Damn it, why does Loriam have a such mess in her things?! Julia complained mentally as she was led by Mirei into the garden. Up until now Julia, Lily, and Loriam have been searching for any book that could help Julia prepare for her magic lesson.

However, after a few hours of searching, they found nothing. Julia had no intention of leaving the study room empty-handed, but Mirei came to the study room and informed the trio that Professor Kiril had arrived.

Julia had no other choice but to follow Mirei. On her part, Loriam said she would continue looking for the book and asked Lily to help her. Lily glanced at Julia and, after a few seconds of thinking, agreed.

"This old man greets your imp- cough cough Royal highness, the princess."

An old man wearing a white robe bowed to Julia once she entered the garden. So, this is the teacher. Julia did her best to suppress her excitement to learn the magic. With a slight motion of her hand, the old man was permitted to stop bowing.

"It is an honor, your highness. My name is Derien Kiril, a professor at Kaenem imp- cough cough Royal Academy. I was tasked by her majesty to teach you the art of magic."

"Julia Leranpe. I will be in your care professor."

Julia bowed slightly as she introduced herself. She could see Mirei’s shocked expression from the corner of her eye. Julia guessed that it was because she bowed to the professor instead of performing a greeting more befitting of a princess.

What Mirei didn’t know was that Julia found the said noble greeting embarrassing, just like referring to herself as the princess. And since Loriam wasn’t there, she had no plans to behave like royalty in the first place.

"Please raise your head. It is unbefitting of impe- cough cough of the royal princess to lower her head to somebody like myself."

Kiril said with shock in his voice, who would expect a princess to bow to somebody as if it was nothing? Julia was ready for something like that.

"As Professor Kiril is a venerable elder, it is only right for me to show appropriate respect."

Julia showed him an angelic smile that made Kiril wish he was a few hundred years younger. He re-composed again and didn’t push the topic further.

"I am just a magician in the service of the crown. I hardly deserve the respect that your highness has shown me."

With the initial talk out of the way, Kiril walked towards a table that was set in the garden in advance. Julia followed closely behind Professor Kiril. The professor rummaged through his things and pulled out a metallic plate with a big crystal in the middle.

"Your highness, if you-"

Kiril stopped talking abruptly and looked behind Julia. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it almost immediately with a nod of the head as he returned his attention to Julia with a stained smile.

"As I was saying, if you may, your highness, please touch the crystal."

Julia took a look at the crystal; at first glance, it was just a normal clear crystal. On a closer look, it had magic circles carved into its surface. The plate was covered in a dozen different magic circles.

"I just have to touch it?"

"Precisely, your highness."

Julia hesitated. The plate with a crystal seemed strange to her. She just couldn’t think of a reason for it. But based on how no one said anything, or more precisely how excited Mirei looked, this must be important for vampires.

Julia took a deep breath and slowly placed her hand on the crystal. The moment her hand touched it, several magic circles lit up in red. As Julia began to feel a stingy sensation in her hand, she started to consider removing her hand from the crystal.

"Your highness, there’s nothing to worry about."

Kiril smiled at Julia reassuringly. At that moment, at the moment he looked almost like a kind grandfather consoling his granddaughter. Seeing him like that, Julia relaxed a bit and endured the stinging for a few more seconds.

"Now please remove your hand, your highness."

Julia did as she was instructed and took her hand off, revealing the crystal that was now shining in a dark crimson light.

"Oho, truly a splendid result."

Kiril nodded his head while rubbing his beard. Julia wasn’t sure what he meant by it, but it was something good, right?

"It is?"

"Yes, your highness. Dark crimson-colored mana is extremely rare. In fact, it can only be found in ancient myths. Many were therefore of the opinion that it simply does not exist."

In ancient myths… so it is like super powerful? Julia wondered what this meant for her. Julia knew that in the case of elves golden color was the rate one and that those that had it were in general far more powerful, with a seemingly endless supply of mana.

"I knew you would do well, but this was unexpected. Are you really my daughter?"

Before Julia could inquire more from her teacher, Loriam pulled her into a tight hug.

"No, I am not, so you may as well just send me home."

"Haha, where did that come from? You’re so funny."

Julia’s retort made Loriam laugh. Unbothered by what the onlookers might think, she proceeded to rub herself against Julia. I wasn’t joking though. Julia sighed as she endured Loriam’s attack.

"Why are you even here? Weren’t you supposed to look for that book?"

Julia questioned Loriam. Without any sign of planning to stop rubbing herself on Julia, Loriam answered her.

"Oh, that little one has it."

As Loriam said, Julia quickly spotted Lily holding an old leather-bound book. Lily almost seemed proud of it.

"And as for why I am here... it is obviously to witness my daughter’s magic appraisal."

Loriam squeezed Julia more tightly in her embrace before continuing.

"I am so proud of you. You have crimson mana just like the goddess that gave us life."

Loriam showed a slightly bitter yet proud smile as she observed Julia’s reaction.

"Unlike me and my light red mana, or the rest of the family… you may as well be a genius, Julia."

A genius? Me? Julia blinked in disbelief; she had a hard time believing what Loriam had said. How could she even be considered a genius without even doing anything? Just because the color of her mana was crimson? That seems rather backward...

"Why would I be a genius? I haven’t even started to learn yet."

"Of course, it is thanks to your highness’s extraordinarily pure mana."

Kiril took his role as a teacher and began giving Julia an explanation.

"Thanks to which, it should be a walk through the park for your highness. I firmly believe that once we get to the practical lectures, you will understand."

Julia was left perplexed by her teacher’s vague explanation if it can even be called one. Out of desperation, Julia turned to Loriam for a more detailed explanation. However, Loriam was no longer clinging to her. Instead, she spotted Loriam being dragged away by an angry Liora.

"While I understand how important a magic appraisal of her highness is, I can’t just let you abandon your work like this all the time."

"Oh, come on. It’s not like I ditched anything important."

Loriam smiled playfully without looking at Liora and waved to Julia, whose gaze she had noticed. Liora was visibly annoyed by Loriam’s behavior as she glanced at her.

"Your majesty, have you forgotten that you are supposed to have a meeting with the council?"

Liora almost sounded disappointed as Loriam nodded. Without another word, Liora dragged Lorian unceremoniously towards the palace building. After seeing this spectacle, Julia was left to wonder whether or not Liora was the actual vampire queen instead of Loriam. At least she seems to do a far better job than Loriam does.

"Shall we begin, your highness?"

Kiril regained Julia’s attention and motioned towards a low desk. As Julia began approaching the desk, Kiril spread a blanket next to the desk as if he had just remembered.

"So, for a start, let’s see... Does your highness know what mana is? I mean in more details."

A mana theory test, huh? I should be able to pass this. Julia searched her memory, looking for what she learned from Olia.

"Mana, also known as malun naensu or the residue of the gods. is what remained in the world after the war between the gods."

Based on what she learned from Olia, mana was a power source created by the gods. In an attempt to destroy one another, they used this versatile power source, experimenting with it to create the most destructive force imaginable.

Each of the gods went their own way. Some created new ores from mana and forged them into weapons and armor. Others decided to use mana itself as the weapon.

And so they fought. Many gods had fallen, their rotting corpses leaking a residue in the form of impure mana into the soil. After millennia of this conflict, the world was polluted by mana, and the plants and animals had to adapt to the new mana-induced environment. Some mutated and developed ways to use mana just like the gods did, while others, such as humans, merely learned how to not die of mana poisoning.

What were the gods fighting for? No one knows. The gods themselves are said to have forgotten why they waged war, and so, tired of the pointless war, they made peace. Each of the 13 remaining gods then tended to other activities, some of which were wallowing in alcohol, and some gave rise to the races of this world.

"…so essentially, mana is like ash after a forest fire. Just like wood ash, it can be used to make a bar of soap. Mana today can be used for spell casting, healing, and fighting, but it will never be like it once was."

Kiril listened to Julia’s explanation of mana, nodding all the while.

"Your highness seems to have a basic understanding of what mana is and where it comes from. In that case, we can move on."

Julia let out a relieved sigh. She wasn’t sure whether she remembered it correctly. It had been some time since she heard it from Olia, after all. In the meantime, Kiril drew a simple magic circle on the blackboard with chalk, before turning back to Julia.

"To start with spell casting, it is fundamental to learn to construct them in a controlled environment. Take this simple flame spell as an example."

Julia watched as Kiril extended his hand with his palm skyward, then he muttered a short incantation and a small flame appeared in his palm. The flame disappeared just after a few seconds.

"In order to produce this flame, I had to construct the spell with the incantation. But how does one go about that?"

Without giving Julia time to reply, Kiril motioned toward the magic circle he drew earlier.

"By using the magic circle, of course."

"Can’t it be done by incantation alone?"

Is that really necessary? Julia wondered. This simple magic circle still looked complicated to Julia. Besides, was he suggesting she start drawing a magic circle each time she would try to use magic? Just the thought was ridiculous.

"You can try your highness."

Kiril turned back towards the blackboard and wrote the words that he used as an incantation for the spell earlier.

"Here, try using the flame spell with incantation only."

Kiril gave Julia a provocative smile. Julia accepted his challenge, and just as he did, she too extended her hand with her palm skywards. She took a deep breath and read the incantation aloud, but nothing happened.

Kiril watched with amusement as Julia tried repeatedly and failed each time. Just when Julia looked ready to give up, a flame briefly appeared on her palm.

"As you can see, your highness. It is essentially impossible without the circle. The best result you can hope to achieve with incantation alone is that small spark you have created."

Julia pouted briefly before facing Kiril with newfound determination.

"Please, teacher, lend me your guidance."

"Of course, your highness."

…

Julia spent a week learning magic from Professor Kiril. She spend almost all of her time practicing magic circles as well as spells. She interrupted her practice only to eat, sleep, and reply to Nemie’s letters. Julia welcomed Nemi’s letters as a perfect distraction, but she was also glad to hear from her friend.

During the last week, Julia’s magic lessons moved from the palace garden to an arena in the city. There, Julia, under the supervision of Kiril, practiced hitting a target with spells.

Taking a deep breath, Julia imagined a magic circle in her mind. while chanting an incantation as she extended her hand forward. As she poured mana into her mental magic circle, a crimson light emitted from her palm and a fireball flew in the direction of the dummies used as the target.

The fireball, however, didn’t hit either of the targets, as it landed just half a meter from them. Julia clicked her tongue, dissatisfied with the result. Once again, she began imagining a magic circle and chanting a different incantation. A strong gust of wind blew towards the still burning remains of the dire ball.

The wind began to swirl near the fireball, creating a miniature flame tornado that burned the target dummies to crisps.

"Master so cool."

Lily cheered from the bench as she watched the spectacle in the arena with a slight blush on her face. Just like now, Lily was insistent on accompanying Julia everywhere, with the explanation that the pet belongs at their master’s side.

"Truly splendid, your highness. I would say that is all for today."

Kiril appeared to be proud of the progress Julia made under his guidance. Julia thanked him with a bow and, with a flustered Lily, left the arena. Kiril brushed through his beard as he watched Julia leave. Buying a black wolf girl this time of year, your highness, you are rather kinky, aren’t you?

…

I am beaten. Julia massaged her sore shoulders. She never thought that there would be a day when she would be glad to be in the palace. There was no other place where she could lie in a comfortable bed. Excited to lie down, Julia removed the training clothes she had on and tossed them uncourteously on the chair.

As Julia lay down on her bed, she noticed blushing Lily looking at her while rubbing her thighs together.

"ha… Master..."

Lily walked slowly toward Julia’s bed while removing her clothes, her breath shallow and heavy. Before Julia could react, Lily climbed onto the bed and pinned Julia beneath her.

"Wh – what is with you, Lily? Get off me."

Julia did her best to not let her eyes wander to Lily’s naked body. Lily didn’t seem at all concerned.

"ha… ha… master…. I can't... hold back."

"What are you talking ab-"

Cutting Julia off, Lily placed her lips on Julia’s in a deep, passionate kiss.