Ronan paid no attention to what the Marines were doing. Right now, he was in the cabin, staring at the panel in his mind. Completing this quest had brought him quite a harvest.
Holder: Ronan
Quest Points: 570
Special Skill: Lucky Roulette (1,000 points per spin), remaining free spin: 1
Abilities: Armament Haki (Not Initiated, 100 points to upgrade to Initiated), Physical Arts (Proficient, 700 points to upgrade to Mastery)
Looking at the numbers on the panel, Ronan did some quick math.
Upgrading Physical Arts to Mastery would cost 700 points.
Taking Armament Haki from Not Initiated to Proficient would cost a total of 100 (Initiated) plus 400 (Proficient), so 500 points.
He currently had 570 points.
He hesitated almost not at all. With only 570 points, he didn't have many options anyway. He immediately focused his consciousness on the Armament Haki option.
In this world, Armament Haki was extremely important. In Ronan's view, in the New World, basically every strong fighter knew how to use it.
"Consume 100 Quest Points to upgrade Armament Haki to Initiated!"
A faint yet distinct heat flow instantly surged through his entire body. He felt like he'd gained a preliminary sense of some hidden power deep within himself.
"Continue: consume 400 Quest Points to upgrade Armament Haki to Proficient!"
This time, the sensation was much stronger. He subconsciously raised his right hand and focused his will. His right palm and forearm were swiftly covered in a metallic jet-black sheen, radiating a sense of indestructible hardness.
"So this is Armament Haki… at Proficient level." Ronan clenched his Haki-coated hand, feeling that power. He couldn't help but think that the 500 points he'd spent were worth every bit. With only 70 Quest Points left, there was no way to make any meaningful upgrades, so his gaze shifted to that thing he both loved and hated: the [Lucky Roulette].
The roulette sat motionless on the panel, unchanged. Ronan couldn't help thinking back to his first two spins: one had landed on nothing, and the other had given him a pile of foreign-world gold coins that were utterly useless for sailing in this world, all at the cost of a full two thousand Quest Points. Those Quest Points had taken him ages to scrape together, and he'd basically gotten nothing.
"Degenerate gamblers die miserable deaths," Ronan reminded himself, firm in his resolve. He would never again waste Quest Points on spinning that wheel. He'd already given up having any expectations for it.
"Whatever, it's not doing any good just sitting there. Might as well spin it." With a mindset closer to "taking out the trash" than gambling, Ronan chose to spin the Lucky Roulette.
The wheel began to turn, spinning at a very high speed. Ronan couldn't clearly make out the various items flashing across its face, but he didn't care. With his luck, it was bound to be garbage again. He was already half-distracted, starting to think about his concrete plan of action after they reached the Sabaody Archipelago.
However, at that moment, the wheel gradually slowed and came to a stop!
The panel immediately changed, bursting into dazzling light. Ronan was hit with a familiar feeling, as if he'd gone back to that moment years ago when Beth and the others had first appeared.
"This is…?!" Ronan froze. "No way."
He refused to believe his own luck.
Right in front of him, a female silhouette began to take shape from pure light, slowly condensing, until it finally solidified completely.
At the same time, lines of text appeared on the panel:
Lucky Roulette spin successful!
Reward obtained: Teresa
Note: The Organization's strongest warrior in history, known as the greatest No.1 of all time—Smiling Teresa.
Ronan stared dumbly at the glowing text, his mind almost completely blank.
Te… Teresa?!
Ronan remembered very clearly: in the claymore world, whenever Teresa faced any opponent, she almost never released more than 10% of her Yoki, and that was still enough to wipe them all out. You could say every other greatsword warrior carried the risk of Awakening, but Teresa was basically the one person who never would.
"Did my luck… finally turn around?!" Ronan thought to himself.
Could those two previous duds really have just been the build-up for this one explosive payoff?!
Teresa wore a silver light armor and white battle skirt similar to other greatsword warriors, forming a sharp contrast with Beth and Alicia's black light armor. On her back, she carried a greatsword nearly as tall as she was.
Looking at Teresa, Ronan still found it hard to believe, but at the same time he was overjoyed.
"I… should definitely be dead." Teresa examined her own hands, her expression very calm. She clearly remembered that in the town of Staff, in order to protect Clare, she had been ambushed by Priscilla and beheaded… That icy chill of death and the fading of her consciousness had not been an illusion.
"Resurrected, then?" Teresa immediately seized on the key point.
She raised her head and looked toward the only other person in the cabin—Ronan.
The instant their eyes met, Teresa felt a connection well up from the depths of her soul. She instantly understood that her "resurrection" was the work of the boy in front of her.
"Was it you… who brought me back?" Teresa looked at Ronan and asked with a smile.
Ronan snapped out of his shock and, forcing down his excitement, said, "You could put it that way. Welcome to a new world, Teresa-san. I'm Ronan."
Teresa wasn't surprised that he knew her name. After all, she was clearly here because of him. What piqued her curiosity was the "new world" Ronan mentioned.
"A new world…" Teresa repeated softly, then turned to look out the cabin window at the vast sea beyond. "It really doesn't seem like that demon-infested continent anymore." There was a subtle emotion in her voice.
Right then, the cabin door was suddenly flung open!
Beth and Alicia rushed in. Just moments earlier, they had both sensed a strange aura appear out of nowhere inside Ronan's cabin.
"Ronan-sama!" Beth's voice held a trace of anxiety. Alicia immediately stepped in front of Ronan, shielding him, her eyes locked on Teresa standing in the room.
But when they finally got a clear look at Teresa's face, both of them froze in place.
"Y-You're Teresa-senpai?!" Beth's voice trembled, her silver eyes wide. Since coming to this world, Beth and Alicia had never encountered anything that truly shocked them.
And now, they were looking at a living legend. The peak all greatsword warriors looked up to, the one they were constantly compared to—yet could never surpass—even after becoming No.1 and No.2.
Teresa… The long-fallen "Smiling Teresa"… was standing here alive?
Teresa studied the two golden-haired girls who had burst in. Seeing the greatswords on their backs and the familiar style of their armor, she understood immediately. She smiled slightly. "So I'm not the only stranger in this place. Hello, warriors from the same homeland."
Beth and Alicia were visibly tense. Teresa noticed their stiffness and teased gently, "Relax a little, girls. I don't know the details, but for now, it looks like we're on the same side."
As she spoke, her gaze shifted toward Ronan.
Ronan also stepped in to explain, "Beth, Alicia, it's fine. Teresa-san is just like you—she's a companion I summoned from your timeline."
(End of Chapter)
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