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The one Ren challenged was a guy named Charles.

In the White Haven Clan, Charles’ reputation was high, especially for someone so young. His reputation rivaled that of Gregory, the last of the five prodigies.

Charles and Gregory are considered rivals to the successor position. Both of them were incredibly talented, and each had their own followers and supporters within the clan.

The reason why the White Haven Clan heavily invested in these two was because they were carriers of rare martial physiques.

"This young man should be Charles, right? The one with the Lesser White Tiger physique?" Mikel inquired, his voice reaching the elders of the White Haven Clan.

"That’s right!" One of the elders responded, his voice filled with a sudden injection of confidence out of nowhere.

Mikel nodded and wasn’t surprised. He felt the young man’s presence in his office and had his own suspicions, which turned out to be right.

The White Tiger Martial Physique is an innate martial physique. It awakens during the initiation ceremony, accompanied by the manifestation of a huge white tiger behind the possessor.

In truth, the White Tiger Martial Physique could be considered a Divine Grade Martial Physique. At least, that’s how it initially manifested according to the history of human martial arts.

It’s one of the four Divine Beast Martial Physiques: White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Azure Dragon. Each had its own legends and myths, but if all four worked together, they could explode with even more strength and power than normal.

Alas, as time went on, the bloodlines were diluted even with many attempts to prevent it from happening.

The one that Charles awakened was the ’Lesser’ version, meaning that it had the faintest bloodline density, which is the result of the dilution that inevitably happened over time.

Fortunately, there was a way to increase the volume of this bloodline. The higher the bloodline’s volume and purity, the better. There’s even hope of restoring it to its former glory.

Alas, those methods were a secret. Or at least, largely unheard of in the current era. And even if it were available, it shouldn’t be too easy.

Ren had no idea about this.

He stared at Charles as he confidently rose to the stage. He too had the same attire and weapon choice as the rest of his fellow clan disciples.

"Ready? Fight!"

Charles surprised Ren by not charging first. Instead, attacking first, he opted to start his chakra flow first.

Just like Ren, Charles had been observing the fight. And thanks to the ones that came up before him, Charles realized that Ren wasn’t one to initiate the confrontation.

In the past matches, Ren just stood still and waited for the other party to attack first. And so, Charles made a bet.

He bet that Ren wouldn’t attack unless Charles made the first move.

And he won that bet.

Ren stood still, allowing Charles to start generating his chakra and optimizing its flow within him. He didn’t stop him; he just stood still, eyes still dismissive but straight at his foe.

As Charles continued, his chakra flow began speeding up. It was made even more obvious when a thin layer of it began manifesting out of his skin.

Charles was at the mid-Muscle Forging stage, a minor realm higher than Ren himself and his previous enemies.

However, that’s not what made Ren interested...

’Light and metal? This early? The White Haven Art shouldn’t be the source of this.’

’Is it innate or...’

’Ah! Must be a martial physique, then.’

Ren’s suspicions were confirmed when all of a sudden, Charles went into a stance, concluding his initial generation of chakra. The moment he went into a stance, a faint tiger roar echoed out of him, which made Ren’s eyebrow rise.

’Oh, I see. It’s the Lesser White Tiger Martial Physique. No wonder.’

Ren recognized it immediately. It was exactly as he said. He didn’t think that he was wrong, because if this was the Greater White Tiger Martial Physique or anything higher than that, Charles wouldn’t be here.

He would’ve been taken as a disciple of some expert and would be trained heavily. There’s no way a small White Haven clan could keep him around. He was as much of a threat to them as he was a blessing.

But even though he recognized that Charles possessed a rare grade martial physique, he wasn’t scared or intimidated like his distant cousins were.

All the lesser White Tiger martial physique bestows to its possessor is an elemental blessing. A little increase to their affinities with the Light and Metal attributes. There’s not even a strength or raw power increase.

And at their current level, those blessings were useless. Especially to Charles, who can’t practice any martial art that could utilize those blessings just yet.

Furthermore, the White Haven Art doesn’t have a synergy with his martial physique, so it might as well not exist.

And that’s what made Charles a bit puzzled.

He saw the recognition in Ren’s eyes. He knew that the other party realized that he possessed a rare-grade martial physique.

Yet, instead of showing signs of seriousness, solemnness, or panic. Ren showed none. He recognized it but didn’t acknowledge it. He didn’t even give it any of the respect Charles usually sees other people do.

And that’s strange to him, because he hadn’t experienced this before.

Alas, this isn’t the time for that.

Now that his chakra flow was warm and engaged, Charles no longer had an excuse; he couldn’t stand still and wait for Ren to take the initiative since he knew the other party wouldn’t.

So, he charged out, his chakra wrapping his long staff, increasing its momentum. His charge was accompanied by a loud tiger’s growl as it made him look like he was pouncing on his prey.

’Yeah, that’s all there is to it, really,’ Ren mused to himself as he evaded Charles’ initial swing by merely tilting his head back slightly.

Of course, Charles wasn’t one to let up after that. His chakra flowed smoothly, and he had an abundance of it.

As a mid-muscle-forging-stage practitioner, he doesn’t believe that Ren could possibly produce more chakra than him, even more so considering that Ren hasn’t done a lot of movement.

This is why Charles was confident. He had every reason to be. He’s got a rare martial physique; he’s a minor stage stronger than his opponent, and his opponent stupidly allowed him to generate chakra without interrupting him. He’s also experienced enough fights to know that he’s not a noob in terms of fighting, so he never really thought that he was going to lose.

He’s got this many advantages stacked; there’s no way he’d lose.

Alas...Ren showed off his clear and sharply accurate grasp of spacing.

He invaded Charles’s personal space, forcing him to adjust his grip on the staff if he intended to continue using it.

The moment Charles adjusted, he already fell into Ren’s trap. Because of his next swing miss due to this minor adjustment. Ren stepped back just enough for that attack to miss, which forced Charles to adjust his grip again, yet again falling for the same trick.

When Ren saw that, he stepped closer in quick succession, practically staring at Charles face to face, which surprised the poor bloke. It made him retreat before swinging wildly.

His long staff was still covered by a thin layer of white chakra, evidence that he’s using the White Haven Art, which has a serious drain on his production.

Ren didn’t even dignify those attacks with dodging. He just stood still, and the attacks missed on their own.

It didn’t matter how much the air whistled with Charles’s swing; it also didn’t matter if his attacks were accompanied by a loud tiger’s roar. None of that made a difference.

Ren repeated this again and again, and poor Charles fell for it every single time.

In the end, Charles discovered, much to his surprise, that he was dry on chakra.

He was panting, his vision was spinning, and his grip on his weapon was shaky and uncertain. He had been bamboozled again and again.

Meanwhile, standing before him, Ren looked as fresh as a daisy.

Sure, he didn’t glow with chakra like Charles did, but it’s clear that he hadn’t exerted himself at all, certainly not like Charles had.

Charles clenched his jaws. Only now did he realize it.

Just like the three ahead of him, he had been played like a fool. Much to his shame, he fell for Ren’s tricks again and again. He bit all the bait he threw out without even realizing it.

How utterly shameful!

But he’s gone too far to back down now. He can’t retreat or admit the defeat. The glares of his elders were trying to punch holes at the back of his head. They won’t let him even if he wanted to.

Alas, he got momentarily distracted.

Ren got up close and personal, and just like what he did to the rest, Charles got punched in the stomach and lost all ability to resist after that.