Mark felt as if he had been washed over by cold water. He was shivering and a stinging pain ran wild all over his body. He got up from the ground he was laying on with a heavy groan. He felt dizzy and unusual. Very unusual. More so than the time he visited he sick mom who was stricken sick on the hospital bed. He felt his pulse run wild and his breathing escalate.

It was all too weird.

A sound… No, a cheer far too loud for a person’s ear to bear rang out. ‘What the hell is going on. Is this what an aneurysm feel like?’ he thought with squinted eyes and a hand over his head to suppress the rampage going on in there. Atop all the weirdness he was feeling, his head rummaged his senses wild. He wanted to puke his guts out, but all that came out from his mouth was a dry cough.

Mark carefully opened his eyes and assessed his surroundings. He was boxed in a colosseum of sorts, large with countless people with their eyes on him. He himself was on the battlefield as a warrior with his rival a few feet in front of him. Usually, Mark would shy away in front of a massive crowd, but right now he was more shocked than nervous.

‘Am I dreaming. This can’t be real.’

Mark just a few hours ago, was playing a shooter game on his computer. He enjoyed that game quite a lot and for the past few days he’d been trying to complete it. He was close too, only a few hours remained of the game before he went to sleep in his cosy bed. As much as he enjoyed the game, Mark loved his peaceful sleep more. He had never once slept late in his life. Actually, there was that one time, during the joyous moment of high school graduation, his best friend, Jake didn’t attend the graduation party. Even the kids who kept to themselves hopped on the invitation to the bar, but his outgoing best friend never did.

It was only a few hours later into that night, Jacob, Jake’s dad contacted him through a phone call. He sounded worried and anxious. “Jake’s missing, I’ve been trying to look for him but- I can’t find him. Mark, I know Jake doesn’t go to your house this late ever, but have you any clue,” Mark, till this day remembered that man’s breaking tone. Mark stayed up that night, staring at his room ceiling. As for Jake, he was never found. He left no clue or message behind for his friends or family. 

“Who is your champion. That’s right it’s me, Goldi,” A built man, over six feet yelled in joy in front of Mark. He held a medieval axe high up in the air as he cheered for himself. He wore a course leather short with a missing shirt. His toned body glowed under the sun’s rays. Making him look all the more glorious in his tall stature.

The audience cheered for the man, countless people raised their hands and yelled atop their lungs,” Goldi!”

What startled Mark most was neither the massive or audience or the sandy platform he stood on, but a blue translucent screen hovering in front of him. He took a few second before speaking his mind.

“A barbarian, a concert-sized audience, and to top it all off, a glowing screen in front of me,” Mark mumbled to himself. He slapped himself once to check if this was a dream, and to his disappointment, the pain stinged and left a red mark on his left check.

From all the various, more probable conclusion like him being on a highly produced prank to him being extremely high, he lost all sense of reality. He came to consensus with the most outrageous conclusion. ‘This is a transmigration. Isn’t it?’ He asked himself.

He had read countless stories like those, with a system and an epic fantasy world. And least to say, he enjoyed reading those stories, he found it entertaining. Perhaps that was the reason he came to the conclusion of transmigration. 

Mark once again took notice of the hovering screen. It had a bunch of text written on it. 

[ Welcome to a new world, Mark. You alone have been chosen over a myriad of different races in the multiverse to travel to a new world. We, the divine species welcome you to your new abode. Here, you will be able to do much more and achieve physical heights only dreamt in your old world. I hope you take this opportunity to your benefit.

-Goodbye

]

The message was short and concise. It told Mark he was in a new world, but didn’t bother answering his other dozens of questions.

This only brought more credence to Mark’s hypothesis, he was reincarnated.

Despite the obvious fact that came with revelation, such as never seeing his family again. Mark felt.. excitement built up in the pit of his stomach.

“Looks like you finally got up. Perhaps I held my punch back too much,” the man named Goldi told Mark, “Guess even a scrawny, weakling can survive that much.” Goldi smiled wide, his teeth shone under the sun like glass. Mark could make out a few golden teeth in that smile, it was his molars.

Mark who a second ago was excited at the countless possibilities he could achieve in a new world, suddenly felt a shiver run down the back of his spine. Goldi was gifted man in many ways, he was tall, strong and most notably he was unbeatable with an axe. That was why the audience cheered for him, he was always the victor. His dashing looks only drove more females crazy over him.

To Mark’s side, there was a half broke sword that he picked nonetheless. A few centimetres ahead of him laid a wooden shield on the ground. It looked battered and a few chunks of wood seemed to be missing, though it still looked in a better condition than the sword.

Mark armed himself with both of the tools, a shield over his left arm and on his right, he held the sword.

As he was getting himself prepared for Goldi, a notification appeared, much similar to the previous text.

[ New quest!

A man’s greatest gift is his own life, treasure your own and survive this unfair ordeal. 

Reward: Piece of information of your new world

Failure: loss of limbs

Accept: Y/N

]

The message showed Mark a quest quite similar to one’s he had seen in games and the LITRPG books he had read previously. The quest itself was quite simple, to survive, though in the case of failure, he would lose limbs. A not so pleasing scenario. Nonetheless, Mark rose to the challenge, not because of the reward but a care for his own life.

After a few futile attempts, Mark accepted the challenge through mental command. He had first tried to poke his finger on the ‘yes’ button, but his finger just seemed to phase through the screen.

With a roar, a man in front of Mark started to run his way over to him. Goldi tightly gripped his axe as he ran, the ground beneath him spat out sand at his every step.

Mark covered his face with a shield that he held with both hands. Trying to fight Goldi with a sword seemed like a stupid idea. He had far more strength than his own.

With a powered attack, stringing his arm all the way to his back, Goldi charged at Mark. He yelled as he did so. His attacks seemed simple and almost barbaric, but the force he packed was nothing to scoff at.

Mark blocked the first few strikes; he felt his hand and arms shudder at every swing. The wood on the shield slowly started shedding off as well. A large portion of it was missing wood and only a few ropes of steel held the shield together.

“AAAAAHH!” Goldi yelled as he swung his axe once again. His stamina didn’t seem to tire him out anytime soon.

Mark closely crunched his arms to minimise the impact of the blow. Mark this time, tried to aim his shield in a way that the axe would get caught in the metal ropes of the shield. It worked!

The axe hung from the shield at a crooked angle. Goldi desperately tried to pull out his axe from the jail his axe was stuck in, but to no avail.

The two men, Goldi and Mark struggled to fight over control, each desperately trying to get rid of their opponent’s weapon. Both of their weapon was caught in a jail cell. They pushed each other till both tumbled over the ground and brawled on the floor.

Seeing how the fight over weapon control wasn’t going anywhere, the both let go off as they fell and pounced on one another.

With both of them on the floor, Goldi easily seized control of the fight and got himself on top of Mark and started to punch on him on the face till he blacked out.

--

Mark woke up to a greeting from the elevating screen, congratulating him.

[ New quest!

A man’s greatest gift is his own life, treasure your own and survive this unfair ordeal. 

Reward: Piece of information of your new world

Failure: loss of limbs

Completed!!

]

[

Reward: A fantasy world is only as epic as you make it out to be. You are in the world of One piece. Fight, survive and gain control over your destiny.

]

--

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