--

"You’re serious?" Jen said it in a confirming way, not out of suspicion. "A martial physique that bans the owner from using weapons? That’s a thing?"

She wasn’t the only one who was gobsmacked; Jules was too. Both of them have never heard of this kind of aberrant martial physique before. How strange.

"I’ve read it somewhere before," Kaycee said softly. Now, she’s looking at his right arm, the one that’s holding Jules’ shield. "Your arms should have bruises now; any longer and cuts will start appearing on them. Please remove your hand from the shield; you don’t need to go this far to prove the truth."

She said this, but even she underestimated how fierce the effect of Ren violating the rules imposed on his body.

The moment she stopped talking, she gasped because cuts, plural, started appearing out of nowhere on the surface of Ren’s right arm.

Jules gasped in fright, Jen’s frown deepened, and Derek looked unusually serious too.

In his fright, Jules yanked the shield out of Ren’s lap, afraid that it would hurt him even further. He looked concerned, but Ren looked unfazed. He just took out some tissue paper from his knapsack and wiped the blood off his arm.

"It’s not a simple ban. The curse punishes us when we violate the rule. The very idea of holding a weapon brings out incredible disgust and repulsion deep into our psyche. Holding a weapon intensifies that feeling; if we insisted on trying, bruises will begin appearing on our arms, which comes with the pain, obviously."

"The longer it goes on, the worse it becomes. After bruises, lacerations will appear; the longer we hold a weapon, the deeper the lacerations begin. And finally, if we hold it long enough, our arms will fall off."

"It’ll be severed by the curse."

"No kind of healing, surgery, or operation will be able to reattach that arm. The injury cannot be healed, and we can’t grow new arms again; not even miraculous medicines will work. Hell, not even miracles by themselves will save us from that point."

"That’s the curse we have, the same one carried since birth."

"But it’s not all downsides. The physique itself gives me a 30% bonus to my physical attributes every time I break through; therefore, it’s normal for me, for us, to be a bit stronger compared to people at our level, provided that they don’t own a better martial physique."

By the time he finished his explanation, he was done wiping the blood on his arms. His lacerations have also healed now, something that everybody saw happen before their very eyes.

"Those healed fast," Derek mentioned.

"It did, yeah. It’s mostly thanks to the Green Lotus Core Technique," Ren tried hard not to sound smug here because the truth was only privy to him and the world system.

"Right. The 30% bonus from the aberrant physique should include your healing speed as well, boosted by the Green Lotus Core Chakra, and your wounds should heal faster," Derek’s eyes shone as he finally understood the logic behind Ren’s fast healing.

Ren didn’t bother correcting him. He’s not here to reveal the truth anyway. This was just a convenient excuse to explain his fast healing speed.

Jules looked comforted at that, at least. He felt bad giving Ren his shield, thinking that nothing bad would happen. He felt like it was him who harmed Ren, but that’s just not the truth.

"That’s crazy," Jen clicked her tongue. "Even shields count as a weapon? Fo gauntlets count too?"

"Yep," Ren nodded. "Gauntlets, knuckles, bladed fans. Hell, an umbrella with hidden weapons in it or a cane with a hidden sword counts too. If it’s identified by the world system as a weapon, it will hurt me just by touching it."

"Is that why you were searching for parties instead of parties searching for you?" Jules asked, feeling brave for a moment.

Ren looked at him, and this time, Jules didn’t look away. Though, his pupils did shake since he’s not used to it.

"Well, kind of," Ren admitted. "I’m just new to this whole thing, I suppose."

"It’s only been a week since I got my license, you see. And even though I’m from an old martial arts clan, we don’t really have that much clout."

"There’s also nobody in my age range in the clan that could keep up with me. And I’m a nobody, so I don’t really have much options, do I?"

"I don’t want to join the on-site parties since most of them are a scam, especially without the GMU’s guarantee. That’s why I sent my file to the GMU instead and hoped for the best."

"That’s how I got here. Sir Justin asked me for a meeting, and I need a party, so...yeah."

Saying all of this gave the rest a clearer view of Ren’s situation.

It makes sense now.

"Wait...a week since you got your license? Doesn’t that mean that you literally just stepped into the Bone Forging Realm? How old are you?"

"Yes, to the first question. Also yes to the second question. For the third, I’m 16 and a half. Why?"

"Six—sixteen and a half!?"

Ren wasn’t expecting Jen’s outburst. But he guessed that it probably has something to do with his age and strength level.

"How the hell? Does your abberant martial physique also make your practice faster?"

"I don’t think it does...I also don’t know why I progress fast; I never questioned it. I’m just thankful that it does. Plus, my elders told me that there’s nothing wrong with my foundations. So, yeah. I’m clueless as well," Ren shrugged, totally selling the ignorant act.

"I didn’t expect you to be younger than us. You’re officially the youngest in this party. Quick! Call me Big Sis!" Jen sounded insistent.

"No way!" Ren quickly refused. "Beat me first, and I’ll call you that."

"Tch...spoilsport, not cute at all."

There’s no way Ren would ever call her Big Sis. She doesn’t deserve that, especially with her attitude when they met for the first time.

Besides, Ren’s spiritually older than she. Old enough to be her grandfather, actually. There’s no way he’d allow himself to call a brat like her ’Big Sis.’

**

All things considered, Ren’s official day 1 was a success.

After learning the truth behind his tattoos and confirming it with Kaycee and Jules online, Jen no longer acted hostile or bitchy.

If anything, she admitted to the others that she did feel guilty for mistreating him. She won’t apologize, of course; hell would freeze over first before she does that. But she would be more tolerant of him moving forward at least, and honestly, that’s the best others could hope for.

What made it easier for the team to accept him was the fact that he wouldn’t be a burden. They don’t have to pay special attention to him because he’s weak, dainty, and inexperienced. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

He could dish out hits just as hard as he could take them. That much was clear, especially since he’s practically destined to endure abuse with nothing but his physical body alone.

Before he went home, Derek asked him if he had a VR World account.

Ren lied and said he doesn’t, but he was thinking of making one. He was then ’convinced’ by Derek that he should make one since they usually go on team fights in The Challenger’s Rise every night.

What a coincidence, really.

But since Ren lied about not having an account, he had to keep up the act now.

So, when he arrived home later that day, he made a second account in his VR cabin. He separated it cleanly from [Anon].

[Anon] was his public. The new one [Marek] was a private one and freshly made. He’d be using this one to go on online team fights with the Green Tea Party every night, or at least whenever they’re available.

Just like this, the whole week of Ren’s tryouts was over.

It passed by quickly since Ren was having a good time. Really.

The Green Tea Party wasn’t so bad. He bonded fastest with Derek because the guy goes out of his way to involve him in everything. He could also now openly exchange banter with Jen without deeply offending the other party.

Jules and Kaycee were fine too. At least Jules feels a bit more comfortable around him; Kaycee too, but she doesn’t really talk a lot.

Their nightly team fights helped a lot with team synergy as well. Since it’s the virtual world, they don’t need to restrain themselves as much, so they feel more fearless.

They challenge difficult enemies. They won some, they lost some. The rank was never their priority; it’s the experience. And even if it’s just the virtual world, the information they learn and the team synergy follow them in the real world too.

The party found it too easy, actually. Ren didn’t need to be taught twice. He gets what they want to happen at a glance, which really helps smooth out their coordination.

Even Jen couldn’t deny it anymore. Ren’s a party member of the Green Tea Party already. They’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could seamlessly blend into the team’s colors this easily.

And Justin feels the same. That’s why they made it official right away.