--

Ren won’t be staying at the Rosewater Inn through the whole week.

The inn wasn’t that far from the dungeon gates of Quaint City, which meant that Ren could commute back home, and it wouldn’t take him long either.

As for his schedule with the team, it’s mostly just getting used to each other’s presence for now. He’d be joining them soon in training to start building synergy, and depending on the results, Ren may or may not move forward with this party.

Derek’s a cool guy, he thinks. He’s a responsible one, and although he’s not yet used to his new role as the party leader, he’s trying his best, and that’s all that matters right now.

Besides, outside of his responsibilities, Derek was chill. He’s easy to talk to, which Ren greatly appreciated.

Jules, on the other hand, was a timid guy. He’s got trouble holding eye contact; Ren caught him avoiding his gaze on multiple occasions throughout the tour.

Sometimes, he would stare at Ren’s tats. Other times, it’s like he’s trying to see through Ren’s thoughts. He could feel his gaze trying to create a hole at the back of his skull, but when he turns around to stare at the guy, he flinches and avoids eye-contact as if he’s guilty.

Also, he is trying too hard to make his presence scarce. It’s like he’s trying to fold into himself. Which is pretty stupid since Jules was easily the biggest guy here.

Jules was taller than Derek and more muscular too. If this was an RPG, Jules was practically born for the ’Guardian’ role, and he kind of embodies it. Ren was convinced after he saw Jules choosing a sword and a shield as his weapon.

Alas, he’s a bit strange. He’s got some confidence issues from what Ren sensed so far. And Ren wasn’t really someone who would go out of his way to start a conversation with a stranger. He’s not that social, either.

He couldn’t say much about Kaycee since she left soon before he was able to inspect her closer. However, from what he can tell, Kaycee could serve as the party’s vice leader now that Derek moved up.

She seems reasonable, at least. She never stared as much at Ren’s tats as Jules did, and she carried herself with a measure of confidence that told him that she was used to it.

Other than this, Ren still had to observe more before he could say anything else.

And finally, there’s Jen...

She’s certainly energetic. But truth be told, Ren preferred dealing with her. At least she’s not scheming something behind his back and is very straightforward too. She doesn’t seem very smart, and she’s pretty reckless. But she’s predictable at least, and Ren had a way to deal with people like that.

Plus, her straightforwardness saves him the effort of starting a conversation, at least.

If not for her volatile temper and recklessness, there would’ve been a great chance that she would be the new leader instead of Derek. But as it stands, she wasn’t.

Ren also learned that Jen wasn’t the only one with a rare grade talent here. Derek had one too.

Derek’s martial physique is called the Shadow Lord martial physique, which taints his chakra with darkness and shadow attributes. It improves his understanding and practice speed of techniques of the darkness/shadow attribute by a lot.

Like Jen, Derek’s also a peak bone-forging stage, just a step away from the marrow-cleansing stage.

Now, Ren understood why Jen and Derek’s chakras had been tainted this early. As it turns out, it’s basically in their nature. Most likely, it already occurred during their initiation ceremony, and there weren’t really many options left for them, so they picked the best ones they could choose right now.

Ren also discovered that, apparently, the Green Tea Party of Q-City turns out to be one of the city’s top performers in terms of rookie parties.

Their record was Stage 15, which was further than Ren was expecting. They’re halfway through the beginner-level dungeons, which was incredible on its own.

If it weren’t for their recent loss, they would be further by now.

Right, that’s also another thing that Ren discovered from his little probes. Although he hadn’t got the name of the person yet, he now knew that the one who died turned out to be the team’s party leader.

He’s also the same person who formed the party in the first place, so that hurts more.

Now, Jen’s temper towards him started making sense to Ren. She’s trying to preserve the empty position, holding on to it since she’s not yet ready to move on.

He also learned that the man’s cause of death wasn’t because of a dungeon accident. It’s some sort of an illness, he assumed. Alas, they never revealed more than that.

Anyway, Ren was somewhat looking forward to this week.

Hopefully, this works. Because, honestly? Ren just had a feeling that it’d take even longer to find another team that will be willing to take him in.

**

"So? How are we going to do this?"

Ren asked this to the team once they were left by Justin to arrange a fight on their own.

It’s Ren’s official day 1 with the team. And to start building team synergy, Justin told them to spar with Ren included. Especially him, actually, since he’s the new guy here.

The spar would be three versus two. As for how they’d divide themselves, Justin left that up to them. He didn’t interfere. Instead, he just sat down on the bench on the viewing side and waited for them to begin.

"Let’s flip a coin," Derek suggested lightly. "Heads will be with other heads, same with tails. If it’s uneven, flip again."

"Cool," Ren shrugged; he really didn’t mind. And the others didn’t as well.

And so, they took out a coin and flipped it.

Ren’s landed on heads, and so has Derek’s. As for the other three, they’re all tails.

"Well, that’s it then. Let’s have a three-minute deliberation, and we’ll start the fight."

After he said that, Derek took out a stopwatch and timed it at three minutes. He then started it and took Ren so that they could start deliberating. The other three started talking to each other too.

"Okay, so...Kaycee’s an archer; Jules is melee with a sword and shield. Jen, well, you’ve fought her already, so there’s no need to talk about her too much."

"Kaycee’s got good aim. Don’t think that she’s got bad eyesight because she’s wearing glasses. In reality, her eyes are too sharp; that’s why she has them. The glasses tone the clarity of her sight because they make her too sensitive."

"Don’t aim for her glasses if you can. They’re expensive. Also, she won’t aim at your head, your heart, and your crotch in a spar. She will use rubber head arrows that will stick to you if you get hit. They can be painful, so just imagine them as real arrows instead."

"Jules is our frontliner. I know he seems timid for the most part, and he is. But he’s reliable in a fight. He’s from a clan that specializes in defensive techniques; he’s also built for it. Don’t be afraid of hitting him; he could take a beating. But don’t also underestimate him too much."

"Just because he’s timid and good at defensive techniques doesn’t mean that he’s harmless. He’s strong, and he can unleash a rather nasty swing if you give him a chance."

"As for me, I’m more like an opportunist, or an assassin, if you will."

"Just go ahead and do what you want. I’ll follow your rhythm and lead for now. I’ll try to help you out if you find yourself in a pickle."

"Cool. I’ll rely on you then."

It’s strange for Ren to rely on some stranger. He’s not yet comfortable exposing his back to another person, especially not somebody who just plainly admitted that they’re training to be an assassin.

But as it is, this is a team-building exercise—martial arts world version.

Here, fighting is the best way to bond and communicate with others. Spars are common. Bruises, cuts, and wounds are always to be expected.

Derek didn’t have much to say after that since there really isn’t much to say. He already said as much as he’s willing to reveal to a prospective new party member. Anything more and it’ll be too much.

Besides, Derek had seen Ren fight, albeit not seriously.

He’s pretty sure that Ren could handle himself. And if he couldn’t, then he’d try to help him out.

Winning isn’t the point here. It’s understanding. This exercise is to build team synergy. The idea is to see if Ren is willing and can fit into the rhythm of the team.

This was one of the biggest challenges of a party. They must move as a cohesive unit, especially in a dungeon. Personality clashes are okay, but actual teamwork and synergy? That’s non-negotiable. Especially for parties that are aiming high.

With all this said, the three-minute countdown ended, and both Ren and Derek began to face the other three in a spar.