Answer to Guest review: I do not make him instantly OP, despite his rather advantageous start, because I do not believe that is how it works. Yes, he is in the stone age and has lots of time, but remember, he was just a normal guy before reincarnating. Intelligent, yes; but not interested in much besides history and fictional stories. He does not have much under his belt at the time of his death, besides not even one semester of studying architecture and working in a bar for around two years.

He does not know the exact process of producing even the most "basic" things of modern-day society. Part of my plan revolves around him researching the laws of the material and immaterial world, just like the Emperor did in his days. Remember, Big E took nearly 40 thousand years before revealing himself. (On an unrelated note, how Big E took down the freaking Void Dragon (a C'tan shard!) in the 3rd fucking century is beyond me.)

And him getting nearly killed, well he is still a stupid city boy, barely into adulthood and anything but an expert on anything non-fictional, soooo, that was him learning the "Don't-be-stupid-or-get-fucked"- lesson early on.

I wrote nearly the entire chapter in one setting. I had a lot of fun with it am quite proud of how it turned out. Nearly five hours of constant, concentrated work and one litre of energy drinks.

I must really thank you for the reviews and pms, they brought a it of constructive criticism and different perspectives that I really appreciated.

Now, continue with the chapter. Enjoy!

"Boy! Show me how you handle your weapon. We must be certain you can at least hit your prey", my father said.
I just nodded and prepared the atlatl they gave me beforehand, like I saw the hunters in the tribe do countless times. My father nodded in approval, the most anyone ever got out of him, and pointed at a tree, around thirty meters away from us.

"See the tree over there? The bark is damaged, I want you to hit that. If you can do it now, you may come with us, if not then you practice as long as it takes you to do it."

I saw the other hunters exchanging grins and glances, even the youngest one who joined them just two years ago. Apparently, it was some kind of initiation they all had to go through.

I turned back to the tree and focused on what I wanted to do. I was dying of boredom in the camp and finally had the chance to be free of that. To finally climb up the ranks and gather the respect I needed to reach my long-term goal, to take over the tribe and lead them all into a golden future, with actual clothes, farming, houses and metal! But without proving myself and earning the necessary respect, they would never follow me voluntarily. And I am no tyrant, I wouldn't force them. I wanted them to want to follow me. Because this time, in this age, I actually knew better than them. I had a rough idea on how to make their lives, and my own, more comfortable than before. I could literally advance them centuries, in the span of just a few decades, if they'd just let me. Sadly, that's not possible right now, because they do not listen to a child, no matter how right it might be. That's just how humans are.

But my plans are for the future, in the present I had to take the first step on that path. And that was to impress the hunters, and later on, the rest of the tribe.

By hitting the target in form of a tree with damaged bark thirty meters away from me, on my first try. While handling a weapon I never used before.

It was easy.

With a loud thwack the oversized arrow pierced the tree dead centre in the circular wound in its bark. For most it would have been impossible to accomplish this feat, especially at my age, but I am not exactly normal. I know my strength very well and could intuitively move my body the exact way to accomplish my goal. If it were a bow, where I do not use my body for all the relevant movements, I would have missed. If it were a moving target, I would likely have missed as well, due to my lack of experience. But with the time to concentrate and a static target? The tree stood no chance. Splinters flew in all directions and the tree shuddered. The arrow was burrowed nearly 30 centimetres, one foot, in the tree.

None but my father and I could accomplish this feat, and everyone knew it. I heard the hunters gasp and turned around. My father smiled and inclined his head, while everyone else was still picking up their jaws from the ground. A rare gesture of approval and respect from him.

"Alright, we are heading out. You may accompany us, but for now watch and learn. You are still not ready", my father said and turned around. The rest finally gathered themselves and followed.

The next hour we tracked a herd of deer after a hunter saw their fresh hoofprints this morning, leading away from the river. But then finally the lead hunter, this time the old one next in line for Elder of the Hunt, signed for us to stop and be quiet.

"What happened?", my father asked after sneaking up to him.

"We are close", the hunter said, "there are very fresh prints on the ground, and some of these bushes are damaged."

"Alright, well move slowly from now on, keep your eyes and ears sharp."

And from there on out we were all sneaking closer and closer to where we believed the herd to be. Until this moment I truly believed myself to be sneaky, but I might as well compare myself to a stampede of raging rhinos, next to a tiger creeping closer to its prey. The experienced hunters made no sound as they walked, I couldn't even hear them breathe, despite walking right behind them. They were walking very slowly, toes hitting the ground before the heels, they were always careful to never hit the bushes, to never step on anything but bare dirt and grass. Despite it still being relatively cold, none of them wore more than a loincloth they fastened two extra arrows to, because the smell of blood and rot clinging to most pelts they were wearing in camp could alert the animals to their presence, even when moving upwind. They were true masters of the craft, and I felt really amateurish next to them, even though I knew that I wouldn't need long to adjust to be just as good as them. And after nearly ten exhausting minutes of painfully, carefully sneaking closer we finally found the deer. Around forty of them were grazing in a clearing in the dense woods, some were gnawing on bushes. The hunters split up, each of them selecting one of them.

I shot my father a questioning look. He nodded and pointed on a male deer, that was just starting to grow his horns. It was 35 meters away from me, farther than my former target. But I remembered my father once mentioning that wounding them was enough for any good hunter to run them down. Humans are really scary in the stamina department, only outclassed by horses in most cases. There are even humans that can, in the very long run, outrun horses. But since I really don't want to spend my next few hours running after an injured deer, I took my stance and aimed to kill.

On a sign from my father all hunters stood from their hiding places and threw at the same time. The young hunter didn't manage to instantly kill his deer, but wounded it badly enough that it would collapse soon enough. Everyone else killed their target almost instantly, most trough a shot through the throat. I managed to get my target as well, though I hit its gall bladder, so it was made entirely useless.

Then, after gathering everything useable, and preparing the deer as best as we could, we made our way back to camp. That took longer than I thought it would, because we had to carry nearly an entire deer each on our backs, though a lot of weight was reduced because we already gutted them and removed their heads, they were still heavy.

Finally, after nearly three hours of following the tracks our tribe left behind, we rejoined them and now I understood why the hunters never helped preparing the meals and setting up camp. While it was much more interesting and active than camp live, it was also much, much more exhausting than I first imagined. The worst part was carrying the spoils back to camp, because a deer is freaking heavy, and you just follow the Leader for three hours straight in a fast pace, while carrying what you spent an hour searching and hunting on your back.

On the good side of things, the young hunter told his family about my success in the hunt, and the story was quickly making its rounds through the camp. By evening, everyone knew I instantly could use an atlatl as well as most hunters, could keep up with them, and even carried an entire deer on my back to camp. On the same evening I learned that most spend months practicing with the atlatl before being allowed on a hunt, and most take a year to carry anything close in weight to an entire deer back to camp.

This evening was the first time I felt truly at home in camp, because the last suspicions that still lingered amongst some of the very superstitious women (and consequently their children) vanished with a full belly and the hope for a bright future I could bring.

The Party, if it could be called that, went on late into the night and this night I slept with a smile on my face, knowing that I had finally bee accepted into the tribe, gained a healthy serving of respect, and thus made an important step on my path to a more civilised and comfortable life.

Line break

The following years were the best years of both of my lives. I got up in the morning, went out with the rest of the hunters, came back, and spent the rest of my time interacting with the tribe. I learned many new things, my knowledge of local herbs and plants became unrivalled, I learned how to treat wounds the best way possible without modern medicine. I became the number one cook in the tribe, my innovative ways of preparing meals, even using the most basic spices -sadly no pepper and salt though- earned me the admiration of even the most stubborn women and men. It was during this time I learned something new about myself. I learned that I really love teaching my knowledge to others. Not in a hands off classroom teaching style however, but by taking a willing apprentice and helping them discover the wonders of nature by themselves. It was through this process that I came to know my new best friend.

The person I was now closest to, excluding of course my mother. It was, ironically, the daughter of the women that despised me the most, in the beginning that is. Now she was just like most of the others, hopeful that I would be just as good a leader as my father was. Initially my friend came to me, because the Eldest told her that I was the one that could better help her learn how to treat the wounds of the injured. Something she was very passionate about since her sister, then only seven years old, passed away because of a cut that became infected. She didn't tell anyone about it until it was too late for us to do anything about it.

That was now three years ago and by now she knew as much as myself. I even moved on from teaching her only cooking and healing, to handling a spear and a bow. Things that I learned from my father, and the only disciplines he still consistently beat me in. Despite me being now taller, stronger, and faster than him, his wealth of experience from his youth gave him the edge over me.

Though in the last years, age was getting to him. I was now sixteen years old, and my father had seen more than fifty winters. His hair was seemingly getting greyer by the day and his reaction speed and strength took a hit as well. The Eldest had passed away two years ago, which means that the Elder of the Hunt took over his position, and the old hunter took his. Though it was wrong to say she passed away peacefully. It was on that day that I learned what happened to people that lived too long. They couldn't keep up anymore. They were not as useful anymore because they started forgetting things.

One evening, the Eldest just suddenly stood up.

"Everyone. Most of you have known me for your entire lives. I have lived long. I was not always happy, but I held on for all of you. I can state with absolute certainty, that our tribe has a most wonderful future ahead of it, that I would have loved to experience. We have an incredible Leader, and a most worthy replacement in form of his son, my great grandson."-'What? Why did I not know of this?' I looked at my mother, because I knew my father's mother to be deceased. And my mothers mother too, just shortly before I was born. I saw a single, solitary tear roll down my mother's cheek, but the rest of her face held strong. She even managed a small smile. To actually have lived with my great grandmother for years and nobody told me? The eldest had continued to talk and was now coming to an end.

"And that is why, I must leave you to your own now. I have nothing left to teach, nowhere left to guide you and nothing that would justify being a danger to the tribe anymore. This will be my last night with you, I will be gone in the morning."

And under great protest she simply left for her tent. Nobody dared defy her last wishes. And though many tried convincing her, she held on to the traditions only she remembered. It was remarkable that she held out for so long. She experienced more than seventy winters, unimaginable for almost everyone in this age, but because of the kind leadership of my father and the great solidarity everyone in this tribe showed, it was made possible. But she was no longer willing to rely on our kindness and wanted to leave on her own terms.

The next morning she was gone, and we never went looking for her.

And she was right. Now, two years later, we were better than ever. We found two more families that joined us without a fight, and they brought our numbers up to just short of seventy people. We now had enough hunters to comfortably take rotating breaks, and still have enough men guarding the camp. Things were looking up for our tribe.

And that was the time we stumbled upon a discovery that would change the fate of everyone.

We found a mountain. Not just any mountain, but a lonely mountain. It stood alone, surrounded on every side by a circular expansion of at least thirty kilometres, eighteen miles, in every direction. We crossed the ridge of a mountain and stared at the sight before us. At first, we thought we had accidentally found our way out of the mountain ranges, but then we saw the lonely mountain, nearly two kilometres, one point two miles, in height, surrounded by nothing but greenery.

It was at this one moment when I saw the mountain, that golden light filled my vision in an instant.

The mountain was still there. He could see it just as well as before, but now everything was golden, and wonky, almost as if seen through a golden, uneven mirror. Then he saw the image change. The mountain morphed from a simple mountain into something more. The transition was smooth. Over the course of three seconds the mountain morphed into something best described as a city. But it was so much more. He couldn't move my body, but as if responding to his will the vision zoomed closer and closer until the city filled his entire vision. What from the distance could have been mistaken for a mountain was actually a ginormous castle stretching more than two kilometres into the sky. It was almost gothic in nature, dark, but awe-inspiring. There were countless spires and towers grasping at the heavens above. Statues and artworks -worked not in stone and paint, but gold and silver- decorated the fantastic structure in an incredible display of wealth, taste, and power.

Surrounding the megastructure was a city, equally impressive in its construction and decoration, though smaller in size. It almost resembled a medieval- or renaissance-era city in structure, but was incomparably larger, cleaner, and richer in both art and citizens. The largest houses and structures in the city were nearly reaching the one-kilometre-mark, and even the smaller ones were no less than two dozen metres in height. It was a Utopia.

As soon as he reached this conclusion the sky above the city rumbled and rolled almost like a blanket. Then the blanket tore open with a sound indescribable. It was as if the sky itself screamed in pain, terror, and even fear. A hole in reality tore open and four titanic pairs of eyes peered down on the city, each pair more maddening, disgusting, revolting than the other. Behind the tear in reality chaotic swirling pools of energy cold be seen and shadowy silhouettes for each owner of the pair of eyes could be seen. Greed glimmered in every one of their eyes as soon as these demonic beings saw the castle, and the city surrounding it.

Then, as if sensing his presence, the demonic silhouettes turned in his direction, and as soon as they saw him in the eyes, his vison shattered as if made out of glass.

I woke up gasping. Looking left and right I saw everything exactly as it was before my vision. I was standing there surrounded by the entire tribe, and they were looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

"What happened?", my father asked me with an unusual note of concern in his voice.

I just looked at him, silently demanding clarification. In the last few months my father gave more and more responsibility to me. I believe he is preparing me for the role of the Leader. He knows that he is getting old, and has almost nothing left to teach me. My best teacher going forward is going to be life, and we both know it.

"You went rigid there for a few seconds and your eyes were glowing a bright gold!", my best friend answered my unspoken query enthusiastically.

"It was so cool!" One of the children shouted. Agreeable noises were heard from many of the surrounding tribesmen and women, though some still seemed to be apprehensive.

"I saw something", I eventually answered. I closed my eyes and remembered the marvellous city, the most wonderful structure I ever laid eyes upon. It seemed like it was taken straight out of a dream.

"I saw something so incredible I cannot find the words for it. It was the future of this tribe, of our people, of humanity. And it was glorious. A tribe so large and powerful it grasped the heavens and shaped the stars."

Gasps were heard all around and the entire tribe was now hanging off my lips, like every word I spoke was gospel.

"But it was not without adversity. There will be many that will seek to tear us down before we can realize our potential", I deliberately did not mention the beings I saw. With just a few short seconds of seeing them, I knew instantly what they were. The Four Gods of the Warp, the Immaterium, of Chaos. Evil Gods, Antagonists from a univere I once thought fictional. Warhammer 40.000. Likely one of the worst places to live in fiction.

It was impossible not to recognize them. The feeling they gave off showed their true nature clearer than if it were written on their heads.

Khorne gave off an aura of untampered rage and violence. Just looking at him made me angry, and I know that, had I seen him in person, I would have turned into a frothing, raging senseless berserker.

Tzeentch seemed unreal an absolute enigma. I wanted to curse and worship him, to run away and approach, to give and take away, and to take the psychic powers I now knew I possessed, and make the world my playground.

Nurgle stank of rot and decay. He gave off a confusing feeling of love and affection, but also of stagnation, death, despair, and disease. I felt that he would accept me with open arms, but that once he had me, everything I was and valued would twist into a mockery of what it was before. Forever.

Slaanesh almost made me retch and cover my head from just remembering her. She was just too much, too much pleasure and pain at once, it blurred the line between every sensation and made you experience them all at once, and at such extreme levels that you couldn't differentiate anymore and just felt, and made you long for more feelings. Not one specific feeling but anything to satiate your desire for sensations.

"This mountain, this valley will be where humanities future will be decided, I feel it with my whole being. I will not force you to stay here with me, but I know now that this is where I want to stay in the future."

I looked each and every member of the tribe in the eyes, and what I found warmed my heart. Though I was always a little aloof and not too familiar with many of the tribesmen -which was to be expected, given my unique birth and circumstances- every single member was ready to stay with me and fight for glory, for me, and for their own future. It was truly heartwarming. Back in my time -or my world, I still haven't figured that one out- I am pretty sure nobody would decide as they did. It was a difference in culture, in experience and in perspective. Most of them had already accepted me as their Leader in their hearts, and in their experience the Leader always watched out for the entire tribe and made the wisest decisions. It was the kind of loyalty and trust that was difficult to find, and hard to earn.

My father stepped forward. He looked me deep into the eyes, searching, or perhaps assessing. I did my best to show him my newfound determination and ambition.

Before this vision, my only goal was to build up the tribe enough to live out the rest of my days in comfort, perhaps even in luxury. But after seeing the chaos gods, feeling their malice and their greed while looking at humanity, I knew I wouldn't be able to stand by.

I always believed myself to be a good person, never breaking any laws and always staying friendly, even toward people I don't like. And this was exactly why I couldn't let this happen. I know exactly what could happen, and I wont have it. I will not let these gods, these leeches, do as they please. Just remembering the dread and malice their sheer presence brought was enough to light a righteous fury and stubbornness inside me. I will not let these beings harm my family, that was good to me in both of my lives. I will defend the good I know is in humanity until my dying breath.

Finishing his evaluation and deeming me ready, my father lowered his head to me and spread his arms wide.

"My son. I have taught you all I could. I see in you a man that is better, stronger, smarter, and worthier than I am. I have never deserved to lead this tribe, not after what I did in my youth, but I did so anyway, because nobody else was as skilled or knowledgeable as myself. Now… now there is a man worthy of leadership standing right before me. I acknowledge you as the better man and hand you the title, and responsibility of Leader of the Tribe. Any objections?"

Nobody in the tribe said a word and everyone looked at me encouragingly. Moved, both by my fathers' words and the trust the tribe had in me I accepted.

"Thank you, Leader. I will accept this position, and every responsibility and privilege that comes with it. I will heed the council of those wiser than me and consider every one tribe members wellbeing before making a decision."

As soon as I said those words and my friends and family started shouting in celebration; darkness enclosed on my vision and rapidly all feeling left my body.

[Hidden condition fulfilled]

[Loading System… successful!]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… successful!]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… successful!]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… successful!]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… successful!]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… successful?]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… successful!]

[Error! Foreign entity detected! Employing protocols… unsuccessful! Entity eclipses power threshold for possible protocols! Contacting Admin… insufficient! Contacting Creator… sufficient! Engaging in diplomacy… … … … successful!]

[Congratulations host, for completing two hidden objectives before unlocking the system!]

[Unlocking locked memories… … …]

Aaaand finish! We have finally reached the system! Now the real fun begins.

I really dont like writing conversations. I just dont get how other authors make them seem so smooth and effortless. I'll work on it, but I dont promise immediate results.

And before you ask: Yes, every one of the alerts represents a different, very real entity. I'm curious if someone will guess all of them right.

That was all for today,

The Emperor protects!