It's unfortunate how poor parenting and bad peers in the most formative years of a child's life can really screw their whole mentality for life or at the very least a long time.
Luckily, she was able to make the right friends in the end. Sometimes, you need to make bad decisions so you know what...
I'm glad to see a series where the MC is constantly losing in order to grow stronger. His strength isn't from his ability to learn any skill at a fast rate, its from learning from his failures and improving on his approach whenever possible.
He literally would be "useless" without the guidance...
Even though I know none of the masters will "win", because that's not how this type of manga typically operates, im honestly rooting for Lyudmila the most. She's arguably the tamest of them all even if she's still her own brand of crazy/possessive
Honestly, even though a lot has happened in the last few chapters, the pacing feels superb and I'm extremely invested in Cross' story, he genuinely feels powerful and yet he has and knows his limits.
He can take on stronger opponents with strategy but he knows that he can't be getting complacent...