Elfland is the first major grind spot in the game. I recommend buying a few tents to save outside of the Marsh Cave - they let you save on the field. You mana left in battle is one of those compromises I had to work with, but you should be able to see how much is left on the main menu outside of battle.
And I'm glad you're liking the "hand-holder" feature. It should work fine through the whole game, but it's not completely tested. After the first elemental boss, the game becomes quite "open-world," so I made some adjustments to allow you to pick which way you want to go. Let me know if it breaks - I can take a look. :)