Chapter 13: What the Hell Is This?! Whitebeard Template
After catching up with Erza, Ren walked up to Makarov and asked with curiosity, "Guild Master, before I went out to finish that request, you said you'd tell me something when I got back. What was it?"
Hearing Ren's question, Makarov glanced at him, took a sip of alcohol, and said, "You know about S-Class mages, right?"
Ren nodded. He knew about the S-Class requests on the second floor too, but Makarov didn't allow him to go upstairs.
"In one more week, our guild will hold the once-a-year S-Class Mage Trial."
Makarov continued, "And among the candidates this time, there's one person."
He raised a thumb at Ren and grinned. "The only one since Fairy Tail was founded who can take the S-Class trial without even being in the guild for a full year."
"Really?"
Ren didn't answer, but Erza blurted it out first.
Her eyes were full of surprise, and the way she looked at Ren was practically overflowing with admiration.
"Besides me, is anyone else taking the trial?" Ren asked, curious. There were plenty of strong people in the guild.
"Besides you, there's Laxus. Just the two of you."
Makarov sighed, looking at the many guild members who were acting like it had nothing to do with them, as if he hated that they wouldn't improve.
When the members noticed Makarov looking their way, they all turned their eyes aside and chatted with the people next to them.
"Hmph. Those bastards always go too far on jobs and rack up way too many complaints."
Makarov snorted, then smiled again. "But if the Council wants to complain, let them complain. I'm Fairy Tail!"
"Yeah!"
"Guild Master, we love you!"
The guild members all smiled knowingly and threw the Fairy Tail hand sign toward Makarov's short back.
After saying goodbye to Makarov, Ren took Erza home.
After completing his first request and earning his first real money, Ren moved with Erza out of the guild dorms.
They were currently renting a fairly nice three-bedroom, one-living-room place.
It wasn't far from the guild, and the surrounding area was good too.
Back home, Erza changed out of her armor into home clothes. Wearing a knee-length dress, she hummed as she busied herself in the kitchen.
Watching Erza's bustling back, Ren couldn't help feeling like he'd returned to that little mountain village from before.
While Erza was busy, Ren opened the system's virtual panel.
As expected, after meeting Gray, the last bit of progress was filled in.
Over this period, Ren had raised the progress to \(90\%\) and obtained Big Mom's swordsmanship.
Big Mom's swordsmanship wasn't particularly strong, but combined with the three Homies, his overall combat power rose to another level.
With two rewards remaining, Ren couldn't help looking forward to them.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Super Fertility. Fuse?"
As the system notification echoed in Ren's mind, his expression instantly froze.
His hand hung in midair, and he blanked out completely.
A moment later, Ren snapped back, his head full of question marks.
"Super Fertility… what is that?"
Ren's face darkened as he stared at the small line of text on the soft light screen, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
In One Piece, Big Mom's fertility really was top-tier.
But why was that even a system reward?
After a long silence, Ren let out a deep sigh.
Like he was giving up, he waved his hand. "Fine. Fuse it."
As the streak of light flowed into his body, Ren didn't feel any changes at all.
He let out a breath, afraid the system reward would turn him into a woman.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Big Mom template has been completed. You have obtained a template lottery chance. Draw now?"
As the Big Mom template was completed, the system prompt sounded again.
Ren didn't hesitate at all and answered in his mind, "Draw!"
As Ren's thought fell, the roulette wheel appeared in front of him once again.
Only this time, Big Mom's image on the wheel was gray-black and could no longer be selected.
The wheel began to spin, familiar images flashing by.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained the Four Emperors Whitebeard, Edward Newgate template."
"Ding! Because the Host has completed the Big Mom template, the Whitebeard template increases by \(10\%\)."
"Ding! Reward granted: Whitebeard Physique. Fuse?"
The system's voice kept echoing in Ren's mind.
When it finally stopped, Ren fused Whitebeard's physique without hesitation.
As his muscles swelled again, Ren's brows knit tightly.
Soon, his veins and tendons began to spasm, and Ren frowned even harder.
Fortunately, the spasms didn't last long before quickly stopping.
Feeling the endless surge of strength inside him, Ren was satisfied.
Whitebeard's physique was strong, but compared to Big Mom's steel body and monster strength, it was still a bit behind.
What Ren wanted more was Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Whitebeard's physique wasn't exactly a lifesaver, but it was a nice bonus.
After fusing Whitebeard's physique, Ren's physical strength rose another level.
Seeing Ren's frown, Zeus floated beside him and asked worriedly, "Master, what happened?"
Ren glanced at Zeus and smiled, waving a hand. "I'm fine."
As if he understood Ren's habits, Zeus drifted closer and let Ren lean against him.
Ren propped his cheek with his right hand and sank into Zeus's body. That soft, squishy feel always made Ren want to lie on him when he had nothing to do.
"Dinner's ready!"
Not long after, Erza came out of the kitchen wearing an apron, carrying a bowl of soup. She gently set it on the table and called out to Ren in the living room.
Ren stood up, stretched, and walked toward the kitchen, taking a deep breath.
He gave Erza a thumbs-up and said with a smile, "Erza's cooking is as good as ever."