From the very beginning, Bell had been watching from the sidelines as Ais fought the dragonkin.
Naturally, he saw everything—how Ais, nearly crippled, managed to scrape out a victory in the end.
Bell hadn't intervened at all. This was a true life-and-death battle; who would interrupt something like that on purpose?
Fortunately, the result was good.
Bell glanced at Ais's right hand, which looked as if it had been roasted.
"Heal."
A layer of green light enveloped the hand that was almost cooked through.
"Mm..."
The right hand that had completely lost sensation moments ago suddenly regained feeling—and with it came a wave of intense pain.
The healing was extremely effective, but that very efficiency meant the process hurt far more than usual.
A thin layer of dead skin formed over Ais's right hand, while activity returned deep within her arm.
Cells multiplied rapidly. Lost vitality began to replenish itself. Blood vessels and muscle that were on the verge of necrosis slowly revived.
Within minutes, the dead skin on the outer side of Ais's right arm began to crack, peeling away as fresh skin emerged beneath.
Ais gently flexed her fingers. Flakes of dead skin fell to the ground, and her right hand had fully returned to its original form.
Though it would take time to regain full dexterity, and longer still to restore the flexibility she once had.
"Thank you, Teacher."
Ais exhaled softly and offered Bell her gratitude.
Over the past three months, Bell—who had taken responsibility for training her—had indeed become her teacher.
Even though Bell himself never wanted to be a teacher, he couldn't deter Ais's stubborn insistence on calling him "Teacher," so he accepted it reluctantly.
Once someone that stubborn decided on something, it was nearly impossible to change their mind.
Besides, Bell had his own training to focus on. He didn't want to waste time arguing with Ais over something so pointless; accepting the title was far easier than being pestered endlessly.
And while Bell disliked the title, he had still carried out all the responsibilities of a teacher. Especially when it came to structuring Ais's training plan.
This battle against the dragonkin, for example—it had been arranged by Bell.
Seeing the state Ais was now in, Bell asked with genuine curiosity:
"No need to thank me. Compared to the last time you fought a dragonkin, how different did it feel?"
From the bitter struggle just now, Ais finally understood how difficult dragonkin truly were for an adventurer to kill.
"Without activating 'Avenger,' I was completely on the defensive," Ais said. Before this, she had never realized how hard it was to face Dragonkind and monsters without that skill.
"Last time, fighting the dragonkin felt easy... but this time, I practically lost an arm just to kill it. Teacher, have I become too dependent on the convenience that skill gives me?"
"Well, that's part of it."
Bell smiled, pleased that she could recognize the issue.
"The Falna System is a tool that helps adventurers grow. The power it gives you is still drawn from yourself. There's no need to be anxious—use it freely."
"This time, letting you fight without the bonuses and conveniences of your skill was to help you understand something: that skill is useless when it comes to your parents."
"They're not monsters. They're not Dragonkind. If you want to face them, you can't rely on malice or hatred. To stand before them with your own strength, you'll need far more effort—not thoughts about skills."
This was preparation for the day Ais would confront her parents. Without understanding this now, she risked severely overestimating her abilities later.
This temporary sealing of Ais's "Avenger" was meant to show her one thing: even now, she was still a step behind a Level 6 dragonkin fighting at full power.
Ais drew in a deep breath and lowered her gaze to her right arm—restored, yet with the sleeve completely burned away. She had never imagined that sealing just a single skill would make the battle so overwhelmingly difficult.
"Just the difference of one skill…"
"Exactly. Just one skill."
The Falna System was practically a standardized system straight out of a game.
In a game, once the protagonist cleared a main quest, their stats would steadily increase with their level. But reality—mixed with the Falna's structure—was far more complicated. Sometimes the gap in strength was simply a matter of numbers: thirty percent. Twenty percent.
But those numbers represented three-tenths. One-fifth.
A mere one-fifth difference in personal capability could be the difference between heaven and earth.
And on top of that, the Falna System wasn't good at accounting for hidden cards. To Bell, the Magic born from Falna was too rigid, too fixed. That rigidity alone made it fundamentally incomparable to a Spirit.
And that was exactly where the gap between Ais and Aria lay.
Aria was a true Spirit—her combat ability had been determined since the moment she was created, then refined through what she had learned and experienced.
Ais, however, had grown entirely through power accumulated by the Falna System.
The difference between someone who didn't rely on Falna to grow and someone who did was painfully obvious.
"By removing part of my Skills, you made me see the gap in my own strength… and what I'll face once I no longer have the 'Falna System' to rely on."
"But, Teacher, is this really necessary…?"
Ais genuinely couldn't understand why he did this.
"You idiot. If you want to grow faster, you need to face strong enemies far more often. 'Revenge Princess' gives you an absolute advantage against monsters and Dragonkind. How are you supposed to improve quickly if you fight them while relying on that skill?"
Bell had come to understand the Falna System well enough that he knew how to "trick" it during training, increasing the Excelia gained.
"When an adventurer fights monsters of equal strength, the Excelia they earn is extremely low. That's because the Falna System pushes adventurers to challenge stronger monsters in order to grow quickly."
"But if your own strength isn't up to par, and you don't have the right Skills, then challenging higher-level monsters is basically suicide. So high-level adventurers who want Excelia are forced to fight even stronger enemies. That turns into a perfect deadlock."
"In that situation, how do you gain Excelia and raise your strength to match monsters of your level?"
Bell gave Ais a look, prompting her to answer.
"…Self-sealing?"
"Correct."