Not sure where people are getting the reading that the master is dying.
She just seems incredibly depressed. Likely if Tama had rejected her, then she would have had literally no other reason to keep living. She smokes for likely the same reason most people do, because its soothes her and it...
Dear god, folks the arc is fine, its at a moderate length, its exploring the characters and their backstories, its fine for a narrative to take its time and flesh out its characters, you can't get pay off without set up
If you are hate reading this, you have my permission to stop now and find...
So, for folks not aware, this is the same author of Buster Keel. Buster Keel, for all intents and purposes, was clearly, a Fairy Tail clone. But as time went on, it became steadily more its own thing. And more importantly, it had real, genuine heart to it.
I am genuinely feeling that here too...