing but meat and some vegetables for the past two weeks, given the lackluster preparation of meals on top of that, he had to force the food down his throat.

The only good thing that had happened recently was the arrival of furniture he had bought from the merchant Hubert. He could finally rest without feeling discomfort in his rear end. Though the bed was a lot less comfortable than what he was used to, he could make do with it for now. Finishing the last of the food, he got up and headed to his room to train. He had a feeling that he would break through today.

Alba looked at Vincent swallowing the food without chewing much and felt a little useless. The first time she tried to cook was after she came to Trenni village with Vincent. She had learnt the basics so far, but it didn't help that her mentor was Vincent who was pretty much a novice himself. The girl had no one she could ask help from as she almost never left the house. The presence of other people unnerved her greatly and limited her number of acquaintances to one.

Vincent sat down and started circulating his mana throughout his body. He attempted to push the mana out of his body. Once he succeeded in doing so, he would be a second circle wizard. Second circle spells allowed the mana to travel outside the body and increase the range of the spell. Vincent repeated the process multiple times only to fail each time. Though the attempts ended up in failures, he patiently repeated the process after eliminating one flaw after another in his technique. Time passed slowly and a smile crept up Vincent's face. He finally succeeded in pushing the mana out of his body.

Vincent stood up and pointed a finger towards the wall. Electric spark danced in his finger for a moment before flying towards the wall in an incredible speed. Vincent watched the ball of electricity fly with excitement but it died down after the ball lost its power after moving just three meters. This was a second circle spell called 'Shock bolt'. The principle behind it was almost identical to the 'Shock skin' he had used in his fight in the town of Opal. The only difference was the further compression and shooting of mana. Everything was fine except for the short range. Theoretically, the bolt should have travelled up to thirty meters before losing its power.

He sighed and stopped his training for now. He had just reached the second circle and casting the spell on his first try was already an incredible feat. He felt exhausted but also restless because of his excitement. A smile was plastered on his lips and it wouldn't come off no matter how hard he tried.

'I finally reached second circle. I will be sixteen in four days. I bet Rachel would throw a tantrum if she found out about it. Too bad I can't gloat about it in front of her.'

Vincent reminisced about his time with Brian and Rachel as he played with his pocket watch. He missed them dearly. If he could, he would probably go meet them, but the situation wasn't favorable and he had put a lot of effort coming to the northern part of the Esterin kingdom to avoid the flames of war.

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Three youths were walked out of the forest by the Trenni village. They all wore leather armor made from the hide of magical beasts. Though the hide of normal animals couldn't be turned into leather that could provide good defense, the same couldn't be said for leather made from magical beasts. The young men were equipped with bastard swords along with bows and arrows.

The fat guy being supported by his two companions had a terrible expression on his face, "Aren't we there yet? I think I am going to die. I can't go on anymore. Casper carry me, my legs don't move according to my will."

The tallest among the bunch turned to face his young lord who smiled helplessly. In the end Casper sighed and gave a piggy back ride to the fat guy. Nathan heaved and made a mental note to reward Casper after they returned to the castle.

"Young master Zach, we are almost there. Look over there, you can see the houses of the villagers. We can ask for the doctor and the villager will lead us to him. Then we can save you." Nathan tried to calm the fat companion down.

"I hope so. If the village doesn't have a doctor in it. I might really ascend to the heavens."

Nathan asked the first villager he saw and asked him about the doctor. The villager personally led the trio to Vincent's house where he received a silver coin. A brilliant smile bloomed on the villager's face as he repeated bowed and rained words of praise upon the trio.

Nathan approached a young man standing by a Plumeria tree and approached him. "Excuse me sir, is the doctor in?"

"He is." Vincent observed the man named Nathan. He had a handsome face and medium brown hair. His build was neither large nor small but he boasted a good height, at least half a head taller than Vincent. "What do you need him for?"

"Can you please call him out? My friends and I were hunting when a scarlet bear attacked us. One of us is injured and requires medical attention."

"I see, bring him in."

Casper carried Zach inside and placed him on a chair. Zach clutched his forearm exaggeratedly and began making comical faces. Vincent approached him and began examining his patient. Zach looked at the young man and asked, "Where is the doctor?"

"I am the doctor."

Zach's expression turned even worse after hearing that the young man was the doctor. He cursed the village and its stupid doctor in his mind and showed his injury to Vincent. The injury was nothing but some superficial wounds. The bear seemed to have barely scratched its victim before they got away.

Vincent was just about to clean the wounds when Zach started to shout loudly. Looking at the crying man, anyone would think that his injury must be deep and serious. The treatment couldn't be continued because the patient kept complaining about the pain and wouldn't remain still.

"I will apply some pain killing powder on your wound. Your wound won't hurt after that but it will cost you an extra silver." Vincent pushed down his urge to chase this annoying fatso out and spoke in a mechanical fashion.

"It's just a single silver, why are you being so stingy? Apply whatever you need to apply. I will pay for it all."