In the following days, the frequency of her leaving the alchemy lab was almost negligible, and she was so careless about personal hygiene that she appeared quite unkempt. This didn't sit well with the servants, Lady Windsor, Avril, or Annie.

Of course, Norton was different. At the welcoming dinner for Avril, when he heard about another girl from the Nirakoci family who had arrived with Avril, he was curious about why he hadn't seen her. He then observed his mother, Lady Windsor, expressing displeasure as she explained that the girl was still in the underground alchemy lab and had not come up despite being called twice.

Admittedly, this was quite a rude behavior, which explained Lady Windsor's annoyance. Norton found it curious. Was the girl genuinely ignorant of social norms, or did she simply regard her experiments and magic as more important than social interactions? Either way, she piqued Norton's interest.

So, after dinner and spending some time listening to Avril's violin and harp performances in her room, Norton didn't return to his room to sleep but headed to the underground alchemy lab instead. If his assumptions were correct, the Nirakoci girl was likely still awake. True scientists—or rather, wizards—are known to become so engrossed in their experiments that they lose track of time.

And Norton was right. He did indeed find her in the underground alchemy lab.

She wore a slightly dirty black wizard's robe and a pointed black wizard's hat. Her silver-white hair was disheveled over her shoulders, and she wore heavy black-framed glasses.

At that moment, the girl was completely focused on a glass test tube being heated over an alcohol lamp. The blue solution inside was bubbling away, looking like it would soon boil.

"What an odd girl. But she has good skin and fine features. If she cleaned up a bit, she'd probably be quite pretty," Norton thought to himself as he approached her. Hearing Norton's footsteps, the girl abruptly raised her head, revealing rare golden eyes, which surprised Norton—she might have undergone some sort of physiological modification.

However, the girl seemed unconcerned about Norton's gaze. Instead, she raised a finger to her lips to signal for silence, asking him not to disturb her. She then returned to her work and shut the outside world out.

"This girl really is something..." Norton felt a bit defeated but continued to observe her experiment. After examining her materials, Norton deduced that she was attempting to charge a wand with spells, likely a lightning ball and an acid ball. There were some fragments with fresh runes next to the wand, suggesting it was work she'd been busy with that afternoon.

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"Nicely done carving, and the runes are well engraved. No flaws... It's an Ouroboros structure. Quite rare," Norton commented, picking up the wand from the workbench to inspect it, offering a high evaluation.

The so-called Ouroboros structure involved carving the sequences of two spells on one wand, with the rune at the end of one spell connecting seamlessly to the beginning of another, forming a loop like two serpents biting each other's tails.

This allowed a wand to store two types of spells, effectively doubling its magic storage capacity. In battle, one could choose between the two stored spells for optimal tactical effect.

However, crafting such a wand required extensive knowledge of magical runes and high alchemical craftsmanship. Few wizards, even if knowledgeable about the process, could create one successfully. In the old world, this crafting method was nearly lost. Norton had only heard of it from Triss and had never seen one in person.

Upon hearing Norton quietly name the wand, the girl finally looked up at him, then snatched the wand back.

"I didn't expect you to know so much," she muttered, then paid him no further attention.

Norton shrugged, surmising that the girl was one of those who truly immersed themselves in magical research. He said nothing more, instead moving to a nearby materials shelf and drawing out a wand core made of mithril alloy. He casually picked up a diamond engraving knife from the workbench.

His fingers moved deftly, combining the natural wrist strength of a vampire with rigorous training and the sharpness of the engraving tool, allowing Norton to easily etch millet-sized runes into the mithril. In no time, he completed a wand using the Ouroboros technique, but instead of lightning and acid, he used fire and ice to demonstrate his independent mastery of the craft.

"Eh?!"

The girl glanced at the wand in Norton's hand out of the corner of her eye and was unable to look away—her hand twitched, then BOOM! The magical potion she was working on exploded, destroying half of the workbench.

Fortunately, vampire bodies are exceptionally resilient. Even someone like the girl from the Nirakoci family, who appeared frail, possessed physical strength comparable to a human champion fighter. Norton's well-conditioned and trained body was even more robust. Thus, the blast only singed their skin without causing significant harm.

There was, however, a minor problem. The acid solution the girl had been working with was splattered everywhere by the explosion, filling the lab with a pungent odor and causing the floor to hiss and bubble as it dissolved. If the situation was left unchecked, things could quickly worsen.

"Quick—we need to neutralize the acid!" Norton shouted, rushing to the shelf to grab a strong alkaline solution, using it with magical air manipulation to neutralize the acidic spill. The girl frowned but joined the effort to save the floor. After a while of hard work, they managed to resolve the crisis.

Exhausted, the two of them sat back-to-back on the pitted floor after the incident. Norton had initially expected her to be angry, to blame him for ruining her experiment, demanding compensation with lines like, "How will you make this up to me?!"