I'm The Only One With Cancer-Chapter 176: Preparation for the Tournament

A few minutes later...

Plop—

Sera’s knees gave out as she involuntarily sat on the ground.

"Ha...."

Her deep breaths were more like her gasping desperately for more air.

"The hell..."

Cursing under her breath, she closed her eyes and tried to use all her remaining strength to recover.

"You did well."

A calm, feminine voice resounded in her ears, prompting her to open her eyes in the next moment.

"Master..."

Although Sera already realized her mistakes, expressing and admitting them was another matter altogether.

After all, being an introvert to everyone besides her family, dealing with relationships was really not her forte.

The only thing that helped her at this moment was the fact that, in her mind, this was still a game.

With a different face and persona, Sera was able to be someone else, like many others who like role-playing games.

Nevertheless, she still had some difficulty specifically expressing her feelings through emotions.

But before she could speak...

"You have exceeded my expectations...."

Helena’s voice sounded once again; this time, a hint of helplessness could be sensed within her tone.

Sera took a deep breath and spoke, "I apologize, Master. I shouldn’t have treated skills too lightly."

"That’s fine. I don’t really mind that, since it’s quite normal for people your age and considering that you’re an otherworlder..." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Helena sighed, "The fact that you realized the weight of skills in and of itself.... is something that I can’t be more grateful about."

She then observed her disciple from head to toe.

Aside from her white hair and golden eyes, Sera’s whole body had been modified by her.

Her face looked more mature, and she also made herself six feet tall.

Still, in Helena’s eyes, it felt as if she could see through her real appearance.

The still-exhausted Sera was able to recover a bit of her strength, making her breathing no longer as difficult as it was before.

The awkward silence permeated for a while before Sera raised her hand.

"Forget it, Master. I won’t force you to let me practice the heirloom skill of the Luna Familia—"

"No."

To Sera’s surprise, her master interrupted her before she could even finish speaking.

Shaking her head, Helena’s tone was firm, "A bet’s a bet. Through your own strength, you were able to win. And so, as your master, it is only right for me to keep my word."

"Really!?" Sera was filled with excitement.

Seeing her excited disciple, Helena could not help but facepalm as she muttered under her breath, "What have I gotten myself into...?"

"Hehe~."

Sera clung to her master’s arm as she giggled cutely, clearly unbefitting of her current build.

Nevertheless, Helena did not push her away, as if this was something she had already gotten used to.

"You’re the best, Master!"

"Right..."

Helena felt a headache coming her way as she remembered something, "We’ll reveal the fact that you can practice the Moon Shield Art at the Rising Dragon Tournament, but I’ll need to add a condition."

"What is it, Master?" Sera tilted her head curiously.

"It’s the fact that I will only let you reveal it at the semi-final round of the tournament. If you get eliminated in the earlier rounds, then don’t even think about using it!"

"Understood, Master~."

"Anyways, be prepared. The Rising Dragon Tournament will be held in half a month’s time. Do everything you can to level up, I’ll need to prepare some things first..."

Helena spoke as she got ready to leave before she remembered something, "Oh, and by the way, avoid using the Moon Shield Art since I won’t be here to scout the area for you, okay? It will be dangerous if someone were to discover it before the tournament."

"Noted, Master. Rest assured, I’ll be fighting with the Sun Sword Art for now, since my shield was broken anyway..." Sera replied with a lively smile.

"Very good..."

Helena nodded in satisfaction before she agilely jumped back on top of the tree branch, "I’ll see you later."

Seeing her master’s figure bouncing between trees, Sera could not help but feel blazing determination in her heart.

’The Rising Dragon Tournament will be held in two weeks. Before then, I’ll need to level up as much as I can.’

Sera’s eyes flashed with pity as she muttered, "Though it’s a pity since I can’t choose a class, and if I ever reach third place and above, the race change modification will reset my levels..."

This was something that Helena had mentioned to her before.

The reason why she could not choose a class despite being well past level 10 was due to the fact that she wanted to accumulate more achievements, and also because if her levels reset due to race modification, her class would not change, resulting in a missed opportunity of having a greater class.

"There’s also the thing that if I modified my race, then the stat points I’ll gain every level up will be higher, so resetting my level isn’t really a bad thing..."

Sera weighed the pros and cons in her mind and found that the top place in the Rising Dragon Tournament was indeed worth striving for.

"Ahhh..."

She let out a sound as she stood up and stretched, "I’ll need to get to work~."

After a few moments of stretching, Sera picked up the sword on the ground and brandished it smoothly.

"Alright, let’s do this!"

As she shouted, her figure soon disappeared as she dashed quickly to find some monsters to hunt.

***

"Hey! Get over here!"

"Chase them! Chase down those thieves!"

"How dare you steal Lord Kehsak’s belongings!?"

...

Bulky beastfolk and humans angrily shouted as they pointed towards two figures.

Even though they were covered with cloaks, their features could still be somewhat identified through the soft illumination of the moonlight.

One of the figures had short, white hair that was mostly covered by the hood of the cloak.

His golden eyes gleamed brightly as he led the way, turning through various alleyways and routes that only someone who grew up in this place should have been familiar with

Half a meter behind him was another cloaked figure.

Strands of her black hair peeked through the cloak’s hood as her ruby-red eyes gleamed with a venomous nature.

Underneath her cloak, a black combat suit that clung tightly to her body could be vaguely seen.

The two figures moved in synchrony, as if they could perfectly read each other’s thoughts and intentions.

Even though the speed of their escape was not really that outstanding, the way they used the surrounding environment to their advantage made their pursuers frustrated.

The chase lasted for more than ten minutes before the two figures were able to successfully escape.

...

"Haaa... It’s been quite a while since I felt this kind of thrill. Playing this game has been the most fun I’ve had since the war!"

A feminine voice with a strange allure sounded in a discreet corner of an alleyway filled with garbage.

The figure who spoke took off their hood, along with their half-face cloth mask, revealing their charming face along with their identity.

It was none other than Rina as her Thorned Rose character in the Free World.

"Indeed, it’s nice to feel this kind of thrill again."

The other figure replied as they took off their hood and mask as well.

Looking at his wife with a loving gaze, Ren, also known as player Clairvoyance, let out a sigh.

Rina looked at him, amused by his words, and smiled, "What would Margareth and the others think if they found out that their prim and proper commander has this kind of side to him?"

"Haha, the same goes for you," Ren replied with a smile as well.

"Eh, I don’t really care what they think of me, though."

"You sure about that? What about our children, hm?"

"You meanie~."

If one did not know any better, they would have thought that the two were merely teenagers going on a date.

Of course, that would only be the case if their current location and the earlier events were ignored.

After a few more minutes of flirting, Ren seemed to have remembered something as he took something out of the satchel that had been hidden behind his cloak.

"Hmm, I wonder what this thing really is..."

It was none other than a worn-out, thick leather book.

Rina also looked at it with a curious light in her eyes, "It has something like a talisman sealing it like the cursed forbidden books in stories, don’t you think so?"

"Mhm, I agree." Ren whispered in reply as the two of them examined the book they had stolen from ’Lord Keshak’.

The book looked like any other old book, aside from the fact that there was a long rectangular piece of paper that constricted it like a snake.

The paper was filled with stains and looked as if it were about to be torn at the slightest touch, yet it still remained durable.

Furthermore, the glowing red runic symbols on the paper made the book look more ominous.