Chapter 49: I Have a Special Move

"This is normal. After all, Nightmare's threat does not lie in combat..." 

I quickly explained. She had never gone out into the outside world, let alone seen ordinary monsters, so it was not too strange for her to think this way.

"Anyway, I've passed the message on to you. Now that Lady Elara has agreed to lift the 'sleep ban', feel free to sleep later if you want. You don't need to gather together every day to play that, what was it called again?"

"Poker!" 

Cyra quickly reminded her.

"Right, right! Poker." 

Norma smiled rarely and couldn't help reminding Cyra as she left:

"That poker game you invented is quite interesting. I underestimated it. Remember to make me a deck tomorrow too. I'll help you get the materials."

"No problem! I've invented many other ways to play too! I'll show you when we have time!"

Cyra shouted back without even turning her head.

"Wait a minute!"

Seeing that Norma was about to leave, Nicola suddenly thought of something and hurriedly chased after her...

"...You invented it?"

I looked at Cyra in disbelief. This shameless guy claimed the invention of poker so blatantly.

"It's a common trope for transmigrators, don't you know that?"

Cyra shook his head at me smugly.

"Anyway, I've got the patent for poker in this world now. None of you even think about stealing it from me!"

"Shameless b*stard!" 

I gritted my teeth. Why didn't I think of creating something unique to this world, like mahjong, chess or go...

"If the 'sleep ban' is lifted, will the fighting tournament continue?"

Nicola and Norma's conversation could be heard clearly from the hallway.

"Of course! Once it starts, it will usually continue..." Norma sounded a little surprised. "Don't tell me you signed up?"

"That's right! My match should be at noon tomorrow. Remember to come watch!"

As soon as Nicola finished speaking, she walked back into the room excitedly.

"You're participating in the martial arts tournament?"

Although I already knew about it, I still felt it was a bit of a stretch given her level.

"What? Do you think I can't do it?" Nicola asked back, slightly displeased.

"You've seen how powerful I am. Don't you remember when I saved you and killed that Level 6 vampire with one sword...?"

"But you can't use Condensation Sword in the tournament. And you've only been learning martial arts shortly, right?" 

I interrupted her self-praise and spoke objectively.

"Don't worry! I can win even without Condensation Sword. I know what I'm doing..." 

Nicola winked at us mysteriously. 

"I'm telling you, I have a new secret move! You'll see it if you come to watch my match tomorrow at noon!"

"I see. Hidden skills, how impressive! So you had an ace up your sleeve!" 

Cyra immediately let out an admiring voice and gave her a thumbs up.

"Silence is golden, action speaks louder than words! I admit I was wrong! Like Feliciana, I also thought you couldn't do it before."

"That's not right. How can a man say he can't do it!"

Nicola pointed at her and said. It seems the flattery hit the mark. The two, who were like brothers just now, high-fived each other and shouted in unison:

"Super manly! If you can't do it, make it work! Woo hoo!"

"..."

I covered my face, really unable to watch their silliness...

Shouldn't you check your gender first?

"Oh, that's right..." 

Nicola suddenly turned to ask me curiously:

"Feliciana, why don't you want to participate in the magic competition?"

"Huh? How do you know about that?"

I was a little nervous that she brought this up unexpectedly.

"You should know my level. How could I be a match for those ten-winged angels..."

"But Aetina told me she thinks highly of your magic talent. And it seems the magic competition at the tournament does not require sparring like the other events. So she hopes you'll participate too."

Nicola looked at me earnestly.

"I know about that!" 

Cyra immediately came over to explain when he heard her words:

"We met the teacher together at the Triumph Plaza before. She was queuing to register for you and kept persuading Feliciana to join the competition. But Feliciana insisted on not participating."

"Yes, I've heard about it already." 

Nicola nodded and explained:

"I was going to ask Aetina to queue for me, but later I felt it wasn't right to trouble her. So I went there myself. Unfortunately, you seemed to have just left when I arrived."

"I see! So you went to the Triumph Plaza too. We must have just missed each other!"

Cyra immediately realized why Nicola knew so clearly about this.

"So what do you mean? Are you trying to persuade me on Aetina's behalf?"

I felt a little annoyed inside. I didn't know why she and Aetina wanted me to compete in a match I had no chance of winning.

"No, you got it wrong! I don't mean that at all..."

Unexpectedly, Nicola shook her head, looking completely unrelated to it.

"I don't care whether you participate or not. I'm not that concerned about it. I just want to say, that although Aetina is a six-winged angel like us, her judgement shouldn't be wrong. Otherwise, Lady Elara wouldn't have let her be a teacher. So I think you should give it some thought and reflect on what everyone said to you before coming to Edenmere. Have you forgotten?"

"What did they say? And who is 'everyone'?" 

Cyra looked confused and eagerly asked.

"Go on, go play by yourself! This has nothing to do with you!"

Nicola pretended to be impatient and shooed him away.

"How unfair! You riddler! Do you think you can fool me so easily?"

Cyra was unhappy, feeling that she was made fun of. So the two, who were like brothers just now, started bickering again.

"..."

I looked at them silently, naturally knowing very well who she meant by 'everyone' and what they said. 

But even so, I still felt very conflicted inside. It seemed too hasty for me to compete with those masters now.

That night, although I had turned on the light element isolation device, I still couldn't sleep...

Funny enough, I had insomnia after coming to this world?

Lying in bed tossing and turning, I just couldn't fall asleep. The words Adrian said to me outside Val City in the Dark Continent kept ringing in my ears.

"Maybe I really should be more confident?" 

Looking up at the ceiling, I murmured to myself.

Having made up my mind, I got out of bed and turned off the light element isolation device.

"Aetina, I trust you and I trust myself!"

Looking at the gradually brightening scenery outside, I spread my wings and flew out the window...

The sky above Triumph Plaza was empty after the "sleep ban" was lifted. The fighting ring was nowhere to be seen, and there was no sign of any competition. Only a few angels gathered in the center of the square, where a table was set up with an eight-winged angel sitting on a chair.

"What's going on here? Where's the fighting tournament? Didn't you say it would continue as planned?"

I was dumbfounded. Just when I finally worked up the courage to participate, this was the scene.

Without rushing to land, I hovered above the table so I could hear the conversation between the angels below.

"I've said it many times already! The fighting tournament has changed location to the south of the city where light element levels are relatively high. Go compete there!"

The eight-winged angel sitting behind the table kept yawning and telling the angels in front of her. She looked very low in spirits.

"But the south of the city covers a large area. You haven't told us the exact address yet!" 

A six-winged angel complained unhappily.

"My match time is almost up!"

"Me too! It's almost my turn, but you're telling me to wander the skies slowly looking for it myself. I've flown all over the southern city but couldn't find any trace of it..."

Several other angels also started chirping in grievance. One eight-winged angel even knocked on the table quite rudely.

"Hey! Can you be more responsible? Is it the southern city? Isn't your job here to notify us, uninformed participants?"

"Alright, alright! It's in the forest clearing outside the southern city! Now go!"

The eight-winged angel sitting at the table was extremely annoyed. She finally revealed the answer and immediately laid down to sleep on the table.

"That's not the southern city at all! It's outside the southern city. Leaving out just one word makes a big difference!"

The angels were immediately outraged upon hearing this. But the other party seemed to be completely asleep now and couldn't hear them at all.

"Uh..."

For a moment, I didn't know what to say. I guess this could also be considered a spectacle. The decrease in light element levels caused the original social order to become chaotic. Even the angel staff were dozing off on the job. Fortunately, the impact was not too great, though it must still be giving Elara a headache.