"HEY, MOVE! The fiend is behind you."
Shouting, a boy yanked his friend away from Ren.
Ren didn't even spare them a glance and kept walking silently. It wasn't a rare occurrence for him to be called a fiend or a demon.
And the reason for it?
It was his eyes.
They were reversed in color. While others had a black pupil inside a white sclera, his eyes contained a white pupil in a completely black sclera.
"It's late; I need to go home quickly or else I might be late for work again."
He sighed as his steps became faster, darting quickly through the roads.
Walking down the streets, his thoughts drifted to the orphanage where he had spent fifteen years growing up.
He was found at the gates as a baby. Stunned and a little freaked seeing his abnormality, Nyra—The caretaker of the orphanage, took him to a doctor.
But after getting him checked, all she could figure out was that it could be a genetic mutation, one which shouldn't hinder his eyesight.
He was taken in by the orphanage. However, he was isolated by the other kids, as none of them wanted to get close to him.
He still remembered the vivid fear in their eyes whenever their gazes landed on him, labeling him a demon.
"It's been a year since I visited Aunt Nyra… I should probably meet her this Sunday."
His eyes softened remembering the times he spent playing with her. She never discriminated against him like the others.
And even reminded others to treat him as a normal kid. But nothing changed despite her best efforts.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that in this world, she was the only one close to him.
Everyone was an abandoned kid with no identity at that place.
And later, Ren also eventually left the orphanage just like the other kids did after turning fifteen years old.
Provided with a basic drawer and a small bed, attached to a bathroom next door in a room of 10 square meters by the government, he started living his quiet and isolated life.
He went to a government school, allowing him to study almost for free. He only did part-time jobs to pay for his electricity, food, and clothes bills, etc.
His mentality was far different from that of others his age. If he hated going to school, he would attend it every day. If he disliked working out, he worked out every single day.
All of this was engraved in him from a young age, allowing him to grow up without becoming an introvert.
Nyra had taught him not only to appreciate the beautiful but also to embrace the ugly.
His lips curled up when he thought about the unique way she viewed the world and how he, too, now had the same ideology.
"She was always strict when it came to studying. But I get why she did that; this world won't allow someone like me to exist. Fighting back is the only path I have, but could I ever exist freely in this world?
Was I ever meant to in the first place?"
He always asked himself this question and as always, never got an answer.
Until today.
Suddenly,
A mysterious hexagonal red-colored rune appeared beneath his feet, prompting him to halt his steps as he looked at it with wide eyes.
It had complex patterns etched upon it, making him feel as if he couldn't stare at it for more than a few seconds.
"Wh-What is this?" He asked, more so to himself, with a hint of fear and panic audible in his voice.
Feeling a bad premonition in his heart, he quickly tried to run but before he could take his second step, he vanished, along with the mysterious rune.
---
In an unknown place in the endless cosmos, Ren's fingers twitched, once, twice.
Opening his eyes slowly, the only thing he could see was the endless white expanse in all directions, even above and beneath him.
He looked confused and detached for a moment before his mind regained clarity of his surroundings.
'Where am I? Some sort of prison to brainwash people?'
Panic started to seep through his bones, but before he could act, a golden colored panel materialized in front of his eyes.
[Suitable host found. Awakening the Ultimate Paragon System.]
Ren was startled to see a golden screen appear in front of him. Thinking about things that had transpired, he felt as if he were in some sort of dream.
After a few minutes, he started to calm down.
"Alright, the next best course of action for me should likely be this golden panel. But what even is it? A hologram?"
Watching his fingers slip through the glowing screen without the slightest ripple, and the near-infinite white expanse, he started to realize this wasn't something humans could create.
"Then who is it? Is a god involved here? And what the hell is with this word 'System'? Is it a program or something? Ahh… I don't know anything."
Getting frustrated by his lack of information, he fiddled with his clothes but was astonished to find that his backpack was missing.
But in the grand scheme of things, the disappearance of a bag was a simple matter. So he didn't dwell on it.
The only option was to try to communicate with the panel. But would it work?
Nevertheless, he decided to give it a try.
"Uhm… Hello. What are you—no, where am I?" He reconsidered and asked the most important question first.
[You do not have enough authority.]
"Whaaa… then tell me, what are you?"
[Not enough authority.]
"… seriously? Then, at the very least, tell me what I should do?"
[Answering the query. The host does not need to do anything. In ten seconds, you will be transported to another world as per the actual flow of time.]
"Wait, what actual flow of time? Were you the one to teleport me here?"
[No. The only thing the host needs to know is that he will awaken the Ultimate Paragon System, which will aid you in the future.]
"What do you mean? What system are you talking about? How does it work?"
But before the panel could reply, his vision started to blur.
"No, at least tell me what type of world I am being transported to..." was all he could say before his figure disintegrated.