Nighttime in New York City, the Bronx.
The moonlight was beautiful tonight—perfect weather for a mugging.
The night breeze was gentle too, caressing his cheek like a sweet girl leaning against his shoulder to whisper softly into his ear: ‘I’m gonna rip your head off!’
In the apartment’s living room, Julian sat with a blank, hollow expression.
His clothes were disheveled, and he stared vacantly ahead, looking exactly like the traumatized bottom left behind at a crime scene after an aggressively non-consensual encounter with a gang of burly men.
Honestly, if Julian were to step outside in his current state, he probably wouldn’t be able to sit down comfortably for the rest of his life.
Right in front of him, the television was broadcasting a live bounty notice.
“This is the Daily Bugle with an emergency broadcast.
Multiple sources have confirmed that Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark was attacked by unidentified armed militants during a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan.
His current whereabouts are unknown, and his condition remains unconfirmed.
“The US Military and Stark Industries have jointly issued a fifty-million-dollar bounty, seeking any information that can provide Tony Stark’s exact location or valid leads.
Whether you are an eyewitness, a local resident, or an intelligence operative, you can submit tips anonymously through the following channels…
“Stark Industries spokesperson Ms.
Pepper Potts emphasized in a statement: ‘Mr.
Stark’s safety is our absolute highest priority.
Anyone who provides assistance will receive the full bounty and complete legal immunity…'”
Julian squeezed his eyes shut, desperately refusing to believe what was right in front of him.
Marvel!
He had actually transmigrated into the Marvel Universe!
And of all places, he landed in New York—a cursed plot of land where even an invading alien armada would get their hubcaps stolen, and a hardened super-spy wouldn’t be able to keep his own underwear safe!
First comes the Chitauri invasion wiping the floor, and later the Sentinels treating the place like a hack-and-slash game.
If you counted the sheer frequency and scale of the city’s destruction, it was enough to give a whole train full of urban planners a synchronized heart attack.
Thinking about all this, Julian couldn’t help but turn into a human censorship bleep.
He mentally cursed out the driver of the fully-insured red semi-truck that had hit him, explicitly insulting every single branch of the man’s family tree, using the driver’s mother as a starting point and radiating outward for eighteen generations.
With the speed that truck had been barreling down the road, if he was lucky, the cops would have to spend three hours scraping him off the asphalt with a spatula just to fill a single plastic bag.
If he was unlucky, the crematorium wouldn’t even bother taking the job because they wouldn’t make back the cost of fuel!
After venting his frustrations, Julian took a deep breath and started planning his next steps.
His original body belonged to a perfectly average international student in the 12th grade at Midtown High.
He had no insanely powerful background, nor any ridiculously overpowered abilities.
His parents had basically dumped him here and moved back overseas, barely even bothering to call.
If they didn’t reliably transfer his living expenses every month, Julian would have entirely valid reasons to suspect he was the byproduct of his mom’s secret affair with the neighbor.
Who else could be that negligent as parents?!
Of course, if things were truly that hopeless, he wouldn’t be sitting here cursing his luck—he would have just marched right up to the roof and taken a swan dive.
He closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness deep into his mind.
A brilliant orb of light hovered in the darkness of his mental space, instantly swallowing his consciousness the moment he approached it.
Name: Julian Primogems: 0 Character Card: [Diluc] Item Cards: [Blackcliff Slasher], [Wings of Azure Wind], [Sunsettia] ×10 Skill Card: [Favonius Bladework]
Character: [Diluc] Vision: Pyro Constellation: Noctua Description: Born into the Ragnvindr Clan, Diluc received his Pyro Vision at the age of ten and became the youngest Cavalry Captain in the Knights of Favonius at fourteen.
At eighteen, his father used a Fatui ‘Delusion’ to repel Ursa the Drake in order to protect him, but died from the weapon’s backlash.
When the Knights covered up the truth, Diluc resigned in fury, discarded his Vision, and traveled the Seven Nations to investigate the Fatui.
He later joined a vast underground intelligence network across the northern continent before finally returning to Mondstadt, where he now protects the city under the guise of the ‘Darknight Hero’.
Weapon Name: Blackcliff Slasher Rarity: ★★★★ Weapon Type: Claymore Base Attack: 510 Secondary Stat: CRIT DMG +55.1% Weapon Skill: [Press the Advantage] After defeating an opponent, Attack is increased by 24% for 30 seconds.
This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent.
Item: [Wings of Azure Wind] Description: Once, a traveler trudged through an endless wasteland, desperately hoping for a gust of wind to aid them.
The children of the atmosphere dwelt in the high heavens.
A wind spirit heard this plea and asked if it could bring a refreshing breeze to the traveler.
The higher authorities granted the request, but commanded that the spirit could only depart from the eastern shores.
It had to cross mountains and ravines, follow the sandy banks of streams and rivers, and traverse an immense distance before it could reach the traveler’s side.
And so, it set off from the coastline, beginning its journey.
Along the way, it carried dandelion seeds to distant lands, lifted the wings of fledgling birds, and turned the blades of windmills.
Because it helped people and caressed the earth, the wind spirit condensed and took on a human form.
At the very end of the road, it finally met that traveler.
Item: [Sunsettia] Description: A plump, beautiful fruit that looks like the setting sun, abundant across the continent of Teyvat.
It possesses a wonderfully sweet aroma that revitalizes anyone who smells it.
Effect: Heals minor injuries upon consumption.
Skill: [Favonius Bladework] Source: Jean Description: Inherited from the Rostam style, this bladework is the absolute essence of Mondstadt’s chivalric culture.
Its signature style—light, swift, and precise—along with its core tenet of protection, continues to influence the Knights of Favonius to this day.
This starter pack wasn’t exactly god-tier, but it certainly gave Julian the capital he needed to survive in this world.
Especially Master Diluc!
Sure, nobody really knew if the rumors about him heading to the northern continent and soloing the Fatui were entirely accurate.
Some people claimed Diluc got jumped and ruthlessly beaten down by a group of them, while others swore he engaged them in pure, one-on-one brawls.
Opinions were wildly divided, but regardless, it proved one thing: Master Diluc was definitely not weak!
In fact, among all Vision holders, he comfortably sat in the upper echelons of power.
Placed in the Marvel universe, as long as he didn’t run into utterly broken, beyond-god-tier beings like the Hulk, Thor, the Ancient One, or the Sentry, handling most other situations wouldn’t be too difficult.
Wait…
‘Hold on.
Why the hell am I automatically assuming I’m going to be throwing hands with the good guys instead of the villains?!’
Shaking off those completely bizarre thoughts, Julian glanced over at the Primogems section.
The interface did indeed display a gacha banner that he could pull from.
But how was he supposed to actually earn any Primogems?
That was a massive problem!
The even bigger problem was that this cheat code of a system didn’t come with a handy little AI assistant or a cute fairy guide to explain things.
It looked like he was just going to have to figure this whole thing out on his own.