Mark of the Multiversal Pretender

Remembering the boxing technique he watched from Hajime No Ippo called the Dempsey Roll.

Now, normally one might think that Leo would start swaying left and right and deliver a flurry of punches towards the wooden dummy.

Wrong.

The keypoint of the Dempsey Roll is that the user of the technique can use the sway of their body to use their entire body weight to deliver a very strong punch, exceeding the normal 100% of your punching strength.

'I can't believe I'm doing something that I only watched from a Japanese anime show.' if Leo's past self were to hear about this, no doubt he would definitely be laughing at him.

But now, it's different.

'I remember it was this stance and this.' First things first, Leo entered the stance of the Dempsey Roll according to his memories.

'And then I sway my body.' Leo then started to sway left and right, much to Master Shifu's confusion, including the Furious Five who stopped in their tracks and shifted their attention from their training to Leo's weird swaying.

"Is he.....dancing?" Mantis said confusedly.

"Maybe? I remember a few Kung Fu masters using the concept of dancing as their Kung Fu style, they say it's quite effective and....flashy." Viper chimed in, giving her opinion.

"Nevertheless, I don't think dancing like that would help him in taking down the wooden dummy, remember it took me 5 months before advancing to the next-."

*Bam!*

While Monkey was in the middle of speaking his thoughts. Leo, who has been swaying left and right for a whole minute, suddenly launched a very fast jab towards the wooden dummy.

A crispy yet explosive sound echoed around the Training Hall, silencing not only the Monkey who was speaking, but also the sound of nature outside the Training Hall, giving a huge spotlight to Leo, whose fists were steaming slightly.

The wooden dummy being thrown across the section was not what shocked them, instead it was the huge fist printed on the chest of the wooden dummy.

"I did it?" Leo said to himself with a stunned expression, even the Furious Five were looking at the Wooden Dummy that is now back to its feet but the print on its body can still be seen.

"No you did not." Unfortunately, just as Leo was thinking about celebrating, Master Shifu poured cold water on his head.

"Eh?"

"The goal is for the head of the dummy to touch the ground, not to throw it across the room. You failed." Master Shifu explained and before Leo could reply, he continued.

"The purpose of this wooden dummy is not to test the extent of your strength but to test how much control you have in your strength. Only a proper strike combined with knowing where to strike can you finish this level. Again!" Hearing Master Shifu's detailed explanation with advice, Leo, who was disheartened from failing cheered up slightly.

"I see. Thank you for the guidance, Master." Leo nodded his head in seriousness before bowing out of gratitude for the advice.

Smiling in satisfaction, Master Shifu instructed the Furious Five to go back to their training after noticing that they stopped.

Meanwhile, Leo faced the wooden dummy once again and repeated Dempsey Roll, only to fail again.

So, he kept repeating punching the wooden dummy only to fail in several ways.

Sometimes the wooden dummy would be thrown across the room or sometimes it would fly up in the sky due to striking at the wrong spot.

Nonetheless, this continued until night.

***

"Huff....Huff." Inside the training hall where the moonlight pierces through the open windows, highlighting the only individual inside.

*Drip!* x4

At this point, Leo's knuckles were bleeding and had some splinters stabbed in.

He was staring at the transparent screen in front of him.

[• Quest Title: From Cleaner to Master

Main Quest: Finish the final test before becoming an official Kung Fu student under Master Shifu's guidance.[Completed!]

Secret Quest: Discover the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom and eat a peach [Completed!]

• Rewards:

Main Reward: 5% of Black Panther Template, 5 Gacha tickets, A Mop] [Claim]

Secret Reward: Rank D Universal Travel Ticket [1 week] [Claim]]

Normally, Leo would've claimed the reward and be done with the wooden dummy level, however after hearing Master Shifu's advice and explanation earlier, he finally decided against claiming the reward for now.

The goal of the dummy level was to control his strength, and right now if he claimed the rewards, sure it would increase his strength but at the same time, it would become harder to control his strength.

And so, he decided to claim it later after successfully controlling his strength.

"Too bad Master Shifu wasn't here to see that I managed to control my strength and strike properly." Leo said while looking at the wooden dummy that is laying on the ground, it's head touching the wooden floor.

'Well, I can just show it tomorrow but now, I think I should go back and cook dinner for the Furious Five, I remember Viper coming earlier to remind me about it.' Saying those in his head, Leo grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the blood off his knuckles before walking out of the training hall.

***

"Where is he? I thought he was supposed to cook for us this time?" Mantis loudly complained, while Monkey just nervously smiled.

"Maybe he was jus-." Before Monkey could finish his sentence, the sliding door was suddenly opened by none other than the protagonist of their topic, Leo.

"Sorry for being late, guys. I'll cook for you all." Without even waiting for them to respond, they watched as Leo strode towards the kitchen all while wearing an apron, the apron that Mr. Ping gifted him.

Since it's already night time, Leo obviously can't cook noodles for them.

He might be a con-man in his past life but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to cook. After all, if you want to save money, you must know how to cook for yourself.

Without even responding to the questions of the Furious Five such as what he's cooking, Leo went on in his work.

The ingredients in the kitchen were very simple, tomatoes, potatoes, cooking oil, eggs, and a bunch of meats.

"Tortilla Española it is." Looking at these ingredients, Leo decided to cook one of his favourites.

He quickly grabbed the ingredients and started slicing and dicing them.

Almost an hour has passed and the Furious Five never once left their eyes on Leo's cooking skills. They were simply hooked at the way Leo moves around the kitchen. From the way he walks and grabs an ingredient from the further end of the countertop to peeling the potatoes were all top-notched.

He moves as if the entire kitchen is his domain! His territory! 

Not only it caught the attention of the Furious Five, but also Tigress who is known to be serious and rarely shows emotions besides anger and seriousness, is now looking at Leo's back in awe.

Her eyes glint slightly, as if she found a worthy opponent! Before there was Leo, she was always the one in the kitchen as she likes cooking a bit, it not only relaxes her but seeing the 'satisfies' expressions of her companions upon eating her 'food' fills her with pleasure.

"Bon Appétit." Placing the plate on the table that contains the Tortilla Española, Leo grabbed a nearby towel and wiped off his sweaty hands.

The Furious Five ignored Leo as if he wasn't there, their eyes were simply occupied by the steaming delicacy in front of them.

"What are you guys waiting for? Dig in!" 

*Clap!*

Followed by the clap of Leo's hands, Tigress was the first one to make her move and quickly sliced half of the entire Tortilla Española, intending to take the entire half.

However, would Mantis stay idle?

With his fast speeds that exceed even Tigress's, Mantis successfully sliced the half of Tigress's half Tortilla Española before placing it on his plate while Tigress only gets the half of the half instead of the entire half.

At the same time, the rest of the Furious Five were slightly slow and could only share the other half of the Tortilla Española.

"Hmmhhmm!~ What an exquisite taste!" Mantis commented after taking a small bite of the Tortilla Española, bringing him almost to heaven.

"It tastes good. Better than the rodents I usually eat." Viper added in after, praising the delicacy also.

"It's good." Tigress only said two words as a compliment, not wanting to look like she's in euphoria just from eating the food cooked by her 'rival'.

"It's delicious. Thanks for the meal, Leo." Crane nodded his head in gratitude.

"I feel like I could eat this food for decades!" Monkey exaggeratedly said while munching on his tortilla espanola.

"Thank you for your compliments." Leo smiled happily, all while watching as his template percentage went up by 0.001%. It might seem small but to Leo, it is big enough, especially since it is kind of a passive income as long as he cooks everyday.

Aside from that, Leo was happy that they enjoyed the food that he cooked.

For the rest of the night, the dining room was full of chewing sounds and clanking of utensils.

***

Sitting on his bed, Leo looked at the Cleaner to Master Quest before inhaling and exhaling.

[• Quest Title: From Cleaner to Master

Main Quest: Finish the final test before becoming an official Kung Fu student under Master Shifu's guidance.[Completed!]

Secret Quest: Discover the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom and eat a peach [Completed!]

• Rewards:

Main Reward: 5% of Black Panther Template, 5 Gacha tickets, A Mop] [Claim]

Secret Reward: Rank D Universal Travel Ticket [1 week] [Claim]]

"Claim! Claim! Claim!"

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 19 - The Great Pretender's training arc! (3)]