@icam98 - The only thing that felt extraneous to me was that 'moon over ruined castle' bit, which seemed more like an effort to keep the MC in frame than relevant buildup. The manga is doing a pretty good job of tracking the story given how event and character dense this portion of the story is, but my understanding there is also that I KNOW what they're building up to. I know why these players need to be introduced and positioned for a major event. For someone just reading this I could see it feeling like the story has run off on a tangent, but I think the manga will be better for it in the long run.
Still, people grinding their teeth of the pacing in this arc are going to pop their dentures during the Apple arc.
Still, people grinding their teeth of the pacing in this arc are going to pop their dentures during the Apple arc.