Advancement

After the trade was completed, Claire looked at the three ancient books that had appeared in her trade space, then turned her gaze to Chen Han across from her.

The other party was beaming as he held the glass cup and test tube. Claire could not help laughing inwardly. That cowboy's method of tricking her before had actually been quite useful.

And despite having such a cheat ability that allowed cross-world trading, he was still chasing after something as mundane as money. How vulgar.

Chen Han carefully tucked the traded glass cup into his clothes. There was still a little time left, so he began chatting with Claire.

"Do you have any regular trading partners?" Claire asked. She had been somewhat torn during this trade, wondering whether she should save that Trade Point to become friends.

"What regular trading partner?" Chen Han scratched his head. "You can set up regular trades?"

Claire repeated the information the cowboy had told her before.

"Is that so? You can become regular friends with one Trade Point?" Chen Han rested his chin on his hand and thought for a while, but ultimately shook his head. "Forget it. You can only trade once a year. How could I have the patience to wait two whole years?"

"Huh?!" Claire's eyelid twitched.

But before she could ask further, the high-definition cross-world call automatically disconnected as time ran out.

You can only trade once a year? His trading interval is different from mine. Claire pondered. Was it because their worlds were different? Or were there differences in individual constitutions, some hidden condition she did not know about that could shorten the trading interval?

Or was it because the flow of time differed between worlds? So she could accumulate one Trade Point in a week, while the other party needed a year to earn one.

After thinking for a long time, Claire shook her head and gave up. There was too little information to deduce anything useful.

She took the three books out of her trade space. The instant they appeared, a flash of light enveloped them.

Claire stepped back several paces in surprise, watching as the three books seemed to be flipped through by some invisible force. Rustle, rustle!

They quickly flipped from the first page to the last. Then the light vanished into thin air, and the three books lost their strange radiance as they fell onto the table.

After watching for several minutes and confirming there was no danger, Claire finally walked over and gently lifted the cover of one book.

Only then did she suddenly understand.

"That was translating the text just now..."

Reassured, Claire picked up the book. The words on it had already become the language of this world. It seemed that strange white light had altered them when she took the books out.

After skimming through it, Claire murmured, "Or rather... was it making things from another world adapt to this world's rules?"

The text in the book was not the classical prose she had imagined. It was exceptionally plain and easy to understand. Even the specialized terminology from a martial arts world had been changed into terms like knights and Battle Aura.

Claire then turned her attention to the other two books on the table. "A Mage Mental Power Circulation Method? This must be the Minor Heavenly Cycle Circulation Method from before."

Claire picked up that ancient book. She had only intended to casually flip through it, but she soon became engrossed. The Mental Power Cultivation Method described in the book was completely different from the way mages in this world cultivated mental power.

But after finishing it, Claire was extremely excited. "This seems feasible! Although the methods are different, they lead to the same destination. The ultimate goal of cultivating mental power can still be achieved."

After reading that book, Claire looked through the remaining ancient book about a Movement Technique. However, after reading only a few pages, she put it down. It was not a cultivation method for mages. Like the first book, it was a knight's cultivation method.

But this world did not seem to have anything called cultivation methods.

Ignoring the fact that it was already midnight, Claire picked up the book about cultivating mental power again and studied it carefully, slowly following its instructions to cultivate.

At dawn, the first ray of sunlight rose in the east and shone upon the spire of the viscount's tower, the tallest building in Nafu City.

As usual, Regan skillfully made his way to the sixth floor, to his young mistress's room, intending to knock and call Claire down for breakfast.

But before his knuckles could touch the door, it opened from the inside.

"Morning, Regan." Claire walked out, stretched, and headed down the stairs.

"Y-Young Mistress, good morning." Regan stood there blankly. It was not because Claire had gotten up early.

It was a very strange feeling. His young mistress seemed somewhat different today, somehow more spirited than before.

After washing up, Claire sat on the sofa in the living room and examined her condition. Invisible waves of mental power were spreading outward, which was also why Regan had felt that something was different.

After following the book's method and cultivating for one night, Claire had actually advanced from an elementary mage to an Intermediate Mage!

Under normal circumstances, it would have taken at least two or three years of accumulation to break through to Intermediate Mage. Yet that book had taken only one night to increase Claire's mental power enough to support her advancement to Intermediate Mage.

Of course, such explosive growth would not be possible in the future. But as long as it maintained a relatively rapid rate of mental power growth, it could still support her until she advanced to High Mage.

However, Claire estimated that once she became a High Mage, the cultivation method in this book would probably no longer be very useful. That was the end of its path. If she wanted to go further, she would have to rely on herself—or find some other Cultivation Method.

Snap! Claire snapped her fingers.

A flame appeared before her. The terrifying heat radiating around it was visible to the naked eye.

Claire flipped her hand again, and a mage hand lifted a glass cup from the table. This was one of the minor spells often used during experiments.

She gently brought the glass cup closer. In less than five seconds, the cup softened and was stretched by gravity into a thin strand of glass.

Claire's eyes lit up. "The flame's temperature exceeded six hundred degrees. Otherwise, it couldn't have softened the glass. It seems an Intermediate Mage really can contend with a Silver Rank knight."

Although mages were at a disadvantage against knights in the early stages, this alone would be enough to inflict serious damage on a Silver Rank knight.

Claire secretly delighted for a moment, but her smile quickly froze. A week ago, she had killed a Silver Knight with a gun. Her strength as an Intermediate Mage did not seem to be as useful as a gun.

Come to think of it, there was nothing to be happy about.

Claire's improved mood from advancing immediately sank again.

She needed to advance to High Mage as soon as possible. From what she knew, ordinary guns were ineffective against Gold Rank knights, and even more so against High Mages. Once one reached High Mage, one had entered the middle stage of being a mage. The gap between mages and knights would widen from there. Generally, it took three Gold Rank knights to restrain a single High Mage.

After a simple breakfast, Claire had Regan prepare the carriage. She wanted to visit the military camp again. If the Mental Power Cultivation Method she had traded for was useful to her, then the other two knight cultivation methods should also be able to serve a purpose.

The moment she entered the hall, Claire saw a familiar figure lying on the floor, supporting herself with both hands on a small rag. Her little legs kicked rapidly as she pushed the rag along to wipe the floor clean.

Claire looked at Regan in surprise before she could ask anything, but Melly, who was lying on the floor cleaning, took the initiative to greet them.

"Good morning, Big Brother! Good morning, Grandpa Regan!"

Claire looked at Regan beside her in surprise. You thick-browed traitor, have you betrayed the revolution? I remember you used to especially dislike commoners like Melly.