Studying with Helen increases it by 1 second up to three times.
As for combat, skills matter more than levels. You only get xp for monsters up to two levels below yours. Fire ground, mana shield and summons are all great against rats.
Thanks. I got combat figured out now, I think.
I tried the memory game like 20 more times and had no chance. I'm giving up on that. It's undoable. The 3 second boost doesn't really help when you'd need like 30 seconds more.
I got the Neko overtimer but cant figure out how to use it. Same as the Hentai magazine which also doesn't do anything.