It was always a medium pace split between action and character development, It was just easier to ignore when we were getting spoiled with multiple chapters a week.
This arc hasn't been too bad for me. They've revisited some of the early story and are overlapping it with recent events. Depending who survives besides the MC at the end of this. The tournament should be more interesting. Plus I'm really hoping all hell breaks loose when the aunt and her two shitty sons run into the other group.