1. A strange screen

"Don't hurt him, please!"

Aslan stared wide-eyed at the foster mother who had raised him in the orphanage since he was a child. Linda by name, he was again dragged from the room.

"Don't come here again or I'll fire you from here!" Shouted a large man with a tiger tattooed on his arm.

Aslan, the 18-year-old who was beaten by the creepy adults, could only whimper and cough up blood.

Just two hours ago, the police arrived on Aslan's report that the orphanage owner was conducting illegal business. However, the orphanage owner denied the allegations and the police left.

Now it's been two hours since they locked Aslan up in the basement, beating him until his blood stains the otherwise clean room.

"Do you know how helpless you are now? How dare you report me!"

The owner of the orphanage, a man with a tiger tattooed on his arm, lifted his foot and stomped on Aslan's stomach.

The expensive leather shoes hurt like hell.

"Kill him, boss!" One of the man's men provoked.

The man called boss grinned, "No! I'll let him live in fear, what can this weakling do with me? Hahahaha!"

Aslan coughed up more blood, making the man stop his laughter and kick Aslan's frail body.

"You guys pick him up and throw him in the river!"

"Yes, boss!"

The man's men lifted Aslan's small body with ease, carrying him out of the room through the back door. If they went through the front door, the orphanage children and the orphanage mother would make a fuss, they didn't like that annoying whining.

Right behind the orphanage was a large river used for picnics or bathing. The river was clear, the scenery was very pretty, so people liked to go there.

But on those cold nights, the river water would feel like ice water.

"Don't ever come back again, here take your bag too!" The orphanage owner's men threw the backpack into the river along with Aslan's body.

The wounds on Aslan's body stung from contact with the icy water, but he was too weak to fight back.

"Tell people that you left on your own! If you die by drowning in the river that's better!" Aslan could still hear that scumbag's voice, but after that he fainted.

'If I'm still alive, I'll get back at you, Alonso, just watch!' Aslan thought.

But contrary to his determination, his body was getting weaker, he felt like he was falling deeper and deeper into the riverbed.

'Is the river really this deep?' Aslan thought, because as he remembered, the river wasn't that deep, but he kept feeling pulled in.

His consciousness was fading away.

Meanwhile, an old man who happened to be passing by accidentally saw something floating in the river. The man immediately turned to look.

"Hey, are you alright?" Without another thought, the man entered the river and dragged Aslan's body, along with his backpack. Fortunately, the bag was waterproof.

"Cough! Cough!" Aslan swallowed the water, he opened his eyes and saw the old man he knew.

It was Johnny, the owner of the small dormitory near his school.

"Come with me, you can still walk, right? Let's go to the nearest hospital," Johnny said, trying not to panic and stay calm.

Aslan smiled and fainted again.

A few moments later, Aslan regained consciousness.

"Aslan?" A woman Aslan recognized as Johnny's wife smiled broadly at him.

"Thank goodness you're awake! The doctor said you're fine, want to eat?"

Aslan shook his head softly, making Rina and Johnny worried.

The good couple took Aslan to their dormitory, more precisely to an unused room whose roof was leaking and had not yet been repaired.

Aslan, who was fully conscious, told them what had happened, they felt sorry for him and gave him some warm food.

But Aslan refused, he could only eat two spoons, after which he went to the park near the dormitory.

The young man cried there, Johnny and Rina couldn't prevent Aslan, because they thought Aslan needed time alone.

"It turns out I'm still alive, that damn Alonso, I have to find strong evidence to put him in jail, but I don't know what to do" muttered Aslan.

Various plans popped into his head, but they were all useless because he was so weak.

Suddenly Aslan's stomach rumbled, he was starving. He went to the nearest convenience store. He only had two tattered dollar bills and a nearly dead cell phone. It had been in his backpack before, so it hadn't been exposed to water.

The money he had could only buy one loaf of bread, not even a drink.

Aslan began to worry that he wouldn't be able to pay the dormitory fees. But he would find money no matter what, there had to be a way, like a part-time job.

After buying some bread, Aslan sat in front of the convenience store and used the WiFi there to search for job openings.

But it was hard to find a job around the city of Batavia. There were plenty of job openings, but there were also plenty of applicants. The metropolitan city has a lot of people, and there are a lot of people who need jobs. So obviously the competition was fierce.

"Excuse me young man, may I have some food?"

Aslan looked up at the old lady who looked very hungry. It didn't take long for Aslan to give her his only bread. It was no problem to endure hunger for another day, Aslan was still young, so he must be strong.

"Thank you young man, as a token of gratitude, may I hold your hand?"

"Of course, Gran!"

Aslan came closer and gently took her hand.

"You're a good boy, this is a gift for you."

Aslan was silent because he was confused, she said gift but she gave him nothing but a handshake. Until then he realized, the wounds on his arms disappeared by themselves. But when he turned back to the old lady, the old woman had vanished, her footsteps were not even visible.

After that, Aslan sat back down and pondered what had just happened. How had she healed his wound? When he looked in the mirror through his cell phone, even the scars on his face that should have been difficult to remove were gone.

[A new master has been found!]

Aslan was surprised to hear a strange voice, like a woman robot, but there was no one around.

Aslan was terrified, but the voice came again, as a strange screen appeared in front of him.

[Welcome to the perfection system!]

[Perfection system is a system that will make you a better human being, as well as give you a lot of wealth and glory by doing various exciting missions]

[System and master unification process]

[10%]

[40%]

[60%]

[80%]

[100%]

[Unification completed!]

[Now master can do various missions and earn a lot of money!]

[You get a starter reward! See rewards: now - later]

Aslan was still confused, but his self-directed index finger tapped the screen, accidentally touching the 'now' option.

"What is this?" Aslan muttered in confusion.

The screen in front of him changed and showed something strange.