Altered fate
In the near future...
Will had woken up in his small apartment and looked outside to see just another miserable Washington day. Rain coming down in buckets and the sight of ice mixed in with it promised that the trip to work was going to be especially dreary.
He worked in a factory and was getting ready to start his work week fortunately his company had decided to give their middle management access to the company cars or he would be forced to use his beat up old car. As he went down the stairs, he looked at the company car. It was one of the new model self driving cars that were made by conglomerate energy company that had revolutionized this part of the country 20 years ago. He got into the car and the car system;he had dubbed Bob after an old book character he liked, started with a curt "Well it's a shitty day out Boss let's make this quick." Will laughed because the car interface was designed to adapt and learn but the side effect was they became nearly sentient.
He sat back and let Bob begin the drive to work while he listened to his audio books and caught up on the newest manufacturing methods and trends. Part of his job was to anticipate the upcoming trends so his company could stay cutting edge. He drifted into his own world and was busy with studying when he felt the car start to swerve unexpectedly. "What's wrong Bob?" No reply issued from his car and he then realized that it seemed like Bob wasn't working right. He switched to manually driving and everything seemed to be going good until he looked closer to the interface. Having multiple degrees in electronics, engineering and technology he suddenly realized as he looked around he wasn't making it to work. A little known fact that had been hidden from the public was after the world changed with the introduction of the virus was everything secretly had the energy company's fingers in it. What he was seeing was a system wide attack that disabled everything by the company. The rain and sleet made the roads extra slippery so with this attack what Will saw was semi trucks jackknifing and the visible breaking of hitches as these trailers had turned into metric ton bowling balls flattening and throwing cars as it seemed an endless wave of crushed steel was barreling towards Will. Relying on instincts, Will tried to dodge out of the way of danger and perhaps any other day he might of made it but today fate said otherwise. His car hit the barricade and crunched the side as the car flipped over and the last thing Will saw was the river and a tsunami of steel chasing him over the edge as his vision went to black.....
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When he opened his eyes, Will looked around and saw he felt shorter but much stocker. He saw a group of lizardmen looking at him with awe as the scent of blood filled his nose and his senses caught up with him. He felt something under his foot and as he looked at himself he appeared to be scaly and a mix of brown and green skin under his scales that seemed to refract light. ("Just what the hell happened? Obviously I died which is too bad but what exactly am I? Have I become like the books I read and ended up in a different world so I guess this is life now.) For someone who was raised to conquer all challenges and had spent a long time on Earth doing that he was too old to sweat this sudden change. To him it was just a new challenge and a new chance at life so why waste time getting philosophical.
The others looked at him and it seemed like they were saying something and it took a few seconds for it to enter his mind as English.
"Boss, your so mighty and amazing you killed the old chief who was plotting with the goblins to sell us off then disappear." Will looked down at the corpse at his feet and he suddenly had flashes of combat and quiet investigation as his body had worked hard to get close to this chief to get stronger. He also saw flashes of memory and thought wait why do I feel like my closeness came from something other than ambition. (Could this corpse have been his family before it hatched this plan? He couldn't think about this now and looks at these followers and thought well if I am chief now what should I do about this threat. Well first plan will be strengthen my tribe and let's bring science and technology to them. We maybe small but we will change our fate.)
Will looks at them and says," Let's gather the tribe together and let it be known what I will do now. Also I want you all to make sure that the goblins still think I will honor the deal. I will let you know that from today forth we are not going to be the bottom anymore. Those goblins don't know the traps we will lay for them but mark my words their descendants will speak of it for all of time. We will crush our enemies under our feet and blood will flow."
The five looked even more in awe as they listened not daring to believe what they are hearing and they started to drag the dead back to the den. Will looked at them and said, " Leave them here for the other beasts to eat. They wanted to sell out the tribe they can die without a tribe. After we talk to our tribe, we should send word to the other 9 tribes and tell them we are having a celebration to celebrate our new chief."
They finally arrived after a long hike through the forest. It seemed he was in an endless forest that was thickly packed so light didn't seem to get through much. It was then he realized that his group seem to blend into the forest perfectly. (Did they evolve camouflage and why did he feel like his body was special in its ability. His camouflage seemed to be several degrees higher than the others. Was this possibly how the species evolved to adapt to the things in this world? Also if that's the case how terrible is this world that a species evolved to this extent.) Will put these thoughts aside as they came up to a carefully hidden hole in the ground.
He entered it and suddenly he realized something else about his new body. These caves were pitch black but he could see like it was daytime. His senses seem to be heightened and it felt like he could sense everything in the caves just by touching the ground. Once again he found himself being amazed by this body and after awhile in the caves they began to hear sounds of activity. Hammers banging against metal, voices talking and city sounds rang through the tunnels.
He looked at his group and wondered what exactly their skills were. As they arrived he was surprised when the tunnel opened into a cavern so large he could not see the top or the end. What he thought was just a small tribe seemed to actually have built a massive tribal ground on the edge of a gargantuan lake that seemed to go on forever. As they left the tunnel and started to the tribe lands he saw they had smiths and other tradesmen. Maybe his plan might be easier but obviously he will need to check out their trades later.
Will walked to what he saw as a big platform and climbed to the top then looked over the city as his group went over and started to ring large bells that were on each corner. The sound echoed off the walls and all the kobolds turned and moved to what he was calling city center in his mind. He looked out over everyone and then he began to talk to the crowds.
Some how his voice was amplified and he spoke to the crowds of unity and a better future then he looked at them and told them the day was coming where they would claim the surface. He told them that he would be looking at the smiths work and getting to know them better because the old chief had never been one to talk to them. Will spoke of the betrayal of the old chief and why he had to die because as Will told them like the mighty forest above sometimes growth only comes through struggle.
Will looked down at his new people and wondered what he should do first and that's when he heard a strange sound in his head.
(Hey Boss this is Bob uh where are we? I seem to notice that for some reason the things in the car seemed to have been rebuilt into this world. Whatever god you prayed to seems to have a sense of humor. You are the chief of the lowest tribe in the Kobold nation and your tribes only export is manufactured goods like weapons. Technology level of this world seems to vary but your area seems to be sitting in a quasi stone age. Before you ask yes your benefactor uploaded everything about this world into me. It also gave me the first mission of aiding you in uniting the tribes. So I guess I am a system with a system and your a weak to strong anime character with insane luck. Your first task is introduce yourself to the smiths and show off your skills. By the way your previous life knowledge has translated over and let's just say your very loaded with potential.)
Will just looked strange and thought Well that explains the translation ability but let's go visit the smiths and introduce the tribe to modern thinking. He made his way through the crowd until he found a strange looking kobold working over a forge. Will introduced himself and the person looked up and stood up and looked down to the chief. The kobold would of been considered a mutant as it had larger than normal arms that seemed to be sculpted from iron probably from years of work. It turned around and Will realized at this point his tribe smiths and tanners or even the skinners were all isolated from the main tribe and showed obvious changes in physiology that seemed to have adapted them to their crafts.
Will says, " Well everyone after the defeat of the the old chief we stumbled on some ancient civilization knowledge and it appears to be ways to give us an edge over our enemies. What kind of ores do we mine or do we mine for ores?" He looks and realizes they seem to have found iron ore and even bronze ores with some strange black ores being present and he would write down the formula for making iron and brass along with teaching them basic metallurgy.
"So try working on those to start but let me try working the forge for a second." He grabs the ores and looks at the forge. (Bob we need to rebuild this village in a week does your system reward you for finishing tasks. Analysis of these ores and give me available options.)