prologue{Edited}

New York, 2008

Somewhere in a dark alley

"Ugh... it hurts..." A teenage boy lay sprawled in a dark alley, blood seeping from a gash on his head.

"Damn... why the hell does it hurt so much?" he groaned. Touching his head, he flinched. His hand came away red with blood. "How the hell am I lying on the street, bleeding like this?" he muttered, speechless and in pain.

[System initiating...]

The sudden, cold mechanical voice startled him.

'What the... System? Who's speaking in my head?' he wondered. The pounding headache clouded his thoughts, and everything seemed blurry.

Slowly, the pain subsided, and the bleeding stopped. The same mechanical voice spoke again:

[Host condition stabilized...]

'What the hell is going on? Why did I wake up in this shady street?' he thought, glancing around. The alley was littered with trash cans and debris.

[Ding! Memories related to the current body initiated...]

The voice echoed in his mind, and he suddenly saw memories flash before his eyes like a movie playing from a third-person perspective.

He saw the life of a nerdy boy living with his aunt. The boy was a genius, smart enough to skip school and go straight to university. Yet, his brilliance didn't save him from being bullied and humiliated in front of his classmates.

"Peter...? No way... I'm Peter Parker?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "Damn... am I in the Marvel Universe or just the movie version? And that boy looks like Andrew Garfield!"

As realization dawned, panic set in. He frantically glanced around, suddenly hyper-aware of the omniscient cosmic beings and gods that might be watching.

'How the hell am I supposed to survive in this messed-up world where villains randomly pop up to destroy the planet?' he thought. Memories of his past life, the moment he went to bed, and now waking up as Peter Parker flooded his mind.

Taking a deep breath, he muttered to himself, "I need to get my act together. At least I'm not completely hopeless—I'm the future Spider-Man, and I have a system." He tried to calm down, diverting his mind from the overwhelming panic.

He stumbled to his feet, brushing dirt off his clothes. The memory of how the previous Peter ended up here came rushing back. While walking home from school, Peter saw some thugs harassing a woman and tried to intervene, only to get knocked out and left for dead in the alley.

'This world is dangerous,' he thought grimly. 'I can't afford to be reckless like the original Peter Parker.'

He made his way out of the alley, retrieved his bag, and headed home.

---

Soon, he stood in front of the door of his house and knocked. A moment later, a beautiful woman wearing a sports bra and workout pants opened the door.

"Peter? Oh my God, what happened?" May Parker exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock. She had raised Peter like her own son, and the sight of him covered in dirt, with a swollen nose and dried blood on his face, nearly broke her.

'Whoa... so it's the actress who played Aunt May in MCU,

damn, she's beautiful..' Peter thought, momentarily distracted by her appearance. Quickly, he composed himself.

"Aunt May, I..." He started, but his words faltered. He didn't know how to explain.

Before he could finish, Aunt May grabbed him and pulled him inside, making him sit on the sofa. Peter tried to act like the original Peter, but he wasn't sure if he could pull it off.

'I'll just blame it on the head injury,' he decided.

Aunt May returned with a first-aid kit. She was a nurse and had plenty of experience treating wounds.

"Peter, how did this happen? Who hurt you? We're going to the police!" she said, her voice filled with worry.

Peter hesitated. He could see how distraught she was. "Aunt May, calm down... it's my fault. I shouldn't have tried to play hero," he said, lowering his head in guilt.

'This is harder than I thought. Acting like Peter Parker isn't easy,' he thought, struggling to maintain his composure.

Aunt May sighed and started treating his head wound. "Peter, you have to tell me what happened. We'll go to the police right away."

Realizing there was no point in hiding the truth, Peter explained everything—how he tried to save a woman from being assaulted, only to get knocked out by the thugs.

"Peter... oh God... you're so careless. What gave you the idea to go up against those thugs?" she said, clearly upset but unable to blame him entirely. This city was a breeding ground for such crimes.

Peter remained silent as Aunt May finished treating his wounds.

"Go upstairs, clean yourself up, and come down for dinner. I'll make your favourite," she said with a small smile, trying to lift his spirits.

"Okay, Aunt May," Peter replied, heading upstairs.

---

Once in his room, Peter closed the door and flopped onto his bed, exhausted.

"Phew... pretending to be the innocent Peter Parker is harder than I thought," he mumbled.

He glanced around the room, noticing the walls plastered with equations and formulas. "Wow, this Peter is a nerd. I guess I'm a bit like him, too," he chuckled.

Suddenly, he remembered the voice. "System," he called out.

A blue holographic screen materialized before him.

[Prototype Evolutionary System]

Abilities

[Appraisal]: Allows the host to identify anything within the host's strength.

[Merge/Evolution]: The host can merge sentient or non-sentient beings to gain abilities or apply them to objects.

[WARNING: The user cannot merge beyond the current limits of the body, except in special cases.]

"What the... fuck?" Peter muttered, staring at the screen.

Though it wasn't the overpowered system he had hoped for, it was still impressive. 'I guess I'll have to work hard for it. No fun in being instantly OP, anyway,' he thought, his lips curling into a small smile.

He stared out the window at the moon, his thoughts racing. 'Why haven't I been visited by Ancient One or any cosmic beings yet? Isn't that how those fanfics I read in my last life usually go?'

Knowing his arrival in this world would inevitably change its predetermined future, he began planning his next steps.

---