The Author's POV

"Pheeew..."

Sighing in relief, I exited the section B compound.

Donna's request definitely caught me off-guard. I had come there expecting myself to just hand in the exchange form and leave, but it seemed like Donna had other plans for me.

I was so caught off-guard that I didn't have enough time to properly weigh the benefits and the costs of the deal.

*Sigh*

Just remembering what had happened moments before made me sigh. However, thinking more about the deal that I had made with Donna, my mood brightened a little bit.

All in all, the reason I accepted was because at that time, the deal seemed to work in my favor.

...and now that I had more time to think, I couldn't agree more.

After all, Donna was going to be personally coaching me for a while.

Yeah, we would also have coaches training us for the tournament, but they weren't going to train us based on skills, but rather train us for specific games. It just wasn't the same.

...and although Donna didn't practice a sword's art, that didn't matter.

Her mastery over mana and psyon control was on a league of her own.

Sword arts didn't only focus on swords. No. Psyon control was one of the most important factors when practicing any type of art.

Let's take the Keiki style for example. In order for my sword movement to reach such unparalleled speeds, I had to coat my sword with wind psyons.

If I had better psyon control, I would estimate that reaching the Greater realm of master wouldn't take long.

Moreover, because of the fact that we were training mana control, I didn't have to reveal the sword art I was practicing...and it would benefit all of my martial manuals since better psyon control would improve not only the Keiki style but my other arts too.

...taking this factor into consideration, refusing would've been stupid. The deal was just too good to refuse.

Plus, there was another reason as to why I didn't refuse her. Why would I want to antagonize a ranked hero just for a measly tournament? Wasn't worth it.

After all, she only asked for me to pass the tryout, she never said that I had to be a key player. If I managed to become a bench player, I would pretty much get all the benefits with barely any effort.

There was no point in refusing if it'd end up with me having a bad relationship with her, as, after all, she could help me in the future if needs be.

I needed to build connections for the future. If I wanted to make it till the end of the novel, I couldn't just leave bad impressions everywhere I went because of my mindset. I needed to think long-term.

I needed to take a loss...well

that, smiling to myself, I couldn't help but realize how favorable the situation was for

took

never really needed to be a key player. All that was required

help but

I've won the war...well,

was time for me

late, and I

recalling something, I

time I tackled my biggest

...

enveloped the sky. The sound of falling debris could be heard everywhere as torn buildings and

signs of skirmishes appeared everywhere as craters and gashes appeared on the empty streets of

"Khhhh..."

beauty got to her feet. Her skin was white as jade, and her long black hair gently fell to the side of her face. She looked

black horns on the top of her

was now tattered, and the outlines of her

expressionlessly in the center of the wreckage and surveyed the surrounding destruction, as well as the massive crater around

made one unable

a few months prior,

one that was responsible for

in no way was her tribe able

she realized

to somehow glimpse at the scenes before his death...and from what she saw, the real killer wasn't Amanda...no. It was

had no idea who was responsible...and in the midst of her looking for

arduous fight, she

the Matriarch found

that coated the back of her

have you got

"Angeli-khhh"

-Vuam!

the ground tried to speak up, however, as soon as the first words came out from his mouth, an overbearing pressure enveloped

the last remaining strength she had, the

your respect for me has fallen so low that you no longer refer to me by my

Matriarch's full name was was

charm tribe, a subsidiary of the

her clan. Being referred by her name meant one thing...the demon no longer

wind of my injury you tried