“…”.

“Young one?”.

This situation is truly bizarre. Before any assumptions, let me check first.

“Why are you harming yourself, young guide?”, Yep, I pinched myself and it hurts a lot. This is all real, and after looking at my hand, guess what? My skin is also blue! Just that it’s not shining at the same intensity. My glow is as intense as candlelight, while his is as intense as the sun! How can I even see him without hurting my eyes? And you might ask why did I say he? It’s because as far as I can see, his form is pretty masculine and he has a beard that matches perfectly with his straight white hair. So unless he’s some kind of flat chested bearded lady, he’s a guy.

I look around the place and just like I said before, a barren blue wasteland. There are no cloning equipment nearby, no teleportation sigils, nor anything that can serve as a clue to my current predicament. Was I even cloned or teleported? Could this be the afterlife and he’s here to judge me? If so, I’m definitely going to hell.

I take a look at myself and see that I’m completely nude… Well, that’s not embarrassing at all… Anyways, compared to before, my body is quite muscular and I believe I’m slightly taller, though there’s nothing to compare myself to, well nothing other than my giant friend over here. I look at my hands and they still have 5 fingers each, but the nails are slightly sharper. The same thing applies to my feet. I then start touching my head and find though my facial structure is still human, I have 2 long straight horns and pointy ears. I try to turn and I feel a weight connected to my lower spine. Oh, it’s just a tail… Why do I have a tail!?

The blue giant was staring at me in amusement, then he started talking, “Hmm… It seems to me that you are still confused about your current predicament, I understand how you young ones require a moment to calm your nerves. So please take your time.”.

Um… I know I don't qualify as a people’s person, but isn’t this the part where you start by telling your name and explain things slowly for the person to calm down? Anyways, let’s start the conversation and get some meaning out of this.

“Greetings sir, my name is as you well know, considering you’ve summoned me, Leon Octavian Sirus.”.

He nodded in approval and then introduced himself, “And I am Azan, the one who was chosen to mentor you on the ways of a guide.”.

Don’t laugh Leon, but Azan? Doesn’t that mean in some old Terran language ‘Water Heater’? Even from my world, Azan means “One who never shuts up” in Enterian. Keep a straight face and start asking questions.

“Chosen? Weren’t you the one who made me?”, if it’s not him, then who? And what’s a guide?

“Dear heavens no! Only the creator grants life and I am but a mere shepherd for the people! I-”, and now you sound like a priest.

I should start asking him the most important question, before he even tries to begin rambling on about his faith, ideals and duty. “Then can you please explain to me, why am I here? And what’s a guide?”.

“Hmm…? Ah yes. you are here to begin your sentence for the sin of imitating the creator!”, I knew it. “And for your reckless actions that exposed your people to danger!”

“Wait, what actions!? Yeah sure, I created a virtual world full of level 3 AIs, played god and cloned some of them, but using the technology made in that virtual world, I helped to improve mine by leaps and bounds! Some of the major improvements include better agricultural methods, more efficient manufacturing methods that produce less wastes, alternative energy sources that are less harmful, if harmful at all to nature, and most importantly cures to many diseases that are thought to be incurable! Heck, with the improvement of both manufacturing methods and medication, medicines became cheaper!”, I scream at the guy.

Azan raises an eyebrow and asks me, “So you claim innocence?”.

“Nope.”, Yeah, I gotta admit I do deserve to go to hell for creating a level 3 AI using that method, but it was the best way I could find and it served its purpose and allowed us to overcome many hurdles across many fields. So why do I believe I deserve to go to hell? Well, I did create another world full of wars, strife, famine, etc… just to create intelligent life, new tech and a better way to grow orb-fruit. What’s orb-fruit? It’s a delicious exotic citrus fruit that I like, but in terms of farming it takes 200 liters of water per 1 kg. So yeah, I also caused endless suffering to get my favorite healthy snack in the morning. Sue me.

I then continued,“I also took care of the most troublesome guy among the clones, and compared to him with the exception of 2, the others are chumps who the army can take care of.”, It’s true. With Atla dead, the only 2 who can pose any challenge are Ameria and Aizen, but Ameria isn’t the type to bring harm to innocents, which makes it a mystery how she even became the supreme commander without getting her hands dirty, and Aizen can’t do a thing at the moment. I made sure of it by locking down the sector with the computer that houses their world beforehand, and the army would get there before they even try anything stupid like hacking the network or trying to create extra… clones of… shit….

Knowing that Aizen, he’ll manually set the cloning device to create an extra pair of everyone, which would serve as bait while he plans their escape. You might ask, wouldn’t the clones need time to be made? If it was 20 years ago, then yes, yes they would’ve needed more time, but with current tech? It would be easy to create a batch of unstable clones that would last for at least a period of 3 days before they age rapidly. I should’ve locked the device from the main terminal, but I had less than 10 minutes to prepare for Atla.

Anyways, even if he did escape, he’d be caught before anything happens, right?... right?

“Sigh… So what’s the verdict? Hell?”, I asked Azan. It wouldn’t be anything less I’m sure.

“Normally that would be the case, but considering your talents, I asked for a different one. You will be assigned to guide a certain race of this world from their barbaric origins into an age of light”, Azan says as he points at the aqua-green planet.

What? Are my ears playing tricks on me? Oh right, before this talk about my crimes, he kept calling me young guide and that he’ll tutor me.

That got me to blurt out like an idiot, “That doesn’t sound like a punishment.”.

“Oh really?”, he replied as he smiled. I really don’t like it when guys smile.

“Let me show you, your new people shall we?”, he said before he clapped his hands twice and we were wrapped in a white light. I covered my eyes and when the light faded, I found that we’re inside some cave and I saw them.

A humanoid race that looks like us except they’re hairier, more muscular, have a thicker lower jaw and a darker skin tone. And not to forget they’re completely nude. They’re literal troglodytes. If I have to say what species they resemble, I’d say they’re Homo-Erectus.

Azan then starts talking, “I told you my name and I told you that I will be your mentor. Now let me tell you about our duty as guides, we are the hidden saviors of the people and the givers of the light of knowledge. We uphold a responsibility of guiding races to a better future in both life and death.”.

I couldn’t help but as,” Life and Death?”.

“Yes. Life and Death. In life we lead them to a better livelihood by helping them improve mentally, socially and spiritually. The spiritual part is how we help them reach our construct of an afterlife, where the worthy souls will be rewarded with a fitting place according to their desires, until the time comes for all souls across the worlds to be transferred to the endless paradise made by the creator. While souls who have sinned would be given an appropriate punishment to their sins. depending on their sins, the ones with pardonable sins like thievery, trickery and sabotage would still be able to enter the endless paradise after their punishment is due, while those who commit the most heinous sins like murder, betrayal and challenging the creator’s authority would never gain entry and burn in damnation for the rest of eternity unless under special circumstances.”, replies Azan. Yeah, yeah, I get it already. I’ve been bad, so take me away officer, or better yet please don’t.

And you could’ve said it’s just plain old heaven and hell. Good guys go to heaven, while bad guys go to hell. But that explanation is lackluster, since what is a sin in general? And what is good and evil? Doesn’t it all depend on context and culture? Would killing a man who would slaughter millions be considered murder, thus evil? Would saying the truth to a tyrant, even if it would condemn many innocents be good? Would helping the poor with money acquired through ill gains be considered good or evil?

Though I won’t shoot myself in the foot by asking him these questions. Maybe he’ll in some way take these questions in the wrong way and condemn me to hell. Who knows what people will assume, even from a simple hello.

I really shoul-Are they having sex in public!? I stare at 2 of the blue troglodytes as they’re mating in the middle of the cave. The male is plowing his mate hard on the ground. Their breath is hot, their eyes are hazy, sweat is glistening off their bodies, while he’s pounding his- No, nope! I’M NOT EXPLAINING THIS SHIT! I can only say there is no class in the act! He’s salivating like a buffoon while his tail is wiggling about and they’re so hairy! Though not as much as the males, even the females are hairy! The only saving grace about the females is thankfully they don’t have a beard, mustache, or sideburns. But they really need to shave those legs and that thick jungle on their lower pair of lips.

I would say they’re acting like animals, but many animals as far as I know, including rats have private mating sessions.

“Are you done watching?”, Says Azan with a bemused expression.

“Yeah.”, I reply to him, since I have better things to do than act like I care if he thinks of me as a pervert. Like a very important question.

“Isn’t it too early to guide these guys? I mean they’re nude, too primitive and the only tools I’ve seen so far are bones, stones and sticks”, it’s true. Right now I’ve just noticed one of them is using a stick to hit some insect crawling on the walls, one is using a big blunt stone to bash a hard fruit open, while a smarter looking one is using a large sharpened stone to remove the flesh from some dead animal to get to the meat.

I also ask, “Do they even have a language? How am I expected to make a thriving civilization using these guys?”.

Azan smirked, “No they do not, they have a simple proto-language, and that is your punishment. Usually guides are sent to a stable period in creation worlds and are sent to evolution ones once they reach the Neolithic period. Only 3, excluding you were sent to a world before even reaching that period.”.

“Huh…?”, what did he just say? Isn’t this too much of a punishment?

“How am I even supposed to guide them?”, I stated the obvious.

“Well, there are many ways for a guide to guide his people, the first lesson is about influence. Depending on the guide’s level, the guide can influence a race in many ways, ranging from suggestions, thought manipulation and possession to physical manipulation, reincarnation and for the guide to descend onto the world.”, huh… maybe this isn’t as bad as I thought.

“So what am I capable of?”, I ask. It would be awesome to descend onto the masses and for them to kneel before me. Though, I’m pretty sure these guys would either fight me or run away.

“Only thought influence and reincarnation at the moment. You’re still too weak”, and he says it. I thought it was too good to be true.

“I understand thought influence, but how come I can reincarnate”, I ask since how is that a weakling’s skill?

“Easy, since reincarnation is merely the transfer of your soul into an unborn vessel in its last week before birth, it is quite easier than descending which requires you to make the vessel yourself and possession where the host already developed an ego. And before you ask, nothing happens to the vessel’s original soul, they’ll merely know of your existence and continue their life from where you left off with only the memories during your descent. Though their personality would be affected by you of course.”, that explains that. At least no babies are killed during the process.

“So how do I get stronger and how do I know if I’m strong enough for the other skills? I’m not feeling any flow of energy like when I was a human and I’m pretty sure there are better ways than checking my glow every now and then.”, That would suck.

“You increase your strength the more people you have under your guidance and the more of them that believe in you. You know as a magic user that thoughts and words have power and the power of faith is greater than you think. Most of that power is used to power your afterlife, while the remaining power goes to you. And about checking your progress, originally we were given no way to measure our power and check our info, but 5000 years ago, some guides created a useful tool that made it possible, and you’ve seen it before. Just think about a screen that has your information.”, so that screen was the tool.

Let’s try it Status!

Real Name: Leon Octavian Sirus World: Unnamed. Known as: Not known. Guided Race(s): Unnamed (1). Level: 1 Achievements: None. Skills: Thought influence, Reincarnation.

Huh, so I’m level 1? And it says that the world is unnamed, and Guided race(s), not race, so there could be multiple races, not only one dominant race that rules the world. It’s better to ask Azan before making any other assumptions, “It says that the world is unnamed, why is that? And Guided races not race, so are there multiple races on this world?”.

Azan nods his head and responds to my questions, “This world is indeed unnamed since there are no races who are able to name it yet, and once there are, the world’s name would be the one known by the majority. And indeed, there are multiple races and once they mature, other guides would come to this world. They and undesirables”, Then his face turned to disgust.

“Undesirables?”, I couldn’t help but ask.

“They are known in my tongue as the Sakitun, or the fallen ones. It is a term used to describe multiple beings. Guides that have abused their power and escaped from punishment to leech off other worlds, beings created from the thoughts of men to be worshiped as gods, and anomalies that are attracted to the world due to benign rituals.”, Well, those would be a problem.

Then his expression softened and he continued, “Oh, but do not worry, as undesirable as they me, not all of them are bad, with the exception of the rogue leeches of course. Some of them choose to ally with or submit to guides, since they have limited powers depending on their origin and also require people to believe in them, so it would only be good for them to ally with us. I already have 12 Sakitun working for me.”, that answers the question of how one man can guide an entire world.

“So I have to be wary of these guys and what about other guides? Would they be a problem?”, it would be a major issue if not only I would have to avoid extinction and handle fallens, but also fellow guides.

Azan starts stroking his beard, while contemplating an answer, “Hmm… I honestly do not know… I apologize. There is only one race in my world, so I cannot give you an answer. Though when I was a novice, I did hear from my own mentor that there is no rule that governs relations between guides, other than it is forbidden to commit full scale genocide on a race, since that could kill the guide if he could not find any followers in the next 1000 years. Most likely they would not interfere with each other, cooperate, or develop a master and servant relationship.”.

“So either ignore each other, become allies or enslave the others. Got it.”.

He twitched at the idea of enslaving other guides, but what would you call a “master-servant relationship” if not slavery?

He then changed the subject, “Well, let us begin the first lesson with thought influence. To do that, just choose a single individual and focus on transferring a thought or command to him.”.

Hmm… Who should I choose? Ah! There’s a guy who’s trying to chip a large rock to make an edge. Let’s try helping him a bit.

As far as I see, their technique is pretty crude. They’re using what we call mode 1 tools also known as the Oldowan industry, which is basically focusing on a single side of the stone core. Let’s start by helping them go up to mode 2.

Why not sharpen the other side?

“Ooohh?”, he suddenly stopped and looked confused. Maybe that thought was too hard for him. Let’s make it more simple.

Make rock sharp again.

“Ahh!”, is eyes suddenly widened in realization and he started working on the stone again.

As he finished removing flakes from the stone he… worked on the same side again… Let’s try again.

Other side.

Now he started working on the other side. And as he works, he realizes that the stone is not only becoming thinner, but it’s easier to get a sharp edge, unlike working on one side where it depends on luck.

After he finishes working on the stone, he tests on a piece of bone and the result shocks him as it cut through it easier.

“Oooooohhh!”, everyone nearby looked at him as he screamed in excitement, then raised his new invention in triumph.

“Good job Young one! With this you have shown them the beginning of the road to improvement”, says Azan with a bright smile.

“If this is thought to be considerable improvement, I still have a long road ahead of me.”, I can’t seem to share his enthusiasm. Yeah, luckily they turned out to be smarter than I thought, but they’re still a looooong way from what I want them to be. Let’s try to speed things up.

“I’ll try reincarnation now.”, I tell Azan, which causes him to wince.

“I would not recommend that, it is not the right time for that.”, he replies.

“Why? Is it because they’re too primitive?”, As far as I know homo erectus care about family and are cooperative.

“That, and since it will be winter soon, they’ll migrate. there could be problems in acquiring resources.”, winter? I look outside the cave and find it to be fall, so he does have a point, but the sooner we help them improve, the sooner I won’t be stuck between my teacher over here and cavemen. Like high school wasn’t enough. Instead, I’ll at least be stuck between him and tribal folk with fire and actual housing.

“Don’t worry, if I do reincarnate sooner and manage to survive till adulthood, wouldn’t they make a breakthrough by following my lead and their evolution would sooner be focused on improving cognitive abilities?”, I tell the guy. I think. Evolution works that way, right?

“Maybe… Alright, I will allow you to reincarnate, but do not say I did not warn you.”, yeah, yeah, I get it dad.

He then tells me, “To reincarnate you only have to approach a pregnant female and desire it. I recommend to approach one who’s at the end of her. There are currently 5 pregnant women nearing the end of their pregnancy, which one do you want to be your mother?”.

“Which one’s the alpha or her mate?”, what I do know about erectus, is that they don’t organize labor by gender and don’t have the practice of marriage, so there is no such thing as husband or wife.

“There is no alpha, they are egalitarian, but if you want the one with the strongest mate, it is the one in the right corner at the end of the cave. And good luck.”, thanks teach, see you when I’m back.

So I went there and I have to say my new mother is as ugly as it gets. Large nose, pear like body, sagging breasts and that abundant body hair. I’m sure she’s quite the beauty in their eyes, but in mine there’s no such thing as beauty to be seen from this form.

Anyways, let’s get started, shall we?