Chapter 3: Unchained Pugilist
In the heart of a desolate rocky valley lay electrocuted bodies and small wooden structures, reminiscent of street food stalls, engulfed in flames. Above the valley rose a towering cliff, casting its shadow over the entire terrain and the weary young man lying on the ground.
Wrapped in sweat, blood and dirt clinging to his body, Mark surveyed his surroundings: bodies littering the ground emitting a nauseating smell of burnt flesh, destroyed wooden stalls scattered around, the brown book floating above him, and finally his eyes sparkled like stars upon seeing the large chest atop a raised patch of earth.
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An hour ago, after much contemplation on the matter, he finally accepted the fact that he couldn't grasp all the information about what was happening, so he surrendered and took the book.
After all, it's said that: 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'
The words appeared before him again, but when he tried to press 'Yes,' his finger passed through the words, leaving him puzzled.
After a few seconds of looking around the screen, he focused on the word and imagined accepting it.
As he did, a surge of energy filled with information coursed through his head, feeling like a pinball bouncing through each neuron, making him tremble with each second.
His eyes lost focus, and he fell into a trance for a long period until he finally regained composure with a blink, finding the book wide open in front of him.
The book contained an extensive explanation of how to control electro energy, or rather manifest it. When he realized, he jumped from where he was toward the slimes he had seen before, channeling energy into his fists to explode them with a combination of blows.
The excitement blinded him, the sense of power motivated him, the electricity accelerated him, and he ran with the book beside him toward a group of hilichurls deeper in the valley.
His instincts had taken control.
Using all the memories and experiences he received from Marko, he stealthily approached one of the hilichurls that could cause him the most trouble, the hilichurl shooter.
Humanoid in appearance, it wore a strange mask covering its face, red predominated, and the most striking was the huge crossbow it carried in its arms. It seemed to be responsible for scouting the area and moved away from the group to find a better vantage point when...
With a powerful sweep to the legs, he sent it to the ground. The hilichurl screamed and confusedly reached for the nearby crossbow. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his companions running toward him, but it was the last thing he saw before his vision turned completely dark.
*BOOM*
The other hilichurls were paralyzed as they watched their companion's head explode from a single blow by a human. Mark separated his hands, which he had joined for a downward hammer blow, and stood up, staring fixedly at the group before him.
'Two with clubs, two with clubs and shields...'
Placing his arms forward, he lowered his posture, raised his hips, and directed electro energy to his feet, making the ground explode beneath them.
Shooting forward like a bullet, Mark performed a bull-like charge, each step resonating with a tremor that instilled fear in his opponents, causing them to raise their weapons in preparation.
Seeing the human extremely close, they started lunging forward with clubs raised high.
Dodging calmly to the side, he slid his hands over the wrist and shoulder of the hilichurl, then jumped while slightly pushing his leg backward.
*CRACK*
Applying force with both hands, he struck the knee in the center of the arm, causing it to bend backward.
Without giving him a chance to scream, as he fell to the ground, Mark moved his hands to his neck and grabbed it, swinging his weight down, performing a terrifying judo lock.
A blow sliced through the air towards Mark's temple, and by tilting his head slightly, he dodged the blow while performing an acrobatics to gain some distance.
"...Close~"
Looking ahead, he saw the hilichurls approaching, the club-wielder in front and the other two with shields on both sides.
Glancing back quickly, he saw he was extremely close to a wall.
Seeing them getting closer and about to corner him, he let out a sigh as he relaxed his posture, raising both forearms in front of him.
The hilichurls advanced calmly, but a strong stomp from Mark alarmed them, and their nervousness provided an opportunity for him.
The hilichurl had advanced too far to strike.
In an instant, Mark turned to the right and with a forearm movement, he deflected the attack, causing the hilichurl to lose control of its weapon and momentarily lose consciousness—it was too late.
Mark infused his grip with electro energy and crushed the hilichurl's exposed neck.
Bathed in blood, he opened his hand, letting the lifeless body of the hilichurl fall to the ground, and turned to the remaining two while hopping lightly between both feet.
*thuk*
*thuk*
*th- CREACK*
Midway through the third hop, he leaned his body and lunged to his left, performing a big leap. The hilichurl with the shield became alarmed and swung its club, letting out a loud shout.
Anticipating its move, Mark flashed a huge grin and used the wall behind him as support, performing a second leap.
*BOOM*
Before he could react using its shield, the hilichurl's mask had been crushed by a powerful downward kick enveloped in electricity similar to Falcon Kick.
Mark's face showed a smirk, but losing strength, he fell to the ground, hitting both elbows as he lay sprawled on the ground.
The last hilichurl was about to flee out of fear from seeing its companions dispatched so easily. But upon finding the human on the ground, its instincts took control, and it ran clumsily in an attempt to crush his head with the club.
*BOOOM*
Grabbing both hands with the club, he swung it forcefully downwards, and upon hearing a crunch and seeing blood splatter, he lowered his weapon and let out a relieved and amused growl.
Suddenly, something grabbed his elbow, and his gaze unconsciously shifted downwards.
The victorious growl of the hilichurl disappeared, and from one moment to the next, it started trembling uncontrollably until it lost strength in its arms, dropping its club.
"You missed~"
The same human who had massacred its companions was now gripping its arm and showing a crazed and macabre smile. Confused and trembling, it looked at the human's other hand, becoming even more horrified.
The human had used the head of the hilichurl whose neck he had broken and placed it directly under the final trajectory.
The hilichurl began to tremble, and its legs lost their strength, causing it to fall to its knees as the human stood up before its eyes.
Was this indiscriminate violence... even human?
It didn't have time to fear it anymore when Mark dealt it a huge electric punch that sent it flying towards the wooden structures, destroying them. Its last conscious sight was the bodies of its fallen and burnt comrades scattered around the area.
Mark stood amidst the bodies, ignoring them, and looked at his own hands. He felt no disgust or fear for what he had just done, but rather excitement for the strength he had demonstrated.
Seconds later, he fell backwards onto the ground, hyperventilating, and playing with the book floating above him.
"...That was sick."
The nickname he had been given in his past life wasn't related to his childhood, as no one knew about his family problems. "The Unchained Pugilist" was given to him by the audience for the madness and brutality he showed in combat.
Each of his fights was a happy bloody dance, transmitted by the growing smile he often showed as the fights progressed.
Even Marko tried to limit or eliminate this aspect, as he would be disqualified from a tournament at the slightest infraction, and he succeeded.But after what happened with his parents, it all came back like a wave of the sea, with even more strenght.
"...I need to control myself, nothing good will come from fighting like a maniac."
Closing his eyes, he began to breathe deeply to relax, and after a few minutes of lying on the ground, he could feel his legs obeying him again.
"Hup."
Placing both palms on the ground, he slightly flexed his body backward, raising his hips, and with a small shout, he propelled himself upward, standing once again.
Looking around, he noticed the beautiful and larger-than-ever chest, and like a bear drawn to the smell of honey, he headed toward it.
"This has to have something good, tell me it does."
When he tried to open it, he realized he couldn't, while noticing strange red letters similar to the ones he saw when he took the book spinning around the chest.
He looked puzzled and began to look around, finding that the bodies of the hilichurls were disappearing, or rather evaporating, as they turned into small dark powders carried away by the wind.
Mark took notice but didn't give it more importance than a slight relief at not having to clean the blood off his clothes. As he lowered his gaze, he found that the letters around the chest had disappeared, so with a smile, he leaned forward.
Upon opening the chest, Mark's face showed neither disappointment nor joy, but rather confusion.
"A primogem?"
Inside, he found the usual, some berries here, some anemo insignias there, but a crystalline rock in the shape of a four-pointed star caught his attention.
Mark lifted the primogem between his hands, but touching it did nothing. He tried touching the primogem with the vision, but it didn't work either, so finally, curiosity got the best of him, and he put it in his mouth.
"...Bleh, tastes like rock."
With a sigh, he thought of simply storing everything and continuing to walk. As he looked around, he felt like something was missing, so he turned his gaze toward the cliff overhead while slightly opening his mouth.
"Ah! Oh, crap."
Suddenly, he lowered his head and began shaking it from side to side so fast it seemed like his neck was going to twist. After a while of searching, he opened his eyes and mouth wide while closing the chest, leaving everything he had taken.
"M-My... MY BACKPACK."
Running hastily, he began to retrace his steps with only the sound of his footsteps echoing off the walls of the area.
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Finalmente, after an hour of slow and calm walking, Mark had managed to exit the rocky valley and the forest that followed the valley, and he currently found himself in front of what he remembered was the village near Mondstadt where he used to gather mushrooms for Barbara, Springvale.
His stomach had been rumbling all this time, he could feel how dry his lips were, and especially, his legs were burning at a level where just moving was a pain in the ass.
His hair was disheveled and covered in dirt, emitting an excessive smell of humanity, so his priority right now was literally to throw himself into a place with water and start cleaning up as if he hadn't taken a shower in a month.
Along the way, he had encountered some merchants who looked at him strangely, which he assumed was because of the dirt, and some animals like wild boars, some rather strange-looking foxes, and those shiny flying crystals he managed to get to make concentrated resin.
"Oh, jackpot."
Moving away from Springvale, he began to walk along the coast in search of a place to clean up. Surprisingly for him, according to Shiro's memories, soap existed in this world, but he hadn't brought any in his backpack.
Getting rid of the dismay of not being able to clean properly, he looked at the beautiful landscape in front of him.
A vast expanse of water lay before his eyes, in the center rose a colorful and imposing city with a huge wall surrounding it, but the most striking thing for Mark was the enormous building atop the rock on which the city stood.
'That's the Cathedral of Favonius... There's a chest at the top, hehe.'
Shaking his head, he put greedy thoughts aside and grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it into the lake.
...
...
"Works for me."
After making sure there was no sea monster lurking to eat him, he began to undress, leaving his clothes on his backpack and entering the lake just as he came into the world... well, not this world.
"Phew, this is the life..."
Looking sideways, he could see the old book lying next to the backpack, and with the water covering him up to his shoulders, he closed his eyes as he enjoyed the warm combination of the late afternoon sun and the coolness of the water.
'!!! That's...'
As he looked up at the sky, he could see in the distance a huge floating island that a commoner could only discern as a mirage, but he was clear about what it was.
'...Celestia. I think it was the home of the gods or something, I don't remember much from the manga.'
With his eyes on the sky, he began to ramble as he thought about what he would do when he reached Mondstadt.
"The first step is to get a job, I could start as a cook at some restaurant until I get enough to be carefree for a while, and ah-ah-ACHOO."
A gentle breeze hit Mark's face, causing a tickle in his nose. Thinking that it would soon be time to get out, he took a deep breath and submerged himself in the water to clean up.
About a minute later, he emerged from the water with heavy breathing and shivering slightly but visibly much cleaner than before.
He could have gone into the water with the clothes he was wearing a moment ago since he had spare ones in his backpack, but carrying wet clothes in his hand or in the backpack and leaving a bad smell wasn't an option by a long shot.
Being naked wasn't something that bothered Mark; traveling to many places fighting made him have to be at least half-naked most of the time.
Rummaging through his backpack, he found a basic towel along with a black cloth set that belonged to Shiro. After drying himself, he decided to leave the towel on top of his clothes and began to change.
'I still don't understand how the clothes I was wearing came with me but not my body... Anyway, I'll clean it later.'
With the clothes already on, he stored the dirty ones in the backpack and the towel on top of them with the Electro Vision on top. Just as he was about to set off, an idea struck him, and he distanced himself a few steps while extending his hand.
'Is it possible?'
One second, two, three, and nothing. With a snort, he approached the backpack and stored the vision in one of the pockets while extending his hand. This time, the book flew out to his side, and a violet ray enveloped his entire fist, sliding up to his elbow, covering his whole arm.
'It's necessary to carry the Vision to channel elemental energy through the body... Not very comfortable.'
While he sank into his thoughts, he grabbed the towel and dried his feet, then put on his shoes while hanging the towel on one of the backpack's ropes to let it dry.
Looking ahead, he could see the short distance left to finally reach Mondstadt, but the pain in his legs made him look for something to distract himself.
'...I only know that song by heart.'
Among hums, he began to walk while humming and seeing the strange looks some passersby gave him.
'Do I sing badly?'
Shrugging, a young man walked along with his flying book and his luggage while singing "Valentine" by Laufey.
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"Stop!"
Mark had been repeating the same song for a while and intended to do it again, but just as he was about to take a step on the bridge leading to Mondstadt, a voice from one of the knights in front of the gate stopped him.
"Is there a problem, sir agent?" Due to the distance, he had to raise his voice slightly, causing the pigeons on the bridge to fly away.
The guards had their weapons raised and seemed to call for reinforcements as more appeared on the wall, aiming at Mark with bows and crossbows.
'What the hell?'
"PUT YOUR WEAPON AWAY."
"...What the hell."
Mark raised both arms, not wanting to cause any misunderstanding, and began shaking his head slightly to convey that he was not carrying any weapons.
"I SAID PUT YOUR WEAPON AWAY OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO TAKE IT AS A THREAT."
Mark's face showed even more confusion as he looked down at his hips but still saw nothing, so he lowered his backpack from his back and placed it in front of him, shaking his head again in their direction.
The Favonius knight's didn't shout again, but the arrow heading for Mark's face was enough to clarify his position. In less than a second, it was in front of Mark's right eye, no longer moving as he had caught it in the moment about it was about to hit. With a furrowed brow, he looked down at the arrow.
The sound of more piercing the air entered his ears, and breaking the one in his hand, he imbued his right arm with elemental energy, delivering a powerful uppercut that caused a shockwave, stopping the incoming arrows.
His gaze locked on the ones responsible for shooting him, the latter shrinking back under Mark's gaze but not lowering their bows.
'...Screw them.'
With a sigh, he shook his head and raised his right hand, showing them the middle finger.
"FUCK YOU! *Ptui*"
Mark bent down slightly, grabbing the backpack with his left arm while letting out a sigh of annoyance as he noticed the dust stain on the towel.
He hadn't stopped flipping the middle finger at them, so putting on the backpack took him a bit more time. When he finally did, he glanced at the people on the wall, quickly raising both middle fingers before turning away seconds later.
When he turned around, he didn't turn his head but instead started patting his butt provocatively while sticking his tongue out at them until he heard a high-pitched voice behind him.
"Paimon thinks you're really gross."
Performing a quick somersault to put some distance between them, Mark looked at the people who were now behind him, completely surprised and wide-eyed.
In front of him stood two and a half people: a young woman with long brown hair and orange eyes, wearing a red and white outfit with a red bow tied on her head in the shape of bunny ears.
Beside her floated a small, pale-haired fairy wearing a white sweater with strange accessories and a floating tiara on her head.
But it was the blonde girl dressed entirely in white, golden eyes with two pale blue flowers on her head and a slight smile, who completely caught his attention.
'...If it weren't for Shiro's boss, I'd think the nature of this world is that everyone is pretty. Well, she's not from this world, whatever.'
Mark stared at Lumine for a few seconds, his ears turning completely red. When he looked back, he saw that the guards were still on alert.
With a snap, he stood up and walked to the left, distancing himself as much as possible from the people he had just faced, while throwing some words into the air.
"Guess what? Didn't ask, midget fairy."
"M-MIDGET!!!"
Paimon's eyes widened as she tried to process the insult she had just received, looking at her trusted companion Lumine, who had looked away while suppressing laughter.
"Wait!"
A scream coming from his left made Mark stop, with his eyes narrowing.
'...Now what?'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone