Chương 102: Machi's Bottleneck

"Yeah. Long time no see, Aren." Machi looked at Aren's smile, and a faint warmth appeared in her eyes.

"Me too. Me too, Big Sis Machi." Neon poked out from beside Aren and spoke timidly. Aren had already explained that Machi was simply wary of strangers, but Neon's courage still shrank in front of that cool, distant presence. The moment Machi saw Neon, the softness in her eyes disappeared. It was not jealousy. Not anymore. When Neon had first appeared at Aren's side, Machi had felt a brief flicker of that emotion. Once she calmed down, it faded. Now she simply disliked children.

Children were weak, noisy, and troublesome. To someone born in Meteor City, Machi had little patience for things that could not protect themselves. Still, Neon's careful, anxious look made Machi give a reluctant sound.

"Oh." Uvogin gave a dry laugh and quickly changed the subject.

"Anyway, let's go in."

"Come in." Machi stepped back and gave them room. Aren rubbed Neon's head in comfort, then brought her inside. According to Uvogin, Machi had not left her room for many days. Food and supplies were delivered by Heavens Arena staff, and trash was left outside for cleaning staff to collect. Even so, the room was not messy. Like the first day Aren had met her in this world, Machi had arranged everything with neat, almost instinctive order.

"So, Aren, why did you suddenly come to Heavens Arena? Weren't you training recently?" After closing the door, Machi leaned against it and asked curiously. Aren's sudden visit had surprised her, but confusion remained. The last time they spoke by phone, he had said he had found a teacher and was systematically studying Nen.

"My special training is finished. I came here partly because we haven't seen each other in a long time, so I wanted to check on you."

"And second, Uvogin said no one has been willing to fight him lately, so I came to be his opponent." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. After hearing that, Machi pressed her lips together and glanced at Uvogin's face, which had swollen badly. She wanted to laugh, but held it back. Then she looked at Uvogin with a hint of amusement.

"So this is how you helped him?" Aren spread his hands.

"Don't blame me. He was just too weak. I didn't even use my ability, and he still ended up like that."

"You just said I grew fast. The moment Machi shows up, I'm weak again..." Uvogin muttered in irritation from the side. When Aren looked toward him, his voice immediately lowered. He had been beaten badly, and compared with Aren, he truly was weak. Uvogin was not the kind of person who refused to admit a loss, except perhaps when facing Nobunaga. Aren turned his attention back to Machi.

"Besides, it looks like you ran into some trouble too." Machi fell silent under his concerned gaze. Aren had heard about her training from her phone calls, but after asking Uvogin for details, he learned that Machi had not left her room for many days. Before, even when she trained seriously, she still came out now and then for air. This time was different. She had clearly hit a bottleneck. After a long silence, Machi lowered her head slightly. Her voice carried a faint, unwilling edge.

"I feel too weak."

"After Uvogin came to Heavens Arena, his body and aura both grew a lot stronger. But I... after I reached the two-hundredth floor, I felt like I had already hit my limit. Compared with when we separated, I haven't improved much." Machi had said she came to Heavens Arena to earn money. But if money were her only purpose, she would have stopped after reaching the two-hundredth floor, left, and started again from the first floor. She did not. She stayed on the two-hundredth floor and continued fighting.

That meant her real goal was never just money. She wanted to earn, but she also wanted to become stronger. Especially after seeing Aren grow stronger and stronger, that desire became sharper. For someone born in Meteor City, the weak had no right to stand beside the strong. And because she came from Meteor City, she believed becoming stronger was her own responsibility. No one would teach you. If you could not keep up, you would be left behind. That was the law of Meteor City. Survival of the fittest.

Because of that, Machi had never once asked Aren for help, even though she knew he would help if she opened her mouth. The rest of the Troupe thought the same way. They knew Aren had found a teacher and was learning Nen properly, but no one asked him to teach them. Even when Uvogin had asked about Aren's object creation, it had only been curiosity, not a request. Later, when Aren opened their aura nodes, he had offered first. They had never demanded it. Meteor City's creed did not mean refusing help.

It meant not asking to take what someone else had not offered. If Aren taught them, they would accept and remember the debt. Teaching was kindness. Not teaching was his right. Even among teammates, that was still true. From that angle, the people of the Troupe were far more principled than many outsiders. Aren finally understood. He could not judge people from Meteor City with the ordinary mindset of his previous life. From that old perspective, Machi's choice seemed foolish.

She had a strong person right in front of her and refused to ask for help, shutting herself in her room to fumble alone instead. But this was Meteor City's pride.

"We reject no one, so take nothing from us." Aren understood that motto more clearly now. He walked to Machi and gently pulled her into his arms. Beside her ear, he said softly, "Machi, I know why you didn't tell me. But now that I know, you can't refuse what I do for you either. After all, we reject no one, right?" Uvogin was usually slow, but at critical moments he sometimes gained sudden clarity. This was one of those moments.

Sensing the change in the room's atmosphere, he decisively grabbed Neon and headed outside. Neon looked reluctantly at Aren and Machi, but still followed Uvogin obediently. Growing up in a mafia family had made her more mature than ordinary children. Long ago, she had sensed that her master and Big Sis Machi shared a special relationship. She looked down at her small body and thought with resentment,'I want to hug Master like that too. When am I going to be bigger?'

At that moment, Neon's small heart grew a little more impatient.