In the end, Leon came up with a tutoring method perfectly suited to Noa's current situation.
Among the books Head Maid Anna had just sent over were some of Saint Hiss Academy's entrance exam papers from previous years.
Leon glanced through the papers and saw that they were all about knowledge related to the Dragon Race.
Seeing that, Leon secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
As the saying went, know yourself and know your enemy, and you would win every battle. As one of the Empire's top Dragon Slayers, he might have understood dragons even better than the Dragon Race itself.
Though his body was no longer what it used to be. Damn it, why did Losweiser's voice automatically pop into my head when I thought that?
Still, he had not forgotten any of the knowledge he had mastered in the past.
He planned to teach Noa using his understanding of the Dragon Race, along with the exam papers and the contents of the books about dragons.
Leon finalized his tutoring plan quickly.
After all, he had once graduated from Dragon Slaying Academy as the top student in both the written and practical exams.
"Alright, Noa, let's officially begin. First, we'll study how the Dragon Race uses magic."
As he spoke, Leon pushed a copy of Magic Fundamentals in front of Noa.
"This book is well designed. The table of contents has concise, clear headings that more or less summarize the corresponding material."
"Here's what I'm thinking."
"First, skim through the table of contents. Then use green, yellow, and red pens to mark the headings according to whether they're 'easy to understand,' 'barely understandable,' or 'completely incomprehensible.'"
"Because I just looked through the materials from previous years and found that people generally start preparing a year in advance if they want to pass Saint Hiss Academy's entrance test."
"But we only have one month."
"So we have to do everything we can to improve the efficiency of your tutoring."
"I believe in you, Noa. You can do it."
"Start when you're ready."
With that, Leon pushed the three colored pens and the copy of Magic Fundamentals she needed to study in front of her.
Noa had excellent control over her emotions.
Although she was surprised by the efficiency of this stay-at-home dad, she did not act too much like a child.
After taking the book and pens, she began marking the table of contents according to Leon's method.
Seeing his eldest daughter working so seriously, Leon felt quite gratified.
There was no unnecessary conversation, no meaningless questions. Everything was for the sake of efficiency.
Then again, teaching a student like Noa put quite a bit of pressure on Leon as well.
Noa's learning ability was definitely far stronger than Mu En's, and as the person teaching her, Leon had to stay ahead of her at all times.
Otherwise, the tutoring would become far less effective.
"Whew, looks like I'll have to burn the midnight oil from today onward."
Leon thought to himself.
Just like when he had attended Dragon Slaying Academy, he had studied past midnight almost every day.
His roommates had called him a grind king, and he had not bothered denying it.
Leon only knew that if he did not study hard at the academy, his master would crush his chest with a huge rock when he went home.
"I'm done marking them."
Noa's voice pulled him back from his memories.
Leon gathered his thoughts, took the book, and checked the table of contents Noa had marked.
"Mm, not bad. The green and yellow sections make up seventy percent of it, and there are only a few difficult chapters you can't understand, right?"
Noa nodded.
"Alright, this is only a simple way to organize our study framework. Marking something red doesn't necessarily mean we truly don't understand it, and marking something yellow doesn't mean we understand all of it either. So next, I'll focus on the chapters you marked yellow first, and we'll identify problems as we go through them. Is that okay?"
"Okay."
Leon nodded and began explaining the parts Noa had marked yellow.
Class passed quickly, and three hours went by in the blink of an eye.
Leon wrote and drew all over the book, going through nearly every key point with Noa.
Next came the part where practice revealed the truth.
He found an exam paper from a previous year. "Do a set of questions first. It'll give us a more direct look at where we're still lacking."
"Let's begin." "Where we're still lacking"...
Noa noticed that Leon often used words like that to refer to both himself and her together.
He rarely used phrases like, "Do you understand?"
Noa did not know whether he did it intentionally or not, but that way of phrasing things really did make it easy for people to follow his train of thought.
Noa shook her head and stopped thinking about things unrelated to studying.
She took the paper, picked up her pen, and began answering the questions.
The test was mostly made up of comprehension questions and simple questions. It did not involve numerical calculations, so Noa worked through it quickly.
She bit the end of her pencil and patiently studied every question with a furrowed brow.
It was hard to imagine a child barely over one year old thinking with such focus.
After reaching an answer, a smile would unconsciously appear on her little face, which usually showed no expression at all.
But whenever she noticed Leon watching beside her, she would immediately return to her expressionless little look.
She was rather adorable.
This kind of adorableness was different from Mu En's. It was subtler and more reserved.
Twenty minutes later, she handed the paper to Leon.
Leon checked the answers and calculated Noa's final score.
"The full score is one hundred. Guess how much you got?" Leon wanted to take the opportunity to ease the tense study atmosphere.
"Fifty?"
"Sixty-two."
"Oh."
Leon put down the paper. "What's wrong? Not satisfied?"
Noa pursed her lips, placed her little hands on her knees, and silently nodded.
"Mm... There's nothing wrong with holding yourself to high standards, but you should also know that young dragons your age normally wouldn't even come into contact with test papers this difficult. Besides, the academy's average test score over the past ten years has only been around eighty. It really is difficult."
Leon set down the paper and said with a smile, "Getting sixty-two on your first try is already very impressive."
"...Thank you."
"What did you say?" Leon had not heard her clearly.
"Nothing."
Noa rubbed the tip of her little nose. "Let's continue."
Leon smiled and reached out, intending to rub her little head. But then he remembered Noa had said that he could not touch her without her permission.
So he awkwardly withdrew his hand halfway through. "Let's stop here for the morning. You should go eat. After lunch, take a half-hour nap, then we'll continue."
"Oh, okay."
Noa jumped down from her stool and walked to the door.
When she saw that Leon had not followed her, she turned back and asked, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Leon shrugged and said half-jokingly, "Your mother has grounded me. Complain to her when you have the chance and give Dad a little more freedom to move around."
Noa nodded seriously. "Okay."
"Wait, Noa. Could you bring me some chili peppers when you come back later? The hotter, the better."
Noa blinked. "Do you really like spicy food that much?"
"It's alright. I mainly need them for something else."
Noa gave a soft "oh," nodded in agreement, and did not ask any further questions.
Noa opened the door and left.
Leon stretched, stood up to loosen his limbs, then sat back down and began preparing the afternoon's lesson.
Just as he had expected, having an intelligent student was not an easy thing.
He had to stay ahead of Noa at all times so that he could guide her properly.
Of course, he could more or less guess another reason Losweiser had deliberately asked him to teach Noa.
She wanted her eldest daughter to give Leon a proper hard time.
Mu En was naturally fond of Leon, so there was no need to put much effort into cultivating their relationship.
But Noa was different.
Even at such a young age, she had her own ideas and way of doing things. It was difficult for her to accept someone who had only just awakened after being unconscious for two years as her father.
Of course, beyond that, Leon also vaguely felt that Noa's reservations toward him probably had other reasons.
She was so smart that perhaps she had long noticed that the man who was supposed to be called "Father" did not actually have such a good relationship with her mother.
So... Leon would not handle this tutoring carelessly, nor would he regard his eldest daughter as a form of torment.
He would take it seriously and hoped to change some of Noa's impressions of him.
And then—
Win her over!
The focus of the afternoon tutoring was Noa's incorrect answers.
After looking through them, Leon discovered that his eldest daughter's assessment of her own abilities was extremely accurate.
Nearly all of her mistakes came from material in the chapters she had marked red in the table of contents.
As for the green and yellow sections, she had answered them all correctly.
That would greatly reduce the time they spent taking detours.
Studying was like treating an illness. Only the right medicine could cure it quickly.
Over the entire afternoon, Noa learned quite a bit of new knowledge.
When it was time to leave, she finally willingly said to Leon in a clear, open manner,
"Thank you."
Ah~~
That thank-you made this old father's heart feel so good~~
Leon forcibly suppressed the corners of his mouth from rising and said as if nothing had happened,
"It's nothing. This is what I should do."
His eldest daughter nodded, hugged the homework Leon had assigned her, turned around, stood on tiptoe, raised her arm, pressed down the doorknob, and left.
Leon let out a breath and looked out the window.
Night was almost here.
He hastily finished dinner, then sat down at the desk again.
On the desk were several books on basic medicinal ingredients that Maid Anna had sent over.
As well as several chili peppers he had asked Noa to bring him at noon.
Leon picked one up and examined it, muttering, "They're no different from the chili peppers Master used to grow."
Before you continue