No Pain No Gain

Chellow, people!

Getting straight to the point, I have counted up all of the votes as of 010/02/2023, so if there is a sudden change in the scales, then that's rather unfortunate. In any case, the favour of votes was honestly very surprising to me, it was more favoured towards the MC calling out his attacks than not.

In regard to that, that means from here on he'll be calling out his attacks, although not when he is doing things like stealth and such, that'd just be idiotic. Obviously, not every attack he will eventually get will be called out, just the ones that are typically called out in their respective fictional verses.

So, for anyone that had voted for him NOT calling out his attacks... sorry, majority votes.

For those curious:

● Do call out attacks - [Total: 19]

● Do not call out attacks - [Total: 10]

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter and remember to suggest any missions and worlds for future chapters if you can!

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It took a bit of time, but Akira had managed to find the tavern that Ganyu had recommended to him, and he had to say, not bad. It wasn't anything that outrageous, but it was definitely a place he didn't mind living in for the next few days, it had all the basic necessities.

The room was pretty average when it came to space, and was furnished simply with a single bed, two drawers for clothes and such, a relatively big mirror placed on the wall, etc. But the most surprising thing of all, this place had a fucking working toilet!

Albeit a pretty crude one for his standards, it was still a toilet with a working pipe system! This backwards ass world that was probably centuries behind the world he was used to have a working pumping system in the defecation zones!

Big up right there!

[A/N: I'm pretty sure Teyvat actually has toilets, Nahida pretty much confirmed it with her dookie comment]

Anyway, the most important thing was that the tavern was relatively cheap, so that was a good bonus as well to it all. Then again, he was basing that entirely off of the money he had on him, so it was either this place was really cheap, or he was actually rich as fuck, probably the former.

At the present time though. Akira had just finished taking a quick shower before returning to the room he had booked for the next few nights. He currently only had on the pair of black boxers he had on underneath his casual clothing, said casual clothing currently resting on top of one of the drawers in the room.

"A bath really does feel good after such an exhausting day..." Akira muttered to himself as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Looking to his left, he stared silently as he saw the now quiet and rather dark streets of Liyue Harbor. "..."

With a blank look now replacing his previous expression, a number of complicated emotions were hidden well in Akira's eyes. After all, he had mysteriously and suddenly left his previous world, and he was honestly still finding it a bit hard to accept everything that's happened.

Knowing his father, the old man was probably in a major panic right now trying his best to find wherever the fuck he went. Being their literal only child, it wouldn't exactly be anything too surprising if his parents were having a massive panic attack.

Turning away from the window, Akira gave a small sigh before swiping his hand to open up the menu. Now that he had found a proper place to live here in this world, the next order of duty was opening those two gift packages he had gotten from the previous mission.

"Let's see, might as well start with the regular one..."

Akira muttered as he scanned his eyes over the inventory. Once he located the item, he clicked onto it, thus beginning the very familiar string of notifications. Calmly, he observed each and every item, his eyes widening only slightly at a few of the particular rolls.

『You have received 'Osmanthus Wine'』-『Origin World: Prime』

『You have received 'Titanite Shard'』-『Origin World: Dark Souls』

『You have received 'Ocarina'』-『Origin World: Prime』

『You have received 'Dorito Bag'』-『Origin World: Prime』

『You have received 'Gale-Force Reading Glasses'』-『Origin World: Fairy Tail』

『All items have been transferred to the 'Inventory'』

Looking at the list of items he had just received, only two of them really got his attention, those being the second and fifth items. The other three were just normal items from his old world, evident by the fact that the items literally had the origin world labelled as 'Prime', which he assumed was probably referring to his old world.

Anyway, the two items of interest were things he was pretty interested in, though the fifth item was the one he was most interested in. While the Titanite Shard was indeed very useful, he didn't really use weapons as he was always used to fighting hand-to-hand, though perhaps if he ever got some armour or something he'd end up using it if he could.

Though, that entirely depended on whether or not he himself could learn how to use it himself or if he managed to find a blacksmith or something that could perhaps somehow learn to use the shards. In any case, it was of no use for the time being.

Onto the fifth item, this was what he was most interested in at the moment.

.

『Teyvat Multiverse Streamer System - Inventory』

● Gale-Force Reading Glasses - [Description: A pair of magic-glasses that allows the wearer to read from books at 64 times the normal speed]

.

As simple as these glasses sounded, they were incredibly useful, especially if you wanted to collect information fast. For someone like him who had already planned to find a bookstore to help better understand this world, these glasses couldn't have come at a better time.

Taking them out of the inventory, Akira watched as a pair of strange glasses soon materialised in his hands. The glasses were black in colour with transparent lenses, along with what looked like a wing attachment on the left lense.

"If I didn't know what this was, I'd think it were just a pair of fake toy glasses..." Akira muttered to himself as he felt the plastic material that the glasses were made of. 'I can also feel a sign of magic energy coming off of these, no surprise there I guess.'

Putting them away back into the inventory, Akira turned his gaze over to the thing he had been anticipating the most. That was of course the Golden Gift Package, the reward that he was given for completing that hidden quest from the previous mission.

From the description of the item alone, it was basically the same as the normal gift package, but had a much higher chance for rarer and more powerful items and powers. Basically, it was an upgraded version of the gift package, the only downside was that it only rolled three things instead of five.

Without wasting time, he activated the item.

『...』

『You have received 'Katchin'』-『Origin World: Dragon Ball』

『You have received 'Totem of Undying'』-『Origin World: Minecraft』

『You have received 'Gravity Chamber - Model 1'』-『Origin World: Dragon Ball』

『All items have been transferred to the 'Inventory'』

'Two items from Dragon Ball, that's some luck...' Akira chuckled slightly as he saw the rolls. 'Katchin, huh? If I'm remembering correctly, that's the strongest metal in the seventh universe. The only thing stronger from the series is Kachi Katchin, at least from what I know.'

If he was being honest, he was curious to see if it would be possible to forge some kind of weapon or armour with it, but he doubted that was ever going to happen anytime soon, at least not within this world from what he knew.

The chances of running into a blacksmith capable of melting down and shaping katchin were pretty much impossible to impossible.

The other items, on the other hand, were what really caught Akira's attention.

The Totem of Undying, a very simple yet rather overpowered item originating from the Minecraft universe. As the name implies, it was an item that basically allowed the holder to escape death. He could already imagine how useful that would be if he ever happened to face an opponent he couldn't take on.

As good as this item was, especially with its bonus effects after use, Akira was more interested in the third and last item on the list.

'A gravity chamber, huh?'

Akira's lips curled up slightly as he brought up the information about the item. He was very familiar with its use, after all, it was used very frequently in the dragon ball series to help fighters increase their strength. It was a simple yet effective and brutal method of physically training oneself.

By increasing the gravity that is pressed down onto yourself, it's akin to putting a bunch of weights all over your body. Akira wasn't so short-sighted that he'd focus entirely on practising his magic, he very well knew that training his body was just as important as training his magic was.

'I'll have to give it a test run tomorrow at some point, for now though...'

After closing all of the menus down, Akira sat down on his bed in a lotus position, slowly closing his eyes as a faint aura of magic energy radiated off of his body. It didn't take long before he could fully sense his magic core, as well as the magic energy gradually making its way in.

Meditation was a common troupe when it came to expanding one's power, let it be for Ki, Magic or something else. Akira had already meditated once before, and he had noticed two particular things. One being that his magic container gradually got bigger naturally over time, though the increase in capacity was incredibly negligible.

The second thing was more directly related to meditation.

As he continued to meditate, he could feel his magic container becoming both bigger as well as denser, as if the magic power stored inside was becoming more refined in a sense. Whatever the case, Akira knew that meditation would play a crucial role in his future developments.

That's why he had decided to dedicate at least one or two hours a day to meditate and increase his magic container, and perhaps one day finding a way to unlock his Second Origin, that unknown second container of magic power that most mages have no access to.

If possible, he'd rather find a way to unlock it naturally instead of hoping to find something similar to the Arc of Time. He could somewhat remember that scene where the main cast were literally on the ground in agony, yeah, it didn't exactly look like a fun time.

Akira was no damn masochist.

Second Origin was a matter for the future though, for now, he'll focus entirely on building up his physical strength as well as expanding his magic container. He fully intended on doing another mission after a week has passed, so it'd be best for him to prepare as much as possible in advance.

You never know what mission he'll be given.

Time went by rather quickly, and before he knew it, Akira had already meditated for over two hours, probably closing in on three full hours. After that, he quickly went to sleep, he had quite a bit planned for tomorrow after all.

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Once morning had come, Akira did all of the necessary cleaning up in the bathroom as well as making his bed before he left the tavern. He had risen up rather early, and judging from the position of the sun, it was probably only around six to seven in the morning.

Despite how early it was though, there were actually quite a number of people who had woken up as early as he did, though most of those people were workers who had woken up to setup their shops for the day, or had just decided to start preparing early for whatever work it is they did.

After a bit of thinking, Akira had his day planned out.

The major interests for today were as follows:

● Gather intel on this world

● Gravity training

● Meditation

There were of course the basic things such as resting and getting something to eat between these planned events, but these three particular things were the major activities he had planned for the day, and probably for many more days to come.

He already had an early breakfast back at the tavern, so he had immediately began making his way to the bookstore that he had been told about by the tavern owner. From what he was told, it was a place called Wanwen Bookhouse or something like that.

Eventually, he managed to find the place.

"According to the owner of this place, these are all just fan novels?" Akira frowned as he muttered this. Looking at the different titles, Akira felt a wave of complicated emotions. 'At the very least, they're based on actual myths and legends here in Liyue, so that's something at least...'

From what Jifang, the owner of this fine establishment, had told him. Most of the books that were being sold here at the shop were all fan fictions written by numerous authors, and while it disappointed him since he was looking more into historically accurate information books or just general knowledge books, they were at least something to go off of.

Aside from the nature of the books being sold, Akira had noticed how Jifang was sending him numerous suspecting glances every now and then. Due to the rather small size of the open store, it wasn't exactly difficult to keep an eye on the customers. While he could understand why, it was pretty annoying not being able to open the books to see what they were truly about.

In any case, after a bit of searching, there were only three particular novels that caught his interest: Records of Jueyun, Customs of Liyue, and finally one called Yakshas - The Guardian Adepti.

The first book was pretty much a record of various folk stories based on the different folktales, myths and legends here in Liyue. While the stories themselves were probably all made-up, at least he could possibly learn something about the different myths here. Unlike his old world, this world's myths and legends were probably actually real.

The second book was actually pretty damn informative, it was a record of the different customs here Liyue. While a few of the customs spoiled on the blurb were things he probably wouldn't ever really need to know about, it was good to at least have them at the back of his mind just in case.

For the final book, according to the blurb on the back, it was apparently about a group of protectors of sorts who served some dude called Rex Lapis. He had no idea what these Yaksha were, nor did he know a Rex Lapis. All he could make up was that this Rex Lapis obviously seemed to hold some sway and respect over the Liyue myths.

'Actually, now that I think about it, aren't Yakshas some kind of guardian spirit? Sounds pretty damn similar to these guys...' Akira was never one for mythology and all that, but he did know a few things. 'Ah man, I'm really not the person for this shit. Whatever...'

After collecting whatever volumes were still available for these particular three collections, the exception being the book about the Yakshas, he carried them all over to the front counter where Jifang was. In total, he had five books he was going to be buying today.

"I'm surprised, most customers would just read them while they're here and/or just leave saying they were just browsing, but you did neither of those." Jifang spoke as Akira merely blinked as he placed the books on the counter. "The total cost of these will be 9,000 Mora."

"Thank you."

With a nod, Akira quickly took out the money before handing it over to Jifang. He had to admit, the cost of these books were much higher than he initially thought they'd be, guess he wasn't as well-off as he thought he was. In any case, he now had the books.

"Just a reminder. Please return the books if you happen to get sick of them, it'd be much a appreciate. You don't need to expect me to hold my breath though, I've had plenty of customers who borrow them and then never return them."

"R-Right..."

He didn't really have any reason to keep the books after reading them completely, so he didn't really see the harm in returning them, even though he spent money to buy them. It was probably relatively difficult to find these books since they're apparently pretty old, so he could understand why Jifang would request them to be returned if possible.

Anyway, after he finished paying for everything, he easily picked up the stack of books before heading off.

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After Akira finished all of his business over at the bookhouse, he immediately left off for the wilderness to find a place to try out the gravity chamber. Even though he had just bought those books, he was in no rush at all to start reading them.

Each of the volumes were relatively small, so with the help of the gale-force glasses, he could finish reading them in no time at all. Even then, with how small each volume was, he could easily finish reading them all in under an hour.

In any case, the books were now stored away in his inventory.

After a bit of exploring, Akira managed to find a quiet and monsterless area at the top of one of the tall mountains. The mountain wasn't insanely tall, but it was flat at the top and was void of any monsters from what he could tell.

"Okay, here we go."

Bringing up the inventory, Akira quickly sorted through the items before summoning forth the gravity chamber.

As soon as it was brought out of the inventory, Akira watched as what looked to be a rather massive spherical machine appeared in front of him. Since it spawned a meter or so above the ground, it caused a bit of a tremor when it fell to the ground.

"Capsule Corp..." Akira silently read as he saw those words printed onto the side of this strangely designed machine. After inspecting it for a bit, it didn't take long for him to find the entrance as he pressed the button on the side to open the hatch door. "Fancy."

After having pressed the button, the door lowered itself to reveal that it was actually a small flight of stairs leading up into the machine. Without wasting any time, Akira walked up the stairs, soon finding himself in a large round room with a red tiled floor as well as white walls with a number of circular windows for him to see outside.

At the centre of the room was a large machine with what looked to be a console of sorts installed onto its frame. Already knowing what to do, Akira walked on over before looking curiously over the various buttons on the console.

"I see, so that's why there are so many buttons." Akira nodded to himself as he switched the machine on. "Each button has a different function for both the adjustment of gravity, as well as to control those small drones... Well, might as well get started."

After saying this, Akira calmly took off all of his upper clothing, revealing his lean yet muscular physique underneath. With a wave of his hand, his upper body clothes were sent into the inventory, to which he then turned back to the console.

"Dragon ball characters are built fucking different, so I'd better start off safe..." Akira went silent for a moment as he fiddled around with the console. "Huh? I can't do decimals, guess the only option is to go straight to two-times gravity and see the effects."

Akira had no intention of augmenting his body with magic, as that would without a doubt make it far too easy for him at two-times gravity. He wanted to train his body alone, no enhancements just in case it happened to cripple the progress he could make.

"Alright..."

After stretching for a bit, Akira tapped his finger onto the panel as the display showed '2G' on it. As soon as he clicked the on button for the gravity adjuster, he immediately jumped back as the room began to take on a dark red tint.

[Initiating Gravity Simulation]

A feminine robotic voice sounded through the room as an invisible force soon pressed down onto Akira's body.

"W-Woah, okay...!"

Akira immediately felt the effects of the increased gravity, and since he was already capable of lifting more than his own body weight before he had even arrived in this world, he didn't fall to the ground under the increased gravity, instead his knees were merely bent by a few degrees.

'I may be able to lift a bit more than my own body weight, but this increased gravity is also affecting everything in my body. Lungs, blood and more...' Akira thought as his teeth gritted slightly. This gravity wasn't unbearable, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either. 'If this was three times gravity, I might even risk myself just outright passing out...! Fucking props to Yamcha for even surviving in three-hundred times gravity for as long as he did!'

As Akira moved his body around, he could easily feel all of the force being placed onto him. Taking a heavy deep breath, Akira began performing a number of punches and kicks, although with some visible difficulty. It was as if each and every part of his body had its owner weight strapped onto them.

Although it was difficult, Akira was managing to move relatively well as he continued practising his fighting skills under the increased gravity. It wasn't anything special, just the basic fighting techniques that his father taught to him in the past.

Under normal circumstances, humans were creatures with physical limitations, but those were humans from his old world. Akira had noticed the slight yet definite changes in his body due to the unlocking of his magic container, not only was gaining strength easier, but he'd even go as far as to guess that any human limitations he had were either somewhat removed or had increased by many times.

After only a few short minutes of training in this harsh environment, Akira had built up quite a lot of sweat as streams of it could be seen running down the lines of his muscles. Even so, Akira didn't stop and continued training, his determination steadfast as he focused entirely on the training at hand.