This game does require semi-active play to progress in a timely manner. For folks who want to speed up the game, here's what I did:
In the beginning, go into the training ground map and kill as many dummies as possible until dying, then spend the manastones on the passive skills or base damage. Eventually, deathrunning the training grounds just becomes clearing the training grounds, and then progressing to the Village Scout map where the elder provides continuous healing. From there, run the Training Grounds until almost dead, then return to the Village Scout to heal until it and the following map can be cleared.
Once Towns are unlocked, turn in gear to increase stats. The shops can provide equipment with HP, MP, Attack, Defense, Magic Attack, Speed, Crit, and Crit Damage. Clearing the Village Scout rewards gold, so use that to buy gear which is then turned it in for the stats of your choosing. Eventually, there are enemies who can drop gear with Magic Defense and HP Regeneration. At that point, it's just a waiting game: farm loot, turn in, repeat.