"This…"
Zed was surprised as he found himself in a city shelter.
Rosy was eating in the corner, and he appeared right next to her.
Rosy was startled—her eyes brightened the moment she saw it was Zed.
Zed smiled at her. "I am here."
"Hey, you bastard. Where did you come from?"
Two young men, looking around twenty years old, approached Zed and Rosy.
One of them glared at Zed and said, "We were eyeing her, so get lost."
"What did you say?" Zed's eyes turned icy. "What do you mean by eyeing her?"
"What else? She has no one, so we were gonna take care of her and add her to our crew," the other guy said with a nasty grin.
"You…" A vein popped on Zed's temple as he muttered under his breath. "She is fifteen years old, but you…"
'Void Snap.'
Both of them suddenly vanished as flickers of black horizontal lines devoured them.
"Rosy, let's go. We are going to have a better life from now on." Zed smiled.
"Where are we going?" Rosy stood up and asked, curious.
"To our new life." Zed grinned. "Wait a second, let me process it."
'System, use the U.R. points I have and make Rosy and me descendants of a rich family somewhere, or make us part of a rich family looking to adopt people our age. Whatever you do, just make sure to give us a new life away from this city.'
[Understood. Information gathering is completed. It will require all U.R. points you currently have to make this a reality. Teleportation cost is deducted as you have the Teleport skill.]
'Do it.'
Rosy and Zed disappeared from the shelter and arrived in front of a large gate of a magnificent mansion. The high walls surrounded the entire mansion, and it looked advanced with lights and cameras on top of them.
Past the gate was a large lawn with a cobblestone pathway, a garden, and a fountain in the middle. The large house stood fifty meters further away from the fountain.
"Whoa, brother! Is this our new home?"
"I think so."
From a building to the left, a mini-car arrived and stopped in front of the gate. A black-suited butler was driving it.
He approached them while holding his phone.
"Zed and Rosy." The butler looked at them and then at his phone before nodding. "Your faces also match the pictures. Alright, come in."
The gate buzzed slightly before it opened automatically, parting from the middle.
"Get in the car. I'll take you to Mr. Tomen."
After both of them got in the small golf cart–like vehicle, the butler started driving toward the large house.
"Listen, among millions of other orphans, you two were selected by Skylink AI that Mr. Tomen's company developed. He has adopted you and will provide everything, but if you truly wish to be his children, then you have to work hard for it."
The butler glanced at Zed. "And if you do something that tarnishes his image or earns his anger, you will be abandoned—with courtesy."
"Understood." Zed nodded. "We will not ruin this god-given opportunity."
'This is where it starts.' Zed clenched his fist. 'There's no way I'm going to ruin it.'
"We will work hard, Mr. Butler," Rosy said with determination and clenched her fists.
"Haha, you may address me as Butler Fushi or Mr. Fushi, whichever you prefer."
…
After Zed and Rosy were led into the mansion, they followed Butler Fushi into an elevator and arrived on the fifth floor.
Soon, they entered an office with a middle-aged man sitting behind a desk.
He had combed black hair and light brown eyes.
"Sit." He gestured at the chairs before the desk. "Mr. Fushi, you can leave."
Butler Fushi bowed and left.
Rosy was a bit nervous, but Zed sat upright and looked at Mr. Tomen.
"I am Tomen Raudin. Introduce yourselves to me."
"Hello, Mr. Tomen." Zed nodded. "I am Zed, and this is my sister, Rosy. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for adopting us."
Tomen nodded and faintly smiled. "Zed, what do you think about being adopted? And what do you want to do with your life?"
Zed was silent for two seconds before he answered.
"I'm just grateful that my sister is now in a safe place and I can watch over her. But now that I'm here… I will use whatever you give me to make myself competent and rise in this world in every aspect of life." Zed's fist clenched, his eyes showing a clear blaze of desire. "That's what I want to do."
Tomen's eyes slightly narrowed as he smiled. "I see."
"Rosy," he turned to Rosy, his smile turning gentler.
"Y-Yes, sir."
Tomen chuckled. "You know, I am your father now. No need to be nervous. Tell me, are you hungry?"
"A little bit…"
Tomen tapped his finger on his desk before he said to Rosy, "It's late already, so after you finish eating, Sister Morrina will take you to bed, okay?"
Right as he finished speaking, the door opened and a maid entered.
"Master Tomen, you called me?"
"Yes. Take Rosy here to eat some freshly cooked food and then take her to bed on the fourth floor. Give her the Purple Star room."
Zed looked at Rosy and patted her head. "Go and don't worry, okay?"
"Mhmm." Rosy nodded and got off the chair.
"Come, little missy. You are so beautiful, you know that?" Morrina said with a smile as she led Rosy out.
"You are also very pretty, Miss Morrina."
"So, what is your favorite food?"
As the two of them left and the door closed, Tomen looked at Zed. "Zed, your answer was too broad. It seems you don't have any particular desire toward a specific profession. You don't want to become a doctor, developer, lawyer, or even a businessman, correct?"
"That…" Zed wryly smiled. 'I now have goddamn superpowers. What I want is to get loads of money, become more powerful, and influential in the world as a whole—in all areas.'
But Zed got an idea of where he could begin all that. The first step.
"I would like to join a university—a prestigious one if possible. I am confident I can be a doctor, lawyer, developer, or anything, but I would like to get into business." Zed's voice was steady and serious. "I believe I can be innovative and build something as long as I get some capital."
An exhale of thought left Tomen's mouth before he smiled. "I am a businessman with three companies. One of them is in the top 100 global companies, and the other two are in the top 500."
"My eldest son, twenty-eight years old, is CEO of one of those two companies and manages it entirely. The Skylink AI that chose you and your sister was developed by his company."
"My second oldest is a daughter, twenty-four years old, a fashion designer. She runs the other company with her mother. A fashion brand selling various products that they design."
"And lastly, my youngest child is a university student, nineteen years old. She is studying art."
Tomen bent his elbows and rested his hands below his chin. "You are nineteen years old this year, correct?"
"Yes." Zed nodded.
"Then you can join the same university as my youngest. But we don't lack businessmen." Tomen narrowed his eyes. "Would you like to hear my suggestion for your path moving forward? If you can't excel in it, you can choose to attend business classes."
Zed blinked. 'What is he planning to tell me?'
"Yes, please tell me."
"A fighter. Someone who learns physical combat, masters weapons, and—" Tomen paused and pointed a finger forward. "Make no mistake. I don't wish to turn you into an assassin or a tool for us. I can hire them."
"But I want someone else in my family to be on this path." Tomen's expression was somber. "Someone who can protect the family when it counts."
"Someone else?" Zed raised his eyebrows. "Who else is on this path in your family?"
Tomen was silent for a second before he spoke. "Zed, have you heard about supernatural martial artists—the kind who can command winds and flames and shatter a boulder with their fists?"
Zed acted dumbfounded. He didn't know before, but he was wielding crazy powers himself, even though it was only for an hour, and he'd also heard from Leventa that such people existed—so he already knew.
"They… really exist?" Zed questioned with a strange expression.
Tomen wryly smiled. "I can understand the doubts, but they do. My youngest, Lina, was recruited by a secret club in Astralon University and joined an organization that trains individuals with the potential to become supernatural martial artists. In their words, the term is Ascendants—people who rise above others."
"Zed," Tomen continued, his expression turning serious. "There is a part of the world unknown to many, and my daughter has stepped into it. My authority, power, and money mean nothing in that part of the world."
Zed understood now. "Is that why you held the orphan lottery? To choose people near her age and send them into that world to be with your daughter?"
Tomen wryly smiled. "When you say it like that, it sounds bad. But I decided to be frank with you because of your first, broad answer. You seem like a smart kid."
"But ultimately, it depends on you. If you can't qualify to enter that world, I will still settle you and your sister down and make sure you can be a businessman or whatever." Tomen smiled. "But I will continue to find people—orphans specifically—and give them genuine care and support, so that they may also do the same."
"I don't want tools." Tomen shook his head and smiled. "I want caring hearts because that's what I believe in. That's the path I chose to make my company rise into the top 100 globally, and it continues to rise because of this philosophy."
"So, what do you say, son? Want to give my suggestion a try?"