The Guide

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I open my eyes and find myself looking over the mother with a kid on her l.a.p.

So it worked.

"Welcome back, young one", I hear a voice I haven't heard in a long time.

"Long time no see Azan, and its Awa now". I reply to Azan.

"Congratulations on your success. It was a marvelous display of your skills.", I wouldn't have said it better myself.

"Thanks. So, now that I'm finished with reincarnation, what should I do now?", I asked Azan.

"First thing you should do is check your status. Considering that you spread your influence among them, you should have enough power to awaken a new ability.", Really? It can't be that easy to unlock abilities, can it?

Better check it out, first. Status.

[ Real Name: Leon Octavian Sirus

Known as: Awa.

Level: 2

Guided Race(s): Hol Kel Tagan.

World: Unnamed.

Skills: Thought influence, Telepathy(Minimal), Reincarnation.

Achievements: Teacher of men, Father of an industry.

Afterlife: No afterlife has been created. Please create an afterlife

]

Telepathy? And it's minimal?

And what's this about an afterlife? Isn't it too early?

"Umm… Azan? What's this about afterlife and why is telepathy minimal?", I ask my giant friend.

And in return he chuckles and says, "So you can already build an afterlife, young one, or should I say, young Awa. It usually needs a minimum of a 100 followers to build one, but maybe the amount differs depending on the world. Anyways, follow me.".

Then he points upwards and floats above unhindered by the ceiling. How did he do that?

Then I heard his voice, "You only need to focus on floating up.".

Focus huh… I start floating, and as I do I shield my head. You can't blame me, it's not like I'm used to it, you know.

I pass through the ceiling and keep moving up despite the fact that I'm moving through solid rock in a mountain, and then I find myself above the clouds.

"I'm glad that you made it, young on-!?", I look at Azan who's getting farther and farther away!? I'm still floating up!? How do you stop this thing!?

"Focus on stopping!", he yells.

Stop, please stop. And I stopped. I look at the surroundings, and I can only see the clouds below me and the empty void of space above me, well, empty if you don't count the stars, nearby planets, the 2 moons and the sun. Did I pass this world's stratosphere?

Oops… Anyways, it's time to descend. So I focused on going down and saw Azan floating up on the way.

He gave a sigh of relief, smiled and then said, "That honestly surprised me. Considering what I saw from you, I really thought that you would master maneuverability at the first time. At least that shows that you are still young. Now let us descend.".

We descended to the top of the mountain and we saw the entire land, and the first thing that escaped my mouth at seeing this sight was, "Is that a glacier…?".

Azan smirked, "Yes, it is. There is currently an ice age in this world.".

"An ice age? How's that possible? Yeah, sure the weather was quite chilly and we did move a lot, but how would you explain the lack of snow and frost on the way?", I ask the guy. Really, how could it be an ice age if it lacked one essential ingredient. Ice!

He started stroking his beard and said, "I do not understand the intricacies of nature. But 10000 years ago, when I first saw this world. This area was covered by ice."

"Wait, what? 10000 years? Why did it take you so long to pick a guy for this place?", I mean, I remember that he said that it's rare for someone to be given the task of guiding an evolution world, but I couldn't have been the only candidate in the entire universe.

"Compared to now, it would really have been an impossible task to guide a race on this world if we chose an earlier time. It was not even long before the glaciers retracted, just a mere 3000 years.", How old are you!? If 3000 years is considered a mere moment, how long is a long time for you!?

"Were there other candidates?", I really have to know this. I might have been the first one assigned to this world, but that doesn't mean I'm the last. If I could at least have a read on their personality, I can gauge out how much of a threat they could be.

"For the moment, there were 3. A girl from a rich family in a world named Terath, who excelled in civilization simulators, but had a habit of ruining the lives of those who beat her. A military supervisor from a world named Eldrem, who tried to create a new breed of super soldiers, but they ended up rebelling, killing tens of thousands in the process, including him. And the last one isn't as dangerous as the other two. He was actually a shy, kind-hearted boy from Terra, who had to fight in a civil war that he hated on the newly colonized planet called Gleiss, his crime is that he unknowingly doomed the 80 million population there, by destroying the warp gate in his attempt to self-destruct his mecha to stop their invasion.", So in the future, I'd have to deal with a spoiled princess, a megalomaniac and a soyboy. I know I shouldn't judge others early, but the only real threat that I see is the megalomaniac. Considering how the spoiled brat dealt with her problems, she would be easy to beat. So would be the soyboy, since these justice types are predictable, as long as you make sure they're beaten early on, they'd fall. Hmm? Why am I considering them enemies yet? And why am I not considering them as a threat? As I said earlier, I shouldn't judge others early, it's just that it's better to prepare for hostiles in the very beginning, and I am considering them a threat, just a minor one compared to the one who'd either be hostile or deceptive on the get-go. Let's be serious, novels and manga aside, who would be more dangerous in a situation such as this. A gamer-girl who's also a sore loser? A child soldier who honestly doesn't want to fight, but might be a justice idiot? Or a guy who worked in the military with enough merits to be assigned to supervise some top secret project involving either the modification of soldiers or the creation of ones? In my opinion, number 3 takes the cake.

I try to change the topic to something more productive, to get my mind off of ice ages and rivals, "So what should I do now?".

That got a smirk out of the guy, "Let's test your telepathy. You asked earlier, why it is minimal. It is so, since you can only maintain one connection at the moment. As it gets stronger, the number of people you can communicate with will increase.".

"Alright, let's do this.", I try to connect to the child, who just woke up a while ago and is currently staring at the statue.

Hey kid.

The kid was shocked and looked left and right.

In front of you.

'It's you?', Huh, that's strange.

"What is wrong, young Awa?", Asks Azan, who noticed my confusion.

I asked the big guy for a minute, then I read the thoughts of the others.

Finally, I told him why I'm confused, "It's just that his thoughts seem more complex than everyone else. How can he even have such complex thoughts? His brain shouldn't be any different from the others.".

He smiled, before he replied, "He is not a normal child. You both shared the same body and due to that, he was blessed with a higher intelligence. And if you have not forgotten, you unlocked in him the gift of magic.".

So it's just a mutation due to reincarnation, huh. Let's hope it passes on genetically to speed things up.

I better not leave the kid hanging. He's already thinking that it may be a hallucination. Let's start with the mighty lord tone… Nah, he already knows plenty about my personality.

Hey kid, how're you? How does it feel without me being stuck to you?

'Honestly, it's weird and kind of lonely. When are you coming back?'.

Oh, oh… The kid's attached to me. How do I tell him the truth?

I'm not coming back. In this case, the blunt way's the best way.

The kid was shocked and- No, no, no! Don't cry!

[Achievement unlocked Mean Bean]

Mean bean!? I didn't mean to!

'Why? What did I do wrong? Don't leave me! Please!'.

I'm not leaving you idiot! You're practically the only guy among your people that I can communicate with! And if I wanted to leave, would I really waste my time and help you guys improve this much!?

'Really?', thinks the kid before everyone turns to look at him, and his mother runs to him to check what's wrong.

Yeah, really. Even if I wanted to leave you guys, I honestly can't. That's not the smartest thing to tell a child, but that's the best I could come up with at the moment. Don't judge me!

Anyways, I have to go now, since the purpose of all this, was just to reassure you and to see if telepathy works.

'Te-le-pa-thy?', he thought while being held by his mother who just went to a corner and put him on her l.a.p.

Yeah, telepathy. I'll tell you about it at a later time. It's time to go, and I'll see you later. And remember I'm always keeping my eyes out on you guys.

'Bye. And please come back.'.

Sure will, and do me a favor and spread my name when you meet other groups, if they know about me I can help them out.

'Okay.'.

And so I closed the connection and Azan asked me, "So? did you succeed? And considering the sudden change in that child's emotional state, it seems so.".

"Yeah, and I've managed to convince him to spread my name. but what I found weird was that it was extremely easy. Is it normal for them to be so attached?".

"Good thing he was. Reincarnation usually has one of two results. Either they will resent you for forcing them to follow your path and then abandoning them, or they will love you and look at you as a father figure for guiding them and staying by their side. Even though, you used him, you made everyone's life better and never left him until you got to safety.".

What he says is true. I wonder what would have happened if I wasn't there? Without the hand axes, would they have still been as capable in hunting preys like the rodites and fight off other groups. The answer is no.

I look at the Tagal and thing of all the events they went through, then I ask Azan, "What'll we do next?".

"We will wait.", he replied.

"Wait? For what?", I mean really, what's there to wait for?

"For them to be ready to use fire.".

"You do realize that will take thousands of years, right?".

"I do.". You do, huh?

If that's the case, I can't help it, can I? Sorry kid, there'll be a time skip.

"Alright, then. How do we skip time by 200,000 years or so?".

…

And he went silent… Azan?

"Honestly, we cannot.", what…. What!?

So you wanted me to actually guide them for a million years in real-time!?

"There's really no way…? You sure…? Tell me there's at least one way.".

He said in a distressed tone, "Well, a way to skip thousands of year has not been developed. It was not a problem considering civilizations could be wiped out in the blink of an eye and that guiding evolution worlds is still a new thing. I am sorry young one. On the bright side you can perceive time faster by 32 times!".

…

32 for at least a million years, you say… Geez, how generous…

"Considering that I speeded up technological development for these guys. Is a period of damnation, instead of eternal damnation an option? I'd take it, even if it is 5,000 years.". Yeah, I made a mistake, but it's not even that bad.

"No, as you became a guide and succeeded in the beginning, even eternal damnation is no longer an option.", Seriously? Not like I'd ever choose eternal damnation over this. Nobody in his right mind would do that.

I try again, "Is there no alternative? I deserve a punishment, but I got rid of all the threats before I died, right?". Those guys should've been captured by now, right?

…

Right…?

"Azan?", and he avoids meeting my gaze.

"Well…", he says before he snaps his fingers and a bubble appears.

In the bubble I see a victory parade in the capitol of Herseck, and the main guests of honor are- "Aizen!?", they're Aizen and the others with the exception of Ameria, Jarm and the Horsan.

"He's now general of defense Aizen. They managed to escape to Herseck, and then they managed to convince them that they're willing to work for them, had a bomb planted in their spine and eventually gained enough trust and merits to reach their current position.", Well, shit.

"And the other three?", please tell me they died.

"Asava and Tovan became freedom fighters, trying to liberate the country of Ravia from its dictator and Zaghan is just a mildly popular poet. He at least gains enough money from his works to live comfortably.", that explains that.

He then collapses the bubble and reassures me, "Do not worry, young one. I'll ask the guide of your world to make sure that they will not do anything foolish, and if luck is on our side, it will not take a long time for them to be ready.".

"How so?", I can't help to ask, since I really think we shouldn't rush with teaching them about fire.

"Have you forgotten? The boy is special and his children may inherit his intelligence, or at least a fraction of it.", Oh, yeah, why didn't I think of this? And by the time that he'll have children, he would've also spread my name to other groups increasing my influence. It's practically 2 birds with 1 stone.

Now we only need to wait a while and make sure they don't get themselves killed.

Heh… They won't, because I'm their guide and I say let the waiting game begin.

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