--
Ren could still remember the part in the story where the Limitless Martial Physique was revealed.
The hero himself almost went crazy with regret and loss when it was revealed what this forged martial physique does. He even raged at his own 'grandpa in the ring' for telling him that the myths around the Letter Kingdom weren't true.
And it wasn't just him. In fact, his reaction was pretty tame, all things considered. There were people who straight up went insane after learning what the physique does and how close they were to gaining it.
You see, the Limitless Martial Physique does one thing, and it does it very well.
It doubles all attribute gains after each breakthrough. That's it.
Meaning that, if the owner of this martial physique broke through to, say, the 2nd Stage of the Human Realm, where they'd usually gain around 110-200 kgs of raw strength, the Limitless Martial Physique directly doubles that.
Again, this goes for all attributes: strength, speed, stamina, durability, endurance, reaction speed, etc. It covers all.
This one thing that this physique does caused a lot of people to go crazy over it. And nobody could blame them; after all, it is really that good. It might only give a single benefit, but the coverage of that benefit is huge.
And this benefit scales up. This was for every breakthrough.
But of course, there are requirements. And this is the part that broke many people's hearts.
For starters, if someone wants to forge the Limitless Martial Physique, they must start from the very beginning.
This means the first stage of the Human Realm—the Strength Training Stage.
No. Restarting from here doesn't count. Meaning that those who already reached the upper stages deliberately recasting their foundations to start all over again doesn't count. Even if they do it, it wouldn't work.
They must start from the very beginning, a completely blank slate, if you will. Otherwise, it wouldn't work.
This disqualifies a lot of people just with this requirement alone. And this isn't the only one.
The other wasn't so strict. It just requires the owner of the physique to ensure that every breakthrough they have was pursued to its utmost perfection.
Meaning that forcing breakthroughs is a huge no, no. Every breakthrough must naturally happen, an overflow, a perfect foundation.
While it is troublesome, it's not that wild. After all, there are other physiques out there that have the same requirements. However, just because it sounds 'easy' and 'simple,' it doesn't mean that it is.
Moreover, this was non-negotiable. If the owner of this physique fails to have a perfect breakthrough, the forged physique shatters. And upon shattering, all bonuses that the owner previously enjoyed will be gone too. They will be severely weakened.
The worst part? It's impossible to reforge or recast this physique. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
That's how strict it was.
And because of these requirements, there aren't many people who got the chance to forge this physique.
Which is a damn shame since the formula, the very thing hidden across all the donated techniques of the Martial God to every city of the Letter Kingdom, turned out to be very simple.
Hell, even Ren with his meager savings could purchase all the necessary ingredients for it!
Another thing about the Limitless Martial Physique is that it has no identifiable signs. It doesn't bestow any marks or any insignias; it doesn't show or manifest any strange phenomenon when it's born or used; there's nothing. Once it's forged, it's just there, and it will continue to provide benefits with each breakthrough.
Meaning that it's very easy to hide it. The user wouldn't even need to try at all.
With all this said, it's easy to think that, once it's discovered, the next generation will use it as their foundation, right?
Well, that's normal. But that's not what happened in the story.
See, the information about the Limitless Martial Physique was released, yes. Its origins were revealed, and so were its benefits. What wasn't revealed was the formula to create it.
Long story short, this 'inheritance' had expired at that point in the story. And since nobody was able to discover it, it was completely scrapped. Information about it was revealed to the public, but since it has already 'expired,' it won't be given again.
From that point on, even discovering the real secret won't produce the expected results anymore. It doesn't matter how hard one tries; it's impossible. The rules of the world were changed to make it impossible.
And no, this wasn't something that the Grand Martial Union did, or any of the empires or kingdoms under its influence. It wasn't caused by humans either.
It was done by the 'entity,' something that not even the strongest human alive could touch.
That's why, even though it was revealed, humans could only stare at it in shame and lament.
Well, that's how it went in the story. Now, it's different since Ren was here.
He knew that doing this would cause some butterfly effect, but he doesn't care that much.
What kind of transmigrator would he be if he didn't, at least, strive to gain some advantages for himself? "To hell with the plot," he says! Onwards!
**
That's how Ren finds himself waking up smelling like a whole goddamn septic tank.
He took the majority of the daylight yesterday reading through all the complete copies of martial arts techniques donated by the martial god to the Letter Kingdom one by one online.
Yes, they were available online. The techniques themselves weren't that special anyway. Each one was beginner-friendly and thus did not need to be regulated. Besides, they had been leaked out multiple times in the past, and at some point, the Letter Kingdom just gave up and allowed the information to be viewed in public.
They could be found on the official website of the Letter Kingdom, and it's 100% authenticated and confirmed to be the copy word for word. Ren didn't even need to pay to get access to them.
With his unparalleled comprehension, he not only completely grasped each technique but also discovered the inconsistencies and hints to the formula.
The story never revealed the complete formula. The author couldn't be bothered to do so, and since it was a scrapped idea anyway, why would they? Therefore, Ren needed to discover it himself.
At first he was nervous, but with his talent, he discovered it in the end. 26 ingredients, scattered across all techniques. If one doesn't look closely or discover something amiss, nobody would even doubt it.
But to his unparalleled comprehension, the inconsistencies were highlighted. And after compiling the information, he got it all. And he was pretty confident that this was it.
Last night, he bought every ingredient needed to forge the Limitless Martial Physique. Like what was mentioned earlier, the ingredients were dirt cheap, so much so that even Ren with his meager savings was able to buy every single one.
Making the solution wasn't that difficult either. Even kids that could solve some slightly troublesome math problems and could follow instructions correctly could make it as well.
The brewing process didn't even take an hour from start to finish. Once it was finished, a 10 ml vial of diluted honey-colored liquid was left. Ren didn't hesitate much and downed it in a single gulp.
Then, he jumped into a deep basin filled with warm water. He'd use the bathtub, but his wasn't deep enough; also, the aftermath might ruin it, so he chose a deep basin instead. That way, he could submerge himself completely from the neck down. Shortly after, he lost his consciousness.
It was the next day when he woke up, and when he did, the first thing he did was curse sharply because of the foul smell sticking to him and floating atop the water.
With one slap of his hand, he activated the air filtering system in his bathroom, drained the water completely, and hopped into the shower to scrub all the dirt and grime that he excreted the night before.
Ren ensured that not even a single speck of grime was left when he was done. He also eliminated all the foul scent and dirty water completely from his bathroom.
It was only after he was done and started smelling like mint and sage (the scent of his shampoo and body wash) that he breathed a sigh of relief.
He then inspected his body and discovered...well, nothing.
Like what was mentioned earlier, the Limitless Martial Physique was unindentifiable. It doesn't show any signs or manifestations. It also doesn't conflict with his aberrant physique, or any other martial physique for that matter, because yes, people can stack multiple martial physiques so long as the requirement allows it.
The effect of the Limitless Martial Physique won't show up until he begins his training in earnest, which should be tomorrow.
By then, so long as he's careful and constantly remembers that he needs to pursue perfection on each breakthrough, he will be strong. Stronger than most at his level.
With his starting point being this good, Ren doesn't believe that he'd stay as a side character for long.